Teatro Regio

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Teatro Regio
Strada Garibaldi
Parma, May 2024

“Teatro Regio di Parma, originally constructed as the Nuovo Teatro Ducale (New Ducal Theatre), is an opera house and opera company in Parma, Italy. Replacing an obsolete house, the new Ducale achieved prominence in the years after 1829, and especially so after the composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born near Busseto, some thirty kilometres away, had achieved fame. Also well known in Parma was the conductor Arturo Toscanini, born there in 1867. As has been noted by Lee Marshall, ‘while not as well known as La Scala in Milan or La Fenice in Venice, the city’s Teatro Regio... is considered by opera buffs to be one of the true homes of the great Italian tradition, and the well-informed audience is famous for giving voice to its approval or disapproval – not just from the gallery.’ The 1,400-seat auditorium, with four tiers of boxes topped by a gallery, was inaugurated on 16 May 1829 when it presented the premiere of Vincenzo Bellini's ‘Zaira’, a production which was staged another seven times, although it did not prove to be popular with the Parma audiences. Initially Rossini had been invited to compose a work for the inauguration of the house, but he was too busy and so the task fell to Bellini. However, that inaugural season saw three Rossini operas staged, including ‘Moïse et Pharaon’, ‘Semiramide’, and ‘Il barbiere di Siviglia’.” (Teatro Regio, Wikipedia)

Wildflowers and Butterflies

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Fontána Divoženky a poletuchy (Wildflowers and Butterflies Fountain) by Josef Klimeš, 1992
Františkánská zahrada (Franciscan Garden)
Vodičkova, Nové Město
Prague, September 2024

“The Wildflowers and Butterflies Fountain is a bronze sculpture with a drinking fountain placed on a granite pedestal. The author of the work is the sculptor Josef Klimeš (1928–2018). The work is located in the Franciscan Garden in New Town, Prague 1. The fountain, located in the western part of the garden, was created in 1992 and is made using the casting and cutting method. It depicts silhouettes and reliefs of three hollow dancing and fluttering figures (wild girls and flying birds) with prominent holes in the places of the eyes and mouths. The place is freely accessible all year round.” (Wildflowers and Butterflies Fountain, Wikipedia)

Church of Santa Cristina

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Church of Santa Cristina
Lungarno Gambacorti
Pisa, November 2024

"Santa Cristina is a Neoclassical-style, Roman Catholic church in Pisa, region of Tuscany, Italy. It is located on the Lungarno Gambacorti. The church is documented since the 9th century, but the apse area is from the 10th-11th century. Destroyed by a flood in 1115, it was rebuilt three years later. The Count Luigi Archinto, member of a prominent Milanese family, had moved to Pisa in the late 18th century, and in 1814, he had acquired the Agnello palace adjacent to this church. He then patronized and commissioned the reconstruction of the church, which by then was in poor conservation. He commissioned the works from the engineer Francesco Riccetti, who also restored the bell tower." (Santa Cristina, Wikipedia)

Pegel Köln

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Pegel Köln (Cologne water level)
Frankenwerft
Cologne, September 2024

“The Pegel Köln (Cologne water level) is located in Cologne's Old Town North on the left bank of the Rhine and measures the water level of the Rhine at river kilometer 688. It is one of 22 gauges on the Rhine and, along with the Kaub gauge, the most important. It is operated by the Rhine Waterways and Shipping Authority.” (Pegel Köln, Wikipedia)

Saint Mark and the Lion

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San Marco (Saint Mark)
Corso Duomo
Modena, May 2024

“Mark the Evangelist, also known as John Mark or Saint Mark, was the person who is traditionally ascribed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. Most modern Bible scholars have concluded that the Gospel of Mark was written by an anonymous author rather than an identifiable historical figure, though the topic remains contentious among experts. According to Church tradition, Mark founded the episcopal see of Alexandria, which was one of the five most important sees of early Christianity. His feast day is celebrated on April 25, and his symbol is the winged lion.” (Mark the Evangelist, Wikipedia)

Städel

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Städel
Schaumainkai, Museumsufer
Frankfurt, September 2024

“The Städel, officially the Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of the River Main. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 photographs and more than 100,000 drawings and prints. It has around 7,000 m2 (75,000 sq ft) of display and a library of 115,000 books. The Städel was founded in 1817, and is one of the oldest museums in Frankfurt. The founding followed a bequest by the Frankfurt banker and art patron Johann Friedrich Städel (1728–1816), who left his house, art collection and fortune with the request in his will that the institute be set up. In the early years, Städel's former living quarters at Frankfurt's Roßmarkt were used to present his collection. The collection received its first exhibition building at the Neue Mainzer Straße in 1833. In 1878, a new museum building, in the Neo-Renaissance style, was erected by Oskar Sommer on Schaumainkai, a street along the south side of the river Main.” (Städel, Wikipedia)

Palazzo Fontanelli-Ceretti

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Palazzo Fontanelli-Ceretti
Via Dante Alighieri
Reggio Emilia, May 2024

“Of sober Renaissance design, from the first half of the 16th century, it preserves, with the original brick order, a small corner balcony and a very degraded sandstone flag-stand; it is located on the corner between Via Roma and Via Dante, on whose side stood out a Renaissance portal attributed to Bartolomeo Spani, now preserved in the Civic Museums. Opposite it is the church of Ss. Giacomo e Filippo, of Romanesque foundation and late Baroque reconstruction (Gianmaria Ferraroni, 1742) with an original bell tower.” (Palazzo Fontanelli-Ceretti, Touring Club Italiano)