Pompeii and life; you thought you had it good...

The city of Pompeii started out as a port for Phoenicians and Greeks to ride out storms about 800BC.  Because of its climate, natural harbor and fertile farmlands, it became a popular place to live in, but by the time of the Summer of '79 (AD),  after being a Roman city for only 169 years, and a popular summer resort, it came to an end.  Our contemporary city of Pompei, built right up to the edges of the ancient ruins, was located there for the same reasons that the original settlers had for being there.

The elaborate Ionic Capitol above is set on a half column, mostly as a pedistal in a spot right next to the forum.  The column is made of brick with a hard plaster coat around it in the fluted Greek mode.  All the structures were covered by a several meter thick volcanic ash ruble from the plume which rose over 10 miles above Vesuvius and rushed toward Pompeii with a powerful wind.  The immense heat and thick ash doomed the city.

Below, the construction can be seen, the main and original forum is beyond.

Here is the main Forum, the heart of the city, with Vesuvius 5km away, an everpresent sight. 

The Fourm had large public buildings surrounding it, temples and government offices, united by the ring of columns seen above.

Walking along the edge of the Forum along the Cardo, the main N-S street, Vesuvius gets larger for us, but the ancient Pompeiians weren't able to see it from here, as the buildings were so large.

Up ahead is the last remaining business,

Pizza and fast food for the turisti.  Actually... 

...this was the 'Pizza' spot.

There are several of these businesses around the town, where grain was milled above in those funnel topped

mills.  The grain was poured in the top, the workers turned the mill with wooden arms 

set in the square holes, and the farina came out the bottom.  Fresh and put to use with water and whatever, and popped right into the waiting ovens, daily, and sold to those for snack or to take home.  Not too much taking home as most ate out with others, a kind of constant party between work.  Slowfood made quickly...

This is a part of the baths, showing skylights and milling about area, I guess.

The ceilings are beautifully incised with plaster decorations.  Note the broken panel...

...here can be seen the hollow channels within the walls.  The ancients had wood fires below and the tile floor was heated, as were the walls with the heat rising through the ducts.  No need for that extra muffler here.

This is the ante room, where one stowed his/her toga and stuff, in the cubbies between the carved dieties.

Home, for those who had one, usually had a central cortile, for water, 

though they did have a sophisticated aquaduct system for the city, kitchen herbs and verdure.

The access to the sun allowed light into the house as the walls abutted others and there were no windows.  

Rooms opened up to the cortile, like this richly colored room.

Or, this room from the Villa of Misteri, with wall panels showing initiation rites for brides to be.

And au currant tile floors...

with wonderful, painstaking detail throughout.

Here. a visitor is walking across the inner circle where the audience sat in

their chairs, others sat in their chair in the wide arc, and the rest

sat on the stone theater steps above.  This large theater is used today as part of  PompeiiViva, a

summer series designed to activate the city.  The original egressi are used to good effect.  The stage, 

seen in front of the wall to the left, is under reconstruction at the moment.

Originally, there were canvas awnings over parts of the audience to provide shade, the vertical posts can be seen behind the girls above, and below:

In this view, the theater can be seen on the other side of the courtyard wall, 

showing the tall posts and seating.

Another theater, quite smaller, known as the Odeion, was enclosed by a roof.  This little theater was acoustically excellent.  It was for reciting odes. Above is a Japanese tour group, and a visitor watches...

as one, a tenor, tries out the accoustics with

his rendering of o sole mio...Bellissimo!

We walked toward the necropolis, the modern city of Pompei is jammed right up to the edges of the

old city.  We are lucky that it was found and protected in time...

We continue to walk the old streets toward our egress and

a wonderful pranza at the Casa Lucius in the outer world.

with thanks to ST, for the photos of the visitor.

Un Giorni in Berlino

I arrived in Berlin on Friday evening and went straight to my hotel on Kurfurstendamm, which seems to be the strassa to shop.
It was 15 minutes from the Tegel airport to the hotel, easiest airport access I ever experienced.  

In the morning I hopped on a bus to get to the Reichstag, Norman Foster's great renovation of the German capitol.  On the way the bus stopped at the Tiergarten, and I got out at the Zoo.  As I followed the paths in the Tiergarten, I got to the Aquarium, and I realized that the Dolphins were not playing, the first sign of bad omens.  When I got to the Reichstag, the number one thing to see in Berlin, I was told that I would need a reservation 7 days in advance...security rears it foolish head.

The Brandenburg Gate

So, no Dolphins, no Sir Norman, we still have Schinkel.  Karl Fredrick Schinkel helped reorganize Berlin in the early 19th century with his planning and great buildings.  As I passed through the Brandenburg Gate to what was East Berlin, new buildings abound.

Looking back, the sense of the new city seems alive.

This is the first antica building I see, Schinkel's neoclassical Neue Wache, a chapel which was repurposed as a

Memorial to Victims of Militarism and Tyranny. 

The interior is empty save for the light and the sculpture of a mother with her dead child in bronze.

Altes Museum

Just over the bridge is the Lustgarten with the Altes Museum facing onto it.  The other museums, on the museum island are behind the Altes.  Schinkel imagined this museum island and set his grande neoclassical museum on the central axis facing his enormous Public Garden.

As one enters the museum, the greatness of Greece and Rome express themselves above.

And on either side the portico runs across the facade, the marble rosso is faux, it was restored 30 years ago, after the paint  had long vanished.

The stairway is designed as external, open to the weather, museums at thebeginning, may have been thought of as a seasonal divertment.  The renovation enclosed the stairhall with glass butted to the flutes of the greek columns of the interior, sensitive, and invisible from the exterior.  

The Altes contains many of the items found in the earliest excavations of Greek civilization by the Germans in the early 19th century.  These amphora are ideal images of the palaestra:

It should not have to be noted that these were the ideals of the enlightenment and were carried west by settlers in the new frontier on the United States, naming their towns after Greek places and myths.   Athens, Apollo, Minveva, Arcadia, Aurora, Clio, Corith, Diana, Fortuna, Delphi, Oracle, Hector, Parthenon, Elysian, Marathon, Olympia, Neptune, Paris, Sparta, Troy, Vesta,  and many more town names populate our states. 

These Amphora are beautiful examples of the Greek craftsman's virtu.

Behind the Altes Museum are 4 other museums in a Park enclosed by an elegant colonade.

With a bronze Diana among many garden sculptures...

The Pergamon Museum contains the Pergamon Alter and other great finds from Archeological digs in the 19th Century.  The scale of the Pergamon Alter above is domestic, an important detail not visible from text book photos.

This blue glazed tile wall is one part of a large palace from Babylon, it is amazing the craftsmanship and knowledge which went into this building, now in Berlin.  Good thing the Germans got it before Rumsfeld got his operation going.

And from the Nueumuseum, destroyed in WWII, and rebuilt,  a goddess:

I need to mention that this museum of Egyptology has a room devoted to the bust of Nefertiti, no photos allowed.  This sculpture, in real life, is so much more powerful than any of its photographs, probably the most beautiful sculpture to come from Egypt.

I left after Blitzing these 5 museums to see something modern and went to the Kulturforum, home to the Philharmonic Hall, the Neue Museum and one or two others.  Hans Scharoun's Philharmonia from 1962 is a wonder, its orchestra in the round approach allows the German romantic music to reverberate through the house.  No concerts this week.
 The exterior, clad in a golden aluminum, leaves something to be desired.  Today,techi materials are more abundant and he would have made a better choice, though a red brick would not be a poor choice as the main element.....Here we view it from the interior of
Mies's NueuNationalGallery.

The National Gallery has modernist art from the 20th Century, mostly German, all housed in the basement, which opens on to a sunken garden.  The main floor, which we all know from photographs, houses coat closets, ticketing areas and an occasional spectacle...

Here is some sort of sound influenced colored shapes projected on the interior of a white nylon cube.

They at least could have a caffe here, allowing the public to enjoy the space, such as it is, without chaos.

Here is Mies's big idea, the disappearing corner.  Thinking Vitruvius long dead, he never thought he might be judged on something as banal as Utiliti, such as, the ability to hang and judge art...

This evening is the night of the huge moon, and when I got back to Venezia, it was over the basino di San Marco...

...welcoming me back home.

Palazzo Grimani, a Rinascimentale jewel

At first sight, from a small ponte, there is something different about the Palazzo Grimani.  It is classical, not gothic, Venetian Gothic, with the arabesque arches and off center fenestration on the facade.  The Grimani has no facade, it is more or less uniform in its classical arched windows and penetrations on all sides. 

 Here it is visible as one approaches by boat, the service and main entry is one large arched doorway, the whole set at a place where the canal widens at an intersection, allowing maneuverable space for any boat that can get there.

The land entry is similar in size and is at the end of a calle, marked by a rusticated entry and an elaborate window above.  It sends a message that this is different from the plebian calle, but it does not have the impressive facade we usually associate with a Venetian palazzo.  

It has been a Grimani Palazzo for centuries, in 1532 Giovanni Grimani inherited as a typical Venetian palazzo. Giovanni started to expand it with the help of probably several architects, such as Sansovino and Palladio, but it is thought that he did much of the design himself.  He was an passionate collector of antica and contemporary art, much of his collection is now in the Corrier Museum.  A man of the Renaissance he was also a Bishop of the church and Patriarch of Aquileia.  His expansion doubled the size of the palazzo, generated the commodious square courtyard and the beautiful well proportioned rooms in the upper quarters, all in the classical style of the intelligencia of the time.  Quite unlike Venice itself.

The last Grimani in line died in 1865, and by 1960 most of the remaining valuables had been sold and the building was in a state of abandonment.  In 1981, the city of Venice purchased it and started a complete resurection in 2001.  It has been open to the public for only 3 years.  It is unquestionably a most generous and welcoming building.

* * * * * * * *  *

The entry.

Here the generous sensibility of the courtyard, and its simultaneous utility is evident,  inside...

...the entry stair is totally welcoming, service entries are elsewhere.

And looking down from the loggia above, Giovanni could see his guests arrive and greet them with aplomb.

And at the end of this grand entry room, he could view down to the canal and loading area.

The ponte is seen beyond.

His public rooms are the coup though,
Here is one with a garden painted on the ceiling.

and a view to one of his sculptures through the door.

This fine room in the high mannerist style is beautifully restored.

And this:  La Tribuna.

With light from above...

This super-Michaelangelesque room was filled with Giovanni's sculptures
 from antiquity in the niches, on the brackets, and just about everywhere.

The Bosch show, which ended yesterday, is represented in the lower right.  The 3 Bosch  paintings were painted in Venice in the 3-4 years around 1500, and were housed in the palazzo before
 Giovanni gave them to the Venetian state.

Showing the depth of the wall and the available space for the 130 antiqua now at the Corrier.



And
Zeus grasping Ganymede

Hanging from is original (Grimani) position after almost 500 years...