Kirby Bellars Priory

Kirby Bellars Priory was a small priory of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine in Leicestershire, England. It is now the Church of England Parish Church of Saint Peter's serving the village of Kirby Bellars.
Origins.
Some of the present parish church of Saint Peter's had been constructed during the 1200s for the villiage at that time called Chirchebi. In 1316 Roger de Beler granted lands to support a pair of chaplains to say daily Requiem Masses in a private chantry chapel, also dedicated to Saint Peter, at Kirby Bellars Mannor House for the souls of himself, his wife Alice, his parents William and Amicia, and all his ancestors. One of the chaplains was also responsible for saying Mass in a second chantry and Lady Chapel located in the north and south aisles of the Parish Church. In 1319 the establishment was expanded to a college of
secular canons comprising a warden and twelve chaplains, and Beler added the holding of Buckminster Mannor as well as lands in to the north and south of Kirby parish church and other places for the upkeep of the community. The Chantry Chaplains were also responsible for offering Masses in the Parish Church Saint Peter's which was subordinated to their control on the 2nd September 1319. Given the size of St Peters and the evidence of large scale buildings adjacent Northern field it is likely that after 1359 it became the Priory church too although there is some dispute about this. After Rogers Murder by his cousin in 1326 the college experienced a time of disruption and instability among the chaplains.
Augustinian Priory.
In 1359 the college of secular clergy was transformed into a priory of Augustinian Canons, with a prior and twelve canons. The reformed community, inspired by 6th century Rule of Saint Augustine, were obliged by their new vows to remain stable at the priory rather than seeking positions elsewhere as before. The canons had a mixed vocation of prayer, pastoral care and work to maintain the communities building and assets. Their life revolved around the singing of the 8 daily prayer services as well as a Conventual Mass. The de Beler family continued to be the secular patrons of the community and chose to be buried in the priory church.
In 1363 the canons transferred control of All Saints Clipston in Northamptonshire to the Knights Hospitalers in exchange for the much closer parish of Saint John the Baptist Buckminster. In 1392 a royal license granted Kirby Ballars control of the parish of Saint Mary's, Garthorpe and in 1412 the parish of Saint Andrews, Twyford.
The Visitation Report of 1440.
On the 26th of November 1440 the priory was visited by William Alnwick, Bishop of Lincoln. He found the standards kept there satisfactory, correcting only minor faults of dress and some mistakes in the church services. The members of the community comprised:
The Fire and Recovery.
Sometime in the early 1500s the Priory was struck by fire which left many of its domestic buildings in ruins. In 1511 the prior and convent were authorized to give Indulgences for donations to the rebuilding fund.
A visitation record from Bishop of Lincoln's Commissary from 1518 suggested many of the buildings still needed repair at that time. The same report uncovered the scandal that the sub-prior had private property, that two of the canons were suspected of immorality, and that food provided for the canons was too luxurious. Another visitation report survives from 1528 and in 1535 the priory's annual revenue was recorded as a comparatively modest £140. That assessment comes the royal visitation report issued a year before the dissolution of Kirby Bellars by which time the domestic buildings were recorded as being in good order.
The Arms and Seal of the Priory of Saint Peter Kirkby upon the Wreak.
In 1954 there were two 14th century seals of Kirby Bellars known to have survived. Both are the common oval variety known as Vescias. The larger of the two (63/38mm), the seal of the community, shows Saint Peter, wearing a Mitre and seated on a canopied throne. The Saints right hand is raised in blessing and he holds the keys in his left. In the lower part of the seal is a shield bearing the arms of Sir Roger Beler. The inscription reads: "S' ECCLESIE BEATI P . . . KIRKEBI SUPER WRETHEK" (or "THE HOLY CHURCH OF BLESSED PETER AT KIRKBY UPON THE WREAK"). The smaller one (35/25mm), the seal of the prior, shows a standing figure holding a staff and book, with the inscription: "SIGILLUM PRIORIS DE KIRKEBI" (or "THE PRIOR OF KIRKBY")
Dissolution.
The priory was dissolved in 1536 along with other small religious houses as part of the first wave of the dissolution of the monasteries.


The Bow (skyscraper)

The Bow is a office building in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The 236 metre (774 ft) building is currently the second tallest office tower in Calgary, since construction of Cenovus' Brookfield Place; and the third tallest in Canada outside Toronto. The Bow is also considered the start of redevelopment in Calgary's Downtown East Village. It was completed in 2012 and was ranked among the top 10 architectural projects in the world of that year according to "Azure" magazine. It was built for oil and gas company Encana, and was the headquarters of its successors Ovintiv and Cenovus.
History.
Early plans.
EnCana Corporation (now Ovintiv), North America's second largest natural gas producer, announced plans for the high-rise in 2006. Early designs suggested that the project would consist of a complex of towers (perhaps two or more) over two blocks. The tallest of these towers could be 60 stories tall, which would make it taller than the current tallest tower in Western Canada, the Suncor Energy Centre (also in Calgary). The initial proposal was for a tower of , making it the tallest building in Canada. Early sources suggested a two tower complex spanning the entire surface of two blocks, with a second tower of 40 to 50 stories connected at sixth stories level over 6 Avenue. Official statements declared that the tower will be 58 stories, or tall.
The management company in charge of the project was Texas-based Matthews Southwest, with architectural services furnished by UK-based Foster + Partners and Zeidler Partnership Architects of Calgary.
Announcement of The Bow.
The project filed for development permit application is called The Bow, for its crescent shape and the view of the Bow River. On October 12, 2006, Foster + Partners revealed the first designs for the new tower. The tower was lowered down to 236 m due to shadowing concerns.
Encana sold The Bow office project assets to H&R Real Estate Investment Trust in 2007 for $70 million, while signing a 25-year tenant lease agreement that was to start after the project's completion. Encana expected to occupy the entire tower.
In late June 2007, the company announced that the Portrait Gallery of Canada would not be moving from Ottawa into the Bow.
Construction.
Groundbreaking took place on June 13, 2007, with work starting on both sides of 6 Avenue South between Centre Street and 1st Street East. Sixth Avenue was excavated, after closure of the block (August 21, 2007) and the six level underground parkade was constructed on a two block area, on both north and south side of 6th Avenue.
A neighbouring historic building – The York Hotel, built 1929–1930 in the Edwardian Commercial Architectural style – was demolished to make room for the new building. Because of the historical significance of the York Hotel, it was important to save as much as reasonable to incorporate into the new structure. Between 70 and 80 percent of the bricks were saved and used to reconstruct two of the hotel’s exterior walls. The brown brick originally supplied by Clayburn Brick in Abbotsford and the cast-in-concrete friezes have been removed, numbered and graphed to show the original location the brick and friezes were installed on the new building in their original locations. The remainder of the building was demolished ahead of schedule by Calgary-based demolition and environmental contractor Hazco.
The concrete foundation was continuously poured over 36 hours on May 11 and 12, 2008, being the largest of its kind in Canada, and third largest in the world after the Howard Hughes Center in Los Angeles and the Sama Tower (Al Durrah Tower) in Dubai. Some of concrete filled the foundation.
Erection of the above-ground steel superstructure began in October 2008 with the installation of the first of two Favelle Favco heavy-lift tower cranes.
Construction was briefly halted in December 2008 due to a $400 million shortage of financing needed to finish the job. The project continued to move forward, despite the unresolved financing issues.
In April 2009, a secondary tower in the project, the building planned for a block south of the main tower, was put on hold for at least two years. The main tower, however, was set to continue, having secured the remaining $475 million required for completion of the structure.
On July 8, 2010, the Bow surpassed Suncor Energy Centre as Calgary's highest building. The tall Suncor Energy Centre was the highest building in Calgary since 1984. The addition of a steel girder, part of floors 55 to 57, raised the Bow tower to . In November 2010 the Bow would be topped off at 234 metres.
Opening and use.
The Bow officially opened in June 2013 and became the headquarters of Encana Corporation and Cenovus Energy, which been spun-off from Encana in 2009. Cenovus was announced as anchor tenant in the proposed Brookfield Place in August 2013, and completed the move to Brookfield Place in 2019. Also in 2019, Encana announced it would be renamed to Ovintiv and would move its corporate headquarters to Denver, Colorado.
Public art.
Encana officially confirmed on June 16, 2008, that Jaume Plensa, an artist most famous for the Crown Fountain in Chicago, had been chosen to complete two major public art installations for the project. The first work, entitled "Wonderland", was unveiled in January 2013, on the south plaza. The second work, entitled "Alberta's Dream" is located on the north side and depicts a bronze casting of the artist embracing a living tree.
There is an observation deck on the 54th floor that gives the visitors views of Alberta. Floors 55 and 56 are home to the private meeting, lounges, conference center and sky high clubs.


Neorion Harbour

The Neorion Harbour () was a harbour in the city of Constantinople, active from the foundation of the city in the 4th century until the late Ottoman period. It was the first port to be built in Constantinople after its re-foundation by Constantine the Great, and the second in the area after the "Prosphorion", which was the port of ancient Byzantium.
Location.
The harbour lay on the southern shore of the Golden Horn, east of today's Galata Bridge, in the sixth region of Constantinople. In the Ottoman Istanbul this area corresponded to the "Bahçekapı" ("Gate of the garden") neighborhood, located between the customs warehouses and the Abdülhamit Medrese: today the site belongs to the "Mahalle" of "Bahcekapi" in "Eminönü", which is part of the Fatih district (the walled city) of Istanbul. The inlet where the basin once lay is now silted up, and is presently occupied by the ferry terminals to the Bosphorus, Kadiköy and Üsküdar.
History.
The Neorion was the first harbour to be erected in Constantinople after its foundation, and the second in the area after the "Prosphorion" harbour, which existed already under the city's previous incarnation as Byzantium, and lay in the next inlet to the east, right under the northwest slope of the first hill of the city, in the quarter named "ta Eugeniou" (). Being placed on the southern shore of the Golden Horn, the Neorion was not subjected to the heavy storms provoked by the Lodos, the south-west wind blowing from the Marmara Sea; in addition, harbour silting was not such a big problem as for the harbours on the city's southern shore. In fact, entrance of sail ships into the Golden Horn was possible with all winds; the only wind which could create some problems and a light silting being the North wind. The harbour had the double function of commercial port and shipyard, and hosted also a factory producing oars (). Since the main activity of the harbour was trade, the area was surrounded by many storehouses. This fact is underlined by the many fires which ravaged the port quarter: in 433 all the storehouses burned; in 465 a fire started here engulfed eight regions of the city; and in 559 the warehouses burned again. According to a late tradition, St. Andrew the Apostle settled here and made the quarter the centre of his preaching when he landed in Byzantium. In 697 Emperor Leontios (r. 695-98) had the harbour cleaned from the mud, since the area was suspected to be a plague breeding ground.
The Neorion remained an important harbour for the city through the centuries, and when the Latin commercial colonies (and possibly also the Jews) settled there, acquiring the right to establish their port of call on the Golden Horn, the importance of the port grew. First of all, Venetians and Amalfitans settled to the west; then came the Pisans, who at the end of the 11th century established themselves in the densely inhabited area west of the port; finally, in 1155 came the Genoese, who founded their colony in an area lying south and east of the Neorion. In the 17th century, long after the transfer of the Genoese to Galata, on the opposite shore of the Golden Horn, part of the Jewish community settled in the quarter, living there until the middle of the 20th century, when the whole area was demolished to enlarge the coast road and create the square in front of the Yeni Mosque. Due to the Jewish presence in the area, in the Ottoman period the Byzantine "Porta Neoriou" of the sea walls changed its name to "Çifutkapı" ("Gate of the Jew"). At the time of their maximum expansion, the Latin staging areas extended quite a way west of Neorion, reaching the Gate of Bigla/Vigla (also named Drungarios gate, later the Ottoman "Odun Kapı", "Gate of the firewood"). With the rise of Genoese power during the Palaiologan period, the overseas commerce migrated from Neorion to Galata, but after the fall of the city in 1453 and the subsequent decline of Genoa's trade hegemony, the harbour would regain and keep one part of the city's overseas trade until the late Ottoman era.
Description.
Along Neorion's waterfront lay a portico, named "Keratembolin" (). The name derives from a statue erected on a bronze vault, which represented a man bearing four horns on his head. According to a legend, in the port area was also on display a statue of an ox which bellowed once per year, frightening the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Because of that, Emperor Maurice (r. 582-602) ordered it thrown in the sea. One part of the harbour was known as "the old equipment" (), and hosted a shipyard: in this neighborhood lay the church of Saint Euphemia.


Milano Centrale railway station

Milano Centrale () is the main railway station of the city of Milan, Italy, and is the largest railway station in Europe by volume. The station is a terminus and located at the northern end of central Milan. It was officially inaugurated in 1931 to replace the old central station (built 1864), which was a transit station but with a limited number of tracks and space, so could not handle the increased traffic caused by the opening of the Simplon tunnel in 1906.
Milano Centrale has high-speed connections to Turin in the west, Venice via Verona in the east and on the north-south mainline to Bologna, Rome, Naples and Salerno. The Simplon and Gotthard railway lines connect Milano Centrale to Bern and Geneva via Domodossola and Zürich via Chiasso in Switzerland.
Destinations of inter-city and regional railways radiate from Milano Centrale to Ventimiglia (border of France), Genova, Turin, Domodossola (border of Swiss Canton of Valais/Wallis), Tirano (border of Swiss Canton of Graubünden/Grisons), Bergamo, Verona, Mantova, Bologna and La Spezia.
The Milan suburban railway service, however, does not use Milano Centrale but the other mainline stations: Porta Garibaldi (northwest), Cadorna (west) and Rogoredo (east).
Aldo Rossi declared in an interview of February 1995 to Cecilia Bolognesi: "They told me that when Frank Lloyd Wright came to Milan, and he came only once, he was really impressed by it and said it was the most beautiful station in the world. For me it is also more beautiful than Grand Central Station in New York. I know few stations like this one".
History.
The first Milano Centrale station opened in 1864 in the area now occupied by the "Piazza della Repubblica", south of the modern station. It was designed by French architect Louis-Jules Bouchot (1817–1907) and its architectural style was reminiscent of Parisian buildings of that period. The station was designed to replace "Porta Tosa station" (opened in 1846 as the terminus of the line to Treviglio and eventually Venice) and "Porta Nuova station" (opened in 1850 as the second terminus on the line to Monza, which was eventually extended to Chiasso) and was interconnected with all lines, either existing or under construction, surrounding Milan. It remained in operation until 30 June 1931, when the current station was opened. There is now no trace of the old station left.
King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy laid the cornerstone of the new station on April 28, 1906, before a blueprint for the station had even been chosen. The last, real, contest for its construction was won in 1912 by architect Ulisse Stacchini, whose design was modeled after Washington Union Station in Washington, DC, and the construction of the new station began. The purported style was an eclectic mix called "Assyrian-Lombard."
Due to the Italian economic crisis during World War I, construction proceeded very slowly, and the project, rather simple at the beginning, kept changing and became more and more complex and majestic. This happened especially when Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister, and wanted the station to represent the power of the Fascist regime. The major changes were the new platform types and the introduction of the great steel canopies by Alberto Fava; long and covering an area of .
Construction resumed in 1925 and on July 1, 1931, the station was officially opened in the presence of Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano.
The station played a vital role during the Holocaust in Italy, when Jewish inmates from the San Vittore Prison, previously captured in northern Italy, would be taken to a secret track, "Binario 21", underneath the station to be deported to extermination camps. Altogether, 15 deportation trains with 1,200 prisoners left the station from "Binario 21". A "Memoriale della Shoah" was opened at the former platform in January 2013 to commemorate these events.
Its façade is wide and its vault is high, a record when it was built. It has 24 platforms. Each day about 330,000 passengers use the station, totaling about 120 million per year.
The station has no definite architectural style, but is a blend of many different styles, especially Liberty and Art Deco, but not limited to those. It is adorned with numerous sculptures. "The 'incongruous envelope of stone' (Attilio Pracchi) of this gigantic and monumental building dominates Piazza Duca d'Aosta."
On September 25, 2006, officials announced a €100 million project, already in progress, to refurbish the station. Of the total cost, €20 million has been allocated to restore "certain areas of high artistic value" while the remaining €80 million will be used for more general improvements to the station to make it more functional with the current railway services. The project includes moving the ticket office and installing new elevators and escalators for increased accessibility.
There remain unrestored and inaccessible areas to the public within the station, including a waiting room with swastikas on the floor designed to receive Hitler.
Train services.
The station has 24 tracks. Every day about 320,000 passengers pass through the station using about 500 trains, for an annual total of 120 million passengers.
The station is served by national and international routes, with both long-distance and regional lines. Daily international destinations include Bern, Lugano, Geneva, Zürich, Paris, Vienna, Marseille and Munich. The station is also connected to Milan-Malpensa Airport through the Malpensa Express airport train.
The following services call at the station (incomplete):
Domestic.
For regional (Regio) trains to Monza and Como from Milano Centrale, refer to the 'cross-border' services. There is no train service of Milan Suburbano at the Centrale station.
Cross-border (Night train).
The following train has been moved to stop at Milano Lambrate railway station and Milano Porta Garibaldi railway station in 2020:
This train connects at Verona with ÖBB Nightjet/EuroNight Rome-Vienna: the train splits into two parts (first half couples with ÖBB Rome-Vienna and leaves for Vienna or Rome; second half continues to Munich or Milan). Vienna-Rome splits into two trains (first half continues to Rome or Vienna; second half couples with the train for Milan or Munich).
Cross-border.
After the opening of Gotthard Base Tunnel in December 2016, train services between Milan and Switzerland increased in frequency. All SBB-CFF-FSS Eurocity now save 35 minutes of total journey time between Bellinzona and Arth-Goldau.
From December 2017, a new cross-border service Milan-Frankfurt (Trenitalia-DB-SBB Eurocity) via Zürich will be operational.
Platforms.
The station, along with Roma Termini and Firenze Santa Maria Novella, has security gates which prevent access to the platforms without a ticket.
Each platform is usually dedicated to some particular route. The current organization is as follows, although temporary changes may occur.
Unusual track layout.
On the northern side of the railway yard there used to be a loop curve so that trains could turn around and reverse back into the station. The trains could so be displaced from the left side of the station to the right side and vice versa without crossing all the tracks. The tracks on the loop curve are partially broken up.


St Andrew Holborn (church)

The Church of St Andrew, Holborn, is a Church of England church on the northwestern edge of the City of London, on Holborn within the Ward of Farringdon Without.
History.
Roman and medieval.
Roman pottery was found on the site during 2001/02 excavations in the crypt. However, the first written record of the church itself is dated as 951 (DCCCCLI) in a charter of Westminster Abbey, referring to it as the "old wooden church", on top of the hill above the river Fleet. The Charter's authenticity has been called into question because the date is not within the reign of the King Edgar of England who is granting it. It may be that this is simply a scribal error and that the date should be '959' (DCCCCLIX). A 'Master Gladwin', i.e. a priest, held it after the Norman Conquest and he assigned it to St Paul's Cathedral, but with the proviso that the advowson be granted at 12 pence a year to the Cluniac Order's, St Saviour's foundation of what was to become Bermondsey Abbey. This assignment dates between 1086 and 1089. In about 1200 a deed was witnessed by James, the Parson, Roger, his chaplain, Andrew, the Deacon and also Alexander his clerk. In 1280 one Simon de Gardino bequeathed funds towards the building of a belfry, it is assumed this would be stone and that there were due to be bells to be cast for it.
In the Early Middle Ages the church is referred to as St Andrew Holburnestrate and later simply as St Andrew de Holeburn.
In 1348, John Thavie, a local armourer, "left a considerable Estate towards the support of the fabric forever", a legacy which survived the English Reformation, was invested carefully through the centuries, and still provides for the church's current upkeep. In the 15th century, the wooden church was replaced by a medieval stone one. On 8 July 1563, during a severe storm, the steeple of the church was struck and badly damaged by lightning.
After being executed by hanging for the crime of serving at a Catholic Mass, St. Swithin Wells was buried in the churchyard on 10 December 1591.
16th to 18th century.
The medieval St Andrew's survived the 1666 Great Fire of London, saved by a last minute change in wind direction, but was already in a bad state of repair and so was rebuilt by Christopher Wren anyway. In what is his largest parish church, he rebuilt from the foundations (creating the present crypt) and gave the existing medieval stone tower (the only medieval part to survive) a marble cladding. Its rector from 1713 to 1724 was Henry Sacheverell, who is buried beneath the church's altar.
In 1741, the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram set up the Foundling Hospital for abandoned children in a house in nearby Hatton Garden. The following year, the charity moved to new premises in Bloomsbury and remained there until 1935.
The church of St George the Martyr Holborn was built between 1703 and 1706, as a chapel of ease for the parish. It became a parish church in its own right in 1723.
19th century.
In 1808, writer William Hazlitt married Sarah Stoddart, with Charles Lamb as his best man, and Mary Lamb as a bridesmaid. The twelve-year-old Benjamin Disraeli, the future Prime Minister, was received into the Christian Church in 1817.
It was on the church's steps in 1828 that the surgeon William Marsden found a homeless girl suffering from hypothermia, and sought help for her from one of the nearby hospitals. However, none would take her in, and she died in Marsden's arms; the horror of the experience inspired him to establish the Royal Free Hospital for the poor and destitute. Today the hospital is located in Hampstead.
In the mid-19th century, the Holborn Valley Improvement Scheme bought up the church's North Churchyard. Many of the bodies were re-interred: some in the crypt, and others at the City of London Cemetery in Ilford (the latter also being the destination for the bodies from the crypt when it was cleared in 2002–2003) to make way for the Holborn Viaduct, linking Holborn with Newgate, which was opened by Queen Victoria in 1869.
As part of this improvement scheme the church received compensation to replace its assets, and the Gothic architect Samuel Sanders Teulon was commissioned to build a new rectory and court house on the south side of the church – this now operates as the offices for the foundation, the associated charities and the Archdeaconry of Hackney, as well as the rectory and the conference rooms. Teulon incorporated into the court room, the building's main room, a 17th-century fireplace. This was from the 'Quest Room' for the 'below Bars' part of the parish, i.e. that lying outside the city boundary, sited as part of a block of buildings in the middle of the main street. This block was removed as part of the Holborn Viaduct improvements and explains why Holborn is so wide at this point.
In Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist" Bill Sykes looks up at this church's tower (an episode referenced by Iris Murdoch in "Under the Net", though from where her character stands such a view is almost impossible). In Dickens' "Bleak House", Mr Snagsby's deceased partner, Peffer, is buried in the churchyard of St Andrew's.
20th century to present.
During the London Blitz, on the night of 7 May 1941, the church was bombed and gutted by German bombs, leaving only the exterior walls and tower. However, instead of demolition which sometimes occurred in similar cases, it was decided after a long delay that it would be restored "stone for stone and brick for brick" to Wren's original designs. The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
The church contains stained glass and a mural – depicting the Holy Spirit as a dove – by Brian Thomas.
In 1955, the Foundling Hospital, which had originally been founded in the St Andrew's parish, sold its premises at Ashlyns School in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. It was decided to transfer a number of items from the Hospital chapel in Berkhamsted back to London, including the mortal remains of Thomas Coram, the Hospital founder, which were exhumed and placed in a tomb in St Andrew's. The casing of the organ, which had originally been given to the Foundling Hospital by George Frideric Handel, was also dismantled and installed in St Andrew's, along with the pulpit and the baptismal font.
The church re-opened in 1961 as a non-parochial Guild Church intended for serving the local "working" rather than "resident" community which had declined as had the City's population as a whole.
In January 2005 a new large icon was installed, made for the site by the Monastic Family Fraternity of Jesus in Vallechiara. The church runs a selection of recitals and lectures, as well as weekly services and evening concerts.
In August 2010, St Andrew Holborn's Icon Cross became motorised, allowing the large icon of Jesus on the Cross to be raised and lowered for services.
In September 2017 controversy occurred when a London Fashion Week show which took place at the church included runway models sporting satanic images and symbols.
Organ.
 is a 20th-century instrument in an 18th-century casing. It was built by Mander Organs in 1989 and is mounted in the west gallery. The upper part of the organ casing incorporates the original casework from the 1750 organ built for the Foundling Hospital chapel in Bloomsbury to a design by Handel. In 1935 it was installed in Ashlyns School chapel in Berkhamsted before being dismantled and re-installed in St Andrew, Holborn.


Kiplin Hall

Kiplin Hall is a Jacobean historic house at Kiplin in North Yorkshire, England, and a Grade I listed building. It stands by the River Swale in the Vale of Mowbray. Kiplin Hall is rich in education, in architecture and art, a museum of history, a gallery and provides a biographical record of its past English country house owners. The nearest villages are Scorton, Great Langton and Bolton-on-Swale.
Early settlement.
Like many great estates, the history of Kiplin was shaped by the C16th religious conflicts around the Reformation. The land was originally a monastic holding, under the ownership of Easby Abbey. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, the land at Kiplin passed to John Scrope, 8th Baron Scrope of Bolton and then to Thomas Wharton, 2nd Baron Wharton. Wharton, as a loyal servant of the Catholic Queen Mary, fell out of favour after her death, and sold the estate to the Calvert family in 1559.
Seventeenth century founding.
The house was built sometime during 1622–1625 for George Calvert, Secretary of State to James I, who later became first Lord Baltimore and founder of Maryland in what is now part of the United States.
Initially built as a hunting lodge it was a slightly rectangular building fashioned of red brick with diamond patterning known as diapering formed from blue-black headers incorporated into the brick bond. Kiplin had four towers, which unusually, were not placed at the corners of the structure, but at the centre of each of the four walls – the north and south towers containing staircases, whilst the east and west comprised part of the rooms in which they were contained. At the summit of each tower is an ogee dome.
Eighteenth century.
In 1722, Charles Calvert found himself in financial difficulties and sold the Kiplin estate to his mother's second husband (his stepfather) Christopher Crowe for £7,000 (). Although not a member of the nobility, Crowe had been British Consul in Livorno, Italy and enjoyed the lucrative contract for supplying the British naval fleet with wine and olive oil. Combined with his activities in collecting antiquities for the British aristocracy his wealth and power grew. Purchasing Kiplin Hall around a century after its construction, he found the house to lack comfort (the Calverts had never lived there) and set about a renovation programme including the addition of a grand staircase, fireplaces and dado rails as well as a servants' wing to the north (much of which was demolished in the 1970s). Crowe enlarged the Kiplin estate to some 4,000 acres.
Nineteenth century.
In 1817 Christopher Crowe's great-granddaughter Sarah Crowe married John Delaval Carpenter, fourth (and final) Earl of Tyrconnell of the fourth creation. The first Earl's daughter had been mistress to a Prince and Almeria Carpenter's portrait by Angelica Kauffmann is displayed in the dining room.
Lady Tyrconnell inherited Kiplin the following year and in 1819 commissioned the architect P. F. Robinson to build a wing to the south. Built in 'Wyatville's Gothic' this room was initially a Gothic-style drawing room. After 30 years of marriage the couple had one daughter, Elizabeth, who died the same day she was born. They were now faced with the problem of to whom they might pass the Hall and estate on their own deaths. Predeceased by her husband, in 1868 Sarah died leaving the estate to John Carpenter's first cousin twice removed, Captain Walter Cecil Talbot.
Talbot was the second son of Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury and inherited Kiplin Hall on condition that he legally changed his surname to Carpenter, married a Protestant and submitted to a seven yearly examination of his faith by a team of Anglican clergy. He accepted these conditions and inherited the estate in 1868, eventually taking up residence in 1887. He instructed the architect William Eden Nesfield to add a further floor to the Gothic-style drawing room and the space was converted to a Jacobean-style library. His second wife, Beatrice de Grey was prominent, in the Arts and Crafts movement and the Hall contains some beautiful works by local craftsmen in this style. Eventually promoted to Admiral, he died on a trip to London in 1904 and his only daughter Sarah Marie Talbot Carpenter inherited.
Twentieth century.
Sarah Talbot Carpenter married Christopher Hatton Turnor from Stoke Rochford in Lincolnshire in 1907 but they had no children. The couple never resided at Kiplin and the house was let to tenants. Five sales of land reduced the estate to 120 acres of land and disposed of many of the tenant farms, land and cottages which had contributed to its running. The estate entered virtually a century of decline. Much of the nearby local landscape has since been extensively quarried for sand and gravel extraction.
In 1937, Sarah Turnor shared ownership of the Hall with her first cousin, Bridget Elizabeth Talbot, daughter of the Admiral's youngest brother Alfred. Miss Talbot had happy memories of visiting the estate in her childhood and had previously campaigned to save the Ashridge Estate near her home in Little Gaddesden (near Berkhamstead). In an attempt to capitalise on the connection with Maryland (see above) she advertised the Hall as a guest house to American visitors and as a conference centre. From 1937 until 1958, she tried to interest the National Trust in taking over Kiplin, but they remained largely indifferent, considering the Hall of little historical significance and insisting that the north and south wings, which were later additions, would have to be demolished.
During the Second World War the Hall was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force and used as a maintenance unit, storing and supplying armaments for local airfields at RAF Catterick, RAF Croft and RAF Middleton St George. In addition some of the rooms were converted to flats for officer's use and it was used by men from the 1st Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment as a place to recover after being rescued at Dunkirk.
In February 1968, Miss Talbot set up the Kiplin Hall Trust, its purpose being to hold Kiplin Hall and its appurtenances upon Trust permanently to preserve the same for the benefit of the nation as a place of beauty and historical and architectural interest. Bridget Talbot died in November 1971, leaving the contents of the Hall to the Trust, which still cares for the Hall and estate today.
Bridget Talbot was a rather "remarkable woman who received the Italian Medal for Valour for her work with the Red Cross on the Italian-Austrian front during the First World War and who invented a waterproof torch for lifebelts which saved the lives of many seamen during the Second World War. She stood as a Liberal Party candidate for Bermondsey in 1950 and in 1968 established the Kiplin Charitable Trust to preserve the Hall." Bridget Talbot was awarded for her service the Italian Medal of Military Valor (Medaglia d'oro al Valore Militare) for exceptional valour as a nurse, Croce di Guerra (Croce al Merito di Guerra) and the British Order of the British Empire as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.).
Twenty-first century.
Following extensive renovation and refurbishment, the property is now open to the public and represents an insight into almost four centuries of life in North Yorkshire.
A permanent exhibition charts the founding of Maryland by George Calvert and the lives of the families who have lived in Kiplin Hall through the centuries.
Historic records of Kiplin Hall and its families from the early 18th century to the 21st century are held at the North Yorkshire County Record Office in Northallerton and at Kiplin Hall.
Kiplin Hall provides programmes which support the National Curriculum Attainment Targets in art, art and design, patterns/materials/buildings, geography, history, physical education and science. Specific programmes include; Victorian Childhood, Portraits, Patterns and Materials, Nature Detectives, and the Second World War – How children lived (KS2 only).
Collaborations.
The University of Maryland, with funding from the state of Maryland, in 1986 opened the "University of Maryland Study Center at Kiplin Hall," established a resource "built out of what was originally a stable house and blacksmith’s shop." It is open for students in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
Washington College in Maryland offers a three-week summer program in English Literature. Lectures are presented each morning and students participate in afternoon field excursions. Significant historic, literary, landscape, and architectural sites of interest are part of field excursions. Influential literary figures such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley and others found the area around Kiplin Hall inspiring to their works.
The University of South Carolina has a summer program (Hist 786) in England to "provide comparisons with U.S. theory and practice in archives administration, museum management, and historic preservation. It offers behind-the-scenes tours of museums and historic sites, as well as meetings with curators, archivists, administrators, and government officials to discuss the practice of public history in the UK." This includes Kiplin Hall.
Awards.
Kiplin Hall received two Hudson's Heritage Awards in two categories "at a prestigious awards ceremony in London" on 3 December 2012. One was being chosen as England's "Hidden Gem" award and the other was for the "Best New Discovery."


Architecture of Chiswick House

Chiswick House is an example of English Palladian Architecture in Burlington Lane, Chiswick, in the London Borough of Hounslow in England. Arguably the finest remaining example of Neo-Palladian architecture in London, the house was designed by Lord Burlington, and built between 1727 and 1729. The architectural historian Richard Hewlings has established that Chiswick House was an attempt by Lord Burlington to create a Roman villa, rather than Renaissance pastiche, situated in a symbolic Roman garden. Chiswick House is inspired in part by several buildings of the 16th-century Italian architects Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) and his assistant Vincenzo Scamozzi (1552–1616). The house is often said to be directly inspired by Palladio's Villa Capra "La Rotonda" near Vicenza, due to the fact that architect Colen Campbell had offered Lord Burlington a design for a villa very closely based on the Villa Capra for his use at Chiswick. However, although still clearly influential, Lord Burlington had rejected this design and it was subsequently used at Mereworth Castle, Kent. Lord Burlington was not just restricted to the influence of Andrea Palladio as his library list at Chiswick indicates. He owned books by influential Italian Renaissance architects such as Sebastiano Serlio and Leon Battista Alberti and his library contained books by French architects, sculptors, illustrators and architectural theorists such as Jean Cotelle, Philibert de l'Orme, Abraham Bosse, Jean Bullant, Salomon de Caus, Roland Fréart de Chambray, Hugues Sambin, Antoine Desgodetz, and John James's translation of Claude Perrault's "Treatise of the Five Orders". Whether Palladio's work inspired Chiswick or not, the Renaissance architect exerted an important influence on Lord Burlington through his plans and reconstructions of lost Roman buildings; many of these unpublished and little known, were purchased by Burlington on his second Grand Tour and housed in cabinets and tables the Blue Velvet Room, which served as his study. These reconstructions were the source for many of the varied geometric shapes within Burlington's Villa, including the use of the octagon, circle and rectangle (with apses). Possibly the most influential building reconstructed by Palladio and used at Chiswick was the monumental Roman Baths of Diocletian: references to this building can be found in the Domed Hall, Gallery, Library and Link rooms.
Burlington's use of Roman sources can be viewed in the steep-pitched dome of the villa which is derived from the Pantheon in Rome. However, the source for the octagonal form of the dome, the Upper Tribunal, Lower Tribunal and cellar at Chiswick all possibly derive from Vincenzo Scamozzi's Rocca Pisana near Vicenza. Burlington may also have been influenced in his choice of octagon from the drawings of the Renaissance architect Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554), or from Roman buildings of antiquity (for example, Lord Burlington owned Andrea Palladio's drawings of the octagonal mausoleum at Diocletian's Palace at Split in modern Croatia). Archaeological remains have shown the Roman willingness to experiment with different geometric forms in their buildings, such as the underground octagonal hall in Nero's Domus Aurea.
The brick-built Villa's facade is faced in Portland stone, with a small amount of stucco. The finely carved Corinthian capitals on the projecting six-column portico at Chiswick, carved by John Boson, are derived from Rome's Temple of Castor and Pollux. The inset door, projecting plinth and 'v'-necked rusticated vermiculation (resembling "tufa") were all derived from the base of Trajan's Column. The short sections of crenellated wall with ball finials which extend out either side of the villa were symbolic of medieval (or Roman) fortified town walls and were inspired by their use by Palladio at his church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice and by Inigo Jones (1573–1652) (Palladio also produced woodcuts of the Villa Foscari with crenellated sections of walls in his "I quattro libri dell'architettura" in 1570, yet in reality they were never built). To reinforce this link two full-length statues of Palladio and Jones by the celebrated Flemish-born sculptor John Michael Rysbrack (1694–1770) are positioned in front of these sections of wall. Palladio's influence can also be found in the general cubic form of the villa with its central hall with other rooms leading off its axis. The villa is a half cube with a side of , 35 feet high. Inside are rooms of square, square and by by 25 feet. The distance from the apex of the dome to the base of the cellar is , making the whole pile fit within a perfect, invisible cube. However, the decorative cornice at Chiswick was derived from a contemporary source, that of James Gibbs's cornice at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London.
On the portico leading to the Domed Hall is positioned a bust of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Augustus was regarded by many of the early 18th-century English aristocracy as the greatest of all the Roman Emperors (the early Georgian era was known as the Augustan Age). This link with the Emperor Augustus was reinforced in the garden at Chiswick through the presence of Egyptianizing objects such as sphinxes (who symbolically guard the 'Temple' front and rear), obelisks and stone lions. Lord Burlington and his contemporaries were conscious of the fact that it was Augustus who invaded Egypt and brought back Egyptian objects and erected them in Rome. The influence of Rome manifested itself at Chiswick through Burlington's strategic deployment of statues, including those of a Borghese gladiator, a Venus de' Medici, a wolf (used to inspire nostalgic memories of the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, a goat (symbolising the zodiac of Capricorn, the sign under which Octavian was conceived) and a boar located at the rear of the Villa (symbolic of the legendary Calydonian Boar hunt). Inside the Villa many references to the Roman goddess Venus abound, as Venus was the mother of Aeneas who fled Troy and co-founded Rome. On the forecourt to the Villa are several 'term' statues that derive their forms from the Roman god Terminus, the god of distance and space. Such items therefore are used as boundary markers, positioned in the hedge at set distances apart.
At the rear of the Villa were positioned 'herm' statues that derive from the Greek god Hermes, the patron of travellers and thus are welcoming figures for all who wish to visit Lord Burlington's gardens (Lord Burlington's gardens at Chiswick were the most visited of all London villas. A small entrance charge applied).
Lord Burlington's intentions for his villa have never been established and received much speculation. The memoirist and gossip, John, Lord Hervey, for example, described the newly built Villa as "Too small to live in, and too big to hang to a watch". John Clerk of Penicuik described it as "Rather curious than convenient", whilst Horace Walpole referred to the villa as "the beautiful model". Burlington only spoke of his villa in passing as his 'toy'. For the most part Burlington's intention for his new building remains a mystery. What is certain is that the villa was never intended for occupation as it contained no kitchens and space for only three four poster beds on the ground floor. It is possible that one purpose of the Villa was as an art gallery, as inventories show more than 167 paintings hanging "in situ" at Chiswick House in Lord Burlington's lifetime, many purchased on his two Grand Tours of Europe.
Principal rooms.
Chiswick Villa is built of brick and its façade fronted with Portland stone with a small amount of stucco. The walls of the Villa, interrupted only by the porticos and Serlian windows, were deliberately austere, yet its interiors more refined and colourful. This followed both Palladio and Jones's recommendations that the façade of a building, like that of a gentlemen, should be businesslike and serious, yet inside, away from prying eyes, could be more relaxed, playful and informal.
Two features of Chiswick Villa were revolutionary in English architectural practice- the centrally-planned layout, and the geometry of the rooms. Chiswick Villa was the first domestic building in England to be designed with a central room which provided access ('communications') to other rooms around its perimeter. The source for this feature was Andrea Palladio's centrally planned Villas, such as the Villa Capra and Villa Foscari. In the design of the rooms Lord Burlington used different geometric shapes, some with coved ceilings. Such a variety of differing spatial forms, many derived from Palladio's reconstructions of ancient Roman buildings (such as the Baths of Diocletian) had never previously been seen in English architecture. Many of the most important rooms within Chiswick Villa were situated on the "piano nobile" (Upper Floor) and comprise eight rooms and a link building. The rooms on this level were either of the Composite or Corinthian order of architecture to illustrate their important status.
In contrast, the Villa's ground-floor level was always intended to be plain and unadorned; it has low ceilings and little carving or gilding. Its rooms were for business, and Lord Burlington followed Palladio's recommendation to restrict the lowest order of Roman architecture, the Tuscan, to the ground floor. The three internal spiral staircases, based on Palladian precedent, were not intended to be accessed by Lord Burlington's guests, and were used only by the house servants; a dumb waiter was installed in place of the fourth internal staircase.
Upper Tribune (or Domed Hall).
The Upper Tribune is an octagonal room surmounted with a central dome. The dome has octagonal coffering of a type derived from the Basilica of Maxentius. The half-moon lunette windows below the dome are called 'Thermal' or 'Diocletian' windows. Their use at Chiswick was the first in northern Europe. Running beneath the Diocletian windows in the frieze are several lion heads, a feature also associated with the Diocletian bath houses, with Old St Paul's Cathedral under Inigo Jones, and with the Temple of Jerusalem.
In the original (and unexecuted) decorative scheme for this room, illustrated by William Kent around 1727, the spaces between the Diocletian windows were represented as half-moon panels with painted scenes, possibly frescos. The picture frames were smaller than those in place today and therefore did not have the problem of resting uncomfortably just above the stone pediments. Instead of busts on brackets, Kent includes small panels placed between the four doors. Kent also illustrated small cherubs who reclined on the triangular pediments, similar to those illustrated by Inigo Jones on the new west front of Old St. Paul's Cathedral.
This room also contained four heavy gilded tables carved with Kent's characteristic baroque shells and accompanied with central carved lion masks (complementing the lion heads in the frieze). For each table two mahogany chairs were placed either side. These chairs had pediment backs which matched the four stone triangular pediments in this room. Eight large paintings were placed in gilded frames above the stone pediments and busts, including three of the Stuart and French Royal family, one executed by Sir Godfrey Kneller of Lord Burlington and his sisters, and popular mythological scenes such as "Daphne and Apollo" and "The Judgment of Paris" Twelve antique busts of Roman and Greek figures, such as Emperors, poets, politicians and generals were also positioned on gilded brackets designed by Lord Burlington..
In the centre of the floor in this room is positioned an eight-pointed star, a potential reference to the star of the Order of the Garter which was introduced by King Charles I in 1629 and received by Lord Burlington from King George II in 1730. However, positioned immediately before the large portrait of King Charles I and his family it provides further circumstantial evidence that Lord Burlington may have received an earlier secret Garter from the Stuart Kings in exile (in this painting King Charles I can be seen wearing the blue sash of the Garter with a "Lesser" George attached).
This central room, which provides access to the Gallery, Green and Red Velvet Rooms, would originally have been used for poetry readings, theatrical performances, gambling and small musical recitals (for example the composer George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) may have performed in this room. Handel lived with the family at Burlington House for two years when he arrived in England in 1712). The Upper Tribune was entered from the outside staircase in imitation of the staircases on many of Palladio's Villas in Vicenza.
Gallery.
The tripartite series of rooms overlooking the garden at the rear of the Villa are collectively known as the ‘Gallery Rooms’. The distinctive apses here are derived from the Temple of Venus and Roma - the same source that Inigo Jones utilised when he refaced the west front of old St. Paul's Cathedral before its destruction in 1666.
In the four niches were placed classical mythological statues of a Muse, Mercury, Apollo and Venus. This Gallery was designed as a statue Gallery and if in Italy this series of rooms would have been a "loggia" (a room open to the elements on one or more sides). The distinctive nine-panelled compartmentalised ceiling is a conflation of two ceilings derived from The Queen's House at Greenwich and The Banqueting House at Whitehall, both designed by Inigo Jones and both Royal apartments.
The central painting, by the Venetian artist Sebastiano Ricci (1659–1734), is a close copy of Paolo Veronese's (c.1528–88) ‘The Defense of Scutari’ located in the Doge's Palace, Venice. The side paintings, believed to be by William Kent, depict double "cornucopias" which form crusader tents accompanied by Turkish prisoners with arms and armour positioned in various postures of captivity. The military theme in these paintings may possibly be a reference to Lord Burlington's status as a Knight of the Order of the Garter or his position as head of the 'Gentlemen Pensioners' (symbolic bodyguards to the King). Alternatively these paintings may be of a Masonic motivation as in the 18th century it was believed that the Crusader Military orders, such as The Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon (Knights Templar) and the Knights of St John (Hospitallers), were in some way inexplicably linked. These higher 'Chivalric and Historic' orders met in 'encampments' rather than lodges and were predominantly Christian in their outlook and composition.
This room also contains two purple Egyptian porphyry urns purchased by Burlington on his first Grand Tour in 1714. These are accompanied by two heavy tables designed by Kent with their distinctive shells and featuring a mask of Neptune, accompanied by two water cherubs wearing pearls. The two handsome marble tops were inlaid with twenty two different types of marble and formed into geometric shapes with Greek Key (meander) borders. These were also joined by two "torchers" (flame holders) in the form of ‘Terms’. Either end of the Gallery are rooms that are circular and octagonal in shape. Together with the central rectangular Gallery, this series of geometric forms derive from Andrea Palladio's reconstructions of the Diocletian Bathhouses, which designs Lord Burlington owned. The female faces in the decorations of the two end rooms tell the story as told by Vitruvius of the origins of the Corinthian order. The double sunflowers mark Lord and Lady Burlington's status as courtiers in the service of the King and Queen.
When the Villa was rented out to John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute between 1865 and 1892, the central Gallery space, headed by apses at both ends, became his chapel.
Pillared Drawing Room.
Today known as the Upper Link, this room was built in about to attach the new Villa to the old Jacobean House. The room is divided into three sections by the inclusion of unfluted Corinthian pillars which support an elaborate Corinthian entablature and ceiling. Above the entablature are open screens. These features are associated with the Baths of Diocletian and Caracalla, with Andrea Palladio's reconstructions again the source. The ceiling is a copy of a 16th-century design depicting a decorative relief from a Roman sarcophagus from a room that may have sealed a mausoleum in the Roman funerary city of Pozzuoli. Outside this room is a central avenue flanked by funerary urns. This was Lord Burlington's attempt to symbolise the Appian Way which led to ancient Rome. It was by this road that the Emperor Augustus chose to enter Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar on 15 March 44 BC.
Green Velvet Room.
The Green Velvet Room is by by in size and has a plaster ceiling with nine deeply recessed, gilded compartments derived from Inigo Jones's design for the Queen's Chapel at Old Somerset House (formally Denmark House, now demolished). Four depictions of the Green Man, pagan god of the oak and symbol of rebirth and resurrection, can be viewed carved into the marble fireplaces. The stone overmantels are a conflation of two designs by Inigo Jones and contain mythological paintings by Jean Baptiste Monnoyer (1636–99) and the Venetian painter Sebastiano Ricci who also carried out commissions at Burlington House in Piccadilly. This room later become an extension to Lady Burlington's Bedchamber and Closet, situated next door. Today this rooms contains six paintings of the gardens by the Flemish artist Pieter Andreas Rysbrack. These paintings are particularly valuable as they trace the development of the gardens from its formal to naturalistic appearance under Burlington, Kent and Pope. This room also features a painting by George Lambert with figures attributed to William Hogarth, regarded by art historians as the first painting to depict the English Landscape Garden.
Lady Burlington's Bedchamber and Closet.
Lady Burlington died in this bedchamber in 1758, as did the Whig leader Charles James Fox in 1806. The designation of this room in Lord Burlington's lifetime is unknown, but it appears Lady Burlington occupied this room some time after the death of her last daughter in 1754. Records at Chatsworth House show that the room was used intermittently as a children's nursery, undoubtedly for Lady Burlington's grand children and subsequently for the children of Georgiana and Elizabeth Foster. Today, several portraits of the Savile family can be viewed here and in the Bedchamber closet. One painting of note is of the poet Alexander Pope, painted by his good friend and fellow drinker William Kent.
The bedchamber closet is a perfect cube and has a ceiling design derived from the Queen's House, Greenwich. Originally the room would have contained around twenty seven paintings and access would have been restricted to Lady Burlington's closest friends. Prince of Wales swags and feathers can be seen in both rooms, possibly denoting the Villa as a Royal Palace.
Red Velvet Room.
The Red Velvet Room once contained the largest and most expensive paintings in Lord Burlington's collection, including paintings by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), Giacomo Cavedone (1577–1660), Peter Paul Rubens (1573–1640), Rembrandt van Ryn (1606–69), Salvator Rosa (1615–1673), Pier Francesco Mola (1612–1666), Jacopo Ligozzi (c.1547–1632), Jean Lemaire (1598–1659), Francisque Millet (1642–79) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). The Venetian window in this room is derived from the Queen's Chapel at St James's Palace and was much imitated. The chimneypieces and surrounds again derive from Jonesian sources, in this case from the Queen's House, Greenwich. These marble chimneypieces have the inclusion of roses, Scottish thistles, grapes, sunflowers, oak apples, Pomegranates and "fleur-de-lys" which may be interpreted as Jacobite symbols.
The ceiling, similar in design to that in the Green Velvet Room, but containing painted panels has at its centre a painting attributed to William Kent representing Lord Burlington's patronage of the arts. The main character is the Roman god Mercury, the great patron of the arts and god of commerce, who is dispensing money into the arts depicted at the bottom of the panel. Burlington's wealth is represented by a "putto" who holds a "cornucopia". The arts are represented by a self-portrait of William Kent (art), a supine bust of Inigo Jones (sculpture) and a "putto" with a temple plan of the Temple of Fortuna Virilis as depicted by Palladio in his architectural treatise "I quattro libri dell’architettura" first published in 1570.
An additional interpretation of this ceiling and its iconography relates to Freemasonry and its legendary history, and that this space could have functioned as a working Masonic Lodge. Positioned around the central painting are six roundels containing personifications of six of the then known stars or planets of the Moon, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with their associated zodiac signs. The seventh planet, that of Mercury, is personified in the central painting and is accompanied by a section of the northern zodiacal wheel containing the zodiacs for the planet Mercury and the constellations Gemini and Virgo. As such this ceiling painting is an important depiction of the universe as viewed through early Georgian eyes. (The Freemasons equated the seven known planets with the several liberal arts of which the fifth, Geometry, was considered the most important). At the centre of the painting is positioned the eight pointed star of the Order of the Garter which Lord Burlington received from King George II in 1730. This star also represents the Sun at the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice, a day which the Freemasons associate with their Patron Saint, the 'messenger' (like Mercury) St John the Baptist.
Recent research on the iconography of the ceiling paintings in this room has also suggested that it may be the first visual reference to the third degree of Freemasonry, that of 'Master Mason' which first come to light in around 1730.
A third, and potentially the most controversial explanation of the iconographical program of the central ceiling painting can be read in terms of Lord Burlington's suspected Jacobite loyalties. In this regard the meaning of the painting can be interpreted as the 'Crucifixion' and 'Resurrection' of King Charles I, the great Stuart martyr whose murder was promoted in Jacobite rhetoric as paralleled to the Passion of Jesus Christ (King Charles II returned from exile in 1660). If this reading is correct, the three ladies at the bottom of the central panel represent the three Maries who biblically were present at Christ's Crucifixion. Here the bare-breasted lady in blue with child is the Virgin Mary; the lady dressed in blue and red with reddish hair bound up in the style of a courtesan and on her knees as if at the base of the cross, Mary Magdalene. The third lady, holding a roundel containing the image of William Kent, is the remaining Mary. King Charles I is represented by both the fallen bust of Inigo Jones and the god Mercury, as the Stuarts associated themselves with this Roman god of eloquence (as depicted on the Banqueting House ceiling) and ruled as 'Mercurian' Monarchs. Lord Burlington would also have been aware of the Stuarts identification with Mercury through the theatre and masque set designs for the Stuart Court which were designed by Inigo Jones, the majority of which Lord Burlington owned.
Blue Velvet Room and Closet.
The Blue Velvet Room is a perfect cube measuring square to the egg-and-dart lip. This room was Lord Burlington's "studiola" or ‘Drawing Room’ and originally contained a large table by William Kent which contained many designs by architects such as Andrea Palladio, Inigo Jones, John Webb and Vincenzo Scamozzi, which were ready for inspection. The ceiling is supported by eight large "cyma reversa" brackets, all in the Italian manner.
The coved ceiling, painted by William Kent, depicts a personification of ‘Architecture’ accompanied by three "putti" who grasp architectural implements in the form of T-Square, Set-Square and plumb line. ‘Architecture’ herself holds dividers and an unknown Temple plan (possible derived from the Jesuit architect Juan Bautista Villalpando who produced a classical reconstruction of the "sanctum sanctorum" at the heart of Solomon's Temple). All four characters are seated on a fallen, hollow, metal column and are surrounded by a canopy of stars.
This ceiling represents Lord Burlington's interest in architecture. Alternatively the painted ceiling and its surrounding decoration (including the presence of rats and snakes) can be interpreted as having a Masonic program, as dividers, set-squares, T-Squares and plumb lines were important Masonic symbols of morality. The "putto" to the left of ‘Architecture’ holds his finger to his lips suggesting silence or secrecy – a gesture mimicking the Egyptian child god of silence, Harpocrates. The idea that this room could have been used for initiation into Masonic mysteries is further supported by the proportions of this room as a perfect cube measuring 15x15x15 feet – the equivalent of 10 cubits by 10 cubits by 10 cubits, the stated dimensions of the Holy of Holies within Moses' Tabernacle according to the Bible.
Rooms on the ground floor.
Lower Tribune.
The Lower Tribune was essentially a waiting room (an ‘inner court’ or ‘vestibule’) for associates wishing to meet with Lord Burlington. The room is an octagon with eight Tuscan columns positioned around its perimeter. The architect Andrea Palladio made it clear that the Tuscan order of architecture, being the simplest of the five Roman orders, should only ever be used on the ground floor of a building as they were suitable for prisons, fortifications and amphitheatres. The eight pillars placed in a circular formation within on octagon are derived from the Baptistery of Constantine, (also known as the Baptistery of St John Lateran), a building reconstructed by Palladio in his "I quattro libri dell'architettura" in 1570. In this room today are twelve oil paintings of Chiswick House and gardens from the 1930s by Joseph William Topham Vinall. These paintings are of great interest as they show views that no longer exist with several showing the now lost interiors of the two Devonshire wing buildings.
Library.
Echoing the Gallery Rooms located above, the Library is a tripartite arrangement of rooms in octangular, rectangular and circular spatial forms. In the 1740s these rooms were lined with books in English, French, Italian and Latin. There were sections on architecture, antiques, sculpture, history, poetry, geography, fortification, science, divinity, philosophy and exploration. Three copies of the original 1570 publication of Andrea Palladio's "I quattro libri dell'architettura" were also placed here. Many of these books were housed in specially commissioned cabinets designed by William Kent.
Today the Library is devoid of books, the collections having been removed to Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, or in the Royal Institute of British Architects collections, which can be consulted at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Twelve steps leading from the octagonal section of the Library descend to an octagonal brick cellar vaulted in Early English style. From this cellar wine and beer were raised by dumb waiter to guests on the "piano nobile".
Lower Link.
The Lower Link Building (Lower Pillared Drawing Room) was built in 1733 to link the Old Jacobean House to the new Villa. This room contained no fireplaces and its doors were open to the elements making this room very cold in the winter. In the four niches classical statues may have been positioned or flowers arranged in the summer. As according to Palladio's recommendations Burlington used two screens of Tuscan columns in this room with the arrangement replicating the tripartite arrangement of Roman Bath Houses. Today a lead Sphinx designed by the celebrated sculptor John Cheere is positioned on a plinth in this room, together with one of the famous Arundel marbles which originally was inset into the base of an obelisk within the gardens and dates from the 3rd century BC.
Summer Parlour.
The Summer Parlour was the most important room on the ground floor of the Villa. Possibly the oldest part of the complex, it was designed around 1715 by either Lord Burlington, Colin Campbell or James Gibbs, who also designed the ‘Pagan Temple’(or 'Heathen' Temple) in the gardens. James Gibbs was sacked by Lord Burlington on the advice of his architectural rival, Colen Campbell. Campbell subsequently took over Gibbs' architectural projects at Chiswick and Burlington House.
This is the only room on this level to have elevated and painted ceilings. Originally designed as a Summer Room for Lady Burlington, in terms of expense the contents of this private room doubled that of any other interior. The ceilings were executed by William Kent in the ‘Grotesque’ style- a mode of painting found predominantly in subterranean Rome and popularised by the artist Raphael. This style, rare in Britain until reintroduced by William Kent at Kensington Palace, consisted of foliage forms interwoven with mythical creatures, such as cherubs or sphinxes.
In the ceiling of the Summer Parlour, Kent also added small owls, a motif that incorporated the owl of the Savile heraldic device. Kent designed two tables with matching mirror frames containing the owl device (the owl was also associated with the owl-faced Roman goddess Minerva, like Lady Burlington a great patroness of the arts). The original elbow chairs in this room were made by Stephen Langley and were unusual in their use of a Greek Key design interspersed with flowers, dated to 1735. Today these large pieces of furniture are situated in the Green Velvet Room. It was in the Summer Parlour that Lady Burlington was taught to paint by William Kent.
At the rear of the Summer Parlour was a small china closet for Lady Burlington's most valuable objects. Here would have been stored (and possibly displayed) blue and white export china, "famille" colored china (red, green, yellow and black), Imari, Meissen and Delft domestic wares.
The central ceiling panel shows a sunflower at the centre, surrounded by four scenes of ports, each framed by shells, a reference to the Roman water goddess Venus and the Egyptian protector of ports and sailors, Isis. The panel nearest the fireplace (in Burlington's time the doorway) depicts two "putti", one of whom sketches a female bust. The other holds his finger to his lips illustrating the need for silence.
The historian Jane Clark noted that the female bust bears a resemblance to the Jacobite Queen and Polish Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska, wife of James the Old Pretender. The two "putti" with reddish hair who accompany her may be representations of the two Stuart Princes living in exile, Charles (Bonnie Prince Charlie- the 'Young Pretender') and Henry Stuart, who were children at the time the painting was executed. In the ceiling painting furthest away from the door the two "putti" reappear, this time hugging what appears to be a pug dog. The pug dog was a symbol adopted by the 'Society of the Mopses', a European pseudo-Masonic organisation with both male and female members. As a symbol of revolt, the pug dog became particularly important after the publication of Pope Clement XII's Papal Bull "In Eminenti" in 1738 which condemned Catholic involvement in 'Craft' Freemasonry. As Clark explains, a symbolic initiation of female Freemasons involved the visiting of ports, a ritual which provides a possible link to the four scenes of ports on the ceiling panel. As such the sunflower at the centre would double as a Masonic Blazing Star, echoing the Garter Blazing stars at the centre of the Red Velvet Room ceiling and in the centre of the floor in the Upper Tribunal.
Relationship between Villa and Gardens.
Lord Burlington's use of certain motifs and decorative schemes suggests that he regarded the Villa and its garden as a single entity. Features employed within the Villa are reflected in the garden. For example, the portico of the Villa displays a dado rail, with mock picture frames located above. The concept of a single entity of villa and garden is reinforced with the use of 'thermal' and 'serlian' windows within the Villa to capture natural light, and the positioning of the main staircase on the outside of the Villa. Within the interior of the Villa William Kent painted a plan of the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, the portico of which is reconstructed by Burlington on the Ionic Temple in the Orange Tree Garden. The apses utilised in the Gallery Rooms are likewise reproduced in the garden as terminating features to the two lakes. At the Bowling Green Lord Burlington positioned eight sweet chestnut trees around its perimeter, echoing the eight Tuscan columns located around the circumference of the Lower Tribune. To Burlington the primitive Tuscan order was associated with the use of trees as columns in ancient buildings. It is through such designs that Lord Burlington attempted to break down the barriers between man-made architecture and the architecture of nature. This philosophy was vaguely similar to Andrea Palladio's approach to his Villas in Vicenza, many of which had a semi-agricultural purpose, with the ground floor used for domestic and commercial activities, and the "piano noble" used for entertainment.


Krause Music Store

The Krause Music Store, a National Historic landmark building, is a 1922 structure and the final work of architect Louis Sullivan. It is the last of the 126 buildings designed by Sullivan. In coining the phrase "form follows function", Sullivan believed that the function of a building gave rise to its form and that the two should work in concert with each other to be beautiful.
With its curvilinear plant forms and intricate framing of the picture window, the Chicago-landmark facade of this building is an outgrowth of Sullivan's belief in organic architecture. It was commissioned in 1921 by William P. Krause to serve the dual purpose of a residence and a music shop, at a total cost of $22,000. Krause chose his neighbor, architect William Presto, to design the building. Years earlier, Presto had worked as a draftsman for Louis Sullivan. But by 1921, Sullivan's success had faded, as his designs were no longer in demand. So in a reversal of roles, Sullivan was asked by his former employee to design what would become the building's beautiful green terra cotta façade. Sullivan, in ill health, living in a rented room and hopelessly insolvent, accepted the offer. Showcasing his genius with terra cotta, Sullivan designed the entire façade with ornamentation richly detailed in geometric and curvilinear forms of nature. The material for the facade was furnished by the American Terra Cotta Company for $3,770.
The building was completed in 1922. The store opened to sell pianos and sheet music, and was a pioneering retailer for the introduction of the radio. With the onset of the Great Depression, William Krause committed suicide in the family's apartment on the second floor. His widow rented and eventually sold the building to a funeral parlor. During the next 60 years, the building functioned as a funeral home, undergoing much neglect and alteration. The terra cotta façade was acid washed, which ultimately damaged and lightened its color. The basement was converted into a workspace for embalming the dead.
On September 20, 1977, the City of Chicago recognized the historic significance of the building and designated the façade as a Chicago Landmark. Thirteen years later, Scott Elliott opened Klemscott Galleries and restored the front of the building to its original intent. By the turn of the new century, a gift shop called The Museum of Decorative Arts occupied the space. In May 2005, the building was purchased by Pooja and Peter Vukosavich, who painstakingly restored the historic Sullivan façade and completed a modern renovation of the main floor for their company offices, Studio V Design – a marketing communications and design agency. The renovation has won several awards (including the Driehaus Foundation Award and the AIA award,) In 2006, through the efforts of Peter and Pooja Vukosavich, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
History.
William P. Krause hired architect William Presto to design a music store with an apartment above. Presto in turn commissioned Sullivan to design the facade. The building was completed in 1922.
It was registered as a Chicago Landmark by the City of Chicago in 1977.
From roughly 1929 on after Krause closed the music store it was rented and operated as a Funeral Home
In 2006, the building was purchased by Studio V Design, who had the facade restored and the interior renovated.


Paris architecture in the era of absolutism

The architecture of Paris and its nearest surrounding suburbs in the era of absolutism (16–18th centuries) went through several important historical stages: the transition from Flamboyant to the Renaissance, the emergence of the "Jesuit style" and mannerism, the birth of Baroque and Classicism, the rise of the decorative Rococo style. The Italian Wars had a great influence on Parisian architecture and urban planning, during which the court of Louis XII became acquainted with the ideas of the Italian Renaissance.
Invited Italian architects began to turn the medieval castles of French kings and court nobles into elegant palace residences with representative facades and richly decorated halls. It was under Francis I, who waged protracted wars with the Habsburgs for hegemony in the Mediterranea, that the French Renaissance flourished. The transformation of the Louvre into a royal palace was associated with the further development of Renaissance architecture in France, which dominated the entire 16th and early 17th centuries. During this time, under the influence of various factors, Parisian architecture underwent significant changes, which affected the development and appearance of the capital. The construction of the Luxembourg Palace in the first third of the 17th century ended the era of the French Renaissance in Paris, and the end of the colonnade of the eastern facade of the Louvre in the second half of the 17th century marked the formation of the classicist style.
After the sunset of the Renaissance in Paris, classicism for a long time coexisted with another stylistic trend - Baroque. The construction of Les Invalides at the end of the 17th century completed the monumental Baroque style, which in the first quarter of the 18th century actually turned into decoration of the mansions and palaces of the Paris aristocracy (this style of interiors was called Rococo). At the same time, classicism reigned supreme in the architecture of the city throughout the eighteenth century (its sign was Église Sainte-Geneviève, and the most grandiose urban ensemble was the Place Louis XV at the tip of the Tuileries Garden).
The architecture of the interiors of the absolutism era was most clearly expressed in the royal palaces of Paris (the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Palais-Royal and Luxembourg), as well as in the suburban residences of the Kings: Versailles, Grand and Small Trianon, Marly, Saint Germain, Saint-Cloud, Meudon, Boulogne, Muette, Vincennes, Choisy-le-Roi, Rambouillet and Fontainebleau. In the architecture of Paris of the era of absolutism, one can trace the evolution of urban compositions (palace and park ensembles and squares) from the early Renaissance to the heyday of classicism (with elements of an emerging Empire style) and Baroque. The era of absolutism ended with the Great French Revolution and the overthrow of Louis XVI. During the revolution, the symbol of tyranny was demolished - the medieval fortress-prison of the Bastille, on the site of which today is the Place de la Bastille. In addition, the revolutionary element removed royal statues from the metropolitan areas, partially destroyed or converted some churches and tax outposts.
Historical background.
By the beginning of the Renaissance, medieval Paris was a controversial sight. The city had outstanding works of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, however, Parisian buildings were dominated not by stone temples and palaces, but by wooden residential buildings that crowded along narrow and winding streets with open gutters. On both sides of the bridges across the Seine were benches with workshops and living quarters of the owners. New waves of visitors sought to settle within the old fortress walls, so the streets and courtyards were given a minimum of space. By the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries, more than 300 thousand citizens lived in Paris; it was one of the largest cities in Europe. Often Paris of that era was called the "urban colossus in an agricultural country".
In the XVI century, Paris entered a new phase for itself, associated with the gradual strengthening of absolute monarchy, the expansion of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism, which radically influenced the architecture and urban planning of the capital. Over three centuries, the architecture of the city has undergone significant changes and went through several stylistic stages. All this happened against the backdrop of the growing social role of the merchants, the separation from the feudal estate of the urban bourgeoisie and the elimination of the feudal fragmentation of France. During the unsuccessful for France Italian Wars, the French aristocracy became closely acquainted with Italy, where at that time a new worldview and Renaissance art were rapidly developing. French kings drew attention to secular nature and humanism of Italian art. The increased wealth and desire to emphasize the greatness of the royal court prompted the monarchs to begin large-scale palace construction on the basis of principles borrowed from the architecture of the Italian Renaissance. Louis XII and his son-in-law Francis I began to actively invite architects and artists from Italy to rebuild their heavy castles.
In the second half of the 16th century, the protracted Religious Wars between Catholics and Protestants, whose apotheosis in Paris became St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, as well as the peasant wars of the 1590s led to the devastation of the treasury and reduced funding for the new construction. Economic difficulties, in turn, led to a simplification of architecture. Even in relatively prosperous Paris, they began to build mainly of brick, only occasionally using stone, and reduced the use of decorative details to a minimum. This desire for minimalism in architecture found an echo in one of the first Parisian ensembles - Place des Vosges.
The eradication of feudal fragmentation and the victory of absolutism contributed to the growth of national feeling among French architects, who sought to independently comprehend the ancient heritage and develop a national architectural style. National trends in architecture found their expression in the rejection of the project of the eastern facade of the Louvre, proposed by Bernini, the greatest representative of the Italian Baroque. The result of the controversy surrounding the competition projects for the new facade of the Louvre was the creation in 1671 of the Royal Academy of Architecture (today it is a branch of the French Academy of Fine Arts). It was intended to acquaint the public with the basic laws of architecture, the teachings of the great theorists of the past and the experience of ancient builders. As part of these tasks, the architect Claude Perrault translated into French and published in Paris a treatise by his Roman colleague of the 1st century BC Vitruvius "Ten Books on Architecture".
The sources of inspiration for French architects were the most important discoveries of ancient architecture - Herculaneum (1711) and Pompeii (1748). In addition, the temples of Paestum, Segesta and Agrigentum became widely known in the 18th century. Since 1752, the "Collection of Antiques" by the French antiquarian Count de Caylus began to be published in Paris. During one of the grand tours, architects Charles-Louis Clerisso and Robert Adam reopened Diocletian's Palace in Dalmatia (later travel sketches and Clerisso's drawings formed the basis of neoclassicism). Architect Julien-David Leroy visited Ottoman Greece, which for a long time was inaccessible to European travelers. In 1758 he published the results of his research in the book Ruins of the Most Beautiful Monuments of Greece. The "History of Ancient Art" and "Notes on the History of Art" by the German theorist Johann Joachim Winckelmann had a huge impact on the establishment of the aesthetics of classicism in France.
On the eve of Great French Revolution philosophical views of Voltaire, Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Denis Diderot defined classicism as the most an acceptable architectural system, as opposed to the Baroque and Rococo styles of the outgoing era. The stronghold of classicism and the center for the development of new subjects in architecture was the progressive Royal Academy of Architecture. In 1808, the famous book "Description of Paris and its buildings" was published, in which Charles Paul Landon and Jacques-Guillaume Legrand assessed the architecture of the capital of the era of absolutism.
Palaces, castles and mansions.
The earliest example of French Renaissance architecture is the so-called "House of Francis I." It was originally built in 1523 as a hunting lodge near the Fontainebleau Palace, which was the royal residence. In 1824, the building was dismantled and moved to Paris in stone, today it is located in the town of Moret-sur-Louin (department Seine-et-Marne) and its original appearance has been restored. With its appearance, “the house of Francis I” boldly opposed itself to medieval architecture with its closedness, asceticism and asymmetry. Innovations were floor divisions, including a beautifully dissected second floor, and three wide arches on the first floor, as well as graceful reliefs by the great sculptor Jean Goujon, which enriched the facade (portrait bas-reliefs appeared on the facade later).


Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art

The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is a privately owned contemporary art gallery in Oslo in Norway. It was founded and opened to the public in 1993. The collection's main focus is the American appropriation artists from the 1980s, but it is currently developing towards the international contemporary art scene, with artists like Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Matthew Barney, Tom Sachs, Doug Aitken, Olafur Eliasson, and Cai Guo-Qiang. The museum gives 6-7 temporary exhibitions each year. Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art collaborates with international institutions and produces exhibitions that travel worldwide. In 2012 the museum moved to two new buildings designed by Renzo Piano in Tjuvholmen.
History.
The museum opened in 1993, and was funded by two philanthropic foundations established by descendants of the Fearnley shipping family, the "Thomas Fearnley Foundation" and the "Heddy and Nils Astrup Foundation".
The two foundations merged in 1995 to become the "Thomas Fearnley, Heddy and Nils Astrup Foundation". The Thomas Fearnley Foundation was established by shipping magnate Thomas Fearnley (1880–1961) in 1939; he was the son of shipping magnate Thomas Fearnley (1841–1927) and grandson of romantic painter Thomas Fearnley. The Heddy and Nils Astrup Foundation was named for Nils Ebbessøn Astrup, who was a maternal grandson of Thomas Fearnley (1841–1927).
The museum created a stir in the international art world in 2002 when it purchased the American artist Jeff Koons's monumental sculpture in gilt porcelain of the pop star Michael Jackson with Bubbles, his favourite chimpanzee, for US$5.1 million.
The collection.
The permanent collection consists of works of Norwegian and International Contemporary Art. The museum collection was originally based on a private collection that goes back thirty years and has significantly developed with the many changes in modern/contemporary art. There has been an interest in German Abstract Expressionism, English modern painting, and the Young British Artists. Presently the collection is orientated towards the young American art scene. It also encompasses works pertaining to the steadily increasing global art community. The main areas of curatorial expertise in the museum are art from the 1960s to the present, including American and European pop-art, post-modern appropriation art of the 1980s and international contemporary art. Much needed additional space will be provided by 2012 when the museum moves into two new buildings designed by Renzo Piano. The collection includes works by artists such as;
Exhibitions.
To Be With Art Is All We Ask.
Highlights from the permanent collection.
VideoSpace.
Surrounding Bacon & Warhol.
Dan Colen-Peanuts.
Ernesto Neto - Intimacy.
Gardar Eide Einarsson - Power has a Fragrance.
Bjarne Melgaard - Jealous.
Rotating Views #2- Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Nate Lowman - The Natriot Act.
Indian Highway.
Rotating Views #1- Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Andy Warhol by Andy Warhol.
Meet me around the corner.
Huang Yong Ping - Ping Pong.
LIGHTS ON – Norwegian Contemporary Art.
China Power Station: Part II.
Ann Lislegaard - Science Fiction and other worlds.
Richard Prince - Canaries in the Coal Mine.
Charles Ray - Black & White.
MORE THAN THE WORLD - Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Knut Åsdam - Retrospective.
Not all is visible - Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Tom Sachs: SURVEY. America - Modernism - Fashion.
Astrup Fearnley Collection: Photo and Video.
Uncertain States of America - American Art in the 3rd Millennium.
MO(NU)MENTS! Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Damien Hirst.
Yoko Ono: Horizontal Memories.
Jeff Koons: Retrospective.
Everything is Connected.
Jeff Wall - Tableaux.
Olafur Eliasson- Colour memory and other informal shadows.
Vibeke Tandberg.
Everyday Aesthetics - Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Matthew Barney - The Cremaster Cycle.
The Painting never dries... Reflections over paintings in the Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Torbjørn Rødland - Grave with a view.
Robert Gober - Displacements.
Janet Cardiff - Georges Bures Miller.
Børre Larsen - Comments.
Jens Johannessen - Allegory - Paintings 1998-2002.
Mike Bidlo - Not Picasso, Not Pollock, Not Warhol.
Reality fantasies - Post-modern Art from the Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Mari Slaattelid - Concealing Redness.
Claude Rutault - The Painting in the same colour as the wall on which it is hung.
Passenger - The Viewer as Participant.
Leonard Rickhard - Soft Whispers in the Birch Wood.
Museum 2 - Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Børre Sæthre - My Private Sky.
Sigmar Polke- Alchimist.
Bjørn Carlsen.
Museum - Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Tom Sandberg - Photographs.
Sincerely Yours.
Kjell Torriset - Second Nature.
Anna Gaskell.
School of Oslo.
Gilbert & George 1970-1997.
Gerhard Richter.
Alberto Chissano & Titos Mabota- Two Artists, Two Generations.
Odd Nerdrum- Tyve års tilbakeblikk.
Siste nytt- Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Olivier Debré in Norway.
Veikryss- Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection.
R.B Kitaj- An American in Europe.
Olav Chr. Jenssen- Biographie 1982- 1997.
Åpnet rom- Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Ørnulf Opdahl -Ved Havet.
Per Inge Bjørlo/ Tom Sandberg.
Giacometti/ de Staël- a Precarious Balance.
Frans Widerberg. Maleri 1956- 1996.
Håvard Vikhagen (festival exhibition).
"Memory of the World" (UNESCO).
Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection.
Malcom Morley 1965- 1995.
Knut Rose- Personlig rapport- Retrospective.
Ross Bleckner.
Christopher le Brun.
…og vestenfor måne- 13 Norwegian painters.
Double Reality- The school of London.
Opening Exhibition.
Old museum building.
The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is an independent part of the Astrup Fearnley building complex, which covers approximately one half of a city block. Designed by LPO architects and designers, the museum opened in the autumn of 1993 and encloses an area of about 2500m².
The old museum building had a main entrance on Revierstredet, marked with monumentally large steel doors; when the doors are open, one can see from a great distance that the museum is open.
The exhibition spaces covered two floors. The height of the galleries varies from 3,5 to 10,5 meters. In the design of the gallery spaces, the emphasis is upon the rooms expressing humility in relation to the artworks; simultaneously they provide the works with a beautiful and functional frame. Emphasis is also laid upon the entryway and exhibition spaces being airy and pleasant to move about in. The floor-design provides great flexibility for temporary constructions and installations. The choice of materials expresses quality but with limited means—here the artworks are the main focus. The concrete wall, like a circular movement in the museum, establishes a powerful but nevertheless subdued backdrop; the stairway to the main gallery, formed in steel with steps of smoked oak, shows an unambiguous connection between the two floors. The stone floor is made of Cascais Azul, a Portuguese sandstone.
Aside from the sculpture garden, the exhibition spaces are devoid of daylight, yet they have general artificial lighting that can be specifically adapted to any requirement.
The administration department is situated on the mezzanine; with a predominance of steel elements, it is an architectural volume in its own right.
New museum.
Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is now situated on Tjuvholmen in the centre of Oslo. The new museum was designed by the architect Renzo Piano and opened on 29 September 2012. It consists of two buildings housing the museum's permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions.
Large, modern exhibition spaces give the museum the possibility to continue its ambitious program of temporary exhibitions. Altogether, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art has at its disposition about 4200 m². The museum is situated in the Tjuvholmen skulpturpark, also designed by Renzo Piano.
Controversies.
In 2012, the decision by the private Astrup Fearnley Museum to accept sponsorship from the Norwegian arm of the Swedish-based oil company Lundin Petroleum caused public criticism.


Zhouzhuang

Zhouzhuang (; Wu: "Tseu-zaon") is a town famous for its canals in Jiangsu province, China. It is located within the administrative area of Kunshan, 30 km southeast of the city centre of Suzhou.
Zhouzhuang is a popular tourist destination, classified as a AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration. It is one of the most famous water townships in China, noted for its profound cultural background, the well preserved ancient residential houses and the elegant watery views. It has been called the "Venice of the East".
History.
In the Spring and Autumn period (770 BC-476 BC), Zhouzhuang Suzhou was a part of the fief Yaocheng and called Zhenfengli. After being donated to Full Fortune (Quanfu) Temple by Zhou Digong, a very devout Buddhist, in 1086 during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), Zhouzhuang got its present name.
Sights.
Double Bridges (Shuang qiao).
Zhouzhuang is surrounded and divided by lakes and rivers. Many stone bridges cross the rivers, showing distinctive views of the water-town. The Double Bridges, which are Shide Bridge and Yongan Bridge, are the most famous and are considered the symbol of Zhouzhuang. Built in the Wanli era (1573–1619) of the Ming Dynasty, the Double Bridges are located in the northeast of the town. Shide Bridge is east-west and has a round arch, while Yongan Bridge is north-south and has a square arch. Crossing the two crisscross rivers (Yinzi Creek and Nabeishi River) and connecting at the middle, the Twin Bridges look like an old-style Chinese key. In 1984, 38 canvases of the notable painter, Chen Yifei, were exhibited in a New York gallery of Armand Hammer, chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corporation. "Memory of Hometown", which depicted the Double Bridges, was one of the items on display and has gained the world's attention for Zhouzhuang. The painting was chosen to be the first-day cover of the United Nations' postage stamp in 1985.
Fuan Bridge.
Located at the eastern end of Zhongshi Jie, Fuan Bridge was built in 1355 during the Yuan Dynasty. The unique trait of the Fuan is the consummate combination of the single-arch bridge and the bridge towers.
Shenting House.
Built in 1742 and located at the southeast side of Fuan Bridge, Shenting House was the private property of the descendant of Shen Wansan, the first millionaire of Jiangnan (South of Yangtze River) in the early Ming Dynasty. The whole architectural complex is of the Qing's style and occupies an area of more than 2,000 square meters (half an acre). Over 100 rooms are divided into three sections and each one is connected by arcades and aisles. The first is the water gate and the wharf, where Shen's family moored boats and washed clothes. The middle part includes the gate tower, the tearoom and the main hall. Bricky gate tower carved with lively and ingenious figures which tell the historic stories or show the good wishes, make it a rare artwork. Tea room and main hall are places for serving guests, and the furnishings here are all very elegant. The last section is the two-storied dwelling which consists of several buildings which are quite different from the main hall, more comfortable and refined in pattern and atmosphere. The painted sculpture of legendary Shen Wansan is in Datang Tower; cultural relics including ancient folk instruments are exhibited in Xiaotang Tower and Back Hall.
Zhangting House.
It was built by Xu's family in the Zhengtong era (1436–1449) of the Ming Dynasty and bought by Zhang's family in the early Qing Dynasty. Located to the south of the Double Bridges, Zhangting House has more than 70 rooms and takes up about 1,800 square meters (less than half an acre). With Ruojing River flowing through, Zhangting House is a dapper and graceful residential house; has a tranquil courtyard and pond. Deep halls all represent the life of the quondam owner.
Milou Tower.
Once called the De's Tavern, Milou Tower perches next to Zhenfeng Bridge which is at the southwest corner of Zhouzhuang. It is famous for being a rallying place of the literators in old times.
Chengxu Temple.
Standing on Zhongshi Street which is opposite to Puqing Bridge, Chengxu Taoist Temple was built during 1086-1093 of the Song Dynasty and also known as Sanctity Hall (Shengtang Hall). After several periods of expansion, it is one of the most famous Taoist temples in Wuzhong Region. In an area of 1,500 square meters (1,800 square yards), Shengdi and Doumu halls, Yuhuang, Wenchang and Shengdi pavilions are pieces of Taoist architectures.
Local food.
Wansan pork.
The most famous and delicious local food of Zhouzhuang is Wansan pork hock, named after Shen Wansan, the richest man in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasty in Jiangnan.
Sanwei Glutinous rice balls.
Sanwei Glutinous rice balls are commonly called soup gluten. In the area of Jiangnan, rice balls are a delicious dish that every family would make at home.
Practicalities.
Entrance and tickets.
Entry fee is 100 yuan per person for a day. This ticket gives you entry to the ancient city area and all the sights noted above. Without purchasing the ticket, you cannot enter the area.
There is an organized boat ride down the narrow canal. It costs 40 yuan per head, or 100 yuan for a boat, which can be used by 1-6 people. The boat ride lasts 20 minutes. Note that the boat ride service lasts until 8pm, so you may consider a ride in the evening after the other attractions have closed. The day trip (before 4pm) and night trips (4-8pm) have different routes.