Bauhaus-Museum Weimar

After Dessau, our next stop was Weimar, 100 or so kilometers southwest, two plus hours by DB.  The central German city is well known because of its rich cultural heritage and its importance in German history.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the literary figure, lived most of his creative life here since 1775.  Together with Friedrich Schiller, the city was a hotbed of the German Enlightenment.  In the 19th century, Franz Liszt made Weimar a music centre.  The political history of 20th-century Weimar was volatile: it was the place where Germany’s first democratic constitution was signed after the First World War, giving its name to the Weimar Republic period in German politics (1918–33).  Weimar was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996 (Bauhaus) and 1998 (Classical Weimar).

We came here because the Bauhaus School (Staatliches Bauhaus) was founded here in 1919.  Walter Gropius, a renowned architect, took over the Grand Duccal Academy of Art and the School of Applied Arts and rechristened the combined institution the Bauhaus.

The School lasted from 1919 to 1925, when it moved to Dessau, after the newly elected right-wing Thuringian council put pressure on the school by withdrawing funding and forcing its teachers to quit.

Our focus was the new Bauhaus-Museum Weimar opened in April 2019 which presents the Gropius Collection, the world’s oldest collection of original Bauhaus works.  Another new museum dedicated to Bauhaus was also opened in Dessau in 2019 to commemorate the centenary occasion (see our earlier post here).

The site for the museum in downtown Weimar was carefully chosen – Weimarhallenpark – which forms a historical area with the Neue Museum (which we visited) and the Gauforum buildings (see photo below) built in 1937 as a symbol of Nazi power and later used by the National Socialist movement.

When the Bauhaus School was forced to leave Weimar in 1925, museum director Wilhelm Koehler chose 168 pieces and started an archive authorized by Walter Gropius.  Hidden inside unopened crates in the City Castle, the collection survived the Nazi years and was inventoried in 1950’s.

The museum exhibition on three floors focuses on the design icons who taught and worked at the School, and their works.

With a multidisciplinary focus, the museum features works of fine art, design and architecture.

Gropius argued that a new period of history had begun with the end of the First World War.  In 1923, Gropius had proclaimed the guiding principle for those working at the Bauhaus: “Art and Technology –  a new unity !”

Bauhaus cradle following the “color of shapes” idea of Kandinsky.

Instead of the traditional painting or drawing classes, the students were all expected to learn a craft and were designated as apprentices and journeyman. The instructors were “Masters”. The artists or “masters of form” taught color theory and design, and led workshops together with “masters of crafts”.

Swiss painter Johannes Itten, German-American painter Lyonel Feininger, and German sculptor Gerhard Marcks, along with Gropius, comprised the faculty of the Bauhaus in 1919.

The famed 1923 door handles by Gropius

He wanted to create a new architectural style to reflect this new era. His style in architecture and consumer goods was to be functional, cheap and consistent with mass production.

To these ends, Gropius wanted to reunite art and craft to arrive at high-end functional products with artistic merit.

Feininger’s wood cut

By the following year the School’s ranks had grown to include German painter, sculptor, and designer Oskar Schlemmer who headed the theatre workshop, and Swiss painter Paul Klee, joined in 1922 by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky.

In 1922, the School also saw the move of Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg to Weimar to promote De Stijl (“The Style”), and a visit to the Bauhaus by Russian Constructivist artist and architect El Lissitzky.

The school existed in three German cities—Weimar, from 1919 to 1925; Dessau, from 1925 to 1932; and Berlin, from 1932 to 1933—under three different architect-directors: Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928; Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930; and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 until 1933.

Barcelona chair by Mies van der Rohe in 1929

A New Bauhaus school was founded in Chicago, later becoming the Institute of Design, part of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Mies van der Rohe was the dean of architecture and designed its campus.

Walter Gropius went on to accept a teaching position at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; several Bauhaus artists designed and built over 4,000 Bauhaus buildings (called the White City) in Tel Aviv, Israel, and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

The influences of Bauhaus on the idea of modernism, art and architecture, design and crafts, culture and education are deep, transformative and global.

This is the last post on our 2019 Bauhaus pilgrimage.  There were just so much to see, read and digest.  We can do this again and will learn something completely new.

 

 

The New Bauhaus Masters’ Houses, Dessau

… continuing from our earlier post on the original Bauhaus Masters’ Houses,

The first house we saw when coming from the School was the new Director’s House (Direktonenhaus) where the information desk is situated.  Why are there new Masters’ Houses ?

After the Bauhauslers moved out in 1932/1933, the school was closed by the Nazis, and the Houses were altered.  As the home of the Director, the Gropius building was large, had a garage and rooms for servants’ quarters, all surrounded by a tall white wall.

Dessau lost three-fifths of its buildings during World War II, being the headquarters for an important aircraft manufacturer, Junkers.  The Gropius House and the Moholy-Nagy House were destroyed on March 7, 1945, although the basement and garage remained.  The city, then in East Germany, sold the houses to Junkerswerke, a company that worked with the Bauhaus School and Marcel Breuer to develop tubular steel furniture before the war.

In 1956, the Emmer family purchased the site intending to rebuild the original house on the remaining footprint, but the planning office rejected this, and they were only allowed to build in a traditional style with a pitched roof.

The Haus Emmer had been on this site for almost 60 years with an internal layout almost exactly to Gropius’ ideal. It was only demolished in 2010 to allow for the new building to take its place.

A competition was held which was won by the Berlin architecture firm Bruno Fioretti Marquez.  The design deliberately avoided a historically accurate reconstruction.  Instead, the goal was to evoke the original design through a playful approach based on fuzzy memory – “architecture of imprecision”.

The new building was completed in 2014.  When visiting the surviving and the new houses, it has been said that the visitors will become aware of the differences between historical structures and reinterpretations while taking into account the imprecision of memories.  We think the choice of this design reflects Germany’s view of its past history.

In the cubic design of the new houses, the style of the old masters’ houses are found again, but the bare walls and ghostly translucent window express the destruction and the void left by the real houses.

The residential design of Gropius has now evolved into an open space that is used for exhibitions.

Last but not least, is the restored Trinkhalle – which was the first thing we saw as we approached the Masters’ House site.  It was originally a 1932 modification by Mies van der Rohe of the wall built by Walter Gropius around his own residence. The so-called “pump room” was a refreshment stand which broke the monotony of the austere white wall that blocked the view of a group of elegant old buildings.  The original Trinkhalle was demolished in the 60’s, and rebuilt in 2016.

Today, the Masters’ Houses are used by the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.  We were able to visit all the houses on this site except two that were used as residences for visiting artists around the year.  To see more images of the Masters’ Houses, use this link to Google Arts and Culture’s Model Houses for the Modern Age site.

 

 

 

The Original Bauhaus Masters’ Houses, Dessau

This is our third post on the Bauhaus site in Dessau. Our visit was made during the centenary year (2019) of the founding of the Bauhaus School of Design.

For this post, try a 2020 collaboration by the brothers Eno – Mixing Colours

A lot of the academic-sounding text in these Bauhaus posts were partially taken from our purchased books, pamphlets we picked up on site, as well as the copious volumes of writings on the internet, particularly https://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/en/index.html.

In 1926, in addition to the Bauhaus school building, the city of Dessau commissioned Walter Gropius to construct three pairs of identical semi-detached houses for the Bauhaus instructors (Meisterhaus, each housing 2 families) and a detached house for the director (Direktorenhaus).

These were built in a small pine wood on the street now known as the Ebertallee. The houses are about 10 minutes walk from the Bauhaus Building (our earlier post is here).

The semi-detached houses take the form of interlocking cubic structures of various heights, flat-roofed while vertical strip windows on the sides let light into the staircases.  The light-colored have generously-sized terraces and balconies and feature colorful accents on large, black-framed windows, the undersides of the balconies, and the drainpipes.  The equality of each duplex was guaranteed by simply rotating the design for the first segment and then building the second half at a ninety-degree angle.

Although they were designed in the 1920’s, they still look modern to our eyes – are they the timeless classics that the media adores ? and have we (the masses) been conditioned to recognize them as such ?

Gropius planned to build the complex based on a modular principle, using industrially prefabricated components. In view of the technical resources available at the time, apparently his plan was only partially realized.

With their white, cubic structures and complex connections between exteriors and interiors the houses showed the way forward for modern architecture and testified to the debate about standardization in housing construction.

The list of residents reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of modernists: László Moholy-Nagy and Lyonel Feininger in one house, Georg Muche and Oskar Schlemmer in another, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee in the third.  Walter Gropius occupied the Director’s House – the first house one sees when coming from the school’s direction.

For the color design of the interiors, artists such as Klee and Kandinsky developed own ideas that were closely related to their works.  Klee and Kandinsky used their white-walled homes as blank canvases for the color experiments, painting their interior spaces in almost two hundred colors, that came to light only upon restoration.  The dusty pink/purple room below was Paul Klee’s bedroom !  I (Chris) am a long-time fan of Klee’s work – in the 80’s, I bought a postcard of a painting by him with this color scheme. So this visit was particularly meaningful.

The Kandinsky/Klee Master House was reopened to visitors on 18 April 2019 after extensive restoration.  It was quite an experience for us to be able to walk through the life of Bauhaus masters in the surroundings they created for themselves. We watched all the videos running in the houses, which documented their activities.

All of the houses were fitted with built-in space-saving closets, wardrobes and cupboards, and modern (at the time) household appliances. The furnishings complied with the requirements for optimum day light exposure, ventilation, easy-to-clean surfaces and ergonomic working height.  Much of these modern simple comforts are taken for granted by us now but it must have been quite revolutionary in the 1920’s.

Gropius was interested in reforming the household. Notably, the toilet is separate from the bathroom.  The kitchen where meals are prepared is separated from the dish-washing area, and the dining room.

Others who lived here later, include Hannes Meyer (the next director after Gropius), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (the third director), Josef Albers, Hinnerk Scheper and Alfred Arndt.

This ensemble of Masters’ houses is the epitome of the artists’ colony of the 20th century.

The Director’s House and the Moholy-Nagy/Feininger were destroyed during World War II.  See the rebuilding of these two houses on our next post.

The Bauhaus Building, Dessau

Our second stop in Dessau is the Bauhaus school building itself.

Let some 70’s Krautrock accompany you on this post.

A lot of the academic-sounding text in these Bauhaus posts were partially taken from our purchased books, pamphlets we picked up on site, as well as the copious volumes of writings on the internet – e.g., https://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/en/index.html.  New York Times had an excellent article on the school, click here.

In 1925, the Staatliches Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau and the building designed by the school’s founder Walter Gropius was inaugurated on December 4, 1926.

The sculptural composition of the Bauhaus Building comprises several volumes which Gropius planned according to their functions. Unlike traditional 19th century academy buildings, which consisted of a compact symmetric structure, the Bauhaus Building plan in the form a pinwheel conveys the impression of movement.

The Building has a skeleton of load-bearing reinforced concrete (clearly visible) and a skin of glass, which provided it with the modern signature sense of transparency, openness, and lightness.  We are looking at the mother of all boxy glass buildings of the 20th century.

By moving all supporting columns into the interiors, thus dispensing with any kind of dominating corner shape, the workshop wing is enclosed by panels of glass (Gropius was allegedly inspired by shoji screens).

Instead of installing glass panes floor by floor, the design relies on a grid system which is suspended from the roof of the building like a curtain – hence the term “curtain wall.”

Opened windows in a curtain wall – you won’t find many, if any, nowadays.

The five-storey studio building accommodated 28 students and junior masters.

The three-storey north wing rendered white is distinguished by horizontal bands of windows and was used by the vocational school.

The administration occupied the lower level and the Bauhaus’s architectural department the upper level of the two-storey bridge which connects the north wing and the Bauhaus.

Among the workshops and design studios, there was a spacious souvenir shop.

We hung around the very early-mid century cafe on the ground floor and mingled with the non-tourists.

We were able to walk through several floors of classrooms (seminarraum) and studios, and peered into empty workshops.

While it looked empty, there were names on doors and people working in offices. This Bauhaus Building is a living, working museum.

The Bauhaus and its sites in Weimar and Dessau have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1996. Not only for its architecture, the award also applies to the Bauhaus as an institution.

Its conceptual thinking aimed to shape a complete modernism in which social and societal aspects played a role, as did all facets of housing and the way of living. The Bauhaus thus represents not only a milestone in architecture and art, but also a revolutionary contribution to the history of ideas of the twentieth century.

The Building is a built manifesto of the Bauhaus idea.

Our next post is about the houses built for the school masters.

 

The brand new Bauhaus Museum Dessau (in 2019)

Since it was not possible to do much traveling in 2020, we do not have many photos left to share from last year.

Going back …, 2019 was the centenary year of the founding of the Bauhaus school in Germany.  We took a pilgrimage tour of the three German cities where the Bauhaus school existed: Dessau, Weimar and Berlin.  So … this is our first post about this trip in Germany.

From my (Chris) favorite German label, Kompakt:

The school was operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts, architecture and the fine arts.

Our tour began in Dessau, a town 80 miles southwest of Berlin, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the school was situated between 1925 and 1932. We were greeted by this installation at the Dessau bahnhof – notice the tiles behind the installation which were laid at angle, lending it more dynamism.

The first stop is the brand new Bauhaus Museum Dessau which was opened by Angela Merkel on September 8, 2019 to commemorate the centenary.  We visited it on September 29, 2019.

The museum was built by addenda architects (González Hinz Zabala) from Barcelona. Their design was selected from 831 submissions in an open international competition held in late 2015. The concept is that of a floating concrete block (“black box”) in a glass shell.  The upper floor provides optimum climatic conditions for storage and display of the collection while the ground floor is open and transparent, offering a forum for talks, dances, and performances.

There was a cafe and shop as well as a semicircular wooden “Arena” by American artist sculptor Rita Mcbride, where events can be held for a number of spectators.

The Bauhaus school became famous for its approach to design, which attempted to unify the principles of mass production with individual artistic vision and strove to combine aesthetics with everyday function.

This brand new museum will select for exhibitions from the collection of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, brimming with more than 49,000 items. While some of the items in the exhibition are one-off experimental works, many items are now part of everyday life.

Previously the foundation did not have such display opportunities for the vast collection.

The Wassily Chair (below), also known as the Model B3 chair, was designed by Hungarian-born designer Marcel Breuer between 1925-1926.  Also shown is one of his chrome nesting tables.

The permanent exhibition – Versuchsstätte Bauhaus – features over 1,000 exhibits and tells the story of the famous school in Dessau.

This table lamp (“MT8”) designed by German designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Swiss designer Carl Jakob Jucker, became known as the Bauhaus Lamp, embodying the principle that “form follows function”.

The exhibition aims to show Bauhaus as a vibrant place where people taught and learned, conducted artistic experiments and worked on industrial prototypes.

According to their website (click here), the exhibition does not “focus on the famed design icons and the masters, but rather the school and the students: the reality of learning and teaching between the poles of creative design and industrial prototype production, artistic experiment and economic pressure, educational institution and emancipatory aspiration.”

On display were snapshots and movies about the students’ daily lives, at work and at play.

There is a massive wall of names, photos, pins and interconnecting strings which graphically display the gatherings, networks, and influences of artists, craftsmen and architects of the 20th century.

The connections illustrate the historical conditions, visions, working procedures, methods, movers and shakers of the time.

New York artist Lucy Raven won the invitation competition “Kunst am Bau” with her concept of “Lichtspielhaus” – a dynamic lighting installation made of glass in different colors, which interacts with the architecture of the building.

The back of the museum faces a park. The previous building was destroyed in World War II. Dessau was heavily bombed on 7 March 1945, six weeks before American troops occupied the town.

“Bauhaus” graphic in a pedestrian subway near the bahnhof.

Next stop – the school in Dessau.

Riads and Dars, part 3

This is the last of a series of posts which document our experiences in several traditional moroccan hotels, known as riads or dars. The earlier posts are here and here.

In Fes, we tried to stay in Riad Fes but it was fully booked. The riad is situated in the medina and guests are expected to find it by following discreet signposts like the one below. Generally, a guide is absolutely required when you first arrive at the edge of the medina with luggage.

In a densely populated medina, the riad architecture with few external-facing windows makes the entrance to the property very difficult for visitors to find in the myriad of alleyways, all bounded by high featureless walls with few identifiable landmarks.

It took us a while to find the hotel, even with the help of maps and several days of experience in wandering in the medina.

This riad is thoroughly modernized and met the international 4-5 stars status. The property is associated with the Relais & Châteaux network which have helped push their standards to match the marketing.

We had pre-dinner drinks at the rooftop terrace which afforded us a great view of the city of Fes and the distant Atlas mountains.

With lots of outdoor spaces on the roof, the guests are high above the noise and the crowds in the medina. The exterior of the building is modern except the green-tiled awnings and the outline of the windows.

A tiny escalator took us up to the roof terrace from the reception area. After our drinks, we walked down and stopped by the balcony on the first floor.

All the architectural elements around the reception area are meticulously restored. The guest rooms are also accessible from the balcony.

View from the balcony overlooking the reception area with a small grand piano.

Dinner was very good with modernized Moroccan dishes, and our meal was accompanied by an Oud musician. The dining room is modernized and we suspect the guest rooms are too. Without looking outside the window, we would not have known that this was Fes.

In Ouarzazate, we stayed one night at Dar Chamaa, arriving late in the day and just in time for dinner. This three-storey property is a fake dar, constructed recently and to cater to foreign tourists.

The hotel copied the plan of a dar. There was a small water feature (a ditch if one is mean about it) in the middle surrounded by colonnaded balconies. There were no traditional decorations (e.g., stucco) or form (such as an arch, except the lobby level). That’s being modern and efficient.

The hotel was comfortable. We had a good night of sleep after the long distance road trip. Ouarzazate is an oasis town, confirmed by the view from our balcony, which was just water and palm trees.  It preserved our touristic notion of being at an oasis. As the hotel is located at the edge of the town, we never saw the modern Ouarzazate center.

Our lodging in Essaouira – Madada Mogador – is situated above or adjacent to a riad.  The layout of the building had been modified to accommodate two businesses –  a hotel where we were and a massage and well-being establishment that took over the ground floor, including the courtyard and fountain.

With natural sunlight, the atrium was calm and pleasant.

A balustraded balcony circles the atrium overlooking the small fountain.

We booked one of the loft suite for the three of us.  The suite provided a double-level living space, a modern kitchen, and two separate sleeping areas, separately accessed by a spiral staircase or a set of open stairs.

One reason we booked this hotel was the view. We were not disappointed. Outside our window is the rampart of the old fort, and we could walk out to see the Atlantic Ocean.

If you are interested in the riads and dars we visited earlier, see Part 1 and 2 here and here.

 

Kasbah at Telouet, Home of the Pasha of Marrakech

On our way to Essaouira from Ouarzazate, we took a detour on P1506 to see Telouet Kasbah, but passing Ait Benhaddou (a United Nations Word Heritage site which regrettably we did not stop to explore).

To accompany your reading, highly recommended is Stephen Micus’s quiet contemplative Nomad Songs published by ECM. My favorite song here is Track 11 – Under The Chinar Trees (scroll down … and wait for the vocals after 2:10).

We arrived at Telouet just before noon and there were hardly any people inside the kasbah. Behind where we parked our SUV (photo above) is the foundook, a place where in the old days, camels from passing caravan were kept (like cars in a garage).

The kasbah was built in 1860 by the feudal warlord family of El Glaoui in the Moorish style. It lies at an elevation of 1,800 metres (5,900 ft), occupying a strategic position in the High Atlas, and visited by the caravan traffic between Marrakech and the Sahara.

A local guide walked through the kasbah with us. Only a few rooms in the kasbah can be visited because part of the kasbah is collapsing due to neglect.

It is surprising to find such a degree of luxury out here, being quite far from Marrakech and Ouarzazate. The guide said 300 workers worked for three years to decorate the ceilings and walls. The interiors are decorated with stucco, zelliges for the walls, and cedar painting for the ceiling.

The El Glaoui family made its fortune initially by trading almond, saffron and olives, and collecting taxes from the passing caravans.

In addition to being strategically and logistically well-situated, Telouet was located near major salt mines. Over time, the family became very wealthy and enjoyed close ties to the Sultan.

In 1893, Sultan Moulay Hassan were caught in a blizzard while crossing the High Atlas mountains. The El Glaoui family rescued the party, and received as rewards from the Sultan, feudal lord titles (qaids) in several areas and a cannon to fight rival warlords.

Thami El Glaoui, presided over Kasbah Telouet from 1912 to 1956, as the Pasha of Marrakech. His influence and wealth grew with interests in agriculture and mineral resources as well as levies on commercial transactions within his domain. Apparently, he attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as a private guest of Winston Churchill.

However, El Glaoui became an ally to the French protectorate and conspired to exile the then Sultan Mohammed V to Madagascar in 1953.

In 1955, Mohammed V returned from exile and declared independence for Morocco. El Glaoui was declared a traitor and lost all of his properties and political leverage. Kasbah Telouet has been left to crumble ever since.

A room of the kasbah, its wall collapsed is being used for holding sheep.

What a difference between the inside and the outside, the privileged and the underclass, the recent past and the present.

Fame and fortune come and go. We hope someone will do something to preserve at least a part of this kasbah.

Let’s see if history can live on in this corner of North Africa.

Riads and Dars, part 2

Continuing with a tour of riads and dars … I think Astrakan Cafe by Anouar Brahem on ECM suits the mood of this dar, especially Track 14 Astrakan Cafe – 2 and Track 8 Parfum de gitane. Part 1 of this post is here.

On our return to Marrakech in the second week, we booked into Dar Darma. IT selected this property because of its unique interiors.

As we mentioned in part 1 (here), most rooms in a riad/dar do not have outward facing window. Partly it is because there is no view in a dense urban setting (where most riads/dars are situated) and more importantly, for religious and privacy reasons. The occupants cherish their privacy and tranquility. As such, many of such homes in the medina have no frontage and are recognized only by an unassuming door. The photo above shows one of two entrances to Dar Darma, the other one is, we think the backdoor, which is even more modest.

Part of the fun in staying at a riad or dar is the sense of discovery and wonder when one first steps inside.

To start, there is usually such a contrast between the hot, chaotic, messy public alleyways and the finely decorated, calm, cool and darkened interiors, followed by a view of clear running water in the center of a tiled garden populated with fragrant plants.

Then, as one explores the property, there is the unexpected and original designs that have been executed by the architect to transform a traditional home into a business that provides hospitality.

As we were welcomed into Dar Darma, we were led through a labyrinth of passages, halls, seating areas, and narrow stairs. We were totally disoriented.

The interiors were all dimly lit, but it was adequate for seeing where to go. Can you imagine this place illuminated only by candles ?  A bit creepy.

All the interior spaces have a soaring ceiling – at least 15 feet – with matching tall windows looking out to a garden or courtyard.

We booked one of the six suites. Our suite was the Red suite – two bedrooms with en suite bathrooms and a living room – look at the walls of the living room.

An arched entry leads to our bedroom framed by a traditional full-height door that carries a smaller one.

Our medieval-looking bed was situated in the middle of an elongated, high-ceiling room. The stripes on the wall accentuated the vertical dimension. The ensuite bathroom was at the far end.

The bathroom was spaciously cave-like (reminded us of Riad Tawarjit) with two separate bath/showers, illuminated by this massive ornate light. It has to be the most dramatically-lit bathroom we have ever used in our travels.

IT’s room was on the other side of the living room, with a set of double doors.

Two “armored” giant vases flanked a small fireplace. A piece of leopard-skin was laid out in front of a TV hidden in a cabinet. The rug was old – the poor cat was probably not an endangered species at the time it became a rug.

We had not seen any skin of exotic animal for sale in the souks – a little surprising since we were in Africa.  A benign observation it was as we do not condone such trade. Plenty of leather, though.

IT’s room was decorated with period furniture and a creepy old photograph (see photo below).

It was nice to share breakfast in our living room. There was an option to have breakfast on the roof terrace which we took the next day. Our living room had windows overlooking a shallow pool with pink petals, surrounded by giant vases (see the photo near the top of the page).

Steep steps lead up to the roof terrace. The black-and-white theme is consistently executed throughout the property.

Compared to the two floors below, the roof terrace was relatively spartan or modern (depending on your taste). In the riads/dars we visited, the roof was always devoted to relaxing – having a drink, a snack under an umbrella, or a dip in a rooftop pool.

There was a small swimming pool up there but it was drained. January was their off-season, after all.

This property does not have a reception. The manager works in a small room somewhere in the labyrinth, we saw it but probably could not find it again.

The very personable concierge gave us a brief tour of the property as it was mostly vacant on our day of arrival. On our own, we would have gotten hopelessly lost. We saw Asian-themed decorations in some rooms with possibly orientalist antiques.

Apparently, many large riads are amalgamations of several homes resulting in a collection of interconnecting courtyards and balconies. Like Dar Darma, they have interesting spaces, some hidden and cosy, while some offers a surprising view of a garden.

Wrapped around mirrors in one of the suites’ bathroom and shower for a very vain person.

Dar Darma is not palatial but it has a maze of rooms and corridors which hides its true size … and then we discovered a small garden.

Due to its layout, we hardly saw any guests, nor the service team – must be a great place to play a murder mystery game or hide-and-seek.

We really liked Dar Darma for its understated luxury and privacy.

Dar Darma’s website has more pictures. Check it out here.

Part 1 is here. More riads to come …

 

 

 

 

Riads and Dars, part 1

Staying at a riad (or dar) is part of the Moroccan experience. For our two weeks in Marrakech, Fes, Ouazazate and Essaouira, we stayed at 2 riads, 3 dars and had a dinner in a riad where we were too late to make a room booking.

I selected a few songs for this post.

Riad (رياض) means a type of garden associated with a traditional Moroccan house. The word originates from the Arabic term for garden. Dar has a courtyard instead of a garden. But the meanings of the two words have apparently mutated and merged in English to represent traditional homes which have been restored and modernized, often by foreigners, to operate as intimate boutique hotels.

Our first night in Marrackech was spent in Riad Tawarjit situated in the medina, about 10-15 minutes walk from Place Jemaa El-Fna (see our post about the square here).  It is a small modest property with about 10-12 rooms on two floors and the roof.

We think it is a recent conversion from possibly two adjacent homes.

The placement of the water feature (a small pool for your feet ?) is not in the center of the property and looks like an afterthought. But it does have a small tree qualifying it as a riad.

Our room was on the second floor and very cosy. IT’s room was directly on the other side of courtyard (see photo below).

In our room, we felt like sleeping in a cave because it had a high ceiling, all the walls (not just the bathroom/shower, see below) were smooth with rounded corners and edges, and had a natural not painted grey color. Probably concrete.

Historically, riads were the city homes of wealthy citizens (merchants, aristocrats). They were mostly two or more stories high with a square or rectangular garden/courtyard and a fountain. They typically have two salons at the ground level facing each other across the central open area.

In Fes, we stayed at Dar Al Andalou which has the classical layout. Being the only guests when we arrived, the host allowed our group to pick any room we wanted. It was not an easy decision as the rooms were all different.

DL and family chose the salon on the right and for us, the one at the far end (see photo above). IT chose a room on the second floor.

This property had been nicely restored. They took care to maintain as much traditional details as possible. But the plumbing was not modernized for the 21st century. We were cold and the hot water was not consistent. The manageress was nice about it but the on-site caretaker/waiter was less responsive.

The traditional floor plan was designed to preserve family privacy and reflected Islamic cultural norms. The architecture directs the attention of the dwellers inwardly with windows, galleries and balconies looking back into the courtyard, with the fountain as a focal point.

In older houses there would be no windows in the salons but only two large doors each housing a smaller door. The smaller door is kept open in summer with a curtain for privacy. The photo below shows the double door to our bedroom, neither one were used during our stay. Another set of doors with stained glass and a weak lock was used (see photo above).

The salons are typically elongated with very high ceilings, sometimes carved and painted. This was our bedroom which lacked any outward facing window and was quite dark throughout the day (see photo below).

Because of this inward-looking design, many of such homes in the medina have no frontage and is recognized only by an unassuming door. In a densely populated medina, this type of architecture makes it very difficult for visitors to find their riad in the alleyways lined by high featureless walls with few identifiable landmarks. Losing your orientation the first time is almost fun and feels adventurous, but after that one time, you feel stupid and find the situation annoying when you just want to get back to rest your feet.

Typically, they have a roof terrace for cooking, relaxing and entertaining, but historically, the roof terrace is used for drying clothes and grains, and sleeping when it is too hot.

It has been said that the gentrification of these traditional homes played a role in keeping alive Moroccan handicraft traditions, such as tadelakt plaster (the “concrete” walls we had in Riad Tawarjit ?), stucco decoration, and zellige tiles.

More riads and dars to come …

 

 

 

Volubilis, an archaeological gem

While we were staying in Fes, we took a day trip to Meknes and Volubilis.  Meknes, one of the imperial cities of Morocco. Meknes did not make much of an impression on us but Volubilis is a gem.

First, let’s put on some Morocco traditional music made with an Oud – a type of lute. In Fes, IT booked a tutor to learn how to play the oud.

Volubilis was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. See its record here. Most of what is written below came from UNESCO and Wikipedia.

Covering an area of 42 hectares, it is of outstanding importance demonstrating urban development and Romanisation at the frontiers of the Roman Empire and the graphic illustration of the interface between the Roman and indigenous cultures. Because of its isolation and the fact that it had not been occupied for nearly a thousand years, it presents an important level of authenticity. It is one of the richest sites of this period in North Africa, not only for its ruins but also for the great wealth of its epigraphic evidence.

Volubilis is a partly excavated Berber city and commonly considered as the ancient capital of the kingdom of Mauretania. Built in a fertile agricultural area, it developed from the 3rd century BC onward as a Berber settlement before becoming the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania.

It grew rapidly under Roman rule in the 1st century AD with a 2.6 km (1.6 mi) circuit of walls, 8 gates and 40 towers and around 20,000 inhabitants – a very substantial population for a Roman provincial town. The city gained a number of major public buildings in the 2nd century, including a basilica, a temple and a triumphal arch. Its prosperity, which was derived principally from olive growing, allowed the construction of many fine town-houses with large mosaic floors.

The city fell to local tribes around 285 and was never retaken by Rome because of its indefensibility and remoteness being on the south-western border of the Roman Empire. It continued to be inhabited for at least another 700 years, first as a Christian community, then as an early Islamic settlement.

In the late 8th century it became the seat of Idris ibn Abdallah, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty of Morocco. By the 11th century Volubilis had been abandoned after the seat of power was relocated to Fes. Much of the local population was transferred to the new town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, about 5 km (3.1 mi) from Volubilis.

The ruins remained substantially intact until they were devastated by the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake and subsequently looted by Moroccan rulers seeking stone for building Meknes. It was not until the latter part of the 19th century that the site was definitively identified as that of the ancient city of Volubilis.

During and after the period of French rule over Morocco (started in 1890 until 1955), about half of the site was excavated, revealing many fine mosaics, and some of the more prominent public buildings and high-status private houses were restored or reconstructed. The Arch of Caracalla is one of Volubilis’ most distinctive sights, situated at the end of the city’s main street, the Decumanus Maximus.

The basilica was used for the administration of justice and the governance of the city.

Completed in the early 3rd century, it was one of the finest Roman basilicas in Africa.

The Capitoline temple

Some of the houses were apparently luxurious residences which had private baths and a richly decorated interior, with fine mosaics showing animal and mythological scenes.

The houses have been named by archaeologists after their principal mosaics or other finds.

Many of the mosaics were protected by a rope barrier to prevent people to walk over and wear down the tiles.

The city was apparently supplied with water by an aqueduct that ran from a spring in the hills behind the city. An elaborate network of channels fed houses and the public baths from the municipal supply.  The bath shown here can accommodate more than 10 people sitting in the round stone seats.

Our tour guide was very helpful and took us for a walking tour of first the major public buildings and then the private homes, and down the main street, Decumanus Maximus.

The site also has a small modern museum showing a movie about the city and displaying some excavated pieces.  Apparently, the best pieces are on display in the capital and Tangier.

UNESCO commented that the archaeological site of Volubilis is an outstanding example of a focal point for the different kinds of immigration, cultural traditions and lost cultures (Libyco-Berber and Mauritanian, Roman, Christian and Arabo-Islamic) to exchange influences since High Antiquity until the Islamic period.

We are very glad to have chosen Volubilis to spend half a day.

Roaming around the desert – part 2

Continuing with the drive around the desert area near our camp, accompanied by some lively traditional Gnawa music.

… along the way, we stopped to see a herd of donkeys that gathered around a well in the middle of a featureless flat desert.

The well was built by funds from the charity – Coeur de Gazelle as identified by a plaque above the well.  It is such a valuable resource that this organization is providing to the inhabitants of the desert.

These donkeys are probably owned by Berber nomads living in the area.  According to Wikipedia, Berbers, or Amazighs, (ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵏ, ⵎⵣⵗⵏ)) are an ethnicity of several nation groups mostly indigenous to North Africa and some northern parts of West Africa.

The area has been the home of nomadic Berbers for thousands of years. In Morocco, after the constitutional reforms of 2011, Berber has become an official language, and is now taught as a compulsory language in all schools regardless of the area or the ethnicity. In 2016, Algeria followed suit. Berber languages (generically Tamazight) are spoken by around thirty to forty million people in Africa. We observed that road signs and roadside advertisements were all written in Arabic, Berber, mostly also in French, and very occasionally English.

We saw a tent that served as a tea house for tourists to drink mint tea and socialize with the locals … not sure what these boxy homes were made of as they were all wrapped in some form of textile – certainly looked portable. A lady was standing outside her tent (see above photo) but unfortunately our guide did not make any arrangement ahead of time.

Do you know Zinedine Zidane was born in France to Kabyle Berber parents from Algeria ?

Though often thought of in the West as nomads, most Berbers are in fact traditional farmers living in mountains relatively close to the Mediterranean coast, or oasis dwellers, such as the Siwa of Egypt; but the Tuareg and Zenaga groups of the southern Sahara were almost wholly nomadic.

Prominent Berber groups include the Kabyles from Kabylia, in northern Algeria, who number about 6 million and have kept their original language and society; and the Chleuh in High and Anti-Atlas of Morocco, numbering about 8 million. Other groups include the Riffians of northern Morocco, the Chaoui people of eastern Algeria, and the Tuaregs of the Sahara scattered through southern Algeria and Libya, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. The staff who ran our camps were probably Tuaregs as they all wore the characteristic indigo-blue colored djellabas (robes).

Despite the hostile desert environment, people had apparently lived in this area for a long time. We drove through a ghost village.

The abandoned dwellings were built with adobe, or mud bricks made with sand, clay and organic matters. The guide did not say much about the history of this settlement, but it was pointed out that the mountain range in the horizon marks the border with Algeria (see below).

On the way back to our camp, we passed by this mysterious complex.

The buildings looked unoccupied – it could be a tourist hotel which was closed during the off-season.  The architecture is Malian, i.e., from Mali, a country south of here. Unlike a traditional building made with mud bricks, this one seemed to be made of concrete.

I think this building style was used in one of the Star Wars movies. We soon got back onto the paved R702 and then the N13 highway near Hassilabied and turned south, effectively circling Erg Chabbi in an anti-clockwise direction, arriving back at the camp in about an hour.

The desert was hostile and unforgiving, and it was a lonely and mysterious place.

 

 

Former residence of Marshal Zhang 張學良, Taipei – part 2/3

This is the second post on our visit to the former residence of Marshal Zhang 少帥禪園 located just outside of Taipei. Click here to read the first part.

We booked a table for lunch at the restaurant which offered a very limited tasting menu.

The restaurant is in what seems to be the main building of classical Japanese design with windows intricately latticed.

It was a weekday; there were only four or five occupied tables at lunch. The interior is not luxurious but somewhat modern and Japanese, with a display of a small fountain, hanging plants and what seemed like potted giant bonsai trees.

The whimsical decorations continue …

The soft and comfortable details seem ironic since this is one of the places of house arrest for Marshal Zhang which lasted nearly 40 years, although he was treated well. He gained his freedom in 1975 when he was in his 70’s.

Zhang Xueliang 張學良 was the effective ruler of Northeast China and much of northern China after the assassination of his father, Zhang Zuolin 張作霖 (the “Old Marshal”), by the Japanese on 4 June 1928. His father as a warlord was in 1920 the supreme ruler of Manchuria.

In the 1930’s, the leader of the Republic of China at the time, Chiang Kai-shek, focused on fighting the communists within China rather than the threat of the Japanese.

He was detained in Xi’an in 1936 by Zhang Xueliang and another general in order to force the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) to change its policies regarding the Empire of Japan and the Communist Party of China. This detention precipitated a political crisis, known as the Xi’an Incident 西安事變.

The crisis ended after two weeks of negotiation, in which Chiang was eventually released and returned to Nanjing, accompanied by Zhang. Chiang agreed to end the ongoing civil war against the communists and began actively preparing for the impending war with Japan.

Once Chiang were away from Zhang’s loyal troops, Chiang had him put under house arrest near the Nationalist capital, wherever it moved to. In 1949 Zhang was transferred to Taiwan.

There is a picture of Zhang and Chiang’s son at the residence.

After Chiang’s death in 1975, he gained some freedom but it was not restored officially until 1990. He immigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1993 and died of pneumonia in 2001 at the age of 100 there.

The food at the restaurant was very good. See our next post.

St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral, Kyiv

Our last post on Ukraine …

St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral (Володимирський кафедральний собор) is situated on Tarasa Shevchenko Blvd across the botanical garden and about 2 blocks from our hotel. It is one of Kiev’s major landmarks and the main cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchy.

This neo-Byzantine monument was our first stop in downtown Kiev. It was late afternoon and many office workers were leaving for the weekend and coming in to say a prayer. Ladies have to wear a scarf.

The cathedral was completed in 1882, however, the paintings were fully completed only in 1896.

The interior is quite dark which enhances the gold-accented fresco-lined walls and columns, and giant chandeliers.

The colorful mosaics were executed by masters from Venice. The frescoes were created under the guidance of a professor and by a group of famous painters, including Viktor Vasnetsov and Mikhail Vrubel.

The cathedral is dedicated to Vladimir the Great who in 989 AD accepted Christianity, leading the abandonment of paganism among the Kievan Rus’ people.

The Christianization of Rus people (Русь ) firmly allied it with the Byzantine Empire. The Greek learning and book culture was adopted in Kiev and other centers of the country. Churches started to be built on the Byzantine model.

We do not have a description of the body who is displayed and revered. It is not Vladimir.

St. Volodymyr’s is a beautiful church and in our opinion, more so than those in the site of the cave monastery. See earlier post here.

Inside the church is a few stands that sell religious art and souvenirs. They were not obtrusive and did not dilute the atmosphere. The church was really busy and not a tourist attraction, which is heartening to see. 

In the news at the time this post was drafted, Ukraine created the biggest schism in Christianity in centuries, as it breaks from the authority of a Moscow-based patriarch and formally gain recognition for its own church (“autocepaly”) from Constantinople (Istanbul), taking tens of millions of followers and church properties. Ukraine’s Parliament voted in December 2018 to force the Moscow-affiliated church, currently known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to instead call itself the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

See New York Times article here.

This cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchy will probably become more prominent as a result.

Due to the lack of time, we did not get to see the other even more prominent church in Kiev – St. Sophia’s Cathedral (Софійський собор). Well, next time.

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Києво-Печерська лавра), also known as the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, is a historic Orthodox Christian monastery which gave its name to one of the city districts where it is located in Kiev.

Since its foundation as the cave monastery in 1051, the Lavra has been a preeminent center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Eastern Europe. Together with the Saint Sophia Cathedral, it is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kiev Pechersk Lavra is essentially a complex split into two parts. One above ground and one below. It is very spread out with numerous buildings.

Built in 1073-8 AD, the main church of the monastery was destroyed during the World War II after the Nazi Germany troops occupied the city of Kiev. The reconstruction of the cathedral began in 1998 and was completed in time for its reconsecration during the Ukrainian Independence Day ceremonies in August 2000.

Great Bell Tower –  it was the tallest free-standing belltower at the time of its construction in 1731–1745.

It is an active monastery. Monks dressed in black walk around the complex. The monastery has a very informative web site in English – including information for local churchgoers and pilgrims – https://lavra.ua/en/

The caves were the beginning of a detailed excavation in which monks created a labyrinth of underground caves and catacombs. Below ground, this network takes on a greater meaning as it is full of mummified monks, religious relics, and icons.

We were so distracted by the above-ground complex that we left it too late to explore the caves. Too bad as it would the most unique sight.  Well, next time.

In the news at the time this post was drafted, Ukraine created the biggest schism in Christianity in centuries, as it breaks from the authority of a Moscow-based patriarch and formally gain recognition for its own church (“autocepaly”), taking tens of millions of followers and church properties. Ukraine’s Parliament voted in December 2018 to force the Moscow-affiliated church, currently known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to instead call itself the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

See New York Times article here.

The cave monastery is owned by the Ukrainian state but occupied by followers of the Moscow patriarch under a long-term lease, could become a point of contention. What an ugly mix of geopolitics and religion.

View of the monastery garden

A view of the monastery from the River Dneiper. Due to the camera angle, the statue appears next to the monastery, but in reality they are actually quite far apart.

On our way out, we noticed these brand new copper tops of church spires. The monastery apparently has a shop that supplies the parishes with this essential architectural element.

We really missed out a lot of sights on this short tour. If this is interesting to you, the monastery has a wonderful 3D tour online at https://lavra.ua/3dtour/index.html.  Go take a look.

Lokremise, St Gallen

Back in June, we spent one day in St. Gallen, on our way to Kiev from Lindau.

After seeing the Abby and its library (see the post here), we were looking for a place for dinner that was not far from the train station and our hotel. Not really expecting much, Lokal was the restaurant we chose from Google map.

Lokal, which is on the other side of tracks at the train station and it turns out to be a part of The Lokremise.

The Lokremise is a cultural center for St Gallen. It consists of a concert/theater/dance space, an outpost for the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, the cinema Kinok as well as our bar/restaurant Lokal.

The Lokremise was built between 1903 and 1911 at the time of the textile boom. It is the largest surviving locomotive ring depot in Switzerland.

I wondered what was the purpose of this tower. It looks mysterious.

The depot is a monument of national importance. The buildings were renovated in 2009/2010 and converted into the current complex.

The circular layout of the rail depot has been adapted to form a courtyard for having drinks outdoors.

Some train tracks remain visible under the pebbles. The space can be a really good lounge-y, party space.

Kinok moved into the new Lokremise cube, designed by the Zurich architects Isa Stürm Urs Wolf SA, featuring a cinema room, screening room and bar.

The art museum’s space is situated behind the cinema.

Sculptures and drinks.

The ambiance changed a little after dark.

The post-industrial, high-ceiling dining room is made less grungy by huge mirrors and warm color light fixtures.

Not sure what the idea is with these rows of chrome hemispheres … but they made the large otherwise stark wall a lot more interesting.

The food was overall quite good; the space is phenomenal. Location is super convenient. Highly recommended.

 

Mezhyhirya Residence, Ukraine

While we were in Kiev (Kyiv), we had a choice of visiting either Chernobyl (the site of the nuclear reactor accident) or Mezhyhirya (the residence of Ukraine’s ousted ex-president). They were both available as a day trip and one day was all we had. We took the safe option to view this monument of corruption.

We ordered a taxi from the hotel. It took us about 45 minutes to reach the residence outside Kiev.

The Mezhyhirya Residence (Межигір’я) is an estate where Viktor Yanukovych lived when he was prime minister and then president of Ukraine. It is now a museum displaying Yanukovych’s luxurious lifestyle at the people’s expense.

Yanukovych lived in the estate from 2002 to 21 February 2014, when he fled the country to Russia during the 2014 Ukrainian revolution (Euromaiden). He was one of the patrons of the now infamous Paul Manafort (ex-Trump campaign manager).

The estate is over 140 ha (350 acres) and is situated on the banks of the Dnieper river. It is packed with recreational facilities from a yacht pier, an equestrian club, a shooting range, a tennis court to hunting grounds. Unfortunately we did not see any of these facilities as they were quite spread out. We could have rented a golf cart but did not initially think we needed one.

The estate also has an automobile museum displaying Yanukovich’s exotic cars, a golf course, an ostrich farm, a dog kennel, numerous fountains and man-made lakes, a helicopter pad, and a small church. The entire complex is enclosed by a five-meter tall fence along the perimeter.

The grounds are beautifully maintained and we saw several couples in gown and tux taking wedding pictures at various scenic spots.

Gazebo with giant chairs

The main feature of the residence is the so-called “club house”, also known as Object Honka (Honka being the name of the Finnish company that built the log house).

Front of the House

Back of the House – only the top half is visible

He even built a fake Roman ruins next to the the House

On 21 February 2014, the police withdrew and Euromaiden protesters were able to enter the complex. There was no looting or vandalism. Activists later turned it into a public park.

Viktor Yanukovych served as President from February 2010 (defeating Yulia Tymoshenko) until his removal from power in February 2014. It started when Yanukovych rejected a pending EU association agreement, choosing instead to pursue a Russian loan bailout and closer ties with Russia. He is currently in exile in Russia and wanted by Ukraine for high treason.

Yanukovych has been widely criticized for “massive” corruption and cronyism with an estimated net worth of $12 billion.

Private zoo with many different kinds of birds and animals – ostrich

It was said “For most of [Yanukovych’s] career he was a public servant or parliament deputy, where his salary never exceeded 2000 US dollars per month. … In a country where 35% of the population live under poverty line, spending 100,000 dollars on each individual chandelier seems excessive, to say the least.” He was robbing his people.

Viktor Yanukovych hired and paid millions to Paul Manafort who was Donald Trump’s election campaign chairman for a period and has since been found guilty of five tax fraud charges, one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts and two counts of bank fraud. He recently lost his plea deal after being caught lying repeatedly to the FBI. Real crooks.

Abbey of Saint Gall, St. Gallen

We spent a day in St Gallen, a historic town located in the northeast of Switzerland. It is best known for its university and the Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.

The collection of buildings in the abbey precinct including its magnificent Baroque cathedral form a unique historical ensemble. The appearance of the abbey’s buildings is largely the result of constructions in the 18th century.

The west side includes the Baroque church (the present cathedral), flanked by two towers and the ancient cloister, which today houses the Abbey Library.

The city of St. Gallen grew around the Abbey of St Gall, which is said to have been built at the site of the hermitage of Irish missionary Gallus established in AD 612. The abbey followed the Rule of St. Benedict, which prescribes the contemplative study of literature. 

We were in awe of this late baroque Rococo decorations.

The abbey prospered in the 9th century and became a site of pilgrimage and a center of trade, with associated guest houses, stables and other facilities.

As a religious city-states, the abbey joined the Swiss Confederation in 1450s and the town became free from the abbot.

The abbey is an outstanding example of a large Carolingian monastery, represents 1200 years of history of monastic architecture from the Middle Ages.

Confession booths.

The interior of the Cathedral is one of the most important baroque monuments in Switzerland.

Ceiling frescoes.

Scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colors, sculpted molding, and trompe l’oeil frescoes – this church has every element of Rococo.

The Abbey library of Saint Gall (Stiftsbibliothek) is recognized as one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. It is also known as the Seelenapotheke (healing place of the soul). It is home to one of the most comprehensive collections of early medieval books in the German-speaking part of Europe.

There was a guided tour and we were required to wear soft overshoes to protect the floor. 

The two-storeys library, its walls and the balconies are ornately decorated. The library hall designed by the architect Peter Thumb in a Rococo style, was constructed between 1758-67. Bookshelves alternate with window recesses on both levels.

The library holds 2,100 manuscripts dating back to the 8th through the 15th centuries which are handwritten, 1,650 incunabula (printed before 1500), and old printed books. 400 of the handwritten books are over 1000 years old. These manuscripts are placed inside the glass cases.

Of particular interest are a beautiful collection of early medieval Irish manuscripts unique in Continental Europe.

The 2,700 year old Egyptian mummy Shepenese is also housed in the library.

This abbey and the library is really THE place to learn and experience central European history and see Rococo.

Bregenz, Austria

We passed the city of Bregenz on our way to Lindau, and made it the destination of one of our day trips.

Bregenz is the capital of the province of Vorarlberg which borders three countries: Germany(Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg via Lake Constance), Switzerland (Grisons and St. Gallen) and Liechtenstein. Vorarlberg is the westernmost state of Austria.

The city sits by the lake at the foot of Pfänder mountain (Der Berg am Bodensee).

The summit of the Pfänder (1064 m) can be reached by the Pfänderbahn from Bregenz. The cable car covers a height difference of over 600m in around 6 minutes. We waited for almost an hour to get onto it. Lindau is clearly visible.

With its views over the lake and the surrounding mountain peaks, the Pfänder is one of the most famous lookout points of the region.

One can see a stage on the water which is built for the famous annual international opera festival, Bregenzer Festspiele, which will run in the summer.

From a distance, it looked like a giant pair of hands rising out of the lake. Here is a time lapse video of the construction of this year’s stage for Carmen.

There is a small Alpine wildlife park at the top.

Back to town, the Vorarlberg area is known for its architectural principle – “Neue Vorarlberger Bauschule” – which combines traditional construction and modern interpretation, and involves craftsmen and locals in the building process.

Walking through Bregenz, we saw many modern buildings standing next to traditional houses.

Overall, quite harmonious.

One of Austria’s famous food is the schnitzel – pounded and breaded veal fillet. We were happy to find a restaurant specialized in this dish in a old historic building.

Goldener Hirschen at Kirchstrasse 8 serves many tourists but without being touristy.

Traditional interiors.

We sat outside in a small garden. They also offer a pork version but it was clearly stated and 15% cheaper. Many main street touristy restaurants do not offer a choice and serves pork (especially true in Germany).

The presentation was pedestrian, not as good as what we had in Vienna.  Overall very good.

Click here to see the Wiener Schnitzel we had a while back.

798 Art Zone, Beijing

While I was in Beijing, I met my high-school friend NKL who is in the art business there, and he took me to see the famous 798 Art Zone or 798 Art District (798艺术区).

By the way, I am not sure if the pile of bicycles in front of the 798 sign is art or a sign of excess of the sharing economy (people not returning the bikes that were shared via services like Uber).

It was a ugly rainy day and many of the galleries and eateries were not open. The consolation was that there were fewer people. The pictures are not pretty but you will get an idea of the place.

751 D-Park

Wikipedia has a lot of information on the history of the zone. So I will use their information in much of what is to come below.  The official web site is at http://www.798district.com/en/.

751 Ace Cafe

The 798 Art Zone is located in the Dashanzi (大山子) area, Chaoyang District, to the northeast of central Beijing. It is the site of state-owned decommissioned military factories including Factory 798, which originally produced electronics. The zone comprises a complex of 50-year-old factory buildings boasting a unique East German Bauhaus-influenced style (Dessau Design Institute). Factory #798 is only one of several structures inside a complex formerly known as the 718 Joint Factory.

Construction started in April 1954 and the factories started production in 1957. The factory quickly established a reputation for itself as one of the best in China. The Joint Factory produced a wide variety of military and civilian equipment. Civilian production included acoustic equipment such as all the loudspeakers on Tiananmen Square and Chang’an Avenue. After 10 years of operation, Joint Factory 718 was split into more manageable sub-Factories 706, 707, 751, 761, 797 and 798, following the Chinese government’s method of naming military factories starting with the number 7.

718 Art Ahead

The plans for the factory buildings, where form follows function, called for large indoor spaces designed to let the maximum amount of natural light into the workplace.

Arch-supported sections of the ceiling would curve upwards then fall diagonally along the high slanted banks or windows; this pattern would be repeated several times in the larger rooms, giving the roof its characteristic sawtooth-like appearance.

In 1995, Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), looking for cheap workshop space away from downtown, set up in the now defunct Factory 706. In 2001, American Robert Bernell moved his Timezone 8 Art Books bookshop, gallery and publishing office into a former factory canteen; he was the first foreigner to move in. Later that year, Tabata Yukihito from Japan’s Tokyo Gallery set up Beijing Tokyo Art Projects (BTAP, 北京东京艺术工程) inside a 400-m² division of Factory 798’s main area. BTAP’s 2002 opening exhibition “Beijing Afloat” (curator: Feng Boyi), drew a crowd of over 1,000 people and marked the beginning of popular attention in the area.

In 2002, designer artist Huang Rui (黄锐) and hutong photographer Xu Yong (徐勇) set up the 798 Space gallery (时态空间) next to BTAP. With its cavernous 1200-m² floor and multiple-arched ceilings at the center of Factory 798, it was and still is the symbolic center of the whole district.

Beginning in 2002, artists and cultural organizations began to divide, rent out, and re-make the factory spaces, gradually developing them into galleries, art centers, artists’ studios, design companies, restaurants, and bars.

Insight Bookshop

Giant mural of the zone in isometric view

Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, UCCA (尤伦斯当代艺术中心) is an independent institution of contemporary art, founded in 2007 by Belgian philantropist, Guy Ullens, out of a commitment to bring Chinese contemporary art into global dialogue.

In June 2017, a group of China-based investors came together to restructure UCCA, separating its commercial and non-profit functions, ensuring its long- term presence in the 798 Art District, and securing its future vision.

When we entered the Center, a volunteer gave us a guided tour of the exhibits in Mandarin. He was enthusiastic and memorized the opinionated spiel about the paintings. But it took too much time and our attention, so we declined the personal tour after a few rooms. I did not take any photo in the Center except in the shop which had a decent range of books and design objects.

Apart from contemporary art, we visited the gallery of a copper artist/craftsman who made incredibly beautiful and complex copper sculpture.

798 Art Zone mixes art, commerce and tourism. It is exciting and exhausting at the same time due to its size, novelty, and diversity. If I live in Beijing, I will come here regularly.

One could think of this as Beijing’s version of New York’s Soho. While the development of the Zone has undergone a similar industrial to artistic to commercial pattern, it is not quite the same. The Zone is in a suburban area, not central Beijing, and much larger in terms of area. To me, it felt a bit like a theme park.

After the 798 Art Zone, my friend took me to the Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. See the next post.

 

Petra, Jordan – part 2

After seeing the famous “Treasury”, we continued with our walk through the gorge which gradually widens and open up to a vast area. I, like many people, thought that the only thing to see in Petra is the Treasury.

It is the highlight of the site but there is an entire city on the other side. Petra (then known as Raqmu) was an important trading post located strategically in the desert at the northern end of the caravan route from Arabia to the Mediterranean. The people had great wealth and power at the time of the first centuries B.C. and A.D. It was reported by the Metropolitan museum of art that the fame of the Nabataean kingdom spread as far as Han-dynasty China, where Petra was known as Li-kan.

Petra is also called the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of which it is carved. Apparently, at certain hour early in the morning, the rock faces are lit by the sun creating a spectacle. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.

During the reign of King Aretas III (r. 86–62 B.C.), the Nabataean kingdom extended its territory northward and briefly occupied Damascus. The expansion was halted by the arrival of Roman legions under Pompey in 64 B.C. Petra’s importance declined as sea trade routes emerged and many structures were destroyed by an earthquake in the 3rd century.

The Byzantine Era witnessed the construction of several Christian churches, but the city continued to decline, and by the early Islamic era became an abandoned place where only a handful of nomads lived.

It remained unknown to the world until it was “discovered” in 1812 by a Swiss traveller, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.

The Nabataeans buried their dead in intricate tombs that were cut out of the mountain sides and the city also had temples, a theater, and following the Roman annexation and later the Byzantine influence, a colonnaded street and churches.

We walked into an amphitheater – one can easily imagine a town meeting or a performance being attended by people who live in the caves around the valley. The theatre consists of three rows of seats separated by passageways and was carved into the mountainside during the reign of King Aretas IV (4 B.C. – 27 A.D.). Jesus was born at around the same time when this was being constructed.

Under the emperor Trajan in 106 A.D., Petra fell to the Romans who annexed and renamed Nabataea to Arabia Petraea. Apart from the many incredible structures carved out of the mountain, they also built free-standing buildings.

Great Temple – remnants

Inside the settlement

Animals in Petra – donkey – a less active ride than that offered by a camel.

Notice the pattern of marks chiseled in the rock behind the donkeys  !

Looking back towards all the tombs on one side from the Great Temple … one gets a sense of the human scale of this early settlement.

27 sites in Petra are now available on Google Street View. Even if you are not going to see Petra any time soon, it is worth checking it out using better tech than my photos here.