Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Ca’ de l’Oreggia
Ca’ de l’Oreggia (House of the Ear)
Palazzo Sola-Busca
Via Serbelloni
Milano, May 2018
“In via Serbelloni 10 there is a Liberty-style building called Palazzo Sola-Busca, equipped with a little unusual intercom. The palace was renamed Ca’ de l’Oreggia (the House of the Ear, in Milanese dialect), because on the wall to the right of the main entrance door there is a bronze telephone, now clearly no longer working, just right shaped as an ear. It is the first intercom in Milan and one of the first in history. The work was made by the Milanese sculptor Adolfo Wildt in 1930, following the request for the construction of a particular intercom. Wildt thought well of seeing the function of that communication medium by giving it an ad hoc form: his ear. Immediately referable to the purpose, the allusive sense of that form was to ‘listen’ to the city.” (The House of the Ear, Milan City Tour)
Monday, July 30, 2018
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Vittorio Emanuele II in Pisa
Vittorio Emanuele II (Victor Emmanuel II of Italy) by Cesare Zocchi, 1892
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II
Pisa, January 2013
Friday, July 27, 2018
Thursday, July 26, 2018
Aux Morts
Aux Morts (To the Dead) by Paul-Albert Bartholomé, 1899
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, (Père Lachaise Cemetery)
Quartier du Père-Lachaise, 20th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014
“Behind the Aux Morts (To the Dead) monument sculpted by Paul-Albert Bartholomé lies an ossuary of the bones of Parisians from cemeteries all over the city, a smaller kind of modern-day catacombs. Although the monument is well known, it is not general knowledge that it is also an ossuary, and its doors usually remain closed and locked to the public. When it became overcrowded recently, the bones were removed for cremation and returned to the ossuary after the incineration process. In the Père Lachaise ossuary, efforts are made to store bones and ashes in separate boxes.” (Père Lachaise Cemetery, Wikipedia)
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Monday, July 23, 2018
Jacint Verdaguer
Jacint Verdaguer by Joan Borrell, 1912
Plaça de Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer
Barcelona, March 2017
“Plaça de Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer (colloquially Plaça Verdaguer or simply Verdaguer) is a square in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It lies in the intersection between Avinguda Diagonal, the city's main avenue, and Passeig de Sant Joan, in Dreta de l'Eixample, not far from the Sagrada Família. It's named after the 19th century Catalan-language epic poet of the Jacint Verdaguer, and is crowned by a noucentista monument made in 1912 by Joan Borrell of Verdaguer on top of a column and monumental construction designed by the architect Josep Maria Pericàs with Borrell's allegories of poetry. The bas-reliefs around the monument, featuring scenes from Verdaguer's works, particularly L'Atlàntida, were sculpted by the brothers Llucià and Miquel Oslé. The current Catalan name of the square was approved in 1980, merely changing it from the Spanish version: Jacinto Verdaguer.” (Plaça de Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer, Wikipedia)
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Museo Novecento
Museo Novecento
Ospedale di San Paolo (Hospital of San Paolo)
Piazza Santa Maria Novella
Florence, January 2018
“Dedicated to the Italian art of the 20th century, the Novecento Museum offers a selection of around 300 works located in 15 exhibition areas, in addition to a study room, a cabinet for drawings and prints and a room for conferences and projections. A journey backwards from the Nineties to the first decades of the Twentieth century retraces the unique artistic season that saw Florence as one of the most vital centres through paintings, sculptures, videos, installations and documents. The museum, structured chronologically, thematically and in an interdisciplinary way, creates an immersive experience which combines artworks with multimedia conveniences, sound devices, video halls.” (The Museum, Città di Firenze)
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Broken Obelisk
“Broken Obelisk” by Barnett Newman, 2006
Forecourt terrace of the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery)
Potsdamer Straße
Berlin, September 2011
“With the permission of the Barnett Newman Foundation, a fourth multiple was commissioned in 2003 and completed in 2005–06 by Lippincott, Merrifield, and Roberts. This last of the four multiples was installed in front of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 2007–08 and later acquired by Storm King Art Center. In the summer of 2014, all four multiples were on display in the United States at the following locations: Rothko Chapel, Houston; Red Square, University of Washington, Seattle; Museum of Modern Art, New York City; and Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, New York.” (Broken Obelisk, Wikipedia)
Friday, July 20, 2018
Argonaute (S636)
French submarine Argonaute (S636)
Cité des sciences et de l'industrie
Parc de la Villette
Avenue Corentin-Cariou
Quartier du Pont-de-Flandre, 19th arrondissement
Paris, July 2004
“In 1982, the Association of Friends of the Maritime Museum for the Atlantic (l'Association des amis du Musée de la mer pour l'Atlantique) selected Argonaute to save from scrapping. The Minister of Defence, Charles Hernu, agreed to save the submarine in 1984 after it was to become part of a permanent exhibition devoted to history of submarines and the technologies used in their construction at Cité des sciences et de l'industrie in La Villette Park, Paris. Argonaute, in reserve since 1982, was transported in 1989 on a 94 m (308 ft) barge, itself pulled by a tug, which arrived in Le Havre three weeks later via Gibraltar. The barge then went up the Seine to Gennevilliers where a dozen float balloons were added to raise the draught of the barge. Then the barge passed through the seven locks of the Saint-Denis Canal. Once at the quay on the Canal de l'Ourcq, Argonaute was lifted from the water by cranes and transported 400 metres (1,300 ft) by trailer to its current site. Argonaute opened to the public in 1991, outside the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, 30 Avenue Corentin Cariou, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.[7] In 2018, the permanent exhibition underwent an overhaul to include information about the future of the oceans.” (French submarine Argonaute (S636), Wikipedia)
Thursday, July 19, 2018
La Mela Reintegrata
“La Mela Reintegrata” (The Apple Made Whole Again) by Michelangelo Pistoletto
Piazza Duca d'Aosta
Milan, May 2018
“Walking out of Central Station Milan from under the domineering gallery of this overwhelming building, a large spacious plaza opens to the boulevard heading into the center of town. In the plaza in front of Central Station Milan, there is a giant, white Apple with a bite that has been repaired with steel stitching. A sculpture by Michelangelo Pistoletto which had been donated to the city of Milan in honor of the food and nourishment themed Expo of 2015. The sculpture is 8 x 8 meters high and weighs 11 tons. It is made of a steel structure covered in powdered marble and clay plaster. The stitching is made of stainless steel bars. According to Corriere, a variant of the apple was in Piazza Duomo and covered in grass during the expo and subsequently vandalized; the headline stated the apple was ‘Peeled by vandals’. The Italian title of the sculpture is ‘La Mela Reintegrata’ – ‘The Apple Made Whole Again’ and according to an interview with the artist in Panorama, the sculpture represents nature and the use of modern technology to save and replenish what has been lost. The apple has always been a symbol of life and the bite is what we have lost and must repair.” (The Big Apple of Milan, MilanoStyle.com)
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Dům s válečky
Dům s válečky (House with Rollers)
Seen from the Karlův most (Charles Bridge)
Prague, September 2017
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Monday, July 16, 2018
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Rolandova fontána
Rolandova or Maximiliánova fontána (Roland or Maximilian Fountain)
by Andreas Luttringer, 1572
Hlavné námestie
Staré Mesto (Old Town)
Bratislava, September 2017
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Saint Louis
Saint Louis by Antoine Étex, 1844
Place des Antilles, avenue du Trône
Quartier Sainte-Marguerite, 11th arrondissement
Paris, July 2012
“Originally, the square accommodated two pavilions and two columns of the barrière du Trône designed by Claude Nicolas Ledoux and built for the barrier of octroi (Mur des Fermiers généraux) which surrounded the entrance to the cours de Vincennes. The columns are surmounted by statues of kings Philip II and Louis IX.” (Wikipedia)
Friday, July 13, 2018
Fondazione Feltrinelli
Fondazione Feltrinelli by Herzog & de Meuron, 2016
Viale Pasubio
Milan, May 2018
“The historical analysis of the site drove the evolution of the design proposal. The urban organisation of Porta Volta traces its history back to the Mura Spagnole, the ancient 15th century city walls which were the last of a series of fortifications, and since the Roman times they have defined the city’s growing boundaries. After the opening of the bastion in the late 19th century, Via Alessandro Volta laid the basis for the city’s extension outside the ancient walls, connecting as a new, prominent urban axis the historical centre with Cimitero Monumentale. Today, the emptiness of the site is a testament to the historic walls, and at the same time a reminder of the destruction this area suffered during the Second World War.” (Feltrinelli Porta Volta, Archilovers)
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Beethoven-Denkmal
Beethoven-Denkmal (Beethoven Monument) by Caspar von Zumbusch, 1880
Beethovenplatz
Vienna, September 2017
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Carillon
Carillon in Berlin-Tiergarten
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee
Berlin, September 2011
“The Carillon in Berlin-Tiergarten is located in a freestanding 42-metre-tall (138 ft) bell tower next to the House of World Cultures (Haus der Kulturen der Welt), near the Chancellery in the northeastern part of Berlin's central Tiergarten park. It contains a large, manually played concert carillon, comprising 68 bells weighing a total of 48 tonnes (106,000 lb) connected to a keyboard spanning 5 and a half fully chromatic octaves; the largest bell weighs 7.8 tonnes (17,000 lb). The carillonneur sits in a playing cabin in the middle of the bells and plays with his fists and feet on a baton-and-pedal keyboard. The purely mechanical action makes it possible to play all dynamic gradations, from very soft to very loud. The carillon was given to the city by Daimler-Benz AG under CEO Edzard Reuter in 1987 on the occasion of Berlin's 750th birthday. It was cast by Royal Dutch foundry Eijsbouts according to the specifications of carillonneur Jeffrey Bossin. It is one of the largest instruments of its kind in Europe and approximately the fourth largest (by number of bells) in the world. Berlin carillonneur Jeffrey Bossin plays concerts on the carillon every Sunday at 3:00 p.m. from the beginning of May until the end of September and on the more important national holidays (2:00 p.m. in December); the programs include music written for the carillon and arrangements of classical works and popular songs. Tours of the carillon tower, including a unique view of Berlin and its government buildings, are offered at the end of the concerts. The carillonneur guides groups through the tower and (in English and German) answers questions, explains the special features of the instrument, and recounts the history of the carillon in Berlin from its beginnings under the first king of Prussia to the reunification of Germany. He demonstrates the instrument's playing technique and plays a carillon piece for his guests.” (Carillon in Berlin-Tiergarten, Wikipedia)
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Segreto del cielo
Segreto del cielo (Secret of the Sky) by Kan Yasuda, 1997
Giardino di Boboli (Boboli Gardens)
Florence, October 2013
Monday, July 9, 2018
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Arman
Grave of Arman
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, (Père Lachaise Cemetery)
Quartier du Père-Lachaise, 20th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014
“Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French-born American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave (‘cachet’, ‘allures d'objet’) to using them as the painting itself. He is best known for his ‘accumulations’ and destruction/recomposition of objects.” (Arman, Wikipedia)
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Nehushtan
The Nehushtan (The snake of Moses)
A gift of the emperor Basil II, 1007
Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio
Piazza Sant'Ambrogio
Milan, May 2018
“In the biblical Books of Kings (2 Kings 18:4), the Nehushtan (or Nohestan) (Hebrew: נחושתן or נחש הנחושת) is the derogatory name given to the bronze serpent on a pole first described in the Book of Numbers, which God told Moses to erect to so that the Israelites who saw it would be protected from dying from the bites of the ‘fiery serpents’ which God had sent to punish them for speaking against God and Moses Numbers 21:4-9. In Kings, King Hezekiah institutes an iconoclastic reform that requires the destruction of ‘the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan’. The term means ‘a brazen thing, a mere piece of brass’.” (Nehushtan, Wikipedia)
Friday, July 6, 2018
Anna von Preußen
Kurfürstin Anna von Preußen (Electress Anna of Prussia) by artist unknown, 1897
Kurfürstenhaus
Spreeufer, Nikolaiviertel
Berlin, September 2011
“Duchess Anna of Prussia and Jülich-Cleves-Berg (3 July 1576 – 30 August 1625) was Electress consort of Brandenburg and Duchess consort of Prussia by marriage to John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg. She was the daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia, and Marie Eleonore of Cleves. Anna was married to John Sigismund on 30 October 1594. Anna was described as intellectually superior to her spouse, temperamental and strong-willed. She is reported to have thrown plates and glasses at her spouse during arguments. She fought on her own to secure her succession rights to various fiefs and handled negotiations with her competitors. In 1612, she placed her demands before the Emperor. After the conversion of her spouse to Calvinism, Anna became the protector and spokesperson of the Lutherans. She continued to play an important role during the reign of her son. She opposed the Habsburgs and secured the marriage of her daughter Maria Eleonora to King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden against her son's will in 1620.” (Duchess Anna of Prussia, Wikipedia)
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Guildhall and Guildhall Art Gallery
Guildhall and Guildhall Art Gallery
Moorgate, City of London
London, September 2016
“Guildhall is a municipal building in the Moorgate area of the City of London, England. It is situated off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. The building has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation. It should not be confused with London's City Hall, the administrative centre for Greater London. The term "Guildhall" refers both to the whole building and to its main room, which is a medieval great hall. The nearest London Underground stations are Bank, St Paul's and Moorgate. It is a Grade I-listed building.” (Guildhall, Wikipedia)
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Il Commendatore
“Il Commendatore” by Anna Chromý, 2000
Stavovské divadlo (Estates Theatre)
Železná, Staré Město (Old Town)
Prague, September 2017
Monday, July 2, 2018
Philippe Auguste
Philippe Auguste by Auguste Dumont, 1844
Place de l'Île-de-la-Réunion, avenue du Trône
Quartier de Picpus, 12th arrondissement
Paris, July 2012
“Originally, the square accommodated two pavilions and two columns of the barrière du Trône designed by Claude Nicolas Ledoux and built for the barrier of octroi (Mur des Fermiers généraux) which surrounded the entrance to the cours de Vincennes. The columns are surmounted by statues of kings Philip II and Louis IX.” (Wikipedia)
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Casa Milan
Casa Milan (AC Milan Headquarters) by Fabio Novembre, 2014
Via Aldo Rossi
Seen from piazza Gino Valle
Milan, May 2018
“Since then, the flow of Italian and foreign fans, architecture enthusiasts and food lovers have been impressive and have generated great numbers. The architect Fabio Novembre, designer of Casa Milan, studied every detail of the building to combine the Rossoneri passion with design and in particular the most innovative technology with the story within the Mondo Milan Museum.” (A year-long success, Casa Milan)