3 posts tagged “unesco”
I'm catching up on my blogging: Here are my impressions from a long weekend in Prague in August of 2007. To state it bluntly, Prague is everything it's cranked up to be :)
People come to Prague for the history, the architecture, the beer. And these are all good reasons to make the journey. The Old town was my favorite. The narrow streets are basically unchanged for centuries. Whenever you come around a corner, there's a fascinating facade, an ancient church, a hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Granted you can find a more affordable meal elsewhere and many of the shops are tourist traps. So what -- just walk past them and marvel in the beauty and charm of the Old Town.
Another thing to enjoy in Prague is the food. There are plenty of excellent restaurants and compared to prices in Western Europe, they are still quite affordable. We had both dinner and lunch at the strangely named Cowboy Restaurant. This excellent restaurant inhabits several buildings that climb the hill beneath Prague's ancient castle. The view is great and so is the food. I was especially impressed by the tuna tartare.
If you drink beer, make sure to sample the Czeck variety. You get good beer all over town, but why not try a micro brewery? U Medvidku and Klasterny Pivovar are both in or close to the Old Town.
In the Middle Ages, architects used great animals like lions and eagles or fantasy animals like griffins and gargoyles to decorate the great Gothic cathedrals. Gaudí's church of the Holy Family, la Sagrada Familia, looks like a Gothic cathedral at first glance, but it is certainly not.
When you look closer, you might get the impression that the great church is inspired by fairy tales or fantasy literature. But if you take your time and look at the details, you will find that Gaudí's main source of inspiration was nature. Everywhere you see plants and animals and they are there for a reason.
On the Nativity Facade, one of the columns is carried by a great big turtle and another is decorated with a chameleon. When asked about this, Gaudí said that the turtle represents the careful speed by which the Church moves through the centuries and the chameleon symbolizes the ability the Church has to adapt to the cultures it meets around the world.
In the interior of the church, the columns all look like trees. One day, when this great building is completed, its nave will be like a forest. On the roofs of the transepts there are little spires all topped with baskets of fruits like strawberries, olives and almonds (see the photo in this post). They are not merely decorative -- nothing here is -- they represent the fruits of the Spirit.
La Sagrada Familia is like no other church I have seen and visiting it freed my mind to think of God in new ways. After all, God too must be like nothing I have seen :)
If you want to read more about la Sagrada Familia, have a look at the Wikipedia article.
Photo by WordRidden.
Among my favorite souvenirs from 2006 are the memories and photos from the creations Gaudí in Barcelona. Not many architects can build a house that makes you change your opinion of what a house is. Gaudi certainly coud and he did over and over again!
Antoni Gaudí was one of the greatest architects of the 20th century, and a great innovator. His architecture and art is inspired by nature: His method for building arches is inspired by trees, his stairwells inspired by snail shells and the details and decorations are inspired by every kind of plant or animal you can imagine.
Gaudí lived most of his life in Barcelona, and the city has several famous buildings and landmarks designed by him. I have visited two homes, both museums: Casa Batllo and Casa Mila. They are both typical of Gaudí's style and yet very different.
Casa Batllo
Casa Batllo is inspired by the ocean -- the house has soft fluid lines and all kinds of nuances of the color blue. This house is very delicate and even the fascade has very fine details. Gaudí even designed the furniture -- it's very functional and very beautiful, very modern yet with a classical feel to it.
Casa Mila
Casa Mila is called The Quarry by the locals and you can see why. The exterior is made of roughly cut stone and the building has a heavy, monumental character -- the oposite of the light and delicate details of Casa Batllo. In the attic of Casa Mila you can take a free audio tour that will give you a lot of interesting details of Gaudí's methods of construction.
Parc Güell
Parc Güell was ment to be an exclusive residetial area where people could buy lots and Gaudí designed the houses and the park around. For some reason the project wasn't very popular and only 2 or 3 houses were ever built. The park was still completed and today it is a great place to spend a day walking in beautiful surroundings. And the view of Barcelona from the park is spectacular. My friend Tor has a post about Parc Güell.
Gaudí's most famous work is the Church of the Holy Family, la Sagrada Familia. That fascinating building is material for another post.
There are more great photos of Gaudí's masterpieces in my Gaudí collection (click on the image to the left). I also recommend the web site that was published for the 150th anniversary of his birth in 2002.
