The Collerodo-Mansfeld family can trace their roots back a thousand years to Italy (on the Collerodo side). They were elevated to noble rank in 1588 and the two families came together through marriage, inheritance and royal decree in 1789. They owned extensive estates in Austria and Czechoslovakia, much of which was lost in the 20th […]
Standing on an elevated position at the top of Wenceslas Square in Prague is the impressive neoclassical National Museum, designed by Josef Schultz as an architectural symbol of the Czech National Revival, built from 1885 – 1891 to allow expansion of the Museum then housed in the Nostitz Palace, and recently reopened after major refurbishment. Next door […]
What has been the fascination of artists for Brittany, almost rivalling that of Venice in the 18th century for British artists? It’s a cold wet place, relatively isolated but had a fascination for French and Czech artists from 1850 to 1950, notably Gauguin and Buffett and, for many years, Britanny and its people seemed stuck […]
One of Prague’s hidden secrets is Prague City Gallery on the 2nd floor of the Municipal Library which itself was built between 1925 and 1928 in that flowering of Czech independence to the designs of Frantisek Roth, who was a student of the Austrian architect Otto Wagner, with statues above the entrance portico by Ladislav […]
Down at the bottom of the hill from which rises the castle in Prague, the Wallenstein Riding School is located on the perimeter of the garden of the early Baroque palace constructed in the 17th century for Albrecht of Wallenstein by Italian architects Andrea Spezza and Nicolo Sebregondi. Being a riding school, the building has […]
What a sight 18th and early 19th century Edinburgh must have been, with an army of building contractors hard at work constructing the neo-classical New Town northwards and westwards from the medieval Old Town rising towards the Castle across from this hive of activity, giving the city it’s nickname as ‘Athens of the North’ and […]
Following the example of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Prague Museum of Decorative Arts, founded in 1885, opened its first exhibition galleries in 1900 in the austere neo-renaissance building on the banks of the River Danube, designed Josef Schulz. Over a century later, the first new galleries in the completely-renovated building are […]
In a world where we are continually blasted with information and news demanding our attention with traditional newspapers, film and television now augmented with a myriad of social media platforms and blogs via twitter, instagram, facebook and the like, it becomes more and more difficult to discern what is true and what is manipulated in […]
Taking refuge from the cold wet weather, Californian artist John Baldessari’s Penguin has hopped from the open spaces of Regent’s Park where it greeted visitors to the Frieze Sculpture Park to the more enclosed courtyard of the Marian Goodman Gallery in Soho, where it announces more of his work upstairs: ‘Brain/Cloud (Two Views)’ along with […]
Architecturally, Frankfurt has recently been known for its commercial architecture including the Commerszbank Tower by Foster & Partners, the Headquarters of the dz Bank at Westendstraße, designed by KPF and winner of the 1995 “Best Building of the Year” award by the American Chamber of Architects in the multifunctional skyscraper category, and the European Central […]
"The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul."
(Thomas Moore)
To be an architect means having a wide range of interests - architecture, art and creativity in all its variety of forms, sustainability, science and innovation. The greatest interest is often where these different worlds overlap and collide - that is when something imaginative often occurs that pushes us all forward to another place
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