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Larry Muffin At Home

Tag Archives: Architecture

Music for a sunny day

18 Thursday Jun 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in Music

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Architecture, baroque, Georg Bahr, life, Reformation

In the mid-1990 I became interested in Dresden in the province of Saxony, formerly East Germany. We visited Bach’s city Leipzieg also in Saxony, which is a worth a visit for the music and the art. However Dresden is a miracle or re-birth and to see it today you can only be glad that the people of Dresden had the vision to resurrect their city from the ashes of the Second World War and the utter mismanagement of the East German Communists.

We followed for many years the reconstruction which has been on-going for 30 years and one spectacular example is the Frauenkirche in old Dresden. A Lutheran Church built originally with donations by the Lutheran community of Dresden in response to the King August the Strong who wanted to become King of Poland but had to convert to Catholicism to do so and built a Catholic Cathedral next to his palace.  Saxony is a very protestant state and Martin Luther had a strong influence at the time of the Reformation.

The Frauenkirche now has on a weekly basis on YouTube short concerts from this magnificent baroque church built by Georg Bähr the great master architect of the Baroque era in Germany.  The video shows the interior of the church and you can hear the great organ. Think that after February 1945 this church was nothing but a pile of rubble.

If you ever have a chance to visit Saxony and Dresden, it is well worth it. For those who love fine porcelain the city of Meissen, which is minutes away is the historical centre of porcelain making for Royalty all over Europe.

 

23:45 Berlin time

25 Monday May 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in Berlin

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Architecture, art., City Palace, Hohenzollern, Humboldt Forum, Prussia

Because of the size of the lantern to be hoisted on top of the dome of the City Palace as of 6am on Friday 29 May, if the winds are calm, it was transported late this evening in 2 sections, bottom and top on large flatbed trucks through the streets of Berlin. It will stay in the front yard of the City Palace until Friday.

Here is a webcam shot take as it arrives at the Palace. This is the top part which is shame like Palm leaves.

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this is the bottom part with balustrade, missing here are the 8 winged angels as caryatid holding up the top part with palm leaves and the gold plated cross. Probably will be brought tomorrow for the final assembly of all parts.

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Will look for it in day light tomorrow to have a better view of the area.

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I also found this photo of the artists/workers applying the gold leaf to the lettering around the blue ring at the base of the dome which is visible from afar. Friedrich August Stüler (28 January 1800 – 18 March 1865) was an influential Prussian architect and builder. The dome of the palace is his creation.

King Frederich Wilhelm IV was an evangelical Lutheran and a staunch conservative, unlike his uncle Frederich II the Great, who did not bother much with religion, his political decision in 1845 had repercussions on the history of Prussia and Germany for 100 years. This is an amalgamation of passages in Acts 4:12 and Philippians 2.9-11 the inscription says:

There is no other salvation, there is no other name given to men so that at the name of Jesus, in honor of the Father, every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth.  

 

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Photos

16 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in Humboldt Forum

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Tags

Architecture, Berlin, City Palace

Here are some photo old and new to give you an idea of what is happening at the City Palace Berlin now known as the Humboldt Forum set to open in September 2020.

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This is the rebuilt City Palace, the South East corner. The photo below is the way it was prior to the Palace being bombed 1944 and destroyed 1958.

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Same South East corner. The Eastern portion has a the private Palace garden with a fountain and the old quarters of 1445 where the Royal Family lived. The architect proposed the modern Eastern look to please the politicians in the Bundestag.

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Here is a photo of Portal 1 on the South Side. It has been rebuilt exactly as it was. This photo dates from 1890. Note the two Grenadier guards and sentry boxes.

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This photo is truly ancient around 1865 when the front Eosander portal (West) of the City Palace faced a row of houses which will be demolished around 1885 to make way for the monumental memorial to the first German Emperor Wilhelm I. The gate is also interesting, when this photo was taken it was the City Palace of the King of Prussia. Above the columned gateway there is no Coat of Arms and 4 statues are missing a top the columns. Kaiser Wilhelm II will have modifications made to make this portal more grand befitting his new station in life as Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia.

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The memorial to his grandfather was demolished by the Communist government in 1958 and will not be rebuilt in the current plan.

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The monument is like a seesaw to symbolize German Unity and people will be able to walk on it as it rocks back and forth. Quite the modern concept.

 

Music on Mardi Gras

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in Music

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Architecture, art., Chateau, culture, France, life, Louis XV

On this Mardi Gras I was looking today at a documentary on the Château of Choisy-Le-Roy near the town of Choisy, this music was the background.  Concerto Comique no.14 La Choisy composed by Michel Corrette 1707-1795, who held many posts at Court and was a teacher.  These two pieces would have been composed for the Hunt, La chasse aux Cerfs which was done on horseback and packs of hounds. King Louis XV was an avid hunter and the woods of Choisy was his private domain. He did not like Versailles much and found life at Court tedious and boring with all its Official Protocol.

Unfortunately the Château and the domain were sold at the revolution and today nothing remains. Choisy in the last 30 years has made great efforts to save the park for the municipality and create public spaces on what was the domain. A rebuilt train station sits on what was once the grounds of the Château.

 

 

Man on the roof

11 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in Berlin

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Tags

Architecture, Germany, Humboldt Forum, Prussia

This morning I was looking at the Camera feed from the rebuilt Berlin Palace known as the Humboldt Forum and on the top of the dome of the palace stood a man. The dome is about to be completed with a new copper roof and later a lantern will be topping it. This fellow was probably seen by a lot of people in central Berlin. He is probably one of the roofers who work up there. The only way to get there is by the top of the dome a trap door opens up at the summit. What a photo! It must have been very windy up there. It was 6 C today and partially cloudy.

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This next photo is from the second courtyard of the Palace. Called the Portal IV of the Berlin Palace. The cartouche below the gold crown has the letters F.W. for Frederick Wilhelm, who was King of Prussia from 1786-1797 builder of the Brandenburg Gate.

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Photo

13 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by larrymuffin in Dresden, Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Architecture, art., GDR, life, Saxony, war

Dresden is a city in Saxony, Germany we have often visited since 1998. This city was until 1989 in East Germany after the partition of 1945.  It survived the war unscathed because it was a city known for arts and culture with no military vocation. However all that changed on the nights of February 14 and 15, 1945 just 2 and a half months before the end of the war, when the British launched massive aerial fire bombing of the city.

The old Dresden was completely destroyed and tens of thousands died. After the war under the communist dictatorship of the GDR, the old city was left pretty much as it was with its pile of rubble. Since 1990 it has been rebuilt completely and now there are no traces of the destruction. This in itself presents a problem,  if visitors are told the story of the City they will think it odd that no visible sign remain. On the other hand it all looks pretty new though built in the same style as before the destruction of 1945.

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This is the old public square by  the Frauenkirche, the lutheran church of our lady. None of the buildings in this photo including the church existed prior to 2010. It was all rebuilt to look and feel exactly as it use to be. Queen Elizabeth II gave the new cross atop the Church lantern in a gesture of reconciliation.

The most impressive reconstruction in Dresden is the lutheran church of our Lady ”Frauenkirche” built by Georg Bahr between 1726-43, measuring 90 meters in height and all made of stone. We saw it being rebuilt during 3 visits to the city. The interior is beautiful in its baroque decor. The original church like the reconstructed one was built with donations from Lutherans and others. Originally it was a protest by the people against their King August the Strong who had wild ambitions. He decided that he wanted to be King of Poland and of Saxony. The problem was that he would have to convert to the Roman Catholic Faith of the Poles to achieve his goal. He did and built a Catholic cathedral next to his palace. The population was not happy with his decision.

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Photo of 1920 of the Frauenkirche

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Photo from 1970 the Frauenkirche a ruin, we first saw it in this state prior to the start of the reconstruction. The building itself survived the fire bombing but on 16 February 1945 in the morning the Ministers of the Church went in to see about the damage and while inspecting it the cooling stone of the Church started to crack violently and crashed on top of them. In this photo you see a vast empty field compared with the reconstructed area today.

If you have a chance to visit Dresden, it is well worth it, located halfway between Berlin and Munich.

 

A new Berlin

11 Monday Nov 2019

Posted by larrymuffin in Berlin

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Architecture, Church, Faith, Germany, House of One

I am writing this today Monday 11 November, Remembrance Day in Canada when we reflect on the Armistice which ended the First World War. Though I am told that the name First World War belongs really to the War of Liberation in Europe against Napoleon, his 12 campaigns or 12 years of War involving all the Empires and Kingdoms in Europe was then considered a World War by Europeans Princes.

Berlin in the 20th century  was then seen as a Capital of the enemy who wanted to dominate the world. Then the Second World War brought more hatred and calamity on us all. Millions perished, countries ravaged and the world ended up divided between the West and the East with in 1961 a Wall dividing not only a city, Berlin but an entire continent, Europe, a Nuclear Arms race and mutual assured destruction was a political doctrine during the Cold War 1946-1989.

Since the reunification of Germany with the fall of the Wall 30 years ago this week, the German Federal Government decided that a new chapter would be written and this one would focus on peace and cooperation at home and in the world. For Berlin, the Capital once again, the Regional Government of Brandenburg and the Municipal City Council Berlin developed a plan to focus on the Age of Enlightenment and its great thinkers and artists and to take a humanist approach. If you visit Berlin you will see it everywhere, a truly progressive city and outlook.

The project of  House of One on PetriPlatz on FisherIsland, the Medieval centre of the original City of Berlin is in step with the new concept or approach in developing Berlin of the 21th Century.

PetriPlatz was the site of the original Church of St-Peter in Berlin centuries ago. It was destroyed in 1944 in Allied bombings and remained a empty piece of land in East Berlin under the GDR Government.

The project is to build as of 2020 a building The House of One uniting all 3 monotheist religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all having the same Abrahamic Foundation.

The “House of One” will comprise a church, a synagogue and a mosque. Three spaces connected to a central communal room.

The initiative became a foundation and the idea became a design. The model for which has already been exhibited internationally in Chicago and Paris – is special. Deep underground it preserves the archaeological remains of Berlin’s history and the various churches that were built, destroyed, rebuilt or bombed here. Above ground, it will rise some 32 metres into the sky, becoming a symbol of a new era.

The planned cost is around 43.5 million euros, donations coming from various countries. This Fall, the German Federal Government promised to contribute ten million euros, if the state of Berlin and individual donations could match that funding. Now the foundation stone is due to be laid on 14 April 2020.

This date was chosen very deliberately. 14 April 1783 saw the premiere of “Nathan the Wise” in Berlin. The great play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) is probably the most important work of classic German-language literature on co-operation between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Lessing uses a “Ring parable” to explain that God loves all three monotheistic religions – and they are therefore duty-bound to be tolerant.

‘Petrikirche was the start of Berlin, which has now grown into a multicultural, multi-faith city. A lot has happened over the centuries, this is a sign of peace and tolerance.’says  the architect Wilfried Kuehn.

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Two concept views of the new building soaring 32 meters or 104 feet. on PetriPlatz, Berlin.

 

 

Singers and Palaces

31 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by larrymuffin in Travel

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Alexander Palace, Architecture, Europe, Italy, Nicholas II, Revolution, Romanov

We went to the Pour House / Old Triangle which is a pub on Great George street in Charlottetown for the first night of Winter Jazz. The band featured well known professional musicians and singer Dylan Menzie of Belle River, PEI. Dylan has a great voice and an easy way with the audience.  I did not know about Winter Jazz, year round we go to Island Jazz but this is different, the calibre of the artists seems better. We are going again on 15 November to hear another artist, Erin Costello from Halifax.

Both Menzie and Costello have won awards for their work and are successful. Again the music scene in PEI is great.

Now on a completely different topic, I have been interested all my life by history and archeology of sites around the world. I really enjoyed our time in Rome and travelling in Italy for all the ancient site one could explore and try to understand. Near Rome next to Fiumicino Airport is the original site of the ancient Port of Ostia with its great basins and warehouses, you can see how ships arriving from Egypt with their cargo where un-loaded and re-loaded on flat bottom barges to be floated down 35 Km on the Tiber river to the City of Rome. A site few people know because it is in a isolate and wild area once part of a Princely Estate, though it is next door literally from the Airport terminal. There are many other sites, in Jordan I visited many times the Graeco-Roman city of Gerasa or Jerash as it is know today. Built by the Romans it is fascinating to see, it is said to be one of the best preserved city of the Decapolis, it is mentioned in Mark 5.1  and Luke 8.26.

The Jordanian Government with the help of international archeological experts have preserved and enhanced Jerash. You can walk its streets and understand what a great city it was in its time.

In Poland which was devastated by the Second World War, cities like Warsaw were rebuilt to recreate the buildings lost thus reviving national history. Many other countries have done the same.

With the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union,  Russia has rediscovered its past, it is no longer taboo to talk about Imperial Russia or the Tsars. In the last 30 years much has been done to restore history to its rightful place. Vladimir Putin who is from St-Petersburg has invested enormous amounts of money to restore the former Imperial Capital. We visited the city a few years ago and I would love to go back to see more of it.

It is a city of Palaces and its suburb Tsarkoye Selo (Tsar’s Village) was the private residence of the Romanovs since Peter the Great built it. It is a collection of Palaces and great Orthodox churches more splendid one from the other. The Second World War saw St-Petersburg endure a brutal siege of 900 days and more than 1 million city residents died, mostly of starvation. Much of the Palaces and gardens of Tsarkoye Selo where savagely vandalise, looted and destroyed. What you see today when you visit is extensively re-built and restored. Historical photos show the extent of the damage and it is a miracle to see it all re-born.  Some of it was rebuilt in the 1950’s but most of it has been restored in the last 25 years and some is still on-going at great expense and it involves a great deal of expert artistry. Russia appears to have an army of incredible artists who toil at recreating the past.

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Peterhof a baroque palace built for the wife of Peter the Great by Domenico Trezzini 1714-28. The top photo shows the palace in 1944 the bottom photo shows the palace today. A miracle of restoration. We visited it and it is impressive. 

Currently the Alexander Palace built in 1792 by Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi is being refurbished. This palace was built by Catherine the Great as a gift to her grandson Alexander who would become Tsar and fight Napoleon. He is the Tsar in the novel Tolstoy, War and Peace.

Later in 1905 this palace would become a residence for the last Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their 5 children. The family lived there and not at the Winter Palace in town for security reasons. The Winter Palace was used only for Official matters, the Alexander Palace was a private residence. After the Tsar abdicated in March 1917, they lived for a time in the Palace until their arrest and deportation to Siberia, they were murdered by the Bolcheviks in July 1918 on the orders of Lenin. It was President Boris Yeltsin who gave the late Imperial Family a State Funeral and invited the senior Romanovs and others to come to St-Petersburg for the funeral in 1998. The Russian Orthodox church declared them Holy Martyrs.

After the abolition of the monarchy the Palace is then turned into a museum, but little by little all the personal artifacts belonging to the Tsar’s family is either looted by the Bolcheviks, sold off in international art markets. Some will end up in other palaces like Pavlovsk where it remains to this day.

During the Second World War the Alexander Palace is destroyed by fire and looted by the German Army. It will remain largely a ruin until the 1990’s when efforts are made to renovate and rebuild. In the last 10 years, enormous efforts have been underway to bring the Palace back to its former glory, in 2020 eight rooms will be re-opened to the public and by 2022 it is hoped that the entire palace can be completed. It will be a permanent Memorial to the Family of Nicholas II since it was their family home.

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The left side of the Palace were the apartments of the Tsarina and her 5 children, the right side of the building was reserved for the Tsar. The palace itself is surrounded by enormous gardens with all manner of features, like a play house for the children, bridges over ponds, a hunting lodge for the Tsar and fantastical constructions to amuse and decorate the gardens.

The Romanovs employed both Italian architects and French garden designers, Charles Cameron a Scot was hired by Catherine the Great as her personal architect. She loved Roman antiquities and the neo-classical style.

Needless to say the restoration of these palaces is a great asset in promoting tourism and the Russian State and the regional authorities in St-Petersburg have done a lot to ensure that the memory of the Romanov are kept alive.

Here are some photos of the work done so far. Remember that the Alexander Palace was in a very poor state.

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The Maple room in 1945 used by the Tsarina as a living room.

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The Mountain Hall in 1946 with Soviet Officials posing.

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Another room in 1946, the tiles around the ruins of the fireplace are a deep greenish blue glaze.

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Second floor rooms waiting restoration. Structural work has already been done.

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The Maple room in 1920 some decorative elements have already disappeared, most of the large plants are gone. Much worse was to come. This room is under complete re-construction now since the war devastated the palace.

Some elements were saved by the Communist Curators of the Palace before the arrival of the German army in 1941.

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Some pieces of furniture did survive, because they were taken away before the war. This lapis-lazuli console table has been returned to the Palace.

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Original furniture and tiger skin rug which also survived, easier to move smaller objects in an evacuation. Now returned to the Palace.

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The Turkish Bath of the Tsar just completed with a large pool. This room had to be totally re-built and the tiles recreated from fragments found on the premises. Many photos of the era also helped.

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The study of the Tsar another room just completed in the renovations.

73117497_10221867234656794_1440528023873912832_n.jpgThe Maple room undergoing a complete reconstruction, this included recreating the delicate plaster work of guirlandes of flowers in an art nouveau style.

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The great library getting a new floor which will be an exact copy of the original.

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Ornate ceiling recreated.

This work at the Alexander Palace has been on-going for 8 years now. I cannot help thinking that once it is completed it will remain a very sad place knowing the fate of this inhabitants in 1917. Somewhat like the Miramar Palace in Trieste, once the home of Maximilian of Hapsburg and his wife Charlotte, before they accepted to move to Mexico at the invitation of Napoleon III to rule that country until Maximilian was executed by Mexican revolutionaries in 1867. His wife Empress Charlotte of Belgium returned to Europe but suffered a life of mental illness, living in seclusion and dying in 1927, quickly forgotten by her royal relatives in Austria, Belgium and Britain.

 

 

 

 

Sunday afternoon

13 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by larrymuffin in Uncategorized

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Anglican, Architecture, Atlantic, Bee hive, Bees, Canada., Charlottetown, choir, Harris, Music, PEI, St-Paul, W.C.Harris, weekend

Despite being small, the Capital Charlottetown does not lack for things to do. This weekend we went to the Island Craft Show, one of the first Christmas event where you can shop for Xmas gift ideas. Everyone displaying items are artisans and most are well known to everyone. It’s 2 blocks away from our house so we walked down, it was not crowded, we looked around, we bought a few books on PEI and one on Acadian Christmas Traditions on PEI, we bought a small clock shaped like the Lighthouse at Point Prim for our guest bedroom, it is made of carved maple wood and is rather handsome piece.

Today we went to a concert at St-Paul’s Anglican Church, the Atlantic String Machine was playing all Russian music, they are a small ensemble of professional musicians. St-Paul’s is an old stone church built of red flagstones typical of the Island. The architect was William Critchlow Harris, the brother of the famous Canadian painter Robert Harris. You know its a Harris building simply by looking at the inside, all in red Oak. This is the Whose Who Church in Charlottetown, so many famous people, Fathers of Confederation, Governors etc and first families have been part of this parish, plaques everywhere on the walls. The stain glass windows are old and very nice, all done in that Pre-Raphaelite English style of the late 19th century. The city is very quiet now, next to no traffic and few people about, but you still manage to run into people you know anyway and always have a nice conversation.

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The weather is still warm in the teens and with bright sunshine it can be very pleasant to walk. However once the sun sets the temperature drop to 5C and that is a bit more chilly. We have also had strong winds at night which is to be expected.

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Province House around 04:30pm today. It is next to St-Paul’s Anglican Church where we were at the concert.

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The back of St-Paul’s in Charlottetown.

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Inside the wood ceiling, the acoustics are wonderful, no microphones needed.

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Details of the columns, wonderful wood work.

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This is a mural on Prince Street, I do not know the background to this Bee theme, but it is fun.

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The Bishop’s Palace on Great George Street, it is quite imposing and built in an Italianate Style.

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Another building by W.C. Harris, he was quite the busy architect in his time.

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Will reading the new books we bought at the Xmas Craft Fair.

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Our Street, early morning around 07:00am, the Sun rising in the East on the other side of our house.

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From our kitchen window, look at the fog over the Hillsborough River in the early morning.

A little puzzle in a picture

29 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by larrymuffin in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Alexander VII, Architecture, Basilica, Bernini, Boromini, Bramante, St-Peter, Urban VIII, Vatican

Look at this painting of the St-Peter’s Basilica in Rome. A very famous view of this famous church. However if you look closely you will notice that it is not as it appears today. Something is missing. In this painting dated 1630 we see the two bell towers as imagined by Pope Urban VIII. Bernini was put in charge of decorating the interior of the newly built basilica. Then a new Pope Alexander VII asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1658 to enhance the site as we see it today.

Construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica began in 1506, led by Pope Julius II with Donato Bramante on board as chief architect. Bramante designed the basilica and its dome up until 1513 when Pope Julius died; he was replaced, in succession, by Fra Giocondo, Guiliano da Sangallo, and Raphael. While Giocondo and Sangallo made their contributions, they both died in 1515, followed by Raphael a few years later in 1520.

Next in line to design for Saint Peter’s was Michelangelo, who famously said, “I undertake this only for the love of God and in honor of the Apostle.” Michelangelo decided to build upon Bramante’s early plans. His biggest contribution was the dome that was built atop the basilica in the year 1547. The dome was completed in 1590 and is still to this day the tallest dome in the world, spanning 448 feet. Everyone was quite pleased with the dome but some felt something was still missing, this something turned out to be the infamous bell towers of Saint Peter’s. Plans for bell towers atop St. Peter’s Basilica were drawn up during the reign of Paul V. Using Carlo Maderno’s designs, they had been completed up to the balustrade, the crown of the basilica’s facade. Then comes Pope Urban VIII who is eager to try his papacy’s hand at completing the facade and campanile of St. Peter’s Basilica.

On the February 5, 1629 Bernini assumed the title of chief architect to the basilica of St. Peter’s. “It was in this capacity as architect to the basilica that Bernini undertook the design and construction of his ill-fated campanili.” Commissioned under Pope Urban VIII, Bernini was instructed to design two great bell towers on each corner of Saint Peter’s Basilica with Michelangelo’s dome in the middle. An early indication of Urban VIII’s interest in the facade of St. Peters dates to sketches from 1626 by Francesco Borromini. Borromini was an architect, contemporary, and rival of Bernini. He was also a more experience architect.

Colliding pressure from Urban the VIII to carry out the project to fit his own vision and pressure from Borromini, to seize the project as his own created unstable conditions for the early development of plans for the towers. Pope Urban VIII dies in 1644. Innocent X’s ascension to the papal throne brought with it a general disfavour towards any remnants of the previous Pope and his family the Barberini.

Bernini, as it turned out was a constant reminder of the previous pope’s legacy, a reminder which Innocent X was looking for any excuse to remove. Borromini, the architect who had been working on St. Peter’s yet passed over as Architect under Urban VIII, could not help but lend his expertise on the subject of the problematic bell tower construction.

Borromini eventually convinced Pope Innocent X to take down the rest of the towers as the weight of them created cracks in the whole structure of the facade. The pope was not entirely confident in this decision and may have even had some regrets concerning the demolition of the towers. Remnants of their presence still haunt the facade of St. Peter’s in the shape of low bases that extend the length of the facade to the naked eye. The facade of St. Peter’s Basilica now has the oppressive feeling of excessive width. By looking at the building one senses there is something missing or wrong. Francesco Borromini looses his position with the death of Pope Innocent X.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini is called back by the new Pope Alexander VII who ascends the throne in 1655. He will continue to work for the Pope until his death realizing many other grandiose projects you can see today in Rome.

My question to you dear readers is, what did Bernini built beyond the now demolished bell towers which is such a great visual aspect of St-Peter’s basilica and piazza today? Do you know, can you tell?

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Viviano Codazzi, St-Peter’s basilica 1630

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Original St-Peter’s basilica from the 4th Century AD.

The original St-Peter’s Basilica around 319 AD built by Emperor Constantine. It will be demolished around 1500 to make way for the New St-Peter’s Basilica we see today with the new construction started in 1506 it will continue until 1660. On the image the Vatican Obelisk is on the left side of the old basilica. It was moved to the Centre of the St-Peter’s Piazza in the 16th century.

Sadly, little is known of its origins or which Pharaoh ordered its construction, but it was certainly quarried in Egypt and intended to be erected in Heliopolis. Sometime between 30 and 28 BC the red granite obelisk shows up in Alexandria under Augustus’s instructions to have it erected in the Julian Forum there.
It was Gaius Caligula who had the obelisk bought to Rome in 37 AD. It was the largest non-inscribed obelisk to leave Egypt, at 25.5 m high and weighing an estimated 326 tonnes. The obelisk was originally erected in gardens Caligula had inherited from his mother, and then on the central Spina of Caligula’s circus. Much of the circus is today under the basilica and square, the original spot for the obelisk is near the present-day sacristy, south of the basilica.
Because of the solid pedestal on which the obelisk was placed, it remained standing for 1,500 until it was moved to where it stands today in Saint Peter’s Square. It took thirteen months, between 1585 and 1586 to move and re-erect the obelisk. The idea to move it was that of Pope Sixtus V, as part of his desire to recover and re-erect all the obelisks lying then in the ruins of Rome.

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travelwithgma

Journeys of all kinds

Cuisine AuntDai

Journey as an owner of a Chinese restaurant in Montreal

A Beijinger living in Provincetown

Life of Yi Zhao, a Beijinger living in Provincetown, USA

theislandheartbeat

LES GLOBE-TROTTERS

VOYAGES, CITY GUIDES, CHATEAUX, PHOTOGRAPHIE.

Antonisch

from ancient to modern and beyond

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2020-22

ROME - THE IMPERIAL FORA: SCHOLARLY RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES.

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2010-20.

ROME – THE IMPERIAL FORA: SCHOLARLY RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES.

The Body's Heated Speech

Unwritten Histories

The Unwritten Rules of History

Philippe Lagassé

In Defence of Westminster

Moving with Mitchell

Jerry and I get around. In 2011, we moved from the USA to Spain. We now live near Málaga. Jerry y yo nos movemos. En 2011, nos mudamos de EEUU a España. Ahora vivimos cerca de Málaga.

Palliser Pass

Stories, Excerpts, Backroads

Roijoyeux

... Soyons... Joyeux !!!

Fearsome Beard

A place for Beards to contemplate and grow their souls.

Verba Volant Monumenta Manent

Tutto iniziò con Memorie di Adriano, sulle strade dell'Impero Romano tra foto, storia e mito - It all began with Memoirs of Hadrian, on the roads of the Roman Empire among photos, history and myth!

Spo-Reflections

To live is to battle with trolls in the vaults of heart and brain. To write; this is to sit in judgment over one's Self. Henrik Ibsen

KREUZBERGED - BERLIN COMPANION

Everything You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Berlin

My Secret Journey

The road I have traveled to get to where I am today.

Buying Seafood

Reviews of Fish, Shellfish, and Seafood

Routine Proceedings

The adventures of a Press Gallery journalist

The Historic England Blog

Larry Muffin At Home

Remembering that life is a comedy and the world is a small town.

Sailstrait

Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown

dennisnarratives

Stories in words and pictures

Willy Or Won't He

So Many Years of Experience But Still Making Mistakes!

Prufrock's Dilemma

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”/Let us go and make our visit.

domanidave.wordpress.com/

Procrastination is the sincerest form of optimism

theINFP

I aim to bring delight to others by sharing my creative endeavours

The Corporate Slave

A mix of corporate and private life experiences

OTTAWA REWIND

Join me as we wind back the time in Ottawa.

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