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mémoire2cité - Sols absorbants, formes arrondies et couleurs vives, les aires de jeux standardisées font désormais partie du paysage urbain. Toujours les mêmes toboggans sécurisés, châteaux forts en bois et animaux à ressort. Ces non-lieux qu’on finit par ne plus voir ont une histoire, parallèle à celle des différentes visions portées sur l’enfant et l’éducation. En retournant jouer au xixe siècle, sur les premiers playgrounds des États-Unis, on assiste à la construction d’une nation – et à des jeux de société qui changent notre vision sur les balançoires du capitalisme. Ce texte est paru dans le numéro 4 de la revue Jef Klak « Ch’val de Course », printemps-été 2017. La version ici publiée en ligne est une version légèrement remaniée à l’occasion de sa republication dans le magazine Palais no 27 1, paru en juin 2018. la video içi www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwj1wh5k5PY The concept for adventure playgrounds originated in postwar Europe, after a playground designer found that children had more fun with the trash and rubble left behind by bombings -inventing their own toys and playing with them- than on the conventional equipment of swings and slides. Narrator John Snagge was a well-known voice talent in the UK, working as a newsreader for BBC Radio - jefklak.org/le-gouvernement-des-playgrounds/ - www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/chasing-the-vanishing-p... or children, playgrounds are where magic happens. And if you count yourself among Baby Boomers or Gen Xers, you probably have fond memories of high steel jungle gyms and even higher metal slides that squeaked and groaned as you slid down them. The cheerful variety of animals and vehicles on springs gave you plenty of rides to choose from, while a spiral slide, often made of striped panels, was a repeated thrill. When you dismounted from a teeter-totter, you had to be careful not to send your partner crashing to the ground or get hit in the head by your own seat. The tougher, faster kids always pushed the brightly colored merry-go-round, trying to make riders as dizzy as possible. In the same way, you’d dare your sibling or best friend to push you even higher on the swing so your toes could touch the sky. The most exciting playgrounds would take the form of a pirate ship, a giant robot, or a space rocket.

“My husband would look at these big metal things and go, ‘Oh my God, those are the Slides of Death!'” - insh.world/history/playground-equipment-of-yesterday-that...

Today, these objects of happy summers past have nearly disappeared, replaced by newer equipment that’s lower to the ground and made of plastic, painted metal, and sometimes rot-resistant woods like cedar or redwood. The transformation began in 1973, when the U.S. Congress established the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which began tracking playground injuries at hospital emergency rooms. The study led to the publication of the first Handbook for Public Playground Safety in 1981, which signaled the beginning of the end for much of the playground equipment in use. (See the latest PPS handbook here.) Then, the American Society for Testing and Materials created a subcommittee of designers and playground-equipment manufacturers to set safety standards for the whole industry. When they published their guidelines in 1993, they suggested most existing playground surfaces, which were usually asphalt, dirt, or grass, needed to be replaced with pits of wood or rubber mulch or sand, prompting many schools and parks to rip their old playgrounds out entirely.

Top: A Space Age rocket-themed playground set by Miracle Playground Equipment, introduced circa 1968, photographed in Burlington, Colorado, in 2009. Above: Two seesaws and a snail-shaped climber, circa 1970s, photographed in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, in 2007. (Photos by Brenda Biondo)

Top: A Space Age rocket-themed playground set by Miracle Playground Equipment, introduced circa 1968, photographed in Burlington, Colorado, in 2009. Above: Two seesaws and a snail-shaped climber, circa 1970s, photographed in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, in 2007. (Photos by Brenda Biondo)

That said, removing and replacing playground equipment takes money, so a certain amount of vintage playground equipment survived into the next millennium—but it’s vanishing fast. Fortunately, Brenda Biondo, a freelance journalist turned photographer, felt inspired to document these playscapes before they’ve all been melted down. Her photographs capture the sculptural beauty and creativity of the vintage apparatuses, as well as that feeling of nostalgia you get when you see a piece of your childhood. After a decade of hunting down old playgrounds, Biondo published a coffee-table book, 2014’s Once Upon a Playground: A Celebration of Classic American Playgrounds, 1920-1975, which includes both her photographs of vintage equipment and pages of old playground catalogs that sold it.

Starting this November, Biondo’s playground photos will hit the road as part of a four-year ExhibitsUSA traveling show, which will also include vintage playground postcards and catalog pages from Biondo’s collection. The show will make stops in smaller museums and history centers around the United States, passing through Temple, Texas; Lincoln, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri; and Greenville, South Carolina. Biondo talked to us on the phone from her home in small-town Colorado, where she lives with her husband and children.

This 1975 Miracle catalog page reads, "This famous Lifetime Whirl has delighted three generations of children and still is a safe, playground favorite. Although it has gone through many improvements many of the original models are still spinning on playgrounds from coast to coast." (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)This 1975 Miracle catalog page reads, “This famous Lifetime Whirl has delighted three generations of children and still is a safe, playground favorite. Although it has gone through many improvements many of the original models are still spinning on playgrounds from coast to coast.” (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)Collectors Weekly: What inspired you to photograph playgrounds?Biondo: In 2004, I happened to be at my local park with my 1-year-old daughter, who was playing in the sandbox. I had just switched careers, from freelance journalism to photography, and I was looking for a starter project. I looked around the playground and thought, “Where is all the equipment that I remember growing up on?” They had new plastic contraptions, but nothing like the big metal slides I grew up with. After that, I started driving around to other playgrounds to see if any of this old equipment still existed. I found very little of it and realized it was disappearing quickly. That got to me.I felt like somebody should be documenting this equipment, because it was such a big part—and a very good part—of so many people’s childhoods. I couldn’t find anybody else who was documenting it, and I didn’t see any evidence that the Smithsonian was collecting it. As far as I could tell, it was just getting ripped up and sent to the scrap heap. At first, I started traveling around Colorado where I live, visiting playgrounds. Eventually, I took longer trips around the Southwest, and then I started looking for playgrounds whenever I was in any other parts of the country, like around California and the East Coast. It was a long-term project—shot over the course of a decade. And every year that I was shooting, it got harder and harder to find those pieces of old equipment.

This merry-go-round, photographed in Cañon City, Colorado, in 2006, is very similar to the Lifetime Whirl above. In the background are a rideable jalopy and animals, including four attached to a teeter-totter. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

This merry-go-round, photographed in Cañon City, Colorado, in 2006, is very similar to the Lifetime Whirl above. In the background are a rideable jalopy and animals, including four attached to a teeter-totter. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

Collectors Weekly: How did you find them?

Biondo: I would just drive around. I started hunting down local elementary schools and main-street playgrounds as well as neighborhood playgrounds. If I had a weekend, I would say, “OK, I’m going to drive from my home three hours east to the Kansas border, stay overnight and drive back.” Along the way, I would stop at every little town that I’d pass. They usually had one tiny main-street playground and one elementary school. I never knew what I was going to find. In a poorer area, a town often doesn’t have much money to replace playground equipment, whereas more affluent areas usually have updated their playgrounds by now. It was a bit of a crap shoot. Sometimes, I’d drive for hours and not really find anything—or I’d find one old playground after the other, because I happened to be in an area where equipment hadn’t been replaced.

I couldn’t get to every state, so I had to shoot where I was. I think there certainly are still old playgrounds out there, especially in small towns. But there’s fewer and fewer of them every year. My book has something like 170 photographs. I would guess that half the equipment pictured is already gone. Sometimes, I’d go back to a playground with a nice piece of equipment a year later to reshoot it, maybe in different lighting or a different season, and so often it had been removed. That pressured me to get out as often as I could because if I waited a few weeks, that piece might not be there anymore.

A 1911 postcard shows girls playing on an outdoor gymnasium at Mayo Park in Rochester, Minnesota.

a 1911 postcard shows girls playing on an outdoor gymnasium at Mayo Park in Rochester, Minnesota.

Collectors Weekly: What did you learn about playground history?

Biondo: I didn’t know American playgrounds started as part of the social reform or progressive movement of the early 1900s. Reformers hoped to keep poor inner-city immigrant kids safe and out of trouble. Back then, city children were playing in the streets with nothing to do, and when cars became more popular, kids started to get hit by motorists. Child activists started building playgrounds in big cities like Boston, Chicago, and New York as a way to help and protect these kids. These reformers felt they could build model citizens by teaching cooperation and manners through playgrounds. These early main-street parks would also have playground leaders who orchestrated activities such as games and songs.

“I started driving to playgrounds to see if any old equipment still existed. I found very little of it and realized it was disappearing quickly.”

In the late 1800s, Germans developed what they called “sand gardens,” which are just piles of sand where kids can come dig and build things. There were few of those in the United States as well. But by the early 1900s, the emphasis of playgrounds was on the apparatuses, things kids could climb on or swing on.

Soon after I started researching playground history, I happened to stumble on an eBay auction for a 1926 catalog that the playground manufacturers used to send to schools. At that point, I wasn’t thinking of doing a book, but I thought I could do something with it. I won the catalog; I paid, like, $12 for it. And it was so interesting because I could see this vintage equipment when it was brand new and considered modern and advanced. The manufacturers boasted about how safe it was and how it was good for building both muscles and imaginations.

After that, I would always search on eBay for playground catalogs, and I ended up with about three dozen catalogs from different manufacturers. My oldest is 1916, and my newest is from 1975. So I would take a photograph of some type of merry-go-round, and then I might find that same merry-go-round in a 1930 catalog. Often in the book, I pair my picture with the page from the catalog showing when it was first manufactured. I discovered a couple dozen manufacturers, which tended to be located in the bigger industrial areas with steel manufacturing, like Trenton, New Jersey, and Kokomo and Litchfield, Indiana. Pueblo, Colorado, even had a playground manufacturer. Burke and GameTime were big 20th century companies, and actually are among few still in existence.

The cover of a 1926 catalog for EverWear Manufacturing Company. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)

The cover of a 1926 catalog for EverWear Manufacturing Company. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)

Collectors Weekly: I recently came across an old metal slide whose steps had the name of the manufacturer, American, forged in openwork letters.

Biondo: I love those. One of the last pages in the book shows treads from six different slides, and they each had the name of their manufacturer in them, including Porter, American, and Burke. One time when I was traveling, I did a quick side trip to a small town with an elementary school. In the parking lot was this old metal slide with the American step treads, lying on its side. You could tell it had just been ripped off out of the concrete, which was still attached to the bottom, and was waiting for the steel recyclers to come and take it away.

I thought, “Oh my gosh, just put it on eBay! Somebody is going to want that. Don’t melt it down.” But nobody thinks about this stuff getting thrown away when it should be preserved. If you go on eBay, you can find a lot of those small animals on springs that little kids ride, because they’re small enough to be shipped. Once I saw someone selling one of those huge rocket ships, which had been dismantled, on eBay, but I don’t know if anybody ever bid on it. It’s rare to see the big stuff, because it is so expensive to ship. It’s like, “What kind of truck do you need to haul this thing away?” I don’t know of anyone who’s collecting those pieces, but I hope somebody is.

A metal slide in Victor, Colorado, had step treads with the name "American" in them. Photographed in 2008. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

A metal slide in Victor, Colorado, had step treads with the name “American” in them. Photographed in 2008. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

Collectors Weekly: It seems like an opportunity for both starting a collection or repurposing the material.

Biondo: I photographed many of the apparatuses as if they were sculptures because they have really cool designs and colors. Even when they’re worn down, the exposed layers of paint can be beautiful. Hardly anybody stops to look at it that way. People drive by and think, “Oh, there’s an old, rusty, rundown playground.” But if you take the time to look closely at this stuff, it’s really interesting. Just by looking at these pieces, you can picture all the kids who played on them.

Collectors Weekly: Aren’t people nostalgic for their childhood playgrounds?

Biondo: While I was taking the pictures, I visited Boulder, Colorado, which is a very affluent community. I was sure there would be no old playground equipment there. When I was driving around, all of a sudden, I looked over and saw this huge rocket ship. It turns out that one of the original NASA astronauts, Scott Carpenter, grew up in Boulder, and this playground was built in the ’60s to honor their hometown boy. Because of that, the citizens of Boulder never wanted to take down the rocket ship. One of the first exhibitions of this photography project happened in Boulder, and at the opening, I sold four prints of that rocket ship. People would come up to me at the exhibition, and they’d go, “Oh my gosh, I grew up playing on this when I was a little kid! Now, my kids are playing on it, and I’m so excited that I can get a picture of it and hang it in their bedroom.” So people have a strong nostalgic attachment to this equipment. It’s sad that most of it’s not going to be around for much longer.

A 1968 Miracle Playground Equipment catalog features the huge rocket-ship play set seen at the top of this story. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)

A 1968 Miracle Playground Equipment catalog features the huge rocket-ship playset seen at the top of this story. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)

Collectors Weekly: Besides slides and animals on springs, what were some other pieces that were common in older playgrounds?

Biondo: I didn’t come across as many old swings as I expected. I thought they would be all over the place, but I guess they’re gone now because they were so easy to replace. I tended to find merry-go-rounds more frequently—you know, the one where you’d run around pushing them and then jump on. When my kids were younger, they’d go out playground hunting with me, and the merry-go-rounds were their favorite things. They’re just so fun. The other thing you don’t find often is the seesaw or teeter-totter, and that was my favorite.The Karymor Stationary Jingle Ring Outfit appeared in the 1931 playground catalog put out by Pueblo, Colorado's R.F. Lamar and Co. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

The Karymor Stationary Jingle Ring Outfit appeared in the 1931 playground catalog put out by Pueblo, Colorado’s R.F. Lamar and Co. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

Before I started this project, I didn’t know there was such a variety of equipment. I figured I’d see seesaws, swings, slides, and merry-go-rounds. But I had no idea there were such things as revolving swings, which would be attached to a spinning pole via outstretched metal arms. Many mid-century pieces had themes from pop culture like “The Wizard of Oz,” “Cinderella,” “Denis the Menace,” cowboys and Indians, and Saturday-morning cartoons. During the Space Age, you started to see pieces of equipment shaped like rocket ships and satellites, because in the ’60s, Americans were so excited about space exploration. What was going on in the broader culture often got reflected in playground equipment.

Pursuing the catalogs was eye-opening. I live about an hour and a half south of Denver, so I often looked for playgrounds around the city. There, I’d find these contraptions where were shaped like umbrella skeletons, but then they had these rings hanging off the spindles. I’ve never seen them outside of Colorado. Then I bought a 1930s catalog from the manufacturer in Pueblo, Colorado, which is only 45 minutes from me, and it featured this apparatus. Later, I met people in Denver who’d say, “Oh, yeah, I remember that thing as a kid. It’s kind of like monkey bars where you had to try and get from ring to ring swinging and hanging by your arms.” There was so much variety, and even so many variations on the basics.I have a cool catalog from 1926 from the manufacturer Mitchell, which doesn’t exist anymore. I looked at one of the contraptions they advertised and I was like, “Oh my God, this looks like a torture device!” It was their own proprietary apparatus and maybe it didn’t prove to be very popular. I had never seen something like that on a playground. There probably weren’t very many of them installed.

This strange Climbing Swing from the 1926 Mitchell Manufacturing Company catalog looks a bit like a torture device. Brenda Biondo says she's never found one in the wild. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)

This Climbing Swing from the 1926 Mitchell Manufacturing Company catalog looks a bit like a torture device. Biondo’s never found one in the wild. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)

Collectors Weekly: After a while, were you able to date pieces just by looking at them?

Biondo: From looking at the catalogs, I certainly got a better idea of when things were built. But there were a handful things I couldn’t find in the catalogs. You can guess the age by knowing the design, as well as by looking at the amount of wear and the height of the piece. Usually, the taller it was, the older it was. One of the oldest slides I photographed was probably from the ’30s. I climbed to the top to shoot it as if the viewer were going to go down the slide. Up there, the place where you’d sit before sliding had been used for so many years by so many kids that I could see an outline of all the butts worn into the metal. You can imagine all the children who must have gone down that slide to wear the metal down like that.

This 1930s-era slide, found in Sargents, Colorado, in 2007, developed a butt-shaped imprint. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

This 1930s-era slide, found in Sargents, Colorado, in 2007, developed a butt-shaped imprint. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

Collectors Weekly: How did Modernism influence playground design?

Biondo: In 1953, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held a competition for playground design. Modern Art was just getting popular, and the idea of incorporating the theories of Modernist design into utilitarian objects was in the air, and was translated into playgrounds for several years. I have a 1967 catalog that features very abstract playground equipment made from sinuous blobs of poured concrete. And you’ve probably seen some of it, but there’s not too much of that around. That’s another example of how broader cultural trends were reflected in playgrounds.

When most people think of playgrounds, they say, “Oh, that’s a kiddie subject. There’s not much to it.” But when you start looking into them, you realize playgrounds are a fascinating piece of American culture—they go back a hundred years and played a part in most Americans’ lives. These playground pieces are icons of our childhood.

Collectors Weekly:What was the impact of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which launched in 1973?

Biondo: Things started to change after that, which is why I limited to book to apparatuses made before 1975. New playgrounds were starting to be build out of plastic and fiberglass. I looked up the statistics, and according to the little research I’ve done—contrary to what you’d expect—there’s not much difference in the number of injuries on older equipment versus injuries on equipment today. A “New York Times” article from 2011 called “Can a Playground Be Too Safe?” explains that studies show when playground equipment was really high and just had asphalt underneath it and not seven layers of mulch, thekids knew they had to be careful because they didn’t want to fall. Nowadays, when everything is lower and there’s so much mulch, kids are just used to jumping down and falling and catching themselves. So kids learned to assess risk by playing on the older equipment. They also learned to challenge themselves because it is a little scary to go up to the top of the thing.

This old postcard of Shawnee Park in Kansas City, Kansas, circa 1912, shows how tall slides could get.

This old postcard of Shawnee Park in Kansas City, Kansas, circa 1912, shows how tall slides could get.

At my local park where you have new equipment, the monkey bars aren’t that high and there’s mulch below it, but a child fell and broke their arm last year. When I was talking to the principal at the school where they had just torn out that old American slide, I asked her, “Why did you replace the equipment?” She said, “We felt the parents in the community were expecting to have a little bit newer and nicer equipment. And this stuff had been here for so long.” And I said, “Have you seen a difference in injury rates since you put up your newer equipment?” She replied, “I’ve been a principal here several years, and we never had a serious broken-bone injury on the playground until four months ago on the new equipment.”

There were some nasty accidents in the ‘60s and ’70s, where kids got their arms or their heads caught in the contraptions. Those issues definitely needed to be assessed. What’s interesting is the Consumer Product Safety Commission never issued requirements, just suggested guidelines. But manufacturers felt that if their equipment didn’t meet those guidelines, they’d be vulnerable to liability. Everybody went to the extreme, making everything super safe so they wouldn’t risk getting sued.A 1970s-era climbing-bar apparatus, photographed in Rocky Ford, Colorado, in 2006. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

A 1970s-era climbing-bar apparatus, photographed in Rocky Ford, Colorado, in 2006. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)

In the last decade, people have been looking at playground-equipment design and trying to make it more challenging and more encouraging of imaginative play, but without making it more likely someone’s going to get injured. And adults, I think, are realizing kids are spending more time indoors on devices so they want to do everything they can to encourage kids to still get outside, run around, and climb on things.

Collectors Weekly: You don’t need a playground to hurt yourself. When I was a kid, I fell off a farm post and broke my arm.Biondo: Oh, yeah, kids have been falling out trees forever—they always want to climb stuff. Playground politics are always evolving. Even in the 1920s, the catalogs talked about how safe their equipment was, and they were selling these 30-foot slides. Sometimes, I’d be out with my family on a vacation, and we’d make a little side tour to look for an old playground to shoot. My husband would look at these big metal things and go, “Oh my God, those are the Slides of Death!” because they were so huge and rickety. But back then, these were very safe pieces of equipment compared to what kids had been playing on before.

A page from the 1971 GameTime catalog offering rideable Saddle Mates. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)

A page from the 1971 GameTime catalog offering rideable Saddle Mates. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)

Collectors Weekly: Growing up in the 1980s, I always hated the new fiberglass slides because I’d end up with all these tiny glass shards in my butt.

Biondo: Yeah, I remember that, too. It’s always something. It is fun to talk to people about playgrounds because it reminds them of all the fun stuff they did as kids. When people see pictures of these metal slides, they tell me, “Oh my gosh, I remember getting such a bad burn from a metal slide one summer!” The metal would get so hot in the sun, and kids would take pieces of wax paper with them to sit on so they’d go flying down the slide. I have some old postcards that show playgrounds from the early ’20s. The wood seesaws not only were huge, but they had no handles so you had hold on to the sides of the board where you sat. I’m looking at that like, “Oh my God!” It’s all relative.

playground_postcard_milwaukee

Kids ride the rocking-boat seesaw at a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, park in this postcard postmarked 1910.

(To see more of Brenda Biondo’s playground photos and vintage catalog pages, pick up a copy of her book, “Once Upon a Playground: A Celebration of Classic American Playground, 1920-1975.” To find an exhibition of Biondo’s playground project, or to bring it to your town, visit the ExhibitsUSA page. To learn more about creative mid-century playgrounds around the globe, also pick up, “The Playground Project” by Xavier Salle and Vincent Romagny.) insh.world/history/playground-equipment-of-yesterday-that...

A visit to Coughton Court in Warwickshire, on the Spring Bank Holiday Weekend in late May 2018. A National Trust property, it was the home of the Throckmorton family.

Coughton Court is an English Tudor country house, situated on the main road between Studley and Alcester in Warwickshire. It is a Grade I listed building.

The house has a long crenelated façade directly facing the main road, at the centre of which is the Tudor Gatehouse, dating from 1530; this has hexagonal turrets and oriel windows in the English Renaissance style. The gatehouse is the oldest part of the house and is flanked by later wings, in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style, popularised by Horace Walpole.

The Coughton estate has been owned by the Throckmorton family since 1409. The estate was acquired through marriage to the De Spinney family. Coughton was rebuilt by Sir George Throckmorton, the first son of Sir Robert Throckmorton of Coughton Court by Catherine Marrow, daughter of William Marrow of London. The great gatehouse at Coughton was dedicated to King Henry VIII by Throckmorton, a favorite of the King. Throckmorton would become notorious due to his almost fatal involvement in the divorce between King Henry and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Throckmorton favoured the queen and was against the Reformation. Throckmorton spent most of his life rebuilding Coughton. In 1549, when he was planning the windows in the great hall, he asked his son Nicholas to obtain from the heralds the correct tricking (colour abbreviations) of the arms of his ancestors' wives and his own cousin and niece by marriage Queen Catherine Parr. The costly recusancy (refusal to attend Anglican Church services) of Robert Throckmorton and his heirs restricted later rebuilding, so that much of the house still stands largely as he left it.

After Throckmorton's death in 1552, Coughton passed to his eldest son, Robert. Robert Throckmorton and his family were practicing Catholics therefore the house at one time contained a priest hole, a hiding place for priests during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law in England, from the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The Hall also holds a place in English history for its roles in both the Throckmorton Plot of 1583 to murder Queen Elizabeth I of England, and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, although the Throckmorton family were themselves only indirectly implicated in the latter, when some of the Gunpowder conspirators rode directly there after its discovery.

The house has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1946. The family, however, hold a 300-year lease and previously managed the property on behalf of the Trust. In 2007, however, the house reverted to management by the National Trust. The management of the property is renewed every 10 years. The family tenant until recently was Clare McLaren-Throckmorton, known professionally as Clare Tritton QC, until she died on 31 October 2017.

The house, which is open to the public all year round, is set in extensive grounds including a walled formal garden, a river and a lake.

The gatehouse at Coughton was built at the earliest in 1536, as it is built of stones which came from Bordesley Abbey and Evesham Abbey after the Dissolution of the Monasteries Act in 1536. As with other Tudor houses, it was built around a courtyard, with the gatehouse used for deliveries and coaches to travel through to the courtyard. The courtyard was closed on all four sides until 1651, when Parliamentary soldiers burnt the fourth (east) wing, along with many of the Throckmorton's family papers, during the English Civil War.

After the Roman Catholic Relief Act was passed in 1829, the Throckmorton family were able to afford large-scale building works, allowing them to remodel the west front.

Grade I Listed Building

Coughton Court

Listing Text

COUGHTON

SP06SE

1/144 Coughton Court

10/02/56

GV I

Country house, Gatehouse late C15, and after 1518; early and late C16; late C17

additions; west front remodelled 1780; additions and remodelling of 1835(VCH).

Limestone ashlar gatehouse. Timber framed with lath and plaster infill; brick;

imitation stone render. Tile and lead roofs; brick stacks, U-plan, formerly

courtyard. 2 and 3 storeys; 13-window range. Entrance (west) front symmetrical.

3 storey central gatehouse range has moulded plinth and double string course.

Square ground floor with corner turrets. C19 Gothic panelled part-glazed

double-leaf doors in 4-centred moulded arch with square head, hood mould and

carved spandrels. Stone mullioned and transomed windows with arched lights

throughout. Upper floors of different coloured stone. 2-storey canted oriel with

flanking lights and glazed octagonal turrets; 2 transoms on first floor, one on

second. Shield of arms on each floor. Turrets continued up another floor'; left

turret unglazed. Remainder 2 storeys only. Single 5-light window with transom

and hood mould. Clasping buttresses with quatrefoil panels projecting above

roof. Crenellated parapets with string course throughout. Remainder of front of '

scored imitation ashlar with stucco hood moulds. Ground floor has leaded 2-light

casements, 3 slightly recessed bays have Gothick sashes and moulded surrounds on

first floor. Projecting end bays with clasping buttresses. First floor: leaded

cross windows. String course above first floor. Attic with quatrefoil panels,

some part glazed. String course and crenellated parapet. Right return side of

thin bricks. Two C17 shaped gables with stone coping. Left gable between 2

external brick stacks; right gable has ball finials. 5-window range, mostly C17

stone cross windows. Narrow gabled wing set back. High single-storey range with

early C20 window, and plaster eaves cove. East front of gatehouse has unglazed

turrets and inscription over entrance. Irregular ranges to courtyard. Timber

framed with brick ground floor. Corresponding small 4-centred door. Irregular

fenestration with moulded stone mullioned windows ground floor, wood mullions

and casements above; some with transoms. 2 storey south range has close studding

with middle rail. Left section breaks forward and has 4 framed gables with

brackets. Entrance in recessed bay below third gable has 4-centred moulded

doorway with square head, hood mould and carved spandrels. Paired 6-panelled

doors with Gothick overlight. Right section has 2 large gables, and another

behind and above in roof, with decorative panel framing. Elaborately carved

scrolled bargeboards with finials and openwork pendants. End wall has gable.

Ground floor has 2 stone cross windows with arched lights. Blocked arches above

and in centre. 2-storey and attic north range. Close studding. 3 large framed

gables and smaller end gable all with casements and brackets. Ground floor has

four 3-light mullioned and transomed windows. First floor projects on plaster

cove. Blank gabled end wall. Left return side: range of c.1690. Scored render

with quoins. 3 projecting bays with hipped roofs. 4-centred doorway. Slightly

projecting first floor. Irregular fenestration with wood mullioned and transomed

windows. Interior: Entrance Hall with plaster fan vault. Late C18 open well

cantilevered staircase with moulded soffit and simple handrail; Gothick

plasterwork cornice. Drawing Room has simple early Cl6 stone fireplace. Windows

with C16,C17 and C19 armorial glass. Gothick plasterwork cornice. 6-panelled

doors. Little Drawing Room has C18 style carved wooden fireplace. Newel

staircase to roof. Tower Room has moulded 4-centred fireplace with carved

spandrels and projecting top. Two 4-centred doorways. North east turret has 2

hiding places. Dining Room and Tribune have fine C16 panelling possibly with

later work, turned balusters, grotesques and medallions with heads. Fine marble

chimneypiece with paired Ionic and Corinthian columns, cartouche and coat of

arms, Saloon, formed 1910, has arcaded panelled screen c.1660 (VCH) to Tribune.

C16 double-flight staircase from Harvington hall with heavy turned balusters and

square newel posts with finials. Study has fine C17 panelling with pilasters.

Ground floor with broad-chamfered ceiling beams. North range has part of a fine

C16 panelled timber cieling with moulded ribs and carved bosses. Dog-leg

staircase with C17 turned balusters. The Throckmortons were Catholics, and were

deeply involved in the Throckmorton plot of 1583. In 1605 the wives of the

Gunpowder Plotters awaited news at Coughton. In 1688 the east wing was destroyed

by a Protestant mob, and was finally cleared away in 1780.

(V.C.H.: Warwickshire, Vol.III, pp.75-78; Buldings of England: Warwickshire,

pp.245-6; Coughton Court; The National Trust 1984).

Listing NGR: SP0831160624

This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building.

View of the house from within the house.

The North Wing from The South Wing. Couldn't go into The North Wing as it was private.

L'église Saint-Milliau à Ploumilliau.

Construite au 15ème siècle, cet important édifice de style Gothique est admirablement conservé.

Son clocher en granit à campanile ajouré est typique des clochers bretons.

Côtes d'Armor, Bretagne, france.

The Saint-Milliau church in Ploumilliau.

Built in the 15th century, this important Gothic building is admirably preserved.

Its granite bell tower with an openwork bell tower is typical of Breton steeples.

Sensory overload begins the moment one crosses the threshhold of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

To stay focused, I decided to look only at the museum's pre-Columbian collection, and then mostly at the Peruvian objects on display.

Frank, however, wandered over to the nearby New Guinea collection.

I can see why.

This called a Bis pole.

It was carved by a member of the Asmat people named Jiem, who was active in the 1960s.

Otsjanep Village, ca. 1960

Asmat People, New Guinea, Papua (Irian Jaya) Province, Indonesia.

Wood, paint, fiber.

What is a bis pole? The museum offers the following description:

"The Asmat honored their dead with feasts and rituals, which both commemorated the deceased and reminded the living to avenge their deaths. The towering Asmat "bis" poles were made for these funeral feasts. The basic form of the bis is an openwork pole incorporating several ancestor figures and a winglike projection that represents the pole's phallus."

"In Asmat belief, no death was accidental. Each death was always caused by an enemy, either through headhunting raids or sorcery. Death created an imbalance in society, which the living had to correct by taking an enemy head. When a village had suffered a number of deaths, it would hold a bis ceremony, which consisted of a series of feasts held over several months. A number of bis poles were carved for the ceremony and displayed in front of the men's house, where they formed the center of a mock battle between men and women. The poles were kept until a successful headhunt had been carried out and the balance restored. After a final feast, the Asmat abandoned the bis poles in the sago palm groves from which they obtained their primary food. As the poles decayed, their fertile supernatural power seeped into the earth and fertilized the sago trees."

www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/313830

So, my question is whether the order of things was disrupted in any way because, instead of being allowed to decay in the sago groves, this bis pole was whisked away by a rich collector. Do the Asmat people have a ceremony for when a bis pole gets carted off by a collector with a good eye, sticky fingers and a fat wallet?

Note: I painstakingly removed distracting structural elements in the background along with the pole that supports this object.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Brugge

The Belfry of Bruges (Dutch: Belfort van Brugge) is a medieval bell tower in the centre of Bruges, Belgium. One of the city's most prominent symbols, the belfry formerly housed a treasury and the municipal archives and served as an observation post for spotting fires and other dangers.

The belfry was added to the Markt (market square) around 1240, when Bruges was an important centre of the Flemish cloth industry. After a devastating fire in 1280, the upper half of the tower was largely rebuilt.

The octagonal upper stage of the belfry was added between 1483 and 1487, and capped with a wooden spire bearing an image of Saint Michael, banner in hand and dragon underfoot. The spire did not last long: a lightning strike in 1493 reduced it to ashes and destroyed the bells as well. A wooden spire crowned the summit again for some two-and-a-half centuries, before it, too, fell victim to flames in 1741. The spire was never replaced again, thus changing the height of the building from 102 metres (335 ft) to 83 metres (272 ft), which it remains today. However, an openwork stone parapet in Gothic Revival style was added to the rooftop in 1822.

To the sides and back of the tower stands the former market hall, a rectangular building only 44 metres (144 ft) broad but 84 metres (276 ft) deep, with an inner courtyard. The belfry, accordingly, is also known as the Halletoren (tower of the halls).

Since 1999, the belfry has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a part of the Belfries of Belgium and France serial property. In addition, it is a key component of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the historic centre of Bruges, inscribed in 2000.

________________________________________________

Bruges (Dutch: Brugge) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in Belgium. The historic city center is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO.

Early medieval habitation starts in the ninth and tenth centuries on the Burgh terrain, probably with a fortified settlement and church. Bruges received its city charter on 27 July 1128, and new walls and canals were built.

Bruges had a strategic location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League trade. Traders developed, or borrowed from Italy, new forms of merchant capitalism, whereby several merchants would share the risks and profits and pool their knowledge of markets. The city eagerly welcomed foreign traders, most notably the Portuguese traders selling pepper and other spices. With the reawakening of town life in the 12th century, a wool market, a woolens weaving industry, and the cloth market all profited from the shelter of city walls, where surpluses could be safely accumulated under the patronage of the counts of Flanders.

In 1277, the first merchant fleet from the Republic of Genoa appeared in the port of Bruges, the first of the merchant colony that made Bruges the main link to the trade of the Mediterranean. The Bourse opened in 1309 (most likely the first stock exchange in the world) and developed into the most sophisticated money market of the Low Countries in the 14th century. The foreign merchants expanded the city's trading zones. They maintained separate communities governed by their own laws until the economic collapse after 1700.

Starting around 1500, the Zwin channel, (the Golden Inlet) which had given the city its prosperity, began silting up and the Golden Era ended. During the 17th century, the lace industry took off. In the second half of the 19th century, Bruges became one of the world's first tourist destinations, attracting wealthy British and French tourists.

In World War I and World War II, the city suffered virtually no damage, and was liberated on 19 October 1918 by the Allies. After 1965, the original medieval city experienced a "renaissance". Restorations of residential and commercial structures, historic monuments, and churches generated a surge in tourism and economic activity in the downtown area. International tourism has boomed, and new efforts resulted in Bruges being designated European Capital of Culture in 2002. It attracts some eight million tourists annually.

~1540, altered ; the oldest organ case in England ; please enlarge to see details of the fantastic carving ; the pipes are not original.

The Grade II Listed North Parade Bridge viewed from Parade Gardens, in Bath, Somerset.

Designed by William Tierney Clark, built by David Aust between 1835-1836, rebuilt 1936-1937 by FR Sisson CE. Originally with cast iron arch ribs, deck and parapet, between rusticated ashlar abutments; span entirely rebuilt in ashlar in 1936. Single span bridge with side arches, and approach causeway on east. Footpath arches with console keystones and main piers up to cornice, supported on console brackets, are original. Heavily rusticated stonework, while 1936 arch smooth ashlar with rustication only to arch itself, and smooth soffit. Parapet balustraded throughout, abutment piers are carried up in further rusticated work and support openwork iron standards with lanterns. All this work of 1936, and continues similar treatment on balustrade of retaining wall to North Parade and Grand Parade

~1540, altered ; the oldest organ case in England ; please enlarge to see details of the fantastic carving ; the pipes are not original.

Perpendicular church of 1470, restored in 1884, and chiefly notable for the 17th century Gwydir chapel.

Its exterior dominates the approach to the church, with heavy gothic buttresses and a battlemented roof, to which the main church seems an extension. Inside, the nave is differentiated from the chancel only by a screen and loft.

This work may have been brought from the dissolved Maenan Abbey. While the musicians' loft has lost its saints, the canopy vaulting and filigree openwork in the screen panels are exceptional.

The Gwydir chapel is a church in itself, built in 1633/4 by Sir Richard Wynn of Gwydir, treasurer to Queen Henrietta Maria. The roof is almost flat, known as camber-beam. The Jacobean panelling and decoration show the transition from gothic to renaissance in 17th century British churches. In the chapel is an empty coffin, said to be that of Llywelyn the Great. A knight in armour of c1440 is complete with cushion sword and lion.

The chapel is home to a set of 17th century monuments to the Wynn family. The walls are adorned with a set of memorial brasses of the same period.

Gwydir Chapel: Detail from the memorial to baby Sydney Wynn. She was born 6th September 1639 and died 8th October the same year.

Opening of The Albert Bridge

The handsome new bridge which spans the river Torrens near the site of the old Frome Bridge, and has been named after the late Prince Albert, was formally opened at noon on Wednesday May 7, by the Mayoress (Mrs Buik), in the presence of a large assemblage of leading citizens.

The bridge is an iron erection with the exception of the abutments, which are of stone, the lower part from the ground line to the plinth course being from Mr Bundey's quarry at Teatree Gully, while the piers, panels, and coping composing the superstructure are of Sydney freestone. The bridge has a total length of 120 feet between the abutments, and is composed of three spans—that in the centre being 60 feet, and those at the ends 30 feet each. The total width is 42 feet between the handrails, divided into a carriageway of 30 feet and two footpaths of six feet. The bridge has the appearance of an arched structure, but in reality it consists of continuous girders throughout, of which those over the central opening balance the side spans, which act as cantilevers. By this arrangement no weight is thrown upon the abutments, as would have been the case had an ordinary form of construction been adopted.

The piers in the river, which bear the whole weight of the bridge, are each formed of three cast-iron cylinders, the outer being 4½ feet diameter decreasing to 3 feet, and the inner 6 feet diameter decreasing to 4½ feet. These are provided at the bottom with a cutting edge, and are carried down to a depth of from 12 to 15 feet below the bed of the river, passing through a strong gravel and resting upon the_ gravel or upon an indurated clay which underlies it. The first cylinder was sunk dry, pumps having been used to keep down the water which flowed in from the gravel through which the cylinder passed. The power required to keep down the water was, however, so great that the contractors determined to sink the cylinders by means of a diver working under water, and the remaining cylinders have been sunk by this method. The diver excavated the gravel round the edge of the cylinders, which were heavily weighted by being loaded at the top with large blocks of cast iron and the bracing links from the old City Bridge, and as the gravel was removed by the diver the cylinder sunk by its own weight. When the cylinders had been sunk to the required depth they were filled up with concrete, and upon this bed stones were laid after the cylinders had been raised to the height of the under side of the girders. The cylinders are provided with ornamental bases and caps.

The height of the girders at the springing of the piers is 7¼ feet, and at the abutments 6½ feet, the radius of the curve of the under side of the girders for the side and centre spans being 28 feet and 106½ feet respectively. The girders are of wrought iron, and have a web 3/8 inch thick throughout, the flange-plates being of the same thickness. These are two feet wide and increase in number from a single plate at the ends to three at the piers. There are three girders, which are spaced 15 feet apart, and are securely braced together over the piers: these run the whole length of the bridge, and upon them cross girders are fixed 1¼ feet deep and 6 feet apart: the latter project 6½ feet beyond the girders and form cantilevers for carrying the footpath and parapet.

The roadway is carried by 3-inch jarrah planking resting upon joists of the same material, and which are borne by the cross girders. The footway is covered with timber planking two inches thick. The ends of the cross girders support a moulded cornice with corbels, to which are attached the brackets which secure the handrail and the openwork panels under it. Over the caps of the river piers half-columns with fluted sides are carried up, covering the junctions of the springing of the curves of the girders, and giving the spectator just the idea of the extra strength required at these points to support pilasters of iron, which relieve the monotony of the handrail and are ornamented with panels on each side, the one facing the roadway being filled in with the arms of the Corporation of Adelaide. A lamp of graceful design upon each of these pilasters completes the bridge, which is a handsome one, though of massive proportions and, perhaps, a trifle heavy in appearance. The panels and lamps are, however, not yet erected as in consequence of the large amount of minute work upon them they were not ready for shipment with the rest of the ironwork. They are expected to arrive in a few days.

The bridge has been erected under the superintendence of Mr Langdon, the City Surveyor, by the contractors, Messrs Davies & Wishart, the contract price being £7,550. There have been some extras, however, which have brought the actual cost of the bridge up to £9,000. The design was chosen by the City Council in an open competition, the successful competitor being Mr John H Grainger, who is to be complimented upon the handsome bridge which is now completed.

The opening ceremony was a very simple affair. The bridge was gaily decorated with flags and banners, and a couple of arches of evergreen spanned the roadway. In the centre of the structure a temporary platform had been erected, and here the Mayor and Mayoress, members of the Government, and the City Corporation stood while the bridge was being formally named and declared open for traffic. The Mayor arrived in his carriage immediately after the time given had indicated the hour, and he was soon afterwards followed by a string of vehicles containing most of those who were anxious to see the ceremony. Among these were the Chief Secretary, Hon W Morgan, the Commissioner of Public Works (Hon G C Hawker), the Commissioner of Crown Lands (Hon T Playford), Messrs Townsend, Fowler, and Fraser MP's, Colonel Downes and Major Godwin, Mr R C Patterson, Assistant Engineer: the members of the Corporation: Mr Langdon, the City Surveyor: and several ex-members of the Corporation and other gentlemen interested in the erection of a third bridge between North and South Adelaide. The Mayor announced that his wife had been asked to formally open the bridge. Mrs Buik then stepped forward, and after breaking the bottle of wine in the orthodox fashion, formally named the structure "The Albert Bridge”, and declared it open for traffic.

The Mayor then came forward and said that he had been desired by his wife to say on her behalf that she felt highly honoured at being asked to perform the ceremony of opening this beautiful bridge. He believed it was universally admitted that though the bridge was smaller than the City Bridge it was better in many respects, at any rate it was much more beautiful. It was called the "Albert Bridge" after the illustrious husband of our beloved Queen.

The cost of the bridge was about £9,000 altogether, the contract price was £8,100, the extra cost being incurred principally through it having been found necessary to deepen the foundations. He felt sure the citizens would admit that the contractors had fairly and properly done their work, and that the bridge would be an ornament to the city as well as a great convenience to the eastern end of the town.

Ref: Evening Journal (Adelaide SA) 7 May 1879.

~1540, the oldest organ case on the island

The Grade I Listed Leeds Minster, in Leeds, North Yorkshire.

A church at “Ledes” is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 although it is likely that there had been a church on the same site for much longer, as evidenced by the fragments of Anglo-Scandinavian stone crosses (known as the Leeds Cross) found on the site during the construction of the current church. The church was rebuilt twice, after a fire in the 14th century, and again in the 19th century.

Walter Farquhar Hook, Vicar of Leeds from 1837 until preferment as Dean of Chichester in 1859 was responsible for the construction of the present building, and of the revitalisation of the Anglican church throughout Leeds as a whole. The architect was Robert Dennis Chantrell.

It was originally intended only to remodel the church in order to provide space for a larger congregation. In November 1837 a scheme was approved under which the tower would have been moved from the crossing to the north side, the chancel widened to the same breadth as the nave, and the north aisle roof raised. When work began, however, it was discovered that much of the structure was in a perilous condition, and it was decided to replace the church completely.

The new building was the largest new church in England built since Sir Christopher Wren's St Paul's Cathedral erected after the Great Fire of London and consecrated in 1707. The new parish church was rebuilt by voluntary contributions from the townspeople at a cost of over £29,000 and consecrated on 2 September 1841.

Cruciform in plan, the minster is built in ashlar stone with slate roofs, in an imitation of the English Gothic style of the late 14th century, a period of transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular. The church is 180 feet long and 86 feet wide, its tower rising to 139 feet. The chancel and nave each have four bays of equal length with clerestories and tall aisles.

The tower is situated at the centre of north aisle. Below the tower on the north side is the main entrance. The tower has four unequal stages with panelled sides and corner buttresses terminating in crocketed turrets with openwork battlements and crocketted pinnacles. The clock was made by Potts of Leeds.

Information Source:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_Minster

~1500 ; rebuilt in the new church bldg. in 1877 by architect David Walker.

The "flat" panels of the soffit are not original.

An excellent article about this screen can be read @

www.buildingconservation.com/articles/llananno-rood/llana...

Yo/Me & Galería/Gallery Fotografia de Viajes/Travel photography

Gracias por vuestros comentarios.Thanks for your comments

Santa María de Eunate

es una iglesia románica ubicada en campo libre a 2km de Muruzábal, en Navarra, españa. Se halla donde se juntan los Caminos de Santiago de Somport y de Roncesvalles. Supuestamente la iglesia fue construida, en estilo románico bajo influencia mozárabe, en la segunda parte del siglo XII. Como está lejos de un pueblo y se encontraron varias en las tumbas, se opina que fue un hospicio para los peregrinos. El conjunto es de planta octogonal y está rodeado por una galería porticada de 33 arcos, con capiteles decorados. La armonía de la planta octogonal queda rota por un ábside pentagonal y una torreta de planta cuadrada adosada al Lado de la Epístola. En los muros exteriores se alternan ventanas caladas y ciegas y dos puertas de acceso, la del norte ante el Camino, muy decorada, y otra de más sencilla hacia poniente. Al parecer, Eunate además de encontrarse en las inmediaciones del encuentro de las rutas jacobeas francesa y navarra, se encuentra en el cruce de dos corrientes telúricas, hecho que ya era conocido por los Caballeros Constructores*. Una de estas corrientes, con dirección Norte a Sur, desciende desde San Juan de Luz y, pasando por las concentraciones megalíticas que se encuentran entre Lesaka y Oiarzun, discurre por los dólmenes de Leitza y los cromlech de Ezkurra, atraviesa la sierra sagrada de Aralar y bordea Pamplona antes de cruzar la capilla de Eunate y seguir hasta el Moncayo. La otra corriente, con dirección Este a Oeste, procede desde el Aneto y pasa por el centro de San Juan de la Peña y del Monasterio de Leire, cruza Eunate y se interna en la zona megalítica de Alava (Santa Cruz de Campezo, Elvillar y Laguardia) dirigiéndose hacia el Oeste como una línea sinuosa paralela al Camino de Santiago. Resulta que es habitual que estos cruces de corrientes energéticas de la tierra, coincidan con lugares de antiguos cultos a divinidades femeninas que engendraron, por el lado pagano, a las brujas y las meigas y, por el lado ortodoxo, a la multitud de vírgenes negras cuyo culto fue preferentemente promocionado por benedictinos y templarios, en un intento de confraternizar las viejas creencias paganas con la figura de la Virgen María madre. Así, la tradicional romería que se celebra anualmente en Eunate sería, en sus orígenes, una especie de "jornada de puertas abiertas" en la que se permitía al pueblo llano beneficiarse de la energía universal allí manifestada por la Madre Tierra, personificada en la Virgen Negra que presidía los cultos. Se conoce que en el medievo la comitiva partía cada primavera, coincidiendo con el equinoccio, desde Puente la Reina y atravesaba simbólicamente las "cien puertas abiertas de la naturaleza". Aunque la tradición de la romería persiste, el sentido y el ritual se han perdido.

Santa Maria of Eunate

is a Romanesque church in free field 2 km from Muruzábal, in Navarre, Spain. Where is joining the road to Santiago of Somport and Roncesvalles. Supposedly the Church was built, in Romanesque style under Mozarabic, influence in the second part of the 12th century. As it is far from a people and met scallops in tombs, believed that it was a hospice for pilgrims. The set is octagonal and surrounded by an arcaded Gallery of 33 arches, with decorated capitals. The octagonal harmony is broken by a pentagonal apse and a turret square semi-detached on the epistle. The outer walls alternate openwork and blind Windows and two gates, the north face the very decorated road and another more simple to West Reportedly, Eunate and found in the vicinity of the encounter of jacobeas routes French and navarra, lies at the junction of two telluric currents, fact which was already known to the builders Knights. One of these flows north to South, address descends from San Juan de Luz and passing megalithic concentrations among Lesaka and Oiarzun, flows through the dolmens of Leitza and Ezkurra, cromlech crosses the sierra sacred Aralar and borders Pamplona before crossing the chapel of Eunate and follow until the Moncayo. Another current, with eastbound to West, comes from Aneto and going through the Centre of San Juan de la Peña and the monastery of Leire, crosses Eunate and delves into the megalithic Alava (Santa Cruz de Campezo, del Villar and La Guardia) area towards the West as a sinuous line parallel to the Camino de Santiago. It is usual that these crosses of energy of the Earth, flows match places of ancient cults to female divinities that fathered, pagan witches and the meigas and the Orthodox side side, the crowd of black virgins whose cult was preferably promoted by Benedictines and Templars, in an attempt to confraternizar old Pagan figure of the Virgin Mary beliefs mother. Thus, the traditional procession held annually in Eunate would, in its origins, a kind of "open day" allowed the plain people benefit from the universal energy there expressed by the mother earth, personified in the Black Madonna presiding cults. Known in the middle ages the motorcade left each spring, coinciding with the Equinox, from Puente la Reina and symbolically crossed "hundred open doors of nature". Although the tradition of the pilgrimage persists, the sense and ritual have lost.

Posible origen templario. Possible origin Templar

Rooftop of the Duomo, Milan Cathedral.

This Gothic cathedral took five centuries to complete and is the fourth-largest church in the world.The cathedral of Milan is often described as one of the greatest churches in the world. The roof is open to tourists, which allows a close-up view of some spectacular sculpture that would otherwise be unappreciated. The roof of the cathedral is renowned for the forest of openwork pinnacles and spires, set upon delicate flying buttresses.

© Yen Baet. All Rights Reserved.

Gold, silver, pearl, amethyst, sapphire, glass, quartz, emerald plasma

Byzantine

Made in probably Constantinople

6th–7th century

These elaborately decorated bracelets have richly jeweled exteriors and finely detailed opus interrasile (openwork) patterns on their interiors. The luminous beauty of pearls was highly prized in the Byzantine world. These bracelets are only two of thirty-four pieces of gold jewelry from Egypt said to have been found near Lycopolis (now Assiut) or Antinoopolis (Antinoe, now Sheik Ibada) in Egypt at the turn of the century. Whether discovered together, or later assembled, they represent the standard of luxury common among the elite in Egypt during the period of Byzantine rule and the close connections between the wealthy province and the capital in Constantinople. Multicolored, or polychrome, jewelry was very popular in the Early Byzantine world.

Moscow. Park Tsaritsyno. Middle Tsaritsynsky pond. Evening.

Camera: Canon Prima Zoom 80u Date (AiAF) [zoom 38-80mm] (№8405914)

Film: Fujifilm Fuji Eterna ??? expired

Scanner: Fujifilm Frontier SP-3000

Photo taken: 06/09/2018

This film Fujifilm Fuji Eterna unknown to me marking, sensitivity and expiry date. Storage conditions are also unknown to me. A couple of months ago I bought 2 rolls of this film for testing. So these photos can be called experimental.

The film was exhibited at 100 ISO. Development of 7 minutes in D-76

_____________

The eastern arch bridge in Tsaritsyno was built in 2005-2007 according to the project of the architect V.S. Keremetchi. One of the two bridges leading to the artificial C-shaped island "Podkova" in the Middle Tsaritsynsky pond. These openwork structures directly connected the front entrance area of the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve with the opposite shore of the pond.

Brass celestial and terrestial globes with instruction manual. German, 17h Century AD. Zwinger, Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon. Dresden, Germany. Copyright 2019, James A. Glazier.

~1760, originally in the Dominican church in Bergues

Brugge

The Belfry of Bruges (Dutch: Belfort van Brugge) is a medieval bell tower in the centre of Bruges, Belgium. One of the city's most prominent symbols, the belfry formerly housed a treasury and the municipal archives and served as an observation post for spotting fires and other dangers.

The belfry was added to the Markt (market square) around 1240, when Bruges was an important centre of the Flemish cloth industry. After a devastating fire in 1280, the upper half of the tower was largely rebuilt.

The octagonal upper stage of the belfry was added between 1483 and 1487, and capped with a wooden spire bearing an image of Saint Michael, banner in hand and dragon underfoot. The spire did not last long: a lightning strike in 1493 reduced it to ashes and destroyed the bells as well. A wooden spire crowned the summit again for some two-and-a-half centuries, before it, too, fell victim to flames in 1741. The spire was never replaced again, thus changing the height of the building from 102 metres (335 ft) to 83 metres (272 ft), which it remains today. However, an openwork stone parapet in Gothic Revival style was added to the rooftop in 1822.

To the sides and back of the tower stands the former market hall, a rectangular building only 44 metres (144 ft) broad but 84 metres (276 ft) deep, with an inner courtyard. The belfry, accordingly, is also known as the Halletoren (tower of the halls).

Since 1999, the belfry has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a part of the Belfries of Belgium and France serial property. In addition, it is a key component of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the historic centre of Bruges, inscribed in 2000.

________________________________________________

Bruges (Dutch: Brugge) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in Belgium. The historic city center is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO.

Early medieval habitation starts in the ninth and tenth centuries on the Burgh terrain, probably with a fortified settlement and church. Bruges received its city charter on 27 July 1128, and new walls and canals were built.

Bruges had a strategic location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League trade. Traders developed, or borrowed from Italy, new forms of merchant capitalism, whereby several merchants would share the risks and profits and pool their knowledge of markets. The city eagerly welcomed foreign traders, most notably the Portuguese traders selling pepper and other spices. With the reawakening of town life in the 12th century, a wool market, a woolens weaving industry, and the cloth market all profited from the shelter of city walls, where surpluses could be safely accumulated under the patronage of the counts of Flanders.

In 1277, the first merchant fleet from the Republic of Genoa appeared in the port of Bruges, the first of the merchant colony that made Bruges the main link to the trade of the Mediterranean. The Bourse opened in 1309 (most likely the first stock exchange in the world) and developed into the most sophisticated money market of the Low Countries in the 14th century. The foreign merchants expanded the city's trading zones. They maintained separate communities governed by their own laws until the economic collapse after 1700.

Starting around 1500, the Zwin channel, (the Golden Inlet) which had given the city its prosperity, began silting up and the Golden Era ended. During the 17th century, the lace industry took off. In the second half of the 19th century, Bruges became one of the world's first tourist destinations, attracting wealthy British and French tourists.

In World War I and World War II, the city suffered virtually no damage, and was liberated on 19 October 1918 by the Allies. After 1965, the original medieval city experienced a "renaissance". Restorations of residential and commercial structures, historic monuments, and churches generated a surge in tourism and economic activity in the downtown area. International tourism has boomed, and new efforts resulted in Bruges being designated European Capital of Culture in 2002. It attracts some eight million tourists annually.

Gilded copper reliquary with applied relief figurines of saints, openwork and engraved Celtic Knots with snakes and dragons, lion heads, stones and crosses. Irish, Medieval, 11th Century AD. National Museum. Dublin, Ireland. Copyright 2016, James A. Glazier

Monastery of Batalha

The Monastery of the Dominicans of Batalha was built to commemorate the victory of the Portuguese over the Castilians at the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. It was to be the Portuguese monarchy's main building project for the next two centuries. Here a highly original, national Gothic style evolved, profoundly influenced by Manueline art, as demonstrated by its masterpiece, the Royal Cloister.

The Chapterhouse

reminds the visitors of the military reason for its foundation: two sentinels guard the tombs of two unknown soldiers killed in World War I.

This square room is especially notable for its star vault lacking a central support and spanning a space of 19 square meters. This was such a daring concept at the time that condemned prisoners were used to perform the task. It was completed after two failed attempts. When the last scaffolds were removed, it is said that Huguet spent the night under the vault in order to silence his critics.

The stained-glass Renaissance window in the east wall dates from 1508. It depicts scenes of the Passion and is attributed to the Portuguese painters Master João and Francisco

Henriques Constructed in fulfilment of a vow by King João to commemorate the victory over the Castilians at Aljubarrota (15 August 1385), the Dominican monastery of Batalha is one of the great masterpieces of Gothic art. The majority of the monumental complex dates from the reign of João I, when the church (finished in 1416), the royal cloister, the chapter-house, and the funeral chapel of the founder were constructed.

Following a brief interruption, work was begun again under King Duarte on the prolongation of the choir, the construction of his funerary chapel and that of his descendants, a spacious edifice based an octagonal plan that the death of the king in 1438 left unfinished. The design has been attributed to the English architect Master Huguet. The chapel's floor plan consists of an octagonal space inserted inside a square, creating two separate volumes that combine most harmoniously. The ceiling consists of an eight-point star-shaped lantern. The most dramatic feature is to be found in the centre of the chapel: the enormous medieval tomb of Dom João I and his wife, Queen Philippa of Lancaster, the first tomb for husband and wife made in Portugal, on which are carved the coats of arms of the Houses of Avis and Lancaster. Bays in the chapel walls contain the tombs of their sons, among them Prince Henry the Navigator.

The main entrance of the church is through the porch on the west facade. On both sides of this portal are sculptures of the twelve apostles standing on consoles. In the centre is a high relief statue of Christ in Majesty surrounded by the Evangelists, framed by six covings decorated with sculptures of biblical kings and queens, prophets and angels holding musical instruments from the Middle Ages. This great profusion of sculptures is completed by the crowning of the Virgin Mary.

The church's interior refers back to the period of sober Gothic majesty that has remained undisturbed by later additions. The nave and aisles are separated by thick pillars crowned by capitals with plant motifs. The chancel windows, decorated with beautiful 16th century stained-glass windows representing the Visitation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Flight into Egypt and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, project a diffused light that gives the church a feeling of great spirituality.

The last great period of Batalha coincided with the reign of Manuel I, who built the monumental vestibule and the principal portal, and restored the royal cloister, built in the reign of Dom João I. The arches overlooking the garden were built later and are embellished with finely carved tracery displaying the emblems of Dom Manuel I, the Cross of the Order of Christ and the armillary sphere. In the galleries are doors leading to the various rooms of the former monastery, beginning with the large Chapter House, a marvellous example of the pointed arches of Gothic architecture, in which the enormous vaulted ceiling has no central supports.

As a monument charged with a symbolic value from its foundation, the convent of Batalha was, for more than two centuries, the great workshop of the Portuguese monarchy. It is not surprising that the roost characteristic features of a national art would have been determined there, during both the Gothic and the Renaissance periods. Batalha is the conservatory of several privileged expressions of Portuguese art: the sober and audacious architectural style of the end of the 14th century, with the stupendous nave of the abbatial, of which the two-storey elevation, whit broad arcades and high windows, renders more impressive its dimensions; the exuberant aesthetic of the capelas imperfeitas; the marvellous flamboyant arcades embroidered in a lace-work of stone: the Manueline Baroque even more perceptible in the openwork decor of the tracery of the arcades of the royal cloister than on the immense portal attributed to Mateus Fernandes the Elder; and finally, the hybrid style of João de Castilho, architect of the loggia constructed under João III

Batalha Monastery Portugal March 2014

See where this picture was taken. [?]

The late 15c / early 16c pulpit spoilt by restoration, which has been removed from its original base and has a very stunted appearance, being surrounded by pews.. The octagonal drum has shafts carved bayleaf frames and nodding ogee canopies with delicately carved openwork tracery above. The niches below were intended for figures of saints. The cornice is of similarly carved vine leaves.

- Church of St Matthew, Coldridge Devon

Picture with thanks - copyright Ian www.cornishchurches.com/Coldridge%20Church%20Devon%20-%20...

Guanyin is the bodhisattva associated with compassion. This is an 11th Century wood sculpture with pigment and gilding from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) located at the St. Louis Art Museum.

The information card states: "The androgynous Guanyin in his jeweled crown is richly clothed in the light, diaphanous silks of an Indian prince. The figure is still and composed, but there is a sense of flowing movement that begins in the complicated openwork of the crown, moves down through the sinuous locks of hair, and continues along the body amid swirls of silk and soft scarves. The relaxed posture known as 'great royal ease' and human scale of this sculpture coincided with the 12th-century idea of making Buddhist images more lifelike and appealing."

Best viewed on black here: View On Black

© All rights reserved - - No Usage Allowed in Any Form Without the Written Consent of the the photographer.

The best way to view my photostream is on Flickriver: Nikon66's photos on Flickriver

Eastgate and Eastgate Clock in Chester, Cheshire, England, stand on the site of the original entrance to the Roman fortress of Deva Victrix. It is a prominent landmark in the city of Chester and is said to be the most photographed clock in England after Big Ben.

The original gate was guarded by a timber tower which was replaced by a stone tower in the 2nd century, and this in turn was replaced probably in the 14th century. The present gateway dates from 1768 and is a three-arched sandstone structure which carries the walkway forming part of Chester city walls. In 1899 a clock was added to the top of the gateway to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria two years earlier. It is carried on openwork iron pylons, has a clock face on all four sides, and a copper ogee cupola. The clock was designed by the Chester architect John Douglas. The whole structure, gateway and clock, was designated as a Grade I listed building on 28 July 1955. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastgate_and_Eastgate_Clock

Chester is a city in northwest England, founded as a Roman fortress in the 1st century A.D. It's known for its extensive, well-preserved Roman walls made of local red sandstone. In the old city, the Rows is a shopping district distinguished by 2-level covered arcades and Tudor-style half-timbre buildings. A Roman amphitheatre, with ongoing excavations, lies just outside the old city's walls.

In this work Truth tears out the double tongue of Falsehood and pushes aside the mask concealing his grotesque features.

Origin: England

Date: 1867-8

Artist/Maker: Alfred Stevens

During the Middle Ages there was tin working at a St Agnes Head tin works site with an extractive pit for openworks and lode back workings. There are also ancient signs of tin works at Wheal Coates, near the Chapel Porth area cliffs.

Cornwall Holiday 2013 04 2644 St Agnes Chapel Bay HDR

~1350

Ayala Museum is an art and history museum located at the corner of Makati Avenue and Dela Rosa Street in Makati City, Metro Manila, the Philippines. As one of the most important private institutions on Philippine art and culture, Ayala Museum not only houses rare and priceless objects, but also protects and promotes the Philippines’ cultural and historical legacy, giving Filipinos a reason to be proud of their heritage—and giving the world a clear picture of who Filipinos really are, and what they can be.

Envisioned in the 1950s by Filipino abstract painter Fernando Zobel, the Ayala Museum was established in 1967 under the auspices of Ayala Foundation, Inc. It began as a museum of Philippine history and iconography, and transformed itself into a museum of fine arts and history as the 20th century drew to a close.

“Re-collecting the past, re-presenting the future” best describes the Ayala Museum’s dual role as a museum of history and of art. As a service to the nation the Museum works hard to bring home—“re-collect the past”—many of the country’s material treasures that have wound up in various parts of the world. This way, Filipinos who may have seen these priceless objects only in pictures, or who may not even be aware that they existed, will have the chance to view them up close, and in their homeland.

At the same time, the fact that there is a global village to which the Philippines belongs makes it necessary for Filipinos to be aware of what goes on in the world, especially in the area of art. This is how the Museum “re-presents the future” by making it clear that the contemporary Philippine art is a part of an international artistic community, where mutual cooperation and exchange are important.

Permanent Exhibitions

* The Diorama Experience — Sixty handcrafted dioramas form the core of Ayala Museum’s historical collections and chronicle the rich tapestry of Philippine history. The exhibition highlights major events and themes from prehistoric times to the recognition of Philippine independence by the United States in 1946. The exhibition culminates with People Power, a multimedia presentation that chronicles the events that led to the First EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986, including the tumultuous 1950s, the riotous martial law years, and the restoration of Philippine democracy by a new kind of uprising. Now, on the occasion 25th year anniversary of the assassination of exiled senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. upon his return to his native land, the multimedia exhibition remains a significant visual testament to the Filipinos’ continuing quest to give meaning and substance to democracy and to the tragedy, challenges, optimism, and triumph of the times.

* Maritime Vessels — The museum also houses a one-of-a-kind boat gallery showcasing miniatures of the different watercrafts that plied the Philippine seas and contributed to the development of Philippine maritime trade and colonial economy.

* Pioneers of Philippine Art: Fernando Zobel — Fernando Zobel was born in Manila in 1924, the youngest child of Enrique Zobel de Ayala, patron of the artist Fernando Amorsolo. In contrast to Amorsolo's intuitive, childhood pre-occupation with drawing, it was as a young adult that Zobel made the conscious decision to become and artist. Zobel discovered that line—changes in its density, its angularity or softness, how it begins or ends—was capable of suggesting movement and a range of emotions analogous to those evoked by color. With the unconventional use of a hypodermic syringe he created a body of works, here exhibited, called Saetas, from a Spanish word meaning both "arrow" and a particular kind of Flamenco dance. Zobel's pioneering experimentation with creative transformations, traversing a wide interpretative range from mimesis to metamorphosis, spawned succeeding generations of abstract artists who today acknowledge his profound influence on their work.

* Gold of Ancestors — This exhibition of more than one thousand gold objects celebrates the sophisticated cultures that existed in the Philippines before colonization in the 16th century. Many of the precious objects here were recovered in association with 10th to 13th century Chinese export ceramics. Similarities in form and iconography with artifacts of other Southeast Asian cultures affirm regional affinities and inter-island contacts that flourished in these archipelagic crossroads of civilizations. Adornments of elite individuals and their deities include a spectacular array of golden sashes, necklaces, earrings and finger rings, bracelets, and anklets. Here, the role of archaeology in reconstructing the past is illuminated, demonstrating how funerary objects become valuable sources of information for subsequent generations of the living.

* Embroidered Multiples — The exhibition features selections from the Leiden National Museum of Ethnology’s collection of Philippine garments acquired from the French diplomat Bréjard, who served in Manila from 1881 to 1886. The collection includes rare, embroidered silk trousers or sayasaya worn by Philippine elite men, formerly known only through nineteenth-century watercolor images. Multiple examples of delicately embroidered nipis blouses provide a lexicon of decorative techniques including relief embroidery, calado openwork, and supplementary weft or suksuk, as well as the changing silhouette of women’s fashion. This unprecedented five-year loan of the Bréjard collection is enhanced by a generous ten-year loan from the private collection of Rina Ortiz, which includes heirloom garments formerly in the Pardo de Tavera collection.

* A Millennium of Contact — Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics found in the Philippines tell the story of how the country forged social and commercial ties with China and its neighbors. This display of more than 500 ceramics provides one of the most comprehensive surveys of Chinese and Southeast Asian trade wares found in the Philippines, spanning a thousand years. These trade ceramics not only serve as a feast for the eyes, but their origins and the periods in which they were produced also provide important data about the past. Proofs of the lively trade that occurred between China and Southeast Asia, these pieces continue to play an important role in the understanding of Philippine history.

Gold and stone (garnet, emerald) inlay bracelet with Herakles knot, openwork grape vine and floral designs. Hellenistic, 3rd Century BC - 2nd Century BC. Special Exhibition: Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World. Metropolitan Museum. New York, New York, USA. Copyright 2016, James A. Glazier.

Center

Yves Saint Laurent French ( born Algeria) 1936-2008

Cocktail Dress , Fall/Winter 1959-60

Designed for Christian Dior , Paris, founded 1946

Silk taffeta

Yves Saint Laurent showed this dress in July 1959 as part of his bombshell collection dubbed the “new, new look” (in comparison to the famous New Look that Christian Dior debuted in 1947). He made skirts a focal point—and the shortest in Paris (to the knee or just above). This one is made of four bands of doubled ruffles with fringed edges. The torso is swathed diagonally in taffeta that is tacked to the underdress over a layer of organza, giving the dress what Vogue magazine praised as a “light, supple young look.” Perhaps not surprising, since Saint Laurent—already the house of Dior’s designer for two years—was just twenty-three years old.

Gift of the Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1997-52-1a

From the Placard: The Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA

www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/873.html

www.ysl.com/us

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Saint_Laurent_(designer)

.....

Cristóbal Balenciaga Spanish (active Spain and France), 1895-1972

Cocktail Dress , Winter 1958

Silk machine-made lace over silk chiffon backed by silk plain weave, rayon satin ribbon

Cristóbal Balenciaga’s “baby-doll” dresses of 1957 and 1958 illustrate his experiments with abstraction and exaggeration of form. A see-through lace dress swings from the shoulders, revealing a slim sheath beneath. The loose overdress, slightly shorter in front, is held away from the body by deep, layered ruffles around the bottom. To ensure the ruffles spring outward, they are tightly gathered and supported underneath by stiff gathered net and openwork bands of nylon horsehair.

Gift of Mrs. T. Charlton Henry, 1975-100-2

From the Placard: The Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA

www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/873.html

www.balenciaga.com/us

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crist%c3%b3bal_Balenciaga

This is an uncomplicated openwork lace knit stitch, which is worked over two rows, creating a mesh fabric.

The stitch pattern is available here: makedoandmendnovice.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-weekly-swatc...

La chaire, sculptée par Robert Verbure, représente des scènes de la vie de saint François, tandis que le long de la balustrade sont des médaillons des saints de l'ordre franciscains. {fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couvent_des_R%C3%A9collets_de_Li%C3...}

Before 1737.

carvings from the old choir screen adorn the pulpit & the communion rail ; here the fox preaches to the geese ; the fox may even be a bishop.

Steel sculpture; female figure of a stilt-walker (Moko Jumbie). Figure has articulated limbs, painted black. Wears a loincloth composed of plastic and synthetic fibres, shoulder pieces made from nylon netting and gold-sprayed metal breast ornaments. Openwork copper pipe skirt soldered together and hooked onto waist of figure. Numerous composite objects attached to figure including wooden masks and comb; metal bells, keys and toy aeroplane; plastic ornaments sprayed gold; textile decorations. Figure wears gold-sprayed leather and synthetic trainers with toes exposed. Wooden mask with attached vertical headdress made of strips of sheet metal sprayed gold with multiple small metal objects attached including keys, figures, chains, and bells. Wings secured to back of figure, sprayed black and gold. Figure has spiral copper armlet on right proper arm.

Created by Zak Ové for the British Museum's Celebrating Africa season.

The Museum commissioned these figures to coincide with London’s Notting Hill Carnival at the end of August. Moko Jumbie figures became a key feature of carnival in Trinidad in the early 1900s. Oral traditions describe the Moko Jumbie as a guardian of villages who could foresee danger and protect inhabitants from evil forces. Traditionally, Moko Jumbie figures wore long colourful skirts or trousers over their stilts and masks covering their faces. They were sometimes accompanied by dwarfs – represented in the installation in the Great Court by two ‘lost souls’, on loan to the Museum from Zak Ové – who provided a visual height contrast.

Zak Ové works with sculpture, film and photography. He uses these ‘new-world’ materials to pay tribute to both spiritual and artistic African identity. This Moko Jumbie display is part of a larger body of work that draws inspiration from the Trinidad carnival. The works are born from Ové’s documentation of and interest in the African Diaspora and African history. The artist’s intellectual and creative responses to this history are filtered through his own personal and cultural upbringing in London and Trinidad. The relationship between carnival and Africa derives from the enforced movement of peoples during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Between around 1500 and 1900, millions of people were transported from West and Central Africa to the Caribbean and North, Central and South America.

Carnival in Trinidad began as a predominantly elite event. In the late 1700s French immigrants arrived on the island to run plantations, bringing with them enslaved Africans. The plantation owners staged elaborate masquerade balls during the carnival season. Africans also brought their own masking traditions of which the Moko Jumbie is but one. Masking for Africans in the Caribbean was a way to connect to ancestors and nature as well as ideas of ‘home’. But traditional masquerades were also used to satirically depict their masters and turn a critical eye on plantation society. After full emancipation in 1838, Africans took over the streets at carnival time, using song, dance and masquerade to re-dress the still existing social inequalities.

[British Museum]

This stack, with its top brickwork removed for safety reasons, served the boiler house for a beam crusher engine in the valley below, and was connected via an inclined flue.

The area of rough ground to the left of the chimney is the site of Navvy Pit. This was part of Wheal Music and was openwork mining for shallow copper lodes in the early 19th century. It later became a rubbish tip and in the 1980's was used to dump waste material from Wheal Concord.

"In the great centre court, a balcony is supported by rows of slender cast-iron columns with elaborate capitals and bases decorated with groups of cherubs. On the balcony, further rows of plain columns and attractive openwork spandrels support the roof."

1st row: 1. Hemp Texture in pewter by Beacon Hill, 2. Hemp Texture in citrus by Beacon Hill, 3. Sparella rayon-polyester chenille in wheat by Robert Allen at Home, 4. Bradenburg polyester in linen by Robert Allen, 5. Floral Web heavy-duty rayon-cotton in antique gold by Beacon Hill.

2nd row: 6. Oscura polyester by Osborne & Little, 7. Giverny Strie by Nina Campell, 8. River Current rayon-polyester in antique gold by Beacon Hill, 9. Genova chenille in butterscotch by Designers Guild, 10. Ode cotton-viscose in parchment by Lee Jofa.

3rd row: 11. Maddaloni velvet in moss by Lee Jofa, 12. Luke twill in bone by Lee Jofa, 13. Nuance Weave viscose-cotton-poly blend in tussah by Groundworks, Lee Jofa, 14. Openwork acrylic-polyester in champagne by Kravet, 15. Oakley Chevron rayon-cotton in honey by Royal Oak, Lee Jofa.

4th row: 16. Sateen Solid wool in buff by Groundworks, Lee Jofa, 17. Oakley Chevron rayon-cotton in sprout by Royal Oak, Lee Jofa, 18. Malva cotton-viscose-polyester in seafoam by Threads, Lee Jofa, 19. Harmony viscose-poly-cotton in sesame by Threads, Lee Jofa, 20. Charlecote cotton in driftwood by Brunschwig & Fils.

5th row: 21. Firle Herringbone chenille in ivory by Brunschwig & Fils, 22. Genova chenille in beech by Designers Guild, 23. Regency velvet in pebble by Robert Allen, 24. Adornment cotton-rayon-poly in silver, for pillows or drapes, by Calico Corners, 25. Moonlight acrylic-cotton-rayon in taupe by Calico Corners.

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Back to Lightwoods Park after about 3 years since my last visit, for a daily walk from here to Warley Woods.

The grass was a bit dry / yellow after a month of no rain.

The Bandstand fully restored.

Grade II listed.

Bandstand, Lightwoods Park, Smethwick

SANDWELL MB HAGLEY ROAD WEST (off)

SP 08 NW

Smethwick

9/82 Bandstand,

Lightwoods Park

II

Bandstand. Late C19. Cast iron on brick base with sheet iron roof.

Octagonal plan. Columns have pedestals and foliated capitals and are linked

by low railings on four sides. Shallow elliptical arches spring from the

capitals, with openwork decoration below oversailing eaves. The roof is a

facetted ogee dome with central cupola. The columns are inscribed: 'LION

FOUNDRY CO KIRKINTILLOCK".

Listing NGR: SP0198685969

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Source: English Heritage

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

I have been traveling to Leuven once a month for some 17 months now, and have not, until yesterday, visited the church of St Peter.

It stands in the centre of the town, opposite the ornate Town Hall, and around most of it is a wide pedestrianised area, so it doesn't feel hemmed in.

It is undergoing renovation, and a large plastic sheet separates the chancel from the rest of the church, and in the chancel, called the treasury, are many wonderful items of art. And maybe due to the €3 entrance fee, I had the chancel to myself, and just my colleagues with me when I photographed the rest.

----------------------------------------------

Saint Peter's Church (Dutch: Sint-Pieterskerk) of Leuven, Belgium, is situated on the city's Grote Markt (main market square), right across the ornate Town Hall. Built mainly in the 15th century in Brabantine Gothic style, the church has a cruciform floor plan and a low bell tower that has never been completed. It is 93 meters long.

The first church on the site, made of wood and presumably founded in 986, burned down in 1176.[1] It was replaced by a Romanesque church, made of stone, featuring a West End flanked by two round towers like at Our Lady's Basilica in Maastricht. Of the Romanesque building only part of the crypt remains, underneath the chancel of the actual church.

Construction of the present Gothic edifice, significantly larger than its predecessor, was begun approximately in 1425, and was continued for more than half a century in a remarkably uniform style, replacing the older church progressively from east (chancel) to west. Its construction period overlapped with that of the Town Hall across the Markt, and in the earlier decades of construction shared the same succession of architects as its civic neighbor: Sulpitius van Vorst to start with, followed by Jan II Keldermans and later on Matheus de Layens. In 1497 the building was practically complete,[1] although modifications, especially at the West End, continued.

In 1458, a fire struck the old Romanesque towers that still flanked the West End of the uncompleted building. The first arrangements for a new tower complex followed quickly, but were never realized. Then, in 1505, Joost Matsys (brother of painter Quentin Matsys) forged an ambitious plan to erect three colossal towers of freestone surmounted by openwork spires, which would have had a grand effect, as the central spire would rise up to about 170 m,[2] making it the world's tallest structure at the time. Insufficient ground stability and funds proved this plan impracticable, as the central tower reached less than a third of its intended height before the project was abandoned in 1541. After the height was further reduced by partial collapses from 1570 to 1604, the main tower now rises barely above the church roof; at its sides are mere stubs. The architect had, however, made a maquette of the original design, which is preserved in the southern transept.

Despite their incomplete status, the towers are mentioned on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France.

The church suffered severe damage in both World Wars. In 1914 a fire caused the collapse of the roof and in 1944 a bomb destroyed part of the northern side.

The reconstructed roof is surmounted at the crossing by a flèche, which, unlike the 18th-century cupola that preceded it, blends stylistically with the rest of the church.

A very late (1998) addition is the jacquemart, or golden automaton, which periodically rings a bell near the clock on the gable of the southern transept, above the main southern entrance door.

Despite the devastation during the World Wars, the church remains rich in works of art. The chancel and ambulatory were turned into a museum in 1998, where visitors can view a collection of sculptures, paintings and metalwork.

The church has two paintings by the Flemish Primitive Dirk Bouts on display, the Last Supper (1464-1468) and the Martyrdom of St Erasmus (1465). The street leading towards the West End of the church is named after the artist. The Nazis seized The Last Supper in 1942.[3] Panels from the painting had been sold legitimately to German museums in the 1800s, and Germany was forced to return all the panels as part of the required reparations of the Versailles Treaty after World War I.[3]

An elaborate stone tabernacle (1450), in the form of a hexagonal tower, soars amidst a bunch of crocketed pinnacles to a height of 12.5 meters. A creation of the architect de Layens (1450), it is an example of what is called in Dutch a sacramentstoren, or in German a Sakramentshaus, on which artists lavished more pains than on almost any other artwork.

In side chapels are the tombs of Duke Henry I of Brabant (d. 1235), his wife Matilda (d. 1211) and their daughter Marie (d. 1260). Godfrey II of Leuven is also buried in the church.

A large and elaborate oak pulpit, which is transferred from the abbey church of Ninove, is carved with a life-size representation of Norbert of Xanten falling from a horse.

One of the oldest objects in the art collection is a 12th-century wooden head, being the only remainder of a crucifix burnt in World War I.

There is also Nicolaas de Bruyne's 1442 sculpture of the Madonna and Child enthroned on the seat of wisdom (Sedes Sapientiae). The theme is still used today as the emblem of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Church,_Leuven

Or Blueberry Muffin from Strawberry Shortcake, my two favorite purple characters from childhood cartoons.

ACCESSORIES: chenille hat I crocheted myself, openwork fishnets from The Garden, Hue purple tights, neon pink socks from Ragstock, Sandlot PF Flyers

OUTFIT: homemade FUCK FINE ART tshirt, traditional Mexican skirt from Olvera Street, F21 rainbow hoodie

"The Belfry of Bruges is a medieval bell tower in the center of Bruges, Belgium. One of the city's most prominent symbols, the belfry formerly housed a treasury and the municipal archives, and served as an observation post for spotting fires and other dangers.

The belfry was added to the Markt (market square) around 1240, when Bruges was an important center of the Flemish cloth industry. After a devastating fire in 1280, the tower was largely rebuilt. The city archives, however, were forever lost to the flames.

The octagonal upper stage of the belfry was added between 1483 and 1487, and capped with a wooden spire bearing an image of Saint Michael, banner in hand and dragon underfoot. The spire did not last long: a lightning strike in 1493 reduced it to ashes, and destroyed the bells as well. A wooden spire crowned the summit again for some two-and-a-half centuries, before it, too, fell victim to flames in 1741. The spire was never replaced again, thus making the current height of the building somewhat lower than in the past; but an openwork stone parapet in Gothic Revival style was added to the rooftop in 1822."

Hair: Truth – Briony

Skin: Glam Affair – Cassiopea

Eyeliner: Pekka – Vintage Cat Eyeliner

Eyes & Lashes: Glam Affair – Stella Eyes & Regina Eyelashes

Nails: Mandala – Nail Palette 2 Long

Dress: Mon Tissu – Silk Tucked Pencil Dress

Stockings: Zaara – Chanchal Stockings

Shoes: Mon Tissu – Openwork Wedges

Earrings & Necklace: WTG – Dignity Set

Rings: Paper Couture – Limelight Ring & Golden Wings Ring

Clutch: Mon Tissu – Envelope Clutch

Poses: aDORKable Poses

Ori Kiri Column Miura Fold and Half Octagon Accordion.

youtu.be/cBL6ABu6X6Q

#origami #tessellation #corrugation #PaperStructures #plissage #collapsible

The case was made in 1714 by Marc-Antoine Dallam {1673-1730}, a member of a distinguished family of organ builders. Much of the original instrument is said to be extant, but its original character will have been lost several times over. In 1894 it was moved from the west gallery to the north transept, where it blocks the view of a 16th-century alabaster monument.