Tag Archives: musuem

Bamberg

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Arrived in Bamberg after driving through a bit of a storm… deep water on the streets, some hail, small trees down – quite the mess. It’s always interesting seeing how other places deal with what in Brisbane is summer afternoon on a Tuesday. Seriously, this wee storm hit the news. You can tell their drains and systems are not set up for it at all, whereas when I was growing up, summer afternoon thunderstorms were a dime a dozen and at least a few a week. Roads are nasty when they don’t have sufficient storm surge drains.

Anyway, it all made for a pretty sunset, and if it hadn’t been raining still and if we had noticed the sky turning bright red sooner, we would have tried to bop around to the Rat Haus for a photo of it in the cool colours. Knew it would be gone by the time we got there though… so the shot below is not my photo!

Wandering through the old town towards the famous Bamberg Altes Rathaus, we saw many cool wood and stone buildings typical of these small German towns. They’re so picturesque and quaint, it’s lovely to just walk through and admire the buildings.

The Altes Rathaus or town hall was first mentioned in records in 1387. It is also known to have been rebuilt in 1461 and 1467 to its current state; during those construction stages, it fortunately kept its Gothic style.

Johann Jakob Michael Küchel redesigned the Altes Rathaus in a more Baroque and Rococo between 1744 and 1756. The Altes Rathaus is the most iconic symbol of Bamberg built into the middle of the River Regnitz, between the Upper and Lower Bridges.

The facade paintings were originally created by Johann Anwander in 1755 but they have been restored many times. In the Post WWII era, the paintings were particularly faint and dirty, and a painter named Anton Greiner was commissioned to repaint them between 1959 and 1962. Both sides of the Rathaus are completely decorated with allegorical scenes and trompe l’oeil architectural details.

If you look below the Rathaus, you can see some churning water which local kayakers have set up into a slalom course. There must have been a dozen of them in the water on the gentle rapids while we were there.

Facade of the Goldschmiede area – shops full of jewellers.

Brauhaus row.

Wandeirng up towards the Cathedral Dom.

It was a fair bit steeper than you led us to believe, Google Maps…

Sadly, the Cathedral is usually closed on Sunday mornings (presumably for services), and today it wasn’t opening at all, but this did weirdly lead to a free entracne to the nearby Bamberg History Museum.

The Old Court House houses the Bamberg City Museum.

Saints Henry and Kunigunde, Unknown artist/s, c.1370, sandstone.

Crucifixion, Unknown Southern German copied from Christoph Schwartz, (Munich, 1545-1592). Oil on wood.

LEFT: Death of the Virgin, Unknown Franconian artist, late 15thC, oil on wood.
RIGHT: Death of the Virgin, Unknown Southern German artist, 16thC, oil on wood.

Reading Mary with Child, crowned by Angels. Unknown Dutch artist, early 16thC, oil on wood.

Death of the Virgin (again!), Workshop of Hans Pleydenwurff, (Bamberg 1420-1472), c.1460, oil on wood.

Bamberg Clare Altar, form the Workshop of the Master of Bamberg Clare, c.14500/1500, oil on wood.

Hortolona, the mother of Saint Clare in prayer, Unknown Nuremberg artist, c.1360, tempera on oak.

Saint Clare Raises the Dead, Unknown Nuremberg artist, c.1360, tempura on oak.

Jesus and John the Baptist as Children, Lucas Cranach the Elder, c.1535. Oil on wood.

The Ploughshares Legend, Unknown Franconian artist, City of Bamberg, c.1550-1600, oil on wood.

The Penny Miracle, Unknown Franconian artist, Bamberg Municipality, c.1550-1600. Oil on wood.

Saint Catherine, Unknown South German artist, Late 15thC, tempera on wood.

The Adoration of the Magi, Unknonw artist, copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder, c.1600, oil on wood.

Portrait of the Mayor of Cologne, Peter von Heimbach, artist: Bathrolomäus Bruyd (Wesel of Cologne, 1493-1555), c.1545, tempera on wood.

Young Bacchus, Unknown Roman artist, 17th-18thC, oil on canvas.

Young Bacchus, circle of Nicolas Poussin (Les Andelys, Normandy 1594-1665), 17thC,m oil on canvas.

Latona with her children Apollo and Diana, Anton Raphael Mengs (Aussig/Bohemia 1728-1779), 18thC, oil on canvas.

Winter Landscape, Circleof Joos de Mompher II (Antwerp 1564-1635), late 16thC/early 17thC. Oil on wood.

The Bread Eater / The Arrow Carver
Peter Breugehel the Younger, (Brussels 1564-1638, Antwerp), c.1620. Oil on wood.

The Gift / The Punished Licker
Peter Breugehel the Younger, (Brussels 1564-1638, Antwerp), c.1620. Oil on wood.

So, Still Life artworks confuse me. I can see and appreciate the skill involved in rendering the tableau so perfectly, but I just don’t understand why they became so popular… particularly in the Low Countries in the 17thC. Still life paintings depict carefully selected and arranged inanimate objects (that bit I can get – it’s kinda like a small product creative advertising shoot!), such as fruit, flowers, kitchen utensils, goods at the market, hunting spoils, weapons or musical instruments. But they are also supposed to be creating a an illusion of reality that can convey a deeper meaning, such as the transience and fragility of life… umm, yeah! All these flowers, and food items are gonna rot eventually, so they’re all temporary. I don’t know, apparently some of them contain allegories, proverbs, ríddles or humorous tales, but who knows?

Still Life, copy after Jan Davidsz De Heem (Utrecht 1606-1684, Antwerp), c.1638.
Oil on canvas… needs more lobster.

The Anatomy of Dr. Tulp, Willy Fries (Zurich, 1881-1865) copied after a Rembrandt. Oil on canvas.

Children at the Window, Johann Nikolaus Treu (Bamberg 1734-1786(, c.1760. Oil on canvas.

Death of Mary, unknown artist, c.1500, relief from the Carmalite Church and thought to be part of a winged altar. Workmanship is of a high quality and thought to be connected with the workshop of Dürer and his teacher, Michael Wolgemut. Linden wood.

St Katharine, c.1500. Bamberg, carved and painted Linden wood.

The next few objects were interesting, but I couldn’t find any information on them at all.

Hallways of the Old Court House which houses the museum.

GIRAFFE WINGS – Christoph Ehrlich (1782- 1830) cherry veneer, ebony, ivory, in oil. C.1828. The trained organ builder Christoph Ehrlich set up an instrument factory for pianos and guitars in Bamberg and offered the special shape of this giraffe grand piano: tall instead of long, it fit into small Biedermeier rooms.

STANDARD OF THE VELOCIPED CLUB, Bamberg, 1893, silk, bouillon threads, brass.
On June 17, 1882, the new cycling fashion found expression in Bamberg when 20 men founded the Velociped Club. It is one of the early German cycling clubs. Races were held on the cycling track, which required great skill on the fast but dangerous high-wheelers. The cyclist greeting “All Heil” that was common at the time was printed on the flag.

St George fighting the Dragon, wood, papier-mache, modelling clay, glass, pearls. C. 1852.

Most of the objects in these galleries were very modern and were related to the recent history of Bamberg; as a medieval enthusiast, they were not my primary area of interest.

Granatschmuck – Garnet jewellery: gold, garnet, silver, c. 1850.

Two Bridal Crowns, Franconia. Copper wire, brass sheet ‘tinsel’, cardboard, glass beads, linen, silk, cotton. Late 19thC/early 20thC. Bridal crowns or holiday crowns were worn by young unmarried women in procession on important holidays until their wedding. Common in Franconian Switzerland and the Mistelgau region to the north.

The Nues Residence, which contains a large collection of Asian ceramics and porcelain that we didn’t want to spend $$$$ to go see.

Through this building is the entrance to the Rosengarten.

The Rose Garden is in the inner courtyard of the New Residence and offers a great view over Bamberg. The garden itself is formal in nature and is mostly roses… not sure what else you can say about that. It was quite busy while we were there, and sadly lacking in benches where visitors could loiter.

Having skipped breakfast and having wandered 5.4kms around the rather small old town and museum, we decided it was time to hunt for some brunch… alas, by 13:00, fruhstuck options were all gone, and we ended up at a Bavarian Brauhaus. Angus chose the Jagerschnitzel and I opted for what I thought was going to be something lighter: a couple of bratwurst sausages. Delicious – we are now losing track of our rating system for mushroom sauce served with schnitzels!

Little bit of souvenir shopping – looking for the tackiest things ever, of course – before heading back to the hotel to get some work done.

Which mean coming back past the RatHaus – looks totally different in the afternoon light, and I couldn’t see the aura around the sun with the naked eye at all. Something something atmospheric weirdness.

Dresden

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In February of 1945, just before the end of WWII, Dresden was carpet bombed into oblivion. Allied bombers (772 of them) dropped over 3,900 tonnes of high explosive and incendiary devices over the city destroying some 6.5sqkms of the town’s centre. It was became a contentious campaign, as the Allies claimed they were bombing railway, manufacturing and communication infrastructure, but the bulk of the explosives were dropped over the culturally significant Old Town which was primarily inhabited by civilians. At the time, the Nazis claimed it was a war crime and said that between 200,000 and 500,000 people were killed… historians have been able to establish that perhaps as many as 25,000 people, (still way too many!), were killed during the Dresden bombings.

Looking around Dresden today – there’s hardly a sign of it anywhere, bar a few singed sandstone blocks on the Frauenkirche. It’s easy to forget that you are walking around a town where people were literally picking up the pieces of their neighbours after an horrific air attack.

The long summer days are waking us up really early – we seem to be out and about quite a bit before any people are about for the day…

The Frauenkirche. Last time I was here, it wasn’t quite so well lit up… November will do that to Europe.

Angus was stunned inside – his commentary was much around the, ‘So there are people around now who know how to build things and make them look like this? So why do new buildings all look so shit?’
I responded that a lot of these craftsmen were still around and plying their trades in Europe; building and restoring old buildings of which there is a plentiful supply… but there’s no a lot of call for it back home in Australia – and large civil projects always get tendered out, and often go to the cheapest/most cost effective proposal. Sadly, this often results in functional but boring or even ugly.

It is a very beautiful, albeit small, church… even if it is largely brand new.

Just around the corner from the Frauenkirche is the Füstenzug, or the Procession of Princes. It is a large mural depicting a mouthed procession of the past rulers of Saxony. It was originally designed and painted in the 1870s to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Saxony’s ruling family, and is made from 23,000 Meissen porcelain tiles. It’s just over 100m long and was completed around 1907… it’s kinda unique and depicts dukes and kings from the 1100s to the 1900s.

The Trinity Cathedral, not open for some reason – I don’t believe we got to see inside this cathedral in 2018 either.

A covered walkway connecting the Zwinger Palace complex to the Cathedral.

Across the road is the Semperoper – the Dresden State Opera House which also houses the State Ballet. Originally built in the late 1860s, then burned down, and rebuilt again in the late 1870s. It was completely destroyed in the bombing of Dresden in WWII, and was rebuilt in the 1980s.

One of the many entrances to the Zwinger Palace. The Zwinger Palace was originally built in the Baroque styles in the 1700s to be a pleasure palace, festival centre, orangerie/gardens, and residence for the royal court at Dresden. The buildings were mostly destroyed during the carpet bombing raids in 1945, though thankfully the art collection had been evacuated previously. Reconstruction efforts on this building began almost as soon as the war was over, with some parts restored (with some support by the Soviet military administration) and opened back to the public by 1951. It was almost fully restored to it’s pre-war state by 1963.

These days it is a museum complex, housing the Gemäldergalie Alte Meister (Old Masters’ Galleries), a Porcelain Collection and a Mathematics and Scientific Instruments Gallery.

Walking through the gorgeous stone arches, I couldn’t wait to be greeted by the beautiful formal gardens the Zwinger isn know for… only to be disappointed by this complete and utter clusterfuck:

Holy snapping construction mess of messes! What an eyesore… and to add insult to serious injury, hardly any of it was accessible, so that meant makeshift stairs to move through the complex if we wanted to see anything. So fucked, but what do you do? 🙁

Obviously I limped along and made it into the galleries! Last time stymied by winter closures, I wasn’t going to miss it again. Good thing that too – it is quite an impressive collection with lots of important and well known artists repressented.

Ercole de’ Roberti – The Arrest of Christ on the Way to Golgotha, c.1482/86. Oil on poplar panel.

Marinus van Reymerswale – The Money Changer and His Wife, c.1541. Oil on panel.

Adam and Eve under the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, c.1550. Oil on panel. Artist not known.

Johannes Vermeer – Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, c.1657-1659. Oil on canvas.

Roelant Savery – Before the Deluge, c.1620. Oil on oak panel.

Marten van Valkenborch – The Tower of Babel, 1595. Oil on oak panel.

El Greco – The Healing of the Blind Man, c.1570. Mixed media on poplar panel.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo – Saint Roderic, c.1650/55. Oil on canvas.

Peter Paul Rubens – The Drunken Hercules being Led by a Satyr Couple, c.1613/14. Oil on oak wood.

Silenus, 3rdC AD, copy of a lost statue from the 3rdC BC. Carrara marble.

Victor Wolfvoet – The Head of Medusa, c.1648. Oil on canvas.

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn – Saskia with a Red Flower, 1641. Oil on oak panel.

Johannes Vermeer – The Procuress, 1636. Oil on canvass.

Jan van Eyck – Triptych with Madonna and Child, Saint Catherine, and Archangel Micheal with Donor. 1437. Oil on oak panel… this was the last thing I expected to see here today (hadn’t looked up the museum prior to arriving), and it is a sublime piece. Barely A3 in size, it is exquisitely executed.

The small tromp l’oeil backs of the wings of the tiny altarpiece…

The only other display in the room with the tiny Van Eyck altarpiece were five enormous tapestries that came from the workshops of Peter van Edingen van Aalst and Bernard van Orley – Brussels (1490-1542). Tapestries were made from wool, silk and metal thread, and while the photos don’t do them any justice, these tapestries still have much shine to them, unlike many other works from this age where the metal threads have largely tarnished and look very grey. Stunning!

LEFT: Attic, c.460-450 BC, Villa Guilia Painter.
CENTRE: Attic, c.440-430 BC, Painter of the Louvre Centauromachy.
RIGHT: Lucanian, c.380-370 BC, Creusa Painter.

Detail:

Dionysian Scene, Apulian, c.380-370 BC, Near the Ilioupersis Painter.

No description unfortunately on this artifact – It looks to be a candle holder or oil lamp.

RIGHT: Amphora, Theseus and the Minataur, Attic, c.500 BC, Bompas Group.

Titian – Portrait of Lavinia, c.1565. Oil on canvas.

Piero di Cosimo – The Holy Family, c.1500. Oil on poplar panel.

And around the corner an unexpected…. Sandro Botticelli, Episodes from the Life of Saint Zenobia’s, c.1500. Tempura on poplar panel.

Andrea Mantegna – The Holy Family, c.1495/1500. Tempura on canvas.

Fra Angelico – The Annunciation, c.1435. Tempura on poplar panel.

Pintoricchio – Portrait of a Boy, c. 1480/82. Tempura on poplar panel. Unlike everyone else in here, he’s looking at us…

Raffael – The Sistine Madonna, c.1512/13. Oil on canvas…. This is one of the most famous works of the Renaissance!

Giovanni Batistta Moroni – Lady in a Red Dress, c.1560. Oil on canvas.

Titan – Sleeping Venus, c.1508/10. Oil on canvas… another very famous Renaissance artwork. This one as one of the first large scale fully nude representation of a woman in Italy. In ancient mythology, Venus was a goddess of love and beauty – her calm while sleeping and the harmony of her body are reflected in the idyllic countryside. The painting may have been started by Giorgione who died of plague in 1510, it was most certainly completed by Titan who likely added his characteristic drapery and landscape.

Pietro Antonio Graf Rotari – Replaceable Faces, c. 1707. Oil on Canvas…. I initially thought these might be studio studies that were later framed, but an info plaque pointed out that they were designed to be a collection of small portraits that could be rearranged to suit the owners preferences. There were 24 identically sized panels in all.

Bernardo Bellotto Canaletto – The Old Market in Dresden from Schlossgasse, c.1750/51. Oil on canvas.

Bernardo Bellotto Canaletto – The Zwinger Courtyard in Dresden, c.1751/51. Oil on canvas. Yeah right!? Have you looked out there at the construction clusterfuck?

Bernardo Bellotto Canaletto – The Ruins of the former Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) in Dresden, c.1765. Oil on canvas.

Jean Étienne Liotard – The Chocolate Girl, c.1744. Pastel on Parchment… This painting is significantly different from others in the pastel collection – it is of a simple serving girl, a low status individual, who is yet depicted in a full figure profile.

Albrecht Dürer – Bernhard von Ressen, c.1821. Oil on oak panel.

Lucas Cranach the Younger – Adam (left), Eve (right), c.1537. Oil on lime wood panel.

Lucas Cranach the Younger – The Crucifixion of Christ, c.1546. Oil on lime wood panel.

Lucas Cranach the Elder – The Presentation of Christ to the People, c.1515/20. Oil on lime wood panel.

Lucas Cranach the Elder – Portraits of Henry XI of Saxony and Duchess Catherine of Mecklenburg!

Lucas Cranach the Younger – Samson and Delilah, c.1537. Oil on lime wood panel.

Lucas Cranach the Younger – Solomon’s Idolatry, c.1537. Oil on lime wood panel.

There is a substantial number of galleries devoted to the art form or still life painting – but personally I just don’t get it. Yes, I understand why artists devoted themselves to perfecting still lifes during this period, but they don’t really move me at all.

Cornelius de Heem – A Lobster, Fruit and Flowers, c.1660-70. Oil on canvas… included because I liked his lobster.

Frans Floris – Portrait of Two Children, c.1563. Oil on canvas… rude to leave the happy pupper off the title.

Peter Paul Rubens – Satyr and a Girl with a Basket of Fruit, c.1620. Oil on panel.

Martin Schongauer – A Censer, c.1500. Engraving. This object is considered one of the first still lifes made in printmaking. It is not known if it depicted an existing censer or was a design for a goldsmiths work.

The Altes Meisters gallery was certainly full of important and famous pieces. It is well worth the price of admission. After this we went looking for the Zwinger Nymphanbad sculpture garden and fountain… traversing the deconstructed courtyard again.

The Nymphanbad:

Around the corner from that pretty little courtyard is the Museum of Mathematical and Scientific Instruments.

Paulus Schuster – Table Clock, Nuremberg, c.1582. Has large dials with hour indicators and an astrolabe on one side and an annual calendar on the other. The small dial shows the day of the week, quarter hour and minute. It also has an alarm mechanism. The silver figures of Neptune alternatively move their heads every minute for 15 seconds, and the rooster on top crows on the house while two men strike bells!

Caspar III Buschmann – Monstrance Clock, Augsburg, c.1625. Ebony from India.

Unknown artist – Table clock, Augsburg, c.1590. Gild casing contains the timekeeping mechanism which shows hours and has a striking mechanism which chimes on the hour and quarter hours. It also has an alarm function.

LEFT: Unknown Artist: Horizontal Table Clock, French, c. 1590. Timekeeping and striking mechanisms are one atop the other, typical of French clocks of this period. German clocks tended to be side by side.
RIGHT: Unknown Artist: Horizontal Table Clock, French, c.1600. The vertical mechanisms are easily visible through the crystal cylinder.

LEFT: Giovanni Buttista Mascarone – Cruciform Watch, Milan, c.1600
RIGHT: Martin Zoller – Pendant Watch, Augsburg, c.1630

Automaton Eagle with Crown, Augsburg, c.1635.

Hans Schlottheim – Crayfish Automaton, Augsburg, c.1589. This crayfish can move its pincers, feelers, legs and tail. Originally there were a pair of crayfish which would creep forwards and the other backwards. Operated by two clockwork gear wheels.

Isaac Huberecht – Skull Form Pendant Watch, Strasbourg, c.1660.

Johann Willebrand – Horizontal Sundail, Augsburg, c.1720.

Leonhard Miller – Diptych Sundail, Nuremberg, c.1630, Ivory/

Johann Wicteul Hayer – Nocturnal, Frankfurt, c. 1707. The nocturnal was used for telling the time at night. After setting the date, the user looked thorough the hole in the centre towards the pole start. The pointer was then rotated until it was inline with the last tow starts in the Big Dipper constellation. The time could then be determined from the pins on the device.

Zeus Enthroned Pendulum Wall Clock, Paris, 18thC.

Peter Johannes Klein – Geographical Table Clock, c.1738. One side has a clock face indicating hours and minutes, the other has a 24 hr face that also functions as the equator of the globe.

Ludwig Teubner, Dresden, c. 1896. Model of the “5-Minute Clock”… since 1841 there has been a clock above the stage in the Semperoper house which has rectangular fields with the hours marked. Minutes are shown in Arabic numbers on the right. The clock moves every five minutes.

Abraham Louis Breguet – “Montre Á Tact” Pocket watch with Chatelaine, Paris, c.1810. This watch allows the time to be known in the dark, by feeling the hour mark on the edge of the case.

Unfortunately the next cabinets were not market at all other than a vague heading: OPTICS

Blaine Pascal – Mechanical Calculator, France, c.1650. World’s oldest surviving mechanical calculators.

TELESCOPES:

SURVEYING DEVICES:

ELECTROSTATIC & GENERATION DEVICES:

Friction Electric Generator – Fuchs, Leipzig, c. 1817.

HISTORICAL GLOBES GALLERY:

Terrestrial & Celestial Globes – Matthäus Seutter, Augsburg, c.1710.

Terrestrial & Celestial Cones – Christlieb Benedict Funk, Leipzig, c.1780.

World Time Clock – Andreas Gärtner, Dresden, c. 1690. The large gilt face of this world time clock has a small face for each of the 360° longitude. Each of these faces bears the name of a place, city, island etc. Over the small faces the hour hand is pointing downwards and rotates when the main clock does.

Geocentric Armillary Spheres – Charles Francois Delamarche, Paris, c.1800.

Heraldic Celestial Globe – Earhart Weigel, Jena, c.1690. Weigel replaced the constellations with the heraldry of the coats of arms of various European Princes and important cities and estates. Chased copper, embossed reliefs then painted.

Gregorian Reflecting Telescope – Johann Gottlob Rudolph, Miltitz,, c.1748.

”Topsy Turvy World” Automaton – Hans Schlottheim, Augsburg, c.1590.

Odometer – Christoph Trechsler the Elder, Dresden, c.1584.
Brass gilt odometer was used in a carriage and worked in a similar way to a modern car odometer.

Theodolite – Victor Starzt, Brussels, c.1633.

Mining Compass, German, c.1561

Back outside it was a beautiful day. We had had enough Musuem’ing (and enough of the stairs in and around the courtyard) so decided to go hunt for lunch instead of doing the Porcelain Galleries (this decision may or may not have been influences by the very small exposure to the Baroque porcelain obsession yesterday at Charlottenburg Palace!).

Great day all up – walked far too many steps and stairs (I’m so going to pay for this with my stupid knee tomorrow), but well worth the time in the galleries.

Aber, ich gehe nicht in die Nähe von Berlin!

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Berlin Bear No 1: Hotel Bear near Alexanderplatz! We are staying in the Park Inn by Radisson for a few nights in Berlin. Some work around the Eurocup infrastructure and hopefully Angus will get to see some cool stuff while we are here.

Managed to get some work done and find time to head over to Museum Island for a while. We started at the Nues Museum (which ironically holds a lot of the oldest stuff) because the Altes Museum and the Bodes Museum were closed on Monday *and* Tuesday! Le sigh… you guys are killing us!

Egyptian artefacts aren’t really my usual cup of tea, but we are here to see what we can see.

The Deceased in front of Osiris – unfortunately the plaque didn’t give me any provenance/age for this piece.

Necklace of semi-precious stones and pearls – lapis lazuli, silver, faience, cornaline.
Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty.

Fragment of a Cult vessel with inlays. Old Kingom, 5th Dynasty, c.2490 BC, sycamore, faience, gold leaf.

Twelve antique scarabs, set as a necklace and earrings.
Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, c. 794BC, Egypt, steatite (glazed), glass.

Praying statue of King Amenemhet III, Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, c.1800BC

LEFT: Painting from a Tomb: Representation of the deified queen Ahmose-Nefertari.
RIGHT: Painting from a Tomb: Representation of the deified Pharaoh Amenhotep I.
New Kingdom, 20th Dynasty, 1186-1070BC. Nile mud, stucco, painted.

Fragment of a pillar: King Seti I in front of the god Osiris. New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, c.1290 BC

Head of a statue of Amenhotep III with nemes-scarf and double crown.
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c.13399-1351 BC.

Book of the Dead of the Mistress Keku hieroglyphic. Ptolemaic period, c.332-330 BC.

Stela of Hor praising the god Re-Harakhte. 3rd Intermediate Period, 22nd/23rd Dynasty, c. 946-722 BC.

Funeral mask. Late period. 25th-26th Dynasty, c.750BC, Thebes West. Wood and painted.

Anthropomorphc coffin of Hatbor-Ibet, with winged goddess. Late Period – Early Ptolemaic Period, 400-200 BC, Abusir el-Meleg; wood, primed, painted

Lid and case of the coffin of the woman Hat, Ptolemaic, c.332-30 BC
Akhmim; wood, stuccoed and painted.

God Anubis in the shape of a lying jackal.
Middle coffin of Mentuhotep, outer surface decorated with pairs of eyes.
Inner coffin of Mentuhotep, inner and outer surface decorated.
Burial goods: model of rowing boat with crew; female offering bearer; bowl and three jars for beer.
All Middle Kingdom, 12th Dybasty, c.1800BC, painted timber objects and pottery.

Family Burial: mummy mask of Aline and Mummies of three daughters of Aline.
Roman Imperialist period, 100-200AD, Tempera painting on canvas.

Four canopic jars (jars for entrails) with lids in the style of the four sons of Horus (protective deities),
3rd Intermediate Period, 21st-24th Dynaasty, c.10th-8thC BC, limestone.

Shanti without inscription and shabti of Nefer-in-Ra-Neith from his tomb.
3rd Intermediate Period, 22nd/23rd Dynasty c.945-715 BC, & Late period 26th Dynasty, c.570-526 BC.

Crocodile with snap-action mechanism.
New Kingdom, c.1540-1075 BC. Thebes, wood.

Base for a barque of the royal couple, Natakamani and Amanitore,
Meroitic Period, c.1-25AD, Wad Ban Naga Isis Temple, sandstone.

Stela, King Nastasen and his mother in front of the god Amon, c.330BC, granite.

Statue of a squatting hawk, upper part modern supplemented, donated by pharaoh Amenhotep III,
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c.1388-1351 BC.

Necklace, rings and scaraboid.
Gold, bronze, gilded, faience, semi-precious stones, c.5th-4thC BC, Cyprus.

Finger ring with Phoenician scarab, gold and glass, c.500 BC.

Urn of indecipherable description.

Wheeled stand for a cauldron. Bronze, c. 12–11thC BC.

Diadems, gold- silver plated, mid-3rd millennium BC, Treasure of Priam.

Ear pendants, gold, silver gilded, mid-3rd millenium BC, Treasure of Priam.

Bracelets, earrings or hair-rings. Gold, gold plated silver, mid-3rd millenium BC. Treasure trove L.

Armrings mentioned above:

Bronze Age exhibits had zero English descriptions, so we didn’t loiter here long…

Very cool and old but more detail please!

“Berlin Golden Hat”, Gold, c.1000 BC, location unknown, probably Southern Germany, and detail:

Bust of Nefertiti, one of the most famous art treasures of ancient Egypt. Considered a masterpiece of sculpture of the Amana period. Made during the reign of Pharoah Akhenaten, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c.1353-1336 BC. No photos allowed, so stolen one from the internet!

The museum was large, but due to the lack of English signage, and not having a huge interest in Egyptian artefacts, we weren’t there long. Outside and off to the Berliner Dom. The cathedral is nowhere near as awesome an imposing as the Aachen and Cologne cathedrals – possible because it’s just not as large, and also because well, it’s so new… all things being relative.

The Berlin Cathedral is located at the Lustgarten end of Museum Island. IT’s a Protestant church built between 1894 and 1905, in a Neo-Renaissance/Neo-Baroque style. It is the largest Protestant church in Germany and has lots of important dead people in it. 😀

In WWII the cathedral was severely damaged. Allied air raids on the nearby area of Burstrasse, saw all the altar windows destroyed and large cracks in the dome, and corner towers. Later in 1944, during some of the worst air raids in Berlin, the dome and its lantern were heavily damaged. A canister with liquid fuel set fire to the wooden cladding that lines the copper roof as insulation. Firefighters apparently couldn’t reach it and the entire dome fell into the cathedral, going through the floor and into the crypt below. Urban legend says that a cathedral organist Fritz Heitmann kept playing even with the dome totally destroyed and open. After the war, the cathedral was assessed to by about 25% destroyed, and then looters caused even more damage – stealing pipes form the organ etc.

There are 270 steps to the top of Berliner Dom – needless to say, these are Angus’ photos.

Reconstruction on the cathedral didn’t commence until 1975 when funds and expertise became available at a cost of some 150M Deutschmarks. At the moment, the facade of the cathedral is undergoing renovations at a cost of some €1.6M. :/

You have to admire the workmanship and dedication that has gone into rebuilding Europe to be the way it was before WWII. They could have bulldozed the lot and replaced these glorious buildings with steel and glass monstrosities – but thankfully there is an appreciation for art and history that overrules that mentality.

Check Point Charlie was our next port of call, but not before we stopped for some lunch. I had intended to introduce Angus to the Berlin Currywurst Museum – but it’s permanently closed now. C’est la vie! We found a near little tapas bar, which was the nearest place out of the rain… longing for Rabelot in Barcelona!

Check Point Charlie (for all its importance in the Cold War and to the US etc) really is the most underwhelming of Berlin sights. Complete with McDonalds and about twenty souvenirs shops, there is nothing else here but a long line of smiling and oblivious tourists waiting to have their photo taken. I’m obviously too young to remember the tense situation that existed on this site post-WWII, but I remember reading about the failed attempt of one East Berliner attempting to flee to the West. He got badly wounded – he got caught up in razor wire fencing and struggled to free himself and ended up being left to bleed to death, all the while being watched by the world’s media with neither side approaching to save him, because it might trigger an enormous international incident. Horrific things like this happened here – but let’s line up for our smiling happy snap photos with our fingers in a V for peace sign.

After wandering around there for a bit we went looking for the Jewish Musuem. This building is a research academy which holds archives, a library and is dedicated to tracking displaced persons and Jewish history.

The Jewish Musuem and directly to the right, the Holocaust Tower.

Designed by Daniel Liebeskind, the tower is deliberately filled with voids and uncomfortable angles designed to focus visitors on the impersonal genocide of over six millions Jewish people across Europe in WWII. The building is very effective as an art space – it is cold and impersonal, full of sharp angles and a jagged layout. It deliberately doesn’t ‘flow’, and is designed to feel confronting.

A wishing tree… many of the exhibits here are artistic in nature and designed to be interactive. This tree is bedecked with leave bearing the wishes for peace and prosperity of visitors from all over the world. The museum opened in 2017 and despite the pandemic has already seen 11 million visitors.

This room memorialises the important of the Sabbath – but I didn’t really get it. It was a room filled with coloure chain curtains hanging from the ceillingwith information plaques stating how important it is to not work on the Sabbath.

Listening spaces are scattered throughout this curved hallway of chained curtains. There are people offering thoughts and prayers in different languages for the murdered Jews of Europe.

A couple of formal galleries of paintings of eminent Jewish persons were also included in the permanent exhibition.

Grave markers and stones, c.1930s. Of the 100,000 Jewish soldiers who fought for Germany in WWI, 12,000 of them lost their lives. That’s right, Jewish people fought for Germany, only for Germany to turn on them a few years later. During the Napoleonic Wars and WWI, rabbis served in the military as chaplains, and wider Jewish community took this as a symbolic gesture of the wider social acceptance of their religious practices.

The Hall of Fame: this space is designed to celebrate famous Jewish people who have contributed to history, arts, sciences etc.

From when Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor in 1933, Jews were deprived of their civil rights. Daily harassment, anti-Jewish measures and increasing violence pushed them to the margins of society. State authorities robbed Jews of their assets and drove them to emigrate. Many Jews hoped that things would change and waited ot see what would happen. However, the violence excesses of Kristallnact (the Night of Broken Glass), in November 1938, convinced many it was time to flee. With the start of the war, emigration then brace me almost impossible, and Nazi rule culiminated in the mass murder of European Jews. This installation documents the slow and inexorable removal of civil rights for Jewish people… day by day, orders were created that slowly eroded their citizenship and personhood status.

This was one of the most depressing spaces in the museum, the wall hanging lined both sides of an enormous hallway listing every single edict enacted to suppress and oppress the Jewish people. It stated from 1933 and went thought until early 1945, listing day after day the restrictions being placed on Jewish people across the Third Reich in varying countries as they became occupied territories. The frog in a boiling pot is all I can think about in this room… that and how American conservatives are currently enacting legislation across their country that is restricting the rights and freedoms of their citizenry, even as I walk though this oppressive place.

Silverware and family heirlooms taken by Nazis from Jewish families.

Jewish stars… printed en masse. :’(

Map showing the deportation of Jews out of Germany.

A wall of displaced persons after liberation.

This art installation is about the recompense that the German government was ordered to give the survivors of the Holocaust. Many Jewish people who wanted to get on with their lives, but had had all their assets stolen and had lost all connections with family, ended up stuck in a grindingly slow burn ratio nightmare waiting for compensation. Many wished for nothing more than to get out of Germany and emigrate to Israel, but with the means, they were many of them forced to stay amongst neighbours who had turned a blind eye, or were still openly hostile; sometimes for as many as two decades before their compensation claims were verified (in no small part due to the Nazi regime attempting to destroy as much paper evidence of their crimes as possible as the end became apparent).

The most famous art installation here is the ‘Shalekhet’ – the Fallen Leaves, by Israeli artist, Menashe Kadishman . It is made from 10,000 faces punched out of steel plate and scattered around the ground of an area called the Memory Void. It is the only empty voided space in the Libeskind Building that you can enter. The work is dedicated to Jews killed during the Shoah, but also to all victims of war and violence. Visitors are invited to walk on the faces and listen to the sounds create by the metal faces as they clang and clank together which echoes through the void. It’s a very evocative installation.

After this we went to the the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I have been here before and found it very moving. Built on the former premises of the Gestapo, these stellae are grave like in their dimensions. It covers 19,000sqm and the stellae range from 1m to 4.5m in height as the ground below them undulates up and down. It’s a solemn and quiet space, though you can hear the sounds of the city in the distance.

Around the corner is the Brandenburger Tor. With the EuroCup road closures all over the place (useful to see how they have deployed the security and infrastructure etc), we were unable to get close to the Gate.

Enough walking around in the rain, we sought shelter in a local bakery only to find that it was closing, so then resorted to as Starbucks (Urgh!) only to back out when we realised we didn’t want to spend money at a Starbucks! 😛 So instead decided to call it a day and return to the hotel to get some more work done.

Bastogne – War Museum

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The Bastogne War Museum is a World War II museum focusing on the Battle of the Bulge, located a few kilometres northeast of the Bastogne city centre in the Belgian province of Luxembourg. We were looking for somewhere to break up the afternoon drive, and this feel like a culturally useful stop… gotta smash some history into your STEM students any which way you can!

Out front we encountered what appeared to be some select pieces from Berlin’s East Side Gallery, including some very colourful painted Trabants.

According to the interwebs – ‘the musuem is located on the former Bastogne Historical Centre Site and was opened in 2014 after four years of work. It features a highly interactive audio tour walkthrough which takes about two hours and showcases many artefacts from the events leading up to and the battle of Bastogne itself. It has three immersive films and follows the story of four fictional characters involved in the battle. The main exhibition progresses chronologically and presents a timeline before, during and after the offensive’… which kinda sounds okay? Until you get there!

OMG it’s a massive swing and a miss from me on the audio tour nonsense. Most of the displays are full of text – lots of maps, written explanations in four different languages, info about different artefacts and objects, and all the while you have these four fictional characters babbling in your ear trying to make the experience somehow personal and relatable. I had to shut those fuckers up so I could read and actually absorb something!

I know these sorts of things are probably designed for people who are unaccustomed to steady reading, or are only used to having their history totally spoon-fed to them, but I don’t know how anyone could possibly follow the narration of the tour *and* absorb the chronological timeline and details that are right in front of them. Especially given the narration is done very emotively with music and/or the sounds and noises of war running through the entire soundtrack. :/

I took some photos here and there, but am so not going to hash over the day to day of the build up to the Battle for Bastogne. I am certain there are any multitude of documentaries available on this particular engagement on Netflix at any given time, and if your patience doesn’t run to an hour long documentary, I am sure there are some TL;DRs on YouTube you could find for a 20min run down… failing that, go watch ‘Band of Brothers’ and you can have a expertly dramatised version of the events as told by US soldiers who lived through it.

Hitler wrote Mein Kampf while in jail after WWI… not sure why it made me think of Trump’s Project 2025 manifesto, but it currently does. 😐

DM notes when inflation went crackers post WWII.

I find Nazi memorabilia morbidly interesting; at the time it was probably no different from any other type of orangised group of people in society plonking their symbols all over their badges, flags, crockery, cutlery etc. But now? With the historical context, seeing a swastika anywhere (that isn’t a Japanese temple) is just so… jarring.

Youth passport.

Typical items of kit.

A portable printing system used by the Resistance.

Map of the European and Pacific theatres.

Paratroopers very high tech kit… oh dear god.

The Pacific Theatre – just like in Japan, there is ZERO mention of the ANGAU troops and the engagement in Milne Bay in PNG that dealt the Japanese army their first defeat in the region. I mean, I would probably know nothing about it if it weren’t for the fact that my grandfather served in the 25th Batallion there in WWII. I find it interesting that even here, there is plenty about the US and Midway and Guadalcanal, but not a peep about Aussie chokkos repelling the Japanese.

I had expected far more vehicles and even aircraft in this museum – the air support was integral to holding Bastogne against the Germans once the Allies were surrounded. But not so much.

How to talk, children and not give away plans to the enemies.

I’m unsure what sort of tank this is… but it does look far to clean and shiny for this purpose.

The restored state of these vehicles seems unnecessary. In Gallipoli, nearly everything looks aged, distressed and ‘like it’s been through a war’. A lot of these displays feel… sanitised.

One of the video presentations, complete with fog machine and voices of a German LT, and an American solider talking about the days waiting for Patton from either side of the engagement.

Another dirty big tank, that looks clean and brand spanking new with a fresh coat of paint, in spite of the enormous hole in the side of it?

Local artwork made in the years following the war – repurposed brass to make lanterns, reliquary type objects, an umbrella stand and even a little wishing well.

Newspaper front page after Hiroshima is bombed…

There was another section of the Musuem called, the ‘45 … which had some enormous dioramas made up. This was weird – there was no context given for this area of the museum. Just cleaned up cars and staged scenery for them.

Outside there are some monuments to the 75,000 American soldiers who lost their lives in Bastogne at the Battle of the Bulge. The offensive was integral in turning the war in favour of the Allied forces. The German army suffered over 100,000 casualties. These monuments have a very ‘Thank you, America!’, feel about them. In fact, the entire town of Bastogne has that vibe, with plenty of American flags and actual ‘Thank You!’, signs visible in shops etc.

The major monument dedicated to the American servicemen who came from all parts of the US.

Much like Waterloo, which I visited a couple of months ago, it is a strange feeling to look out onto such peaceful countryside and know that the ground was once soaked with the blood of so many young men killed in war here. The noise of the aircraft, tanks and artillery couldn’t be further away as you listen to birds and leaves rustling in nearby trees.

Popped into a cafe in Bastogne with Angus because Belgium equals… WAFFLES!

And later – some traditional pommes frittes with mayo on our drive.

Luxembourg

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Luxembourg seems to be in two parts, and in between is a gaping chasm that must be 150 feet deep… it feels really weird topography to build a city on?

It doesn’t look that steep from these pics, probably because it’s heavily forested, but trust me, it’s quite the ways down. There seems to be massive public skate parks. Need to sus this out a bit more – weird topography for a city just going from the new section to the old town.

Monument to the Jews of Luxembourg in the Second World War…

Ah, another Notre-Dame Cathedral! But, because we are in Luxembourg, it’s got a sign out front saying ‘Kathedral Notre-Dame’ (in Luxembourgish, yeah apparently that is a real dialect), but also saying ‘Cathédrale Notre-Dame’ (in French), and ‘Kathedrale unserer Lieben Frau’ (in German) because these poor buggers live in a strange little confluence of culture that is smack dab in the middle of France, Belgium and Germany… all the while they seem to be trying to keep their own thang alive.

Construction first started on this cathedral in 1613… so it’s kinda shiny and new compare to Metz yesterday!

Some very cool carved beasties in the western portal.

While the church is predominantly an example of late gothic architecture, it also has many Renaissance elements and decorations. I love these high vaulted ceilings in these beautiful old churches. I can’t imagine what medieval people (I know I’ve ranted about his recently but it bares repeating), who had no mass media in their day to day lives, made of these extravagant buildings.

The organ gallery is unusually at the very front of the church, above the main entrance. It is not a very large cathedral all things considered, so I guess it doesn’t need to be located closer to the main altar place where masses would be delivered.

Luxembourg Cathedral has some frescos, which appear to be in high medieval style, but they are in such good condition, I suspect they may be latter additions. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of English information to go by in this visit.

I love the enormous vaulted ceilings.

There were a couple of rather bold mosaics in some small altar spaces either side of the main nave… again, I couldn’t ascertain how old these mosaics were, but I can confidently say, they are not as accomplished as many of the high medieval golden religious mosaics I have seen in many other churches and institutions, leading me to think they are also a rather more recent addition.

The stained glass windows around the central nave are in keeping with the original construction time of the church – approx 17thC, however the glass towards the towers at the front of the church are of much later, added in the 1930s and then replaced in the 1980s after a fire caused one of the towers to be severely damaged.

Even modern stained glass is beautiful. It’s surprising we don’t see stained glass elements included more in modern architecture… but I guess everything comes down to cost these days.

The enormous columns throughout the cathedral have different patterns carved into them. I can’t say I’ve noticed this in other medieval religious monuments. I mostly recall seeing plain, smooth columns, or in some cases fluted columned, but these have knotwork or diapering patterns carved into them, and hardly any of them match?

Below the Cathedral is the crypt which houses the remains of many important Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses of Luxembourg… the oldest being a tomb for John of Bohemia (1296-1346), and then a long line of modern Dukes and Duchesses: Marie-Adeliade (1894-1924), Marie Ann the Infanta of Portugal and Consort to William IV (1861 – 1924), Felix, Prince Consort of Charlotte I, and a bunch of others up until like five years ago.

The small chapel where the royal family of Luxembourg gathers for the farewells is under the Cathedral and not really open for public use.

The tomb of John of Bohemia mentioned above (1296-1346)…

The exit brings you out onto the main square of the Kneudler – or basically the altstadt (but we don’t call it that in Luxembourg because we are being all Luxembourgish.

The Kneudler is the area surrounding the Place Guilliame II, who is depicted on his horse here.

In 1923, this memorial to the Luxembourgers who volunteered in WWI was created by artist Claus Cito. The very noticeable Gëlle Fra (or Golden Lady) overlooks the Place de la Constitution. 1923… feels like maybe they probably wished they’d waited a few years to build this one; could have saved themselves having to build a second one to honour the volunteers of the next clusterfuck.

Luxembourg is a city built over an enormous ravine with huge towering bridges spanning the two plateau’d areas that comprise the old city and the new. So many streets we wandered along had very high drops down to the river below.

Many walking and biking trails line the river and wind up the steep paths to the city. I dare say building housing in this area would be expensive, hazardous and potentially a flood risk, so it’s all enormous public park spaces.

Grand Duchess Charlotte (1896-1985), who ruled in her own right from 1919 to 1964.

The Grand Ducal Palace, which is rarely open to the public and was most definitely not open to the public at the moment as the family is in residence due to it being the Duke’s birthday, like yesterday.

Complete with beautiful carved stone turrets, and beady eyed guards staring suspiciously at tourists and having to tolerate us wankers taking their photograph.

Around the corner – literally – from the Grand Ducal Palace is the Luxembourg National Art and History Museum. Best thing about it : it’s free! Luxembourg seems to like free, they have entirely free public transport here, since 2019. All local trains, trams and buses are 100% free for locals and tourists alike, so the city seemed to have hardly any cars in it, and we found when walking the streets, there were plenty of paid parking spaces available as most people were using the free public transport.

Now unfortunately, this was going to prove to be one of those museums where if you don’t speak one of the languages that they seem to want to embrace (French, German, Dutch and Luxembourgish!), details were going to be scant, but we did what we could.

Merovingian clasps, fibula, buttons and brooches.

I love how the temporary little sign informing visitors that an object has been removed is written in English – when hardly any of the other descriptive panels are!

Cruiciform Fibula – Zwiebelknopffibeln. 😐 Yes, that’s the level of information we got here. lol
Oh and that they were worn by high functionaries and officials. But no where or when…?

Merovingian jewelled pieces, gold and garnet. Clasps and necklace pendants. Bertrange.

Buckets c.560-570 AD. One extant, one reproduction. Bertrange.

Merovingian belt buckles

Merovingian era beads.

And suddenly we jump to some glassware, 1stC Found at a necropolis for nobles in a different find in Bertrange.

Orfevrerie Merovingienne. 6-7thC of local provenances.
A collection of gold and garnet fibula, ornaments, buttons and accessories. Some from bracelets, necklaces. Motifs are inspired from Germanic art, and early Christian design.

Spoons! Merovingian also, and they’re quite petite compared to spoons seen in other museums. Approx 50mm in length.

Carved monuments from ‘La Colonne de Jupiter’ – a regional monument that was devoted to the population. Objects are all 1stC and made for Jupiter Optimus Maxium and to honour emperor Nero.

Fragments of decoration from a funereal monument, c.2nd-3rdC.
Cal air, Wasserbillig op der Spatz.

Seals of various Luxembourg nobles, ranging from 1340 to 1530. Impressions all taken in 1851.

Official regalia and medals of various noble and marital orders:

Busts of Jean l’Aveugle and Elisabeth de Boheme, Pierre Blanc, c.1872

Reliquary of the True Cross.
Gold and various gemstones, c.1230-1240

No plaque for this one… le sigh.

Virgin and Child surrounded by Saints – Crucifixion. Oil on wood.
Paolo do Giovanni Fei, (1345-1411).

Virgin and Child surrounded by Saints,
Lorenzo do Bicci (1350-1427), oil on timber.

Virgin and Child,
Unknown Venetian painter. 15thC, oil on timber.

Saint Bernardino of Siena and Saint John the Baptist,
Giovanni Ambrogio Bevilacqua, (1481-1512), oil on panel.

Madonna and Child surrounded by Angels and Saints (freaky looking saints!)
Giacomo del Piscano, c. 1475, tempura on panel.

Group of Saints – Heligengruppe.
Don Silvestro dei Gherardcci (1339-1399), tempura on board.

Crucifixion.
Simone del Crocifissi (1350-1399), oil on board.

Virgin and Child.
Unknown veneto-byzantin artist. 13thC-14thC, oil on timber.

Holy Kinship, Frans Floris (1516-1570)

The Adoration of the Shepards,
Joachim Beukelaer (1533-1574). Oil on canvas.

Saint Jerome
Attributed to Joos van Cleve (1485-1540), oil on board.

Charity
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), c.1538. Oil on canvas.

A Boy and Girl with Their Pigeons in a Loft – the only ‘domestic’ scene in the entire museum.
Henri Voordecker (1779-1861), c.1833, oil on canvas.

The Temple of Vesta in Tivoli,
Attributed to Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld (1758-1846), oil on canvas.

Francesca de Rimini (1255-1285) and her brother in law, Paolo Malatesta (1246-1285), embracing while reading – both were married to other people but fell in love. When Paolo’s older brother discovered the affair, he killed both his wife and brother with a dagger, (a story originally told by Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedies, 1320).
Sculpture originally attributed to Antonio Canova (1757-1822), c.1790, but since determined to be a work by Tito Angelini (1806-1878), an important Italian Romantic sculpture.

Isaac Blessing Jacob,
Argus Wolffort (1581-1641), oil on canvas.

Bacchus and a Follower,
Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), c.1645, oil on canvas.

Roman mosaic of the Muses of Vitchen.
10.3 x 5.9m. Polychrome mosaic, 1stC AD.

Grand Marble Vase, 2-3rdC AD.
61cm tall, 70cm diameter, carved from a single piece of white marble.

Roman amphorae
1-3rdC AD, terracotta. Diverse provenance – used for the commercial transport of wine, oil dates, and that fishy stuff the Romans loved but I can’t remember the name of right now…. Garum! Remembered. 🙂

Oil lamps, GalloRoman 1-3rdC AD.

Fragments of large fresco-style mosaics popularised in GalloRoman restaurants.

All museum’d out, we went for some drinks and were having a lovely time with some Long Island Iced Teas and some Pisco Sours – until a bunch of French people came along and reminded us of how Europeans still love to chain smoke! Yikes! Happy B’Day Angus.

Dinner was at a local French restaurant called ‘Copin D’abord’. We had a delicious meal made from local produce. Entrees: clothed foie gras and mango chutney, and scallops in Galician sauce. Mains: Beef Bourginon and rump steak with Forrester champignon sauce. Desserts: unstructured Lemon Tart and Crème Brûlée and Panacotta. Delicious!