VF 29: San Miniato to Gambassi Terme

In medieval times, San Miniato was on the via Francigena, which was the main connecting route between northern Europe and Rome. It also sits at the intersection of the Florence-Pisa and the Lucca-Siena roads. Over the centuries San Miniato was therefore exposed to a constant flow of friendly and hostile armies, traders in all manner of goods and services, and other travelers from near and far.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the site of the city and surrounding area has been settled since at least the paleolithic era. It would have been well known to the Etruscans, and certainly to the Romans, for whom it was a military post called "Quarto".

The first day walking the Via Francigena in Toscana was 25 km.  Starting from the Misercordia in San Miniato Basso, the first part was climbing the not-insignificant hill up to San Miniato Alto.  It became clear that this was not an casual stroll very quickly.  The weather was perfect. 

Very sparse settlement until Gambassi Terme.  Above is a ruin near Coiano.  The accomodation for the evening was the ancient Pieve Santa Maria in Chianni.

Ospedale degli Innocenti

The Ospedale degli Innocenti is a historical building in Florence, central Italy. Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, who received the commission in 1419, it was originally a children's orphanage.

 It is regarded as a notable example of early Italian Renaissance architecture. The hospital, which features a nine bay loggia facing the Piazza SS. Annunziata, was built and managed by the "Arte della Seta" or Silk Guild of Florence. 

Above each column is a ceramic tondo. These were originally meant by Brunelleschi to be blank concavities, but ca. 1490, Andrea della Robbia was commissioned to fill them in. The design features a baby in swaddling clothes. A few of the tondi are still the original ones, but some are nineteenth century copies.

Giotto's Campanile

Giotto’s Campanile is a free-standing campanile that is part of the complex of buildings that make up Florence Cathedral on the Piazza del Duomo in Florence, Italy.

Standing adjacent the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Baptistry of St. John, the tower is one of the showpieces of the Florentine Gothic architecture with its design by Giotto, its rich sculptural decorations and the polychrome marble encrustations.

This slender structure stands on a square plan with a side of 14.45 metres (47.41 ft). It attains a height of 84.7 metres (277.9 ft) sustained by four polygonal buttresses at the corners. These four vertical lines are crossed by four horizontal lines, dividing the tower in five levels

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the main church of Florence, Italy.

 Il Duomo di Firenze, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. 

The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychromemarble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.  The basilica is one of Italy's largest churches, and until development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.

Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici decided to have the dome painted with a representation of The Last Judgment. This enormous work, 3,600 metres² (38 750 ft²) of painted surface, was started in 1568 by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari and would last till 1579.

San Miniato al Monte

San Miniato al Monte (St. Minias on the Mountain) is a basilica in Florence, central Italy, standing atop one of the highest points in the city. 

It has been described as one of the finest Romanesque structures in Tuscany and one of the most beautiful churches in Italy. There is an adjoining Olivetan monastery, seen to the right of the basilica when ascending the stairs.

The interior exhibits the early feature of a choir raised on a platform above the large crypt. It has changed little since it was first built.

The patterned pavement dates from 1207.  The centre of the nave is dominated by the beautiful freestanding Cappella del Crocefisso (Chapel of the Crucifix), designed by Michelozzo in 1448. It originally housed the miraculous crucifix now in Santa Trìnita and is decorated with panels long thought to be painted by Agnolo Gaddi. The terracotta decoration of the vault is by Luca della Robbia.

Battistero di San Giovanni

The Florence Baptistery (Italian: Battistero di San Giovanni), also known as the Baptistry of Saint John, is a religious building in Florence, Italy, and has the status of a minor basilica. The octagonal baptistery stands in both the Piazza del Duomo and the Piazza di San Giovanni, across from Florence Cathedral and the Campanile di Giotto.

The Florence Baptistery is one of the oldest buildings in the city, constructed between 1059 and 1128 in the Florentine Romanesque style. Although the Florentine style did not spread across Italy as widely as the Pisan Romanesque or Lombard styles, its influence was decisive for the subsequent development of architecture, as it formed the basis from which Francesco Talenti, Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, and the other architects created Renaissance architecture. In the case of the Florentine Romanesque, one can speak of "proto-renaissance", but at the same time an extreme survival of the late antique architectural tradition.

The Baptistry is crowned by a magnificent mosaic ceiling. The earliest mosaics, works of art of many unknown Venetian craftsmen (including probably Cimabue), date from 1225. The covering of the ceiling started under the direction of the Franciscan friar Jacopo Torriti and was probably not completed until the fourteenth century.

Palazzo Pitti

The Palazzo Pitti is a vast mainly Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.

The scale of this building is extremely impressive.  Each floor is roughly eight meters, twice as high as a normal level.  Clearly, it was designed to present an imposing, severe and fortified appearance.

Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio ("Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany.

Overlooking the Piazza della Signoria with its copy of Michelangelo's David statue as well as the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi, it is one of the most significant public places in Italy.

Palazzo Medici Riccardi

The Palazzo Medici, also called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi after the later family that acquired and expanded it, is a Renaissance palace located in Florence, Italy

The palace was designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo for Cosimo de' Medici, head of the Medici banking family, and was built between 1445 and 1460. It was well known for its stone masonry includes rustication and ashlar.
The tripartite elevation used here expresses the Renaissance spirit of rationality, order, and classicism on human scale. This tripartite division is emphasized by horizontal string courses that divide the building into stories of decreasing height. The transition from the rusticated masonry of the ground floor to the more delicately refined stonework of the third floor makes the building seem lighter and taller as the eye moves upward to the massive cornice that caps and clearly defines the building's outline.

The large cantilevered cornices of Florence are worthy of note.  This rather typical detail generally serves a functional purpose to keep the buildings and streets in shadow from the often strong and bright sun.

The low-profile exterior reflects a disdain for ostentation despite the enormous wealth of the owners.

Krämerbrücke

The Krämerbrücke is a bridge in the Thuringian city of Erfurt in Germany which is covered with inhabited, half timbered buildings on both sides. It is unique in Europe north of the Alps. The footbridge spans the Breitstrom, a branch of the Gera River, connecting Benediktsplatz and Wenigemarkt.

After a city fire in 1472, which destroyed nearly half of the city and the stands on the bridge, it was reconstructed in its current form with then 62 half-timbered buildings. To make the three-storey houses of 13 m to 15 m height habitable, the deepness of the buildings was extended by the wooden “Sprengwerke” next to the arch vaults. The width of the bridge finished in 1486 since then amounts to 26 m with a space of 5.5 m between the two rows of houses. At the latest since 1510 the name Krämerbrücke (which means "grocers' bridge") was commonly used.

Because of its special importance for the history of Erfurt and history of architecture in general, the Krämer Bridge was granted special preservation in GDR-times. All buildings were restored from 1967 to 1973 and extensive repair works were done to the vaults in 1985/1986 and 2002.

Bauhausgebäude Dessau

The Bauhaus in Dessau, the epitome of modern architecture, is characterized by clear facade structures, large expanses of glass with delicate frame profiles, with the effect being “die außenwand des werkstattbaues ist ganz in fenstersprossen mit spiegelglas verglasung aufgelöst” (Gropius, 1930). The Bauhaus building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built in the years, 1925-26 by Walter Gropius.

The Building complex of the Bauhaus in Dessau, consisting of five main parts - Workshop building, the technical college, the auditorium and canteen, the bridge, and studio - was built on the ideas of
Walter Gropius, the director of the Bauhaus, 1919-1928, in the year 1925/1926 and inaugurated in December, 1926.

The Bauhaus building possesses architectural clarity, physicality, transparency and modernity, a synonym of the modern building, groundbreaking for the construction in 20th century and outstanding in its uniformity. The structure of the building manifests functional areas supported by a usage-related form and facade design. In the upper levels of the full- glazed workshop wing one is constantly impressed by the delicacy and transparency of the impressive early form of the curtain wall, regardless of the 1976 reconstruction with changed profile strengths. The north wing with its continuous set ribbon windows served as the commercial vocational school. 

The Studio building with its perforated facades facing east and west contains 28 residential ateliers.

I wrote a paper about the recent reconstruction of the steel windows in this building.  http://www.academia.edu/4187937/Steel_Window_Reconstruction_at_the_Bauhaus_Dessau

For the paper, I researched and documented the manufacturer of the original windows in an attempt to understand the 1926 'bauzeitliche' fenestration features that had been so influential on subsequent designs.  It is a nice paper, about an interesting, although very technical, subject.

Van de Velde Building, Bauhaus Universität Weimar

The main building of the  Bauhaus Universität Weimar was built between 1904 and 1911 based on plans by Henry van de Velde. As one of the most influential art academies of the early 20th century, this is where the Bauhaus movement was founded in 1919. Today, the building is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

School of Arts and Crafts, Van de Velde Building

Under the supervision of architect Thomas van den Valentyn, the building was completely renovated and almost fully restored to its original condition in 1999.

Gropius Office

Haus Hohe Papeln

Located at Belvedere Allee 58 in Weimar, the house Hohe Papeln (high poplars) was the private residence of the Belgian architect and designer Henry van de Velde (1863-1957), who came in 1902 as artistic adviser of the Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar. Van de Velde had the house built in 1907/08 from his own plans and lived there until 1917 with his wife Mary and their five children.

Van de Velde developed the outer shape of the house from the internal structure  The path of the sun has special attention.

Van de Velde understood the Hohe Papeln as an organism in which each room served a specific function, and thus had a fixed place within the spatial structure. Central hub and heart of the house was the living hall on the first floor. From here, the salon with adjoining work and dining room,  rise to the first floor and opened up the side stairs. Van de Velde deliberately avoided ornamental decoration, but was based on the aesthetics of modern industry and designed the house by principles of expediency. The house is a unique work of art, where Van de Velde's signature is found in every detail.

In addition to the architecture, the furniture, fixtures, van de Velde also designed the garden. Each facade is assigned to another garden area. The poplars that once rose high above the house give the property its name.

The tour of the house including the garden Tall poplars and the representative of the family living area on the first floor with living room, dining room, study and living hall. The exhibited furniture was designed in 1904 for the family of Munchausen van de Velde.

Source: http://www.klassik-stiftung.de/index.php?id=88

Buchenwald Mahnmal

From 1954-1958, the GDR established a National Monument with the intent of memorializing the German Communist Resistance fighters.  The entire monumental complex is in the form of Socialist Realism.  The intended path starts at the belfry tower of freedom. Inside the tower is a bronze plate below the earth and ashes from other concentration camps. The bell in the tower top is by Waldemar Grzimek . The crown of the tower is a work of blacksmithing and was designed by Fritz Kühn. Before the bell tower is the sculpture of Fritz Cremer.  The bell tower represents the time of life.

Looking up toward the Glockenturm

From the bell tower, this wide staircase descends to one of 3 mass graves.  In these, the SS had buried about 3,000 dead shortly before the liberation of the concentration camp in 1945. 

Source:  http://www.buchenwald.de/119/

The ring graves are connected by the Street of the Nations . The Street of Nations is of brick pylons flanked by the names of 18 nations, who were imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp.

At the end of the Street are the stelae designed and created by the sculptors of René Graetz , Waldemar Grzimek and Hans Kies. On the back of the stelae are texts by Johannes R. Becher . 

The style and sense of this monument made an impression in my psyche that is entirely unique from anything I have ever experienced.  The enormous scale and emptiness creates a drama that is very moving.  I walked symbolically from life to death, starting from the bell tower, and it was very strange.  Looking across the expanse and openness of the landscape, I was the only visitor and I felt alone, like I was caught in a surreal vortex of history and memory.  This is a land scarred by distorted ideals, and possessed by twisted and tormented souls, all pleading for redemption.

From death looking towards life