Every afternoon

Tags

history, Potsdam, Prussia, reconstruction, steuben, USA

Almost every afternoon we have visitors around 2pm for coffee and some baked goods for conversations, Will enjoys it and it is nice to see people on this regular basis, we could not do the Xmas season parties, so this is the next best thing, it’s good for his morale.

Well another warmish early Spring like day in the middle of what should be Winter. The lack of snow is starting to look very strange and foreboding, climate change can certainly be dangerous if you think of the future. A month from now PEI is hosting the Canada Winter Games, I believe that we will have snow by then, I hope but this does not look good at all.

Continuing to look at various architectural sites in Germany on reconstruction of cities the way they were prior to 1939 and the destruction of the war. By the way, Russia did the same thing in St-Petersburg and so has Austria, Poland and Hungary. I remember visiting sites where nothing remained and in Warsaw they resurrected the old town including the Royal Palace and many parks and other palaces and churches.

All of these countries had communist government under the boot of the Soviet Union and all had an ideology of erasing the past as inappropriate for the new man and the communist age. Often coming up with very ugly dehumanizing architecture of concrete and cement done very cheaply.

One city which has seen its centre resurrected is Potsdam, the secret royal capital of Prussia, where the kings lived and governed, Berlin was more for pomp, ceremony and administration. Frederick II the Great did not like Berlin or Berliners much and this is why he lived mostly in Potsdam.

I visited Potsdam several times between 1998 and 2011, each time the city changed. At first it was to see the progressive baroque reconstruction of the palaces and private mansions many of which were in a distinctive Palladian style. Most of the important work was done in the Royal Park where the palace of Sans Souci and the New Palace are located including all the many pavilions, chinoiserie so in fashion in the 18th century. Later it was to see the transformation around the old market place which is still under construction.

One building which was taken down 3 years ago was the faculty of the University of Potsdam housing the economic department. Very ugly building and derelict, the last time I was in the building it was empty and about to close, only a small tourism office was left. The building was demolished and now the buildings of the 18th century who existed on that spot until 1939 are being rebuilt to match architecturally the City Palace across the street, the St-Nicholas Lutheran Church, the old city hall with Atlas on the roof, and the Barberini Palace museum. The plan is eventually to recreate as much of old Potsdam and pushing the old communist building out.

The building being rebuilt have the old facade of the 18th century but the insides is modern to meet requirements of today.

Here is a glimpse of the centre of Potsdam, with the dome of St-Nicholas, the City Palace in pink now use as the parliament of the province of Brandenburg, to the left of the church the roof of the old City hall with the golden statue of Atlas on the roof and next on the left of the City Palace is the rebuilt Barberini Palace now an art museum. Under construction is the quarter which is a series of buildings waiting for their baroque facade to be added on this year.

A view from the steps of the old City Hall

When I first came to Potsdam, none of what you see in this photo existed, it was still a field of ruins leftover from the war in 1945. A very sad looking perspective. The obelisk was damage and the colonnade of the church still needed repair. Prince Charles was involved at the beginning with the reconstruction effort through his interest in architecture.

Finally here is a picture of the faculty building of the Univ of Potsdam which was demolished to make way for the reconstruction going on now. This picture was taken at the time when the City Palace was being rebuilt.

Also in the future the statue of Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben a Prussian army officer who served as inspector general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He taught the Continental Army the essentials of military drill and discipline, helping to guide it to victory. His statue will be moved to the square named after him next to the city palace.

Future travel

Tags

history, Spain, Travel

We have been discussing going to Spain in September or early October. We want to go back to Granada which was so extraordinary on our first visit. Then the Escorial near Madrid and Toledo/Valencia.

We can do all this by train and with our knowledge of Spanish it should make it all the more pleasant. Hopefully by the Fall of 2022 we will have a more relaxed travel regime.

We have hotels we loved in Spain in previous travel and restaurants and tapas bars we would like to revisit. Well we do have time to plan it all.

A sad visit

Tags

history, life, Prince Michael of Kent, Romanov, Russia

On the website of the Alexander Palace in Tsarkoye Selo which promotes and explains the complete renovations of the family home of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Empress Alexandra and their 5 children, I saw today photos of the visit to the Palace of Prince Michael of Kent, who is a direct relative of the Romanov Family and the cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Philip some years ago had provided DNA sampling to identify the remains of Nicholas and Alexandra and the children as he was related by blood to the Royal families of Greece, Russia and Denmark. The palace re-opened to the public two months ago after years of massive renovations. The palace was closed after the Imperial family where sent into exile and to their grisly death, however more than 6000 personal effects were carefully preserved in vaults for posterity. Now they have been put back in the palace rooms recreating what it was like in 1918. It is spooky to see all these very personal mementos on display, many of which were gifts long ago between the Royal Family in England to their cousins in Russia. One wonders what Prince Michael of Kent thought when he saw it all, exactly as it was then. The expression on his face says a lot. I wonder what the other Princes and Grand Dukes of the Romanov family members will think when they eventually come to visit the Palace. They attended the State Funeral for the Tsar and his family in the 1990’s in St-Petersburg.

Prince Michael of Kent and the curator of the Palace in the Mauve boudoir of Empress Alexandra. Everything you see in this room belonged to the Empress and her children.

The Maple Room of the Alexander Palace, another family room for Nicholas and Alexandra. Everything in that room was carefully preserved by the Bolcheviks. The walls and woodwork was recreated from the personal photograph taken by the family between 1905-1918, even piece of fabrics and original paint colours were preserved in the Soviet Archives. Prince Michael of Kent was visiting with a British delegations. Since the tragic events took place just over 100 years ago, the sad memories is still alive. Prince Michael of Kent is 79 years old.

Music for Spring

Tags

Bourbon, France, history, palace, Spring, Versailles

Le Printemps what a lovely season, the weather is getting warmer by the day, Friday should be 22 C. which is Summer weather. This coming weekend is also the first official Long Weekend of Summer, the signal to open the cottage and start up the bar-b-q.

I was looking up recent photos of Versailles which re-opens today after months of being shut to all due to the pandemic restrictions in France. During these longs months the restorers of the Palace did a lot of work in various areas of the vast Chateau. This included a deep clean of various rooms and the return of furniture from the central national warehouse of important historical furniture of France. One piece in particular was the work desk of Louis XV made up of 20 different types of precious woods and of a secret mechanism operated with one key to close and lock it. This desk stayed in the bureau of the King until the revolution. It is now back where it belong, a magnificent piece of furniture. The restoration of the desk was paid for by Caterpillar France and Rolex, the desk has a two face clock which allows the king and his visitor on the other side to see the time. This wonderful piece of furniture was made in 1769, a real marvel and the clock works perfectly.

Many other private rooms or intimate rooms used by the King or Queen or other members of the Royal family have also been restored recently including carpets and drapes, all reproduce in the original fabric. This work is made possible due to archives and detailed descriptions, drawings and paintings and some piece of fabric which survived. You can see these rooms by appointment with a guide only. The rooms contain unique original artifacts of the period, rare books and porcelain and you would not want someone to bump into something.

The caveat is that Versailles you see today, the inside of the Palace evolved and is not what Louis XIV or Louis XV or even Louis XVI would have known, the palace was transformed and redecorated with each king and time and fashion dictate. Then the Palace was closed at the revolution, the furniture sold in most part to British and other European collectors for a pittance. Some was saved by Napoleon and by the return of the Bourbon Kings in 1814 under Louis XVIII and his brother Charles X and then their cousin Louis-Philippe remodelled wings of the palace where the apartments of the various Princes of the Kingdom were located into great galleries for his painting collection. So when visiting it is important to keep that in mind. Same for the gardens and le Petit and Grand Trianon or even le Hameau de la Reine which lost all its original furniture and is now decorated with Empire style furniture belonging to Empress Marie-Louise the second wife of Napoleon.

What has been recently recreated is the Grille Royale, which was the inner golden gate of the Cour d’Honneur which separated the first inner courtyard from a more sacred area which brought the special visitor within the proximity of the King. This golden gate was taken down at the revolution and was only restored starting in 2007, the work based on original drawings took 2 years to complete, cost 5 million Euros, is 80 meters long and weighs 15 tons, some 100,000 sheets of gold leaf was use to cover the gate.

The first gate on the street which allowed people to enter the first courtyard in the morning and at the back the Golden Gate which only opened for those the king wanted to see. Notice also the roof line, all in gold leaf and the window frames, all that was done in recent years and gives a wonderful impression of what it was like under Louis XIV when visitors came to Versailles they were suitably impressed. This is why the Palace was built to impress.

In this photo around 2000 you can see the roof before it was restored and the Cour d’Honneur being excavated, archeologists know from very early description of the time of Louis XIII when Versailles was nothing more than a Hunting Mansion, they wanted to see where the early foundation of the mansion and early palace were, finding many artifacts and the original traces of the old gate to the palace. There are large teams of artisans and art historians working on such projects. This is not the only palace in France where important restoration is taking place. Look at Chantilly the residence of the Duc d’Aumale.

Here we see two artisans applying gold leaf to the Crown of France on the roof top of the Chapelle Royale during the restoration of that building which lasted several years. You can also see the brown coating applied to the lead sculpture of the putti and window frame, this type of putty is to make the application of the gold leaf stick and prevent rust, a painstaking job but the final results are stunning.

here is the finished look of the roof top of the Chapelle Royale which is by far the tallest building of the palace, indicating that God is above the King.

Gold leaf and blue slate of the roof.

Here it is the final look as you arrive at Versailles looking to the right the Chapelle in sunlight, the blue of the slate of the roof and the gold leaf. The inside of the Chapelle also was restored including rebuilding the original 17th century organ which has a different more nasal sound than today’s instruments.

Excavation

Tags

Archeology, Germany, history, Italy, Pompeii

Reading and reading a lot about various historical sites and discoveries and history, renovations and reconstructions, archeology and discovering ancient artifacts shedding light on the past.

Here are paintings on the topic of Pompeii, a resort city of ancient Rome destroyed in 79 AD by the spectacular eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Here a young peasant woman from the area of Naples admiring the frescoes of ancient villas as the site is unearth. Much of the frescoes discovered were then removed and placed indoors in Museums both in Naples and in Rome. A highly romantic painting but nonetheless it gives an impression of what workers saw.

The book of Teresa Demauro entitled Restauri a Pompei 1748-1860 is presented by the Parco Archeologico a Pompei. In her doctoral thesis she narrates through her research the story of the discoveries of the archeological work in Pompeii from 1748 to 1860 the last period of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. pompeiisites.org/en/projects-and-research/publications/

Pompeii and Herculanum are two very rich sites, though it requires some knowledge of history before you go otherwise it won’t make much sense.

Here is another painting showing char women carrying basket full of rubble in an area which looks like the central Forum of Pompeii with the Vesuvius in the background.

Italian Universities and international teams of archeologists publish on a regular basis studies of findings, it really never ends because what we know, though important and somewhat extensive, is not complete and so the research goes on.

Martin G. Conde in his blog details archeological research and also for many years now the damage done to sites like Pompeii by the constant flow of mass tourism. https://romaarcheologiaerestauroarchitettura.wordpress.com/author/romaarcheologiaerestauroarchitettura/

Martin has also written a lot on the new Metro line C in Rome which has become one of the most expensive infrastructure project in the world. The Metro line C currently under construction crosses the Roman Forum one of the most rich archeological sites in the world. Metro Line C is also a decade behind schedule and no one is counting the cost overrun anymore in the billions of Euros. Eventually line A and B of the Rome Metro will connect to line C and everyone it is hope will be happy.

Other site I follow currently, The rebuilding of the Garnison Church in Potsdam built in 1735, blown up by the Communist regime of East Germany in 1968.

The Palace of Versailles multiple projects of rehabilitation, conservation and re-furnishing of various rooms, an unending process with dramatic results, not to mention the gardens and the rehabilitation of the numerous water fountains and sculptures.

The Berlin City Palace now Humboldt Forum built in 1445 and blown up in 1957 by the Communist regime of East Germany, rebuilt and re-opening on 17 December 2020.

Reconstruction work in Dresden old city centre which is almost complete and re-creates the city centre as it once was prior to its destruction by fire bombing on 14 and 15 February 1945.

Potsdam old city centre of the 17th and 18th Century and the palace complex and gardens around Sans Souci and the Neues Palais.

What is fascinating about all this is the number of stone cutters and sculptors, artists and artisans employed for this work using original techniques and finding inspiration in paintings, drawings and old photograph and archival records for their work.

Misconceptions

Tags

Enlightment, facts, France, history, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Royalty

I have studied history almost all my life, I enjoy reading on specific topics, I am not one for generalities in history or the facile comment or anecdotes to explain an event. I think that it is worth knowing exactly what happened or what was said from reliable sources who did their own research. I also love archeology and spent a lot of time studying ancient ruins to discover their secrets.

Last year a new book on Emperor Nero was published by Professor John F. Drinkwater, in his 457 page book he presents a very different picture of Nero who was Emperor of Rome for 14 years. He took every myth about Nero and goes about deconstructing it and presenting a narrative that throws doubt on what we have been told. It is fascinating reading,

Drinkwater shows that after the death of Nero who had fled Rome taking Via Nomentana, a street I know well since I lived just off it, he failed to kill himself and ask his servant to please help him out as the pretorian guards were closing in. Nera was the last of the Julio-Claudian line who were the first emperors of Rome the dynasty that succeeded him, the Flavians had good reasons to paint a black picture of him and went to great lenghts to do so, thus the awful dark image we have. To make things worse the Christian Church decided for propaganda purposes to make him out as the devil personified despite the fact that he did not persecute Christians as it as always been claimed.

Knowing historical facts is important to help us understand the world we live in and how we got here. There are numerous other events and historical figures who have suffered at the hands of popular history.

One woman who suffered to this day, is in fact a Hollywood favourite in movies and several movies have been made of her in the last 20 years. I speak of Queen Marie-Antoinette born Imperial Princess of Austria and who at the age of 14 was engaged to marry the Dauphin of France, Louis.

When she arrives in Versailles in 1770 after having travelled from Vienna in a great escort befitting her rank with many stops on the way, she had left behind her mother Empress Maria-Theresa and her family, she comes from a relatively relaxed Imperial Court to the most archaic and stultifying strict and arcane protocol laden Court of France. She is 14 years old, she is naive but also bold and thinks nothing of asking for what she wants to the horror of the Minister of King Louis XV, grandfather of the future Louis XVI.

At the Palace of Versailles she is given a room, her entire apartment is ONE ROOM which can be seen today after years of meticulously correct restoration. The room is a State Bedchamber and it is also the room where every morning all the ladies of the Court will gather to wake her up and dress her up following a complicated protocol she is quite unfamiliar with.

The decor of Versailles and her room, (she only has one room to live in), is the same since 1715 some 60 years previously and is faded and old reminiscent of the era of the Sun King Louis XIV. Being a precocious 14 year old she did not hesitate to ask the superintendant du Palais to redecorate and modernize her room. The royal architect was brought in and what followed was a lot of effort to try to twart her plans. The women around her who were ladies in waiting where much older than her and many were ancient, they had no patience with the young women, she was constantly criticized for not accepting French ways at Court. Her life was extremely boring and her fiancé Louis was not really interested in her and more in study of sciences and in build locks of all kinds. Their marriage would be for political alliance and military reasons. Madame du Barry the mistress of King Louis XV did not like her and she had her group around her who opposed the new alliance of France with Austria. However Marie-Antoinette was very popular with the common people.

Marie Antoinette portrait of 1771, age 15, said to be the favourite of her Mother Empress Maria-Theresa.

In May 1774 King Louis XV dies suddenly and she becomes Queen and with her accession to the throne she receives the Petit Trianon in the Park at Versailles from her husband King Louis XVI, where she will spend most of her time. The period 1774 to 1778 is problematic since this is the period of the greatest extravagance and spending on hundreds of dresses, jewels, etc all at enormous expense to the Treasury. Her husband doubles her annual budget to 280,000 French Pounds (Livres) which is a great sum. But all this stops suddenly in 1778 when she becomes a mother with the birth of her first child Marie-Therese Charlotte known as Madame Royale (1778-1851). Even her taste for dresses change into a new fashion from London, she also abandons jewellery and becomes a doting mother. She will have one other daughter Princesse Sophie who dies in 1787 and the ill-fated Louis XVII who will die under mysterious circumstances and disappear at age 10 in a dark jail cell in 1795. He had another brother Louis-Joseph who dies as an infant just before the revolution in June 1789.

However despite all the crisis leading to the revolution the biggest problem was one of the Kingdom’s budget and the ballooning deficit caused by 2 wars which ruined the French treasury and bad harvests causing famine. The first war with a deficit of 2.5 million pounds was the Seven year war between France/Austria against England/Prussia 1756-1763 and then the American War of Independence 1776-1783 creating another deficit of 1.7 million pounds for France, though this war was wildly popular in France and Lafayette was a National Hero. If these deficits did not exist many political problems would have been avoided.

Probably the greatest cause of the unpopularity of Marie-Antoinette was her resistance to any idea of change or political modernization proposed by the leaders of the various parties at the time. Since she had been brought up in a system of Absolute Monarchy, she could not imagine any other system of government, despite was she saw in America and in England with the Constitutional Monarchy with a Parliament. She also adopted the same strict religious Catholic attitude of the religious bigots at Court. This did not help her at all and her glacial austere attitude towards the revolutionaries made her a marked woman.

In the end her name was blackened by the revolutionaries who really had no case against her, the trial was a farce with trumped up charges. After the death of her husband in January 1793 the revolution had achieved their goal. So a case had to be made and political events in Europe with foreign armies massing on the French border from Prussia, Austria and England was enough to convince the population that she was the author of their misery. However on the day of her execution instead of taking her directly to her place of execution, the revolutionaries thought they could parade her around in the street to rouse public anger. They soon realize this was a big mistake politically speaking, the people in the street were silent, many kneeling in prayer for the Queen and men taking their hats off. For the people she was a mother and public opinion was not in favour of killing a woman who had children. She died age 37.

Marie-Antoinette lived in the age of Enlightenment, in England Queen Charlotte was a close personal friend. In Prussia, Frederick II the Great ruled, in Russia Catherine the Great was Tsarina. The age of Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau. Napoleon Bonaparte was still an unknown Corsican.

Here is some music composed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Le devin du Village which would have been familiar to Queen Marie-Antoinette, she may have seen a production of this operette.royal

Friends of Versailles

Tags

art., artists, Chapelle royale, history, palace, Versailles

Friends groups exist everywhere and they are useful to raise funds and promote a site. Friends of Museums, Opera Houses, Theatres, Palaces, Gardens, etc. All have in common raising funds and promoting a place and attracting others to their project.

The Palace of Versailles was built between 1631 and 1715. Then after 1792 when it was closed by the Revolutionary government, it’s furniture and all its fixtures where sold off to foreign collectors. The Wallace Collection in London has an incredible array of furniture and objects from the Palace and it is all beautifully presented at Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wallace, who built the extensive collection, along with the Marquesses of Hertford.

During the 19th century the Palace was remodelled to accommodate the French Senate and Legislative assembly. Great painting galleries were built from the former apartments of the Great Princes. Other buildings like Trianon and Le Hameau de la Reine were left to decay, this including the fountains and the extensive gardens and statuary.

When I first visited Versailles in 1969 with my parents, the palace looked a little sad and neglected. Yes, you could see the great rooms of the palace like la gallerie des glaces and the royal bedrooms, but they were empty of furniture, no candelabras or curtains on the windows. It was difficult to imagine how the King lived in such a place surrounded by a large number of Courtisans. The guided tours only gave the most perfunctory information mostly the major dates and details well known to all. My father remarked that the way the tour was given you had the impression that everything had been sent out for cleaning but would be back next week.

Les Amis du Chateau de Versailles is more than 100 year old association. In 1998 a group of wealthy Americans formed what is known as the American Friends of Versailles. Their goal was simple, raise funds to promote and support major restoration projects for the Palace and gardens and to support the French group of Les Amis, promoting friendship between France and the USA.

It goes without saying that any restoration work at Versailles requires experts in many fields, including archeologists, artists, historians and scholars plus artisan builders. The cost is always in the millions of Euros and the French Government and the European Union participate financially. Versailles is a UNESCO site.

The American Friends of Versailles being hosted at the Elysée Palace by Madame Macron, wife of the French President.

In the last few years restoration projects were done or are under way at Le Hameau de la Reine, which is this little farm built for Marie-Antoinette so she could play the Bergère and pretend she lived a simple life. The Royal Gate was rebuilt in front of the Chateau, it had been torn down at the Revolution, the roof top of the entire palace was re-gilded in gold leaf as it was in the 18th century. Major fountains in the park were totally restored. Now the Royal Chapel completed in 1715 is being restored and repaired, this multi-year project should be completed in the Spring of 2021. It is the first major restoration of the Chapel since its construction. The roof with its giant wood beams and slate roof had not been touched in 300 years.

These are only some of the numerous projects underway at Versailles. The last time I visited was 1989 for the sad anniversary of the so called French Revolution which now is called a Civil War by historians, at that time some furniture had returned and some restoration had been done.

In recent YouTube videos you can see the work being done on the Palace. It is nothing short of breathtaking. There is also an active program to recover some of the original furniture of the Palace, however the Wallace Collection in London is not parting with any of its royal furniture.

Restauration de la Chapelle Royale de Versailles.

David Roberts, R.A.

Tags

culture, Egypt, history, Jordan, paintings, Roberts, UK

Back in 1989 in Cairo, Egypt, I started to collect David Roberts work. At the time I did not know much about Roberts and I liked what I saw because it was an historical recollection of what Egypt was like as an old Kingdom then under Ottoman rule and as seen by tourists on the Grand Tour.

David Roberts was a Scottish painter, born in Stockbridge which is part of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1796 and died in London in 1864.  Stockbridge is an elegant neighbourhood filled with Georgian and Victorian terraced houses.

Roberts is especially known for The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia, a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced from sketches he made during long sojourn in the region.

Roberts was a member of the Royal Academy.

Apprenticed for seven years to be a house painter and decorator. During this time he studied art in the evenings. After his apprenticeship was complete, Roberts’s first paid job came in the summer of 1815, when he moved to Perth to serve as foreman for the redecoration of Scone Palace, where Scottish Kings were crowned until 1296.

His next job was to paint scenery for James Bannister’s circus on North College Street. This was the beginning of his career as a painter and designer of stage scenery.

In 1822 the Coburg Theatre, now the Old Vic in London, offered Roberts a job as a scenic designer and stage painter. He sailed from Leith with his wife Margaret and their six-month-old daughter Christine and settled in London. After working for a while at the Coburg Theatre, Roberts moved to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane to create dioramas and panoramas.

While he built his reputation as a fine artist, Roberts’s stage work had also been commercially successful. Commissions from Covent garden for opera stage sets came regularly.

The painter J.M. William Turner persuaded Roberts to abandon scene painting and devote himself to becoming a full-time artist. Roberts set sail for Egypt on 31 August 1838. His intent was to produce drawings that he could later use as the basis for the paintings and lithographs to sell to the public. Egypt was much in vogue at this time, and travellers, collectors and lovers of antiquities were keen to buy works inspired by the East or depicting the great monuments of ancient Egypt.

Roberts made a long tour in Egypt, Nubia, the Sinai, the Holy Land, Jordan and Lebanon. Throughout, he produced a vast collection of drawings and watercolour sketches.

Muhammad Ali Pasha received Roberts in Alexandria on 16 May 1839, shortly before his return to the UK.

The scenery and monuments of Egypt and Holy Land were fashionable but had hitherto been hardly touched by British artists, and so Roberts quickly accumulated 400 subscription commitments, with Queen Victoria being subscriber No. 1. Her complete set is still in the Royal Collection. The timing of publication just before photographs of the sites became available proved fortuitous.

I bought my first Roberts in an old shop just off Tahrir Square in Cairo and near J. Groppi pastry shop on Talat Harb Sq.. The first one, Plate 238 entitled Cairo from the Gate of the Citizenib, looking towards the desert of Suez. Published in London 1 Dec 1856 by Day & Son, 17 Gate Street, London. I did learn that Roberts did give some fancy names to sites when he was not sure what the actual name was as in this case it is the Sayeda Zeinab Mosque and gate. Also because he belonged to the Orientalist school of painters, romanticize views to make them more attractive to his European viewers and clients. Many of his paintings and lithographs were made as advertisement to promote the Grand Tour to wealthy people who could travel in style for 3 months to a year. The London Illustrated News used a lot of his work to promote areas of the British Empire one could safely visit.

When I was posted to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan I started to look for lithographs of the Holy Land to add to my collection. One is entitled Jerusalem, from the Mount of Olives. By today’s standard it would be difficult to see this view given that old Jerusalem is surrounded not by modern suburbs.

From Jordan, I have views of Petra and of the roman city of Jerash. In all 10 lithographs. It is interesting to see them and examine them, so you get a view of the world some 180 years ago and how it appeared to people like Roberts.

More urban planning

Tags

Germany, history, life, Potsdam, Renewal, Urban design

It was announced that on Wednesday 1 July Canada Day, Canadians will be allowed to travel to Europe for the first time since all international air travel for touristic purposes was stopped in mid-March. Already Air Canada and other airlines are flogging seats and tempting people with European vacations. On Friday the Confederation Bridge linking over 12 Km this Island to the mainland of Canada will also re-open for travel restricted to people living in the Maritime Provinces. People are already salivating for the opportunity to go to Moncton to shop at Costco, really people? You must be joking but hey so is life. A Costco run will cost $47. Canadian dollars to cross the fabled bridge and you can return same day the distance between Charlottetown and Moncton being only a total of 2 hours by car. I won’t be going, no Sir not me.

Continuing my interest in Urban renewal in Germany and in Russia, I have been following since the mid-1990’s the rebuilding of cities like Dresden and Potsdam, both heavily bombed by the Allies in the dying days of the Second World War. These old historical cities were targeted because of the art and culture centre they were. Dresden especially, being the old Capital of Saxony and a centre for porcelain Meissen and for the arts with its beautiful museum collections. Potsdam was known as the Secret Capital of Prussia, the Kings since 1701 lived in Potsdam and administered the Kingdom from this location. Berlin was the ceremonial Capital for Official Acts, receptions and the seat of Government and the Parliament. Think of Potsdam like we think of Windsor.

I first visited Potsdam which is 30 minutes by train from Berlin centre about 1997, the old market or Alt Markt was nothing more than ruins and craters full of weeds. Here and there a few University buildings built by the Communist regime in the brutalist style of the 1970’s and in the former gardens of the City Palace a 16 floor Hotel Mercure which was suppose to symbolize according to Socialist thinking modernity in the Communist State. The 3 Star Mercure chain in Europe and in other third world countries 63 in all, was then owned by France who used the brand to further French diplomacy and its agenda. Lobbies full of prostitutes often on government payroll and French wines. Marriott owns the chain today under Accor management.

The main attraction of Potsdam was the Royal Park with the palaces and other architectural gems. Sans Souci being the most important one and the Neues Palais being the other. Under Communism both had suffered from neglect and minimal maintenance and wholesale theft by the Red Army of 18th century fine furniture and works of Art.  Some of which was returned by the Russians after 1989. I was happy to visit Potsdam for its history and many sites but it would get better in the years after 2000.

What is interesting about any urban renewal scheme in former East German towns is the influence of former Communist politicians who sometime sit still on City Councils and will resist any move to renew cities and get rid of the old decrepit architecture and infrastructure built between 1950-1989. Given the constant lack of funds and building materials, buildings were quickly and cheaply built and decayed rapidly due to lack of maintenance.

Since 2000 the City Council in Potsdam has developed with private developers a plan to rebuilt the old Market Square (city centre) of Potsdam. The Square was before 1945 flanked by the St-Nicholas church, the City Hall, the Barberini Palace and the City Palace Residence of the King of Prussia. After the war only the City hall and the St-Nicholas church remained though is a ruined state. The other palaces had being bombed out of existence.

 Potsdam City Palace in 1945. It was rebuilt completely in the last 5 years and is now the Parliament of the State of Brandenburg.

Since 2000 a vast plan to re-build the historical streets, water canals of the city centre, historical bridges and churches is underway. The Finance Faculty of the University which was built in the 1960’s has been demolished and on this site the former buildings with historical facade will be rebuilt with modern interior for today’s use as businesses, apartments etc. Rebringing the baroque charm of Potsdam.

The City Palace today.

Across the street at the moment is a very large vacant lot where the Financial Faculty building was,  as of next year the area will be redeveloped with buildings along what was there previously.

This view shows 3 yellow squares of what was once the Faculty buildings, they were demolished a few years ago. The green dome is St-Nicholas church, the City Palace is in front. Behind the Palace is the Hotel Mercure with the former gardens of the Palace. It is hoped that this modern hotel will be demolished and the area returned to what it was once a garden space and parade grounds for the Grenadiers of the King.

Here are some views of the proposed new buildings in keeping with historical street scape.

More of the same idea has been developed in Dresden where the entire old city centre was rebuilt.

I remember the old Financial Faculty on this site and how ugly it was and out of place with the historical buildings. Though this kind of re-building may be seen by some critics as Disneyesque, the will and vision for the future is to allow Potsdam to re-claim its former baroque charm with its canals as the Venice of Prussia.

Here is a photo showing the entire area rebuild, green roof is the Palace, the colonnade connects the Palace to the former stables. By 2023 this should be done. The understanding being that though all buildings are historical renditions the inside are modern and adapted to the plans of each owner. It is very costly to rebuild in this fashion, many artisans and stone masons are required many of whom work on the nearly completed City Palace in Berlin and on many other sites in Germany.

If you wondered what the East German Finance Faculty looked like before it was demolished, here is a picture

No washing machine

Tags

art., beijing, Berlin, history, life, Rome, St-Petersburg

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.

https://cam01.berlinerschloss-webcam.de

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.