Eva de Maizière, ‘Encounter’, 1978
This post has nothing to do with history but concerns an artwork which speaks to me. I would like to introduce you to a sculpture in Bad Godesberg, a southern suburb of Bonn. Often remembered for its abundance of embassies during the time when Bonn was the capital of West Germany. The “Bad” (spa) refers to its older history as a place with a spring with health benefits. Continue reading
I grew up in Königswinter, a town of approx. 40,000 inhabitants next to Bonn. It stretches from the Rhine in the west across the Siebengebirge to the east. The Siebengebirge (“Seven Mountains”) consists of more than 40 hills of volcanic origin. Of the seven hills, which gave the region its name, the highest is the Ölberg with 460m, the smallest is the Drachenfels with 321m. How it got its name is disputed with various suggestions floating around.
The Drachenfels seen from the Rhine
On 24 April this year, two new stained glass windows were dedicated in Leicester Cathedral. I had a chance to see them, face-to-face, in the beginning of June. A much-anticipated visit and I was not disappointed!
Redemption Windows, Leicester Cathedral
Braunschweig, in Lower Saxony, Germany, is a city rich in history. This became clear to me, when I recently had the opportunity to revisit the city where I was born. We moved away when I was seven, long before its history held much interest to me. Seeing it again, brought back to me the stories my grandfather used to tell me. He was a wonderful story-teller. His range covered stories by others (sometimes embellished to make them more attractive for his little granddaughter), and above all stories he made up on the spot, linking them to the buildings or monuments around us.
I would like to share with you a monument to one of the heroes of the stories he told me: Till Eulenspiegel. It’s not very often that you get a chance to touch one of the heroes of the stories of your childhood. However, this was what I able to do when I saw the Eulenspiegel for the first time, at the age of four or five. Needless to say, I went back to say “hello” to Till now.
Eulenspiegel Fountain in Braunschweig
Today would be the 101st birthday of David Guy Barnabas Kindersley, stone-carver and type designer. He was born on 11 June 1915 in Codicote, Hertfordshire. Among his extensive work is the Richard III Memorial Stone. Some of David Kindersley’s work is at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The memorial stone was originally in Leicester Cathedral. It had been a project of Rev T.C. Hunter-Clare, to which the Richard III Society had contributed. It was dedicated in August 1982.
Since January 2015, just prior to Richard III’s reburial in Leicester Cathedral, the memorial stone has been on permanent display at the King Richard III Visitor Centre, Leicester.
David Kindersley died on 2 February 1995 in Cambridge.
The photograph was taken in 2013, showing the memorial stone in its original position in Leicester Cathedral.
Richard III Memorial Stone
To learn more about David Kindersley, you may wish his obituary in the Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituariesdavid-kindersley-1571426.html
At present, the Art Gallery of NSW is showing ‘The Greats‘, an exhibition of masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland. As the exhibition closes on 14 February, we decided that now was the time to go and see it. After all, it is a lot easier to go into Sydney than going all the way to Edinburgh. The works are from three galleries in the Scottish capital: The Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Continue reading
This time of the year brings a lot of memories of my childhood. 11 November is St Martin’s Day and that’s a very important date in the area of the Rhineland where I grew up with lots of traditions associated with this day. The story of St Martin is told in four bronze reliefs by Ernemann Sander, set into a wall next to Bonn Minster. Continue reading
The title of the book, Girl in a Green Gown, refers to the female figure in the famous Arnolfini portrait of a man and a woman. In this book, Carola Hicks investigates a wide variety of aspects relating to the portrait. It was painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434, as this is stated in an inscription on the picture: “Johannes van Eyck fuit hic” and the year. Van Eyck was court painter of Philip ‘the Good’, Duke of Burgundy. It is remarkable that the history of this painting can be traced through the centuries and its various owners from when it was painted until it ended up in London’s National Gallery in 1842. Continue reading
Dottie Tales 