|
 |
Search page by tag: original |
 |
|
 The Great Sphinx of Egypt
Country: Egypt
City: Cairo
In a depression to the south of Chephren's pyramid sits a creature with a human head and a lion's body. The name 'sphinx' which means 'strangler' was first given by the Greeks to a fabulous creature which had the head of a woman and the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The sphinx appears to have started in Egypt in the form of a sun god. The Egyptian sphinx is usually a head of a king weari ... |
St. Basil's CathedralCountry: Russia
City: Moscow
The famous St. Basil's Cathedral was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible and built on the edge of Red Square between 1555 and 1561. Legend has it that on completion of the church the Tsar ordered the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, to be blinded to prevent him from ever creating anything to rival its beauty again. The cathedral was built to commemorate Ivan the Terrible's successful military campaign a ... |
History of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and the Kunsthaus collectionCountry: Switzerland
City: Zurich
History of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and the Kunsthaus collection Founded in 1787, the Künstlergesellschaft began to collect works of art in 1794. Every member donated either one of his or her own drawings or one by an artist towards what they termed a ‘Malerbuch’ – a painting book. In 1812 they took out a loan to acquire premises, which initially functioned as a club house and bar. Thank ... |
Opera House - OpernhausCountry: Switzerland
City: Zurich
Zurich received its first permanent theatre, the “Aktientheater”, in 1834. This was also the centre of Richard Wagner’s activities during his Zurich exile. Today’s theatre, which seats 1,100, was built near Bellevue to plans by the Viennese architects Fellner and Helmer in 1891 after the 1834 building burnt down. To begin with, both music and drama were performed at what was known as the “Stadtthe ... |
History of the Swiss National MuseumCountry: Switzerland
City: Zurich
The Swiss National Museum, ZurichThe 19th century is generally regarded as the century of nations and nation states. While other countries were busily erecting memorials, monuments and institutions, though, the young federal state of Switzerland struggled with the idea of setting up a national museum.
Plans to create one met with widespread scepticism, and there were also entirely pragmatic reas ... |
The Fraumunster and St Peter’s ChurchCountry: Switzerland
City: Zurich
Church spires are a feature of Zurich and the souring Fraumunster is the most delicate. The church was established in the 13th century on a site that had been a convent for noblewomen since 853. The present church, however, has been modernized. From the outside, the building looks fairly unassuming but once inside, the world-famous modernistic stained-glass windows by Russian-born Marc Chagall spr ... |
Leopoldskron Castle - Schloss LeopoldskronCountry: Austria
City: Salzburg
One of Austria’s most notable Rococo buildings is Leopoldskron Castle, a beautiful piece of architecture by the little lake “Leopoldskroner Weiher”. It was ordered by Prince Archbishop Leopold Anton Firmian, who also built Schloss Klessheim, in order to accommodate him and his family. He hired the architect Pater Bernhard Stuart, who was a Benedictine monk from Regensburg in Bavaria and a Professo ... |
Mirabell GardensCountry: Austria
City: Salzburg
The world-famous Mirabell Gardens were built along a north-south axis and oriented towards the Hohensalzburg Fortress and the Salzburger Dom cathedral. The original gardens were re-modelled according to plans by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach under the reign of Prince Archbishop Johann Ernst Thun in 1689.
Only some decades later, Franz Anton Danreiter altered them again in 1730, shaping what ... |
Island Of LundyCountry: United Kingdom
City: Salzburg
This little, windswept, granite island lies at the mouth of the Bristol Channel where it meets the Atlantic . Only 5 kilometres (3 miles) long by 0.8 kilometre (1/2 mile) wide, with an area of just over 405 hectares (1,000 acres), it has fewer than 20 permanent residents, employed by the Landmark Trust, which manages the island for the National Trust. There are three lighthouses (two in use), one ... |
Town HallCountry: Belgium
City: Brussels
The Town Hall of Brussels, Belgium, stands on that city's famous Grand Place.
The oldest part of the present Town Hall is its east wing. This wing, together with a small belfry, was built from 1402 to 1420 under direction of Jacob van Thienen, and future additions were not originally foreseen. However, the admission of the craft guilds into the traditionally patrician city government probably spu ... |
|
|
|
