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)

Specks Hof

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Specks Hof by Emil Franz Hänsel, 1929
(Restoration RKW architects, 1995)
Reichsstraße / Nikolaistraße
Leipzig, September 2024

“Specks Hof is a commercial building with the oldest preserved shopping arcade in Leipzig, Germany. The complex near St. Nicholas Church is an example of Leipzig's trade fair and trading buildings, which were built at the beginning of the 20th century. Specks Hof stretches over 82 m (269.0 ft) along Schuhmachergäßchen between Reichsstrasse and Nikolaistrasse, where the building has front lengths of 40 m (131.2 ft) and 47 m (154.2 ft) respectively. To the south it borders on the Reichshof, the Hansahaus and the post-war new building with the oriel window called Fürstenerker. The postal addresses are Reichsstrasse 4 and Nikolaistrasse 3–9.” (Specks Hof, Wikipedia)

Dragon lamp

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Dragon lamp
Palazzo Comunale (Palazzo Gotico)
Piazza del Cavalli
Piacenza, May 2024

“In 1281, the ghibellin Alberto Scoto, wanted to build the palace and sent for four architects from Piacenza: Pietro da Cagnano, Negro De Negri, Gherardo Bellman and Pietro da Borghetto. Following the first project, the palace should have been quadrangular, but work was stopped due to an epidemic plague. Only the north side of the palace was finished. The result is an excellent example of civil ogive architecture in lombard Gothic style.” (Palazzo Comunale, Wikipedia)

Boy on a turkey

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“Boy on a turkey” by Georg Wrba, 1913
Italienisches Dörfchen
Theaterplatz
Dresden, September 2024

“The Italienisches Dörfchen (Italian Village) is a restaurant in Dresden. It is located on Theaterplatz, near the Hofkirche (Court Church), the Zwinger Palace, and the Semper Opera House, in the historic part of the city center. The name refers to earlier buildings on this site. When the Italian architect Gaetano Chiaveri built the Catholic Court Church, Chiaveri's craftsmen and artists, who presumably also came from Italy, lived in numerous small houses near the construction site on the steep left bank of the Elbe bend. This followed the principle of the cathedral construction lodges, which were established in the Middle Ages during the construction and later for the maintenance of great cathedrals. Dresden's locals soon dubbed the houses the ‘Italian Village.’ The settlement, with the exception of a few inns, was demolished to build the new Royal Court Theater, the first Semper Opera House.” (Italienisches Dörfchen, Wikipedia)

Cittadella di Parma

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Cittadella di Parma (Cittadella di Parma)
Parco Cittadella
Parma, May 2024

“The Citadel of Parma (Italian: Cittadella di Parma) is a pentagonal fortress built in the Emilian city in the last years of the 16th century. The structure was erected at the behest of the Duke of Parma and Piacenza Alessandro Farnese and entrusted to the engineers Giovanni Antonio Stirpio de' Brunelli and Genesio Bresciani with the collaboration of Smeraldo Smeraldi. To build it, the Maggiore canal was diverted, whose course was joined with that of the Comune canal up to the Porta Nuova (today's Barriera Farini). Created for defensive purposes, and for this reason equipped with ramparts and moats, it was later used as barracks, as a prison for political crimes and as a place for executions. Between the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the fortress, which retains its original pentagonal shape, was renovated and used as a public park, with spaces dedicated to sports and children's activities. The structure has five bastions. The main entrance, characterized by a monumental facade in Angera stone, is to the north, while the other, the Porta del Soccorso, is to the south. The main entrance gate, designed by Simone Moschino and built by Giambattista Carra in 1596, has been preserved without later modifications.” (Citadel of Parma, Wikipedia)

Dům U Nováků

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Dům U Nováků (Novak House)
Vodičkova, Nové Město
Prague, September 2024

“The U Nováků House is an Art Nouveau commercial and multi-purpose building at Vodičkova 699/34, 110 00 in New Town, Prague 1, near Wenceslas Square. It was named after Josef Novák, a tailor and textile entrepreneur who operated the department store and also owned a tailor's salon there. The building has been protected as a cultural monument since 1958. The plot once housed the house and shop of the butcher Vodička, after whom the street is named. Here in 1878, the brothers Antonín and Josef Nováková, originally from Česká Třebová, purchased a house and a yarn and toy shop, a former brewery, U Štajgrů, for a relatively small sum. The brothers acquired the shop from a seriously ill owner who died three days after the transaction. The brothers focused the shop solely on selling textiles. After Antonín Novák's death, Josef took over the management of the business, successfully developing it and expanding the range to include tailoring and fashion. The house was built between 1901 and 1904 according to the design of the famous architect Osvald Polívka. It is a multifunctional commercial palace with an arcade, shop and facilities, offices, sports halls, a gaming room and the U Nováků theatre for 700 spectators and a cabaret hall. The client and owner of the building, Josef Novák, died two years after its completion in 1906 , at the age of 51. However, the name J. Novák remained on the house for a long time and was returned to it after the Velvet Revolution of 1989.” (Dům U Nováků, Wikipedia)

Caryatid MTPHSCL

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“Caryatid MTPHSCL” by Alexey Morosov
Via Toselli
Pisa, November 2024

“Four sculptures will be placed outdoors, in a route that traverses the history of the city: starting from Via Duomo, in the context of Piazza dei Miracoli, a position of honour that only a few contemporary artists have had the privilege of conquering. The other works will be placed in Via Pietro Toselli, in front of Palazzo Blu, a historical residence and art centre, Lungarno Gambacorti, in front of the Church of Santa Maria della Spina, Lungarno Ranieri Simonelli, in the space in front of the Guelfa Tower.” (Exodus, Turismo Pisa)