The real Ponte Vecchio in Florence

The Ponte Vecchio bridge was first built in Roman times to span the Arno River at its narrowest point. Older versions of the bridge were burnt, flooded or destroyed by armies until the version that we see today was completed in 1345. From these earliest times, the bridge always provided shop-space for merchants who displayed their goods for customers walking past.

So what was the Vasari Corridor and how did it differ from the older parts of the Ponte Vecchio? A spacious corridor, nearly 1k in length, was built in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari. Vasari was just the man for the commission – he was an architect, to be sure, but also a painter and an art historian. And his finest building was Florence’s Uffizi which he had built as recently as 1560.
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Ponte Vecchio, inc Vasari Corridor (top storey), seen from the Arno

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It linked up the Pitti Palace, where the Duke Cosimo I de Medici of Florence (1519–74) resided, with the Uffizi/offices where he worked. The timing was excellent since Duke Cosimo’s son Francesco de' Medici (1541–87) married Joanna of Austria, youngest daughter of Ferdinand I Holy Roman Emperor, in a glittering ceremony in Dec 1565. But there is also the clear suggestion that this art loving duke was also an authoritarian ruler who secured his power through brute force. Secrecy and secure movement served Duke Cosimo I well.
                                                          
The Vasari Corridor (and Uffizi) agreed with the idea of a nervous Cosimo, but they added another suggestion. The idea was to get the thirteen Guilds and Magistrates who administered the city under one roof, and in close proximity to Cosimo so he could control them better. As a collateral benefit the Medicis were to get the top floor for their art, theatre etc without extra costs.
                                                             
As you can see in the map below, the Corridor goes on top of the shops on the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge over the River Arno that linked the Uffizi on the north bank with the Pitti Palace on the south bank. On the south side, the corridor actually passes through the interior of the church of Santa Felicita, over the top of the Guicciardini family’s houses and gardens, and ends at the Boboli gardens and Pitti Palace.
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Self-portraits section of the Vasari Corridor

Even if you have seen every gallery and cathedral across Europe, and even if you have shopped till you dropped on the Ponte Vecchio, the probability is that you will never have visited this art space. Organised tours begin in the Uffizi itself. Small group are taken from room to room, then the guide opens a modest door into the Vasari Corridor.

The corridor itself is unadorned. But the collection of art is impressive and the views through the windows are even better. A Florentine in Florence has wonderful photos of the views from the small oval windows. Apparently the windows were built into the corridor so that Duke Cosimo I de Medici could walk across his parts of the town safely AND see what was going on from the vantage point well above Ponte Vecchio. These days, if the visitor looks out, he will see nothing more subversive than hordes of tourists and shopkeepers, haggling with each other.

Vasari's own self-portrait c1567

The art contents of the Vasari Corridor are not a mere continuation of works hanging in the Uffizi's galleries. Rather there are two very interesting collections in the Corridor that deserve separate attention. The smaller collection is of charming miniature paintings, amassed from over the centuries of art history.

The larger collection is of artists’ self portraits. This gallery includes 2000 works from all important artists, including many of the masters whose works appear on the walls of the Uffizi eg Titian, Giorgio Vasari, Antonio Canova, Bernini, Jacques-Louise David and Chagall.

Museums of Florence say that this unique group of self portraits was created by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici in the mid 17th century, although it is still receiving regular additions to the collection. Three Pipe Problem connects to a fine BBC video where Andrew Graham-Dixon examines the development of these art objects over the generations. A corridor is therefore a fitting shape, since the very best way to discuss a linear progression would be via a long, straight line. My favourite self portraits weren't even painted when Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici assembled the first works: Rosalba Carriera 1709, Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Lebrun 1790 and John Singer Sargent 1907.

expanding map, Uffizi-Ponte Vecchio-Pitti Palace

I have walked all over Florence many times, and had never heard of the Vasari Corridor until my son went to a wedding there. In any case the corridor was only restored and reopened to the public in 1973, and even now it can only be visited in groups who plan well in advance.

As the corridor will be closed for 3 years from late October 2011 for a major restoration work, I recommend that would-be viewers book quickly. For those who cannot get to Florence, I recommend the book by Ann J. Reavis called Walking in the Footsteps of the Duke: The Vasari Corridor in Florence, 2003.

Colourful islands and coastal cities

As a tourist, I was delighted to see very colourful houses in Mediterranean islands or coastal towns like Sidi Bou Said (Tunisian town), Santorini and Mykinos (Greek islands), Burano (Italian island), Perpignan (French town) and Alicante (Spanish town). In Perpignan houses are painted in bright oranges, yellows or pinks, and the shutters are painted in a colour different from that on the walls. In Cassis near Marseille, the back roads are lined with the brightly coloured homes of fishermen. In Mirepoix, a southern French town near Carcassonne, the brightly coloured houses have high windows, contrasting shutters and slightly sloping roofs.

Burano, 

an Italian island

It did not surprise me to read about equally colourful towns in hot, musical places like Cuba, Curacao, San Juan in Puerto Rico, barrio viejo of Tucson USA and Zacatecas in Mexico. And thanks to Art Deco Buildings blog for recommending that I have a look at Bo Kaap, Cape Town in South Africa. called the Bo-Kaap area. In a predominantly Muslim section of the town, the houses might be small but they are painted in very bright colours!

My thinking, based on no historical reading, went like this: Mediterranean and Caribbean towns are geographically isolated from the mainland and therefore do not have to behave "respectably". Furthermore they tend to be hot, relaxed places where people swim semi-naked, eat under palm trees and sway to tropical music.

Of course heat by itself is not enough of a defining factor. After all, I cannot imagine coloured houses, naked swimming or Caribbean music in very hot cities like Baghdad.

But some cool temperate or cold places were an absolute surprise eg St John Newfoundland in Canada, Honnisvag in Norway, Tobermory in Scotland, Llandeilo in Wales, Cork in Ireland, Bristol in England or St Peter Port in Guernsey.

Cork, 

Ireland

Thus we have a unpredictable assortment of colourfully painted towns that radically differ from each other on climate, religion and life style. In each island or town, I would like to know how the decision to paint the houses came about. Was there a long history of colourful homes in those particular places or did the decision come about suddenly? Did the directors of tourism services suggest that lively, colourful towns would attract outside visitors more, especially in colder or duller climates? Does the town council in these places have the right to approve the colours selected by individual householders?

St John's Newfoundland, 

Canada

And does the size of the town or the island make any difference to decision-making? Tobermory on Mull only has a population of 500 people and although its association with the British Fisheries Society was once hugely successful locally, this Scottish town didn't have to consult many people before it made its decisions. The population of Burano might be 4,000 and Nuuk might have 14,000 citizens, but they are still very small. Yet St John's Newfoundland has almost 200,000 residents, so could not possibly paint every house and business brightly. What they have done, in this bigger city, is to restrict the bright colours to the Victorian and heritage buildings. This is very similar solution to the one chosen by San Francisco, an even larger city.

Tobermory on Mull, 

Scotland

Occasionally historians can get glimpses of decision making. Sometimes the decision was made without much planning. It has been suggested that Italian migrants, who settled in La Boca in Buenos Aires from 1880 onwards, could not afford paint for their houses. So they used the left over paint that was used to protect the ships in the dock. Ookpik found more historical thinking in the choice of colours in Nuuk, Greenland i.e that modern Nuuk citizens wanted to keep the traditional feel of the town’s original Dutch settlers.

Bo Kaap, Cape Town, 

South Africa

Travelblog Jodhpur reported that most buildings in Jodhpur are painted medium blue which makes this Indian city a stunning sight. The blue painting was originally only used by the Brahmin caste but soon others joined in; the colour was said to deflect the heat and keep mosquitoes away.
                                                                    

Curacao, former Netherlands Antilles

I can imagine that far from continuing a long and much loved tradition from the past, some cities wanted a clean break from their past. Touropia reported that the new mayor of Tirana in Albania launched a campaign to add colour to the city that he felt had been dull under the communists. In 2000, apartment blocks and public buildings were painted in intense pinks, greens and blues.

Interestingly, I could only find one individual who was responsible for changing the colour preferences of an entire town. Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger’s own palace at Sidi Bou Said in northern Tunisia was completed straight after WW1. Not only did he love bright blue and white for his own architecture – he also asked the rest of the town to paint their homes similarly.

Nyhavn Copenhagen

Denmark

Edward Elgar's favourite architecture

At the age of 42 and after decades of struggle, Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934) created his Enigma Variations, which was premiered in London under a famous German conductor. He was an "overnight success"! But for casual listeners to music, Elgar is best known for the first of the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, which were composed before and after World War One. To mark the coronation of King Edward VII, Elgar was commissioned to set the Coronation Ode to music - it was for a gala concert at the Royal Opera House in June 1901. Elgar incorporated a new vocal version into the Ode and, as even the least musical of us know, Land of Hope and Glory became unbelievably popular.
                                                             
Elgar was invited to performances across Europe and America many times, and was feted wherever he went. Yet despite being knighted in 1904, Elgar really just wanted to be left alone to get on with his writing. How ironic that at the very time that Elgar was feeling depressed and uncertain, from 1900 to 1914, the public considered those years to be his golden, creative era.
                                                             

Brinkwells Cottage in Fittleworth

When World War I broke out in 1914, Elgar was in his late 50s and way too old to jump out of trenches. In any case, I doubt that he would have found the idea of killing other young men even vaguely tolerable. Nonetheless he wanted to serve King and Country in some capacity, and his last musical project of the war years was setting of verses by Rudyard Kipling to music.
                                                             
Classical Music Blog noted Elgar’s prestigious academic appointments, his many overseas trips and the increasing fees from his performances, but said that fame came at a cost. His new life as a celebrity often provoked ill-health from his high-strung nature and interrupted his privacy. Despite his large house in Hampstead, Elgar needed to escape from his exhausting personal schedule and the misery of post-war London.

And he needed to be out of the city.  In earlier part of his life, Elgar had found the peace and quiet of the countryside, its views, sounds and smells, to be inspiring.

    

Sir Edward Elgar, 

country gent, 1905

So moving to the country was definitely important for Elgar, if he was to recover his strength. But it is unclear who selected Brinkwells Cottage in Fittleworth as the place to recuperate. Elgar’s friend, novelist and critic Ford Madox Ford, lived next door in the wilds of West Sussex, with the Australian artist Stella Bowen. Before the war Ford had founded The English Review, in which he published all the finest Edwardian authors, including Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, HG Wells and William Butler Yeats. So it may well have been Ford who persuaded Elgar to move, by offering him sparkling, intellectual company.
                                                               
I personally think it was Alice Elgar who said to her husband “Eddy darling, are you trying to kill yourself with overwork and depression? Let us go to somewhere quieter and greener, a place where noone will find you”. In either case Elgar fell in love with Brinkwells the first day he saw it and rented the secluded thatched cottage in its rustic woodland setting as a country retreat from 1917 to 1920. The cottage was owned by the landscape artist Rex Vicat Cole.

The studio

Elgar did indeed potter around the cottage and gardens, but he also achieved some quality writing. Immediately after the war, in 1918 and 1919, he produced four large-scale works: a violin sonata, a piano quintet, a string quartet and his famous cello concerto.

Part of the recuperation process was working less and relaxing more. The owners of the Swan Inn in Fittleworth pointed out that Sir Edward Elgar, arguably England’s greatest composer, enjoyed the hospitality of their little rural hotel on many occasions. It was only after his beloved wife’s death in 1920 that Elgar wanted to leave; he did so in August 1921.

Elgar died in Feb 1934 and was buried next to Alice in St Wulstan's Church in Little Malvern.

The agent for the cottage reminds visitors that in 1929, Elgar’s music studio was moved up the hill to its present location at Bedham, a small hamlet in an area of totally unspoilt beech woodland. In 1949, long after Elgar’s death, the studio was increased in size.

                                                             

 Swan Inn in Fittleworth

During his lifetime, Elgar lived in dozens of  residences. And this does not include the houses of close friends where he could stay at as a house guest, sometimes for months on end. People interested in examining Elgar's choices in homes, gardens and decorative arts would love The Elgar Trail. It suggests that Edward Elgar was a restless soul.

                                                               

Two recent connections with Brinkwells that the reader might like to consider. Firstly the 1996 film, Elgar's Tenth Muse: the Life of an English Composer starring James Fox, was filmed on location at Fittleworth.

                                                               

Secondly a book by Carol Fitzgerald and Brian W Harvey called Elgar, Vicat Cole and the Ghosts of Brinkwells, was published by Phillimore in 2007. The authors show that Elgar rented the cottage from the artist Rex Vicat Cole who had enlisted during WW1. Elgar used the artist's studio as a music room and composed surrounded by his canvases and drawings.

                                                              

The authors suggest that by looking closely at the profound influence of a time, place, and key people during a chapter of a composer’s life, one will gain a better understanding of his music from that period. Elgar certainly respected Rex Vicat Cole's work and the two men were united in their deep love and understanding of the woods that surrounded the cottage. The enchantment of Brinkwells was as evident in Cole's paintings as it was in Elgar's music.

                                                               



Rocky Mountaineer train: Vancouver to Calgary

To entice the western province to confederate with Canada, British Columbia was promised a railroad linking it to the east within 10 years. So by 1871, four years after Canada was given its independence by Britain, British Columbia did indeed join the Canadian confederation.

The Rocky Mountaineer

Meanwhile the railway was being built, often with Chinese workers brought north from California. One crew built from the east across the Prairies and another crew built from the West, up the Fraser River. It is difficult to imagine the hardships these early surveyors and builders endured, especially in the snow and across a very rugged landscape. Yet succeed they did, although it took 14 years instead of 10. In Nov 1885 they set the Last Spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway! It was a miracle of railway engineering.

The first trans-continental railway train arrived in July 1886 and soon the railway extended into Vancouver. The city of Vancouver, which incorporated in 1886, became the country’s gateway to the Pacific; the province of British Columbia could ship its natural resources east.
                                                              

Map of the trip (all train except for Banff-Calgary)

The Rocky Mountaineer services has taken passengers  through some of Canada's greatest scenery since 1990. There are four Rocky Mountaineer routes, largely from Vancouver via Kamloops to Banff or Jasper and finally to Calgary. Spouse and I selected the Classic First Passage to the West Vacation, a 4-days and 3-nights trip that we started in Vancouver, continued via Kamloops and Banff, and ended in Calgary. This trip is available April-Oct.

In the Gold Leaf Dome Coach, guests sit upstairs in a glass cabin to watch the scenery. Passengers enjoy gourmet meals which are served on crisp linen, in the dining room on the lower level. In the Red Leaf carriages, boxed lunches are served in the passenger’s own seat. And because the train travels only during the day, there are no sleeping cabins on board. Each evening, passengers are picked up from the local railway station and taken to hotels. This is different from other tourist trains eg The Trans Siberian Railway.

Glass sided dome coach

We started the trip on the west coast of Canada. Vancouver developed rapidly from a small lumber mill town into a metropolitan centre, following the arrival of the national railway in 1887. The port became more significant and busy after the Panama Canal was completed. This reduced freight rates in the 1920s and made it viable to ship prairie grain exports west.

Vancouver is renowned for its scenery and has one of the largest urban parks in North America, Stanley Park. Encircled by high mountains, the city is filled with hiking trails, large green spaces and gardens. We loved Vancouver's beautiful beaches and harbour. Our tour visited the BC Place Stadium, which was built for Expo 86. It is the world's largest air-supported domed stadium.

In 1867 Gassy Jack Deighton sailed his canoe to Vancouver’s tiny waterfront. He opened a shack saloon and with the patronage of the nearby mill workers, Gassy's Town soon became known as Gastown. By 1873 Gassy Jack had built a grand hotel overlooking the very fine Maple Tree Square; then shops, hotels and many brothels appeared. Modern Gastown retains many of the oldest buildings in town and has a distinctive and integrated architecture.

Vancouver, Stanley Park

Next morning, we boarded the train as it made its way through the large farming properties along the South Thompson River, the impressive landscapes of the Fraser Canyon, the very tricky Hell's Gate where a strongly running Fraser River funnels into a narrow gap, and the fertile fields of the Fraser Valley surrounded by snowy mountains.

Europeans arrived in Kamloops in c1811 to set up a fur trading post, and then got involved in trade, industry, the railroad and ship transport. The Gold Rush brought wealth and a large influx of people searching for a better life, but it was also a bit wild - stagecoach holdups and cattle rustling. In 1893, Kamloops had 1,000 people; today it is a population of c86,000 and growing, based largely on its role as a major cattle ranching centre and as a transport hub.

In the evening, we train travellers experienced frontier dining with the Lumberjack and Train Robber Musical Show, then slept in Kamloops.

bighorn sheep

Back on board, watch out for the region’s fauna and flora. Animals never seen in Australia wandered near the train tracks, so the driver slowed down for all photographers: cougar, black and grizzly bears, moose, elk, bighorn sheep, wolves, lynx and caribou on protected land. Passing Mount Robson, the Canadian Rockies’ highest mountain, the train followed the route of the Overlanders, those C19th homesteaders who tried to settle this rugged region.
                                                          
Banff's history is connected to the expansion of railways across Canada. In 1885 the federal government sets aside a reserve surrounding the hot springs, recently discovered. Two years later, The Canadian Pacific Railway Co. and the federal government cooperated in promoting the area as an international resort and spa. The Canadian government passed the first National Parks Act during WW1 and people flocked to Banff Fairmont Springs Hotel 1888, in the Scottish Baronial style. As did we.
                                                           

Banff Springs Hotel

For the day in Banff, some of our fellow travellers elected to fly on a helicopter ride, high over the Canadian Rockies. Others chose the optional excursion to Sulphur Mountain for a gondola ride with spectacular views of the mountains and of the Bow River and Bow Falls. I elected to walk through Banff's wonderful boutiques.

If you select the Banff option, then you miss the Lake Louise and Jasper options, with their steep gorges, snow-capped mountain ranges, exquisite lakes and natural beauty. This image of beautiful Lake Louise therefore comes from a friend's trip and not from my own.

Lake Louise

From Banff National Park, we were driven east by bus to Calgary, leaving the majestic Rockies behind. In 1947 a major oil discovery was made near Edmonton. As more discoveries were made, a big share of the oil money flowed to the provincial government. Jobs were created in the petrochemical industry, as well as in construction, surveying and transportation. Edmonton and Calgary emerged as prosperous cities of business and finance; immigrants flowed into Alberta; buildings went up as fast as they could be built.

Moraine Lake in Banff National Park

I have only been to Calgary twice, both times during its most popular tourist attraction, the Annual Stampede. Stampede Park was bought from the government in 1889 and The Stampede itself started in 1912. For ten days every July, it features a rodeo, chuck wagon races, cowboy food, parades, music and Indian culture. Now I personally do not identify at all with cowboy culture, but it is quite a celebration. Pubs and hotels have their staff dress up as cowboys and girls.

Calgary’s 2 city halls are amazing. The Old City Hall opened in 1911 while the 14-storey, triangular Calgary Municipal Building opened in 1985. In 1966, oil man Eric Harvie gave his vast collection of historical material to the people of Alberta, and the Glenbow-Alberta Institute was formed. Today, Glenbow is western Canada's largest museum, with three floors of exhibition space. Most impressive are the First Peoples’ artistic traditions and material culture; so are 100,000 objects which provide glimpses into the lives of those who explored/settled western Canada from the late 1800s on. Glenbow's art collection naturally focuses on the prairies. The Pengrowth Saddledome is the home of the Calgary Flames in the National Hockey League and the site of the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Calgary Stampede parade

Oberammergau's passion play: 2010

In 1633 residents in the tiny Bavarian town of Oberammergau vowed that, if God spared them from the effects of the bubonic plague that seemed unstoppable, they would produce a passion play every ten years thereafter for eternity. Thank you gifts to God were not unusual. Votive offerings were made in thanks to God all over Europe, usually in the form of a complete church (from royalty), an entire chapel (from a noble family), one altarpiece or one stained glass window (from a guild) or a tiny gift (from a worker). But I have never heard of a play as a votive offering before, even a play depicting the life and death of Jesus.

townspeople, acting on stage

Anyhow the people of Oberammergau fulfilled their vow to perform the tragedy of the Passion of Christ every ten years, for the first time in 1634. As if to make it personal, they set up their stage over the fresh graves of the Black Death victims. But perhaps it was simply because the parish church could not handle the audience numbers. Just as well because, by the time the play had been put on over a few decades, visitors from the surrounding towns were pouring into tiny Oberammergau.

I assume the passion play became an important component of the town’s economy. Admission fees were charged from 1790 onwards, and the hotels and coffee shops were delighted to provide the thousands of outsiders with creature comforts during the 10-day period. Artists also did well. Already a home for woodcarving, Oberammergau’s local wood carvers were invited to design and create special passion-play-relevant objects eg religious subjects. Other artists designed frescoes, based on religious themes or fairy tales, and painted them on the external walls of the town’s homes and shops.

In time, the simple wooden stage structure was made more visually meaningful. The first permanent stage seems to have been built in 1815, later enlargened. Finally in 1890 a new, purpose-built theatre was built and, inside the arched hall capable of holding 4,700 spectators, people were comfortable, had good views of the stage and were mainly dry in case of rainy spells.

theatre, with covered seats and open air stage

About half of Oberammergau’s citizens participate in the passion play, meaning that there are almost as many people on and behind the stage as there are in the audience. Not all are actors, of course. Some are musicians, lighting technicians, costume designers and make up artists.

The play is long for everyone. Performances begin in the early afternoon and end late in the evening (with a long dinner break). And since up to half a million people want to see a performance, they have to repeat the play 100 times during the May-October season.

The participants take their role very seriously, bringing the story of Jesus of Nazareth to life. The play begins at the point when Jesus is entering the holy city of Jerusalem, includes his crucifixion and ends up with the Resurrection. The spoken text has fantastic musical and HUGE choral accompaniments, and scenes have been carefully chosen to examine the interrelationship between the Old and New Testaments.

In 1934 Hitler apparently visited Oberammergau for the play, and was delighted with the vicious manner in which Jews were depicted. So since the extermination of Europe’s Jews by German soldiers and their allies, the German government and the Vatican have been very sensitive about real or potential anti-Semitism in passion plays. Therefore changes have been made to the text of the play since World War Two, to exclude the charge of Jewish deicide and to end the notion of collective guilt. It is made clear to the audience, for example, that Jesus was born, raised and died a wholehearted Jew.

If you have missed the 2010 season, the next cycle will start in May 2020.

house murals

Sara Sturtevant noted that there is a good quality museum in Oberammergau which is full of religious and secular woodcarvings. The museum was created by Lang, a local woodcarver himself and a seller of woodcarving. Cullism added that the rococo church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul was truly beautiful, with wondrous frescoes and lots of gilt. Heather on her travels loved the house murals.  They started in the 18th century when the houses were given painted window surrounds to embellish the simple facades. Later on, religious and fairy tale scenes became popular. The term for these painted Luftlmalerei honoured one of the earliest local artists Franz Seraph Zwinck who lived in the house called Zum Luftl.

Oberammergau is in the very south of Germany

Olympic fever and modernist architecture, 1956

While we are still enjoying multiple-channel, around-the-clock coverage of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, now would be an appropriate time to examine the development of water-sport facilities for the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

The 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne were the first Olympics ever held in the southern hemisphere, so Australia was very keen to be seen as professional, modern and successful in its sporting endeavours.

The completed pool, exterior

Note the closed space and modernist architecture

The Olympic Pool was to be purpose-built as an indoor sporting arena for diving, swimming and water polo; plus it was to be the venue for the swimming part of the modern pentathlon events. And it was to be the first fully indoor Olympic swimming venue in an Olympic Games!

An international competition was held in 1952, to design and build the most modern water-sports building ever. It was won by architects Kevin Borland, Peter McIntyre, John and Phyllis Murphy and engineer Bill Irwin who, in 1953, formed a partnership that continued for three years.

The Olympic pool interior - water polo

Their design was for a pool that would be enclosed in a dramatic structure. Raked tiers of stands on either side were tied together at their highest points by elongated lozenge-shaped roof trusses. The structure was stabilised by ties running from the same points down to anchors in the ground. Construction began in October 1954 and the building was completed in 1956.

David Islip had no doubt that the 1956 Games were the crowning achievement of the Melbourne School of Architecture in the post-war period. He showed that the pool in particular was successful in representing a spirit of optimism; Australian architecture was given a taste of national identity. Australia's most impressive architectural photographer, Wolfgang Sievers, was commissioned to document the building in a series of eight stunning images.

The engineer responsible for the filtration system was Les Webberley, my father. By the time the building had finally been completed, there was a rush to have the 300,000 gallons of water brought to the two pools and to have the filtration system in perfect condition. The daily newspapers were filled with articles about whether the pools would be in pristine condition before the first athletes stood on their starting blocks. They were!

Les Webberley, filtration engineer, The Herald, 12th Sept 1956

Finally, in November 1956, the Olympic Games were officially opened by Prince Philip. The Olympic Flame was lit by Ron Clarke and the Olympic Oath was taken by John Landy.

It was in the pool that Australia really excelled. Melbourne saw the Olympic debut of two of the Games’ heroes, Dawn Fraser and Murray Rose. Fraser won gold medals in the 100m freestyle and 4 x 100m freestyle and a silver in the 400m freestyle, while Rose won three amazing victories in the 400m freestyle, 1500m freestyle and 4 x 200m freestyle. Lorraine Crapp won the 400m freestyle and was in the winning 4 x 100m freestyle relay; David Theile was the champion of the 100m backstroke; and Jon Henricks won the 100m freestyle.

I have no doubt that the 1956 Melbourne Olympics gave us our biggest sense of excitement since this city held its only International Exhibition, way back in 1880. The Olympic Pool is the only major stadium structure from the 1956 Games largely intact today. Appropriately, it is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Presumably every nation wanted to wow the world with its Olympic archit­ecture. Swimming blog  mentioned the importance of the swimming pool architecture for the 1960 Games in Rome. Apparently Foro Italico's 50-meter indoor pool was loaded up with fascist art and architecture, even though it was completed 15 years after the end of WW2. The neoclassical building, similar to an ancient Roman bath, was built using designs created during the fascist era and by the same architect. Attractive mosaics covered the deck and the walls.

Art & Travel Europe: five very famous painters

I have four passions in life:
travelling around every corner of Europe;
books;
paintings; and
avocado with lemon juice and grated black pepper. If Museyon Guides had slipped some avocado into their Art and Travel book, they would have hit the jackpot.

Art and Travel is a travel guide to Europe with a particular focus. It is centred on just five artists (Van Gogh, Vermeer, Goya, Caravaggio, Munch) and the cities they made famous (Arles, Delft, Madrid, Rome, Oslo). This immediately raises a problem – who chose those five particular artists and why them? I have no argument with Vermeer and Caravaggio, and would have definitely put them in my top five as well. But I think I would have included Chagall, Constable, Reynolds, Van Dyck, Durer, Rembrandt, Manet, El Greco and others! I can certainly understand how difficult the selection process must have been.

Vermeer, 

Girl with the Pearl Earring, c1666

Mauritshuis, The Hague

The main body of each chapter is written as a normal art history text. For example “Spain, which had remained on the periphery of the Napoleonic Wars and the violent revolutionary upheavals that wracked Europe at the turn of the 19th century, found itself fully embroiled in the conflict after the 1808 French invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. The invasion, coupled with a disastrously confused political situation at the Spanish court, provoked the bloody uprisings and merciless reprisals in Madrid that Goya would later commemorate in his huge paintings The 2nd of May, 1808 and The 3rd of May, 1808 (both painted in 1814)”. As an art history academic, I want that basic information available to all travellers who have a serious interest in art. And for art history students, even those who do not plan to travel.

But this guidebook has an extra strength; it enables the tourist to follow a trail with more pertinent information than most tourists could find for themselves. The Where to See… The Walking Tour pages provide the important link between each geographical location and the relevant painting that incorporated that location. I know a great deal about van Gogh, for example, but would not have known which café had been depicted in Café Terrace on the Place du Forum. The Extended Travel pages are equally important, given that artists tended to have a number of homes during their adult lives. Anatomy of a Masterpiece pages give short but detailed information on each of the artists’ best paintings, including their locations in public collections. And the Suggested Web Sites and Books pages were very helpful.

I didn’t need hotel and restaurant recommendations since they are available in any of the thousands of ordinary, non-specialist travel guide in print. And I didn’t need to read the tourist highlights of the cities being visited, or souvenirs, for the same reason. But having said that, the guide did locate some places that had a legitimate but unknown (to me) connection with the artist eg a café in Oslo where the creative types liked to hang around, 120 years ago.

van Gogh, 

Cafe Terrace at Night, 1888

Kroller-Muller Museum, Otterlo

In the end, there is a recognition that famous artists lived ordinary lives with ordinary daily issues to deal with. Vermeer couldn’t afford to paint AND feed his multitude of children, so he held down a paying pub job as well. Caravaggio was a tough drinking lad with a penchant for rough girls and boys. No-one bought van Gogh’s paintings during his life time, so he was financially dependent on his brother and sister in law. The art-loving traveller will want to see it all.

Many thanks to Laura Robinson for the copy of Art + Travel Europe: Step into the Lives of Five Famous Painters, Museyon Guides, March 2010

Alfred Gregory: 1950s and 1960s photography

Alfred Gregory was born in 1913. His father, a Lancashire grocer, was killed in the 1914-18 War when Alfred was just a toddler. His mother moved to Blackpool where she struggled to support her family during the post-war era and during the Great Depression, and he attended the local grammar school. At first young Alfred became a printer.

As soon as he was demobilised after WW2,  Gregory created a travel agency called Alfred Gregory Holidays, personally leading clients each year on treks through Nepal and other challenging mountain-climbing sites. Always Blackpool-based, it was only later that Alfred Gregory became a professional photographer.

Alfred Gregory, Photography from Everest to Africa, Penguin, 2007

Already an enthusiastic mountaineer and photographer, Gregory went with Sir Edmund Hillary to climb Mr Everest. Gregory’s pictures had some trouble in getting off the mountain, so he packed his undeveloped rolls of film into a canvas bag, sealed the bag and gave it to a runner. Talking about his famous image of Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing on their way to the summit, Gregory hoped the photos would reach Kathmandu and then London. They did! In only seven days! News of the British-led conquest of Mt Everest broke in London on the very day of Queen Elizabeth's Coronation on June 1953 and the heroic images were soon syndicated around the world.

Gregory assembled a fine collection of photographs used to illustrate the many books that would eventually be published about the Everest expedition. They appeared in a commemorative volume of their own, Alfred Gregory's Everest, 40 years later.

from Blackpool: A Celebration of the Sixties, Constable, 1993

In Blackpool in the early 1960s, Gregory used his photographic talents and sharp eye to create hundreds of images of the resort – beehive hairdos on the girls and brylcreemed hair on the boys. “The printing was impeccable, the composition classically balanced, and the observation as sharp and kindly as that of any of the great photographic masters”. But what matters most to me personally is that this was MY ERA! Fortunately his pictures eventually appeared in book form as Alfred Gregory's Blackpool 1993, a companion volume to Alfred Gregory's Everest.

Gregory took photographs in many countries of the world but his publications and his exhibitions seem to focus on Mt Everest and Blackpool. For Mr Everest his selection as team photographer was a last-minute surprise. But for Blackpool, Gregory did all the selecting himself.  So I wonder if he focused on these two places as the opposite extremes of human endeavour: the eternally pristine wilderness and romantic danger of impossibly high mountains Vs the sweaty crowds of a 1960s beach resort.

Alf Gregory and his Australian (second) wife emigrated to Australia in 1996 and settled in Melbourne. Gregory must have understood that time was running out for him because in 2007 a stunning book containing more than one hundred remarkable images from his career was published. It was called Alfred Gregory: Photography From Everest to Africa. Although to some extent the images explain themselves, I would prefer more than brief captions - I want wads of explanatory text.

Gregory died in February 2010. “From Everest to Blackpool”, which is running throughout October 2010, is “an exhibition that captures those short-lived moments when ordinary people, objects and places become extraordinary”. Source Photographica Brighton is hosting the exhibition in Melbourne.

Victoria Barracks, Sydney

After spending 3 days trawling around the architectural joys of Paddington, I became a guest writer for Vacation and Travel Photos blog. One extra building complex that I loved in Paddington, but didn't have space to write about for Joao, was the Victoria Barracks. Built from 1841-6 and opened for business in 1848, it was and is a very fine example of colonial military architecture.

Officers' quarters, 1842

The complex was designed by Lieutenant-Colonel George Barney, the man who also built Fort Denison and reconstructed Circular Quay. His main barracks building was constructed in the Regency style from Hawkesbury sandstone, mined locally by convict labour. Since it was only for soldiers, I had expected that the complex would be built without much paying much attention to architectural taste. But it was lovely! Possibly because the first building completed was the Officers' Quarters 1842, the entire complex continued to be very handsomely designed.

Main barrack block 1846 and massive parade ground

Originally occupied by regiments of the British Army, the Main Barrack Block was completed in 1846 and was designed to accommodate 650 soldiers. The bungalow was built in 1847 as the Barrack Master's Residence; a garrison hospital was built in 1845 to accommodate 36 patients; and a bell and clock were added to the building in 1856. 

The Paddington complex should have been even more spacious. The 99th Regiment of Foot had originally been stationed in the George's Square Barracks but when the George's Square Barracks were eventually closed, the soldiers were relocated to the new barracks in Paddington. I wish I had a photo of the room interiors; apparently the base-grade soldiers’ quarters were quite cramped.

Durty Nelly’s in Paddington, opened in 1850 for soldiers from the barracks

The establishment of the barracks changed the character of Paddington. Along with the soldiers came their wives and families and shopkeepers. The original 1840s pubs, which saw enormous business opportunities near the barracks, were appropriately called The Rifle Butts and the Cross Guns. Durty Nelly’s is another pub with a history dating back to 1850 when it catered for the Victoria Barracks crowd.

The British troops vacated the site in 1870, yet the Barracks remained the premier military training site for the New South Wales colonial forces until after Federation in 1901. Sydney Daily Photo noted that since Federation, the complex has been home to both Headquarters Land Command and Headquarters Training Command.

I cannot imagine developers trying to pull down the barracks today, but just in case someone thought of it, the entire barracks complex is on the Register of the National Estate.

Queen Victoria Gate in Oxford St

Alas the complex is only open on Sundays, which may not fit into every tourist’s programme. But the museum, which is housed in the former 25-cell prison, is easier to access.

In Brisbane, the first military barracks, guard houses and official quarters were built in 1839. But we cannot see the original barracks because they became the Treasury building. What Your Brisbane: Past and Present blog does show very well is the garrison for troops built on Petrie Terrace: the Victoria Barracks. These Brisbane barracks were built in 1864, based on the architectural plans which came from London, yet they look similar to Sydney's Victoria Barracks built in the early 1840s. 

part of Victoria Barracks Brisbane, opened 1864