architecture – Page 2

Villa Tugendhat, Brno and the novel by Simon Mawer entitled ‘The Glass Room’

Villa Tugendhat in Brno, was designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van de Rohe and constructed between 1928 -1930 on a hillside slope overlooking the city centre. It was commissioned by the wealthy Jewish industrialist Fritz Tugendhat and his wife Greta and was their home for eight years before the couple, along with their children, were forced to flee to Switzerland following the dismembering of Czechoslovakia brought about by the Munich agreement of September 1938.

An icon of modern architecture, today Villa Tugendhat is considered one of the finest examples of functionalist design anywhere in the world. A revolutionary iron framework allowed Mies to dispense with supporting walls and massive plate glass windows give the extensive living space a wonderful feeling of space and light. The minimalist interior is famous for featuring an onyx wall and for using rare tropical hardwood.

Interior of Villa Tugendhat with onyx wall on the left © Ricky Yates

Sadly, during the Second World War and the communist era that followed, Villa Tugendhat suffered from inappropriate alterations and with internal materials being removed and used elsewhere. Some of the original wood panelling was found at Masaryk University, in a building used by the Gestapo as their Brno headquarters. In the latter years of communism, efforts were made to restore the building and a few years after the Velvet Revolution, it was opened as a museum under the auspices of Brno City Council.

In February 2010, a second major and expensive renovation project began with the aim of restoring Villa Tugendhat completely to its former glory. This work has included the creation of exact copies of the original furniture which was also designed by the architect Ludwig Mies van de Rohe. The building reopened to the public in March 2012.

An amazing sunset seen from inside Villa Tugendhat © Ricky Yates — An amazing sunset as seen from inside Villa Tugendhat © Ricky Yates

Since reopening, the number of people able to visit each day has been strictly limited in order to preserve the fabric of the building. The advice on the official website is to book an entrance ticket, at least one month in advance! Therefore I was greatly privileged to be able to visit Villa Tugendhat late one afternoon in September 2012, as a guest at a reception organised by the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic, without needing to book in advance! The photographs illustrating this post were all taken by me on that occasion.

'The Glass Room' by Simon Mawer — ‘The Glass Room’ by Simon Mawer

At that reception, the British novelist Simon Mawer, read some extracts from his novel, first published in 2009, entitled ‘The Glass Room’. It is a fictional story inspired by Villa Tugendhat, and takes it title from the extensive living space, with its plate glass windows and onyx wall, that is the central feature of the villa. I had been given a copy of the novel a few months previously and my visit inspired me to set about reading it, something I’ve since done twice, always planning to eventually write a blog post. My apologies that this post has taken eighteen months to gestate 🙂

The novel is both excellently conceived and extremely well written. What I particularly like about it is the very accurate retelling of the history of Central Europe over a sixty year period, against which the life stories of the various characters are played out. I very much agree with one reviewer who wrote, ‘Mawer creates a passionately detailed portrait of individuals struggling to snatch order and happiness from frightening, irrational times….a truly enjoyable read’.

As well as reading extracts from his novel, Simon Mawer also happily held an author signing session and so I got my copy suitably inscribed. The book is available from Amazon and has also been translated into several other languages, including Czech.

The author Simon Mawer signing a copy of his novel 'The Glass Room © Ricky Yates — The author Simon Mawer signing a copy of his novel ‘The Glass Room’ © Ricky Yates

My copy of 'The Glass Room', suitably inscribed by the author — My copy of ‘The Glass Room’, suitably inscribed by the author

Pelhrimov

As I mentioned in my previous post about the Church of St Bartholomew, here is the promised further illustrated post about the town of Pelhrimov itself, which we visited earlier this week on Tuesday 22nd October 2013.

Pelhrimov lies a short distance off the D1, the Prague-Brno motorway, just over one hundred kilometres south east of Prague. It should only take about an hour and a quarter to drive there but took us nearer one hour and forty minutes, because of traffic delays getting across and out of Prague. Like many Czech towns, there is industry and Communist era paneláks around the outskirts, but there is also a historic, well-preserved and restored centre, with many attractive buildings. Having found a suitable parking place for the car, we set out for the main square, Masarykovo námestí.

It being lunchtime, we first looked to find a place to eat. We opted for a pizzeria on the first floor of Hotel Slávie, overlooking the square from where this photograph was taken. Both the food and the view were excellent!

Hotel Slávie with its cubist facade and the buildings on the other side of the square, reflected in the ground floor windows © Ricky Yates

Hotel Slávie has a wonderful cubist façade as you can see in the photograph above. After lunch here, we set out to explore a variety of architectural gems around the square. Most have their current form after rebuilding following a serious fire in 1736.

Building with sgraffiti decoration © Ricky Yates

Like the Church of St. Bartholomew, this building also features sgraffiti decoration.

On the opposite side of the square from Hotel Slávie are these Italianate style buildings, very similar to those in Telc which we visited previously, three years ago.

Just off the square and adjacent to the Church is this Zámek/Château, completed in 1554. At one end is one of three town gatehouses that still exist, giving access to the historic centre of the town. The Zámek itself now serves as part of the Pelhrimov Museum.

Here on the left, is a close-up view of the clock on top of the Zámek. The two characters either side of the clock-face, swing their implements, striking the little bell at the top, in time with clock striking the hour. The clock-face itself illustrates past history as it features a double-headed eagle, the symbol of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the photograph on the right is another of the town gatehouses.

Arcaded building with sgaffiti illustrations © Ricky Yates

Here are two examples of beautifully restored arcaded buildings. The one on the right features sgrafitti illustrations including, between the two windows on the left of the photograph, the Virgin and Child. But it is also an example of ‘only in the Czech Republic’, as the building is now used as a Herna (gambling) Bar 🙁 The ground floor windows are totally obscured to prevent anyone looking in.

Above is one of my favourite examples of sgraffiti decoration in Pelhrimov – a big smiling sun!

Another beautifully decorated building © Ricky Yates

Whilst I also love the style and artwork decorating this building which I presume dates from the time of the First Republic 1918-1938.

Fountain with statue of St. James © Ricky Yates

Modern metal sculpture of St. James © Ricky Yates

As Sybille and I, at different times, have both made a walking pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, we were surprised but also delighted to discover a statue of St. James. He stands on a pillar, in the middle of a fountain, at the centre of Masarykovo námestí. He is dressed in pilgrim’s vesture decorated with scallop shells, carries a water gourd, and holds a pilgrim staff with a cross at the top. We also found this more modern metal sculpture in the covered passageway leading to the tourist information centre.

The town takes its name from the Latin word for pilgrim – peregrinus. As can be seen here, the town coat-of-arms features a pilgrim, walking through one of the town gates. There are various related explanations, both to the origin of the town and its name, but all revolve around the Bishop of Prague between 1224-1225 who was Peregrinus of Wartenberg. He apparently passed through what is now Pelhrimov whilst on a pilgrimage, but his destination was Rome rather than Santiago!

The town council tourist information website explains this discrepancy by saying that St. James is the patron saint of pilgrims. Therefore, as the town derives its name from the word ‘pilgrim’, St. James can be deemed to be the patron saint of Pelhrimov 🙂

Masarykovo námeští, Pelhrimov © Ricky Yates — Masarykovo námestí, Pelhrimov © Ricky Yates

The Church of St Bartholomew, Pelhrimov

For a number of reasons, I took my day-off this week today, rather than yesterday. Taking advantage of some wonderful Indian summer weather, Sybille and I drove just over one hundred kilometres south-east of Prague and explored the interesting historic town of Pelhrimov. A much longer and more detailed post about the town will follow shortly. But tonight, I just wanted to post about one fascinating discovery that we made today, whilst exploring this delightful town.

At one corner of Masarykovo námestí, the main square in the centre of Pelhrimov, is the Church of St Bartholomew – kostel sv Bartolomej. The Church dates from the late thirteenth/early fourteenth century and much of its exterior walls are decorated with sgraffiti as can be seen in this photograph. But in the small curved alcoves on the outside of the chancel walls, we found the remains of several frescos. I have no idea either as to their origin or of their age, but my educated guess is that they are probably several centuries old.

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple © Ricky Yates

This first one is a depiction of the presentation of Christ in the Temple, as described in Luke 2. 22-40. At the top of the fresco is Simeon, holding the infant Jesus. Next to Jesus is his mother Mary, in blue. Next to her, is the prophetess Anna, whilst at the bottom left is Joseph.

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane © Ricky Yates

This second fresco is of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion. Jesus is shown praying to his Father saying, ‘Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ Mark 14. 36. The artist portrays Jesus receiving angelic support from above.

This third fresco shows a scourged Jesus being presented to the people. The scene is often called Ecce homo, the Latin words for ‘Behold the man’, found in John 19. 5.

I am quite amazed as how this wonderful artwork has actually survived all these years, despite the physical elements of rain and snow, and nearly forty-two years of Communist rule.

Royal Gardens, Stalin and the Metronome

Towers at the eastern end of the Prague Castle complex © Ricky Yates

Many of us here in Prague, are beginning to think that someone has kidnapped Spring and early Summer, the weather having been cold and wet for most of May. So Sybille and I decided to take full advantage of a rare, fine, dry and partly sunny evening earlier this week, and take a walk through some of Prague’s wonderful green spaces.

We took the tram to Pražský hrad / Prague Castle. But instead of crossing Prašný most, the bridge over Jelení príkop, and entering the Castle complex, we turned left into Královská zahrada, the Royal Gardens. As well as a wonderful collection of mature trees, there were several rhododendron bushes still in flower – shades of our visit to Pruhonice Park the previous week.

From the Royal Gardens, there are splendid views of Prague Castle. This photo shows the towers at the eastern end of the Castle complex. However, surrounded by trees and other greenery, you could be forgiven for thinking it to be scene from a small historic village in the Bohemian countryside, rather than a location in the centre of the Czech capital.

The view from Chotkovy sady © Ricky Yates

At the eastern end of the Royal Gardens is Chotkovy sady, from where this view down to the Malostranská tram stop with Charles Bridge beyond, was taken. From this point, a pedestrian bridge allowed us to cross the road and tram tracks below, and enter a far bigger green space, Letenské sady or Letná Park, as it is commonly called in English.

The Metronome in Letná Park © Ricky Yates

Letná Park occupies a plateau from which a steep slope goes down to the Vltava river. Walking along the path at the top of the slope, there are extensive views across the whole of that part of Prague that lies on the eastern side of the river. But sitting on top of a massive plinth and occupying the best viewpoint of all, is this slightly incongruous metronome. At least when we saw the metronome on our walk earlier this week, it was actually working. More often than not, it is stationary!

The metronome was erected in 1991, but the massive plinth on which it sits, has a far longer history going back to late 1949, only eighteen months after the coup that brought the Communist Party to power in February 1948. For on it once stood the largest group statue in Europe, measuring 15.5 metres in height and 22 metres in length.

Seeking to kowtow to the Soviet Union, the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia decided to build a massive statue of Joseph Stalin. It took them five and a half years to construct it and, by the time it was unveiled on 1st May 1955, Stalin had already been dead for over two years.

The Prague Stalin Statue - Image via Wikimedia & in public domain — The Prague Stalin Statue – Image via Wikimedia & in the public domain

As you can see, the group statue was a classic example Communist era art on a gigantic scale. Stalin stands proudly overlooking the Vltava River, with archetypal workers and soldiers lining up behind him. The statue was informally known as ‘Fronta na maso‘, the ‘meat queue’, which was a daily part of life at that time. I am given to understand that there were also some far more descriptive titles – those that referred to what comrades standing behind Stalin, might be doing to his rear 🙂 As long as they are not too offensive, I’d love to know what these were, via comments on this post.

Less than a year after the statue was unveiled, Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin, both for his dictatorial rule and his cult of personality. Thus, this grand monument became an increasing embarrassment to the Czechoslovak Communist hierarchy. Therefore, in October 1962, the whole colossus was blown up with the help of 800 kg of explosives.

From the platform, immediately below the metronome, there is a view straight across Cechuv most, towards Staromestké námestí / Old Town Square. The street from the bridge to the square is called Parižská / Paris Street. Either side of Parižská, are some of the most exclusive and expensive shops in Prague. It is a view I suspect, that Stalin would not enjoy. So it is probably good that he no longer has to observe it 🙂

The view from Letná over Cechuv most © Ricky Yates — The view from Letná Park over Cechuv most © Ricky Yates

Berlin

The Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate lies at the heart of the Historic Mitte/Historic Centre of Berlin. It was the backdrop to the events of 9th November 1989 that unfolded on television screens around the world and to which several people have made reference in their comments on my previous post about the Berlin Wall. As can be seen in my photograph above, it has now been fully restored to its former glory and it is hard to imagine the concrete panels of the Wall dividing east from west, that used to run directly in front of it.

A short distance south of the Brandenburg Gate is Potsdamer Platz, which until the Second World War, was the bustling heart of the city. Post 1945, it lay in ruins and was then divided by the Wall. Since reunification of the two German states in 1990, Potsdamer Platz has been completely redeveloped and now more resembles Manhattan than a European capital city. The photograph on the left is of the Sony Centre with its spectacular steel and glass roof. Below are pictured three skyscrapers which would not look out of place on the New York skyline.

Berlin 4 — Skyscrapers at Potsdamer Platz © Ricky Yates

Berlin 5 — Holocaust Memorial © Ricky Yates

In between the Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz is the Denkmal für die Erdemordeten Juden Europas, usually known simply as the Holocaust Memorial. Finally opened in May 2005, after many years of debate regarding its design and construction, the 2711 sarcophagi-like columns that rise up in silence across undulating ground, commemorate the Jewish victims of the Nazi-orchestrated genocide of World War Two.

Berlin 8 — The security controlled entrance for the official opening of the memorial to Sinti & Roma victims of the Nazi regime © Ricky Yates

It is often forgotten or not even realised by many people today, that Jews were not the only victims of the Nazis. Just across the road from the Holocaust Memorial, in the edge of the Tiergarten, there is now a small memorial to Homosexuals who were also victims of the regime. And on our third day in Berlin, a new memorial, also located in the Tiergarten, commemorating Sinti and Roma victims, was officially opened by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The picture above is the nearest we could get to it due to understandable security restrictions being in place. But you can see it and read more about it, in this BBC News report.

Berlin 7 — The *Reichstag* © Ricky Yates

The reunification of Berlin has allowed the restoration of older buildings which had been in disrepair for many years. This is the Reichstag, home of the German parliament until seriously damaged by fire in mysterious circumstances in 1933. It suffered further damage during World War Two. With the decision to move the capital of a united Germany back to Berlin, the Reichstag underwent a complete reconstruction led by the British architect Norman Foster. After its completion in 1999, the building once again became the meeting place of the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament.

Berlin 6 — Berlin Hauptbahnhof © Ricky Yates

However, some buildings have been transformed and are now hardly recognisable from their pre-1945 appearance. A good is example is the main railway station – Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

Berlin 9 — *Alexanderplatz* © Ricky Yates

East Berlin was the capital of communist controlled East Germany. Inevitably here, you can still find plenty of examples of severe communist era architecture. This is Alexanderplatz, created during the 1960s and rightly described as ‘soulless and without trees’ by our guidebook. This despite post-unification attempts to temper the socialist look with a few small trees in the distance!

Berlin 10 — Communist era housing in East Berlin © Ricky Yates

Nearby, I photographed this classic example of communist era housing, still looking horribly drab.

Berlin 2 — The Olympiastadion/Olympic Stadium © Ricky Yates

Dating from a different era, this is the Olympiastadion/Olympic Stadium, built in 1936 as a showcase for Hitler’s Nazi Germany. In more recent years, it has been modernised, specifically for the Football World Cup Finals in 2006. It is also the home of Hertha Berlin, the city’s leading football club.

One thing Sybille was very keen to do whilst we were visiting the German capital, was to enjoy a Berlin culinary speciality – a Currywurst. Here she is, experiencing her first Currywurst for many years with appropriate liquid refreshment 🙂