The Prince’s Palace of Monaco

23 December 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  8 minutes

Rocher de Monaco, with Palais de Monaco © Georges Jansoone/cc-by-3.0

Rocher de Monaco, with Palais de Monaco © Georges Jansoone/cc-by-3.0

The Prince’s Palace of Monaco is the official residence of the Prince of Monaco, located in Monaco-Ville. Built in 1191 as a Genoese fortress, during its long and often dramatic history it has been bombarded and besieged by many foreign powers. Since the end of the 13th century, it has been the stronghold and home of the Grimaldi family who first captured it in 1297. The Grimaldi ruled the area first as feudal lords, and from the 17th century as sovereign princes, but their power was often derived from fragile agreements with their larger and stronger neighbours. Thus while other European sovereigns were building luxurious, modern Renaissance and Baroque palaces, politics and common sense demanded that the palace of the Monegasque rulers be fortified. This unique requirement, at such a late stage in history, has made the palace at Monaco one of the most unusual in Europe. Indeed, when its fortifications were finally relaxed during the late 18th century, it was seized by the French and stripped of its treasures, and fell into decline, while the Grimaldi were exiled for over 20 years.   read more…

The Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth

28 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Dickbauch~commonswiki/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Dickbauch~commonswiki/cc-by-sa-3.0

Wahnfried was the name given by Richard Wagner to his villa in Bayreuth. The name is a German compound of Wahn (delusion, madness) and Fried(e), (peace, freedom). According to Richard Wagner’s wife Cosima the name came to mind after visiting the picturesque town of Wahnfried in Hesse.   read more…

The Museum Mile in New York City

14 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, New York City, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  3 minutes

Metropolitan Museum of Art © Fcb981/cc-by-sa-3.0

Metropolitan Museum of Art © Fcb981/cc-by-sa-3.0

Museum Mile is the name for a section of Fifth Avenue running from 82nd to 105th streets on the Upper East Side, in an area sometimes called Upper Carnegie Hill. The Mile, which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world, is actually three blocks longer than one mile (1.6 km). Nine museums occupy the length of this section of Fifth Avenue. A tenth museum, the Museum for African Art (today The Africa Center), joined the ensemble in 2009; its Museum at 110th Street, the first new museum constructed on the Mile since the Guggenheim in 1959, opened in late 2012.   read more…

Theme Week Amsterdam – The Van Gogh Museum

11 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  8 minutes

Van Gogh Museum © Taxiarchos228/cc-by-sa-3.0

Van Gogh Museum © Taxiarchos228/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. It is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on 3 June 1973. It located in buildings designed by Gerrit Rietveld and Kisho Kurokawa. The museum’s collection is the largest collection of Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings in the world. In 2013, the museum had 1.4 million visitors, and was the 2nd most visited museum in the Netherlands and the 35th most visited art museum in the world. In 2014, the museum had 1.6 million visitors.   read more…

The Freedom Tower in Miami

4 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Miami / South Florida, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  7 minutes

Freedom Tower © Tom Schaefer/cc-by-sa-2.5

Freedom Tower © Tom Schaefer/cc-by-sa-2.5

The Freedom Tower is a building in Miami, designed by Schultze and Weaver. It is currently used as a contemporary art museum and a central office to different disciplines in the arts associated with Miami Dade College. It is located at 600 Biscayne Boulevard on the Wolfson Campus of Miami Dade College. On September 10, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark on October 6, 2008. On April 18, 2012, the AIA‘s Florida Chapter placed the building on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Freedom Tower / Formerly Miami News and Metropolis Building.   read more…

The Moscow Manege

31 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Philipp Hienstorfer/cc-by-2.5

© Philipp Hienstorfer/cc-by-2.5

The Moscow Manege is a large oblong building which gives its name to the vast Manege Square, which was cleared in the 1930s and lies adjacent to the more famous Red Square. A manège is an indoor riding academy.   read more…

The Arab World Institute in Paris

24 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  6 minutes

Pont de Sully (front) with the Institut du Monde Arabe in the background to the right, to the left the northern buildings of the Jussieu Campus © David Monniaux/cc-by-sa-3.0

Pont de Sully (front) with the Institut du Monde Arabe in the background to the right, to the left the northern buildings of the Jussieu Campus © David Monniaux/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Arab World Institute (abbreviated “AWI”; French: Institut du Monde Arabe, abbreviated “IMA”) is an organization founded in Paris in 1980 by 18 Arab countries with France to research and disseminate information about the Arab world and its cultural and spiritual values. The Institute also promotes cooperation and exchanges between France and the Arab nations, particularly in the areas of science and technology, contributing to the understanding between the Arab world and Europe. Libya joined the institute in 1984.   read more…

Theme Week Rome – Villa Borghese, Villa Massimo and Villa Medici

17 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  13 minutes

Galleria Borghese © Alessio Damato

Galleria Borghese © Alessio Damato

VILLA BORGHESE
Villa Borghese is a large landscape garden in the naturalistic English manner in Rome, containing a number of buildings, museums (see Galleria Borghese) and attractions. It is the second largest public park in Rome (80 hectares or 148 acres) after that of the Villa Doria Pamphili. The gardens were developed for the Villa Borghese Pinciana (“Borghese villa on the Pincian Hill”), built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese, who used it as a villa suburbana, a party villa, at the edge of Rome, and to house his art collection. The gardens as they are now were remade in the early nineteenth century.   read more…

The artists’ colony Worpswede

3 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  8 minutes

Kaffee Worpswede (Cafe and Restaurant) © Till F. Teenck

Kaffee Worpswede (Cafe and Restaurant) © Till F. Teenck

Worpswede is a municipality in the district of Osterholz, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Teufelsmoor, northeast of Bremen. The small town itself is located near the Weyerberg hill. It has been the home to a lively artistic community since the end of the 19th century, with over 130 artists and craftsmen working there.   read more…

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