Monday, 24 April 2017

Stoclet House

The Stoclet's house is one of the most refined and luxurious private houses of the twentieth century and is considered the masterpiece of the architect Josef Hoffmann

Stoclet Palace
This postcard was sent by Natalia

The Stoclet Palace (FrenchPalais StocletDutchStocletpaleis) is a mansion in BrusselsBelgium
The Stoclet Palace was commissioned by Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949), a wealthy industrialist and art collector. He chose 35-year-old Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), a founder member of the Vienna Secession, a radical group of designers and artists established in 1897. Hoffman abandoned fashions and styles of the past and produced a building that is an asymmetrical compilation of rectangular blocks, underlined by exaggerated lines and corners
The mansion is still occupied by the Stoclet family and is not open to visitors. - in: wikipedia

Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex

This house-museum is associated with the history of the invention and spread of typography.

Plantin-Moretus Museum
This postcard was sent by João

The Plantin-Moretus Museum (DutchPlantin-Moretusmuseum) is a printing museum in AntwerpBelgium which focuses on the work of the 16th century printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing establishment, the Plantin Press, at the Vrijdagmarkt (Friday Market) in Antwerp.
The printing company was founded in the 16th century by Christophe Plantin, who obtained type from the leading typefounders of the day in Paris. Plantin was a major figure in contemporary printing with interests in humanism; his eight-volume, multi-language Plantin Polyglot Bible with Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Syriac texts was one of the most complex productions of the period. - in: wikipedia

Saturday, 22 April 2017

Abbey of St Gall

On the way back from Austria we stopped in St Gallen and we were amazed with the beauty of the interior of the cathedral! Actually, all city is quite interesting but the bad weather made the visit very short

Abbey of St Gall

The Abbey of Saint Gall (GermanAbtei St. Gallen) is a Roman Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland of a dissolved abbey (747-1805). The Carolingian-era monastery has existed since 719 and became an independent principality between 9th and 13th centuries, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was founded by Saint Othmar on the spot where Saint Gall had erected his hermitageThe library at the Abbey is one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. The city of St. Gallen originated as an adjoining settlement of the abbey. Following the secularization of the abbey around 1800 the former Abbey church became a Cathedral in 1848. - in: wikipedia 

Abbey of St Gall
The Convent of St Gall, a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery, was, from the 8th century to its secularization in 1805, one of the most important in Europe. Its library is one of the richest and oldest in the world and contains precious manuscripts such as the earliest-known architectural plan drawn on parchment. From 1755 to 1768, the conventual area was rebuilt in Baroque style. The cathedral and the library are the main features of this remarkable architectural complex, reflecting 12 centuries of continuous activity. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/268

Abbey of St Gall
The interior of the Cathedral is one of the most important baroque monuments in Switzerland

Abbey Library of St Gall
The Abbey Library of Saint Gall was founded by Saint Othmar, the founder of the Abbey of St. Gall. During a fire in 937, the Abbey was destroyed, but the library remained intact.
The library collection is the oldest in Switzerland, and is one of earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world. It holds 2,100 manuscripts dating back to the 8th through the 15th centuries, 1,650 incunabula (printed before 1500), and old printed books. The library holds almost 160,000 volumes, and most are available for public use. Books published before 1900 are to be read in a special reading room. - in: wikipedia

Friday, 21 April 2017

Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape

During our holidays in Salzburg we took one day to visit Hallstatt and besides the cold, that made us buy there some winter clothes, it was very worth it because it's a beautiful village!

Hallstatt

HallstattUpper Austria, is a village in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. It is located on the western shore of the Hallstätter See (a lake).
Hallstatt is known for its production of salt, dating back to prehistoric times, and gave its name to the Hallstatt culture, a culture often linked to CelticProto-Celtic, and pre-Illyrian peoples in Early Iron Age Europe, c.800–450 BC. Some of the earliest archaeological evidence for the Celts was found in Hallstatt. - in: wikipedia

Hallstatt
The Hallstatt-Dachstein alpine landscape, part of the Salzkammergut, and thus of the Eastern Alps, is one of visual drama with huge mountains rising abruptly form narrow valleys. Its prosperity since mediaeval times has been based on salt mining, focused on the town of Hallstatt, a name meaning salt settlement that testifies to its primary function.

Hallstatt
Systematic salt production was being carried out in the region as early as the Middle Bronze Age, (the late 2nd millennium BC), when natural brine was captured in vessels and evaporated. Underground mining for salt began at the end of the late Bronze Age and resumed in the 8th century BC when archaeological evidence shows a flourishing, stratified and highly organised Iron Age society with wide trade links across Europe and now known as the Hallstatt Culture. Salt mining continued in Roman times and was then revived in the 14th century. The large amounts of timber needed for the mines and for evaporating the salt where extracted from the extensive upland forests, which since the 16th century were controlled and managed directly by the Austrian Crown. The Town of Hallstatt was re-built in late Baroque style after a fire in 1750 destroyed the timber buildings.

Hallstatt
The beauty of the alpine landscape, with its higher pastures used for the summer grazing of sheep and cattle since prehistoric times as part of the process of transhumance, which still today gives the valley communities rights of access to specific grazing areas, was 'discovered' in the early 19th century by writers, such as Adalbert Stifler, novelist, and the dramatic poet Franz Grillparzer, and most of the leading paintings of the Biedermeier school. They were in turn followed by tourists and this led to the development of hotels and brine baths for visitors.

Hallstatt
The landscape is exceptional as a complex of great scientific interest and immense natural power that has played a vital role in human history reflected in the impact of farmer-miners over millennia, in the way mining has transformed the interior of the mountain and through the artists and writers that conveyed its harmony and beauty. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/806

Dachstein
This postcard was sent by Anna

Hoher Dachstein is a strongly karstic Austrian mountain, and the second highest mountain in the Northern Limestone Alps. It is situated at the border of Upper Austria and Styria in central Austria, and is the highest point in each of those states. Parts of the massif also lie in the state of Salzburg, leading to the mountain being referred to as the Drei-Länder-Berg ("three-state mountain"). The Dachstein massif covers an area of around 20×30 km with dozens of peaks above 2,500 m, the highest of which are in the southern and south-western areas. Seen from the north, the Dachstein massif is dominated by the glaciers with the rocky summits rising beyond them. By contrast, to the south, the mountain drops almost vertically to the valley floor. - in: wikipedia

Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg

I've just arrived from my vacations in Salzburg! The weather didn't help. There was a lot of rain, snow, wind and very, very cold! Even though, I loved it! A beautiful city with wonderful monuments including some of the most amazing churches I've ever seen!

Salzburg
This postcard was sent by Sandra

Salzburg is an outstanding example of an ecclesiastical city-state, peculiar to the Holy Roman Empire, from Prussia to Italy. Most disappeared as political and administrative units in the early 19th century and adopted alternative trajectories of development. No other example of this type of political organism has survived so completely, preserving its urban fabric and individual buildings to such a remarkable degree as Salzburg.

Salzburg
Salzburg is the point where the Italian and German cultures met and which played a crucial role in the exchanges between these two cultures. The result is a Baroque town that has emerged intact from history, and exceptional material testimony of a particular culture and period. The centre of Salzburg owes much of its Baroque appearance to the Italian architects Vincenzo Scamozzi and Santino Solari.

Salzburg
The Salzburg skyline, against a backdrop of mountains, is characterized by its profusion of spires and domes, dominated by the fortress of HohenSalzburg. It contains a number of buildings, both secular and ecclesiastical, of very high quality from periods ranging from the late Middle Ages to the 20th Century.  There is a clear separation, visible on the ground and on the map, between the lands of the Prince-Archbishops and those of the burghers. The former is characterized by its monumental buildings - the Cathedral, the Residence, the Franciscan Abbey, the Abbey of St Peter - and its open spaces, the Domplatz in particular. The burghers' houses, by contrast, are on small plots and front onto narrow streets, with the only open spaces provided by the three historic markets. Salzburg is rich in buildings from the Gothic period onwards, which combine to create a townscape and urban fabric of great individuality and beauty.
Salzburg is also intimately associated with many important artists and musicians, preeminent among them Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/784

Salzburg Cathedral
Salzburg Cathedral (GermanSalzburger Dom) is the seventeenth-century Baroque cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg in the city of Salzburg, Austria, dedicated to Saint Rupert and Saint Vergilius. Saint Rupert founded the church in 774 on the remnants of a Roman town, the cathedral was rebuilt in 1181 after a fire. In the seventeenth century, the cathedral was completely rebuilt in the Baroque style under Prince-Bishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau to its present appearance. Salzburg Cathedral still contains the baptismal font in which composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was baptized. - in: wikipedia

Salzburg Cathedral
The many treasures of this cathedral include a bronze baptismal font (1311) with lions at is base (1200), in which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Mohr, the man who wrote the words for “Silent Night!”, were both christened. Other highlights include the resplendent main organ, the  cathedral gates by Schneider-Manzell, Mataré and Manzú, as well as seven bells. In the Cathedral Museum you can gaze on other art treasures plucked from 1300 years of church history. - in: https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/churches-cemeteries/salzburger-cathedral

St. Peter's Abbey
St Peter's Abbey (GermanStift Sankt Peter), or St Peter's Archabbey (German: Erzabtei Sankt Peter), is a Benedictine monastery and former cathedral in the Austrian city of Salzburg. It is considered one of the oldest monasteries in the German-speaking area, and in fact the oldest with a continuous history since its foundation in 696. - in: wikipedia

Collegiate Church
In 1694, over 70 years later, Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun decided to build a large church to serve the University. For its design he selected the most prominent Baroque architect of the time, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. The construction of the University Church is considered Fischer von Erlach's most significant accomplishment. Its monumental size surpassed only by the Cathedral, the University Church with its grandiose façade is one of the most magnificent Baroque churches in Austria. - in: https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/churches-cemeteries/kollegienkirche

Hohensalzburg Castle
Hohensalzburg Castle (GermanFestung Hohensalzburg, literally "High Salzburg Fortress") sits atop the Festungsberg, a small hill in the Austrian city of Salzburg. Erected at the behest of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg with a length of 250 m (820 ft) and a width of 150 m (490 ft), it is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. Hohensalzburg Castle is situated at an altitude of 506 m. - in: wikipedia

Mirabellgarten
The Mirabellgarten was laid out under Prince-Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun from 1687 according to plans designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. In its geometrically-arranged gardens are mythology-themed statues dating from 1730 and four groups of sculpture (AeneasHerculesParis and Pluto), created by Italian sculptor Ottavio Mosto from 1690. It is noted for its boxwood layouts, including a sylvan theater (Heckentheater) designed between 1704 and 1718. An orangery was added in 1725.
The gardens were made accessible to the public under Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Up to today, it is one of the most popular tourists' attraction in Salzburg. Several scenes from The Sound of Music were filmed here. - in: wikipedia

Mozart's Birthplace
Mozart's birthplace (German: Mozarts Geburtshaus or Hagenauerhaus) was the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at No. 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, Austria. The Mozart family resided on the third floor from 1747 to 1773; Mozart himself was born here on 27 January 1756.
Now a museum, Mozart's birthplace introduces visitors to the early life of the composer, his first musical instruments, his friends, and his passionate interest in opera. The third floor exhibits Mozart's childhood violin as well as portraits, documents, and early editions of his music, and the second floor is devoted to Mozart's interest in opera and includes the clavichord on which he composed The Magic Flute. - in: wikipedia

Wednesday, 19 April 2017

Humayun's Tomb, Delhi

Humayun's tomb was one of the buildings that served as inspiration for the Taj Mahal

Humayun's Tomb
This postcard was sent by Claus

Humayun's tomb is the tomb of the Mughal EmperorHumayun in Delhi, India. The tomb was commissioned by Humayun's first wife and chief consort, Empress Bega Begum (also known as Haji Begum), in 1569-70, and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyas, a Persian architect chosen by her. It was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, and is located in Nizamuddin EastDelhi, India, close to the Dina-panah Citadel, also known as Purana Qila (Old Fort), that Humayun founded in 1533. 
The complex encompasses the main tomb of the Emperor Humayun, which houses the graves of Bega Begum herself, Hamida Begum, and also Dara Shikoh, great-great-grandson of Humayun and son of the later Emperor Shah Jahan, as well as numerous other subsequent Mughals, including Emperor Jahandar ShahFarrukhsiyarRafi Ul-DarjatRafi Ud-DaulatMuhammad Kam Bakhsh and Alamgir II. - in: wikipedia

Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is the main landmark of India and one of the most well known buildings of the world

Taj Mahal
This postcard was sent by Justin

The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperorShah Jahan (reigned 1628–1658), to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.

Taj Mahal
This postcard was sent by Claus

Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643 but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years. The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be around 32 million rupees, which in 2015 would be approximately 52.8 billion rupees (US$827 million). The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by the court architect to the emperor, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. - in: wikipedia