Dry Trevi Fountain

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At work cleaning the Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain)
Piazza di Trevi
Rome, April 2013

Ponte de La Fenice

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Ponte de La Fenice (Bridge of La Fenice), behind La Fenice theater
Rio de la Fenice, San Marco
Venice, September 2012

Lord George Bentinck

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Statue of Lord George Bentinck by Thomas Campbell, 1848
Cavendish Square
London, October 2009

“One of the great sensations in the middle of the nineteenth century was the mysterious death of Lord George Bentinck, who for many years was the prince of the turf, but who sold his racehorses in order to give more attention to politics and the spread of Protectionist principles, of which he was the leading exponent at that time.” (Lord George Bentinck's Racing Career, Nottinghamshire History)

Henry IV of France

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Equestrian statue of King Henry IV of France, Pont Neuf
Copy from a surviving cast of the original by François-Frédéric Lemot, 1818
(The original by Giambologna and Pietro Tacca was destroyed in 1792)
Île de la Cité
Quartier Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, 1st arrondissement
Paris, July 2010

“On Sunday the 12th, at about noon, the equestrian statue, in bronze, of Henry IV. which was on the Pont-neuf, was pulled down; this was erected in 1635, and was the first of the kind in Paris. The horse was begun at Florence, by Giovanni Bologna, a pupil of Michael Angelo, finished by Pietro Tacca, and sent as a present to Mary of Medicis, widow of Henry IV, Regent. It was shipped at Leghorn, and the vessel which contained it was lost on the coast of Normandy, near Havre de Grace, the horse remained a year in the sea, it was, however, got out and sent to Paris in 1614.” (Richard Twiss, A Trip to Paris in July and August, 1792)

Settimia Spizzichino Bridge

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Settimia Spizzichino bridge by Francesco Del Tosto, 2012
Garbatella / Ostiense
Rome, April 2013

“Settimia Spizzichino, who has died in Rome aged 79, was the only survivor of a group of 50 Italian Jewish women deported to the death camps of Auschwitz, in Poland, by the Nazis in the Second World War.” (Settimia Spizzichino, The Telegraph)

Allegory of Philosophy

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“Allegorie der Philosophie” (Allegory of Philosophy) by Reinhold Begas
Schiller Memorial, Gendarmenmarkt
Berlin, September 2011

See also: Schiller-Denkmal - Allegory of History - Allegory of Tragedy

Alexander Pushkin

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Monument to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (Александр Сергеевич Пушкин) by Yuri Orekhov, 2000
Villa Borghese gardens
Rome, April 2013

San Lorenzo fuori le Mura

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Basilica Papale di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura
(Papal Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls)
Via del Verano
Rome, April 2013

“The fifth of the major basilicas of Rome. Emperor Constantine erected a church on this site in A.D. 330 over the graves of St. Lawrence and St. Cyriaca. It was remodeled in the sixth century and again in the thirteenth century, and the protico was added. Modern paintings looking like mosaics adorn the façade. The vestibule has many sacrphagi with high relief embellishing them, also frescoes around the walls with stories depicting St. Lawtence, St. Stephen, and Hippolytus. The campanile dates from the twelfth century. In the interior the nave and side aisles are of thirteenth-century construction--grand with their twenty-two antique columns, modern paintings of St. Lawrence and St. Stephen, and the mosaic floor. Here too is the crypt containing the bodies of Lawrence, Justin, and Stephen under the high altar, with its magnificent canopy. In the near vicinty the pilgrim sees the tall column with the martyred deacon on its top.” (St. Lawrence outside the Walls, Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary)

See also: Saint Lawrence outside the Walls

Giordano Bruno

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Statue of Giordano Bruno by Ettore Ferrari, 1889
Campo de' Fiori
Rome, April 2013

“At this point the Roman Inquisition intervened and requested his extradition. After some hesitation the Venetian authorities agreed, and in February, 1593, Bruno was sent to Rome, and for six years was kept in the prison of the Inquisition. Historians have striven in vain to discover the explanation of this long delay on the part of the Roman authorities. In the spring of 1599, the trial was begun before a commission of the Roman Inquisition, and, after the accused had been granted several terms of respite in which to retract his errors, he was finally condemned (January, 1600), handed over to the secular power (8 February), and burned at the stake in the Campo dei Fiori in Rome (17 February). Bruno was not condemned for his defence of the Copernican system of astronomy, nor for his doctrine of the plurality of inhabited worlds, but for his theological errors, among which were the following: that Christ was not God but merely an unusually skilful magician, that the Holy Ghost is the soul of the world, that the Devil will be saved, etc.” (Giordano Bruno, The Catholic Encyclopedia)

Fountain of Sea-Horses

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Fontana dei cavalli marini (Fountain of the Sea-Horses), 1791
Designed by Cristoforo Untemperger, carved by Vincenzo Pacetti
Villa Borghese gardens
Rome, April 2013

Sant'Eustachio Il Caffè

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Sant'Eustachio Il Caffè
Piazza Sant'Eustachio
Rome, April 2013

“Sant'Eustachio Il Caffè (www.santeustachioilcaffe.it) opened in front of Italy's Senate building in 1938, and its decor includes all of the cafe's original furnishings. The cafe's signature beverages are a variety of thick espressos, and staff still roast Sant'Eustachio's coffees over a wood fire. Sant'Eustachio sells coffee beans and its own coffee-flavored liqueur, offering shipping worldwide.” (Famous Italian Cafes in Italy, USA Today)

Spaghetti Sculpture

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Spaghetti “sculpture” outside a restaurant
Via dei Baullari
Rome, April 2013

Awaiting the New President

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Awaiting the election of the new President of the Italian Republic
Palazzo Montecitorio, seat of the Camera dei Deputati
Rome, April 2013

Philip-Johnson-Haus

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Philip-Johnson-Haus / Friedrichstraße 200 by Philip Johnson, 1997
Schützenstraße / Friedrichstraße
Berlin, September 2011

USS Monsoon (PC-4)

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USS Monsoon (PC-4)
Upper New York Bay
New York, September 2008

“The Coast Guard has caught a big one: arresting alleged Mexican drug lord Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix as he was deep sea fishing off the coast of Baja California. Authorities accused Arellano-Felix, 36, of being the enforcer for the gang named after – and run by – his family, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. Authorities believe he ordered the decapitation of three men – two of them police officers – south of Tijuana this summer. He was captured when the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Monsoon boarded a U.S.-registered sport fishing boat at 9 a.m. Monday about 15 miles off the coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen told a news conference.” (Feds Land A Big Fish, CBSNews)

Galerie Colbert

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Glass dome of the rotunda, Galerie Colbert
Rue Vivienne / rue des Petits-Champs
Quartier Vivienne, 2nd arrondissement
Paris, July 2012

Palazzo Balbi

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Palazzo Balbi
Dorsoduro
Venice, October 2012

Allegory of History

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“Allegorie der Geschichte” (Allegory of History) by Reinhold Begas
Schiller Memorial, Gendarmenmarkt
Berlin, September 2011

See also: Schiller-Denkmal - Allegory of Philosophy - Allegory of Tragedy

Unilever House

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Unilever House at night
Victoria Embankment
Blackfriars, City of London
London, October 2009

Clotilde de Vaux

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Bust of Clotilde de Vaux by Décio Villarès
Rue Clotilde-de-Vaux
Quartier Saint-Ambroise, 11th arrondissement
Paris, July 2012

Construction Site

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Construction site along a canal
Rio de Ca' Michiel, San Marco
Venice, October 2012

Neckar Jagst 770

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Neckar Jagst 770
Schiffbauerdamm
Berlin, September 2011

“The Fiat 600 was also manufactured at Fiat Neckar in Germany between 1956 and 1967. Presented in a first time as Jagst 600, in 1960 with the release of Fiat 600D it became Jagst 770. The model was manufactured until the end of 1967, more than 172,000 copies.” (Fiat 600/770 Neckar Jagst, Wikipedia)

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

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Verrazano-Narrows Bridge seen from the Staten Island Ferry
Upper New York Bay
New York, September 2007

“The naming of the bridge for Verrazzano was controversial. It was first proposed in 1951 by the Italian Historical Society of America, when the bridge was in the planning stage. After Robert Moses turned down the initial proposal, the society undertook a public relations campaign to re-establish the reputation of the largely forgotten Verrazzano and to promote the idea of naming the bridge for him. The campaign was largely the effort of Society director John N. LaCorte, who in 1954 successfully lobbied New York Governor W. Averell Harriman to proclaim April 17 (the anniversary of Verrazzano's arrival in the harbor) as Verrazzano Day. Subsequent efforts by LaCorte resulted in similar proclamations by governors of states along the East Coast. After these successes, LaCorte reapproached the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, but was turned down a second time. The manager of the authority, backed by Moses, said the name was too long and that he had never heard of Verrazzano.
The society later succeeded in lobbying to get a bill introduced in the New York State Assembly that would name the bridge for the explorer. After the introduction of the bill, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce joined the society in promoting the name. The bill was signed into law in 1960 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Although the controversy seemed settled, the naming issue rose again in the last year of construction after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A petition to name the bridge for Kennedy received thousands of signatures. In response, LaCorte contacted United States Attorney General Robert Kennedy, the president's brother, who told LaCorte that he would make sure the bridge would not be named for his brother. (Idlewild Airport, New York's major international airport, was renamed after Kennedy instead.)” (Naming controversy, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Wikipedia)

External Links: Giovanni da Verrazzano (Wikipedia)

Cheminée végétale

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“Cheminée végétale” (Plant-covered Chimney) by Édouard François, 2004
Courbevoie, La Défense
Paris, July 2011

Ca' Rezzonico

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Ca' Rezzonico seen from the Canal Grande (Grand Canal)
Dorsoduro
Venice, October 2012

Rescued

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“Gerettet” (Rescued) by Adolf Brütt, 1887
Kolonnadenhof
Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery)
Bodestraße
Museumsinsel Berlin (Museum Island)
Berlin, September 2011

It Takes Two

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“It Takes Two” by Bob Allen, 2002
Canada Square Park, Canary Wharf
London, January 2005

“It Takes Two is a bronze cast of an original carving in English yew from the fallen bough of an ancient tree listed in the Doomsday Book. Bob Allen takes his inspiration from nature, often carving in wood using traditional tools and working in the open air. His aim is to reveal the hidden quality in the wood he uses, and in this case when he started work it was the female form that emerged first, later complemented with a male form. They are locked together in a dance, entwined and inseparable.” (It Takes Two, Canary Wharf Group)

Danton

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«Après le pain, l'éducation est le premier besoin du peuple»
(After bread, education is the first need of the people)
Statue of Danton by Auguste Paris, 1891
Place Henri-Mondor
Quartier de l'Odéon, 6th arrondissement
Paris, July 2012

“A very lively discussion has been engendered by the erection of a statue in honor of Danton, the unveiling of which is to be one of the leading features of this year's national fête. So strong is the conviction among all but the most extreme Radicals that the glorification of such an infamous character as Danton would be a disgrace to the country, that the interpellation on the subject in the Senate by M. Wallon, the “Father of the French Constitution,” is looked forward with the liveliest interest. The sturdy old politician, in explanation of his action in the matter, descrives Danton as the author of the September massacres, the man who, according to Mme. Roland, exclaimed, just before the execution of a large batch of prisoners, “I don't care a -- about the prisoners or what becomes of them!” Mister Wallon on a former occasion opposed the naming of a stret in Paris after the chief of the assassins, and his objection to the statue is rendered the more strenuous as it is erected on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, within a few yards of the very spot where the atrocious massacre ordered by Danton took place. The opposite view of the case -that of the Socialist element in the Mucicipal Council- is expressed by M. Vaillant, who considers that Danton's robust patriotism compensates for any shortcomings in his character.” (Paris Dispatch to the London Daily Telegraph, July 26, 1891)

Lion of Saint Mark Unchained

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The Lion of Saint Mark freed from his chains after annexation of Venetia by Italy
Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II by Ettore Ferrari, 1887
Riva degli Schiavoni, Castello
Venice, September 2012

“Venetia was annexed to Italy in 1866, five years after the Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy under the House of Savoy in 1861. The unification of Veneto with Italy was the result of the so-called Third War of Independence and a plebiscite held on held on 21 and 22 October 1866. In the peace treaty signed in Vienna on 3 October 1866, it was written that the annexation of Venetia would have been subjected to the consensus of the Venetian people, properly consulted: it is unclear whether there would have been another choice from becoming Italian, nor the treaty was more precise on how to consult the people. The territory was furthermore ceded to France (under a treaty signed by General Karl Moering, on behalf of the Emperor of Austria, and General Edmond Le Bœuf, on behalf of the Emperor of the French), which would have ceded it to Italy after the plebiscite, but Venetia was already under the Italian sovereignty after the French government renounced to it on 19 October 1866. This increases doubts on the real importance of the plebiscite and leading historians suggest that the referendum in Venetia was held under military pressure, as a mere 0.01% of voters (69 out of more than 642,000 ballots) voted against the annexation and a mere 0.1% (567 ballots) was null, and that it was ultimately rigged. Some historians also suggest that the referendum was a mere administrative affair to Italy, just to formalize the sovereignty on a territory already under its possession, and that no real choice nor free vote was granted to the local population, after having investigated into the historical archive of the Austrian Foreign Office. The plebiscite could have been a mere demonstration to gain legitimacy after the bad conduct of Italy during the war.” (Annexation of Veneto by Italy, Venetian nationalism, Wikipedia)

See also: Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II - Lion of Saint Mark in Chains

Sexy Berlin Events

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“Sexy Berlinevents” advertising trailer parked in front of the Berliner Dom
(Please notice the arrival and departure point)
Am Lustgarten
Berlin, September 2011