Pass by German Aachen Cathedral September 16, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cars, Destination, Dubai, Europe, France, Germany, Hotels, Museum, Netherlands, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Travel Gear, Trip , 2commentsThe location now was occupied by Aachen, adjacent to the modern borders of France and Holland, was resorted to even in prehistory because hot springs occur there. Exactly how far back into antiquity the place had importance is unknown, but the Celts were certainly established in the area by the time the Romans discovered the springs. The waters were sacred to the Celts and dedicated by them to the healing god, Granus. The Romans called the site Aquis Grani. They built bath complexes and shrines. Some houses edging the Hof, a triangular space a stone’s throw northeast of the cathedral, were built on first and second century AD Roman masonry, and part of a well sanctuary was uncovered. (more…)
One day in Germany Speyer Cathedral, World Famous Heritage September 10, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Belgium, Europe, Germany, Hotels, Netherlands, Rail Pass, Scotland, Sightseeing, Switzerland, Tickets, Tour , 3commentsSituated in Rhineland-Palatinate, this extensively rebuilt Romanesque structure is the largest cathedral in Germany. Although it dates from the eleventh century, the origins of the site are much older.
To the Celts it was known as Noviomagus, and the Romans called it Civitas Nemetum. The cathedral has evolved on a former pagan holy place, for the site was occupied by a Roman temple dedicated to the Celtic goddess Nantosvelta. It is even thought `probable that buildings from the Roman period were converted to construct the church’.’ It is likely that the site was considered sacred ‘even before the Roman temple was built’ . (more…)
The palace of Nymphenburg June 7, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, France, Hotels, Italy, Netherlands, Paris, USA , add a commentThe palace of Nymphenburg on the outskirts of Munich owes its present form to the desire of the Elector Max Emanuel (who reigned from 1679 to 1726) to create a Bavarian counterpart of Versailles. We may be grateful that things did not turn out quite as planned, for Nymphenburg has interesting features not found in the French model. In fact, the principal delight of Nymphenburg lies not so much in the main course, so to speak, as in the dessert—the four delightful garden pavilions that rank among the finest examples of the Rococo style in Europe.
Max Emanuel did not start his palace from scratch : an earlier building had been erected by his mother Henrietta Adelaide of Savoy, who received the manor of Kemnat in 1663 as a gift from her husband. (more…)
Holyroodhouse: The most romantic of all the palaces in the British Isles May 25, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Denmark, England, France, Hotels, Netherlands, Scotland , add a commentIf you walk down between the soaring grey skyscrapers of old Canongate from west to east, you come in the end to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which lies half in Edinburgh and half in the bald grey wilderness that rises to Arthur’s Seat. It is architecturally perhaps not very exciting to most people, though it is an interesting and an elegant building, but its associations with Mary, Queen of Scots, with the Young Pretender, and with Charles X in his penniless exile, make it by far the most romantic of the British royal palaces. There are several legends about its founding, and historically the most probable is the following: St Margaret, the second Queen of Malcolm Canmore and the sister of Edgar Atheling, brought with her to Scotland in 1068, a gold casket in the shape of a cross, covered by an ebony carving of the Saviour and containing a sizable piece of the True Cross. (more…)
Huis ten Bosch: The elegant ‘House in the Wood’ of the Dutch Royal Family continue… May 4, 2008
Posted by dodo in : England, Museum, Netherlands , add a commentNext to the dining-room, with its rococo hollandais, comes the Chinese Salon. The interior was a gift to Prince William V from a Mr Hemmingson, once a senior merchant in the service of the United East Indies Company in Canton. It has a wallpaper painted with scenes of the cultivation of rice, and the embroidery on the curtains and furniture, and the Chinese paintings on the mirrors, are enchanting. Equally interesting is the Japanese Room, with rosewood panelling inlaid with lacquer, completed in the late nineteenth century by mural decorations in embroidered silk and damask depicting flowers and exotic birds. The stucco ceiling, with its evenly spaced decorations painted in black, has Chinese details in the corners. (more…)
Huis ten Bosch: The elegant ‘House in the Wood’ of the Dutch Royal Family May 4, 2008
Posted by dodo in : England, Nassau, Netherlands , 4commentsThe seventeenth century represents one of the most interesting periods in the architectural development of the northern Netherlands. The Dutch had challenged the Spaniards for their freedom, but it was not until the reign of Frederik Hendrik, a son of Prince William of Orange, that Holland attained political and cultural unity.
The Princes of Orange had at first been modest in their residential requirements. Frederik Hendrik, however, after assuming the Stadholdership in 1625, ushered in a new period and began his architectural activities by rebuilding the old castle at Honselaarsdijk, soon to be followed by the Huis ter Nieuburch at Rijswijk and the wings of het Oude Hof (the Old Court) in the Noordeinde at the Hague. Finally, the Oranjesael or Huis ten Bosch (` the House in the Wood’) was planned by Pieter Post at the wish of Princess Amalia van Solms-Braunfels. Countess van Solms, a maid-of-honour at the court of Frederik V of the Palatinate, had married Frederik Hendrik of Orange in 1625. (more…)
Kronborg: Hamlet’s pinacled castle at Elsinore on the Baltic shore continue… April 23, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Beach Resorts, Denmark, Flight Schedule, Italy, Lodges, Memorial, Museum, Netherlands, Sweden , add a commentThe distinctly military purpose of Kronborg, already mentioned, is undoubtedly the reason why Kronborg in its architecture is so different from other more or less contemporary Danish buildings, whose style, like Kronborg’s, must be characterised by the very broad term ‘ Scandinavian renaissance style ‘. This, at least where Denmark is concerned, is a style in which decoration plays far the most important part, whereas the plan is still rather medieval, despite certain efforts to pay attention to symmetry. The decoration has generally been inspired by, if not directly copied from, Flemish and German copperplate engravings, and besides, many of the stone-masons working in Denmark at the time had been brought from the Netherlands. (more…)
The Wawel Castle Carcow: The centre of splendid historical and cultural tradition continue… April 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Poland , add a commentBerrecci, Francesco’s successor, was an extremely gifted architect, and was commissioned by King Sigismund to build a commemorative chapel next to the cathedral. This chapel, built between 1517 and 1533, is the finest work by Italians outside Italy itself. Simultaneously, Berrecci was not only supervising the building of the castle loggias but was also actively directing all the work in progress. Surrounds, of several dozen doors and windows, both inside and out, were made in his workshop, and are extremely original and finely executed ; the gothic motifs of the local stone-cutters intermingled with the purely renaissance ornament, and the result was a series of architectural decorations whose rhythm and unity bore the imprint of Berrecci’s modern Italian spirit. (more…)
ROCOCO April 4, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Australia, Austria, Brazil, England, Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Hotels, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, The Nile, USA, Wellington , add a commentAfter the great days of Baroque, the High Renaissance, led by Bernini and Borromini, and followed variously by Mansart and le Vau in France, Fischer von Erlach and von Hildebrandt in Austria, Zimmerman in Germany, Churriguera in Spain, and Wren,Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh in England, and before a period of Revivalism, France emerged from the reign of Henri IV (reigned 1589-1610) to establish a wealthy bourgeoisie under the political patronage of high taste in the salons of country chateau and hotels. In the next century, during the transitional period from Louis XIV (1638-1715) to the regency of his great grandson, Louis XV (1710-74), a demand for comfort, intimacy and ornament led to the late Baroque variant of Rococo.
The word Rococo derives from the French word rocaille, meaning sea rocks and shells, and it is applied to the highly ornamental and decorative strain of late Baroque architecture. (more…)
The Renaissance continue… April 4, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Austria, Belgium, England, Europe, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Library, London, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain , 1 comment so farThis language was inherited by Donato Bramante (1444-1514), whose friends and mentors included Leonardo da Vinci (14591519), Alberti and Piero della Francesca (c.1420-1492). Within this extraordinary environment, Bramante, who had trained as a painter, studied the work of Brunelleschi and turned his genius to architecture. He collaborated with Leonardo da Vinci in the Santa Maria delle Grazie, a partnership that gave Milan a great building and the Last Supper. The French invasion of northern Italy forced Bramante to flee to Rome, where he taught Raphael (1483-1520) and the influential architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1483-1546), and he was commissioned to design the new St Peter’s by Pope Julius II. After Bramante’s death in 1514 and the sack of Rome in 1527, Michelangelo (1475-1564) inherited the task of continuing the project, which was to become the apogee of classical architecture. (more…)
