From an excellent interview with Tomas Venclova: The extraordinary life and times of Lithuania’s greatest poet
(Source: spectator.co.uk)
József Rippl-Rónai (Hungarian, 1861–1927) - La fête de village, color lithograph, 39.5 x 53.5 cm (1896)
Analysis | How 2,000-year-old roads predict modern-day prosperity
“A team of Danish economists has put forth a forceful case for one largely overlooked driver of economic development in Europe: roadways built by the Roman empire nearly two thousand years ago. They demonstrate that the density of ancient Roman roads at a given point in Europe strongly correlates with present-day prosperity, as measured by modern-day road density, population density and even satellite imagery of nighttime lighting.”
Beer advertisements by Otto Obermeier (German, 1883-1958)
![Lesser Ury: Im Café Bauer [in Café Bauer], 1895
Café Bauer in Berlin opened in 1877 and was destroyed in World War II. It was one of the first Viennese-styled cafés of Berlin, and one of the first cafés where women were welcome. The luxurious café...](https://66.media.tumblr.com/6aea541741fbd211f4857c6d8757f0de/tumblr_pl2i8hRQwz1qdcsdfo1_500.jpg)
Lesser Ury: Im Café Bauer [in Café Bauer], 1895
Café Bauer in Berlin opened in 1877 and was destroyed in World War II. It was one of the first Viennese-styled cafés of Berlin, and one of the first cafés where women were welcome. The luxurious café was decorated with paintings by Anton von Werner, Christian Wilberg and Albert Hertel, and with stucco decorations by Otto Lessing. It was also one of the first public places in Berlin with electrical lighting. It was also famous for providing a choice of over 800 daily newspapers from all corners of Europe for its clientele.
(Source: commons.wikimedia.org)
One of the most intriguing pieces of street-furniture-cum-cultural-heritage in Western cities are old cannons, used as bollards and “serving as mooring masts, traffic barriers, architecture guards or survey markers. A few even function as the bases of columns holding up dockside structures or are integrated directly into the corners of buildings”. Yes, they’re actual, re-used cannons. We’ve grown so accustomed to these that modern bollards are often made to imitate cannons.
(Source: 99percentinvisible.org)
Osek monastery library, Czech Republic
Some early architectural sketches by Otto Kohtz (German, 1880-1956)
This building in Wrocław, on Tamka island, was built when the city was part of Germany as a “club for patriotic culture” in 1906-07 and contained some exquisite turn-of-the century interiors designed by the architect Rudolf Zahn.
The building is still at least partially preserved but seems to be more or less abandoned, and I haven’t been able to find any pictures of what the inside looks like today.
Pictures found here.
Poster for the first German cities exhibition in Dresden 1903. Artist F. Nigg (?)
Two designs by architect Emil Schaudt (German, 1871-1957)
Top: Grave of a hero
Bottom: City gate for a seaport
Emiel van Averbeke (Belgian, 1876-1946), Design for a pavilion, c. 1902