Drago

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Drago (Dragon) fountain by Vico Consorti, 1977
Piazza Matteotti
Siena, February 2022

“Drago contrada’s fountain, inaugurated in 1977 and created by sculptor Vico Consorti, is somewhat unusual in that the totemic dragon is not featured. Rather, it depicts a boy playing a game of ‘pallone’, racing a collection of balls. In the statue, the only ball actually bearing colors is the winning one, carrying Drago’s red and green. Drago is located in Terzo di Camollia and extends from the stadium to San Domenico and east to Via dei Montanini. The fountain is tucked into a corner of Piazza Matteottti.  Drago’s patron saint is Catherine of Siena, whose festival falls on April 29.” (Siena's Contrada Fountains, La Bella Vita in Italia)

Deutsches Theater

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Deutsches Theater
Schumannstraße
Berlin, September 2011

“The Deutsches Theater is a theater in Berlin, Germany. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street (Schumannstraße), the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade. The main stage was built in 1850, originally for operettas. Adolf L'Arronge founded the Deutsches Theater in 1883 with the ambition of providing Berliners with a high-quality ensemble-based repertory company on the model of the German court theater, the Meiningen Ensemble, which had been developed by Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his colleagues to become "the most widely admired and imitated company in Europe", thanks to its historically accurate sets and costumes, vividly-realized crowd scenes, and meticulous directorial control. Otto Brahm, the leading exponent of theatrical Naturalism in Germany, took over the direction of the theater in 1894, and applied that approach to a combination of classical productions and stagings of the work of the new realistic playwrights. One of Brahm's ensemble, the legendary theater director Max Reinhardt, took over the directorship in 1904. Under his leadership, it acquired a reputation as one of the most significant theaters in the world. In 1905, he founded a theater school and built a chamber theater. Reinhardt remained the artistic director of the theater until he fled Nazi Germany in 1933. The Deutsches Theater remains one of the most prominent companies in Berlin.” (Deutsches Theater, Wikipedia)

Palazzo dei Diamanti

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Palazzo dei Diamanti, 1503
Corso Ercole I d'Este
Ferrara, May 2022

“Palazzo dei Diamanti is a Renaissance palace located on Corso Ercole I d'Este 21 in Ferrara, region of Emilia Romagna, Italy. The main floor of the Palace houses the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Ferrara (National Painting Gallery of Ferrara). To accommodate the growth of Ferrara, in 1492 the Duke Ercole I d'Este demolished the medieval walls of the city on the north, and had the court architect, Biagio Rossetti, design an urban expansion known as the Addizione Erculea. Rosetti was commissioned by Sigismondo d'Este, brother of the Duke Ercole I, to build this palace at the prestigious intersection of what was to be the Decumanus Maximus (now encompassing Corsi Porta Po, Biagio Rossetti, and Porta Mare) and Cardo Maximus (Corso Ercole I d'Este) of the ‘urban addition’. It was built between 1493 and 1503.” (Palazzo dei Diamanti, Wikipedia)

Haas-Haus

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Detail of Haas-Haus (Haas House) by Hans Hollein, 1990
Stock-im-Eisen-Platz
Vienna, June 2018

“The Haas House is a building in Vienna at the Stock-im-Eisen-Platz. Designed by the Austrian architect Hans Hollein, it is a building in the postmodernist style and was completed in 1990. The use of the Haas-Haus is divided between retail and a restaurant. The building is considered controversial owing to its contrast with the adjacent Stephansdom cathedral.” (Haas House, Wikipedia)

Bruco

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Bruco (Caterpillar) fountain by Angelo Canevari, 1978
Via dei Rossi
Siena, February 2022

“In 1978, the Bruco (caterpillar) contrada adapted an existing fountain to serve for their baptismal. Architect Lorenzo Borgogni restored the Fonte dei Frati Minori (also known as the Fonte di San Francesco) and added two sculptures. One, of a caterpillar, is found at the water inflow, and the other, of Barbicone the legendary leader of the Bruco, is the work of sculptor Angelo Canevari. Bruco’s territory extends from Porta Ovile to Piazza San Francesco along the north wall, and south to Palazzo Salimbeni. The fountain is found along Via delle Rozzi just south of the church of San Francesco. Bruco’s feast day is also July 2, the visitation of Mary and date of the Palio of Provenzano.” (Siena's Contrada Fountains, La Bella Vita in Italia)

Haus am Checkpoint Charlie

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Haus am Checkpoint Charlie
Friedrichstraße
Berlin, September 2011

“The Haus am Checkpoint Charlie Museum is one of a kind. A Berlin institution, there is simply no other museum quite like it as a chronicle of the Cold War Years and the extraordinary and highly ingenious escape attempts made by GDR citizens to reach the West. Checkpoint Charlie, along with Glienicker Brücke (Glienicker Bridge) was the best known border-crossing of the Cold War days. Its famous sign "You are now leaving the American sector" situated here became one of the iconic images of political and territorial division marked by the Berlin Wall and can now be seen exhibited in the museum. The Museum first started as an exhibition on the Berlin Wall, on October 19, 1962 in an a small two-room apartement on the Bernauer Straße, one of the Berlin streets divided into east and west by the Wall. The Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie opened on June 14, 1963, as the vision stemming from its freedom-fighter founder and director Reiner….who died in 2004. Ideally located next to the border-crossing from where the toing and froing next to the border could be observed. Throughout the years it was constantly extended in its effort to chronicle the historical and political milestones which the divided city was experiencing including the confrontation between the Soviet and US tanks at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961. Many of the exhibits which can be seen in the museum resulted from the solidarity shown to escapees such as the hot-air balloons, the escape vehicles with special concealments, and the one-man submarine. Part of the exhibition is devoted to the great heroes of our times and to non-violent action and the days when political dissidents fought against the risk of being incarcerated as prisoners of conscience. Other impressive acquisitions include the Charta 77 typewriter, Elena Bonner’s ‘death mask’ of Andrei Sacharov and Mahatma Ghandi’s diary.” (Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin.de)

Rotonda Foschini

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Rotonda Foschini (Foschini round court)
Teatro Comunale
Corso della Giovecca
Ferrara, May 2022

MAAT

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MAAT - Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia
(Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology) by Amanda Levete, 2018
Avenida Brasília, Belém
Lisbon, April 2019

“The Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia) is a museum in Lisbon, Portugal. MAAT is a cultural project for the city Lisbon that is focused on three areas - Art, Architecture, and Technology. The €20m museum sits on the River Tagus (Rio Tejo) to the west of the city centre. and ‘one of Europe's most lyrical new museums’. It establishes a connection between the new building and the Tejo Power Station, one of Portugal's most prominent examples of industrial architecture from the first half of the 20th century, and one of the most visited museums in the country. The museum is designed by Amanda Levete Architects. MAAT's ambition is to present national and international exhibitions by contemporary artists, architects, and thinkers. The programme also includes various curatorial perspectives on EDP Foundation's Art Collection, reflecting current subject matters and trends.” (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Wikipedia)

Rinascita

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“Rinascita” (Rebirth) by Pier Luigi Olla, 1995
Via dei Rossi
Siena, February 2022

Die Gebrüder Jakob

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“Die Gebrüder Jakob” (The Jakob brothers) by Albrecht Klink, 2004
Alte Jakobstraße, Kreuzberg
Berlin, September 2011

Borso d'Este

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Borso d'Este by Niccolò Baroncelli (1927 replica by Giacomo Zilocchi), 1454
Palazzo Municipale (Town Hall)
Piazza della Cattedrale
Ferrara, May 2022

Choir rehearsal

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Choir rehearsal
Burggarten, Josefsplatz
Vienna, June 2018

“When Napoleon’s troops withdrew from Vienna in 1809, clutching the Treaty of Schönbrunn and their souvenir fridge magnets, the mess they left behind demanded a redesign of the area around the Hofburg palace complex. Part of this redesign was the creation of the Kaisergarten or Emperor’s garden, a private area for the Imperial family to (I assume) take off their shoes and enjoy a picnic. The authorities extended the area in 1863, then reduced it again a few decades later to create space for the Neue Burg palace extension that now borders one side of the park. Following the demise of the monarchy and the change to a republic in 1919, the Kaisergarten passed to the state. Many streets and similar were renamed to remove the Imperial connection. And so the Emperor’s Garden simply became the Burggarten.” (Burggarten, Visiting Vienna)

Basilica of San Francesco

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Basilica of San Francesco
Piazza San Francesco
Siena, February 2022

“San Francesco is a basilica church in Siena, Tuscany, Italy. It was erected in c. 1228-1255 and later enlarged in the 14th-15th centuries, the original Romanesque edifice being turned into the current large Gothic one. The basilica is on the Egyptian Cross plan, with a nave covered by spans and a transept, according to type favoured by the Mendicant Orders, which needed spaces capable to house large crowds of faithful. The current interior looks rather sober after a fire in 1655 and the restoration of 1885–1892, when many of the Baroque altars were demolished (some of the paintings has been however returned in recent times). The neo-Gothic façade, flanked by the 1763 campanile, dates to the early 20th century. The medieval marble decoration and the 15th century portal were removed in that occasion.” (Basilica of San Francesco, Wikipedia)

Flucht aus der Zeit

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“Flucht aus der Zeit” (Escape from Time) by Rolf Szymanski, 1992–2004
Alte Jakobstraße, Kreuzberg
Berlin, September 2011

Niccolò III d'Este

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Monument to Niccolò III d'Este by Niccolò Baroncelli and Antonio di Cristoforo (1927 replica by Giacomo Zilocchi), 1451
Palazzo Municipale (Town Hall)
Piazza della Cattedrale
Ferrara, May 2022

“Erected in 1451 in Ferrara, this equestrian statue would have been the oldest surviving equestrian statue since antiquity, had it not been destroyed during the Napoleonic invasions in 1796. A later copy of this statue is placed on a marble base in the form of a triumphal arch, termed the Arco del Cavallo.” (Niccolò III d’Este, Equestrian Statues)

Central Tejo

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“Central Tejo” by Pedro Cabrita Reis, 2018
Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia
Avenida Brasília, Belém
Lisbon, April 2019

“The EDP Foundation commissioned the artist Pedro Cabrita Reis to produce the sculpture Central Tejo, which was completed in June 2018. A couple of possible locations were presented to him, but Cabrita Reis already knew exactly where he wanted to install the piece: at a pier on the Tejo in front of the old power station, where the barges which supplied coal to the energy factory would moor before the latter was turned into a museum. ‘It’s a historical place. Any artwork created there would immediately become part of the city’s history.’ To achieve the delicate balance between monumentality and lightness, Cabrita Reis used two of his favourite materials — aluminum tubes and fluorescent lights. A common denominator of most of his work since the mid 2000s, aluminium and neon lights are the basis of some of his most well-known pieces, such as the installation A Remote Whisper, presented at the Venice Biennale in 2013. ‘I work with everyday materials, which are easily recognisable’, he explains. ‘People see simple aluminum tubes and fluorescent lights which are identical to the ones they have at home and are disarmed.’ The configuration of the piece also had to be simple. ‘Simplicity,’ the artist stresses, ‘is always the objective’.” (Pedro Cabrita Reis — Central Tejo, 2018, MAAT)

Oratory of San Bernardino

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Oratory of the Compagnia di San Bernardino
Piazza San Francesco
Siena, February 2022

“The Oratory of the Compagnia di San Bernardino is a place of worship in the Piazza San Francesco in Siena. Elevated to minor basilica status in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, it adjoins rooms housing the diocesan museum.[1] It is notable for its frescoes from various 16th- and 17th-century Sienese painters like Sodoma and Domenico Beccafumi. The oratory is almost adjacent to the Basilica of San Francesco, Siena.” (Oratory of the Compagnia di San Bernardino, Wikipedia)

Schlesisches Tor

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Clock, Schlesisches Tor U-Bahn station
Oppelner Straße, Kreuzberg
Berlin, September 2011

“The station is located in eastern Kreuzberg, near Oberbaumbrücke, in the Bohemian quarter commonly known as SO36 (named after its former postal code). The station is named after one of the former city gates of Berlin, built in the early 18th century; the road that ran through it led southeastward to the province of Silesia. The exceptionally richly designed station opened on 18 February 1902, on the first U-Bahn line erected by the Siemens & Halske company (the Stammstrecke). On 11/12 March 1945, this station was directly hit, and the track area was severely damaged. During the division of Berlin after 13 August 1961, the station was the eastern terminus of the U1, as the final station, Warschauer Straße, was in East Berlin. The link was reopened in 1995. An intermediate station at the Spree river, Stralauer Tor, had been destroyed in 1945 and never reopened. Schlesisches Tor was an atmospheric location in the 1966 espionage film The Quiller Memorandum, starring George Segal and Alec Guinness.” (Schlesisches Tor, Wikipedia)

La Vittoria del Piave

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“La Vittoria del Piave” (The Victory of the Piave) di Arrigo Minerbi, 1920
Torre della Vittoria
Piazza Trento e Trieste
Ferrara, May 2022

“The Piave’s Victory is one of the most famous sculpture by Arrigo Minerbi (1881-1960) who replicated a bronze version for the entrance of the D’Annunzio’s Vittoriale. The classic iconography of the Victory - with wings - combines the soft shapes of the Italian Liberty with some German influences.” (Monumento alla Vittoria del Piave, L'archivio della scultura)

Freiwilliger Durchgang

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Freiwilliger Durchgang (Voluntary passage)
Raimundhof
Windmühlgasse
Vienna, June 2018

“This somewhat mediterranean, super charming passageway, the Raimundhof, is a true treasure. It can get kind of confusing trying to find it, but once you find it, it´s like a tiny village stuffed into a small alleyway. Entering from Mariahilfer Straße, you´ll first pass a beautiful yard that´s leading to a narrow passageway, here you’ll find some really funky boutique stores, like a jewellery store and Superfood Deli – the go-to eatery for those looking to be super human by eating superfoods. Venture in a bit deeper and you’ll find Graf & Gräfin, a little heaven of a store for stylish folk and a few little unique cafes. It also makes for a great and pretty shortcut when going between Gumperndorfer Strasse and Mariahilfer Strasse.” (Raimundhof, Vienna Würstelstand)

Ave Maria

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“Ave Maria” (Hail Mary)
Vicolo di Provenzano
Siena, February 2022

Klingende Blume

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“Klingende Blume” by Achim Kühn, 1985
Puschkinallee, Alt-Treptow
Berlin, September 2011

Girolamo Savonarola

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Monument to Girolamo Savonarola by Stefano Galletti, 1875
Piazza Savonarola
Ferrara, May 2022

“Girolamo Savonarola, (21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) was an ascetic Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of secular art and culture, and his calls for Christian renewal. He denounced clerical corruption, despotic rule, and the exploitation of the poor. In September 1494, when Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and threatened Florence, such prophecies seemed on the verge of fulfilment. While Savonarola intervened with the French king, the Florentines expelled the ruling Medicis and, at the friar's urging, established a ‘popular’ republic. Declaring that Florence would be the New Jerusalem, the world centre of Christianity and ‘richer, more powerful, more glorious than ever’, he instituted an extreme puritanical campaign, enlisting the active help of Florentine youth. In 1495 when Florence refused to join Pope Alexander VI's Holy League against the French, the Vatican summoned Savonarola to Rome. He disobeyed and further defied the pope by preaching under a ban, highlighting his campaign for reform with processions, bonfires of the vanities, and pious theatricals. In retaliation, the pope excommunicated him in May 1497 and threatened to place Florence under an interdict. A trial by fire proposed by a rival Florentine preacher in April 1498 to test Savonarola's divine mandate turned into a fiasco, and popular opinion turned against him. Savonarola and two of his supporting friars were imprisoned. On 23 May 1498, Church and civil authorities condemned, hanged, and burned the three friars in the main square of Florence.” (Girolamo Savonarola, Wikipedia)

Tomb of Fernando Pessoa

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Tomb of the poet Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935)
Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery)
Praça do Império, Belém
Lisbon, April 2019

“The inside walls of the cloister have a wealth of Manueline motives with nautical elements, in addition to European, Moorish and Eastern motifs. The round arches and the horizontal structure are clearly in line with the Renaissance architectural style, while at the same time there is also a relationship with Spanish architecture. The decorations on the outer walls of the inner courtyard were made in Plateresco style by Castilho: the arcades include traceried arches that give the construction a filigree aspect. In one of these arcades is the sober tomb of the poet Fernando Pessoa, while several other tombs in the chapterhouse contain the remains of the poet and playwright Almeida Garrett (1799–1854), the writer-historian Alexandre Herculano (1810–1877), former presidents Teófilo Braga (1843–1924) and Óscar Carmona (1869–1951).” (Jerónimos Monastery, Wikipedia)

Via delle Vergini

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Old fountain
Via delle Vergini
Siena, February 2022

Die Waschmaschine

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‘Die Waschmaschine’ (The washing machine)
Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus by Stephan Braunfels, 2003
Adele-Schreiber-Krieger-Straße
Berlin, September 2011

“The scientific service centre of the German Parliament is directly on the Spree. This new building, inaugurated in 2003, owes its name to the social politician and women's rights campaigner Marie Elisabeth Lüders. Alongside the Parliamentary Library and specialist scientific service providers it also accommodates a Wall memorial open to the public. Parts of the Berlin Wall have been rebuilt here to commemorate the division of the city along the former route of the Wall. Together with the Federal Chancellory and Paul-Löbe-House, Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders House also forms part of ‘Federal Row’, an architectural symbol of German unity.” (Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders House, Berlin.de)

Chiesa di San Domenico

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Chiesa di San Domenico (Church of Saint Dominic)
Piazza Sacrati
Ferrara, May 2022

“The Dominican complex, composed of the church and the large monastery, little of which still exists, was located exactly on the line that divided the medieval city from the Renaissance one. The present-day church, built in the 1700s, was designed by Vincenzo Santini; the only remains of the original church, which faced the opposite direction, are the campanile and an apsidal chapel that can be seen alongside the façade. Interior: laid out along graceful, classical, but rather sober lines, the interior contains numerous paintings, some of which are of a certain value, particularly the works of Cignaroli (second chapel on the left) and Bononi (fifth chapel on the right). A wooden choir dating back to 1384 is conserved behind the high altar. The floor of the church is almost completely covered with age-old gravestones.” (Church of S. Domenico, Ferrara Terra e Acqua)

Kunsthalle Wien

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Kunsthalle Wien
MuseumsQuartier
Vienna, June 2018

“Kunsthalle Wien is the city of Vienna's institution for international contemporary art and discourse with two locations, in the Museumsquartier and at Karlsplatz. Kunsthalle Wien does not have a collection of its own, but instead dedicates its changing solo and thematic exhibitions to art and its relations to social change. It produces exhibitions, researches art practices, and supports local and international artists. It seeks to ground its knowledge of international contemporary art in and for Vienna, and advocates for the usefulness of artistic thinking in the wider public sphere.” (Kunsthalle Wien, Wikipedia)

Giraffa

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Giraffa (Giraffe) fountain by Pier Luigi Olla, 1970
Piazzetta della Giraffa
Siena, February 2022

“The fountain of Giraffa contrada is a collaboration between architect Salvatore Bocci and sculptor Pier Luigi Olla, and was first used to baptize new contradioli in 1970. The image in brass bas-relief is that of a giraffe wearing a bridle and straining against the reins. The fountain is located in Piazzetta della Giraffa just off of Via del Fosso.  The contrada encompasses the Basilica of San Francesco, their contrada church of Santa Maria di Provenzano, and a large green area, on the east side of Siena.” (Siena's Contrada Fountains, La Bella Vita in Italia)

Herschel & Gretel

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“Herschel & Gretel” by Victor Kégli, 2001
Jüdisches Museum Berlin (Jewish Museum Berlin)
Lindenstraße
Berlin, September 2011