Melina Mercouri would be 100 years old in 2020, she died of cancer in New York in March 1994. She was a figure in my childhood, the movie Never on Sunday made her world famous. She was a women of great talent and became a vocal politician and defender of culture. She spoke well and with passion, her life long dream was the return of the Elgin Marbles taken from Greece during the Turkish Occupation by the British Ambassador Thomas Bruce Lord Elgin in a bid to make a quick profit, he was unlucky and despite bringing the marbles of the Parthenon to London, the British Museum refused to pay much for them. He lost his shirt in the process. The British Government to this day refuses to return the marbles, despite the fact that the New Acropolis Museum has a special room built on purpose for them. When I was accredited to Greece, I remember a plan where the British proposed to loan back the marbles at cost to the Greek Government, how cheeky!! They stole them from the Greeks in 1801.
Melina Mercouri came from a politically prominent family. She graduated from the Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece. Her first major role, at the age of 20, was Lavinia in Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra, but perhaps her most memorable parts were Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire and the good-hearted prostitute in the film Never on Sunday (1960). This film gained her an international reputation that would serve her well in politics. Her involvement in politics was triggered by her indignation over the military coup that brought a handful of army colonels to power in Greece in 1967 forcing King Constantin to go into exile.Married to the French-born film director Jules Dassin (1911-2008) (who directed most of her films), she was abroad when the coup d’Etat occurred. She dedicated herself to stimulating opposition against the military junta in Europe, to the extent that she was deprived of her Greek citizenship by the colonels’ regime.After the collapse of the dictatorship in 1974, she returned to Greece and promptly joined Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou’s Panhellenic Socialist Union (PASOK). She ran unsuccessfully that year for Parliamentary deputy from the same Piraeus district that had made her famous in Never on Sunday, but she was elected when she ran a second time, in 1977. Reelected in 1981 when Pasok won a general election, she was appointed by Papandreou to be his minister of culture.As Greek minister of Culture, one of her major efforts was an attempt to persuade the British government to return the Elgin Marbles stolen from the Parthenon to Greece; she also increased government subsidies for the arts. She served in the post until 1989, when PASOK lost power; she was reappointed after their electoral victory in 1993.
In 1971 Mercouri published an autobiography, I Was Born Greek. In 1997 UNESCO created the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes; the prize is awarded every two years.
White marble monument to the memory of Melina Mercouri on Andrea Siggrou street across from the Olympian Zeus Temple in Athens. In Athens I would pass her monument every morning on my way to work, hello Melina!
Manos Hadjidakis (1925-1994) won the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Never On Sunday” at the 33rd Annual Academy Awards® in 1961. He was one of the greatest Greek Composer of the 20th century. The song is actually entitled in Greek Ta Paidia tou Peiraia, les enfants du Pirée, the children of the Piraeus, the film was titled in English, Never on Sunday. A great classic, a movie I love to watch, though the Greece presented in this movie no longer exist.
The title is Japanese and means Ancient Moon. This is a jazz piece by Koichi Sugii and is part of Japanese Jazz and Salon Music from 1936-1941. It was very popular in Japan and even the Emperor HiroHito would request it be played by the Imperial guard, old 78 rpm exist out there for those who might like to hear it. Koichi Sugii (1906-1942) was a Japanese bandleader, composer, arranger, conductor, singer, accordionist and recording artist. He skilfully bridged Eastern and Western styles, combining American orchestral jazz with Japanese pop and Chinese folk music to create a sophisticated and melodic hybrid with broad appeal.
Sugii was born in Tokyo in 1906. His mother sang traditional Japanese music while accompanying herself on the samisen, a three-stringed instrument. An early familiarity with his country’s native folk songs later inspired Sugii to arrange these melodies in jazz settings.
Sugii took piano lessons from a Canadian teacher, and became an ardent admirer of Western classical traditions, jazz, and film music. In 1930, after graduating from Tokyo Imperial University, he was hired by the Osaka merchant shipping company, which assigned him to Buenos Aires. In Argentina the young business executive became fascinated by musical trends, especially the tango. Convinced his true interests were in music, Sugii returned to Japan in 1932 and found work composing and recording for a film studio. In 1935 he joined Sakurai Kiyoshi’s Sakurai y Su Orquesta, a Latin-influenced band which specialized in tangos.
Those years prior to the Second World War were years of great development in Japan and the wealth people enjoyed brought luxury products to Japanese markets and a fascination with Western habits. The brother of the Emperor had a complete Lalique Museum built after a visit in France where he and his wife had René Lalique’s house dismantled and rebuilt in their museum. If you visit Tokyo you can see it, fascinating.
This Art deco building built in 1933 is part of the The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The museum is located in Minato ward, just east of Meguro Station. The Art Deco building interiors were designed by Henri Rapin and features decorative glass work by René Lalique. It was pure delight to visit it and showed how sophisticated Japanese society is and was then.
Another spectacular area is the open air museum in Hakone outside Tokyo is easily reach by train. Japanese trains are a dream, never seen anywhere anything like it. The open air museum presents sculptures by Henri Moore, Constantin Brancusi, Barbara Hepworth, Rokusan Ogiwara, Kotaro Nakamura and Niki de Saint Phalle, 120 works in all, the green space was well thought out with trees, and shrubbery designed to bring peace and facilitate reflection for visitors, very much in the Shinto style.
There is more and another incredible find is the Lalique museum, yes more Lalique and Le Train café restaurant, the actual train transported from France, it was in service until 2001 and was part of the Orient Express line. I was trying to imagine how do you transport a train car from Europe to Japan. You can have tea on board with all the actual dishes and linens, absolutely exquisite, very high quality. Again the train car is decorated by Lalique panels and is exquisite in terms of luxury. Reservations are a must.
Our washing machine died with a clunk and a whine last Thursday, we were able to secure a new washing machine almost within one hour. The drawback delivery takes 7 days, oh my! So the clothing has been piling up as well as sheets and towels. We are really dependent on this machine, now we know. But the delivery will be made by Friday so patience and no panic.
I really miss good conversation with friends face to face and the laughs and gossip. Zoom is NOT the same thing.
Scaffolding coming down this week at the main gate portal of the City Palace. Friday is the capping off of the building which can be followed on webcam. Starting at 6 am Berlin time, weather permitting.
For the last few postings I have been writing about the City Palace in Berlin and its final phase of re-construction. You may have wondered why so much interest in this one building. In fact I have been following several other projects in Europe.
One such projects is Buckingham Palace in London, the Official Residence of the Queen. There is little info on what is going on, but it is a major refit of the place from plumbing to electrical system to cleaning and painting and general repairs. Rooms have been dismantled and furniture and paintings removed for safe keeping. The Queen left London because of the pandemic but also because her London Residence was under repair and not fit to live in due to all the noise and workmen etc… Windsor is her real home, private and comfy. She and her husband only live in a suite of rooms in one wing of the Castle and not in the entire place as you might see it from the outside, still it is pretty grand. Many other people live at Windsor in what is term Grace and Favour apartments. The Queen also has other relatives live in London at Kensington Palace and St-James Palace again in apartments, all are at the pleasure of Her Majesty.
Another project is the Alexander Palace built in 1793 in an Italian/Palladian style in Tsarkoye Selo outside St-Petersburg, the work is now reaching completion after many years of complete reconstruction of what was essentially a ruined building. The last private home of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife and children before their arrest and deportation in 1917. This has been a massive work of research and archeology, restoration of furniture, original fabrics, flooring, tiling, etc. all this made possible because of voluminous archives kept on the building. This site has a huge following in Russia and around the world.
The Roman Forum is another place I love to explore and read about, about 95 years ago it became the pet project of Benito Mussolini who poured financial resources and had the best academic work on unearthing this area of what was ancient Rome. To this day several Universities and team of archeologist work for years and sometimes a life time on one area. Even now with the building of the new Metro Line crossing the Forum under Via Dei Fori Imperiali more treasures are discovered. I had the good fortune to visit some of those sites being under study and excavation, it is a real marvel.
While in Beijing, I visited various sites around the former Imperial Capital, temples, palaces and the Forbidden City compound. I lived there about 3 years prior to the Olympics. The City itself was under massive construction and re-building. Entire neighbourhoods of 3 million people each would be vacated in a matter of 48 hours with the help of the Police and Army. The Temple of Heaven and the great park around it was a favourite site. The Communist Party with the increase in tourism re-discovered the roots of Chinese culture and its historical past. So recreation was the name of the game, unfortunately so much had been lost between 1967-1976 under Mao ills advised but politically convenient cultural revolution, that doing studies and repairing the damage proved difficult, so the repairs were done very quickly and often of poor quality. What really mattered to the Communist party was money from Western tourists and pushing a re-written history of China always glorifying the Party and the leadership.
In Jordan, I would visit just outside Amman about 35 km away the antic city of Jerash or Gerasa in the Bible. Built by the Romans and prospering as an important commercial link and military city, the Jordanian Government had archeologists work at restoring the extensive ruined city, its temples and theatres. There was a lot of archeological material artefacts just lying on the ground forgotten by time.
Istanbul and the Topkapi Palace grounds is also well worth exploring and how well preserve it is, including the treasury with its incredible amounts of precious stones. If you take a look in the once private areas you will discover a Polo Pavilion and grounds enjoyed by the Sultan, the entire place as a very Oriental feel. The Turkish people migrated from Central Asia one thousand years ago, keeping their Oriental culture.
I am endlessly fascinated by architecture, archeology and factual history. It has always been a hobby of mine.
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.
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.
Will look for it in day light tomorrow to have a better view of the area.
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.
In the period 2007-2011 I often went to Greece for work and lived near the Acropolis. I always made a point of going to the Acropolis to visit the sight. I was also in Athens when the new Acropolis Museum opened, truly a marvel of architecture with its glass floors where you can admire the subterranean area, the South side of the Acropolis hill was a sacred precinct with many shops and houses serving the pilgrims coming to the Acropolis. There were also two theatres, the Herodion which is still in use today, the other is the Sanctuary and Theatre of Dionysius built in 580 BC saw the performance of the first plays in the Western World, it had a capacity of 17,000 people.
This photo taken by a worker standing on a scaffold on the East side of the Temple. This area is not open to visitors.
Inside view of the Parthenon, looking West, (main door), to the left is the South side and the right is the North side. Between 2003 and 2020 major restoration have been undertaken to restore the second Parthenon Temple built by Pericles, it replace the one destroyed by the Persians some 2500 years ago. The Temple was dedicated to Athena Parthenos,(virgin) goddess protecting Athens. Her statue inside the Cella was a work by Pheidias, made of ivory and solid gold.
I remember the Parthenon prior to the undertaking of this restoration, it was much more ruined then. Modern techniques allowed for titanium rods to replace the old steel hooks locking the marble blocs into place. As can be seen on this photo the new white Pentelic marble in the columns replace the missing parts, it will eventually take the same golden hue of the original blocs. Recently the final phase of the restoration was undertaken with the decision to rebuild the North wall of the cella (chamber). The cella walls represent an amazing restoration challenge. A total of 360 ancient stones, many of them with new marble attachments, will be reinstalled, along with 90 completely new marble members. On the photo we can see on the North side a group of workers placing a white marble bloc . The cella or chamber contained the statue of Athena Parthenos which measured 11.5 meters tall.
Why is it that the Parthenon needs to be rebuilt in the first place? It all began in 1687, with the bombardment by the Venetian fleet under the command of Francesco Morosini, when large parts of the Parthenon’s cella walls collapsed. They remained in that state until 1822, when the Greeks, in the struggle for their independence, besieged Turkish troops on the Acropolis. The Turkish soldiers, running out of bullets, discovered that there was lead between the marble blocks, and so they knocked down the rest of the cella walls. The lead had been used by the ancient architects to protect iron clamps from corrosion.
To me the Parthenon is the symbol of Western civilization, from ancient Greece we received the notions of democracy, theatre, philosophy, citizenship. So the accidents of history and war should not deprive us of this beautiful monument.
On the acropolis in the restoration program, the entrance gate or Propylaia saw extensive rebuilding, the Erechtheion was also restored as was the Temple of Athena Nike (victorius), the effect is visually magical.
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.
Today may be the 25 February but the Sun is shining and it is +7 C and the snow is melting. Less than a month from now we will be in Spring, businesses will post help wanted since the tourist season opens around 15 April and the first cruise ship arrives 1 May. It’s also a good thing psychologically to think that Winter is almost done. Also on March 7 the Art Gallery of the Confederation Centre will open a new show by artist Victor Cicansky of Regina and then the Summer show which is a retrospective of painter Robert Harris (1849-1919) who is the famous painter of PEI, though he was born in Wales, studied in Europe and spent most his life in Montreal.
This photo of a bouquet of roses was taken some years ago in our home in Ottawa. I love the colours. To me such a bouquet is a sign of Spring.
As I have written previously I follow reconstruction projects in Europe of various gardens and palaces and churches mostly destroyed between 1939-1945. Army of artisans, fresco painters and stonemasons work on such projects for years to bring back to life beautiful buildings lost in the madness of war.
There are projects like la Chapelle Royale at Versailles which has been undergoing a complete reconstruction of its roof, no maintenance or work had been done since it was built in 1710. The design was presented to the king by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1699. It is fascinating to see the work done on the wood skeleton of the roof and on the slate tiles and decorative elements of the roof. The funding for such projects comes from the public, Friends associations and the Government.
Other projects one in London is the complete refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, plumbing, mechanical and electrical needs to be redone. This is paid for by the Queen and the Government. The Palace is largely used for ceremonial and representational purposes. For all intent and purposes the Queen lives at Windsor or on her Estate at Sandringham or Balmoral. Many family members live at Kensington Palace, the Heir Prince Charles lives on the Mall at Clarence House and others have apartments at St-James Palace. It should be remembered that the size of their living quarters depends entirely on the rank at Court, the larger the living quarters the more important you are. Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall have after the Queen the largest living quarters in London and several other homes across the UK.
Other projects I have been following for years are the refurbishment and reconstruction of the City Palace in Berlin (1445), The FrauenKirche (1726) in Dresden and the rebuilding of the historical centre of Dresden.
Potsdam city centre was destroyed in April 1945, 2 weeks before then end of the second World War. When I first saw Potsdam in 1998 the centre was still a field of ruins except for the Church of St-Nicholas which had been repaired by the Lutheran Church. A strange sight amongst empty fields in what was before 1944 a royal city. Potsdam is often called the secret capital of Germany. It was preferred by the rulers to Berlin, a Venice of the North with its beautiful Italianate buildings, parks and canals.
The City centre of Potsdam has been restored and so are the numerous palaces and parks. There is a sense of esthetics to recreate what was in the original.
Now in Potsdam the Garnison Kirche is being rebuilt.
The Garnison Church (full name: Court and Garnison Church Potsdam, German: Hof- und Garnisonkirche Potsdam) is a protestant Baroque church. It was a parish church of the Hohenzollern royal family until 1918. Originally built as a Calvinist church for Prussian monarchs, it became a United Protestant church with both Clavinist and Lutheran participation after the 1817.
The architect Philipp Gerlach was commissioned by king Friedrich Wilhelm I to build the church for members of the court and for the soldiers garrisoned in Potsdam. It was consecrated on August 17, 1732 and was soon well-attended by both the civilian and military communities. Friedrich Wilhelm I was buried at his request in the crypt of the church in 1740. In 1786 his son, Frederick the Great, was buried there, against his will. He is now buried at his palace of Sans Souci with his dogs as he wished.
Both Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon visited Frederick II’s grave. It was here that the first freely-elected Potsdam City Parliament met and the Lutheran and Reformed Churches celebrated their union. In 1933 Adolf Hitler used the church for his Day of Potsdam, and this is what caused the controversy to this day about this church.
The nave and bell tower were destroyed by fire during an air raid in the night from April 14 to April 15, 1945. Only the outside walls remained standing. In 1950 the Holy Cross Chapel was built within the cruciform walls of the bell tower. A new congregation met there for services until on a summer Sunday in 1968, the GDR head of state Walter Ulbricht and his Communist government ignored widespread protests and ordered the remaining walls left standing to be torn down. In its place in 1971 an ugly Computing Center was built, now derelict
Since 2004 the Garnisonkirche belongs to the International Community of the Cross of Nails (founded in Dresden, Germany in February 1991).
In 2004 a group of citizens formed the Promotion Committee for the Reconstruction of the Garnison Church, a non-profit organization. In June 2008 followed the Garnisonkirche Potsdam foundation. Both organizations work together for the reconstruction of the Garnison church not only as a parish church for its citizens but also as a reminder that future German-European cooperation is possible and essential. In 2013 the German National Committee for Cultural and Media Affairs named the Garnison church Potsdam an important cultural monument and offered 12 million Euro towards the funding of its reconstruction. Reconstruction work began in 2017 with the aim to complete the tower first.
Photo from the German Federal Archives, 1928 the stables behind the Garnison church. Partial view of the side wall of the Garnison Church. Today only the facade we see here of the Stables remains.
The tower and its musical carillon are now under construction. The tower once completed will be 89 meters high or 292 feet. In the background of this 18 century painting, you can see the Royal City Palace rebuilt recently and now housing the Parliament of Brandenburg province.
Currently the base of the tower is progressing rapidly. The building behind on the left known as the old computing building will be demolished. In the background the facade of the old Stables with its baroque architecture.
Artist rendition of the area with the park that once existed behind the church.
In a few years when the carillon at the top of the church tower in re-installed we will be able to hear this piece from the Magic Flute by Mozart which historically played in the old church.
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.
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.
Photo of 1920 of the Frauenkirche
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.
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.
Tutto iniziò con Memorie di Adriano, sulle strade dell'Impero Romano tra foto, storia e racconti! It all began with Memoirs of Hadrian, on the roads of the Roman Empire among photos, history and stories!
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
