View allAll Photos Tagged Coherence
【 消えた境界線から生まれたもの 】
～ 去ってゆく川村記念美術館を振り返って ～
木。鉄。紙。砂。油絵。
これらを素材として扱ったアーティストは数万といるだろうけど、完全な融和と調和を達成したアーティストは、ジョゼフコーネル、たったひとりだと思う。
僕は彼を川村記念美術館の展示で知った。彼の作品を多く見られる場所としても、おそらく世界的にも珍しいはずだ。なぜなら、蒐集された方がジョセフコーネルを敬愛していたからだ。そのおかげで、僕は彼の多数の作品を見ることができた。その影響は僕の作品の質を一変させることになる。
デザインフェスタや川村記念美術館で展示するまで、僕は僕らしい作品を目指すことで頭が狂いそうになっていた。
決して大袈裟ではなく、僕は僕自身に高いハードルを強いたからだ。
それはふたつだ。
ひとつは、写真をメインにするものの、写真だけの展示では、退屈だということ。
ふたつめは、写真を使いながらも、別の何かを使い、融和と調和を目指すこと。
ひとつめの写真の展示に関しては、僕のYouTubeにアップロードしてあるのでそれを見てほしい。
「写真の展示」は退屈だ。僕は誘われても一度も行ったことがない。そういった内容を動画で語っている。
ふたつめの融和と調和についても、同じく動画で語り尽くしている。
初めて展示を行った際、表参道のデザインフェスタの一角に、夏から１２月までの毎月、作品を展示することを自分に課した。
僕はそこで毎月、さまざまな素材にチャレンジした。
銀色の鉄板、キャンバス、和紙、ビニール、などなど。そのなかで僕が最終的にベースに選んだのが蝋を塗った梱包紙だった。
僕が出した結論の影響は、ジョセフコーネルの存在が欠かせない。
もちろん僕は彼のように手先が器用であったり、根気もないので彼の作品のレベルには到底到達できない。
でも、僕はジョセフコーネル以降のアーティストで、写真を使った有名なアーティストらを絶対に越えるということも内心、目指していた。
２０２４年の現在。
僕はそれを達成したと思う。
僕が展示した作品は、世界中に散らばったからだ。
初めて川村記念美術館に訪れたのは、僕が書いた小説”unforgettable”に登場した彼女が一緒だった。
僕は何者でもなかった。
カメラなんてまるで興味ないし、美術館に展示されているレンブラントやピカソ、モネらは中学校の美術の時間の延長に過ぎなかった。
僕はモネの美しさよりも彼女の横顔に見惚れていた。かっこつけるわけでもなく、嘘でもない。美術館で、作品をじっと静寂の中で見つめている彼女の横顔こそが僕の心を捉えていた。
作品から離れ、通路に溢れた外光のなかに彼女が立って、光と溶け合った時、僕は時を止められることを知った。
アートとは、時を止め、融和と調和を生む。止められた時間は、永遠に消えず、誰かの心を刻む。
川村記念美術館は、佐倉市の大自然に溶け込むようにして展示場があり、そこに作品が置かれている。
完全な融和と調和を目指した、世界でも稀な美術館だと、近隣に住んでいる僕は思っている。
なぜ、アートは融和と調和を目指すのだろうか。
違和感のない、柔らかな整合性は何を導くのか。
僕は心の平静だと思う。
作品にはさまざまなタイプがあるだろう。憎しみや憎悪といった嫌悪感に満ちた作品も確かにあるけれども、それらの作品ですらその向こうに安らぎがあるのではないだろうか。
融和と調和から生まれた安らぎに触れた時、人はほんの少しだけ変われるかもしれない。
彼女はどうして美術に無関心な僕をここへ連れてきたのだろうか。
長い年月が経ってからやっとその意味を理解して、僕は今、１１月の展示に臨む。
川村記念美術館は、たぶん、多くの人を支えてくれたと思う。
その意義は、今後も残り続ける作品とともに、誰かの心を刻み続ける。
融和と調和によって境界線は、消える。
小さな作品から大きな波紋となって、世界へ広がってゆく。
国境。人種。貧富。
自然とアートの融和と調和。
川村記念美術館の存在は、少なくとも僕の人生を大きく塗り替えた。
僕が展示する人間になるなんて夢にも思わなかった。
当時の彼女は、きっと僕に何かを伝えたかったんだといまさらながら思う。
川村記念美術館から、作品が消え、建物が消え、すべてが消えても、僕の記憶からは決して消えないだろう。
長い間、僕を支えてくれてありがとうございました。
川村記念美術館のスッタフの皆様に僕は心から感謝しています。
ありがとうございました。
Mitsushiro Nakagawa. 24th.Sep.2024.
追伸。
僕が美術館内で最も繰り返し聴いた曲を最後に。
追伸2。
このテキストはあと１回繰り返します。使っている写真は既に過去にアップロードした写真です。
Everything But The Girl … Time After Time
youtu.be/tyEb2BpctyY?si=v42LWD4BQE7hSExk
What Emerged from the Vanishing Boundaries
~ Reflecting on the Departing Kawamura Memorial Museum ~
Wood. Iron. Paper. Sand. Oil painting.
There must be tens of thousands of artists who have worked with these materials, but I believe only one artist, Joseph Cornell, achieved complete harmony and fusion.
I learned about him through an exhibition at the Kawamura Memorial Museum. As a place where many of his works can be seen, it’s probably rare even on a global scale. That's because the collector deeply admired Joseph Cornell. Thanks to that, I was able to see many of his works, and they had a profound impact, completely transforming the quality of my own work.
Until I exhibited at Design Festa and the Kawamura Memorial Museum, I was driven mad by the desire to create something that felt truly like my own.
I'm not exaggerating. I set extremely high standards for myself.
There were two key challenges I set:
1. Although photography would be the main focus, a photo-only exhibition would be boring.
2. While using photography, I would incorporate something else, aiming for fusion and harmony.
Regarding the first point, you can see my "photo exhibitions" on my YouTube channel.
Photo exhibitions are dull. I've never gone to one, even when invited. I talk about this in the video.
As for the second point—fusion and harmony—I’ve also covered it extensively in videos.
When I held my first exhibition, I set myself the task of displaying works every month from summer to December at a corner of Design Festa in Omotesando.
There, I challenged myself with a variety of materials every month: silver metal sheets, canvas, washi (Japanese paper), vinyl, and more. Ultimately, I chose wax-coated packing paper as my base material.
Joseph Cornell's influence was indispensable in reaching this conclusion.
Of course, I lack his skill with my hands and patience, so I could never achieve his level.
But inwardly, I was determined to surpass other well-known artists who used photography after Joseph Cornell.
As of 2024, I believe I’ve achieved that.
The works I exhibited have spread across the world.
The first time I visited the Kawamura Memorial Museum, I was with the woman who appears in my novel *Unforgettable*.
I was a nobody at the time.
I had no interest in cameras, and the Rembrandts, Picassos, and Monets displayed in the museum were just an extension of art class from middle school.
Rather than Monet’s beauty, I was captivated by her profile. No pretense, no lie—her profile, gazing at the artwork in the museum's silence, was what truly captured my heart.
When she stepped away from the artwork and stood in the hallway flooded with natural light, blending into it, I realized that time could be stopped.
Art stops time and creates fusion and harmony. The time that is paused never fades; it imprints itself on someone's heart.
The Kawamura Memorial Museum, with its exhibition spaces blended into the vast nature of Sakura City, displays its works in perfect fusion and harmony. Living nearby, I believe it is one of the rare museums in the world that strives for such completeness.
Why does art aim for fusion and harmony?
What does soft, seamless coherence lead to?
I believe it leads to peace of mind.
There are many types of art. There are certainly works filled with hatred and disgust, but even those might bring some form of tranquility beyond them.
When touched by the tranquility born from fusion and harmony, perhaps people can change, even just a little.
Why did she, who had no interest in art, bring me to this place?
After many years, I finally understand its meaning, and now I face my exhibition in November.
I believe the Kawamura Memorial Museum has supported many people.
Its significance will continue to resonate in people's hearts, along with the works that remain.
Boundaries vanish through fusion and harmony.
From small works, they ripple out into the world—across borders, races, and wealth.
The fusion and harmony of nature and art.
The Kawamura Memorial Museum profoundly reshaped my life, at the very least.
I never dreamed I would become someone who exhibits works.
Looking back, I think she must have wanted to tell me something.
Even when the works disappear from the Kawamura Memorial Museum, when the building is gone and everything vanishes, it will never fade from my memory.
Thank you for supporting me for so long.
I am deeply grateful to all the staff of the Kawamura Memorial Museum.
Thank you.
Mitsushiro Nakagawa. 24th Sep. 2024.
P.S.
Let me end with the song I listened to most while at the museum.
P.S. 2.
I will repeat this text one more time. The photo I am using is one I have already uploaded in the past.
Everything But The Girl … Time After Time
youtu.be/tyEb2BpctyY?si=v42LWD4BQE7hSExk
#art #展示 #佐倉市 #佐倉 #千葉 #千葉市 #成田 #成田市 #narita #四街道 #四街道市 #yotsukaidou #tomisato #富里 #富里市 #八街 #八街市 #yachimata #inzai #印西 #印西市 #sisui #酒々井 #酒々井町 #千葉県 #日本 #sakura #chiba #Japan #kawamuramemorialdicmuseumofart #川村記念美術館 #exhibition
St Pancras, Ipswich, Suffolk
Until its clearance in the post-war years, the area spreading eastwards of Ipswich town centre was a vast slum. The Rope Walk area was redeveloped and is now home to Suffolk New College and parts of the University. The housing in the Cox Lane area became a car park. I met a man a few years ago who always tries to park his car on the site of the house where he grew up.
Two grand red brick churches survive as islands. The Anglican St Michael is now a burnt out shell. It was declared redundant in the 1990s, and in truth it is hard to see how it can ever have been needed as more than a triumphalist gesture, with the parish church of St Helen only a hundred yards or so away. It was destroyed by fire in March 2011. Still standing tall is George Goldie's 1861 Catholic church of St Pancras. Seen from across the car park, the only clue that it was once tightly surrounded by poor people's houses is that there are no windows in the wall of the north aisle. As at Brighton's St Bartholomew, this great ship was designed to sail above roof tops.
St Pancras looks like a bit dropped off, and that is exactly what it is. Goldie's commission was for the huge, recently demolished School of Jesus and Mary on the campus of the Woodbridge Road church of St Mary, and this town centre church in the same style. St Pancras was intended to be the start of a church of cathedral scale, of which the surviving church was but the chancel. At the time, Ipswich was in the Diocese of Northampton. Today, it is in the Diocese of East Anglia, with a great stone Gothic cathedral at Norwich. But the Norwich cathedral, built as the church of St John the Baptist, and the equally grand Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge, were both begun a good thirty years after St Pancras. If it had ever been finished, St Pancras would have been one of the biggest red brick churches in England.
The north elevation is stark, that on the south side rather more comfy, with good modern glass in the south aisle windows. The most impressive view is from the west, where the vast rose window fills in what would have been the top of the chancel arch. Here, where the 1970s parish hall stands, would have been the crossing tower, with transepts either side. Looking further west, the nave would have stretched, and here is perhaps one of the reasons why St Pancras the great was never built. Immediately to the west of the church, across Cox lane, stands the fortress-like Christ Church. Although the present building post-dates St Pancras, there has been a Congregationalist church on the site for more than three hundred years, and the planned Catholic church would have stretched in front of it. Given the ecclesiastical politics of the late 19th century, one can't imagine them giving up the site very lightly.
The Catholic presence in Ipswich had been re-established in the 1790s, at the time of the French Revolution, by a refugee Priest, Louis Simon. He said Mass in the home of a rich local lady Margaret Wood, and then with her help established a mission church near the Woodbridge Road barracks. This church, St Anthony, formed the transepts of the building that still survives as the parish hall of the 1960 St Mary.
After the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, which you can read about on the entry for St Mary, the plan was to create a town centre profile for the Church, and this was why Goldie was commissioned to build St Pancras. However, anti-Catholic feeling was rather stronger than it had been seventy years previously. On a night in November 1862, the protestant ministers of the town whipped up such a state of hysteria that angry mobs ran through Ipswich smashing windows of Catholic churches, homes and businesses.
Although the exterior of this building is rather severe, the inside is a delight, quite the loveliest Victorian interior in Ipswich. It doesn't have the gravitas of St Mary le Tower, or the mystery of St Bartholomew, but it is a cascade of red and white brick banding, cast-iron pillars and wall tiling. Along with the statues and the candles and the smell of incense, it is everything a 19th century town centre church should be.
The post-Vatican II re-ordering of the sanctuary has not destroyed its coherence (or, indeed, the traditionalist flavour of the liturgy here). Above the altar, Christ stands in majesty, flanked by the four evangelists. The tabernacle is set curiously off-centre to the south.
Exposed as St Pancras is in comparison with many town centre churches, it is always full of light, and this light takes on the resonances of some good glass. The west window was filled with a design depicting the descent of the Holy Spirit as recently as 2001, by the Danielle Hopkinson studio. As a point of interest, they also did the glass in my front door. This is unfortunately obscured by a massive organ (the west window, not my front door). Below the west gallery is the baptistery, one of Ipswich's busiest, and just some of the church's collection of devotional statues. In the south aisle are three sets of triple lancets. The older glass in the most easterly depicts St Thomas, St Andrew and St John. The splendid 1974 glass by John Lawson in the other two sets depicts St Martin de Porres and St Francis of Assisi.
Not many people live in the parish itself, but as the busiest town centre church in Ipswich St Pancras continues to have a major role to play. Its Masses attract people from far and wide, including many from the town's sizeable minority communities. Perhaps this is because it does have such a traditionalist flavour, but also perhaps because of the work of the tireless and charismatic Parish Priest, Father 'Sam' Leeder. 'He's been here for forty years, and is a familiar character in the town centre, wandering the streets and talking to local traders, as well as being the cornerstone of the town's scouts. Ipswich would be diminished without him.
The idea of building a residential Suburb for people of all incomes and classes began with Henrietta Barnett. Building in Hampstead Garden Suburb was begun in 1907, and the development quickly grew from the originally purchased land to newly acquired land to the east. Initially, the cottages were built for rent at low rates, but after the first World War, rising construction costs ended the ability of the private sector to provide such housing. Thereafter, the Trust ensured coherence in design and retained control over subsequent changes, and the houses were aimed at a more affluent market.
Designed by G. G. Winbourne in 1935, the close it is a grade II listed Modern Movement gem of white, flat roofed detached and semi-detached homes.
www.flickr.com/photos/psychoactivartz/3544576532/sizes/l/
36x36
www.flickr.com/photos/psychoactivartz/3544576532/sizes/o/
Da progressive incarnation of da deity
Perfect fractality, perfect coherence and self-awareness, produce perfect immunity, or near immortality of da body.
DA 4th Circuit men....explorin da fracverse
IMPRESIONISMO: ¿UNA RUPTURA?
“Algunos considerarán a los impresionistas los primeros modernos porque desafiaron ciertas normas de la pintura tal como eran enseñadas en las academias; pero conviene recordar que los impresionistas no se distinguieron en sus fines de las tradiciones del arte que se habían desarrollado desde el descubrimiento de la naturaleza en el Renacimiento. También ellos querían pintar la naturaleza tal como la veían, y su oposición a los maestros conservadores no radicó tanto en el fin como en los medios de conseguirlo. Su exploración de los reflejos del color, así como sus experiencias con la pincelada suelta, se encaminaban a crear una ilusión aún más perfecta de la impresión visual. Sólo con el impresionismo, en efecto, se completó la conquista de la naturaleza, convirtiéndose en tema del cuadro todo lo que pudiera presentarse ante los ojos del pintor, mereciendo constituir el objeto del estudio del artista el mundo real en todos sus aspectos”. (Gombrich, Historia del Arte)
Por un lado, con el Impresionismo culmina un largo recorrido iniciado por la pintura en los albores del siglo XV: la captación de la realidad y, por otro lado, se abren las puertas del arte del siglo XX. Conceptos como los de luz y color, se encontraban ya, por ejemplo, en la pintura veneciana de mediados del siglo XVI, mediante la valoración de la luz natural con toques ligeros de color. Estos efectos también están presentes en la pintura holandesa del siglo XVII y en las obras de Velázquez y Goya. Recordemos por ejemplo a Francesco Guardi y su manera de sugerir las figuras de los remeros venecianos con unas cuantas motas de color, o al genio de Leonardo con sus sfumato.
Sin embargo el antecedente más inmediato del Impresionismo lo encontramos en la pintura francesa de la primera mitad del siglo XIX. El pintor romántico Delacroix (antecedente indiscutible del Impresionismo) afirmaba en su Diario que “en la naturaleza todo es reflejo”. Delacroix renovó la pintura del momento al iniciar la tendencia de otorgarle más importancia a la forma que a la línea, alejándose así de los parámetros puramente clasicistas.
En su arte, resulta peligroso dramatizar sus logros simplemente viéndolos tan solo como personajes revolucionarios e idealistas que reaccionaron contra un establishment artístico que había instituido sus Salones, su prestigio y todo su aparato en Francia desde los tiempos de Colbert.
En general, fueron modelos de rectitud. Asimismo, sería totalmente erróneo visualizarlos, hasta en su contexto puramente profesional, como dependiendo, indolentes, de los caprichos de la creatividad o de las fluctuaciones de la inspiración.
El verdadero logro de los impresionistas es que dieron coherencia y forma a tendencias que durante un período considerable de tiempo habían estado latentes en el arte europeo. Turner y Constable, por ejemplo, se habían dedicado a muchos de los mismos problemas sobre la luz y el color, o toda la escuela de Barbizon donde se había practicado el trabajo “au plein air” desde 1840.
Así también lo hicieron los impresionistas poniendo de manifiesto la importancia de la pintura al aire libre, en contacto emocional con el tema que les demandaba su atención, perfeccionando de esta forma esa tradición paisajística.
En realidad es un arte que no deja de ser burgués, al contrario, la burguesía, como imperante fenómeno social, trae sus propios usos y costumbres; unos afectan al campo, que deja de ser lugar de trabajo para convertirse en lugar de ocio: las vacaciones y las excursiones campestres. Es el mundo retratado por Monet y Renoir.
La ciudad, por el contrario, se convierte en nuevo espacio para la nueva clase social: aparecen los flanneurs, paseantes ociosos que se lucen y asisten a conciertos en los boulevards y los jardines de París. También cobra relevancia la noche y sus habitantes, los locales nocturnos, el paseo, las cantantes de cabaret, el ballet, los cafés y sus tertulias.
Es un mundo fascinante, del cual los impresionistas extraen sus temas: en especial Degas o Toulouse-Lautrec. Porque para ellos se han terminado los temas grandiosos e intemporales del pasado. El positivismo acarrea una concepción de objetividad de la percepción, de un criterio científico que resta valor a todo lo que no sea clasificable según las leyes del color y de la óptica. Según esto, cualquier objeto natural, visible, afectado por la luz y el color, es susceptible de ser representado artísticamente. Así pues, el cuadro impresionista se vuelca pues en los paisajes, las regatas, las reuniones domingueras, etc.
Los impresionistas se agruparon en torno a la figura de Manet, el rechazado de los Salones oficiales y promotor del Salon des Refusés. Ante el nuevo léxico que proponen, de pincelada descompuesta en colores primarios que han de recomponerse en la retina del espectador, el público reacciona en contra, incapaz de "leer" correctamente el nuevo lenguaje. Pero el Impresionismo no acaba en el oscurantismo pues cuenta con el apoyo de dos fuerzas sociales emergentes: la crítica de arte, que se encargará de encauzar el gusto del público; y los marchands (marchantes), los vendedores de arte, que colocan sus cuadros en las mejores colecciones del país. Las tertulias, los Salones extra-oficiales y el propio escándalo se convirtieron en vehículos propagandísticos del nuevo estilo.
La lucha de los impresionistas se convirtió en una especie de leyenda áurea de todos los innovadores en arte, quienes en lo sucesivo podrían acogerse siempre a aquella manifiesta incapacidad del público para admitir nuevos métodos.
__________________
IMPRESSIONISM: A BREAK-UP?
"Some will consider the Impressionists to be the first moderns because they challenged certain standards of painting as taught in the academies; but it should be remembered that the Impressionists did not distinguish themselves in their aims from the traditions of art that had developed since the discovery of nature in the Renaissance. They too wanted to paint nature as they saw it, and their opposition to the conservative masters was not so much in the end as in the means of achieving it. Their exploration of color reflections, as well as their experiences with loose brushstrokes, were aimed at creating an even more perfect illusion of visual impression. It was only with impressionism that the conquest of nature was completed, and everything that could be presented to the painter's eyes became the subject of the painting, and the real world in all its aspects deserved to be the object of the artist's study". (Gombrich, History of Art).
On the one hand, Impressionism culminates a long journey initiated by painting at the beginning of the 15th century: the capture of reality and, on the other hand, opens the doors of 20th century art. Concepts such as those of light and colour were already found, for example, in Venetian painting in the mid-sixteenth century, through the appreciation of natural light with light touches of colour. These effects are also present in 17th century Dutch painting and in the works of Velázquez and Goya.
However, the most immediate antecedent of Impressionism is found in French painting of the first half of the 19th century. The Romantic painter Delacroix (the undisputed forerunner of Impressionism) stated in his Diary that "in nature everything is a reflection". Delacroix renewed the painting of the time by starting the trend of giving more importance to form than to line, thus moving away from purely classicist parameters.
In his art, it is dangerous to dramatize his achievements simply by seeing them as revolutionary and idealistic characters who reacted against an artistic establishment that had instituted its Salons, its prestige and all its apparatus in France since the time of Colbert.
In general, they were models of righteousness. Likewise, it would be totally wrong to visualize them, even in their purely professional context, as depending, indolently, on the whims of creativity or the fluctuations of inspiration.
The real achievement of the Impressionists is that they gave coherence and form to trends that had been dormant in European art for a considerable period of time. Turner and Constable, for example, had devoted themselves to many of the same problems about light and colour, or the whole Barbizon school where work had been practised "au plein air" since 1840.
So did the Impressionists, demonstrating the importance of painting in the open air, in emotional contact with the subject that demanded their attention, thus perfecting that landscape tradition.
In reality it is an art that does not cease to be bourgeois, on the contrary, the bourgeoisie, as a prevailing social phenomenon, brings its own uses and customs; some affect the countryside, which ceases to be a place of work to become a place of leisure: holidays and country excursions. This is the world portrayed by Monet and Renoir.
The city, on the other hand, becomes a new space for the new social class: the flanneurs appear, idle strollers who show off and attend concerts in the boulevards and gardens of Paris. The night and its inhabitants, the nightclubs, the promenade, the cabaret singers, the ballet, the cafés and their gatherings are also important.
It is a fascinating world, from which the impressionists draw their themes: especially Degas or Toulouse-Lautrec. Because for them the great and timeless songs of the past are over. Positivism brings with it a conception of objectivity of perception, of a scientific criterion that detracts from anything that cannot be classified according to the laws of colour and optics. According to this, any natural object, visible, affected by light and colour, is susceptible of being represented artistically. Thus, the impressionist painting turns to landscapes, regattas, Sunday meetings, etc.
The Impressionists were grouped around the figure of Manet, the reject of the official Salons and promoter of the Salon des Refusés. Faced with the new lexicon they proposed, with a brushstroke broken down into primary colours that had to be recomposed in the spectator's retina, the public reacted against it, unable to "read" the new language correctly. But Impressionism does not end in obscurantism, for it has the support of two emerging social forces: the art critics, who will be responsible for channelling the public's taste; and the art dealers, who place their paintings in the country's best collections. Gatherings, unofficial salons and the scandal itself became propaganda vehicles for the new style.
The fresco decoration of the Hall of Justice of the fortress of Angera constitutes one of the main figurative testimonies of the development phase of the Gothic pictorial language in the Lombard territory; it also proposes a rare and early example of painting with profane themes, of historical-political and celebratory significance.
The room, on the second floor of the Visconti wing of the building, has a rectangular plan, divided into two parts by a pointed arch. The ceiling, formed by cross vaults, is covered by a lively decoration with geometric motifs, with squares and rounds interwoven to form a sort of sumptuous painted fabric. The six bays of the walls, illuminated by large windows with two lights, host the pictorial decoration, which is divided into three superimposed registers within large arches defined by ornamental borders with stylized stars and flowers: the narrative scenes, in the center, are surmounted by a high band with astrological-astronomical subjects, while the lowest register is formed by a lozenge decoration that supported an elegant painted veil, now almost completely disappeared.
The cycle narrates the deeds of Ottone Visconti, archbishop and lord of Milan from 1277 after the victory obtained in Desio over the opposing Torriani family. Since a long time, studies have linked the frescoes to a precise literary source, the Liber de gestis in civitate Mediolani, a work in praise of the Visconti family written by the monk Stefanardo da Vimercate probably in the last decade of the thirteenth century; the tituli that accompany the scenes are inspired by it, while other Latin inscriptions report, to complete the upper decorative band, some verses of the astrological treatise De Sphaera.
From a stylistic point of view, the author of the paintings shows a marked taste for the complex layout of the scenes, while neglecting the coherence of the figure-architecture relationship; the forms are simplified and the faces, lacking in individual characterization, derive strong consistency from the resentful linear definition and the thick dark outlines; these elements constitute an evident link with the thirteenth-century pictorial tradition of Byzantine matrix, probably filtered through the knowledge of works from the Veneto area. Moreover, the attention that will be typically Lombardy for the realistic definition of details or for the description of costumes is already present and alive.
The brilliant overall effect of the room is enhanced by the whirlwind of colors of the vault, a real explosion of chromatic happiness that finds immediate comparisons in the vault of S. Bassiano in Lodi Vecchio, also decorated with joyful secular subjects.
The representations of the planets and the signs of the zodiac are still linked to those astrological-astronomical themes that had an enormous development since the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages and in particular in the Romanesque period; connected to the scansion of time and of the different working activities - in particular agricultural and pastoral -, they had multiple ethical, civil and religious implications. Situated in the courtroom of the Rocca, the cycle must have had the value of an exemplum for those who were called to judge, through the underlining of motifs such as the clemency of the winner on the vanquished enemy or the subjection of earthly power to the stars and to Fortune, and with precise indications on the virtues that should accompany the exercise of power.
As for the dating of the paintings, critics have expressed themselves in various ways, with wide oscillations between 1277 of the battle of Desio and 1314, the year in which Matteo Visconti definitively acquired possession of the fortress after a period of domination by the Torriani and other families.
The fresco decoration of the Hall of Justice of the fortress of Angera constitutes one of the main figurative testimonies of the development phase of the Gothic pictorial language in the Lombard territory; it also proposes a rare and early example of painting with profane themes, of historical-political and celebratory significance.
The room, on the second floor of the Visconti wing of the building, has a rectangular plan, divided into two parts by a pointed arch. The ceiling, formed by cross vaults, is covered by a lively decoration with geometric motifs, with squares and rounds interwoven to form a sort of sumptuous painted fabric. The six bays of the walls, illuminated by large windows with two lights, host the pictorial decoration, which is divided into three superimposed registers within large arches defined by ornamental borders with stylized stars and flowers: the narrative scenes, in the center, are surmounted by a high band with astrological-astronomical subjects, while the lowest register is formed by a lozenge decoration that supported an elegant painted veil, now almost completely disappeared.
The cycle narrates the deeds of Ottone Visconti, archbishop and lord of Milan from 1277 after the victory obtained in Desio over the opposing Torriani family. Since a long time, studies have linked the frescoes to a precise literary source, the Liber de gestis in civitate Mediolani, a work in praise of the Visconti family written by the monk Stefanardo da Vimercate probably in the last decade of the thirteenth century; the tituli that accompany the scenes are inspired by it, while other Latin inscriptions report, to complete the upper decorative band, some verses of the astrological treatise De Sphaera.
From a stylistic point of view, the author of the paintings shows a marked taste for the complex layout of the scenes, while neglecting the coherence of the figure-architecture relationship; the forms are simplified and the faces, lacking in individual characterization, derive strong consistency from the resentful linear definition and the thick dark outlines; these elements constitute an evident link with the thirteenth-century pictorial tradition of Byzantine matrix, probably filtered through the knowledge of works from the Veneto area. Moreover, the attention that will be typically Lombardy for the realistic definition of details or for the description of costumes is already present and alive.
The brilliant overall effect of the room is enhanced by the whirlwind of colors of the vault, a real explosion of chromatic happiness that finds immediate comparisons in the vault of S. Bassiano in Lodi Vecchio, also decorated with joyful secular subjects.
The representations of the planets and the signs of the zodiac are still linked to those astrological-astronomical themes that had an enormous development since the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages and in particular in the Romanesque period; connected to the scansion of time and of the different working activities - in particular agricultural and pastoral -, they had multiple ethical, civil and religious implications. Situated in the courtroom of the Rocca, the cycle must have had the value of an exemplum for those who were called to judge, through the underlining of motifs such as the clemency of the winner on the vanquished enemy or the subjection of earthly power to the stars and to Fortune, and with precise indications on the virtues that should accompany the exercise of power.
As for the dating of the paintings, critics have expressed themselves in various ways, with wide oscillations between 1277 of the battle of Desio and 1314, the year in which Matteo Visconti definitively acquired possession of the fortress after a period of domination by the Torriani and other families.
Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but was brought up in Belgium. He studied art in Brussels and Paris. He fought for France in World War I and was seriously injured. His early works display an interest in cubism. He later became associated with surrealism, and he was one of the most enthusiastic employers of automatic drawing, making a number of automatic works in pen and ink. Masson would often force himself to work under strict conditions, for example, after long periods of time without food or sleep, or under the influence of drugs. He believed forcing himself into a reduced state of consciousness would help his art be free from rational control, and hence get closer to the workings of his subconscious mind.
From around 1926 he experimented by throwing sand and glue onto canvas and making oil paintings based around the shapes that formed. By the end of the 1920s, however, he was finding automatism rather restricting, and he left the surrealist movement and turned instead to a more structured style, often producing works with a violent or erotic theme, and making a number of paintings in reaction to the Spanish Civil War (he associated once more with the surrealists at the end of the 1930s).
Under the German occupation of France during World War II, his work was condemned by the Nazis as degenerate. With the assistance of Varian Fry in Marseille, Masson escaped the Nazi regime on a ship to the French island of Martinique from where he went on to the United States. Upon arrival in New York City, U.S. customs officials inspecting Masson's luggage found a cache of his erotic drawings. Denouncing them as pornographic, they ripped them up before the artist's eyes. Living in New Preston, Connecticut his work became an important influence on American abstract expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock. Following the war, he returned to France and settled in Aix-en-Provence where he painted a number of landscapes.
Masson drew the cover of the first issue of Georges Bataille's review, Acéphale, in 1936, and participated in all its issues until 1939. His stepbrother, the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, was the last private owner of Gustave Courbet's provocative painting L'Origine du monde (The Origin of the World); Lacan asked Masson to paint a surrealist variant.
Un article de Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre.
Aller à : Navigation, rechercher Le surréalisme est un mouvement artistique qu'André Breton définit dans le premier Manifeste du Surréalisme comme « automatisme psychique pur, par lequel on se propose d'exprimer, soit verbalement, soit par écrit, soit de toute autre manière, le fonctionnement réel de la pensée. Dictée de la pensée, en l'absence de tout contrôle exercé par la raison, en dehors de toute préoccupation esthétique ou morale ».
« Le surréalisme repose sur la croyance à la réalité supérieure de certaines formes d'associations négligées jusqu'à lui, à la toute-puissance du rêve, au jeu désintéressé de la pensée. Il tend à ruiner définitivement tous les autres mécanismes psychiques et à se substituer à eux dans la résolution des principaux problèmes de la vie [...] »[1].
Dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, le « supernaturalisme » de Gérard de Nerval, le « surnaturalisme » d'Emmanuel Swedenborg et aussi le symbolisme de Charles Baudelaire et de Stéphane Mallarmé et, enfin surtout, le romantisme allemand de Jean Paul (dont les rêves annoncent l'écriture automatique) et d'Hoffmann peuvent être considérés comme des mouvements précurseurs du surréalisme. Plus sûrement, les œuvres littéraires d'Alfred Jarry, d'Arthur Rimbaud et de Lautréamont, et picturales de Gustave Moreau et Odilon Redon sont les sources séminales dans lesquelles puiseront les premiers surréalistes (Louis Aragon, Breton, Paul Éluard, Philippe Soupault, Pierre Reverdy). Quant aux premières œuvres plastiques, elles poursuivent les inventions du cubisme. Cette aventure (« une attitude inexorable de sédition et de défi ») passe par l'appropriation de la pensée du poète Arthur Rimbaud (« changer la vie »), de celle du philosophe Karl Marx (« transformer le monde ») et des recherches de Sigmund Freud[2] : Breton s'est passionné pour les idées de Freud[3]qu'il a découvertes dans les ouvrages des français Emmanuel Régis et Angelo Hesnard en 1917[4]. Il en a retiré la conviction du lien profond unissant le monde réel et le monde sensible des rêves, et d'une forme de continuité entre l'état de veille et l'état de sommeil (voir en particulier l'écriture automatique). Dans l'esprit de Breton, l'analogie entre le rêveur et le poète, présente chez Baudelaire, est dépassée. Il considère le surréalisme comme une recherche de l'union du réel et l'imaginaire : « Je crois à la résolution future de ces deux états, en apparence si contradictoires, que sont le rêve et la réalité, en une sorte de réalité absolue. »[5]
Sommaire [masquer]
1 Origine du mot
2 Évolution
3 Une aventure internationale
3.1 Le surréalisme au Japon [9]
4 L'écriture automatique
5 Changer l'homme
6 En conclusion
7 Personnalités liées au mouvement surréaliste
8 Bibliographie
9 Notes et références
10 Articles connexes
11 Liens externes
Origine du mot [modifier]
Sculpture de Giorgio de Chirico, Ettore e AndoromacaC'est dans une lettre de Guillaume Apollinaire à Paul Dermée, de mars 1917, qu'apparaît pour la première fois le substantif « surréalisme » : « Tout bien examiné, je crois en effet qu'il vaut mieux adopter surréalisme que surnaturalisme que j'avais d'abord employé. Surréalisme n'existe pas encore dans les dictionnaires, et il sera plus commode à manier que surnaturalisme déjà employé par MM. les Philosophes. »
En mai 1917, dans une chronique consacrée au ballet « Parade », Apollinaire, admiratif des décors créés par Picasso, évoque « [...] une sorte de sur-réalisme où [il] voit le point de départ d'une série de manifestations de cet esprit nouveau qui [...] se promet de modifier de fond en comble les arts et les moeurs [...] Cette tâche surréaliste que Picasso a accomplie en peinture, [...] je m'efforce [de l']accomplir dans les lettres et dans les âmes [...] »[6]
Pour Jean-Paul Clébert, c'est le poète Pierre Albert-Birot qui suggéra à Apollinaire de sous-titrer sa pièce « Les Mamelles de Tirésias », "drame surréaliste" plutôt que "surnaturaliste".[7]
Ce mot apparaît dès le 16 juin 1917 dans une lettre de Jacques Vaché à Théodore Fraenkel : « … et j'espère être à Paris […] pour la représentation surréaliste de Guillaume Apollinaire. »[8]
Évolution [modifier]
Le surréalisme explore de nouvelles techniques de création qui laissent le champ libre à l'inconscient et force la désinhibition des conditionnements : écriture automatique, récits dictés pendant le sommeil forcé, cadavres exquis, sollicitation du hasard objectif.
Une aventure internationale [modifier]
Le surréalisme connaît une fortune particulière dans la littérature francophone belge. Paul Nougé, dont la poésie présente un aspect ludique très marqué, fonde en 1924 un centre surréaliste à Bruxelles avec les poètes Camille Goemans, Marcel Lecomte… Un autre groupe important, « Rupture », se crée en 1932, à La Louvière, autour de la personnalité d'Achille Chavée.
Le surréalisme belge prend ses distances à l'égard de l'écriture automatique et de l'engagement politique du groupe parisien. L'écrivain et collagiste E. L. T. Mesens fut l'ami de René Magritte, les poètes Paul Colinet, Louis Scutenaire et André Souris et plus tard Marcel Mariën appartiennent également au courant.
Le surréalisme exercera une action stimulante sur le développement de la poésie espagnole, mais à la fin des années 1920 seulement et en dépit de la méfiance suscitée par l'irrationalisme inhérent à la notion d'écriture automatique. Ramón Gómez de la Serna définit ses rapprochements insolites, « greguerias », comme « humour + métaphore ». Le courant « ultraïste » déterminera un changement de ton chez les poètes de la « Génération de 27 », Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Vicente Aleixandre et Luis Cernuda.
Les principes surréalistes se retrouvent en Scandinavie et en URSS. Le « poétisme » tchèque peut être considéré comme une première phase du surréalisme. Il s'affirme dès 1924 avec un manifeste publié par Karel Teige, qui conçoit la poésie comme une création intégrale, donnant libre cours à l'imagination et au sens ludique. Ses représentants les plus éminents furent Jaroslav Seifert et surtout Vítězslav Nezval, dont Soupault souligna l'audace des images et symboles. Le mouvement surréaliste yougoslave entretient d'étroits contacts avec le courant français grâce à Marko Ristić.
En dépit d'une perte de prestige à partir de 1940, le surréalisme a existé comme groupe jusqu'aux années 1960, en se renouvelant au fur et à mesure des départs et des exclusions.
Le surréalisme fut également revendiqué comme source d'inspiration par l'Alternative orange, un groupe artistique d'opposition polonais, dont le fondateur Major (Commandant) Waldemar Fydrych avait proclamé Le Manifeste du Surréalisme Socialiste. Ce groupe, qui organisait des happenings, peignait des graffiti absurdes en forme de lutins sur les murs des villes et était un des éléments les plus pittoresques de l’opposition polonaise contre le communisme, utilisait largement l’esthétique surréaliste dans sa terminologie et dans la place donnée à l’acte spontané.
Le surréalisme au Japon [9] [modifier]
Parmi les grands noms du surréalisme japonais, nous trouvons entre autres Harue Koga (1895 - 1933), Ichirô Fukuzawa (1898 - 1992), Noboru Kitawaki (1901 - 1951)...
Parmi les poètes peuvent être cités Katsue Kitazono, Masato Tomobe, Kazuki Tomokawa... Quant aux écrivains, les oeuvres les plus marquantes nous ont été laissées par Kôbô Abe.
Concernant les mangas, une brèche fut ouverte à la possibilité d'emploi de tournures surréalistes avec l'oeuvre Nejishiki(ねじ式) de Yoshiharu Tsuge (publié dans le numéro de juin du magazine Garo en 1968) puis le secteur put obtenir un appui écrasant de la génération du Zenkyôtô (équivalent de notre mai 68) sous l'influence considérable d'artistes et de nombreux intellectuels non initié à ce type d'oeuvre.
Le surréalisme japonais ne s'inscrit pas dans la continuité du dadaïsme. Au Japon, la quasi-totalité des écrivains appartenant au mouvement dadaïste (groupe d'écrivains faisant parti du MAVO) ne sont pas devenu surréalistes, et inversement, la plupart des surréalistes japonais n'oeuvrent pas en tant que dadaïstes.
L'écriture automatique [modifier]
Par l'écriture automatique, les surréalistes ont voulu donner une voix aux désirs profonds, refoulés par celle de la société, cette « violente et traîtresse maîtresse d'école », selon le mot de Michel de Montaigne. L'objet surréaliste ainsi obtenu a d'abord pour effet de déconcerter l'esprit, donc de « le mettre en son tort ». Peut se produire alors la résurgence des forces profondes, l'esprit « revit avec exaltation la meilleure part de son enfance ». On saisit de tout son être la liaison qui unit les objets les plus opposés, l'image surréaliste authentiquement est un symbole. Approfondissant la pensée de Baudelaire, André Breton compare, dans Arcane 17, la démarche du surréalisme et celle de l'ésotérisme : elle offre « l'immense intérêt de maintenir à l'état dynamique le système de comparaison, ce champ illimité, dont dispose l'homme, qui lui livre les rapports susceptibles de relier les objets en apparence les plus éloignés et lui découvre partiellement le symbolisme universel. »
Le peintre Max Ernst, de son côté, découvre pour son art une méthode analogue à l'écriture automatique, méthode que déjà Léonard de Vinci avait esquissée. Frappé par un plancher d'auberge dont les lavages avaient accentué les rainures, il pose sur elles au hasard une feuille et frotte à la mine de plomb. « En regardant attentivement les dessins ainsi obtenus, les parties sombres et les autres plus claires, je fus surpris de l'intensification subite de mes facultés visionnaires et de la succession hallucinante d'images contradictoires. »
Au Québec, dans les années 1940, naitra un groupe d'artistes qui se qualifie d'« automatistes ». Ils feront grands bruits dans la société québécoise avec la sortie en 1948 du Refus Global qui s'oppose à toute l'idéologie des autorités au pouvoir, qu'elles soient politiques ou religieuses. Les automatistes se regroupent autour du peintre Paul-Émile Borduas et sont de toutes les formes artistiques. Dû à leur position à contre-courant et très avant-gardistes, plusieurs devront s'exiler en France ou ailleurs. Ils sont aujourd'hui reconnus pour leur vision qui a participé à une transformation fondamentale de la société québécoise.
Changer l'homme [modifier]
Le mouvement Dada était antibourgeois, antinationaliste et provocateur. Les surréalistes continuèrent sur cette lancée subversive. « Nous n'acceptons pas les lois de l'Économie ou de l'Échange, nous n'acceptons pas l'esclavage du Travail, et dans un domaine encore plus large nous nous déclarons en insurrection contre l'Histoire. » (tract La Révolution d'abord et toujours). Ces principes débouchent sur l'engagement politique : certains écrivains surréalistes adhèrent, temporairement, au Parti communiste français .
Aucun parti, cependant, ne répondait exactement aux aspirations des surréalistes, ce qui fut à l'origine des tensions avec le Parti communiste français. André Breton n'a pas de mots assez forts pour flétrir « l'ignoble mot d'engagement qui sue une servilité dont la poésie et l'art ont horreur. » Dès 1930, pourtant, Louis Aragon acceptait de soumettre son activité littéraire « à la discipline et au contrôle du parti communiste ». La guerre fit que Tristan Tzara et Paul Eluard le suivirent dans cette voie. Condamnation de l'exploitation de l'Homme par l'Homme, du militarisme, de l'oppression coloniale, des prêtres pour leur œuvre qu'ils jugent obscurantiste, et bientôt du nazisme, volonté d'une révolution sociale ; et plus tard, enfin, dénonciation du totalitarisme de l'Union Soviétique, tels sont les thèmes d'une lutte que, de la guerre du Maroc à la guerre d'Algérie, les surréalistes ont menée inlassablement. Ils ont tenté la synthèse du matérialisme historique et de l'occultisme, en se situant au carrefour de l'anarchisme, et du marxisme, fermement opposés à tous les fascismes et aux religions.
En conclusion [modifier]
« Surréalisme : le mot est désormais victime de sa fausse popularité : on n'hésite pas à qualifier de surréaliste le premier fait un peu bizarre ou inhabituel, sans davantage se soucier de rigueur. Le surréalisme [...] est pourtant exemplaire par sa cohérence et la constance de ses exigences. »[10]
The fresco decoration of the Hall of Justice of the fortress of Angera constitutes one of the main figurative testimonies of the development phase of the Gothic pictorial language in the Lombard territory; it also proposes a rare and early example of painting with profane themes, of historical-political and celebratory significance.
The room, on the second floor of the Visconti wing of the building, has a rectangular plan, divided into two parts by a pointed arch. The ceiling, formed by cross vaults, is covered by a lively decoration with geometric motifs, with squares and rounds interwoven to form a sort of sumptuous painted fabric. The six bays of the walls, illuminated by large windows with two lights, host the pictorial decoration, which is divided into three superimposed registers within large arches defined by ornamental borders with stylized stars and flowers: the narrative scenes, in the center, are surmounted by a high band with astrological-astronomical subjects, while the lowest register is formed by a lozenge decoration that supported an elegant painted veil, now almost completely disappeared.
The cycle narrates the deeds of Ottone Visconti, archbishop and lord of Milan from 1277 after the victory obtained in Desio over the opposing Torriani family. Since a long time, studies have linked the frescoes to a precise literary source, the Liber de gestis in civitate Mediolani, a work in praise of the Visconti family written by the monk Stefanardo da Vimercate probably in the last decade of the thirteenth century; the tituli that accompany the scenes are inspired by it, while other Latin inscriptions report, to complete the upper decorative band, some verses of the astrological treatise De Sphaera.
From a stylistic point of view, the author of the paintings shows a marked taste for the complex layout of the scenes, while neglecting the coherence of the figure-architecture relationship; the forms are simplified and the faces, lacking in individual characterization, derive strong consistency from the resentful linear definition and the thick dark outlines; these elements constitute an evident link with the thirteenth-century pictorial tradition of Byzantine matrix, probably filtered through the knowledge of works from the Veneto area. Moreover, the attention that will be typically Lombardy for the realistic definition of details or for the description of costumes is already present and alive.
The brilliant overall effect of the room is enhanced by the whirlwind of colors of the vault, a real explosion of chromatic happiness that finds immediate comparisons in the vault of S. Bassiano in Lodi Vecchio, also decorated with joyful secular subjects.
The representations of the planets and the signs of the zodiac are still linked to those astrological-astronomical themes that had an enormous development since the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages and in particular in the Romanesque period; connected to the scansion of time and of the different working activities - in particular agricultural and pastoral -, they had multiple ethical, civil and religious implications. Situated in the courtroom of the Rocca, the cycle must have had the value of an exemplum for those who were called to judge, through the underlining of motifs such as the clemency of the winner on the vanquished enemy or the subjection of earthly power to the stars and to Fortune, and with precise indications on the virtues that should accompany the exercise of power.
As for the dating of the paintings, critics have expressed themselves in various ways, with wide oscillations between 1277 of the battle of Desio and 1314, the year in which Matteo Visconti definitively acquired possession of the fortress after a period of domination by the Torriani and other families.
【 消えた境界線から生まれたもの 】
～ 去ってゆく川村記念美術館を振り返って ～
木。鉄。紙。砂。油絵。
これらを素材として扱ったアーティストは数万といるだろうけど、完全な融和と調和を達成したアーティストは、ジョゼフコーネル、たったひとりだと思う。
僕は彼を川村記念美術館の展示で知った。彼の作品を多く見られる場所としても、おそらく世界的にも珍しいはずだ。なぜなら、蒐集された方がジョセフコーネルを敬愛していたからだ。そのおかげで、僕は彼の多数の作品を見ることができた。その影響は僕の作品の質を一変させることになる。
デザインフェスタや川村記念美術館で展示するまで、僕は僕らしい作品を目指すことで頭が狂いそうになっていた。
決して大袈裟ではなく、僕は僕自身に高いハードルを強いたからだ。
それはふたつだ。
ひとつは、写真をメインにするものの、写真だけの展示では、退屈だということ。
ふたつめは、写真を使いながらも、別の何かを使い、融和と調和を目指すこと。
ひとつめの写真の展示に関しては、僕のYouTubeにアップロードしてあるのでそれを見てほしい。
「写真の展示」は退屈だ。僕は誘われても一度も行ったことがない。そういった内容を動画で語っている。
ふたつめの融和と調和についても、同じく動画で語り尽くしている。
初めて展示を行った際、表参道のデザインフェスタの一角に、夏から１２月までの毎月、作品を展示することを自分に課した。
僕はそこで毎月、さまざまな素材にチャレンジした。
銀色の鉄板、キャンバス、和紙、ビニール、などなど。そのなかで僕が最終的にベースに選んだのが蝋を塗った梱包紙だった。
僕が出した結論の影響は、ジョセフコーネルの存在が欠かせない。
もちろん僕は彼のように手先が器用であったり、根気もないので彼の作品のレベルには到底到達できない。
でも、僕はジョセフコーネル以降のアーティストで、写真を使った有名なアーティストらを絶対に越えるということも内心、目指していた。
２０２４年の現在。
僕はそれを達成したと思う。
僕が展示した作品は、世界中に散らばったからだ。
初めて川村記念美術館に訪れたのは、僕が書いた小説”unforgettable”に登場した彼女が一緒だった。
僕は何者でもなかった。
カメラなんてまるで興味ないし、美術館に展示されているレンブラントやピカソ、モネらは中学校の美術の時間の延長に過ぎなかった。
僕はモネの美しさよりも彼女の横顔に見惚れていた。かっこつけるわけでもなく、嘘でもない。美術館で、作品をじっと静寂の中で見つめている彼女の横顔こそが僕の心を捉えていた。
作品から離れ、通路に溢れた外光のなかに彼女が立って、光と溶け合った時、僕は時を止められることを知った。
アートとは、時を止め、融和と調和を生む。止められた時間は、永遠に消えず、誰かの心を刻む。
川村記念美術館は、佐倉市の大自然に溶け込むようにして展示場があり、そこに作品が置かれている。
完全な融和と調和を目指した、世界でも稀な美術館だと、近隣に住んでいる僕は思っている。
なぜ、アートは融和と調和を目指すのだろうか。
違和感のない、柔らかな整合性は何を導くのか。
僕は心の平静だと思う。
作品にはさまざまなタイプがあるだろう。憎しみや憎悪といった嫌悪感に満ちた作品も確かにあるけれども、それらの作品ですらその向こうに安らぎがあるのではないだろうか。
融和と調和から生まれた安らぎに触れた時、人はほんの少しだけ変われるかもしれない。
彼女はどうして美術に無関心な僕をここへ連れてきたのだろうか。
長い年月が経ってからやっとその意味を理解して、僕は今、１１月の展示に臨む。
川村記念美術館は、たぶん、多くの人を支えてくれたと思う。
その意義は、今後も残り続ける作品とともに、誰かの心を刻み続ける。
融和と調和によって境界線は、消える。
小さな作品から大きな波紋となって、世界へ広がってゆく。
国境。人種。貧富。
自然とアートの融和と調和。
川村記念美術館の存在は、少なくとも僕の人生を大きく塗り替えた。
僕が展示する人間になるなんて夢にも思わなかった。
当時の彼女は、きっと僕に何かを伝えたかったんだといまさらながら思う。
川村記念美術館から、作品が消え、建物が消え、すべてが消えても、僕の記憶からは決して消えないだろう。
長い間、僕を支えてくれてありがとうございました。
川村記念美術館のスッタフの皆様に僕は心から感謝しています。
ありがとうございました。
Mitsushiro Nakagawa. 24th.Sep.2024.
追伸。
僕が美術館内で最も繰り返し聴いた曲を最後に。
追伸2。
このテキストはあと１回繰り返します。使っている写真は既に過去にアップロードした写真です。
Everything But The Girl … Time After Time
youtu.be/tyEb2BpctyY?si=v42LWD4BQE7hSExk
What Emerged from the Vanishing Boundaries
~ Reflecting on the Departing Kawamura Memorial Museum ~
Wood. Iron. Paper. Sand. Oil painting.
There must be tens of thousands of artists who have worked with these materials, but I believe only one artist, Joseph Cornell, achieved complete harmony and fusion.
I learned about him through an exhibition at the Kawamura Memorial Museum. As a place where many of his works can be seen, it’s probably rare even on a global scale. That's because the collector deeply admired Joseph Cornell. Thanks to that, I was able to see many of his works, and they had a profound impact, completely transforming the quality of my own work.
Until I exhibited at Design Festa and the Kawamura Memorial Museum, I was driven mad by the desire to create something that felt truly like my own.
I'm not exaggerating. I set extremely high standards for myself.
There were two key challenges I set:
1. Although photography would be the main focus, a photo-only exhibition would be boring.
2. While using photography, I would incorporate something else, aiming for fusion and harmony.
Regarding the first point, you can see my "photo exhibitions" on my YouTube channel.
Photo exhibitions are dull. I've never gone to one, even when invited. I talk about this in the video.
As for the second point—fusion and harmony—I’ve also covered it extensively in videos.
When I held my first exhibition, I set myself the task of displaying works every month from summer to December at a corner of Design Festa in Omotesando.
There, I challenged myself with a variety of materials every month: silver metal sheets, canvas, washi (Japanese paper), vinyl, and more. Ultimately, I chose wax-coated packing paper as my base material.
Joseph Cornell's influence was indispensable in reaching this conclusion.
Of course, I lack his skill with my hands and patience, so I could never achieve his level.
But inwardly, I was determined to surpass other well-known artists who used photography after Joseph Cornell.
As of 2024, I believe I’ve achieved that.
The works I exhibited have spread across the world.
The first time I visited the Kawamura Memorial Museum, I was with the woman who appears in my novel *Unforgettable*.
I was a nobody at the time.
I had no interest in cameras, and the Rembrandts, Picassos, and Monets displayed in the museum were just an extension of art class from middle school.
Rather than Monet’s beauty, I was captivated by her profile. No pretense, no lie—her profile, gazing at the artwork in the museum's silence, was what truly captured my heart.
When she stepped away from the artwork and stood in the hallway flooded with natural light, blending into it, I realized that time could be stopped.
Art stops time and creates fusion and harmony. The time that is paused never fades; it imprints itself on someone's heart.
The Kawamura Memorial Museum, with its exhibition spaces blended into the vast nature of Sakura City, displays its works in perfect fusion and harmony. Living nearby, I believe it is one of the rare museums in the world that strives for such completeness.
Why does art aim for fusion and harmony?
What does soft, seamless coherence lead to?
I believe it leads to peace of mind.
There are many types of art. There are certainly works filled with hatred and disgust, but even those might bring some form of tranquility beyond them.
When touched by the tranquility born from fusion and harmony, perhaps people can change, even just a little.
Why did she, who had no interest in art, bring me to this place?
After many years, I finally understand its meaning, and now I face my exhibition in November.
I believe the Kawamura Memorial Museum has supported many people.
Its significance will continue to resonate in people's hearts, along with the works that remain.
Boundaries vanish through fusion and harmony.
From small works, they ripple out into the world—across borders, races, and wealth.
The fusion and harmony of nature and art.
The Kawamura Memorial Museum profoundly reshaped my life, at the very least.
I never dreamed I would become someone who exhibits works.
Looking back, I think she must have wanted to tell me something.
Even when the works disappear from the Kawamura Memorial Museum, when the building is gone and everything vanishes, it will never fade from my memory.
Thank you for supporting me for so long.
I am deeply grateful to all the staff of the Kawamura Memorial Museum.
Thank you.
Mitsushiro Nakagawa. 24th Sep. 2024.
P.S.
Let me end with the song I listened to most while at the museum.
P.S. 2.
I will repeat this text one more time. The photo I am using is one I have already uploaded in the past.
Everything But The Girl … Time After Time
youtu.be/tyEb2BpctyY?si=v42LWD4BQE7hSExk
#art #展示 #佐倉市 #佐倉 #千葉 #千葉市 #成田 #成田市 #narita #四街道 #四街道市 #yotsukaidou #tomisato #山武 #山武市 #sanmu #富里 #富里市 #八街 #八街市 #yachimata #inzai #印西 #印西市 #sisui #酒々井 #酒々井町 #千葉県 #日本 #sakura #chiba #Japan #kawamuramemorialdicmuseumofart #川村記念美術館 #exhibition
Federation Square is the size of a city block or 38,000 square metres (3.8 hectares) and is built on top of a working railway. Unlike traditional public spaces like Venice’s San Marco or New York’s Rockefeller Centre, Fed Square is made up of a series of interlocking and cascading spaces. Buildings open at all angles into the city, creating unexpected connections and vistas. In response to the brief, the design was heavily influenced by the idea of ‘Federation’, of bringing disparate parts together to form a coherent whole.
The Fractal Façade
Federation Square’s distinctive fractal façade, utilises new understandings of surface geometries to allow for the individual buildings within Federation Square to be differentiated from each other, whilst maintaining an overall coherence. Three cladding materials: sandstone, zinc (perforated and solid) and glass have been used within a triangular pinwheel grid. This modular system uses five single triangles (all of the same size and proportion) to make up a larger triangular ‘panel’. Following the same geometrical logic, five panels are joined together to create a larger triangular ‘mega panel’, which is then mounted onto the structural frame to form the visible façade.
Source: www.fedsquare.com/information/about-us/history-design/
Visit my website: Southeast Asia Images
harajuku - omotesando, jingu-mae,tokyo,japan / view from the new commercial complex, a wonderfully sunny day, blue sky, green. clear air, do u know Laforet Harajuku ?,original 16K ( almost 17K ) super large file in film format 4 U !!
Kodak Professional
Pro Image 100
Color Negative Film
- Excellent sharpness for prints and enlargements -
C-41
Eastman Kodak Company U.S.A
super high quality, 16K (original-16429 × 11000), cinematic,
high coherence,
in Kodak Film Format.
10K-25K film format resolution. - - - sj, tokyo, japan
on
flickr.com
The number one photo sharing site in the world.......
.................................F L I C K R !
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >>
Photo: Mari Hildung/Perspektivet Museum
The exhibition "Homo Religiosus" is about the spiritual world and the quest for meaning and coherence in life. This is a dimension that art installations and music can help mediate. In art, the existential and religious dimension comes to expression as a type of insight that transcends dispassionate, reason-based knowledge. Perhaps the art can be viewed as a window facing inwards, while the exhibition’s documentary materials offer a new lens through which to see the city of Tromsø.
Homo Religiosus is produced through collaboration between the visual artist Lawrence Malstaf, the musician Aggie Peterson and Perspektivet Museum.
More about the exhibition:
The fresco decoration of the Hall of Justice of the fortress of Angera constitutes one of the main figurative testimonies of the development phase of the Gothic pictorial language in the Lombard territory; it also proposes a rare and early example of painting with profane themes, of historical-political and celebratory significance.
The room, on the second floor of the Visconti wing of the building, has a rectangular plan, divided into two parts by a pointed arch. The ceiling, formed by cross vaults, is covered by a lively decoration with geometric motifs, with squares and rounds interwoven to form a sort of sumptuous painted fabric. The six bays of the walls, illuminated by large windows with two lights, host the pictorial decoration, which is divided into three superimposed registers within large arches defined by ornamental borders with stylized stars and flowers: the narrative scenes, in the center, are surmounted by a high band with astrological-astronomical subjects, while the lowest register is formed by a lozenge decoration that supported an elegant painted veil, now almost completely disappeared.
The cycle narrates the deeds of Ottone Visconti, archbishop and lord of Milan from 1277 after the victory obtained in Desio over the opposing Torriani family. Since a long time, studies have linked the frescoes to a precise literary source, the Liber de gestis in civitate Mediolani, a work in praise of the Visconti family written by the monk Stefanardo da Vimercate probably in the last decade of the thirteenth century; the tituli that accompany the scenes are inspired by it, while other Latin inscriptions report, to complete the upper decorative band, some verses of the astrological treatise De Sphaera.
From a stylistic point of view, the author of the paintings shows a marked taste for the complex layout of the scenes, while neglecting the coherence of the figure-architecture relationship; the forms are simplified and the faces, lacking in individual characterization, derive strong consistency from the resentful linear definition and the thick dark outlines; these elements constitute an evident link with the thirteenth-century pictorial tradition of Byzantine matrix, probably filtered through the knowledge of works from the Veneto area. Moreover, the attention that will be typically Lombardy for the realistic definition of details or for the description of costumes is already present and alive.
The brilliant overall effect of the room is enhanced by the whirlwind of colors of the vault, a real explosion of chromatic happiness that finds immediate comparisons in the vault of S. Bassiano in Lodi Vecchio, also decorated with joyful secular subjects.
The representations of the planets and the signs of the zodiac are still linked to those astrological-astronomical themes that had an enormous development since the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages and in particular in the Romanesque period; connected to the scansion of time and of the different working activities - in particular agricultural and pastoral -, they had multiple ethical, civil and religious implications. Situated in the courtroom of the Rocca, the cycle must have had the value of an exemplum for those who were called to judge, through the underlining of motifs such as the clemency of the winner on the vanquished enemy or the subjection of earthly power to the stars and to Fortune, and with precise indications on the virtues that should accompany the exercise of power.
As for the dating of the paintings, critics have expressed themselves in various ways, with wide oscillations between 1277 of the battle of Desio and 1314, the year in which Matteo Visconti definitively acquired possession of the fortress after a period of domination by the Torriani and other families.
Federation Square is the size of a city block or 38,000 square metres (3.8 hectares) and is built on top of a working railway. Unlike traditional public spaces like Venice’s San Marco or New York’s Rockefeller Centre, Fed Square is made up of a series of interlocking and cascading spaces. Buildings open at all angles into the city, creating unexpected connections and vistas. In response to the brief, the design was heavily influenced by the idea of ‘Federation’, of bringing disparate parts together to form a coherent whole.
The Fractal Façade
Federation Square’s distinctive fractal façade, utilises new understandings of surface geometries to allow for the individual buildings within Federation Square to be differentiated from each other, whilst maintaining an overall coherence. Three cladding materials: sandstone, zinc (perforated and solid) and glass have been used within a triangular pinwheel grid. This modular system uses five single triangles (all of the same size and proportion) to make up a larger triangular ‘panel’. Following the same geometrical logic, five panels are joined together to create a larger triangular ‘mega panel’, which is then mounted onto the structural frame to form the visible façade.
Source: www.fedsquare.com/information/about-us/history-design/
Visit my website: Southeast Asia Images
Court Zwolle, Zwolle, The Netherlands – architect: De Architekten Cie – project architect Rob Hootsmans – 2004-2013.
The design consists of a newly constructed building (16,420 m² gross floor area + a two-story underground car park) and renovation of the existing building (11,725 m² gross floor area). The new building will be located next to the existing building, and it will adjoin the historic canal of Zwolle at a crossroads of many directions and routes. The client and user found it important to give the expansion a transparent and accessible character, based on the statement "The Administration of Justice is at the centre of society, the Administration of Justice belongs to society". The design for the new building was created based on the demand for a new, timeless whole with a clear distinction between new and existing parts. In order to connect to the sculptural volume of architect Jo Kruger, a strong relationship with the surroundings had to be created: the contours of our design for the new building are determined from an urban planning point of view by directions and borders, heights and even the positions of trees.
The construction of the new building is characterized by a classic organization into three parts: a closed pedestal, a public part surrounded by columns and a cornice with a restricted working area. The public layer will consist of a double-height floor encircled by a public waiting area, hearing rooms, council chambers and a library. Finally, the upper layer will consist of three restricted floors with offices for the staff of the judiciary and the Public Prosecution Service. The construction principle, installation concept and the use of materials for the interior are determined for each layer according to its function. In contrast with the closed and inward-facing character of Kruger's building, the new building is highly transparent and emphasizes the public character of the court. For instance, the public waiting area is orientated towards the surroundings, and thus forms a part of the city. The facade of the new building will be made of glass. The facade is pulled around the building like a pleated skirt, thereby creating a crenulated structure. A fragmentary reflection of the surroundings can be seen in the facade. The "pleats" will vary in height, and their depth is derived from Kruger's natural stone facade, creating formal coherence with the existing structure.
Copenhagen is Denmark's capital and with 1,363,296 inhabitants (2023) the country's largest urban area comprising 18 municipalities or parts thereof.
The inner city had 809,314 inhabitants on 1 July 2022 and is defined by Statistics Denmark as consisting of Copenhagen Municipality (area: 90.10 km 2 ; population: 647,509 1 July 2022 ), Frederiksberg Municipality (area: 8 .70 km 2 ; population: 104,094 1 July 2022), Tårnby Municipality (area: 66.10 km 2 ; population: 43,042 1 July 2022) and Dragør Municipality (area: 18.30 km 2 ; population: 14,669 1. July 2022.
Copenhagen is also the center of the Øresund region , which is the largest metropolitan area in the Nordic region . The Øresund region covers a total of 20,754.63 km 2 in eastern Denmark and Scania in Sweden and had a population of 4,136,082 on 1 July 2022, of which 2,711,554 lived in the Danish parts as of 1 January 2022.
The city is located on the east coast of the island of Zealand ; another part of the city extends to Amager and is separated by the Øresund from Malmö , Sweden. The Øresund connection connects the two cities via motorway and railway.
Copenhagen's history can be traced back to around the year 700, when there was a small fishing village where the city center is now. Copenhagen became Denmark's capital at the beginning of the 15th century. Originating in the 17th century, it consolidated its position as a regional power center with its institutions, defenses and troops. During the Renaissance, the city was the de facto capital of the Kalmar Union , being the seat of the royal house that ruled a majority of today's Nordic regions in a personal union with Sweden and Norway with the Danish monarch as head of state. The city flourished as a cultural and economic center in Scandinavia during the union for over 120 years, from the 15th century until the early 16th century, when the union was dissolved by Sweden's secession. After an outbreak of plague and fires in the 18th century, the city underwent a period of reconstruction. This included the construction of the exclusive Frederiksstaden neighborhood and the foundation of institutions such as the Royal Danish Theater and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts . After further misfortunes in the 19th century, when Horatio Nelson attacked the Danish-Norwegian fleet and bombarded the city, the reconstruction during the Danish Golden Age brought a neoclassical touch to Copenhagen's architecture. Later, after the Second World War, the Fingerplan fostered urban development along five S-train lines with Copenhagen as the centre.
Since the turn of the millennium, Copenhagen has undergone strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investments in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is Denmark's cultural, economic and administrative centre; it is one of the main financial centers in Northern Europe with the Copenhagen Stock Exchange . Copenhagen's economy has witnessed rapid development in the service sector, particularly through initiatives concerning information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund connection, Copenhagen has been increasingly integrated with the Swedish province of Skåne and its largest city Malmö, forming the Øresund region.
With a number of bridges connecting the different neighborhoods, the urban landscape is characterized by parks, promenades and waterfronts. Copenhagen's landmarks include Tivoli Gardens , The Little Mermaid , Amalienborg , Christiansborg , Rosenborg , the Marble Church , the Stock Exchange , the Glyptoteket , the National Museum , which are significant tourist attractions.
Copenhagen houses the University of Copenhagen , the Technical University of Denmark, CBS , the IT University of Copenhagen . Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is Denmark's oldest university. Copenhagen is home to the football clubs FC Copenhagen and Brøndby IF . Copenhagen Marathon started in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the world's most bicycle-friendly cities.
The name
Elaborating Further article: Copenhagen's name
Before the Middle Ages , the name of the town was probably Havn. In the Middle Ages, the city was called Køpmannæhafn in Old Danish ; a name that translated into modern Danish means merchants' harbor and is an expression of the importance that merchants had for the city at this time.
A number of other names built over the original Danish name for the city are used in different languages. Examples include Swedish Copenhagen , German and Dutch Kopenhagen , English Copenhagen , Italian Copenaghen , French and Spanish Copenhague , Portuguese Copenhaga , Latin Hafnia , Czech Kodaň , Icelandic Kaupmannahöfn and Faroese Keypmannahavn .
In 1923 , the Latin version of the name became the basis for the naming of the newly discovered element hafnium , as the discovery took place at the current Niels Bohr Institute .
Nicknames
As befits big cities, Copenhagen also has nicknames and even several of this kind:
King's Copenhagen : over the centuries, changing kings have left their mark on the capital. This applies in particular to Christian IV , who, in addition to expanding the area within the city walls to three times the size, contributed buildings such as Rosenborg , Rundetårn and Børsen .
The city with beautiful towers : tourist slogan created by brewer Carl Jacobsen in 1910. It alludes to the many towers and spires that then and now leave their mark on Indre By in particular, and to which the generous brewer himself also contributed in the form of the spire at Nicholas Church .
Wonderful Copenhagen ("wonderful Copenhagen"): both a tourist slogan made famous by the actor Danny Kaye , who sang about the city in a 1952 film about HC Andersen , and the name of the city's official tourism organization, Wonderful Copenhagen .
The Paris of the North is also occasionally seen , but unlike the others, this flattering comparison with the City of Cities is not exclusive, as it is shared with both Norway's Tromsø and Denmark's Aalborg .
The name "Copenhagen" is used both for the city as a whole, which includes all or parts of 17 other municipalities, for the city without its suburbs (cf. the image of the road signs, according to which Copenhagen and Vanløse are two different places) and for Copenhagen Municipality . This article covers the city as a whole.
The total urban area is defined geographically by the Geodata Agency (with the so-called polygon method ), where water areas are deducted. The method follows the UN 's guidelines, where in order for an urban area to be considered integrated, there must not be more than 200 meters between the houses (parks and the like not included). However, the Geodata Agency still counts the entire municipalities of Copenhagen and Tårnby , despite the fact that this includes large completely undeveloped areas, e.g. on western Amager , Saltholm and Peberholm . The area occupies a little over 450 km 2 , but the city of Copenhagen itself occupies far from this geographical size. Statistics Denmark then obtains the number of inhabitants via CPR . It is also Statistics Denmark that presents the aggregated information. The extent of Copenhagen – the metropolitan area's urban area – appears from Statistics Denmark's map of urban areas and rural districts . (Zoom in, let the mouse slide over the dark blue areas and see where it says 'Capital area in ... Municipality'). The outermost parts of Copenhagen are thus Kastrup , Tårnby , Karlslunde , Albertslund , Ballerup , Hareskovby , Bagsværd , Holte , Øverød , Søllerød , Nærum and Klampenborg – but with green wedges in between that extend to e.g. Avedøre and Rødovre .
Although the urban area is clearly demarcated by the authorities, they use different designations for it. The Geodata Agency uses Copenhagen, while Statistics Denmark uses the metropolitan area , and on the road signs along the approach roads, the Road Directorate has chosen Greater Copenhagen . However, Copenhagen is the only one of the three designations authorized by the Place Names Committee . [However, in all cases the same area is meant.
Many residents of Copenhagen's suburbs, however, identify to a greater extent with the municipality they live in. This may be to distance themselves from Copenhagen Municipality , which, as by far the largest municipality, naturally often steals the picture. In practice, however, Copenhagen is so densely built-up that in many places it is difficult to see where the borders between the individual municipalities actually go. Outsiders, however, will typically consider the city as a whole, although here and there there is also a tendency to either limit it to the Municipality of Copenhagen or expand it to the entire Capital Region . Therefore, Copenhagen's population is given in some places as approx. 0.6 million (of the municipality) or approx. 2.0 million (of the metropolitan region), where the correct number is 1,363,296 ( as of 1 January 2020 ).
Furthermore, a number of administrative divisions have used Copenhagen or the capital in their name. For example , the Capital Region also includes Bornholm , regardless of the fact that this island is approx. 130 km away, and the former Copenhagen County, despite the name, did not include the Municipality of Copenhagen , although the county seat was located there for a number of years.
History
Elaborating In-depth article: Copenhagen's history
History up to the 12th century
A number of finds from prehistoric times have been made in the Copenhagen area. At the building of Amager Strandpark, one found e.g. remains of a coastal settlement from the Neolithic . Burial mounds in the suburbs indicate human activity in prehistoric times, and many of the town names in the vicinity of Copenhagen also bear witness to the founding of towns in the greater Copenhagen area in the Viking Age .
Until recently, the oldest traces of urban settlement in the Copenhagen area were within the ramparts from around the year 1000, where traces of a small fishing village were found where Copenhagen is today. Fiskerlejet was located just north of Copenhagen's Town Hall around Mikkel Bryggers Gade, which at the time lay by the sea. But in connection with the excavation of the Metro, traces of boat bridges at Gammel Strand have been found, dating all the way back to around the year 700. During the excavation of the metro station at Kongens Nytorv, traces of a farm from the Viking Age have also been found.
1043-1536: The Middle Ages
The first time the precursor to Copenhagen under the name "Havn" is mentioned in the sources, is in connection with a naval battle between Svend Estridsen and the Norwegian king Magnus the Good in 1043. After that, there is silence about the city's fate in the next approx. 120 years.
It is likely that during the 12th century the city was able to profit from its central location between the large cathedral cities of Lund and Roskilde and thus was an important point for traffic and trade between the two cities. The natural harbor and the small island of Slotsholmen , which was easy to defend, probably also gave the city great advantages. In the second half of the 12th century, the silence about the town is broken, when Saxo mentions that Pope Urban III in 1186 confirms that the small town "Hafn", together with a number of other towns that King Valdemar had previously given to Bishop Absalon, must continue belong to Absalom. The exact year of King Valdemar's gift is not known, as the deed of gift that Absalon received has disappeared. From around 1167-1171 , Absalon built a castle and a city wall on the site.
Under Absalon's leadership, the city began to grow. Especially in the 13th century, the city expanded, so that it gradually came to cover a larger part of the area between Kongens Nytorv and Rådhuspladsen . Gråbrødre Kloster and the churches Our Lady , St. Peder (now St. Petri) and St. Nikolai were all built in the first half of the 13th century. The 13th century was a turbulent time in Danish history , which was expressed in the fierce battle between successive bishops and kings for the right to the city. However, in 1251 Bishop Jakob Erlandsen was able to force the pressured King Abel to surrender the city to him, and in 1254 this bishop gave the city its first city court. Five years later, in 1259, the city was attacked and plundered by the Rygian prince Jaromar .
Gradually, the city began to grow into the kingdom's largest and most important, although it had not yet become the capital. Although the city was the largest, there were still less than 5,000 inhabitants, and thus only a few hundred fewer in cities such as Ribe and Århus. The location in the middle of the kingdom with a natural harbor on an important sea trade route was ideal. In 1419, a Danish king, Erik of Pomerania , finally managed to permanently take power over the city from the church, and in 1443 Christopher III made the city a royal residence. In 1479 the university was founded. Copenhagen was now the country's most important city.
Christian IV was of great importance to Copenhagen. Under him, the city's old walls, which had hitherto been along Gothersgade around 1647, were moved, so that they ran along the current railway line between Nørreport and Østerport, bypassing the Nyboder newly built by Christian IV . Copenhagen's ramparts were also expanded with defenses in the newly built area of Christianshavn .
From 1658-1660 during the First Karl Gustav War, Copenhagen was the last area in the kingdom under Danish control, but under siege by the Swedish troops led by Karl X Gustav . In February 1659, the Swedes tried to take the town by storm , but a joint effort by soldiers and the townspeople held them back. After the unsuccessful storming, however, the Swedes kept the city besieged until 27 May 1660. As an offshoot of the Peace of Copenhagen, the monarchy was introduced in 1660 under Frederik III and Copenhagen became an even more important city in Denmark, because it was from here that the increasingly centralist Danish state was governed. As part of this process, in 1660, Copenhagen got a new form of management called the City's 32 men , which was a precursor to the current Citizens' Representation .
In 1711-1712, one of the worst plague epidemics in Copenhagen's history ravaged . The plague killed approximately 22,000 of the city's approximately 60,000 inhabitants. A few years later, things went wrong once again, when just over a quarter of the city's buildings went up in smoke during a city fire in 1728 .
Inspired by European ideas, Frederiksstaden was founded in 1748 north of Kongens Nytorv with Amalienborg as the most beautiful part. In the latter half of the 18th century, during the Florissant period, Copenhagen experienced an enormous boom as a result of the profitable trade with the warring powers, England and France. However, the boom period ended for a time when first Christiansborg burned in 1794 and then a town fire in 1795 ravaged the inner city, and then the British navy came to claim Denmark's navy, which triggered the Battle of the Nest in 1801 , as part of the Napoleonic Wars . Parts of the city were also damaged in that conflict. However, the damage was far from the extent of the damage caused by the landed British army during the English bombardment of the city in 1807 , where large areas of the city burned down, as the British military used rockets. The medieval Church of Our Lady also went up in flames. The challenges for Denmark and Copenhagen end with the state bankruptcy in 1813 and the loss of Norway, and the accompanying trade from Copenhagen to Norway, in 1814.
After the tumultuous events in the years up to 1814, Denmark and Copenhagen had ended up as a small, poor country. It was therefore not immediately possible to rebuild the public buildings that had been destroyed by the bombardment, such as Our Lady's Church and the university , until well into the 19th century. When the economy finally got going, this gave rise to enormous development and most of Copenhagen's inner city is characterized by the reconstructions after the fires and the bombing. Culturally, Copenhagen came to form the framework for one of the most rewarding cultural periods in Danish history, the Golden Age , which was characterized by, among other things, CF Hansen , Bertel Thorvaldsen and Søren Kierkegaard . This was followed by industrialization in the second half of the 19th century. After a major cholera epidemic in 1853, it was finally decided to take down the old ramparts.
It was now allowed to build permanent, foundation-walled new construction outside the ramparts. This release, in combination with very liberal building legislation, led to a building boom in the bridge districts and a significant increase in the population. Around 1800, approximately 100,000 people lived in the capital, and at the start of the 20th century there were almost 500,000.
The new districts became very different: Frederiksberg and Østerbro became neighborhoods of the bourgeoisie ; Nørrebro and Vesterbro, on the other hand, became workers' districts.
As a replacement for the old fortress, the Estrup government adopted the construction of the large fortifications , including the Vestvolden, from 1886 . It was Denmark's largest workplace and was only later surpassed by the Great Belt connection . The construction of large projects such as the Free Harbor (1894), the Town Hall (1905) and the Central Station (1911) also left their mark. Copenhagen had become an industrial metropolis, home to companies on an international scale such as Burmeister & Wain , Østasiatisk Kompagni and the Great Nordic Telegraph Company .
After a weak start ( the Battle of Fælleden ), the labor movement had its breakthrough in the capital of the 20th century, where the post of finance mayor was taken over in 1903 by trade unionist Jens Jensen . In 1901, the municipality incorporated a number of parishes, including Brønshøj and Valby , and in 1902 the municipality of Sundbyernes was incorporated . The municipality's area was thus tripled, leaving Frederiksberg as an enclave in Copenhagen Municipality.
From World War I to the present
This section describes the period from the start of World War I in 1914 to the present day. The policy of neutrality meant that Copenhagen was not particularly affected by the First World War. The so-called goulash barons made a lot of money from stock speculation and from exporting meat products to Germany . After the First World War, there was a shortage of most things, and a great deal of unemployment contributed to a lot of unrest, especially in Copenhagen's working-class neighborhoods. In 1922, the Copenhagen-based Landmandsbanken went bankrupt, dragging many people down with it.
From 1917, the Social Democrats had a majority in the municipality's board. This led to increased public welfare, municipal housing construction, etc. The construction of Fælledparken and other parks was another result of the municipality's new social and health policy programme, which, among other things, as a result of the housing crises of 1908 and 1916 focused on building housing that was not influenced by building speculation. As buildings were built on the lands outside the Søerne and on the areas around e.g. Brønshøj and Valby, which had been merged with Copenhagen Municipality in 1901, approached Copenhagen with surrounding towns such as Lyngby, Herlev and Rødovre. And gradually these became suburbs. Due to a lack of suitable land in the inner city, much of the urban development took place around these cities. This development was also helped by more public transport, i.a. the opening of the S train lines from 1934.
During World War II, Copenhagen, like the rest of Denmark , was occupied by German troops. Several buildings were destroyed during the occupation either by sabotage or by attacks from the allied forces. Among these can be mentioned that the Shell House , which was the headquarters of the Gestapo , was bombed by British planes on 21 March 1945 . During this attack , the French School in Frederiksberg was hit and many children were killed. Many industrial buildings in Copenhagen were also blown up by the Danish resistance movement . One of the biggest popular protests against the conditions under the German occupation was the People's Uprising in 1944
After the war, the increasing use of motor vehicles became increasingly important for the city's development, and this caused the master plan's ideas of a Copenhagen built around collective S-train traffic to become somewhat diluted. Some suburbs grew up away from the S-train network. In the 1960s, development in the Municipality of Copenhagen seemed to have almost come to a standstill, while in the suburban municipalities people were building on life. Gladsaxe Municipality under Erhard Jakobsen and Albertslund are examples of this development in Copenhagen's surrounding municipalities.
Inner Copenhagen, on the other hand, experienced a period of decline from the 1960s with the relocation of industry and residents. This development began to reverse around 1990. Especially with the urban renewal plans from 1991, many run-down neighborhoods slowly but surely became desirable. With the construction of the subway and housing along the harbor, the inner city has become better connected. The construction of the Øresund Bridge in 2000 has connected Copenhagen with western Scania, and the city thus strengthened its status as the center of the Øresund region .
While Ungdomshuset på Jagtvej existed, the Nørrebro area in particular was regularly characterized by violent demonstrations that emanated from here. This culminated in the demolition of the house in March 2007, and subsided in mid-2008, when a new house was built for the young people in North West. Since then, there have been no major demonstrations based on the movement around the Youth House.
During the period, the housing market in the city was approx. 2002–2007, along with the rest of the country, characterized by a housing bubble. This stopped, as in the rest of Denmark, in 2006/2007, when large price drops were experienced. However, Copenhagen recovered quickly and the Copenhagen housing market has been characterized by rising prices since 2009 and today ( 2021 ) prices are higher than prices were at their peak in 2006. At the beginning of the period, it was also possible to assess cooperative housing according to market price. This opened up the otherwise closed co-operative housing market, and instead of being traded through closed lists and sometimes money under the table, co-operative housing is now most often traded in free trade. During the bubble period it was popular to settle in Malmö in Sweden and work in Copenhagen. In 2021, there have been large price increases again and some politicians spoke of further restrictions on the possibilities of borrowing, while others spoke of the fact that it was not necessary.
In 2020, Copenhagen, like the rest of Denmark and the rest of the world, was hit by the Coronavirus pandemic . The authorities recommended homework and shut down entertainment.
Future plans
Until around 2025, four major expansion areas are planned in the Municipality of Copenhagen, which will provide space for 45,000 new Copenhageners; Ørestad south of Field's and on Amager Fælled , Nordhavnen , Valby around New Ellebjerg Station and the Carlsberg plot north of Carlsberg Station are to be developed. Likewise, it is planned that the former freight railway area between Dybbølsbro Station and Hovedbanegården is to be developed, but primarily with business, i.a. hotels and Ikea . All the areas are either old industrial areas or land reclamation, except for Amager Fælled which is originally salt meadow. The municipality of Copenhagen is also planning a very large development in the north-eastern harbor area in the form of Lynetteholmen .
In the preliminary municipal plan 2021, Frederiksberg Municipality plans urban development around e.g. Nordens Plads and the Hospital grounds where Frederiksberg Hospital used to be located. In addition, the focus is on conservation and hollow filling with either new buildings or green areas.
In Rødovre there are three primary urban development areas Rødovre North, the City Core (around Rødovre Centrum ) and Rødovre South. At the City Center, among other things, the possibilities of making a metro stop by extending one of the existing metro lines.
A major challenge with the many additional residents will be to make room for the traffic in the city. The extension in 2019 of the metro with the City Ring and the construction of light rail along ring 3 from Lyngby to Ishøj should create even more coherence in Copenhagen's public transport. There has also been talk for many years about an Eastern Ring Road around the central parts of the city. One possibility is that the eastern ring road can go over Lynetteholmen .
Geography
Geographically, Copenhagen is located in north-eastern Zealand with part of the city on the island of Amager . Western Copenhagen stretches relatively flat further into Zealand, while to both north and south you can experience more hilly terrain. In north-western Copenhagen, e.g. around Søborg and Høje Gladsaxe a larger chain of hills with heights up to 50 meters above sea level. These hilly landscapes in northern Copenhagen are intersected by a number of lakes and Mølleåen . Due to height in the Gladsaxe area, the Gladsaxe transmitter and Copenhagen's water supply have been placed here . In the south-western part of Copenhagen, a calcareous landslide rises at the Carlsberg fault . The more central parts of Copenhagen consist primarily of flatter landscape, alternating in Valby and Brønshøj with less domed hills. Two valley systems follow these small hill ranges from northeast to southwest. In one valley you will find the lakes , in the other you will find Damhussøen . These smaller valleys are crossed by the rivers Harrestrup Å and Ladegårdsåen . Amager and most of the inner city is flat coastal land.
Geologically speaking, Copenhagen, like most of Denmark, rests on an Ice Age bedrock moraine landscape, which in turn rests on a harder subsoil of limestone . In certain places in the area, there is only ten meters down to the limestone layer, which caused considerable problems during the construction of the metro.
Religion
A majority (56.5%) of those who live in the Diocese of Copenhagen are members of the People's Church, and the number is decreasing. The national cathedral, Vor Frue Kirke, is one of numerous churches in Copenhagen. There are also several other Christian congregations in the city, the largest of which is Roman Catholic.
Foreign immigration to Copenhagen, which has increased over the past three decades, has contributed to increasing religious diversity; The Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center opened in 2014. Islam is the second largest religion in Copenhagen, making up an estimated 10% of the population. Although there are no official statistics, it is estimated that a significant proportion of the estimated 175,000–200,000 Muslims in the country live in the Copenhagen area, with the highest concentration in Nørrebro and Vesteggen . There are also up to 7,000 Jews in Denmark, with most living in Copenhagen, where there are several synagogues. Jews have a long history in the city and the first synagogue in Copenhagen was built in 1684. Today, the history of Danish Jews can be experienced at the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen.
Music, theater and opera
The oldest and most famous theater in the capital is the Royal Theater , founded in 1748 , located at the end of Kongens Nytorv. Since its foundation, the theater has been the national stage for theatre , plays , opera and ballet . The theater has a large stage called Gamle scene , which can accommodate approx. 1,600 spectators. Within the last few years, however, opera and plays have been given independent buildings. The opera house was built in 2005 on Holmen opposite Amalienborg and can accommodate up to 1,703 spectators. The theater was built in 2008 at Kvæsthusbroen near Nyhavn. The Royal Danish Ballet can still be found on the old stage of the Royal Danish Theatre. Since it was founded in 1748, it is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. It is the home of the Bournonville ballet style .
In addition to the more traditional offerings such as theatre, opera and ballet, which the Royal Theater can offer, there are a multitude of other theaters that offer reinterpretations of classic plays as well as completely new pieces and genres, such as Folketeatret and Nørrebro Teater .
Copenhagen has had a large jazz scene for many years . Jazz came to Copenhagen in the 1960s, when American jazz musicians such as Ben Webster , Thad Jones and Dexter Gordon moved to the city. Musically, they gathered at Jazzhus Montmartre , which in the 1960s was the European center for modern jazz. The jazz club closed in 1995, reopened in May 2010, but is expected to close again in 2020/2021 due to challenges arising in connection with the shutdown due to the corona epidemic. Every year in July, the Copenhagen Jazz Festival is celebrated , which fills venues and squares with jazz concerts.
The most important venue for rhythmic music in Copenhagen is Vega on Vesterbro, which was voted "best concert venue in Europe" by the international music magazine Live Pumpehuset and Den Grå Hal are also popular indoor concert venues. The largest indoor concerts are held in the Park , where there is room for up to 55,000 spectators. The biggest outdoor concerts are often arranged in Valbyparken , including Grøn Koncert , which has ended the tour in Copenhagen since 1985 and since 2017 has also started in Copenhagen.
For free entertainment, you can take a walk up Strøget, especially between Nytorv and Højbro Plads , which in the late afternoon and evening transforms into an improvised three-ring circus with musicians, magicians , jugglers and other street performances.
Museums
As Denmark's capital, Copenhagen contains some of the most important collections of Danish history and culture, but some museums also have collections of great international quality. The National Museum , founded in 1807, is the most important museum in Denmark for culture and history. The museum contains, among other things, a multitude of ancient finds with priceless objects such as The Sun Chariot . New Carlsberg Glyptotek also displays a wide collection of objects from prehistoric times to the present day. The museum has ancient collections from Mesopotamia , Egypt including a large collection of mummies , Ancient Greece with a piece from the Parthenon Frieze that is of international quality, and various artifacts from Ancient Rome . The Glyptotek is completely unique and the only one of its kind in the Nordic countries .
The Statens Museum for Kunst is the country's largest art museum with large collections and often exhibitions of recent art. Thorvaldsen's Museum from 1848 with Bertel Thorvaldsen's many figures was the city's first proper art museum. The Hirschsprung collection contains mostly paintings from the Golden Age and by the Skagen painters . The modern art is presented primarily in Arken in Ishøj and Louisiana in Humlebæk north of Copenhagen.
In addition to Danish art and handicrafts , David's Collection contains one of the ten most important collections of Islamic art in the Western world. The war museum from 1838 contains an enormous collection of military equipment from the Middle Ages until recent times.
The natural history museums are represented by the Botanical Garden , the Geological Museum and the Zoological Museum . The three museums have entered into a collaboration, the Statens Natural History Museum, and are expected to be united in a building at the Botanical Gardens in 2024 as a national natural history museum. Experimentarium and Planetarium deal with general physics and astronomy .
Copenhagen also contains more specialized museums such as the Arbejdermuseet , Frihedsmuseet , Copenhagen City Museum , Storm P Museum and Enigma (expected to open in 2022) which is a successor to the Post & Tele Museum .
Parks, forests, lakes and beaches
Copenhagen has a number of parks, the two largest being Valbyparken and Fælledparken , respectively. 64 and 58 ha. Valbyparken is also surrounded by football pitches and allotment gardens. A beach is being built ( as of 2021 ) at the water's edge facing the Port of Copenhagen. The large lawn in the park lays, among other things, place for Green Concert . The public park on Østerbro is among the most visited attractions in Denmark, with several million visitors a year. The third largest park in Copenhagen is Frederiksberg Have (32 ha). Here you can e.g. enjoy the view of Norman Foster's elephant house in the Zoo , which occupies the western part of the garden.
In addition to parks, the city has some very open natural areas, the largest of which is Amager Fælled at 223 ha. Amager Fælled consists of approx. one quarter original salt marsh and three quarters filled seabed. The community has been continuously reduced and has ceded areas to e.g. Ørestad and ball fields. There are currently being prepared to be built in the southern part. This construction creates ( as of 2021 ) a lot of debate, especially in the Copenhagen media and in Copenhagen politics. In addition, there is the Sydhavnstippen , which is a 40 ha natural area with plenty of wildlife and plant life.
Another very popular park is Kongens Have in central Copenhagen with Rosenborg Castle . The park has been open to the public since the beginning of the 18th century. Centrally in the city along the former ramparts are a number of parks, of which Tivoli is the best known.
Something special for Copenhagen is that several cemeteries also have a double function as parks, although only for quiet activities. Assistens Kirkegård , where HC Andersen is buried, among other things, is an important green breathing hole for Indre Nørrebro . It is official policy in Copenhagen that in 2015 all residents must be able to reach a park or beach on foot in less than 15 minutes.
In addition to parks, Copenhagen also has a number of forests, including Vestskoven (15 km²) in the western part and Hareskoven (9 km²) in the northwestern part. The animal park (11 km²) is located in the northern part and contains both forest, plain and a golf course.
Just west of the ring of parks from the old ramparts are Copenhagen's Indre Søer . Other significant lakes include Damhussøen and i.a. Utterslev Mose and Bagsværd Lake .
Copenhagen has a number of sandy beaches. The largest is Amager Strandpark , which opened in 2005 , which includes a 2 km long artificial island and a total of 4.6 km of sandy beach. In addition, there are e.g. beaches at Bellevue and Charlottenlund along the north coast and Brøndby along the south coast. The beaches are complemented by several harbor baths along the waterfront. The first and most popular of these is located at Islands Brygge .
Media and Film
Many Danish media companies have their headquarters in Copenhagen. The state-funded DR started its radio activities here in 1925. At the beginning of the 1950s, the company was also responsible for spreading television throughout the country. Today, the media company has several television and TV channels, which are controlled from DR Byen , built in 2006/07 in Ørestad . The Odense -based TV 2 has gathered its Copenhagen activities at Teglholmen .
Two of the three major national newspapers, Politiken and Berlingske , as well as the two major tabloid newspapers , Ekstra Bladet and BT, have their headquarters in Copenhagen. Furthermore, Jyllands-Posten has a newsroom in the city. In 2003 Politikens Hus merged with Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten and formed the company JP/Politikens Hus . Berlingske , founded in 1749, is Denmark's oldest newspaper. Berlingske Media , which i.a. publisher Berlingske is owned by the London -based Mecom Group . In addition, there are a large number of local newspapers such as Vesterbro Avis . Other media companies include Aller Media , which is the largest publisher of weekly and monthly magazines in Scandinavia, Egmont , which, among others, is behind Nordisk Film , and Gyldendal , the largest Danish book publisher.
Copenhagen also has a relatively large film and television industry. Filmbyen , located on a disused military base in the suburb of Hvidovre , houses several film companies and studios. Among the film companies is Zentropa , in which the film director Lars von Trier is a co-owner, who is behind several international film productions and who was one of the founders of the dogma movement . Historically, Copenhagen, and especially the company Nordisk Film , was the center of the film industry in Northern Europe in the 1910s and 1920s, with hundreds of annual film productions. Nordisk Film in Valby still produces many films and today has 1,200 employees (as of 2006 ) and is the largest producer and distributor of electronic entertainment in the Nordics.
The largest concentration of cafes is in Indre By, Østerbro and Vesterbro. The first Copenhagen cafe opened in 1831 at the Hotel D'Angleterre , but it was only with the opening of Café Sommersko in 1976 that the cafe culture really came to Copenhagen, and there are now over 300 cafes spread across the city.
Copenhagen's nightlife is centered around Indre by, Nørrebro and Vesterbro, i.a. Laurits Betjent , Nasa , Rust and Vega .
Within the last decade, Copenhagen has really distinguished itself with restaurants that can measure up among the best. Most prominent is Noma , with 2 stars in the Michelin guide since 2007, which has also been named the best restaurant in the world. In addition to Noma, Copenhagen had 11 restaurants that have received one star in the Michelin guide per 2021. With 18 stars, Copenhagen is the Nordic city with the most stars, which has been the case for a number of years. In 2016, Restaurant Geranium was the first Danish restaurant ever to receive three Michelin stars (which is the highest score), which they have maintained ever since.
The sausage cart has traditionally been the favorite place to eat for the little hungry, but is now being challenged by burger bars, pizzerias , shawarma and sushi bars and the like. Smørrebrød restaurants are another type of lunch catering that is characteristic of Copenhagen.
Copenhagen is the capital in the world where organic food has the largest market share. One in ten purchases is organic in Copenhagen.
Sports
Copenhagen represents a wide range of sports and is often a leader in the field in Denmark . Larger sports facilities include The park , but also e.g. Brøndby Stadium , Farum Park and Gladsaxe Stadium for football, Østerbro Stadium for athletics, Ballerup Super Arena for track cycling , Rødovre Skøjte Arena for ice hockey , Brøndbyhallen for handball and Bagsværd Rostadion for rowing .
The largest Danish stadium Parken , located on Østerbro , is both the home ground for the Danish national football team and the football club FC Copenhagen . FC Copenhagen has for a number of years been very dominant in the Danish Superliga with thirteen championships since 2000 . In addition, Copenhagen is, among other things, hometown of football clubs Brøndby IF , AB , B.93 , Frem and Fremad Amager . In addition to the park, larger football stadiums include Brøndby Stadium (Denmark's second largest), Gladsaxe Stadium and Farum Park . Østerbro Stadium is the city's largest stadium for athletics .
Within handball , KIF Kolding København is the biggest Copenhagen team. However, they only have a men's team associated with the handball league . KIF Kolding Copenhagen is a partial continuation of AG Copenhagen , which merged with Kolding IF Handball . Despite great success in the Champions League in the spring of 2012 , AG Copenhagen suddenly fell into financial crisis in the summer of the same year , which led to the club filing for bankruptcy on 31 July 2012 .
Within athletics , it is the club Sparta in particular that has made a name for itself and the men's team has won the Danish athletics tournament 29 years in a row until 2014 and the women's team has won the Danish athletics tournament 17 years in a row until 2014. The Copenhagen Athletics Games were held in the period 2005 –2007, and before that the Copenhagen Games were held (1973-1986). Both aspired to display world-class athleticism.
The DM in ice hockey for men was won many times until the mid-1970s by the Copenhagen clubs KSF and Rungsted IK . Since then, the DM has primarily been won by Jutland clubs, while Rungsted Seier Capital and Rødovre Mighty Bulls have changed to being Copenhagen's best men's ice hockey team. On the women's side, Hvidovre Ishockey Klub has been very dominant in the DM with 8 championships in the 10 tournaments since 2011, often with Herlev IK as the closest competitor.
Copenhagen has a long tradition of rowing and has produced several national team rowers. DSR , which is Denmark's largest rowing club, and Kvik , both located in Svanemøllebugten , have rowed the traditional swan mill match every year since 1895 . In addition, there are a number of other clubs, e.g. Copenhagen Rowing Club and Bagsværd Rowing Club .
Copenhagen can display a number of golf courses , including Copenhagen Golf Club in Dyrehaven and Royal Golf Center in Ørestad . The Royal Golf Center has been built with a view to being able to hold PGA tournaments .
In the Municipality of Copenhagen, plans have been made to make Copenhagen the host of future international sporting events. In 2009 , Copenhagen hosted the World Outgames , which is an international gay sporting event. And the ambition of holding world championships in e.g. handball and ice hockey are currently being strengthened by the construction of the Copenhagen Arena .
For equestrian sports, the Charlottenlund Track , which opened in 1891 and is the oldest in the Nordic region , can be found in the northern suburbs . Likewise, to the north, there is also the Klampenborg Galopbane . From 1922 to 1976, the Amager Trotting Track also existed in Tårnby .
Copenhagen was one of the host cities at the European Football Championship 2020 , which took place in June and July 2021. Three group stage matches and a round of 16 final were played in Parken .
The 1st stage of the Tour de France 2022 was run as a single start in the city center on 1 July .
Economy
Elaborating In-depth article: Copenhagen's economy
As the country's largest urban area, the capital area is a natural economic powerhouse for the country, but also for southern Sweden, the urban area plays an important economic role.
Previously, Copenhagen was characterized by a number of large industrial companies such as Burmeister & Wain and Dansk Sojakagefabrik . Copenhagen was also the starting point for CF Tietgen's extensive network of companies ( Privatbanken , Det Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab , De Danske Spritfabrikker and others). However, since the end of the Second World War, in line with similar trends in the rest of Europe, heavy industry has moved outside the city or completely out of the country, and Copenhagen has increasingly become a city of knowledge.
Politically, most of the central administration is located in Copenhagen, where most ministries have offices on or in the area around Slotsholmen . Likewise, most agencies are located in the Copenhagen area, which together with the many private knowledge workplaces provides a highly specialized labor market with many knowledge-intensive jobs.
The Copenhagen area is home to a handful of strong business clusters in the areas of biotech , cleantech , IT and shipping . The clusters within biotech and cleantech have many overlaps, within e.g. biomass production. Both clusters are supported by cluster organizations for the growth and promotion of the industries. Within biotech, the cluster organization is Medicon Valley and within cleantech/environmental technology, it is the newly founded Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster . Clusters have received a greater focus from the regional political side, as clusters such as the cleantech cluster cover more than 350 companies and approx. 30,000 jobs.
Several of the largest Danish companies have their headquarters in the city area; especially companies within the pharmaceutical industry ( Novo Nordisk , Lundbeck , Ferring and others) and shipping ( AP Møller-Mærsk , Torm , D/S Norden , J. Lauritzen) are important for the area's economy. Likewise, several large financial groups together with the National Bank characterize central Copenhagen, including Danske Bank , Nordea Bank Danmark and Nykredit . Carlsberg , ISS and Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni are other large companies headquartered in the Copenhagen area.
Tourism
According to the tourist organization HORESTA, the number of hotel nights in the capital region in 2018 was approx. nine million, which is approx. 1 million more than in 2012. Most foreign tourists in Copenhagen continue to come from Sweden , Norway and Germany .
Hotels
Elaborating Detailed article: Copenhagen hotels
In Copenhagen, there are five 5-star hotels, which include counts Hotel Nimb in Tivoli and Hotel Skt. Petri in Indre By . An extensive renovation in 2012–2013 of the famous Hotel D'Angleterre on Kongens Nytorv has made the hotel Copenhagen's only 6-star hotel.
Copenhagen has a total of 12 hotels with more than 300 rooms and Europe's largest hostel, Danhostel Copenhagen City at Kalvebod Brygge , with a total of 1020 beds. The city's – and Scandinavia's – largest hotel is the 75 meter high Bella Sky Comwell in Ørestad with a total of 812 rooms spread over two towers. With its 86 meters and 26 floors , the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel at Islands Brygge is Denmark's tallest hotel. 8 out of Copenhagen's 11 largest hotels were built in the 21st century , whereas the Admiral Hotel in Frederiksstaden , which opened in 1978 , is located in a building built in 1787 . The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel by Arne Jacobsen from 1960 is also worth mentioning. It is centrally located at Vesterport .
Cruise tourism
Since the 1990s, cruise tourism – like many other large port cities in Europe and the rest of the world – has seen significant growth in Copenhagen. In the period 2005-2012, the number of calls increased by over 100, and the number of passengers almost doubled as the tonnage increased. In the Port of Copenhagen, cruise ships dock in three different – and from 2014 four – areas : Langeliniekaj , Nordre Toldbod , Frihavnen and Nordhavnen (opens in 2014). In 2012, a cruise ship docked in the Port of Copenhagen 372 times with a total of 840,000 passengers, which was the best season so far in both Copenhagen and the rest of Denmark. Copenhagen is thus Scandinavia's largest cruise port and Northern Europe's second largest, surpassed only by Southampton .
Business clusters
The Copenhagen area is home to a handful of strong business clusters in the areas of biotech , cleantech , IT and shipping . The clusters within biotech and cleantech have many overlaps, within e.g. biomass production. Both clusters are supported by cluster organizations for the growth and promotion of the industries. Within biotech, the cluster organization is Medicon Valley and within cleantech/environmental technology, it is the newly founded Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster . The latter is considered one of the strongest in the world, partly as a result of annual growth rates of over 10% within exports.
Within shipping, the activities are gathered in The Danish Maritime Cluster , which has its center in Copenhagen. It is one of the world's leading maritime clusters, and accounts for 24% of Denmark's exports and 10% of total Danish production. The cluster as a whole employs 80,000 people in the companies themselves and 35,000 in related occupations, the majority of which are found in the large shipping companies in Copenhagen. The cluster has a large number of partners in education and research, including among others CBS , the University of Copenhagen and DTU . The organization of the cluster is led by the Maritime Development Center and Europe , which is also located in the city.
Within financial IT, there is also a business cluster. While finance and IT make up 5% of Denmark's general employment, the figure is 14% for the Capital Region. Since 2009, the organization Copenhagen Finance IT Region has tried to develop and maintain the industry in the region. One of the challenges is that 50% of jobs in the sector are at risk in relation to outsourcing, compared to 25% for the service sector in general. The cluster organization has a number of partners, including CBS , the Swedish Financial Agency , Dansk Metal and DI ITEK .
Retail
Strøget and Købmagergade are the two biggest shopping streets with the biggest and most common shops, while many of the side streets have the more "quirky" shops. On Gammeltorv by Strøget is the Caritas well, which is considered one of the finest memorials from the Renaissance . [169] In the bridge districts, especially the main streets, such as Nørrebrogade , Amagerbrogade and Østerbrogade from the center, function as traditional shopping streets.
In central Copenhagen are the department stores Magasin du Nord , Illum and Illums Bolighus , while shopping centers are found in several different places in the city, with Fields in Ørestad, City 2 in Taastrup and Fisketorvet at Dybbølsbro being the largest. In the central districts, other centers include e.g. Amager Centre , Frederiksberg Centre , Nørrebro City Center and Spinderiet in Valby, as well as Copenhagen Central Station and Copenhagen Airport also contain a number of shops. In the suburban areas there are e.g. Lyngby Storcenter , Glostrup Storcenter and Rødovre Centrum .
Architecture and urban planning
Copenhagen is famous for having a balance between new and old architecture and a homogeneous building mass of 5-6 storeys in height. In 2008 , the Citizens' Representative Council decided that Indre By should be kept free of high-rise buildings . Thus, large parts of Indre By appear quite well preserved despite historic city fires and bombardments, although many of the famous towers and spires are of recent date. However, large city fires have meant that there are not very many buildings older than 1728 left. Contrary to e.g. Stockholm is Copenhagen, characterized by point-by-point renovations of the building stock rather than violent clearances of larger neighborhoods. At the same time, the economy has often put restrictions on the most ambitious projects, which is why knock-on solutions such as at the Statens Museum for Art are widespread. Large parts of Indre By are subject to building conservation .
Some of the oldest buildings in the inner city are Sankt Petri Church from the 15th century and the Consistory House from approx. 1420 . Christian IV occupies a special place in the city's history. Not only did he double the city's area and build Christianshavn and Nyboder, but he was also the capital's first urban planner. Of all the king's many magnificent buildings, Børsen (1619–25) in the Dutch Renaissance style stands out as a unique building in European architecture. Baroque Copenhagen is also represented by the famous twisted staircase spire on the tower of Our Saviour's Church .
The new district of Frederiksstaden , which was started in 1749, was characterized by the Rococo style. In the center, a large square, Amalienborg Palace Square , was built with four noble palaces surrounding the Equestrian Statue of Frederik 5. . The entire neighborhood is included in the Kulturkanonen .
After the city's fire in 1795 and the British bombardment in 1807, large parts of the city had to be rebuilt. It became a house, with corners cut off so that the fire escapes could get around the corners. Most of Indre By is characterized by this architecture.
The fall of the ramparts (1856) was the start of an unbridled era, where new neighborhoods quickly sprung up. In the bridge quarters and on Gammelholm , an abysmal difference arose between the decorated facades facing the street and the dark backyards and small apartments.
One of the greatest architects of the 20th century, Arne Jacobsen, introduced modernism to Denmark and marked the city with, among other things, Royal Hotel (1960) and Nationalbank (1978).
The post-war planning of the capital area was supported by the Finger plan (1947). The finger plan determined that the urban densification in the future should primarily be concentrated in corridors along the S-Bahn network, while the spaces in between should be kept free for green areas.
The 1970s and 1980s were characterized by international modular architecture with no distinctive character and a building zeal that was mainly concentrated around the suburban municipalities, most often in the form of prefabricated concrete construction . In the central parts of Copenhagen during the period, the focus was mostly on urban renovations , this time aimed at the miserable backyard carts in the bridge districts.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the Municipality of Copenhagen was in crisis, but there was still enough money to initiate large conservation urban renewal projects on Vesterbro and Amagerbro . The construction of Ørestad was supposed to help pull the capital out of the doldrums.
Towards the end of the century, a real flourishing in architecture began with the additions to the Statens Museum for Art and the Royal Library. Then followed significant buildings such as the Opera House , the Theater House and the Tietgen College in Ørestad Nord.
High-rises and towers
Copenhagen has long been a densely built-up but not very tall city. This is due, among other things, to a great respect for the city's historic towers and very strict local plans . In the past 100 years, the general maximum building height has been approx. 25 meters. This has meant that the tallest buildings in Indre By to date are the towers and spires of Copenhagen City Hall , Christiansborg , Our Saviour's Church and Nikolaj Kunsthal .
The tallest buildings in Copenhagen are Herlev Hospital at 120 m and the tower at Christiansborg at 106 m. [ source missing ] However, the tallest man-made structure in Copenhagen is the Gladsaxesenderen at 220 metres. With its 267 m (incl. 47 m natural height), the top of the Gladsaxesenderen is the third highest point in Denmark after two other transmitter masts. [ source missing ] Domus Vista in Frederiksberg was, until Turning Torso in Malmö was inaugurated in 2005, the tallest residential building in the Nordic region, but is now only the second tallest.
Famous Copenhageners
Frank Arnesen , soccer player, soccer coach and talent manager
Bille August , film director
Herman Bang , journalist and author
Niels Bohr , physicist and Nobel Prize winner
Aage Bohr , physicist and Nobel laureate (Niels Bohr's son)
Victor Borge , entertainer
August Bournonville , ballet choreographer
Georg Brandes , cultural and literary critic
Helena Christensen , supermodel
Tove Ditlevsen , author
Carl Th. Dreyer , film director
Rune Glifberg , skateboarder
Vilhelm Hammershøi , painter
Gus Hansen , poker player
Iben Hjejle , actor
Peter Høeg , author
Arne Jacobsen , architect and designer
JC Jacobsen , founder of the Carlsberg brewery
Robert Jacobsen artist
CV Jørgensen , singer and songwriter
Søren Kierkegaard , philosopher
Per Kirkeby , painter
Christen Købke , painter
Kim Larsen , singer, guitarist and songwriter
Michael Laudrup , footballer
Bjørn Lomborg , political scientist and author
Lauritz Melchior , opera singer
Mads Mikkelsen , actor
Andreas Mogensen , astronaut
Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller , shipowner
Verner Panton , architect
Dirch Passer , comedian and actor
Peter Schmeichel , soccer player
Julius Thomsen , chemist
Bertel Thorvaldsen , sculptor
Lars von Trier , film director
Dan Turèll , author
Lars Ulrich , drummer and songwriter for Metallica
Jørn Utzon , architect
Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen R. actor
Magnus Millang actor
Sudtipos is proud to announce the release of Elisetta, a type family of 6 fonts to write, edit and compose music sheets, lyrics, texts and notes designed by Lu Ronderos started during the master of typography at the University of Buenos Aires.
Musical notes and letterforms, silences and white spaces, pentagrams and lines, music and writing have much in common and go beyond time, cultures, styles and locations. This new typeface emerges from the blend between the lyrics and the harmony, rhythm, femininity and luminosity of the traditional musical forms. It`s not about blues or rock, tango or salsa, instead it recovers the neoclassical characteristics of the current musical notation system and revitalize the essence of its signs.
Taking care of both the function and the form, Elisetta has been specially designed for the writing of texts and musical sheets considering all its elements and communication needs. This source of inspiration also makes the font really good for extensive texts, since its design is based on situations that require high line performance, great readability and high aesthetic coherence.
With 6 variables that vary in weight and style, the typography gathers asymmetry and organic nature in vertical structure, narrow horizontal proportions, high x height and extreme contrast between black and white. Elisetta Book has been created for the writing of clear texts and long lines composed in small sizes inside and outside the pentagram; Elisetta Italic intensifies the organic nature of the musical keys by offering softer signs, contextual alternates and initial caps; finally, Elisetta Display increase and emphasize the contrast between vertical stems and horizontal lines to highlight short texts and titles.
For those who love music and for those who like romantic forms, this typography has a lot to offer: Elisetta is the best option to write light words with style, compose clear and rhythmic lines and read comfortable paragraphs with high performance. You can tell everybody this is your font, how wonderful life is while you're in the world!
The fonts are available from now at the new Sudtipos website. Get Elisetta at www.sudtipos.com
The PPP - 1 (Portable Plasma Projector)
The PPP - 1 was the first effective personal plasma weapon. Despite the relatively short length, the weapon was heavy and powerful enough to be classified as a support weapon.
The rounded charging-handle-like protrusion on the side of the chamber is actually used to adjust the coherence of the plasma packets:
-At the highest coherence, the plasma maintains coherence for much longer and basically acts like a combination shaped charge and thermal explosive, delivering a concentrated blast and a rush of superheated plasma to the punctured target. On this setting, the weapon would be useful as anti-material sniper (And of course also anti-personal, if you're feeling like overkill).
-At the lowest setting, the plasma spreads out in a cone-like pattern, while still retaining enough force to pierce through light personal armour and damage heavier ones, inflicting serious burns to any target.
The lights on the stock are an ammunition counter. They can be turned off or muted down to make the weapon more stealthy, although a plasma discharge is anything but discrete.
As usual, comments and crits welcome.
Court Zwolle, Zwolle, The Netherlands – architect: De Architekten Cie – project architect Rob Hootsmans – 2004-2013.
The design consists of a newly constructed building (16,420 m² gross floor area + a two-story underground car park) and renovation of the existing building (11,725 m² gross floor area). The new building will be located next to the existing building, and it will adjoin the historic canal of Zwolle at a crossroads of many directions and routes. The client and user found it important to give the expansion a transparent and accessible character, based on the statement "The Administration of Justice is at the centre of society, the Administration of Justice belongs to society". The design for the new building was created based on the demand for a new, timeless whole with a clear distinction between new and existing parts. In order to connect to the sculptural volume of architect Jo Kruger, a strong relationship with the surroundings had to be created: the contours of our design for the new building are determined from an urban planning point of view by directions and borders, heights and even the positions of trees.
The construction of the new building is characterized by a classic organization into three parts: a closed pedestal, a public part surrounded by columns and a cornice with a restricted working area. The public layer will consist of a double-height floor encircled by a public waiting area, hearing rooms, council chambers and a library. Finally, the upper layer will consist of three restricted floors with offices for the staff of the judiciary and the Public Prosecution Service. The construction principle, installation concept and the use of materials for the interior are determined for each layer according to its function. In contrast with the closed and inward-facing character of Kruger's building, the new building is highly transparent and emphasizes the public character of the court. For instance, the public waiting area is orientated towards the surroundings, and thus forms a part of the city. The facade of the new building will be made of glass. The facade is pulled around the building like a pleated skirt, thereby creating a crenulated structure. A fragmentary reflection of the surroundings can be seen in the facade. The "pleats" will vary in height, and their depth is derived from Kruger's natural stone facade, creating formal coherence with the existing structure.
George Square is the earliest, as well as the largest of the Georgian squares of Edinburgh, having been begun about 1766 and completed about 1785.
Numbers 55-60 George Square designed by the architect James Brown in 1766 and built from 1774-1779 is an important surviving component of the square. George Square was the earliest and most ambitious scheme of unified town planning attempted in Edinburgh to date. The classical details of the doorpieces and regulated style of windows give the terrace coherence although there is considerable variation in the materials used in construction and in the height of the terraces. The concept of terraces with individual houses designed for occupation by one family was relatively new in Edinburgh where tenement living had been the norm and proved an immediate success with the aristocracy and leading citizens. This part of the square is little altered externally and while there have been a number successive occupants and uses, there are many surviving 18th century interior features. The terrace is also still an important element in the streetscape and the post-war university campus, which was expanded here from 1960 onward.
The importance of George Square lies in its pioneering design in the Scottish context. In England squares of houses had been built since the Great Fire of London, the first one to have a garden at its centre dating from the 1680s, while squares governed by sets of rules followed in the 1720s. Thereafter squares increased in number and scale both in England and Ireland and became an important feature of Georgian town planning from the mid-18th century to early 19th century across Britain. Some small scale projects such as Brown Square also designed by James Brown and John Adam's Adam Square (both now demolished) had been built in the early 1760s in Edinburgh but George Square represents a milestone in the development of planning in Edinburgh because of its size and the coherence of its design.
The conception of James Brown's George Square probably predates James Craig's New Town plan by a number of months. The Town Council of Edinburgh resolved to set up a subcommittee to develop the New Town project and to advertise a competition for a plan in January 1766. In May of that year competition entries were received and the results became known in August. However by comparison, James Brown had acquired the lands on which George Square is built in 1761 and the first occupant had moved into the square during 1766. The scheme must have been proposed some time before and therefore George Square is significant because of its early date as well as the concept of its design and the scale of the project.
It has generally been assumed that during the course of development of George Square the use of rubble walls with whin pinnings gave way to more regular coursing and droved ashlar suggesting that building began at the north end of this terrace and moved southwards. In fact, this is not borne out by studying the dates at which the buildings were occupied. In this terrace, at number 60 the walls are of rubble with pinnings. It was first occupied in 1774. Number 29 on the west side of the square, James Brown's own house, which is of dressed ashlar, was built and occupied by 1770, thus predating number 60 by four years. Therefore there must have been an element of choice by the client: the early buildings are not all of rubble and later ones of dressed ashlar.
The individual houses in George Square generally followed the standard Georgian pattern developed in London in the early 18th century, and used extensively by the older John Wood in Bath in the 1750s, three bays wide with the entrance door to one side. This pattern was to become the norm in houses in the New Town – for example in George Street, Heriot Row and Charlotte Square. It is possible that the pattern was introduced by James Brown into Scotland. The earliest houses built in the New Town – Thistle Court is thought to be the earliest or the houses in St Andrew Square which followed in the 1770s- do not use the three bay pattern and it is only slightly later that this was generally adopted. This adds to the significance of the surviving houses in George Square.
George Square was also a pioneer in the concept of a central semi-private garden area as opposed to many earlier British and Continental examples which had communal areas suitable for public gatherings and entertainments. James Brown clearly intended the gardens to be ornamental pleasure grounds, which were to be kept 'in good order and in an ornate manner' as indicated in his rules. It was not until 1813 that animals were removed from the railed off central area and gardens established. That year the proprietors organised for the Commissioners of George Square District to employ a person to prepare a plan and estimate the expense of laying out the ground after which John Hay, gardener, was employed to carry out the improvements. Robert Kirkwood's map of 1817 shows planting around the edges and around a central circular feature with paths leading to the four sides of the square.
Numbers 55-60 George Square have been altered at various different times and several have been connected internally to enable horizontal circulation. However some fine late 18th century details are still in place as well as some added in the 19th century. The interior details of numbers 57 and 58 (originally one large house but subdivided in the 1820s) are particularly noteworthy and include a fine 18th century staircase with iron balusters and timber rail, some good surviving 18th timberwork including dadoes in the public rooms and door and window architraves.
James Brown (1729-1807) was the second son of a William Brown of Lindsaylands, a Commissioner of Supply. James Brown's older brother was George Brown, an army officer, who became the laird of Elliston and Lindsaylands on his father's death in 1757 and was Receiver-General of Excise in Scotland. The square was named after him. As the son of a landed gentleman, James Brown may have had a scholarly rather than a practicaltraining. After developing Brown Square in the early 1760s, he purchased the lands of Ross House in 1761 and drew up plans for George Square and the surrounding area. Brown developed the areas around George Square in the 1780s and was involved in various projects such as the Riding School and the development of South Bridge. He was clearly held in considerable esteem by the city fathers as he was one of the trustees engaged to ensure that the Act of Parliament for building South Bridge and the wide range of improvements connected with this were carried out.
[Historic Environment Scotland]
Nyhavn is a harbor district in Copenhagen , which is one of the city's most visited tourist destinations. The harbor was excavated from 1671 to 1673 by Danish soldiers and by Swedish prisoners of war from the Second Carl Gustav War as an alternative to the existing harbor . The "Nyhavnskanalen" was inaugurated by Christian V in the 1670s , but today it is simply called Nyhavn. Worth seeing are the over 300-year-old houses. The oldest house is Nyhavn no. 9 from 1681 . Today, Nyhavn is covered with sidewalk cafes and restaurants , especially on the north-east side, the sunny side.
For many years, Nyhavn was among the city's more sinister quarters, with sailors' taverns and the accompanying prostitutes. But in the 1980s, the area was thoroughly renovated, and Nyhavn today houses a number of nicer restaurants, cafes and bars. Among the best known are Nyhavn 17 and Cap Horn.
The poet HC Andersen lived in three of the houses over the course of twenty years. In 1834 he lived in no. 20, from 1848 to 1865 in no. 67 and from 1871 until his death in 1875 in no. 18.
The Nyhavnsbroen between Holbergsgade and Toldbodgade was originally built in 1874-1875 but was replaced by the current drawbridge in 1911-1912. The bridge divides Nyhavn into an inner part, where veteran ships are now located, and an outer part.
The memorial anchor at the end of Nyhavn was erected in 1951 in memory of the Danish sailors who perished during the Second World War .
Close to Nyhavn is the Inderhavnsbroen .
Copenhagen is Denmark's capital and with 1,363,296 inhabitants (2023) the country's largest urban area comprising 18 municipalities or parts thereof.
The inner city had 809,314 inhabitants on 1 July 2022 and is defined by Statistics Denmark as consisting of Copenhagen Municipality (area: 90.10 km 2 ; population: 647,509 1 July 2022 ), Frederiksberg Municipality (area: 8 .70 km 2 ; population: 104,094 1 July 2022), Tårnby Municipality (area: 66.10 km 2 ; population: 43,042 1 July 2022) and Dragør Municipality (area: 18.30 km 2 ; population: 14,669 1. July 2022.
Copenhagen is also the center of the Øresund region , which is the largest metropolitan area in the Nordic region . The Øresund region covers a total of 20,754.63 km 2 in eastern Denmark and Scania in Sweden and had a population of 4,136,082 on 1 July 2022, of which 2,711,554 lived in the Danish parts as of 1 January 2022.
The city is located on the east coast of the island of Zealand ; another part of the city extends to Amager and is separated by the Øresund from Malmö , Sweden. The Øresund connection connects the two cities via motorway and railway.
Copenhagen's history can be traced back to around the year 700, when there was a small fishing village where the city center is now. Copenhagen became Denmark's capital at the beginning of the 15th century. Originating in the 17th century, it consolidated its position as a regional power center with its institutions, defenses and troops. During the Renaissance, the city was the de facto capital of the Kalmar Union , being the seat of the royal house that ruled a majority of today's Nordic regions in a personal union with Sweden and Norway with the Danish monarch as head of state. The city flourished as a cultural and economic center in Scandinavia during the union for over 120 years, from the 15th century until the early 16th century, when the union was dissolved by Sweden's secession. After an outbreak of plague and fires in the 18th century, the city underwent a period of reconstruction. This included the construction of the exclusive Frederiksstaden neighborhood and the foundation of institutions such as the Royal Danish Theater and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts . After further misfortunes in the 19th century, when Horatio Nelson attacked the Danish-Norwegian fleet and bombarded the city, the reconstruction during the Danish Golden Age brought a neoclassical touch to Copenhagen's architecture. Later, after the Second World War, the Fingerplan fostered urban development along five S-train lines with Copenhagen as the centre.
Since the turn of the millennium, Copenhagen has undergone strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investments in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is Denmark's cultural, economic and administrative centre; it is one of the main financial centers in Northern Europe with the Copenhagen Stock Exchange . Copenhagen's economy has witnessed rapid development in the service sector, particularly through initiatives concerning information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund connection, Copenhagen has been increasingly integrated with the Swedish province of Skåne and its largest city Malmö, forming the Øresund region.
With a number of bridges connecting the different neighborhoods, the urban landscape is characterized by parks, promenades and waterfronts. Copenhagen's landmarks include Tivoli Gardens , The Little Mermaid , Amalienborg , Christiansborg , Rosenborg , the Marble Church , the Stock Exchange , the Glyptoteket , the National Museum , which are significant tourist attractions.
Copenhagen houses the University of Copenhagen , the Technical University of Denmark, CBS , the IT University of Copenhagen . Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is Denmark's oldest university. Copenhagen is home to the football clubs FC Copenhagen and Brøndby IF . Copenhagen Marathon started in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the world's most bicycle-friendly cities.
The name
Elaborating Further article: Copenhagen's name
Before the Middle Ages , the name of the town was probably Havn. In the Middle Ages, the city was called Køpmannæhafn in Old Danish ; a name that translated into modern Danish means merchants' harbor and is an expression of the importance that merchants had for the city at this time.
A number of other names built over the original Danish name for the city are used in different languages. Examples include Swedish Copenhagen , German and Dutch Kopenhagen , English Copenhagen , Italian Copenaghen , French and Spanish Copenhague , Portuguese Copenhaga , Latin Hafnia , Czech Kodaň , Icelandic Kaupmannahöfn and Faroese Keypmannahavn .
In 1923 , the Latin version of the name became the basis for the naming of the newly discovered element hafnium , as the discovery took place at the current Niels Bohr Institute .
Nicknames
As befits big cities, Copenhagen also has nicknames and even several of this kind:
King's Copenhagen : over the centuries, changing kings have left their mark on the capital. This applies in particular to Christian IV , who, in addition to expanding the area within the city walls to three times the size, contributed buildings such as Rosenborg , Rundetårn and Børsen .
The city with beautiful towers : tourist slogan created by brewer Carl Jacobsen in 1910. It alludes to the many towers and spires that then and now leave their mark on Indre By in particular, and to which the generous brewer himself also contributed in the form of the spire at Nicholas Church .
Wonderful Copenhagen ("wonderful Copenhagen"): both a tourist slogan made famous by the actor Danny Kaye , who sang about the city in a 1952 film about HC Andersen , and the name of the city's official tourism organization, Wonderful Copenhagen .
The Paris of the North is also occasionally seen , but unlike the others, this flattering comparison with the City of Cities is not exclusive, as it is shared with both Norway's Tromsø and Denmark's Aalborg .
The name "Copenhagen" is used both for the city as a whole, which includes all or parts of 17 other municipalities, for the city without its suburbs (cf. the image of the road signs, according to which Copenhagen and Vanløse are two different places) and for Copenhagen Municipality . This article covers the city as a whole.
The total urban area is defined geographically by the Geodata Agency (with the so-called polygon method ), where water areas are deducted. The method follows the UN 's guidelines, where in order for an urban area to be considered integrated, there must not be more than 200 meters between the houses (parks and the like not included). However, the Geodata Agency still counts the entire municipalities of Copenhagen and Tårnby , despite the fact that this includes large completely undeveloped areas, e.g. on western Amager , Saltholm and Peberholm . The area occupies a little over 450 km 2 , but the city of Copenhagen itself occupies far from this geographical size. Statistics Denmark then obtains the number of inhabitants via CPR . It is also Statistics Denmark that presents the aggregated information. The extent of Copenhagen – the metropolitan area's urban area – appears from Statistics Denmark's map of urban areas and rural districts . (Zoom in, let the mouse slide over the dark blue areas and see where it says 'Capital area in ... Municipality'). The outermost parts of Copenhagen are thus Kastrup , Tårnby , Karlslunde , Albertslund , Ballerup , Hareskovby , Bagsværd , Holte , Øverød , Søllerød , Nærum and Klampenborg – but with green wedges in between that extend to e.g. Avedøre and Rødovre .
Although the urban area is clearly demarcated by the authorities, they use different designations for it. The Geodata Agency uses Copenhagen, while Statistics Denmark uses the metropolitan area , and on the road signs along the approach roads, the Road Directorate has chosen Greater Copenhagen . However, Copenhagen is the only one of the three designations authorized by the Place Names Committee . [However, in all cases the same area is meant.
Many residents of Copenhagen's suburbs, however, identify to a greater extent with the municipality they live in. This may be to distance themselves from Copenhagen Municipality , which, as by far the largest municipality, naturally often steals the picture. In practice, however, Copenhagen is so densely built-up that in many places it is difficult to see where the borders between the individual municipalities actually go. Outsiders, however, will typically consider the city as a whole, although here and there there is also a tendency to either limit it to the Municipality of Copenhagen or expand it to the entire Capital Region . Therefore, Copenhagen's population is given in some places as approx. 0.6 million (of the municipality) or approx. 2.0 million (of the metropolitan region), where the correct number is 1,363,296 ( as of 1 January 2020 ).
Furthermore, a number of administrative divisions have used Copenhagen or the capital in their name. For example , the Capital Region also includes Bornholm , regardless of the fact that this island is approx. 130 km away, and the former Copenhagen County, despite the name, did not include the Municipality of Copenhagen , although the county seat was located there for a number of years.
History
Elaborating In-depth article: Copenhagen's history
History up to the 12th century
A number of finds from prehistoric times have been made in the Copenhagen area. At the building of Amager Strandpark, one found e.g. remains of a coastal settlement from the Neolithic . Burial mounds in the suburbs indicate human activity in prehistoric times, and many of the town names in the vicinity of Copenhagen also bear witness to the founding of towns in the greater Copenhagen area in the Viking Age .
Until recently, the oldest traces of urban settlement in the Copenhagen area were within the ramparts from around the year 1000, where traces of a small fishing village were found where Copenhagen is today. Fiskerlejet was located just north of Copenhagen's Town Hall around Mikkel Bryggers Gade, which at the time lay by the sea. But in connection with the excavation of the Metro, traces of boat bridges at Gammel Strand have been found, dating all the way back to around the year 700. During the excavation of the metro station at Kongens Nytorv, traces of a farm from the Viking Age have also been found.
1043-1536: The Middle Ages
The first time the precursor to Copenhagen under the name "Havn" is mentioned in the sources, is in connection with a naval battle between Svend Estridsen and the Norwegian king Magnus the Good in 1043. After that, there is silence about the city's fate in the next approx. 120 years.
It is likely that during the 12th century the city was able to profit from its central location between the large cathedral cities of Lund and Roskilde and thus was an important point for traffic and trade between the two cities. The natural harbor and the small island of Slotsholmen , which was easy to defend, probably also gave the city great advantages. In the second half of the 12th century, the silence about the town is broken, when Saxo mentions that Pope Urban III in 1186 confirms that the small town "Hafn", together with a number of other towns that King Valdemar had previously given to Bishop Absalon, must continue belong to Absalom. The exact year of King Valdemar's gift is not known, as the deed of gift that Absalon received has disappeared. From around 1167-1171 , Absalon built a castle and a city wall on the site.
Under Absalon's leadership, the city began to grow. Especially in the 13th century, the city expanded, so that it gradually came to cover a larger part of the area between Kongens Nytorv and Rådhuspladsen . Gråbrødre Kloster and the churches Our Lady , St. Peder (now St. Petri) and St. Nikolai were all built in the first half of the 13th century. The 13th century was a turbulent time in Danish history , which was expressed in the fierce battle between successive bishops and kings for the right to the city. However, in 1251 Bishop Jakob Erlandsen was able to force the pressured King Abel to surrender the city to him, and in 1254 this bishop gave the city its first city court. Five years later, in 1259, the city was attacked and plundered by the Rygian prince Jaromar .
Gradually, the city began to grow into the kingdom's largest and most important, although it had not yet become the capital. Although the city was the largest, there were still less than 5,000 inhabitants, and thus only a few hundred fewer in cities such as Ribe and Århus. The location in the middle of the kingdom with a natural harbor on an important sea trade route was ideal. In 1419, a Danish king, Erik of Pomerania , finally managed to permanently take power over the city from the church, and in 1443 Christopher III made the city a royal residence. In 1479 the university was founded. Copenhagen was now the country's most important city.
Christian IV was of great importance to Copenhagen. Under him, the city's old walls, which had hitherto been along Gothersgade around 1647, were moved, so that they ran along the current railway line between Nørreport and Østerport, bypassing the Nyboder newly built by Christian IV . Copenhagen's ramparts were also expanded with defenses in the newly built area of Christianshavn .
From 1658-1660 during the First Karl Gustav War, Copenhagen was the last area in the kingdom under Danish control, but under siege by the Swedish troops led by Karl X Gustav . In February 1659, the Swedes tried to take the town by storm , but a joint effort by soldiers and the townspeople held them back. After the unsuccessful storming, however, the Swedes kept the city besieged until 27 May 1660. As an offshoot of the Peace of Copenhagen, the monarchy was introduced in 1660 under Frederik III and Copenhagen became an even more important city in Denmark, because it was from here that the increasingly centralist Danish state was governed. As part of this process, in 1660, Copenhagen got a new form of management called the City's 32 men , which was a precursor to the current Citizens' Representation .
In 1711-1712, one of the worst plague epidemics in Copenhagen's history ravaged . The plague killed approximately 22,000 of the city's approximately 60,000 inhabitants. A few years later, things went wrong once again, when just over a quarter of the city's buildings went up in smoke during a city fire in 1728 .
Inspired by European ideas, Frederiksstaden was founded in 1748 north of Kongens Nytorv with Amalienborg as the most beautiful part. In the latter half of the 18th century, during the Florissant period, Copenhagen experienced an enormous boom as a result of the profitable trade with the warring powers, England and France. However, the boom period ended for a time when first Christiansborg burned in 1794 and then a town fire in 1795 ravaged the inner city, and then the British navy came to claim Denmark's navy, which triggered the Battle of the Nest in 1801 , as part of the Napoleonic Wars . Parts of the city were also damaged in that conflict. However, the damage was far from the extent of the damage caused by the landed British army during the English bombardment of the city in 1807 , where large areas of the city burned down, as the British military used rockets. The medieval Church of Our Lady also went up in flames. The challenges for Denmark and Copenhagen end with the state bankruptcy in 1813 and the loss of Norway, and the accompanying trade from Copenhagen to Norway, in 1814.
After the tumultuous events in the years up to 1814, Denmark and Copenhagen had ended up as a small, poor country. It was therefore not immediately possible to rebuild the public buildings that had been destroyed by the bombardment, such as Our Lady's Church and the university , until well into the 19th century. When the economy finally got going, this gave rise to enormous development and most of Copenhagen's inner city is characterized by the reconstructions after the fires and the bombing. Culturally, Copenhagen came to form the framework for one of the most rewarding cultural periods in Danish history, the Golden Age , which was characterized by, among other things, CF Hansen , Bertel Thorvaldsen and Søren Kierkegaard . This was followed by industrialization in the second half of the 19th century. After a major cholera epidemic in 1853, it was finally decided to take down the old ramparts.
It was now allowed to build permanent, foundation-walled new construction outside the ramparts. This release, in combination with very liberal building legislation, led to a building boom in the bridge districts and a significant increase in the population. Around 1800, approximately 100,000 people lived in the capital, and at the start of the 20th century there were almost 500,000.
The new districts became very different: Frederiksberg and Østerbro became neighborhoods of the bourgeoisie ; Nørrebro and Vesterbro, on the other hand, became workers' districts.
As a replacement for the old fortress, the Estrup government adopted the construction of the large fortifications , including the Vestvolden, from 1886 . It was Denmark's largest workplace and was only later surpassed by the Great Belt connection . The construction of large projects such as the Free Harbor (1894), the Town Hall (1905) and the Central Station (1911) also left their mark. Copenhagen had become an industrial metropolis, home to companies on an international scale such as Burmeister & Wain , Østasiatisk Kompagni and the Great Nordic Telegraph Company .
After a weak start ( the Battle of Fælleden ), the labor movement had its breakthrough in the capital of the 20th century, where the post of finance mayor was taken over in 1903 by trade unionist Jens Jensen . In 1901, the municipality incorporated a number of parishes, including Brønshøj and Valby , and in 1902 the municipality of Sundbyernes was incorporated . The municipality's area was thus tripled, leaving Frederiksberg as an enclave in Copenhagen Municipality.
From World War I to the present
This section describes the period from the start of World War I in 1914 to the present day. The policy of neutrality meant that Copenhagen was not particularly affected by the First World War. The so-called goulash barons made a lot of money from stock speculation and from exporting meat products to Germany . After the First World War, there was a shortage of most things, and a great deal of unemployment contributed to a lot of unrest, especially in Copenhagen's working-class neighborhoods. In 1922, the Copenhagen-based Landmandsbanken went bankrupt, dragging many people down with it.
From 1917, the Social Democrats had a majority in the municipality's board. This led to increased public welfare, municipal housing construction, etc. The construction of Fælledparken and other parks was another result of the municipality's new social and health policy programme, which, among other things, as a result of the housing crises of 1908 and 1916 focused on building housing that was not influenced by building speculation. As buildings were built on the lands outside the Søerne and on the areas around e.g. Brønshøj and Valby, which had been merged with Copenhagen Municipality in 1901, approached Copenhagen with surrounding towns such as Lyngby, Herlev and Rødovre. And gradually these became suburbs. Due to a lack of suitable land in the inner city, much of the urban development took place around these cities. This development was also helped by more public transport, i.a. the opening of the S train lines from 1934.
During World War II, Copenhagen, like the rest of Denmark , was occupied by German troops. Several buildings were destroyed during the occupation either by sabotage or by attacks from the allied forces. Among these can be mentioned that the Shell House , which was the headquarters of the Gestapo , was bombed by British planes on 21 March 1945 . During this attack , the French School in Frederiksberg was hit and many children were killed. Many industrial buildings in Copenhagen were also blown up by the Danish resistance movement . One of the biggest popular protests against the conditions under the German occupation was the People's Uprising in 1944
After the war, the increasing use of motor vehicles became increasingly important for the city's development, and this caused the master plan's ideas of a Copenhagen built around collective S-train traffic to become somewhat diluted. Some suburbs grew up away from the S-train network. In the 1960s, development in the Municipality of Copenhagen seemed to have almost come to a standstill, while in the suburban municipalities people were building on life. Gladsaxe Municipality under Erhard Jakobsen and Albertslund are examples of this development in Copenhagen's surrounding municipalities.
Inner Copenhagen, on the other hand, experienced a period of decline from the 1960s with the relocation of industry and residents. This development began to reverse around 1990. Especially with the urban renewal plans from 1991, many run-down neighborhoods slowly but surely became desirable. With the construction of the subway and housing along the harbor, the inner city has become better connected. The construction of the Øresund Bridge in 2000 has connected Copenhagen with western Scania, and the city thus strengthened its status as the center of the Øresund region .
While Ungdomshuset på Jagtvej existed, the Nørrebro area in particular was regularly characterized by violent demonstrations that emanated from here. This culminated in the demolition of the house in March 2007, and subsided in mid-2008, when a new house was built for the young people in North West. Since then, there have been no major demonstrations based on the movement around the Youth House.
During the period, the housing market in the city was approx. 2002–2007, along with the rest of the country, characterized by a housing bubble. This stopped, as in the rest of Denmark, in 2006/2007, when large price drops were experienced. However, Copenhagen recovered quickly and the Copenhagen housing market has been characterized by rising prices since 2009 and today ( 2021 ) prices are higher than prices were at their peak in 2006. At the beginning of the period, it was also possible to assess cooperative housing according to market price. This opened up the otherwise closed co-operative housing market, and instead of being traded through closed lists and sometimes money under the table, co-operative housing is now most often traded in free trade. During the bubble period it was popular to settle in Malmö in Sweden and work in Copenhagen. In 2021, there have been large price increases again and some politicians spoke of further restrictions on the possibilities of borrowing, while others spoke of the fact that it was not necessary.
In 2020, Copenhagen, like the rest of Denmark and the rest of the world, was hit by the Coronavirus pandemic . The authorities recommended homework and shut down entertainment.
Future plans
Until around 2025, four major expansion areas are planned in the Municipality of Copenhagen, which will provide space for 45,000 new Copenhageners; Ørestad south of Field's and on Amager Fælled , Nordhavnen , Valby around New Ellebjerg Station and the Carlsberg plot north of Carlsberg Station are to be developed. Likewise, it is planned that the former freight railway area between Dybbølsbro Station and Hovedbanegården is to be developed, but primarily with business, i.a. hotels and Ikea . All the areas are either old industrial areas or land reclamation, except for Amager Fælled which is originally salt meadow. The municipality of Copenhagen is also planning a very large development in the north-eastern harbor area in the form of Lynetteholmen .
In the preliminary municipal plan 2021, Frederiksberg Municipality plans urban development around e.g. Nordens Plads and the Hospital grounds where Frederiksberg Hospital used to be located. In addition, the focus is on conservation and hollow filling with either new buildings or green areas.
In Rødovre there are three primary urban development areas Rødovre North, the City Core (around Rødovre Centrum ) and Rødovre South. At the City Center, among other things, the possibilities of making a metro stop by extending one of the existing metro lines.
A major challenge with the many additional residents will be to make room for the traffic in the city. The extension in 2019 of the metro with the City Ring and the construction of light rail along ring 3 from Lyngby to Ishøj should create even more coherence in Copenhagen's public transport. There has also been talk for many years about an Eastern Ring Road around the central parts of the city. One possibility is that the eastern ring road can go over Lynetteholmen .
Geography
Geographically, Copenhagen is located in north-eastern Zealand with part of the city on the island of Amager . Western Copenhagen stretches relatively flat further into Zealand, while to both north and south you can experience more hilly terrain. In north-western Copenhagen, e.g. around Søborg and Høje Gladsaxe a larger chain of hills with heights up to 50 meters above sea level. These hilly landscapes in northern Copenhagen are intersected by a number of lakes and Mølleåen . Due to height in the Gladsaxe area, the Gladsaxe transmitter and Copenhagen's water supply have been placed here . In the south-western part of Copenhagen, a calcareous landslide rises at the Carlsberg fault . The more central parts of Copenhagen consist primarily of flatter landscape, alternating in Valby and Brønshøj with less domed hills. Two valley systems follow these small hill ranges from northeast to southwest. In one valley you will find the lakes , in the other you will find Damhussøen . These smaller valleys are crossed by the rivers Harrestrup Å and Ladegårdsåen . Amager and most of the inner city is flat coastal land.
Geologically speaking, Copenhagen, like most of Denmark, rests on an Ice Age bedrock moraine landscape, which in turn rests on a harder subsoil of limestone . In certain places in the area, there is only ten meters down to the limestone layer, which caused considerable problems during the construction of the metro.
Religion
A majority (56.5%) of those who live in the Diocese of Copenhagen are members of the People's Church, and the number is decreasing. The national cathedral, Vor Frue Kirke, is one of numerous churches in Copenhagen. There are also several other Christian congregations in the city, the largest of which is Roman Catholic.
Foreign immigration to Copenhagen, which has increased over the past three decades, has contributed to increasing religious diversity; The Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center opened in 2014. Islam is the second largest religion in Copenhagen, making up an estimated 10% of the population. Although there are no official statistics, it is estimated that a significant proportion of the estimated 175,000–200,000 Muslims in the country live in the Copenhagen area, with the highest concentration in Nørrebro and Vesteggen . There are also up to 7,000 Jews in Denmark, with most living in Copenhagen, where there are several synagogues. Jews have a long history in the city and the first synagogue in Copenhagen was built in 1684. Today, the history of Danish Jews can be experienced at the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen.
Music, theater and opera
The oldest and most famous theater in the capital is the Royal Theater , founded in 1748 , located at the end of Kongens Nytorv. Since its foundation, the theater has been the national stage for theatre , plays , opera and ballet . The theater has a large stage called Gamle scene , which can accommodate approx. 1,600 spectators. Within the last few years, however, opera and plays have been given independent buildings. The opera house was built in 2005 on Holmen opposite Amalienborg and can accommodate up to 1,703 spectators. The theater was built in 2008 at Kvæsthusbroen near Nyhavn. The Royal Danish Ballet can still be found on the old stage of the Royal Danish Theatre. Since it was founded in 1748, it is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. It is the home of the Bournonville ballet style .
In addition to the more traditional offerings such as theatre, opera and ballet, which the Royal Theater can offer, there are a multitude of other theaters that offer reinterpretations of classic plays as well as completely new pieces and genres, such as Folketeatret and Nørrebro Teater .
Copenhagen has had a large jazz scene for many years . Jazz came to Copenhagen in the 1960s, when American jazz musicians such as Ben Webster , Thad Jones and Dexter Gordon moved to the city. Musically, they gathered at Jazzhus Montmartre , which in the 1960s was the European center for modern jazz. The jazz club closed in 1995, reopened in May 2010, but is expected to close again in 2020/2021 due to challenges arising in connection with the shutdown due to the corona epidemic. Every year in July, the Copenhagen Jazz Festival is celebrated , which fills venues and squares with jazz concerts.
The most important venue for rhythmic music in Copenhagen is Vega on Vesterbro, which was voted "best concert venue in Europe" by the international music magazine Live Pumpehuset and Den Grå Hal are also popular indoor concert venues. The largest indoor concerts are held in the Park , where there is room for up to 55,000 spectators. The biggest outdoor concerts are often arranged in Valbyparken , including Grøn Koncert , which has ended the tour in Copenhagen since 1985 and since 2017 has also started in Copenhagen.
For free entertainment, you can take a walk up Strøget, especially between Nytorv and Højbro Plads , which in the late afternoon and evening transforms into an improvised three-ring circus with musicians, magicians , jugglers and other street performances.
Museums
As Denmark's capital, Copenhagen contains some of the most important collections of Danish history and culture, but some museums also have collections of great international quality. The National Museum , founded in 1807, is the most important museum in Denmark for culture and history. The museum contains, among other things, a multitude of ancient finds with priceless objects such as The Sun Chariot . New Carlsberg Glyptotek also displays a wide collection of objects from prehistoric times to the present day. The museum has ancient collections from Mesopotamia , Egypt including a large collection of mummies , Ancient Greece with a piece from the Parthenon Frieze that is of international quality, and various artifacts from Ancient Rome . The Glyptotek is completely unique and the only one of its kind in the Nordic countries .
The Statens Museum for Kunst is the country's largest art museum with large collections and often exhibitions of recent art. Thorvaldsen's Museum from 1848 with Bertel Thorvaldsen's many figures was the city's first proper art museum. The Hirschsprung collection contains mostly paintings from the Golden Age and by the Skagen painters . The modern art is presented primarily in Arken in Ishøj and Louisiana in Humlebæk north of Copenhagen.
In addition to Danish art and handicrafts , David's Collection contains one of the ten most important collections of Islamic art in the Western world. The war museum from 1838 contains an enormous collection of military equipment from the Middle Ages until recent times.
The natural history museums are represented by the Botanical Garden , the Geological Museum and the Zoological Museum . The three museums have entered into a collaboration, the Statens Natural History Museum, and are expected to be united in a building at the Botanical Gardens in 2024 as a national natural history museum. Experimentarium and Planetarium deal with general physics and astronomy .
Copenhagen also contains more specialized museums such as the Arbejdermuseet , Frihedsmuseet , Copenhagen City Museum , Storm P Museum and Enigma (expected to open in 2022) which is a successor to the Post & Tele Museum .
Parks, forests, lakes and beaches
Copenhagen has a number of parks, the two largest being Valbyparken and Fælledparken , respectively. 64 and 58 ha. Valbyparken is also surrounded by football pitches and allotment gardens. A beach is being built ( as of 2021 ) at the water's edge facing the Port of Copenhagen. The large lawn in the park lays, among other things, place for Green Concert . The public park on Østerbro is among the most visited attractions in Denmark, with several million visitors a year. The third largest park in Copenhagen is Frederiksberg Have (32 ha). Here you can e.g. enjoy the view of Norman Foster's elephant house in the Zoo , which occupies the western part of the garden.
In addition to parks, the city has some very open natural areas, the largest of which is Amager Fælled at 223 ha. Amager Fælled consists of approx. one quarter original salt marsh and three quarters filled seabed. The community has been continuously reduced and has ceded areas to e.g. Ørestad and ball fields. There are currently being prepared to be built in the southern part. This construction creates ( as of 2021 ) a lot of debate, especially in the Copenhagen media and in Copenhagen politics. In addition, there is the Sydhavnstippen , which is a 40 ha natural area with plenty of wildlife and plant life.
Another very popular park is Kongens Have in central Copenhagen with Rosenborg Castle . The park has been open to the public since the beginning of the 18th century. Centrally in the city along the former ramparts are a number of parks, of which Tivoli is the best known.
Something special for Copenhagen is that several cemeteries also have a double function as parks, although only for quiet activities. Assistens Kirkegård , where HC Andersen is buried, among other things, is an important green breathing hole for Indre Nørrebro . It is official policy in Copenhagen that in 2015 all residents must be able to reach a park or beach on foot in less than 15 minutes.
In addition to parks, Copenhagen also has a number of forests, including Vestskoven (15 km²) in the western part and Hareskoven (9 km²) in the northwestern part. The animal park (11 km²) is located in the northern part and contains both forest, plain and a golf course.
Just west of the ring of parks from the old ramparts are Copenhagen's Indre Søer . Other significant lakes include Damhussøen and i.a. Utterslev Mose and Bagsværd Lake .
Copenhagen has a number of sandy beaches. The largest is Amager Strandpark , which opened in 2005 , which includes a 2 km long artificial island and a total of 4.6 km of sandy beach. In addition, there are e.g. beaches at Bellevue and Charlottenlund along the north coast and Brøndby along the south coast. The beaches are complemented by several harbor baths along the waterfront. The first and most popular of these is located at Islands Brygge .
Media and Film
Many Danish media companies have their headquarters in Copenhagen. The state-funded DR started its radio activities here in 1925. At the beginning of the 1950s, the company was also responsible for spreading television throughout the country. Today, the media company has several television and TV channels, which are controlled from DR Byen , built in 2006/07 in Ørestad . The Odense -based TV 2 has gathered its Copenhagen activities at Teglholmen .
Two of the three major national newspapers, Politiken and Berlingske , as well as the two major tabloid newspapers , Ekstra Bladet and BT, have their headquarters in Copenhagen. Furthermore, Jyllands-Posten has a newsroom in the city. In 2003 Politikens Hus merged with Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten and formed the company JP/Politikens Hus . Berlingske , founded in 1749, is Denmark's oldest newspaper. Berlingske Media , which i.a. publisher Berlingske is owned by the London -based Mecom Group . In addition, there are a large number of local newspapers such as Vesterbro Avis . Other media companies include Aller Media , which is the largest publisher of weekly and monthly magazines in Scandinavia, Egmont , which, among others, is behind Nordisk Film , and Gyldendal , the largest Danish book publisher.
Copenhagen also has a relatively large film and television industry. Filmbyen , located on a disused military base in the suburb of Hvidovre , houses several film companies and studios. Among the film companies is Zentropa , in which the film director Lars von Trier is a co-owner, who is behind several international film productions and who was one of the founders of the dogma movement . Historically, Copenhagen, and especially the company Nordisk Film , was the center of the film industry in Northern Europe in the 1910s and 1920s, with hundreds of annual film productions. Nordisk Film in Valby still produces many films and today has 1,200 employees (as of 2006 ) and is the largest producer and distributor of electronic entertainment in the Nordics.
The largest concentration of cafes is in Indre By, Østerbro and Vesterbro. The first Copenhagen cafe opened in 1831 at the Hotel D'Angleterre , but it was only with the opening of Café Sommersko in 1976 that the cafe culture really came to Copenhagen, and there are now over 300 cafes spread across the city.
Copenhagen's nightlife is centered around Indre by, Nørrebro and Vesterbro, i.a. Laurits Betjent , Nasa , Rust and Vega .
Within the last decade, Copenhagen has really distinguished itself with restaurants that can measure up among the best. Most prominent is Noma , with 2 stars in the Michelin guide since 2007, which has also been named the best restaurant in the world. In addition to Noma, Copenhagen had 11 restaurants that have received one star in the Michelin guide per 2021. With 18 stars, Copenhagen is the Nordic city with the most stars, which has been the case for a number of years. In 2016, Restaurant Geranium was the first Danish restaurant ever to receive three Michelin stars (which is the highest score), which they have maintained ever since.
The sausage cart has traditionally been the favorite place to eat for the little hungry, but is now being challenged by burger bars, pizzerias , shawarma and sushi bars and the like. Smørrebrød restaurants are another type of lunch catering that is characteristic of Copenhagen.
Copenhagen is the capital in the world where organic food has the largest market share. One in ten purchases is organic in Copenhagen.
Sports
Copenhagen represents a wide range of sports and is often a leader in the field in Denmark . Larger sports facilities include The park , but also e.g. Brøndby Stadium , Farum Park and Gladsaxe Stadium for football, Østerbro Stadium for athletics, Ballerup Super Arena for track cycling , Rødovre Skøjte Arena for ice hockey , Brøndbyhallen for handball and Bagsværd Rostadion for rowing .
The largest Danish stadium Parken , located on Østerbro , is both the home ground for the Danish national football team and the football club FC Copenhagen . FC Copenhagen has for a number of years been very dominant in the Danish Superliga with thirteen championships since 2000 . In addition, Copenhagen is, among other things, hometown of football clubs Brøndby IF , AB , B.93 , Frem and Fremad Amager . In addition to the park, larger football stadiums include Brøndby Stadium (Denmark's second largest), Gladsaxe Stadium and Farum Park . Østerbro Stadium is the city's largest stadium for athletics .
Within handball , KIF Kolding København is the biggest Copenhagen team. However, they only have a men's team associated with the handball league . KIF Kolding Copenhagen is a partial continuation of AG Copenhagen , which merged with Kolding IF Handball . Despite great success in the Champions League in the spring of 2012 , AG Copenhagen suddenly fell into financial crisis in the summer of the same year , which led to the club filing for bankruptcy on 31 July 2012 .
Within athletics , it is the club Sparta in particular that has made a name for itself and the men's team has won the Danish athletics tournament 29 years in a row until 2014 and the women's team has won the Danish athletics tournament 17 years in a row until 2014. The Copenhagen Athletics Games were held in the period 2005 –2007, and before that the Copenhagen Games were held (1973-1986). Both aspired to display world-class athleticism.
The DM in ice hockey for men was won many times until the mid-1970s by the Copenhagen clubs KSF and Rungsted IK . Since then, the DM has primarily been won by Jutland clubs, while Rungsted Seier Capital and Rødovre Mighty Bulls have changed to being Copenhagen's best men's ice hockey team. On the women's side, Hvidovre Ishockey Klub has been very dominant in the DM with 8 championships in the 10 tournaments since 2011, often with Herlev IK as the closest competitor.
Copenhagen has a long tradition of rowing and has produced several national team rowers. DSR , which is Denmark's largest rowing club, and Kvik , both located in Svanemøllebugten , have rowed the traditional swan mill match every year since 1895 . In addition, there are a number of other clubs, e.g. Copenhagen Rowing Club and Bagsværd Rowing Club .
Copenhagen can display a number of golf courses , including Copenhagen Golf Club in Dyrehaven and Royal Golf Center in Ørestad . The Royal Golf Center has been built with a view to being able to hold PGA tournaments .
In the Municipality of Copenhagen, plans have been made to make Copenhagen the host of future international sporting events. In 2009 , Copenhagen hosted the World Outgames , which is an international gay sporting event. And the ambition of holding world championships in e.g. handball and ice hockey are currently being strengthened by the construction of the Copenhagen Arena .
For equestrian sports, the Charlottenlund Track , which opened in 1891 and is the oldest in the Nordic region , can be found in the northern suburbs . Likewise, to the north, there is also the Klampenborg Galopbane . From 1922 to 1976, the Amager Trotting Track also existed in Tårnby .
Copenhagen was one of the host cities at the European Football Championship 2020 , which took place in June and July 2021. Three group stage matches and a round of 16 final were played in Parken .
The 1st stage of the Tour de France 2022 was run as a single start in the city center on 1 July .
Economy
Elaborating In-depth article: Copenhagen's economy
As the country's largest urban area, the capital area is a natural economic powerhouse for the country, but also for southern Sweden, the urban area plays an important economic role.
Previously, Copenhagen was characterized by a number of large industrial companies such as Burmeister & Wain and Dansk Sojakagefabrik . Copenhagen was also the starting point for CF Tietgen's extensive network of companies ( Privatbanken , Det Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab , De Danske Spritfabrikker and others). However, since the end of the Second World War, in line with similar trends in the rest of Europe, heavy industry has moved outside the city or completely out of the country, and Copenhagen has increasingly become a city of knowledge.
Politically, most of the central administration is located in Copenhagen, where most ministries have offices on or in the area around Slotsholmen . Likewise, most agencies are located in the Copenhagen area, which together with the many private knowledge workplaces provides a highly specialized labor market with many knowledge-intensive jobs.
The Copenhagen area is home to a handful of strong business clusters in the areas of biotech , cleantech , IT and shipping . The clusters within biotech and cleantech have many overlaps, within e.g. biomass production. Both clusters are supported by cluster organizations for the growth and promotion of the industries. Within biotech, the cluster organization is Medicon Valley and within cleantech/environmental technology, it is the newly founded Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster . Clusters have received a greater focus from the regional political side, as clusters such as the cleantech cluster cover more than 350 companies and approx. 30,000 jobs.
Several of the largest Danish companies have their headquarters in the city area; especially companies within the pharmaceutical industry ( Novo Nordisk , Lundbeck , Ferring and others) and shipping ( AP Møller-Mærsk , Torm , D/S Norden , J. Lauritzen) are important for the area's economy. Likewise, several large financial groups together with the National Bank characterize central Copenhagen, including Danske Bank , Nordea Bank Danmark and Nykredit . Carlsberg , ISS and Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni are other large companies headquartered in the Copenhagen area.
Tourism
According to the tourist organization HORESTA, the number of hotel nights in the capital region in 2018 was approx. nine million, which is approx. 1 million more than in 2012. Most foreign tourists in Copenhagen continue to come from Sweden , Norway and Germany .
Hotels
Elaborating Detailed article: Copenhagen hotels
In Copenhagen, there are five 5-star hotels, which include counts Hotel Nimb in Tivoli and Hotel Skt. Petri in Indre By . An extensive renovation in 2012–2013 of the famous Hotel D'Angleterre on Kongens Nytorv has made the hotel Copenhagen's only 6-star hotel.
Copenhagen has a total of 12 hotels with more than 300 rooms and Europe's largest hostel, Danhostel Copenhagen City at Kalvebod Brygge , with a total of 1020 beds. The city's – and Scandinavia's – largest hotel is the 75 meter high Bella Sky Comwell in Ørestad with a total of 812 rooms spread over two towers. With its 86 meters and 26 floors , the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel at Islands Brygge is Denmark's tallest hotel. 8 out of Copenhagen's 11 largest hotels were built in the 21st century , whereas the Admiral Hotel in Frederiksstaden , which opened in 1978 , is located in a building built in 1787 . The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel by Arne Jacobsen from 1960 is also worth mentioning. It is centrally located at Vesterport .
Cruise tourism
Since the 1990s, cruise tourism – like many other large port cities in Europe and the rest of the world – has seen significant growth in Copenhagen. In the period 2005-2012, the number of calls increased by over 100, and the number of passengers almost doubled as the tonnage increased. In the Port of Copenhagen, cruise ships dock in three different – and from 2014 four – areas : Langeliniekaj , Nordre Toldbod , Frihavnen and Nordhavnen (opens in 2014). In 2012, a cruise ship docked in the Port of Copenhagen 372 times with a total of 840,000 passengers, which was the best season so far in both Copenhagen and the rest of Denmark. Copenhagen is thus Scandinavia's largest cruise port and Northern Europe's second largest, surpassed only by Southampton .
Business clusters
The Copenhagen area is home to a handful of strong business clusters in the areas of biotech , cleantech , IT and shipping . The clusters within biotech and cleantech have many overlaps, within e.g. biomass production. Both clusters are supported by cluster organizations for the growth and promotion of the industries. Within biotech, the cluster organization is Medicon Valley and within cleantech/environmental technology, it is the newly founded Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster . The latter is considered one of the strongest in the world, partly as a result of annual growth rates of over 10% within exports.
Within shipping, the activities are gathered in The Danish Maritime Cluster , which has its center in Copenhagen. It is one of the world's leading maritime clusters, and accounts for 24% of Denmark's exports and 10% of total Danish production. The cluster as a whole employs 80,000 people in the companies themselves and 35,000 in related occupations, the majority of which are found in the large shipping companies in Copenhagen. The cluster has a large number of partners in education and research, including among others CBS , the University of Copenhagen and DTU . The organization of the cluster is led by the Maritime Development Center and Europe , which is also located in the city.
Within financial IT, there is also a business cluster. While finance and IT make up 5% of Denmark's general employment, the figure is 14% for the Capital Region. Since 2009, the organization Copenhagen Finance IT Region has tried to develop and maintain the industry in the region. One of the challenges is that 50% of jobs in the sector are at risk in relation to outsourcing, compared to 25% for the service sector in general. The cluster organization has a number of partners, including CBS , the Swedish Financial Agency , Dansk Metal and DI ITEK .
Retail
Strøget and Købmagergade are the two biggest shopping streets with the biggest and most common shops, while many of the side streets have the more "quirky" shops. On Gammeltorv by Strøget is the Caritas well, which is considered one of the finest memorials from the Renaissance . [169] In the bridge districts, especially the main streets, such as Nørrebrogade , Amagerbrogade and Østerbrogade from the center, function as traditional shopping streets.
In central Copenhagen are the department stores Magasin du Nord , Illum and Illums Bolighus , while shopping centers are found in several different places in the city, with Fields in Ørestad, City 2 in Taastrup and Fisketorvet at Dybbølsbro being the largest. In the central districts, other centers include e.g. Amager Centre , Frederiksberg Centre , Nørrebro City Center and Spinderiet in Valby, as well as Copenhagen Central Station and Copenhagen Airport also contain a number of shops. In the suburban areas there are e.g. Lyngby Storcenter , Glostrup Storcenter and Rødovre Centrum .
Architecture and urban planning
Copenhagen is famous for having a balance between new and old architecture and a homogeneous building mass of 5-6 storeys in height. In 2008 , the Citizens' Representative Council decided that Indre By should be kept free of high-rise buildings . Thus, large parts of Indre By appear quite well preserved despite historic city fires and bombardments, although many of the famous towers and spires are of recent date. However, large city fires have meant that there are not very many buildings older than 1728 left. Contrary to e.g. Stockholm is Copenhagen, characterized by point-by-point renovations of the building stock rather than violent clearances of larger neighborhoods. At the same time, the economy has often put restrictions on the most ambitious projects, which is why knock-on solutions such as at the Statens Museum for Art are widespread. Large parts of Indre By are subject to building conservation .
Some of the oldest buildings in the inner city are Sankt Petri Church from the 15th century and the Consistory House from approx. 1420 . Christian IV occupies a special place in the city's history. Not only did he double the city's area and build Christianshavn and Nyboder, but he was also the capital's first urban planner. Of all the king's many magnificent buildings, Børsen (1619–25) in the Dutch Renaissance style stands out as a unique building in European architecture. Baroque Copenhagen is also represented by the famous twisted staircase spire on the tower of Our Saviour's Church .
The new district of Frederiksstaden , which was started in 1749, was characterized by the Rococo style. In the center, a large square, Amalienborg Palace Square , was built with four noble palaces surrounding the Equestrian Statue of Frederik 5. . The entire neighborhood is included in the Kulturkanonen .
After the city's fire in 1795 and the British bombardment in 1807, large parts of the city had to be rebuilt. It became a house, with corners cut off so that the fire escapes could get around the corners. Most of Indre By is characterized by this architecture.
The fall of the ramparts (1856) was the start of an unbridled era, where new neighborhoods quickly sprung up. In the bridge quarters and on Gammelholm , an abysmal difference arose between the decorated facades facing the street and the dark backyards and small apartments.
One of the greatest architects of the 20th century, Arne Jacobsen, introduced modernism to Denmark and marked the city with, among other things, Royal Hotel (1960) and Nationalbank (1978).
The post-war planning of the capital area was supported by the Finger plan (1947). The finger plan determined that the urban densification in the future should primarily be concentrated in corridors along the S-Bahn network, while the spaces in between should be kept free for green areas.
The 1970s and 1980s were characterized by international modular architecture with no distinctive character and a building zeal that was mainly concentrated around the suburban municipalities, most often in the form of prefabricated concrete construction . In the central parts of Copenhagen during the period, the focus was mostly on urban renovations , this time aimed at the miserable backyard carts in the bridge districts.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the Municipality of Copenhagen was in crisis, but there was still enough money to initiate large conservation urban renewal projects on Vesterbro and Amagerbro . The construction of Ørestad was supposed to help pull the capital out of the doldrums.
Towards the end of the century, a real flourishing in architecture began with the additions to the Statens Museum for Art and the Royal Library. Then followed significant buildings such as the Opera House , the Theater House and the Tietgen College in Ørestad Nord.
High-rises and towers
Copenhagen has long been a densely built-up but not very tall city. This is due, among other things, to a great respect for the city's historic towers and very strict local plans . In the past 100 years, the general maximum building height has been approx. 25 meters. This has meant that the tallest buildings in Indre By to date are the towers and spires of Copenhagen City Hall , Christiansborg , Our Saviour's Church and Nikolaj Kunsthal .
The tallest buildings in Copenhagen are Herlev Hospital at 120 m and the tower at Christiansborg at 106 m. [ source missing ] However, the tallest man-made structure in Copenhagen is the Gladsaxesenderen at 220 metres. With its 267 m (incl. 47 m natural height), the top of the Gladsaxesenderen is the third highest point in Denmark after two other transmitter masts. [ source missing ] Domus Vista in Frederiksberg was, until Turning Torso in Malmö was inaugurated in 2005, the tallest residential building in the Nordic region, but is now only the second tallest.
Famous Copenhageners
Frank Arnesen , soccer player, soccer coach and talent manager
Bille August , film director
Herman Bang , journalist and author
Niels Bohr , physicist and Nobel Prize winner
Aage Bohr , physicist and Nobel laureate (Niels Bohr's son)
Victor Borge , entertainer
August Bournonville , ballet choreographer
Georg Brandes , cultural and literary critic
Helena Christensen , supermodel
Tove Ditlevsen , author
Carl Th. Dreyer , film director
Rune Glifberg , skateboarder
Vilhelm Hammershøi , painter
Gus Hansen , poker player
Iben Hjejle , actor
Peter Høeg , author
Arne Jacobsen , architect and designer
JC Jacobsen , founder of the Carlsberg brewery
Robert Jacobsen artist
CV Jørgensen , singer and songwriter
Søren Kierkegaard , philosopher
Per Kirkeby , painter
Christen Købke , painter
Kim Larsen , singer, guitarist and songwriter
Michael Laudrup , footballer
Bjørn Lomborg , political scientist and author
Lauritz Melchior , opera singer
Mads Mikkelsen , actor
Andreas Mogensen , astronaut
Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller , shipowner
Verner Panton , architect
Dirch Passer , comedian and actor
Peter Schmeichel , soccer player
Julius Thomsen , chemist
Bertel Thorvaldsen , sculptor
Lars von Trier , film director
Dan Turèll , author
Lars Ulrich , drummer and songwriter for Metallica
Jørn Utzon , architect
Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen R. actor
Magnus Millang actor
Heinekengebouw
In 1863 kocht G.A. Heineken de grootste brouwerij van Amsterdam genaamd ‘De Hooiberg’ uit 1592. De zaken gingen voorspoedig en in 1873 werd besloten een tweede vestiging te bouwen in Rotterdam. De gezamenlijke belangen van de twee vestigingen werden, met medewerking van de Rotterdamse Handelsvereniging van Lodewijk Pincoffs (waarbij een obligatielening werd uitgeschreven), op 11 januari 1873 ondergebracht in Heinekens Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij NV.
In Rotterdam werd gekozen voor de hoek Crooswijksesingel/Linker Rottekade vanwege de goede aan- en afvoermogelijkheden via de Rotte, maar ook vanwege het flinke aantal waterbronnen dat zich hier bevond. In eerste instantie werd de brouwerij met fabriek gebouwd.
In 1882 wordt het eerste kantoorgebouw voor Heineken gebouwd met uitbreidingen in 1895 en 1906. Mede door de snelle bevolkingsgroei van Rotterdam groeit ook de fabriek steeds hard mee. Vanaf 1922 wordt architect Kromhout ingeschakeld door Heineken voor de verdere uitbreiding en modernisering van de brouwerij en bovendien te zorgen voor meer samenhang en monumentaliteit.
Aan de hand van Kromhout ontstonden langs de Rotte een kolentransporteur, een graansilo en een ziederijgebouw onderling verbonden met een loopbrug. In 1932 kwam daar nog het door Kromhout ontworpen kantoorgebouw aan de Crooswijksesingel bij, dat aansloot op de eerdere kantoorgebouwen uit 1882, 1895 en 1906, ontworpen door andere architecten. Zo ontstond er een prachtig ensemble van beeldbepalende gebouwen op de hoek van de Rotte en de Crooswijksesingel die de diverse losse fabrieksgebouwen van de brouwerij op het achter terrein uit het zicht onttrokken. Het bier werd vanuit Rotterdam naar alle windstreken geëxporteerd en hiermee werd de basis gelegd voor de reputatie van Heineken als wereldmerk.
Heineken building
In 1863, G.A. Heineken The largest brewery in Amsterdam called "De Hooiberg" from 1592. Things went well and in 1873 it was decided to build a second location in Rotterdam. The joint interests of the two branches, with the cooperation of the Rotterdam Trade Association of Lodewijk Pincoffs (in which a bond loan was issued), were housed in Heinekens Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij NV on January 11, 1873.
In Rotterdam, the corner Crooswijksesingel/Left Rottekade was chosen because of the good supply and drainage options via the Rotte, but also because of the large number of water sources that was here. The brewery with a factory was initially built.
In 1882 the first office building for Heineken was built with extensions in 1895 and 1906. Partly due to the rapid population growth of Rotterdam, the factory is also growing fast. From 1922, architect Kromhout is called in by Heineken for the further expansion and modernization of the brewery and also to ensure more coherence and monumentality.
On the basis of Kromhout, a coal transporter, a grain silo and a Ziederij building were created along the Rotte with a walkway. In 1932 the office building on the Crooswijksesingel, which was designed by Kromhout, which was connected to the earlier office buildings from 1882, 1895 and 1906, was also designed by other architects. This created a beautiful ensemble of iconic buildings on the corner of the Rotte and the Crooswijksingel that hidden the various loose factory buildings of the brewery on the back of the face. The beer was exported from Rotterdam to all over the world and thereby laid the foundation for the reputation of Heineken as a global brand.
As finished October 2, 2022.
---
Dearth in Venice - 29 June 2000 · By Andrew Mead
La Biennale di Venezia: Seventh International Architecture ExhibitionAt the Giardini di Castello and the Arsenale, Venice, until 29 October 2000.
In Venice, gondoliers have mobile phones and, concealed within medieval fabric, Internet cafes are multiplying. Camouflaging its incorporation of the new so dexterously, Venice is hardly typical of contemporary cities, whose destiny is the theme of this year’s architecture biennale.
Under the direction of Massimiliano Fuksas, its title is ‘City: Less Aesthetics, More Ethics’. As at last year’s art biennale, not just the Castello gardens with their national pavilions but several huge buildings at the Arsenale naval complex (until recently, off-limits to the public) are brought into play. It is, by a considerable degree, the biggest Venice Architecture Biennale so far - but much of it is disappointing. The organisers want to attract ‘a wider audience beyond the field of architects and artists’, to set up ‘a dialogue with the public’. It is hard to see how that will happen.
Many of the national pavilions are uninspired; Spain’s, presenting recent work by three dozen or more practitioners aged in their 30s or 40s, was officially judged the best. It is designed w ith some panache: you enter a red antechamber and pull aside red curtains to find a large black room with display panels at eye level suspended from the ceiling. These are all constellated around a large black cube hanging in the centre of the room, whose red interior encloses a diminutive white model. But the panels only have information (images or texts) on one side, and what they convey of Spanish architecture now is no more than sketchy. The judges’ prize was presumably a tribute to what they knew had been built, not what they learned about it here.
Advertisement
There are few rewards at the German, French or Netherlands pavilions. The German topic, the changes which Berlin has undergone in the past 60 years, is full of potential, but it has been treated very ponderously. Perhaps to avoid charges of ‘aestheticism’, the photographic evidence is greatly underplayed in favour of largescale city plans and framed texts propped against the wall; the latter, with their long lists of protagonists, look like memorials.
The French pavilion is almost entirely given over to polemical texts - handwritten, sometimes stretching the width of a wall, and barely possible to read.’Ethics masks the void of politics … As the French pavilion is the symbol of institutional power, it can only be the subject of symbolic inversion, ’ say its commissioners (who include Jean Nouvel). But, in so uningratiating an environment, how many people will persevere to find its point?
No such demands on visitors are made in the Netherlands pavilion - or ‘NL Lounge’, as it is styled.With several options for sitting or reclining (bean bags are cool again), a voice intoning ‘take off your shoes’, and access to television and the Internet, this laid-back setting is supposed to represent the blurring of public and private in contemporary life. ‘Think about exclusion and inclusion, ’ says the exhibition guide. Mention of the Netherlands would usually suggest adventurous contemporary architecture, an acute engagement with density or sprawl; that’s hardly in evidence here.
In this lacklustre context, the British pavilion - ‘City Visionaries’ - is more effective than it might otherwise have been. An intriguing large colourful model of Alsop & Stormer’s C/Plex community arts building in West Bromwich is the centrepiece of the first room, but the walls are entirely covered by a vague abstract ‘painting’, when they could have conveyed more information about the C/Plex project, or put it in the context of the practice’s other work.
Branson Coates’ ‘Ecstacity’ installation is quite effective visually, despite its kitschy, trinket-like little models and its collaging of different cities in the manner of late 1960s Situationism. ’Feel free enough to get lost and build up your own experiences out of the chaos of the place, from the complex spaces of streets and alleys to the cacophony of media options, ’ says an accompanying text, which scarcely counters the sense of superficiality.
Advertisement
Zaha Hadid’s display depends on the seductive appeal of her bridge and Mind Zone models; anyone immune to that will find little else to detain them. Of the four British participants, it is David Chipperfield who makes the strongest showing, with an impeccable presentation of his Palace of Justice in Salerno and Davenport Museum of Art in Iowa. Some finely-crafted models large and small (a relative rarity at this biennale) are backed up by enough information for visitors to understand the nature of the two projects - both of which reflect the biennale’s theme in their urban awareness.
Hadid and Alsop & Stormer also feature in Fuksas’ international selection at the Italian pavilion. Alsop has written ‘Masterplanning is Big Architecture’ on one wall and, on another: ‘Our objective is to look at large areas in the same way that you think about a single building.’ There is, however, no explanation of what that entails.
The rest of the walls have been ‘decorated’ in a time-honoured way by throwing paint on them at intervals and letting it drip randomly to the ground. There are two projections: one showing a sample of Alsop & Stormer’s architecture, the other, rather curiously, a series of flowers. Visitors might feel short-changed.
Two pavilions in particular fuse content and presentation persuasively - the American and the Danish.
The American pavilion is at present ‘work in progress’, with students from Columbia University and UCLA, under the direction of Hani Rashid and Greg Lynn, engaged in a four-week workshop whose output will then be on display for the rest of the biennale.
Banks of computer screens are much in evidence, along with various three-dimensional prototypes and components; one aim is to provide ‘an understanding of spatial configurations and building complexes that goes way beyond conventional geometric definitions’.
Lynn’s students are involved with an ‘Embryological Housing’ project: exploring the potential for mass-produced customised houses and aiming for a ‘more vital, evolving, biological’ model of design and construction than the ‘Modernist kit-of-parts’. How far these computer visualisations translate into satisfying built reality is something else; after all, Lynn’s recent Korean Presbyterian Church of New York in Queens is one of the least numinous religious spaces you can find. But the seriousness of purpose that informs this pavilion, and the industrial-finish beauty of some of its products, must be admired.
The Danish exhibition, ‘Transitions - Space in the Dispersed City’, focuses on nine specific sites in Copenhagen, all marginal in character, which could supply a new coherence to the city or the landscape. This is, of course, an undertaking that has not just a local significance, and what makes it satisfying is the imaginative range of responses, in two and three dimensions, that are on show. They convey a feeling for materials and a poetic appreciation of site that are in short supply elsewhere at the biennale.
There are other notable Scandinavian contributions. The small Finnish pavilion presents ‘Concrete Spaces’ - a mostly photographic survey of the work of Aarno Ruusuvuori (1925-92), with an impressive large tactile model of his Huutoniemi Church, Vaasa, at the centre, boardmarked in miniature. In the Nordic pavilion Juha Ilonen shows ‘The Other Helsinki: The Reverse Face of the Architecture in the City’- a splendid series of photographs of hidden courtyards in Helsinki, to illustrate Ilonen’s premise that ‘the unwitting architecture of the back yards is at best far more vibrant and forceful than what the streetfronts have to offer.’ This unsuspected portrait of a city is executed with great technical finesse.
But the prize for best architectural photography at the biennale went to an exhibitor at the Russian pavilion, Ilya Utkin, whose images of ruined buildings in his homeland have a cumulative power (despite being poorly hung). They complement the meticulous architectural fantasies drawn by the other Russian exhibitor, architect-artist Mikhail Filippov, whose subject is the failure of all utopias - whether dreamt up by Constructivists, Stalin or Le Corbusier.
Much is made in the biennale’s promotional literature of Fuksas’ and Doriana Mandrelli’s 280m long video wall, which occupies almost the whole length of the Corderie, the Arsenale’s former ropemaking sheds.
It shows scenes of different cities, in overviews and details, but not as an unfolding narrative that holds the attention - it’s wallpaper, which people only glance at as they drift through the building.
Unfortunately it subjugates many of the other exhibits in the Corderie, casting them into a twilight where captions and texts are barely decipherable. Reiser + Umemoto (new infrastructure in Manhattan) and Itsuko Hasegawa are among those whose work is worth studying here.
Beyond the Corderie, in the sixteenth-century Artigliere, Richard Rogers Partnership makes the best possible case for its Welsh Assembly building, with a handsome model and an emphasis on sustainability. Then comes a dramatic change of mood in an installation by China’s Gary Chang: a four-storey assemblage of cages and green fluorescent lights, like a malign collaboration between Bruce Nauman and Dan Flavin; the cages are the size of a prone person and some have pillows in them. Thereafter, as the exhibits become more dispersed, and as the Arsenale’s architecture is itself insistent (Sansovino’s Gaggiandre), any focus to the biennale is finally dissipated.
Putting ‘City: Less Aesthetics, More Ethics’ in perspective, at least until 23 July, is a superb exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi called ‘Cosmos’. With more than 400 paintings and drawings from the past two centuries or so, its subtitle is ‘Art in Pursuit of the Infinite’, but there are a number of architectural inclusions: Boullee’s drawings for his ConeShaped Cenotaph and Temple of Nature and Reason, Nikolai Suetin’s Constructivist City, Le Corbusier’s Musee Mundaneum. Alongside artists’ visions, from Caspar David Friedrich’s mysterious Moonlight Seascape to a blue Planetary Relief by Yves Klein, are documentary images from actual explorations - to the Poles, the American West, the Moon. These last have a certain pathos: they are all scenes of man on the move, before either the ethics or aesthetics of settlement arise.
The University of Aarhus, which dates from 1931, is a unique and coherent university campus with consistent architecture, homogenous use of yellow brickwork and adaptation to the landscape. The university has won renown and praise as an integrated complex which unites the best aspects of functionalism with solid Danish traditions in form and materials.
The competition for the university was won by the architects Kay Fisker, C. F. Møller og Povl Stegmann in 1931. Stegman left the partnership in 1937, Fisker in 1942 and C. F. Møller Architects has been in charge of the continued architectural development and building design of the university until today.
The University of Aarhus, with its extensive park in central Aarhus, includes teaching rooms, offices, libraries, workshops and student accommodation. The university has a distinct homogeneous building style and utilises the natural contours of the landscape. The campus has emerged around a distinct moraine gorge and the buildings for the departments and faculties are placed on the slopes, from the main buildings alongside the ring road to the center of the city at Nørreport. All throughout the campus, the buildings are variations of the same clear-cut prismatic volume with pitched roofs, oriented orthogonally to form individual architectural clusters sharing the same vocabulary. The way the buildings emerge from the landscape makes them seem to grow from it, rather than being superimposed on the site.
The original scheme for the campus park was made by the famous Danish landscape architect C. Th. Sørensen. Until the death of C. Th. Sørensens in 1979 the development of the park areas were conducted in a close cooperation between C. Th. Sørensen, C. F. Møller and the local park authorities. Since 1979 C. F. Møller Architects - in cooperation with the staff at the university - has continued the intentions of the original scheme for the park, and today the park is a beautiful, green area and an immense contribution to both the university and the city in general.
In 2001, C. F. Møller Architects prepared a new masterplan for the long and short term development of the university. Although the university has been extended continuously for more than 75 years, the original masterplan and design principles have been maintained, and have proven a simple yet versatile tool to create a timeless and coherent architectural expression adaptable to changing programs. Today, the university is officially recognized as a Danish national architectural treasure and is internationally renowned as an excellent example of early modern university campus planning.
St Pancras, Ipswich, Suffolk
Until its clearance in the post-war years, the area spreading eastwards of Ipswich town centre was a vast slum. The Rope Walk area was redeveloped and is now home to Suffolk New College and parts of the University. The housing in the Cox Lane area became a car park. I met a man a few years ago who always tries to park his car on the site of the house where he grew up.
Two grand red brick churches survive as islands. The Anglican St Michael is now a burnt out shell. It was declared redundant in the 1990s, and in truth it is hard to see how it can ever have been needed as more than a triumphalist gesture, with the parish church of St Helen only a hundred yards or so away. It was destroyed by fire in March 2011. Still standing tall is George Goldie's 1861 Catholic church of St Pancras. Seen from across the car park, the only clue that it was once tightly surrounded by poor people's houses is that there are no windows in the wall of the north aisle. As at Brighton's St Bartholomew, this great ship was designed to sail above roof tops.
St Pancras looks like a bit dropped off, and that is exactly what it is. Goldie's commission was for the huge, recently demolished School of Jesus and Mary on the campus of the Woodbridge Road church of St Mary, and this town centre church in the same style. St Pancras was intended to be the start of a church of cathedral scale, of which the surviving church was but the chancel. At the time, Ipswich was in the Diocese of Northampton. Today, it is in the Diocese of East Anglia, with a great stone Gothic cathedral at Norwich. But the Norwich cathedral, built as the church of St John the Baptist, and the equally grand Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge, were both begun a good thirty years after St Pancras. If it had ever been finished, St Pancras would have been one of the biggest red brick churches in England.
The north elevation is stark, that on the south side rather more comfy, with good modern glass in the south aisle windows. The most impressive view is from the west, where the vast rose window fills in what would have been the top of the chancel arch. Here, where the 1970s parish hall stands, would have been the crossing tower, with transepts either side. Looking further west, the nave would have stretched, and here is perhaps one of the reasons why St Pancras the great was never built. Immediately to the west of the church, across Cox lane, stands the fortress-like Christ Church. Although the present building post-dates St Pancras, there has been a Congregationalist church on the site for more than three hundred years, and the planned Catholic church would have stretched in front of it. Given the ecclesiastical politics of the late 19th century, one can't imagine them giving up the site very lightly.
The Catholic presence in Ipswich had been re-established in the 1790s, at the time of the French Revolution, by a refugee Priest, Louis Simon. He said Mass in the home of a rich local lady Margaret Wood, and then with her help established a mission church near the Woodbridge Road barracks. This church, St Anthony, formed the transepts of the building that still survives as the parish hall of the 1960 St Mary.
After the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, which you can read about on the entry for St Mary, the plan was to create a town centre profile for the Church, and this was why Goldie was commissioned to build St Pancras. However, anti-Catholic feeling was rather stronger than it had been seventy years previously. On a night in November 1862, the protestant ministers of the town whipped up such a state of hysteria that angry mobs ran through Ipswich smashing windows of Catholic churches, homes and businesses.
Although the exterior of this building is rather severe, the inside is a delight, quite the loveliest Victorian interior in Ipswich. It doesn't have the gravitas of St Mary le Tower, or the mystery of St Bartholomew, but it is a cascade of red and white brick banding, cast-iron pillars and wall tiling. Along with the statues and the candles and the smell of incense, it is everything a 19th century town centre church should be.
The post-Vatican II re-ordering of the sanctuary has not destroyed its coherence (or, indeed, the traditionalist flavour of the liturgy here). Above the altar, Christ stands in majesty, flanked by the four evangelists. The tabernacle is set curiously off-centre to the south.
Exposed as St Pancras is in comparison with many town centre churches, it is always full of light, and this light takes on the resonances of some good glass. The west window was filled with a design depicting the descent of the Holy Spirit as recently as 2001, by the Danielle Hopkinson studio. As a point of interest, they also did the glass in my front door. This is unfortunately obscured by a massive organ (the west window, not my front door). Below the west gallery is the baptistery, one of Ipswich's busiest, and just some of the church's collection of devotional statues. In the south aisle are three sets of triple lancets. The older glass in the most easterly depicts St Thomas, St Andrew and St John. The splendid 1974 glass by John Lawson in the other two sets depicts St Martin de Porres and St Francis of Assisi.
Not many people live in the parish itself, but as the busiest town centre church in Ipswich St Pancras continues to have a major role to play. Its Masses attract people from far and wide, including many from the town's sizeable minority communities. Perhaps this is because it does have such a traditionalist flavour, but also perhaps because of the work of the tireless and charismatic Parish Priest, Father 'Sam' Leeder. 'He's been here for forty years, and is a familiar character in the town centre, wandering the streets and talking to local traders, as well as being the cornerstone of the town's scouts. Ipswich would be diminished without him.
iss065e045357 (May 12, 2021) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei peers into near-infrared medical-imaging gear, or optical coherence tomography, for detailed views of his retina as part of regularly scheduled eye checks aboard the International Space Station.
St Pancras, Ipswich, Suffolk
Until its clearance in the post-war years, the area spreading eastwards of Ipswich town centre was a vast slum. The Rope Walk area was redeveloped and is now home to Suffolk New College and parts of the University. The housing in the Cox Lane area became a car park. I met a man a few years ago who always tries to park his car on the site of the house where he grew up.
Two grand red brick churches survive as islands. The Anglican St Michael is now a burnt out shell. It was declared redundant in the 1990s, and in truth it is hard to see how it can ever have been needed as more than a triumphalist gesture, with the parish church of St Helen only a hundred yards or so away. It was destroyed by fire in March 2011. Still standing tall is George Goldie's 1861 Catholic church of St Pancras. Seen from across the car park, the only clue that it was once tightly surrounded by poor people's houses is that there are no windows in the wall of the north aisle. As at Brighton's St Bartholomew, this great ship was designed to sail above roof tops.
St Pancras looks like a bit dropped off, and that is exactly what it is. Goldie's commission was for the huge, recently demolished School of Jesus and Mary on the campus of the Woodbridge Road church of St Mary, and this town centre church in the same style. St Pancras was intended to be the start of a church of cathedral scale, of which the surviving church was but the chancel. At the time, Ipswich was in the Diocese of Northampton. Today, it is in the Diocese of East Anglia, with a great stone Gothic cathedral at Norwich. But the Norwich cathedral, built as the church of St John the Baptist, and the equally grand Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge, were both begun a good thirty years after St Pancras. If it had ever been finished, St Pancras would have been one of the biggest red brick churches in England.
The north elevation is stark, that on the south side rather more comfy, with good modern glass in the south aisle windows. The most impressive view is from the west, where the vast rose window fills in what would have been the top of the chancel arch. Here, where the 1970s parish hall stands, would have been the crossing tower, with transepts either side. Looking further west, the nave would have stretched, and here is perhaps one of the reasons why St Pancras the great was never built. Immediately to the west of the church, across Cox lane, stands the fortress-like Christ Church. Although the present building post-dates St Pancras, there has been a Congregationalist church on the site for more than three hundred years, and the planned Catholic church would have stretched in front of it. Given the ecclesiastical politics of the late 19th century, one can't imagine them giving up the site very lightly.
The Catholic presence in Ipswich had been re-established in the 1790s, at the time of the French Revolution, by a refugee Priest, Louis Simon. He said Mass in the home of a rich local lady Margaret Wood, and then with her help established a mission church near the Woodbridge Road barracks. This church, St Anthony, formed the transepts of the building that still survives as the parish hall of the 1960 St Mary.
After the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, which you can read about on the entry for St Mary, the plan was to create a town centre profile for the Church, and this was why Goldie was commissioned to build St Pancras. However, anti-Catholic feeling was rather stronger than it had been seventy years previously. On a night in November 1862, the protestant ministers of the town whipped up such a state of hysteria that angry mobs ran through Ipswich smashing windows of Catholic churches, homes and businesses.
Although the exterior of this building is rather severe, the inside is a delight, quite the loveliest Victorian interior in Ipswich. It doesn't have the gravitas of St Mary le Tower, or the mystery of St Bartholomew, but it is a cascade of red and white brick banding, cast-iron pillars and wall tiling. Along with the statues and the candles and the smell of incense, it is everything a 19th century town centre church should be.
The post-Vatican II re-ordering of the sanctuary has not destroyed its coherence (or, indeed, the traditionalist flavour of the liturgy here). Above the altar, Christ stands in majesty, flanked by the four evangelists. The tabernacle is set curiously off-centre to the south.
Exposed as St Pancras is in comparison with many town centre churches, it is always full of light, and this light takes on the resonances of some good glass. The west window was filled with a design depicting the descent of the Holy Spirit as recently as 2001, by the Danielle Hopkinson studio. As a point of interest, they also did the glass in my front door. This is unfortunately obscured by a massive organ (the west window, not my front door). Below the west gallery is the baptistery, one of Ipswich's busiest, and just some of the church's collection of devotional statues. In the south aisle are three sets of triple lancets. The older glass in the most easterly depicts St Thomas, St Andrew and St John. The splendid 1974 glass by John Lawson in the other two sets depicts St Martin de Porres and St Francis of Assisi.
Not many people live in the parish itself, but as the busiest town centre church in Ipswich St Pancras continues to have a major role to play. Its Masses attract people from far and wide, including many from the town's sizeable minority communities. Perhaps this is because it does have such a traditionalist flavour, but also perhaps because of the work of the tireless and charismatic Parish Priest, Father 'Sam' Leeder. 'He's been here for forty years, and is a familiar character in the town centre, wandering the streets and talking to local traders, as well as being the cornerstone of the town's scouts. Ipswich would be diminished without him.
The importance of defending airfields against attack was realised before the outbreak of World War II and a strategy evolved as the war went on. Initially based on the principle of defence against air attack, anti-aircraft guns, air raid shelters and dispersed layouts, with fighter or `blast' pens to protect dispersed aircraft, are characteristics of this early phase. With time, however, the capture of the airfield became a more significant threat, and it was in this phase that the majority of surviving defence structures were constructed, mostly in the form of pillboxes and other types of machine gun post. The scale of airfield defence depended on the likelihood of attack, with those airfields in south or east England, and those close to navigable rivers, ports and dockyards being more heavily defended. But the types of structure used were fairly standard. For defence against air attack there were anti-aircraft gun positions, either small machine gun posts or more substantial towers for Bofors guns; air raid shelters were common, with many examples on each airfield; and for aircraft, widely dispersed to reduce the potential effects of attack, fighter pens were provided. These were groups together, usually in threes, and took the form of `E' shaped earthworks with shelter for ground crew. Night fighter stations also had sleep shelters where the crew could rest. For defence against capture, pillboxes were provided. These fortified gun positions took many forms, from standard ministry designs used throughout Britain and in all contexts, to designs specifically for airfield defence. Three Pickett-Hamilton forts were issued to many airfields and located on the flying field itself. Normally level with the ground, these forts were occupied by two persons who entered through the roof before raising the structure by a pneumatic mechanism to bring fire on the invading force. Other types of gun position include the Seagull trench, a complex linear defensive position, and rounded `Mushroom' pillboxes, while fighter pens were often protected by defended walls. Finally, airfield defence was co-ordinated from a Battle Headquarters, a heavily built structure of which under and above ground examples are known. Defences survive on a number of airfields, though few in anything like the original form or configuration, or with their Battle Headquarters. Examples are considered to be of particular importance where the defence provision is near complete, or where a portion of the airfield represents the nature of airfield defence that existed more widely across the site. Surviving structures will often be given coherence and context by surviving lengths of perimeter track and the concrete dispersal pads. In addition, some types of defence structure are rare survivals nationally, and all examples of Pickett- Hamilton forts, fighter pens and their associated sleep shelters, gun positions and Battle Headquarters closely associated with defence structures, are of national importance.
Despite the loss of parts of West Malling airfield to modern development, elements of its World War II defences survive well and represent a range of structures originally present. The Pickett-Hamilton fort is a well-preserved example of a rare form of gun emplacement, 242 of which were installed on 82 airfields in 1940-41 by a commercial construction company. The structure remains substantially unchanged and still retains all the principal elements of its original design, including its operating equipment. Its use in this location illustrates the often unique character of airfield structures, in this case specifically designed for the defence of the flying field. The anti-aircraft defences at West Malling are also notable for the survival of a Bofors Light Anti-aircraft gun tower at the north western corner of the former airfield, one of only three examples recorded on airfields nationally (the other two survive at Brooklands and Weston-super-Mare). As such, it is an important historic structure, serving as a physical record of similar emplacements which have been demolished elsewhere. The Type 24 irregular hexagonal pillbox is the most common form of pillbox built between 1939 and 1941. Pillboxes are especially representative of World War II defence structures and its association with the adjacent airfield adds to the significance of the structure. The pillbox, located on the southern side of West Malling airfield survives comparatively well. Its presence, as well as the strengthening of its walls in concrete, illustrates the perceived vulnerability of the airfield to attack by heavy German artillery. The importance of the surviving defence structures at West Malling is further enhanced by the overall significance of the airfield itself and the necessity to safeguard crucial elements in the defence of Britain against the threat of invasion during the greatest conflict of the 20th century.
Details
The monument, which falls into three separate areas, includes a Bofors Light Anti-aircraft gun tower, a Pickett-Hamilton fort and a Type 24 pillbox. These structures formed part of the World War II defences of West Malling airfield, situated at Kings Hill, on top of the Greensand ridge, about 5km west of Maidstone. West Malling opened in 1930 as a private airfield for the Maidstone School of Flying, and was subsequently registered as Maidstone airport two years later. With the outbreak of World War II the airfield, which fell within Fighter Command's strategically important 11 Group (that part of Fighter Command covering the south east of England), was requisitioned by the RAF and soon re-opened as a front line fighter station in June 1940, and a satellite airfield to Biggin Hill, the principal fighter station in the area. A series of German bombing raids in August 1940 rendered the airfield unserviceable during the Battle of Britain, although it became a leading night fighter station the following year and played a key role in the 1944 campaign, code named Operation Diver, to defend the South East against the V1 flying bomb. With the end of the war West Malling became the main rehabilitation centre for prisoners of war returning from Germany. By this time its former grass runways, reinforced with Somerfield track (a heavy steel netting), had been replaced in concrete to meet the needs of the new jet aircraft. After the war the airfield was used for peacetime training, and during the 1960s the station was placed on `care and maintenance' by the RAF. The site was acquired by Kent County Council in 1970 and many of the airfield buildings are now used as offices by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council. Since the 1990s, parts of the airfield have been lost to modern development. With the deepening threat of German invasion, the defence of Britain's airfields became a high priority during 1940. Fear of German `blitzkrieg' or `lightening' war tactics (involving rapid assault by air and seaborne troops, as witnessed in Europe in the Spring of 1940), led to the implementation of a national strategy for the defence of airfields in September 1940. West Malling was identified as one of 149 important airfields, located within 20 miles of vulnerable ports which could be targets for seaborne landings. Heavy defence of these airfields was therefore crucial to prevent capture of strategic landing grounds by enemy paratroops or gliderborne forces, rapidly followed by the arrival of transport aircraft carrying the principal invasion force. By the end of 1940, three Pickett-Hamilton forts had been installed at West Malling. These structures were designed in June 1940 by the New Kent Construction Company, specifically for the close defence of airfield runways. One of these forts was located towards the northern end of the flying field and survives next to what is now a modern access track. The structure consists of two, vertically sunken concrete cylinders, one mounted inside the other. The inner cylinder, known as the lifting head, remains in its lowered position, flush with the ground surface. The lifting head, pierced with three apertures for its main Vickers or Bren gun, was designed to be raised to its firing position by means of a pneumatic jack, supplemented by a manual pump for emergency use. The fort retains most of its original features, including its internal operating equipment as well as the access hatch in the lid of the lifting head through which the crew of two men entered at ground level. The second fort was removed from the airfield in 1983, and survives on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. The location of the third fort has not yet been identified. Adjacent to the southern perimeter track at West Malling is a Type 24 hexagonal pillbox which originally formed part of an inner and outer series of about 20-30 pillboxes. The small squat structure measures about 6m by 5.5m and is entered through a doorway on its longer eastern side. The entrance is protected by a low externally attached brick wall, and is flanked by one of two loopholes, the second of which is located in the opposite wall of the pillbox. In accordance with orders issued in 1941, the walls of the original brick built structure were thickened by the external application of reinforced concrete, and evidence suggests that at least two additional loopholes were also blocked at this time. These measures were intended to strengthen pillboxes at vulnerable locations against heavy German artillery. The presence of a recess in the edge of the roof above each opening suggests that further protection for the gun crew may have been provided in the form of shields, designed to deflect flame-throwers. A rare surviving example of a Bofors Light Anti-aircraft gun tower also survives close to a modern roundabout, at the north western approach to the airfield. The concrete and brick built tower appears to conform to type `DFW 55087', which was designed at the end of 1939, with the earliest examples constructed during the first half of 1940. The tower was designed to raise a 40mm Bofors gun and its operational equipment, above surrounding obstacles in order to achieve an all-round field of fire in defending the airfield from attack by fast moving, low flying enemy aircraft. The tower stands to a height of about 20m and consists of two parallel, independent structures, separated for much of their height by a 1m gap and linked at intervals by cantilevered concrete bridges to allow movement between the towers. At ground level, the gap functioned as a passageway, providing access to the chambers on either side. The combined structure measures 9m from north to south by 4m east to west and each tower was constructed on four levels: three internal levels contained the magazine and accommodation chambers, lit by vertical two-light windows. The emplacement was located on the flat concrete roof, which projects beyond the brick walls of the tower and was reached via a ladder from the chamber below. The ordnance was centrally mounted on the roof of the northern tower and was served by ammunition lockers at each corner of the roof space. The roof of the southern tower supported the target predictor and was separated from the gun platform by a narrow intervening gap, above the passage below, to insulate this sensitive equipment from the vibration of the Bofors gun. Several temporary station buildings survive around the airfield perimeter. These derelict structures include externally rendered, temporary brick buildings, dispersed from the main technical site in anticipation of concentrated bombing raids. These structures are not included in the current scheduling. Among the more architecturally sophisticated airfield buildings, the Neo-Georgian style Officers' Mess is Listed Grade II. Several semi-sunken Stanton air raid shelters survive, in buried form, near the barrack buildings. These are infilled and are not therefore included in the scheduling. Other structures associated with the defence of the airfield, such as the battle headquarters and the protected aircraft dispersal pens, were destroyed towards the end of the 20th century, although further, as yet unidentified elements may survive beyond the area of the monument. All modern fixtures and fittings associated with the Bofors tower, including modern doors and window boxes, and all modern materials and equipment stored within the tower are excluded from the scheduling; the ground beneath these features, or the structures to which they are attached, however, is included.
MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
The importance of defending airfields against attack was realised before the outbreak of World War II and a strategy evolved as the war went on. Initially based on the principle of defence against air attack, anti-aircraft guns, air raid shelters and dispersed layouts, with fighter or `blast' pens to protect dispersed aircraft, are characteristics of this early phase. With time, however, the capture of the airfield became a more significant threat, and it was in this phase that the majority of surviving defence structures were constructed, mostly in the form of pillboxes and other types of machine gun post. The scale of airfield defence depended on the likelihood of attack, with those airfields in south or east England, and those close to navigable rivers, ports and dockyards being more heavily defended. But the types of structure used were fairly standard. For defence against air attack there were anti-aircraft gun positions, either small machine gun posts or more substantial towers for Bofors guns; air raid shelters were common, with many examples on each airfield; and for aircraft, widely dispersed to reduce the potential effects of attack, fighter pens were provided. These were groups together, usually in threes, and took the form of `E' shaped earthworks with shelter for ground crew. Night fighter stations also had sleep shelters where the crew could rest. For defence against capture, pillboxes were provided. These fortified gun positions took many forms, from standard ministry designs used throughout Britain and in all contexts, to designs specifically for airfield defence. Three Pickett-Hamilton forts were issued to many airfields and located on the flying field itself. Normally level with the ground, these forts were occupied by two persons who entered through the roof before raising the structure by a pneumatic mechanism to bring fire on the invading force. Other types of gun position include the Seagull trench, a complex linear defensive position, and rounded `Mushroom' pillboxes, while fighter pens were often protected by defended walls. Finally, airfield defence was co-ordinated from a Battle Headquarters, a heavily built structure of which under and above ground examples are known. Defences survive on a number of airfields, though few in anything like the original form or configuration, or with their Battle Headquarters. Examples are considered to be of particular importance where the defence provision is near complete, or where a portion of the airfield represents the nature of airfield defence that existed more widely across the site. Surviving structures will often be given coherence and context by surviving lengths of perimeter track and the concrete dispersal pads. In addition, some types of defence structure are rare survivals nationally, and all examples of Pickett- Hamilton forts, fighter pens and their associated sleep shelters, gun positions and Battle Headquarters closely associated with defence structures, are of national importance.
Despite the loss of parts of West Malling airfield to modern development, elements of its World War II defences survive well and represent a range of structures originally present. The Pickett-Hamilton fort is a well-preserved example of a rare form of gun emplacement, 242 of which were installed on 82 airfields in 1940-41 by a commercial construction company. The structure remains substantially unchanged and still retains all the principal elements of its original design, including its operating equipment. Its use in this location illustrates the often unique character of airfield structures, in this case specifically designed for the defence of the flying field. The anti-aircraft defences at West Malling are also notable for the survival of a Bofors Light Anti-aircraft gun tower at the north western corner of the former airfield, one of only three examples recorded on airfields nationally (the other two survive at Brooklands and Weston-super-Mare). As such, it is an important historic structure, serving as a physical record of similar emplacements which have been demolished elsewhere. The Type 24 irregular hexagonal pillbox is the most common form of pillbox built between 1939 and 1941. Pillboxes are especially representative of World War II defence structures and its association with the adjacent airfield adds to the significance of the structure. The pillbox, located on the southern side of West Malling airfield survives comparatively well. Its presence, as well as the strengthening of its walls in concrete, illustrates the perceived vulnerability of the airfield to attack by heavy German artillery. The importance of the surviving defence structures at West Malling is further enhanced by the overall significance of the airfield itself and the necessity to safeguard crucial elements in the defence of Britain against the threat of invasion during the greatest conflict of the 20th century.
Details
The monument, which falls into three separate areas, includes a Bofors Light Anti-aircraft gun tower, a Pickett-Hamilton fort and a Type 24 pillbox. These structures formed part of the World War II defences of West Malling airfield, situated at Kings Hill, on top of the Greensand ridge, about 5km west of Maidstone. West Malling opened in 1930 as a private airfield for the Maidstone School of Flying, and was subsequently registered as Maidstone airport two years later. With the outbreak of World War II the airfield, which fell within Fighter Command's strategically important 11 Group (that part of Fighter Command covering the south east of England), was requisitioned by the RAF and soon re-opened as a front line fighter station in June 1940, and a satellite airfield to Biggin Hill, the principal fighter station in the area. A series of German bombing raids in August 1940 rendered the airfield unserviceable during the Battle of Britain, although it became a leading night fighter station the following year and played a key role in the 1944 campaign, code named Operation Diver, to defend the South East against the V1 flying bomb. With the end of the war West Malling became the main rehabilitation centre for prisoners of war returning from Germany. By this time its former grass runways, reinforced with Somerfield track (a heavy steel netting), had been replaced in concrete to meet the needs of the new jet aircraft. After the war the airfield was used for peacetime training, and during the 1960s the station was placed on `care and maintenance' by the RAF. The site was acquired by Kent County Council in 1970 and many of the airfield buildings are now used as offices by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council. Since the 1990s, parts of the airfield have been lost to modern development. With the deepening threat of German invasion, the defence of Britain's airfields became a high priority during 1940. Fear of German `blitzkrieg' or `lightening' war tactics (involving rapid assault by air and seaborne troops, as witnessed in Europe in the Spring of 1940), led to the implementation of a national strategy for the defence of airfields in September 1940. West Malling was identified as one of 149 important airfields, located within 20 miles of vulnerable ports which could be targets for seaborne landings. Heavy defence of these airfields was therefore crucial to prevent capture of strategic landing grounds by enemy paratroops or gliderborne forces, rapidly followed by the arrival of transport aircraft carrying the principal invasion force. By the end of 1940, three Pickett-Hamilton forts had been installed at West Malling. These structures were designed in June 1940 by the New Kent Construction Company, specifically for the close defence of airfield runways. One of these forts was located towards the northern end of the flying field and survives next to what is now a modern access track. The structure consists of two, vertically sunken concrete cylinders, one mounted inside the other. The inner cylinder, known as the lifting head, remains in its lowered position, flush with the ground surface. The lifting head, pierced with three apertures for its main Vickers or Bren gun, was designed to be raised to its firing position by means of a pneumatic jack, supplemented by a manual pump for emergency use. The fort retains most of its original features, including its internal operating equipment as well as the access hatch in the lid of the lifting head through which the crew of two men entered at ground level. The second fort was removed from the airfield in 1983, and survives on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. The location of the third fort has not yet been identified. Adjacent to the southern perimeter track at West Malling is a Type 24 hexagonal pillbox which originally formed part of an inner and outer series of about 20-30 pillboxes. The small squat structure measures about 6m by 5.5m and is entered through a doorway on its longer eastern side. The entrance is protected by a low externally attached brick wall, and is flanked by one of two loopholes, the second of which is located in the opposite wall of the pillbox. In accordance with orders issued in 1941, the walls of the original brick built structure were thickened by the external application of reinforced concrete, and evidence suggests that at least two additional loopholes were also blocked at this time. These measures were intended to strengthen pillboxes at vulnerable locations against heavy German artillery. The presence of a recess in the edge of the roof above each opening suggests that further protection for the gun crew may have been provided in the form of shields, designed to deflect flame-throwers. A rare surviving example of a Bofors Light Anti-aircraft gun tower also survives close to a modern roundabout, at the north western approach to the airfield. The concrete and brick built tower appears to conform to type `DFW 55087', which was designed at the end of 1939, with the earliest examples constructed during the first half of 1940. The tower was designed to raise a 40mm Bofors gun and its operational equipment, above surrounding obstacles in order to achieve an all-round field of fire in defending the airfield from attack by fast moving, low flying enemy aircraft. The tower stands to a height of about 20m and consists of two parallel, independent structures, separated for much of their height by a 1m gap and linked at intervals by cantilevered concrete bridges to allow movement between the towers. At ground level, the gap functioned as a passageway, providing access to the chambers on either side. The combined structure measures 9m from north to south by 4m east to west and each tower was constructed on four levels: three internal levels contained the magazine and accommodation chambers, lit by vertical two-light windows. The emplacement was located on the flat concrete roof, which projects beyond the brick walls of the tower and was reached via a ladder from the chamber below. The ordnance was centrally mounted on the roof of the northern tower and was served by ammunition lockers at each corner of the roof space. The roof of the southern tower supported the target predictor and was separated from the gun platform by a narrow intervening gap, above the passage below, to insulate this sensitive equipment from the vibration of the Bofors gun. Several temporary station buildings survive around the airfield perimeter. These derelict structures include externally rendered, temporary brick buildings, dispersed from the main technical site in anticipation of concentrated bombing raids. These structures are not included in the current scheduling. Among the more architecturally sophisticated airfield buildings, the Neo-Georgian style Officers' Mess is Listed Grade II. Several semi-sunken Stanton air raid shelters survive, in buried form, near the barrack buildings. These are infilled and are not therefore included in the scheduling. Other structures associated with the defence of the airfield, such as the battle headquarters and the protected aircraft dispersal pens, were destroyed towards the end of the 20th century, although further, as yet unidentified elements may survive beyond the area of the monument. All modern fixtures and fittings associated with the Bofors tower, including modern doors and window boxes, and all modern materials and equipment stored within the tower are excluded from the scheduling; the ground beneath these features, or the structures to which they are attached, however, is included.
MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
St Pancras, Ipswich, Suffolk
Until its clearance in the post-war years, the area spreading eastwards of Ipswich town centre was a vast slum. The Rope Walk area was redeveloped and is now home to Suffolk New College and parts of the University. The housing in the Cox Lane area became a car park. I met a man a few years ago who always tries to park his car on the site of the house where he grew up.
Two grand red brick churches survive as islands. The Anglican St Michael is now a burnt out shell. It was declared redundant in the 1990s, and in truth it is hard to see how it can ever have been needed as more than a triumphalist gesture, with the parish church of St Helen only a hundred yards or so away. It was destroyed by fire in March 2011. Still standing tall is George Goldie's 1861 Catholic church of St Pancras. Seen from across the car park, the only clue that it was once tightly surrounded by poor people's houses is that there are no windows in the wall of the north aisle. As at Brighton's St Bartholomew, this great ship was designed to sail above roof tops.
St Pancras looks like a bit dropped off, and that is exactly what it is. Goldie's commission was for the huge, recently demolished School of Jesus and Mary on the campus of the Woodbridge Road church of St Mary, and this town centre church in the same style. St Pancras was intended to be the start of a church of cathedral scale, of which the surviving church was but the chancel. At the time, Ipswich was in the Diocese of Northampton. Today, it is in the Diocese of East Anglia, with a great stone Gothic cathedral at Norwich. But the Norwich cathedral, built as the church of St John the Baptist, and the equally grand Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge, were both begun a good thirty years after St Pancras. If it had ever been finished, St Pancras would have been one of the biggest red brick churches in England.
The north elevation is stark, that on the south side rather more comfy, with good modern glass in the south aisle windows. The most impressive view is from the west, where the vast rose window fills in what would have been the top of the chancel arch. Here, where the 1970s parish hall stands, would have been the crossing tower, with transepts either side. Looking further west, the nave would have stretched, and here is perhaps one of the reasons why St Pancras the great was never built. Immediately to the west of the church, across Cox lane, stands the fortress-like Christ Church. Although the present building post-dates St Pancras, there has been a Congregationalist church on the site for more than three hundred years, and the planned Catholic church would have stretched in front of it. Given the ecclesiastical politics of the late 19th century, one can't imagine them giving up the site very lightly.
The Catholic presence in Ipswich had been re-established in the 1790s, at the time of the French Revolution, by a refugee Priest, Louis Simon. He said Mass in the home of a rich local lady Margaret Wood, and then with her help established a mission church near the Woodbridge Road barracks. This church, St Anthony, formed the transepts of the building that still survives as the parish hall of the 1960 St Mary.
After the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, which you can read about on the entry for St Mary, the plan was to create a town centre profile for the Church, and this was why Goldie was commissioned to build St Pancras. However, anti-Catholic feeling was rather stronger than it had been seventy years previously. On a night in November 1862, the protestant ministers of the town whipped up such a state of hysteria that angry mobs ran through Ipswich smashing windows of Catholic churches, homes and businesses.
Although the exterior of this building is rather severe, the inside is a delight, quite the loveliest Victorian interior in Ipswich. It doesn't have the gravitas of St Mary le Tower, or the mystery of St Bartholomew, but it is a cascade of red and white brick banding, cast-iron pillars and wall tiling. Along with the statues and the candles and the smell of incense, it is everything a 19th century town centre church should be.
The post-Vatican II re-ordering of the sanctuary has not destroyed its coherence (or, indeed, the traditionalist flavour of the liturgy here). Above the altar, Christ stands in majesty, flanked by the four evangelists. The tabernacle is set curiously off-centre to the south.
Exposed as St Pancras is in comparison with many town centre churches, it is always full of light, and this light takes on the resonances of some good glass. The west window was filled with a design depicting the descent of the Holy Spirit as recently as 2001, by the Danielle Hopkinson studio. As a point of interest, they also did the glass in my front door. This is unfortunately obscured by a massive organ (the west window, not my front door). Below the west gallery is the baptistery, one of Ipswich's busiest, and just some of the church's collection of devotional statues. In the south aisle are three sets of triple lancets. The older glass in the most easterly depicts St Thomas, St Andrew and St John. The splendid 1974 glass by John Lawson in the other two sets depicts St Martin de Porres and St Francis of Assisi.
Not many people live in the parish itself, but as the busiest town centre church in Ipswich St Pancras continues to have a major role to play. Its Masses attract people from far and wide, including many from the town's sizeable minority communities. Perhaps this is because it does have such a traditionalist flavour, but also perhaps because of the work of the tireless and charismatic Parish Priest, Father 'Sam' Leeder. 'He's been here for forty years, and is a familiar character in the town centre, wandering the streets and talking to local traders, as well as being the cornerstone of the town's scouts. Ipswich would be diminished without him.
St Thomas, a member of the noble family of Aquino, was born in the castle of Rocca Sicca in 1225, and spent his early years at the Abbey of Monte Cassino. Against the will of his parents, he chose the Order of Preachers, entering at Naples in 1244.
He lived in its major centres of intellectual life, Cologne, Paris, Rome and Naples, and became renowned for the innocence of his life and his faithfulness in regular observance. The Order’s work of preaching in voluntary poverty took two forms in his life, studiously seeking the truth and lovingly passing on to others the fruits of his contemplation. He was a heavenly master of sacred teaching and a most gracious preacher of evangelical truth. He showed the beautiful coherence between human reason and divine revelation. Most devoted to Christ the Saviour, notably to the passion of the Cross and the eucharistic mystery, for which he composed the office of Corpus Christi, he burned with filial piety towards Mary, the Virgin Mother of God.
He died at Fossanova on 7 March 1274, while he was on the way to the Council of Lyons. He was canonized by John XXII on 18 July 1323. He was declared the fifth doctor of the Latin Church by St Pius V on 11 April 1567. On 4 August 1880 Leo XIII declared him Patron of all Catholic universities and schools. His feast is celebrated on the day which marked the translation of his relics to Toulouse, which is today.
On St Thomas' enduring legacy, I recommend this article by fr Fergus Kerr OP.
This is a detail from a mural by fra Filippo Lippi in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. It is entitled 'The Triumph of St Thomas'.
"Twentieth century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of control over what seems essetially uncontrollable, in the coherence of the inchoate, and in its ability to create its own values." - T.S. Eliot
"Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers. What we call art is a game."
- Octavio Paz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally I've realized the project that I always wanted to make - to create 'still life' composition dedicated to one of my favorite time periods in the history of Arts - Art Deco era. It took a lot of thoughts and time to find the needed props and arrange its the way I saw it in my mind. This is not a traditional 'still life' subject, so I hope you like it...
Thanks a lot for your visits and comments, my dear friends...!
St Pancras, Ipswich, Suffolk
Until its clearance in the post-war years, the area spreading eastwards of Ipswich town centre was a vast slum. The Rope Walk area was redeveloped and is now home to Suffolk New College and parts of the University. The housing in the Cox Lane area became a car park. I met a man a few years ago who always tries to park his car on the site of the house where he grew up.
Two grand red brick churches survive as islands. The Anglican St Michael is now a burnt out shell. It was declared redundant in the 1990s, and in truth it is hard to see how it can ever have been needed as more than a triumphalist gesture, with the parish church of St Helen only a hundred yards or so away. It was destroyed by fire in March 2011. Still standing tall is George Goldie's 1861 Catholic church of St Pancras. Seen from across the car park, the only clue that it was once tightly surrounded by poor people's houses is that there are no windows in the wall of the north aisle. As at Brighton's St Bartholomew, this great ship was designed to sail above roof tops.
St Pancras looks like a bit dropped off, and that is exactly what it is. Goldie's commission was for the huge, recently demolished School of Jesus and Mary on the campus of the Woodbridge Road church of St Mary, and this town centre church in the same style. St Pancras was intended to be the start of a church of cathedral scale, of which the surviving church was but the chancel. At the time, Ipswich was in the Diocese of Northampton. Today, it is in the Diocese of East Anglia, with a great stone Gothic cathedral at Norwich. But the Norwich cathedral, built as the church of St John the Baptist, and the equally grand Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge, were both begun a good thirty years after St Pancras. If it had ever been finished, St Pancras would have been one of the biggest red brick churches in England.
The north elevation is stark, that on the south side rather more comfy, with good modern glass in the south aisle windows. The most impressive view is from the west, where the vast rose window fills in what would have been the top of the chancel arch. Here, where the 1970s parish hall stands, would have been the crossing tower, with transepts either side. Looking further west, the nave would have stretched, and here is perhaps one of the reasons why St Pancras the great was never built. Immediately to the west of the church, across Cox lane, stands the fortress-like Christ Church. Although the present building post-dates St Pancras, there has been a Congregationalist church on the site for more than three hundred years, and the planned Catholic church would have stretched in front of it. Given the ecclesiastical politics of the late 19th century, one can't imagine them giving up the site very lightly.
The Catholic presence in Ipswich had been re-established in the 1790s, at the time of the French Revolution, by a refugee Priest, Louis Simon. He said Mass in the home of a rich local lady Margaret Wood, and then with her help established a mission church near the Woodbridge Road barracks. This church, St Anthony, formed the transepts of the building that still survives as the parish hall of the 1960 St Mary.
After the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, which you can read about on the entry for St Mary, the plan was to create a town centre profile for the Church, and this was why Goldie was commissioned to build St Pancras. However, anti-Catholic feeling was rather stronger than it had been seventy years previously. On a night in November 1862, the protestant ministers of the town whipped up such a state of hysteria that angry mobs ran through Ipswich smashing windows of Catholic churches, homes and businesses.
Although the exterior of this building is rather severe, the inside is a delight, quite the loveliest Victorian interior in Ipswich. It doesn't have the gravitas of St Mary le Tower, or the mystery of St Bartholomew, but it is a cascade of red and white brick banding, cast-iron pillars and wall tiling. Along with the statues and the candles and the smell of incense, it is everything a 19th century town centre church should be.
The post-Vatican II re-ordering of the sanctuary has not destroyed its coherence (or, indeed, the traditionalist flavour of the liturgy here). Above the altar, Christ stands in majesty, flanked by the four evangelists. The tabernacle is set curiously off-centre to the south.
Exposed as St Pancras is in comparison with many town centre churches, it is always full of light, and this light takes on the resonances of some good glass. The west window was filled with a design depicting the descent of the Holy Spirit as recently as 2001, by the Danielle Hopkinson studio. As a point of interest, they also did the glass in my front door. This is unfortunately obscured by a massive organ (the west window, not my front door). Below the west gallery is the baptistery, one of Ipswich's busiest, and just some of the church's collection of devotional statues. In the south aisle are three sets of triple lancets. The older glass in the most easterly depicts St Thomas, St Andrew and St John. The splendid 1974 glass by John Lawson in the other two sets depicts St Martin de Porres and St Francis of Assisi.
Not many people live in the parish itself, but as the busiest town centre church in Ipswich St Pancras continues to have a major role to play. Its Masses attract people from far and wide, including many from the town's sizeable minority communities. Perhaps this is because it does have such a traditionalist flavour, but also perhaps because of the work of the tireless and charismatic Parish Priest, Father 'Sam' Leeder. 'He's been here for forty years, and is a familiar character in the town centre, wandering the streets and talking to local traders, as well as being the cornerstone of the town's scouts. Ipswich would be diminished without him.
West and East, were respectively the gateway and the gateway to the Atlantean civilization. The Columns of Hercules, from the Strait of Gibraltar; these seem to be called the Gateway of Time. They support mental journeys to leave old emotional patterns behind.
The geological history of the Strait of Gibraltar
Curiously, we looked for evidence of this island very far in the Atlantic without ever mentioning the immediate outlet of the Strait of Gibraltar while Plato explicitly says that the island Atlantis is located: "before the columns of Hercules".
Our knowledge of this region has benefited from recent geological studies with a view to a project to build a tunnel between Africa and Europe.
In addition, recent prospecting campaigns are updating our knowledge of the prehistoric archaeology of this key region still little known. Prehistorians are once again questioning the submerged prehistoric sites of the Moroccan and Iberian coasts and the still poorly elucidated relationship between the two continents during the Upper Paleolithic.
It was following these campaigns, at the suggestion of A.Bouzouggar, that we became interested in the Strait of Gibraltar at the end of the last glaciation.
The current landscape of the Strait of Gibraltar is, on the geological time scale, recent: it is the direct legacy of the global warming that followed the last glaciation.The sea level rose by 135 m in the space of twenty thousand years, submerging the continental shelves between 19,000 BP and the beginning of our era. The absence of tectonic overrection of great amplitude during the last 20,000 years has been verified by Spanish geologists. It is therefore sufficient, to reconstruct the geography of the Strait of Gibraltar during the Ice Age, to lower the sea by 135 m (Figure 1). This depth is the one currently admitted for the sea level of the last glacial maximum.
To the northwest of Cape Spartel, a shoal (Banco Majuan or Spartel Bank on Spanish charts, The Ridge on English charts), oriented NE-SW, formed an island (14 km long and 5 km wide). Its summit culminates at -56m (Fig.1, n° 1). This island was not isolated and was part of an archipelago. Three small islets constituted as many relays to the Iberian continent (Fig. 1: n°2, n°3, n°4).
The pass between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, very narrowed compared to the present one, was considerably extended towards the West by the emergence of the European and African continental shelves. The island of Cape Spartel was facing this narrows widened towards the West in a haven protected from the swell of the Ocean. Three islands barred access to the open sea (Fig. 1 n° 5, n° 6 and n° 7).
In total, this paleo-detroit of the last glacial maximum (Fig. 1) was extended by an inland sea bathing an island world. This sluice to the Atlantic Ocean extended 77 km from West to East and 20 to 10 km from North to South.
It is reasonable to assume that this island, located 5-8 km from the coast, was occupied by Paleolithic populations whose presence is abundantly attested on the Moroccan, Spanish and Portuguese coasts.
The emergence period of the Cape Spartel Archipelago coincided with major population replacements.
In North Africa and on the Iberian continent, the glacial maximum, sees the elimination of archaic homo sapiens by modern men of the Upper Paleolithic. These populations spread rapidly along the African and European coasts between 18,000 and 9,000 B.C. before suffering the repercussions of global warming and the rise of the sea on their island and coastal territories.
The end of the paleodetroit
Global warming, which brought an end to the last ice age, was accompanied by accelerated melting of the polar ice caps and a jerky rise in sea level (135 m in total in 10,000 years). For 2000 years, the history of Atlantis, engulfed 9000 years before our era, has been the subject of the most diverse speculations. Atlantis and Gibraltar, a dossier from myth to geological reality.By Jacques Collina-Girard, Geologist. According to Plato (4th century BC) this account would come from the archives of the Egyptian priests of the city of Sais. In the "Timaeus" Plato insists on presenting the account of the sinking of Atlantis as a true story. The moralist then uses this event to develop a utopia of an ideal city. For two thousand years, in the absence of archaeological or geological data, countless speculations on the myth of Atlantis have been based only on the testimony of the Greek philosopher. After centuries of debating the seriousness of the information, the majority of Hellenists now treat this testimony as a fabrication (Vidal-Naquet, 2000). It is true that none of the locations proposed by the supporters of a real Atlantis corresponds, neither in place nor date, to the Egyptian priest. Too many esoteric ramblings have, moreover, discredited the search for an anchorage in a geological reality that is otherwise untraceable (Kukal, 1984). At the beginning of our era, the neo-Platonic philosopher Proclus enumerates the hypotheses envisaged in his time (Festugières, 1966): total philosophical utopia? real fact? partially real fact?
In the absence of factual arguments, two thousand years of exegesis have contributed nothing more to Proclus' analysis, which Brisson took up, to the letter, in his introduction to Critias (Brisson, 1999). We shall discuss the two most extreme positions here before turning to the intermediate position that Geology could now confirm. The stages of this "finiglacial transgression" are well known thanks to the drilling carried out over the last twenty years in tropical coral reefs (Barbados, Tahiti, New Guinea). These reefs are excellent markers of the position of the sea level: coral regrowth accompanies the rise in sea level. Made up of carbonates, these organisms are perfectly datable with carbon 14. The published curves are consistent (Figure 2) and show the same stages in the upwelling of the sea. According to these data, submersion would be regular except during at least two periods of accelerated ice breakup, when sea level rises at a rate of 4 m per century (2 m in a lifetime of about 50 years!). Recent data on the Rio Guadiana estuary (Algarve, coasts of the Spanish-Portuguese border) have made it possible to confirm this scenario locally.
Three different positions
Position 1: Everything is imaginary in Plato's story
Starting from a tradition, presented as authentic, Plato develops the fiction of an Ideal Republic, victoriously opposed to an Atlantic invader. Like a novelist who constructs his subject from a news item, the philosopher constructs a moralizing fable. The complex Atlantean society of the "Critias", a utopia transposed into the past of a story presented as true, is, according to its author, imaginary (emphasis added): "The citizens and the city that yesterday you represented to us as fiction, we will now transpose them into the order of reality: we will assume that this is the city that you imagined, we will say that these are the ones, the real ones, our ancestors, the ones the priest spoke of. There will be complete concordance, and we will not err if we affirm that they are indeed those who existed at that time. “ This is also the opinion of scholars, familiar with Greek texts, who find in them, transposed and idealized, the contemporary city-states of Plato. The current trend among these scholars is even more radical since it generalizes this opinion to the whole story. The evocation of a real event that would be the source of the story is rejected outright and a priori. It is true that all the "interpretations" proposed so far are delusional. An inventory of these literary productions in which science fiction claims to replace science can be found in a recent work on these "imaginary atlantids". Science fiction novelists and proponents of fantastic archaeology have currently contributed to making the ancient philosopher's words a living modern myth, whose sources have often been completely forgotten by the general public, who are more familiar with Walt Disney than with Plato!
Position 2: Everything is real in Plato's story
Outside the scientific field, but claiming to be so, some popularizers, not very demanding in terms of consistency with archaeological and geological data, evoke a continent populated by a very advanced civilization, engulfed somewhere between the Old and New Worlds. This ghost civilization would be the hypothetical but affirmed source of all the great civilizations of antiquity from Egypt to Mesoamerica. Man would thus derive from more illustrious ancestors than those discovered by "official" archaeology. The search for prestigious original Fathers (even extraterrestrial ones!) in authors who are resistant to any rational argument is a sufficiently clear and repetitive constant to refer to widespread psychopathological mechanisms.
Position 3: Plato's account could be partially true
Exasperated by the delusions of Atlantomania, most Hellenists no longer evoke the possibility of a reliable tradition. In the 6th century A.D., Proclus does not exclude this possibility, however, by interpreting Plato's text as a mixture of historical reality and allegory. To support this view Proclus quotes Marcellus and his treatise on geography "on Ethiopic things" (i.e. Africa): this source would confirm Plato's testimony by evoking the tradition of an archipelago of seven islands sunk at the exit of the Columns of Hercules. Some specialists of Greek texts, interviewed by the magazine "Science et Vie", do not seem as categorical as their colleagues and do not deny, without arguments, the possibility that there may be a core of reality in the myth. In fact, in the absence of new facts to be added to the file for two thousand years, supporters and opponents of a real Atlantis only assert, more or less violently, personal impressions ...
The discovery of a sunken island at the place and date indicated by Plato would obviously be a decisive argument in support of a position contrary to the currently dominant ideas. Before the Second World War, this Atlantis "damaged in the sea" had been sought in America, the Azores, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Iceland, Tunisia, Sweden, West Africa, the Sahara ... Etc. The most recent attempt was that of the Greek archaeologist Marinatos who wanted to assimilate Atlantis to Crete, whose civilization would have been ruined by the explosion of Santorini.
This hypothesis is abandoned: neither the place nor the date correspond to Plato's text. In addition, the correlation between the ruin of the Cretan civilization and the explosion of Santorini is no longer so certain! For lack of finding an island sunk in the Atlantic, the Czech geologist Kukal concludes, after a serious inventory of possibilities, that there is nothing habitable in the Atlantic except the area of Madeira and the Azores.
Unfortunately, none of these islands was inhabited in a time old enough to be a candidate. The discovery of Madeira and the Azores does not appear to predate Roman times. The occupation of the Canary Archipelago does not go back more than 2000 years before us and these steep-sided volcanic islands are not surrounded by continental shelves wide enough to hide anything else.
Plato recounted what was breathed into Him, but did not reveal everything because He knew that it would be decried, but his role was to tell You what would be accepted and demonstrated when the time came, both to change the misconceptions about everything that was interpreted so that this world would correspond to what was intended to be presented so that it would corroborate with a reality that would not disturb the interpretations of Those who wanted to keep the Beings under their own guidance. Atlantis was born after the glaciation had totally resorbed, and the vegetation had come back to life, and that all the conditions of life on this Earth were appropriate for living again according to what the Beings intended to live in the context of an Earth that was once again welcoming in all that it could offer in terms of viability. But this required many Beings to breathe their vision of what They themselves wanted this Earth to be. And so many Beings whom You call "the People of Nature" have responded to Your breaths, knowing that They have always been there, but on other levels, waiting for this Earth to come alive again in what They themselves were maintaining at their level. And so life was resumed and much was revealed in the interaction between the world that You call "People of Nature" and this reality. And that' s how it is.It has been said that Atlantis allowed the Humans to emerge from a certain very primitive state to move towards a certain civilization. And I will tell you, my dear friends, that Atlantis was a glorious power that lasted more than 50,000 years, but that there were not before that primitive state, but evolved Beings who allowed, by their presence, the coming of many Consciences that did not really know "Who They Were", and they were welcomed to allow them to live in a new world where everything had to be prepared by the future Generations, including the coming of Beings that you call "Primitive". Then there was a very long period of prosperity and consciousness, until the Atlanteans, as time went on, evolved into another reality much more fragmented, to the point where they had to at some point make the choice to arm themselves and live as Conquerors. And this was the beginning of a long period during which They conquered many territories at their expense, until at some point They themselves found themselves subject to having to bow to Beings more conquerors than Them, and who were thirsty for power over the technology They had, and which was used for destruction, while these technologies allowed remarkable advances in transportation, medicine, electricity and the whole configuration of life as a whole. So, I am not going to detail all that this represented, but it was necessary for the Masters who still remained at that time, to make the decision to protect what this advanced technology allowed the Beings to live in prosperity and abundance. And so it was. It is true, as it has been said, that the Atlanteans settled in large territories such as Mexico, America up to the Pacific Ocean, a large part of Europe, a large part of Africa up to the borders of the Adriatic Sea, and even further. And this has had an impact on all these populations which, even today, without even realizing it, are still evolving with an ancestral knowledge that is far removed from their own ways of being in their own customs, in their own civilizations. They are all borrowed from the consciousness of the Atlanteans, and of course from Lemuria. When You believe that the oldest colony of Atlantis was probably that of Egypt, I will tell You that it is Lemuria that brought the knowledge to the Atlanteans, who themselves benefited from MU, and that spread throughout the world, but in reality the Egyptians benefited from what the Masters taught long before all the Dynasties of the Pharaohs who never understood what was taught at very high levels before this Era of the Dynasties of the Pharaohs settled down to begin the experience of glory, power, the Conquerors, and above all the world power to want to manage everything and appropriate it all. No tools from the Bronze Age in Europe came from Atlantis, but many tools from the Atlantean knowledge were revealed to Peoples throughout the world, with the difference that they could not be of the same technology, the Atlanteans having few resources at their disposal after the sinking of Atlantis, but they had the knowledge, and this allowed them to reconstitute in part what You would call "new powerful tools", but which did not stand the test of time. What You have discovered is the result of primitive manufacturing responding to the relearning of certain primitive Peoples who did not have the Atlantean knowledge. There were in Atlantis hot springs that allowed the Beings to ablutions, but above all to enjoy long relaxations, because this water was volcanic and it brought a vibration to their bodies that was not, in the first millennia of Atlantis, completely of carbonic matter, but mostly of matter that was close to Crystalline. It is during the course of evolution that the Atlanteans lost this vibration and intensified more and more in the carbon density.
What People Say About The Metatronic Keys Course
I have found all three levels of the Metatronic Keys to be powerful, but the third level was by far the most deeply integrated and energy-filled experience of them all. Since then, I am doing a daily practice of auric maintenance and feel so protected and at peace that I KNOW I am functioning from a different vibration than prior to the installation of the Mer-Ka-Na. Sincerely, Susan Oliver, PhD, MD
The MK3 teaching was an amazing process that allowed me to accelerate my Ascension process many levels in only one weekend. The class brought together the role of Sacred Geometry and the physical and energetic process of Conscious Human Evolution in which we are now participating. Tyberonn’s presentation of Auric Maintenance techniques and the absolute importance of maintaining Auric integrity are valuable tools for those of us who are rapidly moving into the higher levels of Consciousness. The meditation to install the Mer-Ka-Na brought me be to a level that I have never experienced, one of complete Unity with myself, my surroundings and my world.I highly recommended MK1 and MK2, but I must say that MK3 is a necessity for anyone consciously pursuing an accelerated path into becoming a Crystalline being. Since taking the class I have become more confident, calm and loving towards myself and others. I have even changed my diet and find that I am eating lighter food. My connection to my higher self has opened and I have received inspiration for writing projects. MK3 a true gift. Since taking the class I have a clearer vision of where I am meant to be and more guidance of how I will proceed. Tyberonn is an excellent teacher, he presents high level information in a clear, easy to follow manner and the class seamlessly flows from one relevant subject into the next. MK3 is one of the most important events of our time and all that feel drawn should take advantage of the opportunity. Peace and Love, Wendy Ann Z
Thanks, Tyb, for supplying this valuable resource of the Metatronic Keys to us. Thank you for your beautiful and clear teaching of the Metatron Keys 3. This was very powerful and I experienced so much love within the group but also notice and teaching of the absolute need for auric integrity with this installation of the Mer-Ka-Na. I feel deeply my commitment to meditate study and reflect daily these truths you have shared through Metatron of the full harmonic pulse of crystalline coherence. (I think that’s the relevant language!) I feel because of your integrity you facilitated my further waking up and I am so very grateful. With much love, Jim and Kathy – New Zealand
Dear Tyberonn, The MK-3 class and especially the installation meditation , Tyb, was an absolutely glorious experience. I am so honored to be able to participate in this most humbling meditation and teachings . My tears did flow. And I thank you so much for bringing these wonderful lessons to us in the Metatronic Keys classes. Love and many blessings, Ruth G
Dear Tyb, All of the Metatronic Keys Levels have been amazing and life-changing, but MK-3 really was truly brilliant. You & Metatron really nailed it , beautiful finish to the classes. Blessings, Bruce
Dear Tyb, The Met-Keys course is awesome. My guides were very sure I needed to participate in the Metatronic Keys and I am glad I did. My reaction to the coarse : It is awesome. The platonic solids, especially the dodecahedron has been coming up in my dreams and other times. I had looked on line and had not found the answer to my question. You answered that in the coarse. The notes that come with it are awesome and very helpful. The meditations were amazing and I look forward to repeating them as necessary. I encourage anyone who has the chance to take this coarse. It is life changing. I have been working with the Alpha Master teachings and other teachings of Archangel Michael for several months. I feel like I have gone a bit higher in my understanding of our potential on earth. I think I understand why I have collected crystals without knowing why for several years.
Day One-Hundred and Forty-Nine, "X/Y PROJECT" theme, twenty-ninth shot.
Table Y
by Maura Manfredi and Luca Rossini.
The monthly theme is close to the end, but the X/Y PROJECT isn't. Actually, it just started. May you be interested in following its devolopement, you can check its dedicated blog page.
I decided to put a halt to the publishing of new characters for these last two days of the theme, and instead show you how the modularity of these images work once they're put one close to the other.
Here's the table in its frontal, Y, view. Wait for tomorrow to see the its view from above. I feel that, once seen one next to each other, the characters really gain something important in terms of meaningfulness and coherence.
365 Days of RX1 - one camera, one lens, 12 projects
www.lucarossini.it/category/365-days-of-rx1/
X/Y PROJECT
St Pancras, Ipswich, Suffolk
Until its clearance in the post-war years, the area spreading eastwards of Ipswich town centre was a vast slum. The Rope Walk area was redeveloped and is now home to Suffolk New College and parts of the University. The housing in the Cox Lane area became a car park. I met a man a few years ago who always tries to park his car on the site of the house where he grew up.
Two grand red brick churches survive as islands. The Anglican St Michael is now a burnt out shell. It was declared redundant in the 1990s, and in truth it is hard to see how it can ever have been needed as more than a triumphalist gesture, with the parish church of St Helen only a hundred yards or so away. It was destroyed by fire in March 2011. Still standing tall is George Goldie's 1861 Catholic church of St Pancras. Seen from across the car park, the only clue that it was once tightly surrounded by poor people's houses is that there are no windows in the wall of the north aisle. As at Brighton's St Bartholomew, this great ship was designed to sail above roof tops.
St Pancras looks like a bit dropped off, and that is exactly what it is. Goldie's commission was for the huge, recently demolished School of Jesus and Mary on the campus of the Woodbridge Road church of St Mary, and this town centre church in the same style. St Pancras was intended to be the start of a church of cathedral scale, of which the surviving church was but the chancel. At the time, Ipswich was in the Diocese of Northampton. Today, it is in the Diocese of East Anglia, with a great stone Gothic cathedral at Norwich. But the Norwich cathedral, built as the church of St John the Baptist, and the equally grand Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge, were both begun a good thirty years after St Pancras. If it had ever been finished, St Pancras would have been one of the biggest red brick churches in England.
The north elevation is stark, that on the south side rather more comfy, with good modern glass in the south aisle windows. The most impressive view is from the west, where the vast rose window fills in what would have been the top of the chancel arch. Here, where the 1970s parish hall stands, would have been the crossing tower, with transepts either side. Looking further west, the nave would have stretched, and here is perhaps one of the reasons why St Pancras the great was never built. Immediately to the west of the church, across Cox lane, stands the fortress-like Christ Church. Although the present building post-dates St Pancras, there has been a Congregationalist church on the site for more than three hundred years, and the planned Catholic church would have stretched in front of it. Given the ecclesiastical politics of the late 19th century, one can't imagine them giving up the site very lightly.
The Catholic presence in Ipswich had been re-established in the 1790s, at the time of the French Revolution, by a refugee Priest, Louis Simon. He said Mass in the home of a rich local lady Margaret Wood, and then with her help established a mission church near the Woodbridge Road barracks. This church, St Anthony, formed the transepts of the building that still survives as the parish hall of the 1960 St Mary.
After the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, which you can read about on the entry for St Mary, the plan was to create a town centre profile for the Church, and this was why Goldie was commissioned to build St Pancras. However, anti-Catholic feeling was rather stronger than it had been seventy years previously. On a night in November 1862, the protestant ministers of the town whipped up such a state of hysteria that angry mobs ran through Ipswich smashing windows of Catholic churches, homes and businesses.
Although the exterior of this building is rather severe, the inside is a delight, quite the loveliest Victorian interior in Ipswich. It doesn't have the gravitas of St Mary le Tower, or the mystery of St Bartholomew, but it is a cascade of red and white brick banding, cast-iron pillars and wall tiling. Along with the statues and the candles and the smell of incense, it is everything a 19th century town centre church should be.
The post-Vatican II re-ordering of the sanctuary has not destroyed its coherence (or, indeed, the traditionalist flavour of the liturgy here). Above the altar, Christ stands in majesty, flanked by the four evangelists. The tabernacle is set curiously off-centre to the south.
Exposed as St Pancras is in comparison with many town centre churches, it is always full of light, and this light takes on the resonances of some good glass. The west window was filled with a design depicting the descent of the Holy Spirit as recently as 2001, by the Danielle Hopkinson studio. As a point of interest, they also did the glass in my front door. This is unfortunately obscured by a massive organ (the west window, not my front door). Below the west gallery is the baptistery, one of Ipswich's busiest, and just some of the church's collection of devotional statues. In the south aisle are three sets of triple lancets. The older glass in the most easterly depicts St Thomas, St Andrew and St John. The splendid 1974 glass by John Lawson in the other two sets depicts St Martin de Porres and St Francis of Assisi.
Not many people live in the parish itself, but as the busiest town centre church in Ipswich St Pancras continues to have a major role to play. Its Masses attract people from far and wide, including many from the town's sizeable minority communities. Perhaps this is because it does have such a traditionalist flavour, but also perhaps because of the work of the tireless and charismatic Parish Priest, Father 'Sam' Leeder. 'He's been here for forty years, and is a familiar character in the town centre, wandering the streets and talking to local traders, as well as being the cornerstone of the town's scouts. Ipswich would be diminished without him.
La Ferté-Saint-Aubin is a commune in the Loiret department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France .
It is the commune that occupies the largest area of land in the Loiret. La Ferté-Saint-Aubin was formed by the union of two villages, La Ferté further north, and Saint-Aubin further south.
The town alone constitutes the urban unit of La Ferté-Saint-Aubin
The old French ferté is the popular form corresponding to "firmness", learned form. Both words are from Low Latin firmitate . Ferté is used in toponymy in the old sense of “fortified place”.
Originally, La Ferté and Saint-Aubin were two neighboring parishes which juxtaposed their names to give the name of the commune after the French Revolution 3 .
The town successively bore the names of the owner of the castle: La Ferté-Nabert , La Ferté-Saint-Nectaire , La Ferté-Senneterre , La Ferté-Lowendal 4 . It also bore the name of La Ferté-Cosson during the Revolution
The commune of La Ferté-Saint-Aubin is in the south-western quadrant of the Loiret department, in the agricultural region of Sologne 6 and the urban area of Orléans . As the crow flies , it is located 20.7 km from Orléans 7 , prefecture of the department and 54 km northeast of Blois .
The nearest municipalities are: Ménestreau-en-Villette (6.6 km ), Marcilly-en-Villette (8 km ), Ardon (8.2 km ), Jouy-le-Potier (10.1 km ), Yvoy -le-Marron (11.5 km , in Loir-et-Cher ), Vouzon (12 km , in Loir-et-Cher ), Chaumont-sur-Tharonne (12.1 km , in Loir-et-Cher ), Ligny-le-Ribault (12.5 km ), Saint-Cyr-en-Val (12.7 km ) and Lamotte-Beuvron (14.6 km )
Between theJanuary 29and theFebruary 8, 1939, more than 2,800 Spanish refugees fleeing the collapse of the Spanish republic before the troops of Franco , arrive in Loiret . Faced with the insufficiency of reception facilities in Orléans , 46 rural reception centers are open 49 , including one in La Ferté-Saint-Aubin 50 . The refugees, mainly women and children (the men are disarmed and retained in the South of France), are subject to strict quarantine , vaccinated , the mail is limited, and the supply, if it is little varied and cooked à la française, is however insured 51. Some of the refugees returned to Spain, encouraged by the French government which facilitated the conditions of return, those preferring to stay were grouped together at the Aydes glassworks camp, in Fleury-les-Aubrais 50 .
The Bellefontaine memorial , at the northern entrance to the city on the RN20, recalls the presence of Resistance maquis in Sologne, victims of the repression of the Nazi occupiers at the end of the Second World War , in particular the massacre of 41 high school students from the corps franc Liberté at the By farm (located near the By pond 47° 43′ 35″ N, 1° 58′ 46″ E ) on June 10, 1944 .
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing , then President of the French Republic , visited one of the first families to benefit from the newly created personalized housing assistance at La Ferté-Saint-Aubin in July 1977
The Centre-Val de Loire Listen (called Center untilJanuary 16, 20151 ) is an administrative region in the Center West of France which brings together three historical provinces : Berry , Orléanais ( including the Blésois and Dunois and Vendômois countries ), as well as Touraine . The north-northwest end of the territory was part of a fourth province: Perche ; the south-eastern end of a fifth province: Bourbonnais . Part of the region is located in the Val de Loire natural region .
Seventh region by area, Centre-Val de Loire extends over 39,151 km 2 and has 2.58 million inhabitants in1st of January 2014, or 4% of the metropolitan population. Its population density is 66 inhabitants/km 2 , half that of mainland France , making it a sparsely populated region. The population density is higher on the Loire axis where half of the population lives.
The region is made up of six departments: Cher , Eure-et-Loir , Indre , Indre-et-Loire , Loir-et-Cher and Loiret. It has only two municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants: Tours , ranked 26th among the most populous municipalities in France with 135,787 inhabitants in 2017, and the regional prefecture Orléans , ranked 34th with 114,644 inhabitants. The other prefectures of the departments, Bourges , Blois , Châteauroux and Chartres , have a population of between 38,000 and 67,000 inhabitants.
The Centre-Val de Loire presents a multitude of natural regions of which the Loire Valley constitutes the structuring axis. Geologically 2 , 3 , this region, mainly plain, covers the southern part of the Paris Basin ( Beauce , Berry , Brenne , Drouais , Gâtinais , Orléanais , Pays-Fort , Perche , Puisaye , Sancerrois 2 , 4 , Sologne , Thimerais , Touraine 5 ) and a small part of the north of the Massif Central ( Boischaut , Marche). The lands are aged from the Paleozoic ( Variscan chain ) to the Quaternary, including the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic .
The most recent geological formations are the Quaternary fluvial alluvium of the Loire and its tributaries ( Beuvron , Cher , Cosson , Indre , Sauldre ) as well as other rivers ( Anglin , Arnon , Claise , Creuse , Sauldre , Yèvre ) . There are also loess deposits in Beauce , synonymous with fertile soils suitable for intensive cereal agriculture.
The Cenozoic formations present a variety of sedimentary rocks of marine and continental origin (lacustrine, fluviatile, alterites) mainly occupying the natural regions of Beauce , Sologne , Brenne and Gâtines.
The Mesozoic formations also include sedimentary rocks of marine and continental origin whose ages vary from south to north, from the oldest rocks of the Triassic ( Boischaut , Marche, Val de Germigny ) to the most recent of the Cretaceous ( Drouais , Gâtinais) . , Pays-Fort , Perche , Touraine ) through those of the Jurassic ( Berry , Blancois , Richelais , Sancerrois ).
Finally, the Paleozoic formations are composed of magmatic and metamorphic rocks ( Boischaut , Marche) belonging to the Massif Central and formed during the Variscan orogeny .
The geodiversity of the Centre-Val de Loire region has largely influenced the different landscapes, the latter having been developed by humans over the centuries. For example, the clay-sandy subsoil of Sologne has favored the establishment of thousands of artificial ponds, just like in Brenne . Man has also been able to take advantage of the mineral resources of the regional subsoil with the famous tuffeau stone 6 , 7 , the faluns of Touraine, the limestone of Beauce 8 , the flints of Grand-Pressigny or the “ gunflints » of the Cher valley ( Meusnes , Couffy ). Oil is still exploited in the Loiret in Cretaceous sands at around 600 m depth 9 .
Like all French regions, the Centre-Val de Loire benefits from a continuous inventory of geological sites of heritage interest, as part of the National Inventory of Geological Heritage (INPG) 10 . Geodiversity coupled with biodiversity constitutes natural heritage. To date, 127 geological sites of heritage interest have been identified by the Regional Geological Heritage Commission of Centre-Val de Loire (CRPG) 11 . The list of sites can be consulted on the website of the National Inventory of Natural Heritage (INPN)
The relief that emerges on either side of its bed is made up of plains and plateaus with different geographical characteristics. The slightly undulating limestone plateau of Berry Champagne , in the south-east, is followed by Brenne (“land of a thousand ponds”), and the clayey plateaus of Touraine in the south-west.
To the south and east there are cuestas with limestone plateaus and clayey depressions on the edge of the Massif Central ( Motte d'Humbligny (Sancerrois hills), 429 m ). To the north and center extend the plateaus of Beauce , Sologne and the Orléans forest. In Sologne , the nature of the soil has favored the establishment of thousands of artificial ponds, as well as moors and coppices. It is a paradise for birds and game.
The Centre-Val de Loire is crossed by the longest river in France (the Loire , 1,006 km ) which experiences very irregular flow rates. In addition, numerous and diverse tributaries join it.
The Centre-Val de Loire is subject to three types of floods, some of which have marked the history of the region (e.g. 1856, 1866):
floods of oceanic origin characterized by a slow rise in water from depressions coming from the west;
floods of Cevennes origin characterized by intense and long precipitation occurring in the upper basins of the Loire and Allier ;
so-called “mixed” floods mixing the two origins.
Beyond the images of large cereal areas, the Centre-Val de Loire has a great diversity of landscapes and natural environments: forests, ponds, dry limestone lawns, moors, peat bogs, and the Loire and its sandbanks and alluvial forests.
The region is home to the largest national forest in France, the Orléans forest which extends over more than 35,000 ha north of the Loire and Orléans.
23% of the regional territory 13 , or 900,000 hectares , is covered by forests and other woodlands, mainly the Orléans forest, Sologne and the east of the Perche forest . The vast majority of forests are private (85%) 13 .
In addition, the region hosts more than 5% of the known wetlands on the national territory [ ref. desired] concentrated especially in Brenne with its 1,300 ponds and in Sologne with its 3,000 ponds. Over the last ten years, more than 10% of marsh or peatland areas have nevertheless disappeared.
Wildlife
The juxtaposition of closed and open environments promotes great biological diversity, from large mammals such as red deer , roe deer , wild boar , woodland birds such as the European nightjar , black woodpecker and hoary woodpecker . The forest has been home to osprey nesting since the 1980s , marking the return of the raptor to France after decades of decline 14 . Disappearing from mainland France during the 19th century , the raptor found a final refuge in Corsica where only three pairs remained in 1974.
Regional wetlands contain a great diversity of insects and are an important resource for many species of the five classes of vertebrates.
Flora
Although still incomplete depending on the departments, the floristic inventories of the Centre-Val de Loire show a great diversity of environments, from large forest areas like Sologne to large plains like Beauce . The Loiret department, for example, is home to almost a third of French flora with more than 1,450 species 15 .
Protected areas
The regional territory is home to three regional natural parks : Brenne , Loire-Anjou-Touraine and Perche .
Impacts on natural environments
Fragmentation of environments
The region is ecologically very fragmented . In 2010, DREAL and the Region launched 16 the development of the Regional Ecological Coherence Scheme (SRCE), aiming to restore a more functional ecological network in the region . In 2001, a first mapping of the green and blue network and natural environments was carried out which will make it possible to prepare the SRCE, administrative translation of the European Green and Blue Network project ( pan-European, national and regional ecological network for the six departments of this region, within the framework of the Grenelle II law and the new national strategy for biodiversity (2010-2011).
Development and operation
River development disrupts river dynamics with the eventual disappearance of wetlands and alluvial valleys. Aggregate extraction areas have increased, for example, by 30% in ten years (16% nationally). This disappearance leads to the reduction of the biodiversity of the region. Fish populations reflect the degradation of the aquatic environment and remain mostly (61%) disturbed or degraded.
Agriculture
In 2023, Greenpeace lists 103 factory farms in the regional territory, concentrating between them 6.8 poultry, more than 117,000 pigs, 550 dairy cows and 2,050 calves and other cattle 17 .
Axes of communication and transport
Numerous motorways cross the Centre-Val de Loire and connect - Paris to Lyon ( A6 ) - to Bordeaux ( A10 ) - to Clermont-Ferrand ( A71 ) - to Rennes and Nantes ( A11 ) - to Nevers ( A77 ) - to Toulouse ( A20 ). Three transverse motorways, Orléans - Sens ( A19 ), Vierzon - Tours - Angers ( A85 ) and Tours - Le Mans - Rouen ( A28 ), complete the network.
On the rail transport side, the regional council finances the TER Centre-Val de Loire network , the management of which it delegates to the SNCF .
On the air transport side, a small airport project is underway in Châteaudun. Moreover, the Grand Châteaudun has scheduled three public meetings in May on the theme of the future of the Châteaudun aerodrome (Eure-et-Loir).
After the first three meetings which were organized in Cloyes-les-Trois-Rivières , Brou and Châteaudun, in October 2021 , the Grand Châteaudun wishes to go back to meet its inhabitants in order to report on the progress of the reconversion project of the Châteaudun civil aerodrome (ICAO: LFOC) 18 .
Tourism
Chartres Cathedral is one of the major attractions of the region, and can be observed from a distance by hikers due to the very smooth terrain. It is visible from the Pays Chartrain Vélorail , a 12.5 km round trip on an old railway line from the Centre-Val de Loire 19 , the Paris-Chartres axis via Gallardon 19 . The Pays Chartrain Vélorail has participated in the craze for “original and fun means of transport” which is “on the rise” 20 .
The town of Châteaudun has tourist attractions with its castle, its caves, its museum of fine arts and natural history and its flea markets 21 .
In addition, the region is known throughout the world for the castles of the Loire , most of which are world heritage sites , among the best known are those of Chambord , Chenonceau , Blois , Cheverny , Loches , Chaumont- sur-Loire , Azay-le-Rideau , Clos Lucé , Amboise , Ussé , etc.
Related article: List of castles in the Center region .
In addition to castles and mansions , the region has numerous monuments such as the Briare aqueduct or the one over the Sauldre , or the Chanteloup pagoda , for example.
The region is also home to the Beauval zoo , near Saint-Aignan ( Loir-et-Cher ).
Historically, the departments of Centre-Val de Loire were generally made up of three historical provinces :
Orléanais ( Loiret , Eure-et-Loir , Loir- et -Cher );
Berry ( Cher and Indre ) ;
Touraine ( Indre-et - Loire ).
These entered the royal domain very early ( Orléans having, with Paris , constituted the original nucleus of this domain), to the formation of which they contributed very largely: the castles of the Loire - from Gien to Chinon , in passing through Chambord , Blois , Chenonceau , Azay-le-Rideau , La Ferté-Saint-Aubin … testify to a common heritage.
The fire of Sunday June 20, 1723 in Châteaudun had a big role in the history of Châteaudun, because it destroyed a large half of the town. The fire broke out in the Faubourg Saint-Valérien around 2 p.m. in the house of a winegrower known as Pierre Clément dit le Beau, during a period of dry and hot weather. If several causes were mentioned throughout history concerning the trigger of the disaster, Arnaud Carobbi showed that these hypotheses were only rumors which had never been supported by facts. A shifting wind blowing today appears to have fanned the flames and spread the fire in several different directions throughout the city. The fire became very widespread because most of the materials used for the construction of houses were combustible such as thatch or wood. In addition, the town of Châteaudun being located on a rocky outcrop, there was no obstacle to protect it from the wind. Ultimately, the disaster destroyed a thousand buildings and left more than 80% of the population homeless.
The extent of the damage made it possible to obtain royal aid to rebuild the city. In total more than 900,000 pounds will be released from royal funds. The architect Jules Hardouin was responsible for drawing the plans for the new city and provided it with an important central square (now known as Place du 18-Octobre ) and wide streets. The city center was also rebuilt in stone to prevent the risk of fire. Reconstruction work began the following spring and was officially completed in 1733. In fact, many buildings were still to be built in 1773, like the town hall which would not be completed until 1779.
When the fire broke out most of the emergency services, that is to say the officers of the cavalry companies, were attending a party in Droué and so as not to spoil the festivities, no one warned them. The fire slows down as it reaches the towers of the city gate.
The terrible fire of 1723 marked the history of the town of Châteaudun . This is why Fabien Verdier, Mayor of Châteaudun, decided to celebrate the 300th anniversary , which will be commemorated from June 17 to 30, the opportunity to remember that this fire transformed the architecture of the city of Dun 22 .
The region was the birthplace or host of many literary celebrities: Honoré de Balzac , René Descartes , François Rabelais , Pierre de Ronsard , George Sand , Charles Péguy , Marcel Proust , Jules Romains , Anatole France , Max Jacob , Maurice Genevoix , Gaston Couté , François Villon , Alain-Fournier , Étienne Dolet, Guillaume de Lorris , Alfred de Vigny, Voltaire, Beaumarchais, etc.
Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Salisbury, England. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English Gothic design. Built over a relatively short period, some 38 years between 1220 and 1258, it has a unity and coherence that is unusual in medieval English cathedrals. The tower and spire were completed by 1330. The cathedral's spire, at 404 feet (123 m), is the tallest in England.
The original cathedral in the district was located at Old Sarum, about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the present city. In 1197 bishop Herbert Poore determined on a relocation but this was not taken forward until the episcopate of his brother, Richard Poore in the early 13th century. Foundation stones for the new building were laid on 28 April 1220 by the Earl and Countess of Salisbury. By 1258 the nave, transepts and choir were complete. The only major additions were the cloisters, added 1240, the chapter house in 1263, and the tower and spire, which was constructed by 1330. At its completion it was the third highest in England, but the collapse of those at Lincoln Cathedral and Old St Paul's Cathedral in the 16th century saw Salisbury become England's tallest.
The cathedral close is Britain's largest, and has many buildings of architectural and/or historical significance. Pevsner describes it as "the most beautiful of England's closes". The cathedral contains a clock which is among the oldest working examples in the world. It also holds one of the four surviving original copies of Magna Carta. In 2008, the cathedral celebrated the 750th anniversary of its consecration. In 2023, the completion of a programme of external restoration begun in 1985 saw the removal of scaffolding that had stood around the building for some 37 years.
Salisbury became the seat of a bishop in 1075. At the time, the city was at the now-abandoned site of Old Sarum, on a hill about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the present-day cathedral. Old Sarum Cathedral was built in the years after and was consecrated in 1092.
In 1197, bishop Herbert Poore sought permission to re-site the cathedral, possibly due to deteriorating relations between the clergy and the military at Old Sarum. Permission was granted but the move was delayed repeatedly until the tenure of his successor and brother Richard Poore. A legend tells that Bishop Poore shot an arrow in the direction he would build the cathedral; the arrow hit a deer, which died in the place where Salisbury Cathedral is now.
Construction was paid for by donations, principally from the canons and vicars of southeast England, who were asked to contribute a fixed annual sum until the building was completed The foundation stones were laid on 28 April 1220 by William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, and by Ela of Salisbury, 3rd Countess of Salisbury. Much of the freestone for the cathedral came from the Teffont Evias Quarry. As a result of the high water table on the new site, the cathedral was built on foundations only 4 feet (1.2 m) deep. By 1258, the nave, transepts, and choir were complete. As a result of being mostly built in only 38 years, Salisbury has by far the most consistent architectural style of any medieval English cathedral. The style used is known as Early English Gothic or Lancet Gothic, the latter referring to the use of lancet windows which are not divided by tracery.
The only major sections begun later were the cloisters, added in 1240, the chapter house in 1263, the tower and spire, which at 404 feet (123 m) dominated the skyline from 1330. In total, 70,000 tons of stone, 3,000 tons of timber and 450 tons of lead were used in the construction of the cathedral. Upon completion, it had the highest masonry spire in England and the third highest overall, after Lincoln and St Paul's. The collapse of the latter two spires in the mid-16th century left Salisbury's as the highest overall.[citation needed]
In the 17th century, Christopher Wren designed restoration measures to strengthen the central pillars, which by then had visibly deformed under the weight of the tower and spire. Significant changes to the cathedral were made by the architect James Wyatt in 1790, including the replacement of the original rood screen and demolition of a bell tower which stood about 320 feet (98 m) northwest of the main building.
Which me do you prefer?
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is a seminal sociology book by Ervin Goffman. It uses the imagery of the theatre in order to portray the importance of human – namely, social – action. The book was published in 1959.
In the ancient Greek, personality has a dramatic meaning- the mask we wear it wherever we go as we present ourselves to ourselves and to others. It reflect our self concept- what we seek to maintain about ourselves- the self(mask) we think we have, the one we think we project and that others perceive. Self is socially constructed. Goffman uses a metaphor (a drama) to explain how social meaning is attributed to me/you a person in ordinary, everyday interaction.
In the center of the analysis lies the relationship between performance and front stage. Unlike other writers who have used this metaphor, Goffman seems to take all elements of acting into consideration: an actor performs on a setting which is constructed of a stage and a backstage; the props at either setting direct his action; he is being watched by an audience, but at the same time he is an audience for his viewers’ play.
According to Goffman, the social actor has the ability to choose his stage and props, as well as the costume he would put on in front of a specific audience. The actor’s main goal is to keep his coherence, and adjust to the different setting offered him. This is done mainly through interaction with other actors. To a certain extent, this imagery bridges structure and agency, enabling each, and limited by the other.
We can present self in different ways. ‘Technologies of the self” is one of the central terms of Michel Foucault, a French philosopher. His definition to ‘technologies of the self” refers to the ways in which people put forward, and police, their ‘selves’ in society. He understood it by series of techniques that allow individual to work on themselves by regulating their bodies, their thoughts and their conduct. We might understand ‘technologies of the self’ as the internal and external practice of our ethics. Each person have their own ethics, their sets of standards to do with being a particular sort of person, and the ‘ technologies of the self’ are how we think to act to achieve this.
One of my main inspirations for this project was a book: Rose is a rose is a rose: Gender performance in photography. The catalogue to a 1997 exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, this volume presents photographically based artworks–portraits, self-portraits, and photomontages–in which the gender of a depicted subject is highlighted through performance for the camera as well as through technical manipulation of the image.
I’ve looked at work of two female photographers: Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman. Bigger impact for me had work of Cindy Sherman and I’ve focused my research on her work.
Sherman’s pictures were not about reality, but were a record of her performance, which was itself a simulation of a simulation, a virtual reality show. The starting point for ‘Film Stills’ was the representation of women by others (mainly men) in largely anonymous B movies and television films. She mined their stereotypes and created herself in their image. This is work that only makes sense in terms of the world lived through others’ eyes, our twentieth century obsession with the stars and tinsel of film and TV, in which we stop interacting directly with our environments and play ‘roles’, more or less consciously acting out our fantasies of ourselves as characters from soaps and film.
Gender then is a performance and nothing more. Judith Butler in her book “Gender Trouble” says that ‘there is no gender identity behind the expression of gender; identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘’expressions’’ that are said to be its result’ .
By that Butler is saying that we do not have a gender identity which informs our behavior. Gender is what you do at particular times, rather then universal who you are.
Sherman’s formula has transcended over 25 years, with the fundamental elements remaining. She is always the main focus of the piece and she continues to analyse the subject of gender in particular femininity. Her photography intends to show the images of the stereotypical woman, she then goes on to mock the vision of the female body from the past and continues to reject the concept of beauty and youth.
My work
My concept for this project was to develop different woman characters which I seen in the past, back in my home town or which were just my imaginary portraits.
My aim was to produce a series of four to five images; the final part consists of five portraits.
The fist one is a photo of me dressed as a house wife, I shoot this picture in my kitchen, I posed as I’m tired, resting with a cigarette after busy day in my massy kitchen, working hard on dinner for my family, cleaning the house. I wore hair rollers for that photo. That image reminds me some memories from my childhood when I used to see that kind of images of women back home.
The second portrait was shoot in Szczecin, my home town in my friend house, in that photo I am wearing fur. This image is more erotic in a way. I am not afraid to expose my feminity, is not a house wife on that image, the women on that photograph is taking care of herself, not on a house she live in.
For the third photo I represented myself as a kind of secretary, school teacher type.
In the last two photos I put more effort in characterising myself to some absolutely different. In one of the images I am wearing long black wig, earrings, dress and images like the one they used to be wearing back to 60ties or 70ties. I am not really sure what type of women is that one; I called it flower power according to the hippie’s movement, because from that I took my inspiration from.
The last image is me as a bald had women, for that photo I used a bald hair wig and I had to Photoshop my had. I have a piercing in my nose. In this image I look as a punk type of women.
I think that I can recognise my ‘self’ in all the portraits, which I had produced for this assignment. All this characters, all this women are somehow related to me.
I called this project: Which me do you prefer? I want to display these images in the Mezz gallery without any description to them, just hang them on the wall with the question: Which me do you prefer? and I want to place a piece of paper and a pen after the some the audience can vote, which ‘me’ they prefer.
I think that I was successful in this project with developing different characters and also by performing in such way.
Gabriele Rodriquez questions the theme of the degradation of the human condition, a victim of the inexorable advance of time. Everyone, sooner or later, faces the change of their body, due to illnesses, injuries or simply aging.
Observing the change in his parents, the artist began an experiment trying to question Artificial Intelligence on this kind of transformation. He did so by asking it to take inspiration from the style of the great masters of the twentieth century and beyond and to create new images based on the decay of the body, challenging a context that has nothing human, except the creative hand.
Driving along a path whose limits the artist establishes, the AI reaches a result that Rodriquez considers the most interesting possible in coherence with the inputs provided; he takes that image and prints it on canvas. From that moment on, his journey as a painter begins, which ends and arrives where the AI alone would not have arrived yet, overpainting the work until it takes on its definitive form.
The artist uses AI as if it were an electronic paintbrush, guiding and leading it towards an unknown goal, but under human control at every step; in other words, Rodriquez experiments with this cybernetic path, discovering new frontiers himself, then reaching the peak of AI's limits to complete that path with the vision of man.
Alessandro Pertini detto Sandro (Stella San Giovanni, 25 settembre 1896 – Roma, 24 febbraio 1990) è stato un politico, giornalista e antifascista italiano. Fu il settimo presidente della Repubblica Italiana, in carica dal 1978 al 1985.
« I giovani non hanno bisogno di prediche, i giovani hanno bisogno, da parte degli anziani, di esempi di onestà, di coerenza e di altruismo »
(Sandro Pertini)
Da wikipedia
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alessandro said Sandro Pertini (Stella San Giovanni September 25, 1896 - Rome, February 24, 1990) was a politician, journalist and anti-fascist Italian. It was the seventh President of the Italian Republic, in office from 1978 to 1985.
"Young people do not need to preach, young people need, from the elders, examples of honesty, consistency and altruism"
(Sandro Pertini)
from wikipedia
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alessandro a dit Sandro Pertini (Stella San Giovanni, Septembre 25, 1896 - Rome, 24 Février, 1990) était un homme politique, journaliste et anti-fasciste italien. Il était le septième président de la République italienne, en poste de 1978 à 1985.
«Les jeunes n'ont pas besoin de prêcher, les jeunes ont besoin, des aînés, des exemples d'honnêteté, de la cohérence et de l'altruisme"
(Sandro Pertini)
De wikipedia
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alessandro dijo Sandro Pertini (Stella San Giovanni, 25 de septiembre de 1896 - Roma, 24 de febrero de 1990) fue un político, periodista y antifascista italiano. Fue el séptimo presidente de la República Italiana, en el cargo desde 1978 hasta 1985.
"Los jóvenes no tienen que predicar, los jóvenes necesitan, de los ancianos, los ejemplos de honestidad, coherencia y altruismo"
(Sandro Pertini)
De wikipedia
"Just like it was for many Norsemen before us, after the success of our sonic raid in London, the desire to continue further westwards came faster than you can say Christopher Columbus. Viking jokes aside, it feels fantastic to announce New York By Norse. We aim to present a cultural event that encompass both the ancient as well as the contemporary and on a more personal note I am very much looking forward to do my first ever performance in New York!"— Einar Selvik of Wardruna.
By Norse is very proud and happy to announce New York By Norse happening 12/9 and 12/10! By Norse, known as a "platform for art, music, literature, film, and culture," will host an installment of events throughout December 9 and 10 in New York City, presented together with Noisey. These happenings are designed to support Norwegian art, music, literature, film, and culture abroad. New York By Norse will also serve as a celebration of 25 years of Grammy award-winning metal band Enslaved and as a platform for showcasing of Einar Selvik of Wardruna. More information on the variety of unique art exhibitions, workshops, and special performances can be found below.
Friday, December 9 @ Scandinavia House:
Bardspec (Enslaved's Ivar Bjørnson Official feat. Kevin Hufnagel of Gorguts)
The BARDSPEC is the Ambient project of Enslaved composer/guitarist Ivar Bjørnson. This showcase will feature the set-up of Bjørnson: his computer, some keys, a few strings, a pedal or two, a video canon and sometimes, a trapeze artist. Dark, surprisingly rhythmic and hypnotic-psychedelic, yet minimizing, cutting away, subtracting and meditating upon the simplest essence of things, Bardspec uses of the best of the basic elements and building blocks that make up the whole to create a sonic atmosphere. Here, he will be joined by none other than Gorguts guitarist Kevin Hughes.
Einar Selvik Workshop - "The Thoughts and Tools Behind Wardruna":
Einar speaks about his approach to Norse historical music and the extensive creative concept behind Wardruna´s ongoing Runaljod trilogy. Other topics will include his approach and study of the runes and other Norse esoteric arts, the oldest Nordic instruments, playfully acoustic Wardruna music, including the newest release of the trilogy, "Ragnarok" and a Q&A segment.
This showcase is limited to 150 tickets only. Tickets are on sale from tomorrow, June 23rd, 10AM EST: www.scandinaviahouse.org/event/concerts/.
Saturday, December 10 @ Gramercy Theatre:
Exhibition by Kim Holm including Grimposium panel (starting 5 PM):
Norwegian creative artist and motion designer Kim Holm will display his works and do live paintings of the artists while performing on stage. Grimposium founder Vivek Venkatesh and filmmaker David Hall will hold the Grimposium panel including a special Enslaved announcement. The two will dig deep into Enslaved's past and present while also surprising fans with a special secret event, one that has been predicted to be "time-bending and mind-warping."
Enslaved 25, "Then and Now" - Two sets, one night!
New York By Norse will conclude with Enslaved 25, in order to celebrate a quarter-century of one of Norway's most revered artists. The band will be playing two set, each highlighting the uniqueness of, but also the coherence in, the “Then” and the “Now” in Enslaved's history. This showcase will feature a performance by Einar Selvik, along with pieces of musical project Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik’s Skuggsjá featuring both Einar Selvik and Ivar Bjørnson. Kim Holm will be on site creating live paintings of the event to be sold after the show. With more details to come, those interested are encourage to descend upon Gramercy Theatre to celebrate Enslaved 25 in partnership with By Norse — celebrate in style!
This showcase will have limited tickets.
Tickets are on sale from Friday, Jun 24th, 10AM EST: www.ticketmaster.com/event/000050D1F7CEA750
“2016 is Enslaved's 25th anniversary as a band, and it is simply not acceptable leaving the US out of our celebrations. With a crazy schedule set for the year, we were turning every stone for an opening - and we found one! We are extremely proud to be able to present a double set in New York; to give the full width of old and new material, in conclusion of a fantastic year of celebration. When we started talking about By Norse and how we could bring the concept out into the world; "New York By Norse" was one of the first ideas to be verbalized. At the time it seemed more like a dream scenario than anything else. Then came London By Norse in March earlier this year; our first materialization of the concept - and it was a massive success! Turns out all these crazy visions were possible to turn into real life after all... and here we are.“ - Ivar Bjørnson Official of Enslaved.
Il suo nome era Rosa Di Bari, ma tutti la chiamavano "Nina". Era nata a Ceglie Messapico in Puglia nel 1883. La madre e tutti i fratelli e sorelle morirono nell'epidemia di febbre spagnola di quello stesso anno. Non sopportando la nuova moglie del padre, a 15 anni venne a Napoli "a servizio". Il suo primo impiego fu da un sarto che abitava ai Gradoni di Chiaia, ma lei, cattolicissima, non accettava che il sarto ricevesse in casa la sua amante. Così, nell'anno di grazia 1900 - con poca coerenza - si fece assumere dal mio bisnonno Edoardo Scarpetta che di amanti in casa ne aveva due, che erano rispettivamente la sorellastra e la nipote di sua moglie. Lei però non si sposò, nè mai ebbe fidanzati. Correva voce in famiglia che fosse stata l'amante di Eduardo de Filippo, uno dei molti figli illegittimi del mio bisnonno, ma la cosa non è provata. Fu "femme de chambre" di mio nonno che all'epoca era suo coetaneo, "nounou" di mia madre, poi mia e di mia sorella, mi rimproverò sempre di averle negata, non avendo ancora figli, la gioia di accudire la quarta generazione della nostra famiglia. Morì nel 1983, nella stessa casa in cui aveva sempre vissuto, pochi mesi prima di compire 100 anni. E' sepolta nella cappella di famiglia. Le feci questa fotografia il giorno del suo ottantesimo compleanno.
Her name was Rosa Di Bari, but everybody called her "Nina". She was born in 1883 in Ceglie Messapico, a small village in the south of Italy. Her mother and all sisters and brothers died in the "Spanish flu" epidemics of the same year. Because she could not stand her father's new wife, at the age of 15 she came to Naples to be hired as servant. Her first employer was a taylor, but she didn't keep that job for very long. As a fervent catholic, she could not condone that the taylor would let his mistress come to the house. So, in 1900 - with a remarkable lack of coherence - she accepted instead to be hired by my grand-grand father who actually had two mistresses living in the house, who were the stepsister and the nephew of his wife. By contrast, she never married or had fiancés. The rumor that she had been the lover of one of the many illegitimate sons of my grand-grand father remained unsubstantiated. She was "femme de chambre" of my grand father who was about her age, then "nounou" of my mather, of myself and of my younger sister. She always reproached me for not having children, which deprived her of the joy of caring for the fourth generation of our family. She died in 1983, a few months before celebrating 100 years, in the house where she had always lived, and rests in the family chapel. I took this photograph the day of her 80th birthday.