The Loire Valley and especially Blois
This futuristic-looking 9-storey building is the new Geelong Library and Heritage Centre which opened at the end of last year. In the photo below, you can see it’s reflection in the globe next to the Geelong Art Gallery where we were lucky enough to see an exhibition of Australia’s best-known impressionist painter, Arthur Streeton,intitulé Land …
Continue reading “Postcard from Australia – Geelong Library & Gallery”
Melbourne has a number of beautiful arcades, including the Royal Arcade built in 1869, with the mythical statues of Gog and Magog and Block Arcade, built in the 1880s thanks to the gold rush, with its Victorian Hopetown Tea Rooms. The more recent Melbourne Central Mall (last photo), with its tower and atrium, is the city’s largest …
Continue reading “Postcard from Australia – Melbourne Arcades”
Armidale on the New England Tableland, is a lovely university town of 20,000 people where constructions cannot be more than 2 stories high (ground + 2). This is a newly constructed house in a beautiful wooded setting that blends in perfectly with the rest of the local architecture. Armidale, qui se trouve sur le plâteau …
Continue reading “Postcard from Australia – A House in Armidale”
I found all these arches rather amusing, particularly the cable around the one on the left and the little one in the middle. Je trouve toutes ces voûtes amusantes surtout le câble autour de celle de gauche et la toute petite au milieu.
This impressive mask is a plastic cast of a sculpture on the ceiling of the classical Gaston d’Orléans wing of Blois castle, built in 1635-1638. It’s part of an itinerary for the blind. Can you spot it on the ceiling below? Ce masque imposant est un moulage d’un masque sculpté sur le plafond de l‘aile classique Gaston d’Orléans du château …
In modern day France, l’hôtel de ville is the town hall (the ô indicates that an “s” has disapppeared from the original old French. However, I have never seen a building with Hostel de Ville written on it. This beautiful door is in Orléans but so far I haven’t found any information about its history. …
You may remember the photo of the statue of Diane of the Chase taken in the royal park behind Blois Castle when the weather wasn’t the best. We went back on a sunny day and I was able to take this photo if the Renaissance façade of the castle with its beautiful Italianate galleries. Vous vous rappelez …
Yesterday, you saw the 15th century Louis XII wing of Blois castle which is on the right of this photo. Here is the François I wing with its beautiful Renaissance staircase built in the 16th century.The difference is striking. Hier vous avez vu l’aile Louis XII du château de Blois construite au XV siècle qui …
Continue reading “The Perfect Renaissance Staircase – L'escalier renaissance parfait”
The higgledy-piggledy way in which the windows and niches have been added in the old quarter of Blois suggests mediaeval times when there was no town planning. The window second from the left is surprisingly detailed. The two niches are much more rustic. La façon peu orthodoxe dont les fenêtres et niches sur une place …
Continue reading “Higgledy-Piggledy Niches & Windows – Méli-mélo de fenêtres & niches”
Do you remember yesterday’s Renaissance door? Well, this one pales in comparison. A little facelift would show the sculpted losanges decorated with rosettes and coats of arms and the diamond studding on the door to greater advantage, not to mention the pseudo-ionic capitals on the stone pilasters of each side. Est-ce que vous vous rappelez …
Continue reading “The Renaissance Door Opposite – La porte renaissance en face”