Notes from Beautiful Bookstores

Shakespeare & Company - Paris

This bookstore is located in 37 Rue de la Bûcherie, Paris, France. Opened in 1951 by George Whitman. It was originally named "Le Mistral" but renamed to "Shakespeare and Company" in April 1964 in tribute to Sylvia Beach, who founded the original bookstore in 1919. That bookstore was closed in 1940. The bookstore is probably the most photographed bookstore in the world. Simply the centrum of all book lovers. The place Henry Miller calls A Wonderland of Books.  

One afternoon, when I visited the bookstore, it was busy with the book lovers that came from all around the world. People did not come here just to buy books, they exchanged their admiration for books and asked the shopkeepers about the writers that frequented the store. Just by entering the doors, you can undoubtedly see that this is more than just your normal bookstore. The spirit of literature lives here. On the first floor, there is a piano room, where someone was playing while others were sitting around and reading. It was truly magnificent sight. Spiritual. 

The room with Notre Dame view

In the other room on the first floor, there is a table with typing machine on it. The window in front of the table is open with a view of Notre Dame. Here the visitors can sit down and read antiquarian books of English literature.

This bookstore also have lots of philosophy to it. The most notable is written on the first floor wall at the entrance to the Sylvia Beach Memorial Library: "Be not inhospitable to strangers less they be angels in disguise", as well as on the floor at the entrance: "Live for Humanity".

The writing on the windows shutters outside the store called "Paris Wall Newspaper": Some people call me the Don Quixote of the Latin Quarter because my head is so far up in the clouds that I can imagine all of us are angels in paradise, and instead of being a bonafide bookseller I am more like a frustrated novelist. This store has rooms like chapters in a novel and the fact is Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are more real to me than my next door neighbours and even stranger to me is the fact that even before I was born Dostoyevsky wrote the story of my life in a book called 'The Idiot' and ever since reading it I have been searching for the Heroine, a girl called Natasia Filipovna. One hundred years ago, my bookstore was a wine shop hidden from the Seine by an annex of the Hotel Dieu Hospital which has since been demolished and replaced by a garden. Further back in the year 1600, our whole building was a monastery called 'La Maison du Mustier'. In medieval times each monastery had a frere lampier whose duty was to light the lamps at nightfall. I have been doing this for fifty years, now it is my daughter turn."

The original store, which doubled as a library, publisher and boarding house for aspiring writers, was featured in Ernest Hemingway's memoir - A Moveable Feast. The store was also featured in the Richard Linklater film Before Sunset, in the Nora Ephron film Julie & Julia and in the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris. The notable writers that passed through the doors, included the writers of the Beat Generation, such as Anaïs Nin, Henry Miller, Ray Bradbury, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Lawrence Durell, Tead Jones and James Baldwin. During the original shop times, writers from Lost Generation, such as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The new generation of writers that participated in literary festivals or readings  hosted by the bookstore included: Paul Auster, Marjane Satrapi, Jung Chang, Martin Amis, Hanif Kureishi, Siri Hustvedt, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer.

Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen - Maastricht 

Entrance

This bookstore is located in Dominicanerkerkstraat 1, Maastricht, Netherlands. Often times quoted as the most beautiful bookstore in the world. The bookstore is built in a 700 year old former Dominican church. The original church was built in 1294. The church was closed in 1794 by Napoleon Bonaparte's army and spent some of the next two centuries abandoned and neglected. 

 The building has seen various uses since it was closed, from warehouse and archive to bicycle shed. The 13th century church was transformed into bookstore by Amsterdam architects Merkx+Girod, who chose modern black steel shelving and fashionable furniture, including a cross-shaped reading table to compliment the church's renovated vaulted ceilings, ornate arches and decorative frescoes.

These days, Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen, houses a three storey bookshelf complete with staircases, elevators and walkways. 

The reading table and cafe

When I visited this bookstore, it was full of people from around the world, not just there to buy books, but to enjoy the beauty of the store. Truly one of a kind. While most of the books are in Dutch, there is decent English collections as well as children books, and nice cafe. 

I took some time to marvel around and search trough its shelves. Found few good books and bought it together with few bookmarks. It's a great place to be if you are a book lover. 

Inside the bookstore

  

The House of Eternal Death

The House of Eternal Death

by Ernest Hadinoto

Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark

                             And shares the nature of infinity

                                    - William Wordsworth

A man was hanging from a tree close to the edge of the forest. The wanderer saw the figure from afar as he worked his way through the field straining to see through the blowing snow. It was barely visible. Upon reaching the edge of the forest, the body was no longer there. My vision must have wronged me, the wanderer thought, or my mind is playing tricks on me. It was the tiredness perhaps, walking for hours in the freezing cold, numb face chilled by the wind, hands cringed.

It was a cold and dark winter. Wind was hauling across a snow covered ground. Everything looked black and white with no single soul around. The wanderer was weak from the long arduous journey. Now that the night was almost near, the wanderer was desperate. He needed to find a place to rest quickly, before the winter froze him to death. He gathered all his strength and entered the thick dark forest.

There was small wooden house that stood in the clearing, withered and run down so badly even the shutters hung at an angle.Behind the house, the giant oak trees bending over almost took over the house. To all appearances, it had been abandoned by the look of half opened door. The wanderer opened the door and went in. Dust lay over every surface and there was a strong bad odor. There was a rotting chair and table stained with lichen, an old rustic wooden bed, a cracked mirror on the wall and fireplace. This would be sufficient for the night he thought. The snowing has stopped and the wind has calmed as he went out to gather some dry wood for the fireplace.

While gathering the branches of an old dead tree, he saw a girl on a swing not too far from where he was standing. What is she doing at this time alone in the woods he thought. Probably she lives nearby. When he finished gathering the sticks, he saw that the girl had disappeared along with the swing, how strange he thought. The atmosphere in the woods was filled with eerie stillness now that the hauling wind had stopped. He shook off that feeling and went back inside, closed the door, put on a fire and cooked some soup in a bowl.

He noticed some carvings on the door, of which at first, because of the dirt on it, he was able only to distinguish the letter "E". He swept the dirt with his sleeve away and succeeded to decipher the inscription. It said "Evil".

As the night fell, and the fireplace did not bring enough light inside, he tried to get some sleep. He suddenly felt that the air was heavy and tense with pressure, something was present in this place and it was evil, it felt like something wanted him out in that very moment. 

But what choice did he have, it was too dark and too cold to go outside and yet this feeling was so strong. What I am to do he thought. Staying here is my only option. Again, he tried to sleep, as he turned to the side, right there in the cracked mirror, he caught the glimpse of himself and just when he was about to close his eyes, suddenly he saw that the reflection of his was looking at him with a diabolical sneer. Dire consternation overtook him.  

On the spur of the moment, his chest felt hard, something was on top of him. His vision became indistinct, his heart was throbbing hard and he was fighting to catch his breath. He was not able to move his body as the evil was pulling his soul from his body. He struggled so hard that all his energy left in his body. Finally he screamed and abruptly ran out of the house as the evil let go of him.

He ran to the woods, in sheer terror he saw people hanging from trees everywhere he looked. They were looking at him and laughing, the entire forest was filled with sinister laughter. He ran and ran until he came a upon field, where hundreds of men were hanging alive by the ribs to gallows, crying, howling and writhing in pain. There was nowhere to go, no place to hide. Paniced and terrified, he ran back to the house, away from all the monstrosities, back into the mouth of evil.   

He fell to the floor as he ran into the house, his head slapping on the dirt, bleeding a little and shivering, he heard the door slammed behind him. He was in the dark momentarily until the entire room was covered in light. It was a different place now. It was a house with a long hallway and to the left and the right were chambers. Right then, two men dressed in black hoods wearing plague doctor masks picked him up and dragged him forward. He tried to lose himself but to no avail. He cried and screamed uncontrollably. His words "Let me go" barely made any sense. The men ignored him. 

They took him to the first chamber, he saw a man roped to a rack with two men wearing black hood turning the handle and the ropes pulling the man's arms until he heard a loud crack of bones with the man screaming in anguish and the tortures laughing. Behind the tortured man, three heads were displayed on a spikes, with maggots crawling out of the face's skin.

They dragged him to the next chamber where a woman's limbs were stretched out along the spokes and the wheel was slowly revolving. The woman was beaten with iron hammer through the openings between the spokes. She was in such pain that her mouth was wide open trying hard to let the pain out, but no words came out.

Then they took him to adjacent chamber in which two women were spread-eagled to a tabletop, their hands chained around the wrists and the bare feet chained around the ankles. The two torturers slowly drove skewers of wood into the flesh under one woman's toenails. The other woman nails were extracted by the torturer slowly. The wanderer could see the agonizing pain these women were in.

In the next chamber, a man's arms were tied to a pole above his head while his feet were tied below. The torturer was using small knife peeling off the man's skin slowly. In the left chamber, three men was suspended from poles, the torturers were lashing their backs. In the same room, there were another three men hanging from the ceiling with forks placed between the breast and throat just under the chin and secured with a strap around the neck. The orgies of bestiality and the monstrosities of suffering was too terrible for the wanderer to contemplate. There was no hope for salvation. He almost fainted.   

Finally, the wanderer was taken into a chamber where three iron cabinets were standing upright. There were two men in brown hoods wearing goat masks. One of them was sitting behind a bench and the other was shouting and pointing at the wanderer from his desk, but he could not hear his voice. After all the shouting, the man behind the bench, pointed to a roof, where a rope was hanging.

In that instant, he was transported back to the room of the cottage, but it was a different place now. There was a light right in the center of the room, where stood a chair and directly above was a rope hanging from a tie-beam. He felt enormous pressure in his chest, something was inside him, a vicious energy that overtook his mind, it was taking him towards the chair, he felt hopelessness, despair, tremendous pain and sadness. Unrelenting darkness was within him while he ascended the chair. He heard whispers in his mind telling him to tie the noose around his neck. He followed the whispers and the evil pushed him off the chair. As he drifted into unconsciousness, he saw the whole terror and suffering of tortures flashing before him once again. Death had come to him with chains of infinity. He died a grisly death.

A year passed by, seasons changed, another poor soul entered the house of eternal death. 

Note: My first attempt at writing. Some grammatical errors may be there. Comments are welcomed.

Ullen Sentalu Museum

Ullen Sentalu Museum is a Javanese Culture and Art Museum in Indonesia. It is located at Jalan Boyon, in the Kaliurang tourist area, inside Kaswargan Park, a highland area approximately 25 km from the city of Jogjakarta. the Kaliurang tourist area is a mountain tourist area, that is located strategically by its easy connection to Borobudur and Prambanan Temples.

This private museum, initiated by Haryono family from Jogjakarta and now managed by Ulating Belancong Foundation, displays impressive architecture surrounded by beautiful gardens and statues. The museum is designed as a museum that presents cultural heritage in the form of stories or events that are intangible heritage. It is a "window" that reveals the stories of  Javanese culture through all its masterpieces, so one can explore the great times from the Mataram Islam Kingdom until the classical era. The masterpieces are carefully selected collections which are presented in a movement of a stories/history of the culture.

The first part of the museum is in the basement of the building. Going down the winding staircase, the first room to be found is the "Dance and Gamelan Room". This room showcase Gamelan music ensemble that was once used in the Jogjakarta Sultanate to accompany the "Wayang Orang" performances and traditional Javanese dances. If you are not familiar with Gamelan, it is a traditional musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the Islands of Java and Bali, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs. Besides the Gamelan, there are several paintings of the Javanese classical court dances of the Sultan's Palace, such as the Mask dance and Srinti Tunggal dance. The guide will explain the meanings of the dances.

Next, you will be guided through a long underground passage that is called Gelo Giri Cave. Architecture of this passage is dominated by the usage of stones from Mount Merapi. This place exhibits documentary oil paintings of the personage that represents 4 figures from Mataram Dynasty. Through the various Sultans and their families paintings, the voyage of the Sultanate history, art and culture will reveal by itself. There are two outstanding paintings made using a 3D technique that shows portraits of woman whose eyes seemingly follow you around the room.

After the paintings passage, comes the Kampung Kambang Area which is divided into five museum rooms, namely Poetry for Tineke Room, Royal Room Ratoe Mas, Vorstendlanden Batik Room, Pesisiran Batik Room and the Room of the Desired Princess.

Poetry for Tineke Room is a room dedicated to poems taken from GRAj Koes Sapariyam notebook. It displays many handwritten poems by Tineke's friends and family that reveals their sympathy for the princess' love for lover. During the period of 1939-1947 the princess was deeply in love with a man her family didn't approve of. She was brokenhearted for nearly 10 years, although at the end she found a happy ending in her love life.

Royal Room Ratoe Mas is a room dedicated to Ratu Mas, princess of Sunan Paku Buwana X (ruler of Surakarta). This room exhibits paintings of the princess Ratu Mas, her pictures with the Sunan and her daughter, as well as all her cloth accessories.

Vorstendlanden Batik Room exhibits the batik collections from Sultans of Jogjakarta and Sunans of Surakarta/Solo. Through the collection, one can witness a process of art and creativity of Javanese people in expressing their philosophy through Batik patterns.

Pesisiran Batik Room completes the acculturation process in Java. Displayed are dresses, costumes, and batik clothes that are richer in color.

Room of the Desired Princess was built in dedication to GRA Siti Nurul Kusumawardhani, Mangkunegara VII's only daughter. Like the name of the room, she was indeed desired princess. She was a very good dancer. Queen Wilhelmina from Netherlands once invited her to perform a dance when celebrating her daughter-Princess Juliana and Prince Bernard's wedding. The pictures of her preserved in this room illustrates the ritual stages of life of a Javanese Princess. The princess was also an inspiration to the princes of Mataram to refuse polygamy, which was a common practice in that era.

Before the end of the tour, visitors are taken to Retja Landa Corridor, an outdoor hall containing statues of Hindu gods such as Vishnu and Ganesh. After that, there is a room called Sasana Sekar Bawana that exhibits several paintings of the kings of Mataram, statues and one huge painting of the Sultan welcoming Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

Guides will lead the visitors to the park, which is the end of the tour. The park is called Kaswargan Park that is dominated by natural forest and parts of the park feature mountainous atmosphere and beautiful statues. Here one can also visit a souvenir shop and a restaurant named Baukenhof, where the interior has a strong ambience of the the colonial era in Java. The restaurant serves mainly Western dishes.

Every visitor will be given a special beverage, the recipe is a legacy of princess Ratu Mas, believed to bring health and youthful appearance.

Opening Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 09.00 am to 16.00 pm. Open on public holidays.
Admission: Local Tourist Rp. 25.000 and foreign tourist US $ 5.

Note: The sources are from various sites and private visit to the Museum.

Cultural Walking

Recently I have been deeply influenced by an Essay titled "Walking" written by Henry David Thoreau. An American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian and leading transcendentalist. This blog then, is based on his Essay, although it is not about love for nature or travel/expedition narrative. Basically, my blog is about culture, especially but not restrictively in relation to its elements. I'm not a student of cultural studies or cultural anthropology, so my views are far from being "scientific", although I did used some theoretical approaches.

Beforehand, lets look at the meaning of Culture, although many scientist defined different concepts and meanings of the term "culture", it is based on a term first used in classical antiquity by the Roman orator and philosopher, Cicero: "cultura animi", describing the development of a philosophical soul, which was understood teleologically as the one natural highest possible ideal for human development. Samuel Pufendorf took over this metaphor in a modern context, by stating that culture "refers to all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human". Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of community of interacting human beings.

Further, Art has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas, a means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake. Art has had a great number of different functions throughout its history.
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When sometimes I am reminded that the business people and bureaucrats stay in their offices not only all the afternoon, but the night too, sitting before their computers, talking through telephones or having meetings in their meeting room, so many of them, as if the purpose of life was to work and sit in the office, and not about the real purpose of life. I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide or destroying this earth long ago.

I myself feel that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend several hours a week at least, savoring the sweetness of art and culture through museums and art centers, theaters, concert halls, galleries, libraries and other places for art. Absolutely free from all worldly engagements. No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom and independence, which are the capital of this activity.

But the cultural walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking tours, as but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day. Most of our adventures these days are but tours, and come round again at evening to the old hearth-side from which we set out. If you would get adventure, go in search of the springs of life. When we take cultural walks, we naturally go to the museums and art centers; what would become of us, if we walked only to shopping malls and restaurants ? Even some part of business people and bureaucrats have felt the necessity of importing the arts to themselves, since they did not go to the museums or art centers. Incorporating paintings and sculptures in their homes.

Of course it is of no use to direct our steps to the art centers or museums, if they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked into museum bodily, without getting there in spirit. In my cultural walks, I would fain forget all my mornings occupations and my obligations to society. But it sometimes happens that I cannot easily shake off the office. The thought of some work will run in my head, and I am not where my body is, - I am out of my senses. When that happens, I would feel inclined to return to my senses. What business have I in the museum, If I am thinking of something out of the museum?

My vicinity affords many good cultural walks; and though for so many years I have took so many of them, and sometimes for a full day, I have not yet exhausted them. An absolutely new exhibition is a great happiness, and I can still get this anywhere. Two or three hours spent in museum, will carry me to as strange country as I expect ever to see. A single painting or sculpture which I had not seen before is sometimes as good as the Masks of the Bambara People.

I can easily spend two, three, four, any number of hours, in museums, looking at the paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures and cultural objects, commencing from the first collection, with reading all the related information, without missing a single object, sometimes pausing at one that is really fine art, at which I can look at for some time. Replenishing my spirit. Draw inspiration. Remove myself from everything unessential, open my mind and senses and plunge into experiencing the mysterious. As Albert Einstein has said "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science". Searching for that basic human instinct for harmony, balance and rhythm. Trying to understand this life through many mediums and styles. Not really caring about all the classificatory disputes about art.

The same happens in library or book shop, particularly in antiquarian one, where the smell of books is like the greatest perfume ever discovered. Going through each shell, putting interest in books that I never heard of, paying attention to each one, looking at their beautiful covers, reading their prefaces, trying to understand what the author tries to say, is replenishment of my mind.

Sometimes people get discouraged by art. Feeling discouraged by those so-called high society or the critics of art, of those who imply that they understand all the theories, the stylistic approach, the distinctive methods, techniques and forms. The loose brushy, dripped or poured, the arrangement of shapes, color, texture and lines. The use of medium, the intensity, the stroke, the tone, the pigments and the rhythm. I say do not be discourage. It does not matter if you don't understand those things. It does not matter if you are just a "common" viewer. Some say that paintings in the museum hears more ridiculous opinions that anything else in the world. So be it. Don't pay any attention to what they have to say.

Art is an act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observations. Art is often intended to appeal to and connect with human emotions. It can arouse aesthetic or moral feelings, and can be understood as a way of communicating these feelings. Art may be considered an exploration of the human condition; that is, what it is to be human. To find harmony, balance and rhythm, experience, expression, communication of ideas, exploration and many more that only you alone can know.

I can still remember and feel the first time I looked at "The Wave" by Carlos Schwabe in Städel Museum. It was full of people. Yet, I was completely detached from my surrounding. Fully focused and all my senses intact, I could feel great emotion coming from the anguished expression of the women the misery of the soul. It gave me inspirations and replenished my spirit. And that how it supposed to be. It should not be treated as an object followed by formal discussion.  

I can also remember and feel the first time I went to Anthropological museum to encounter the cultures of other worlds. The rituals, the art, how people live their life in different societies and different times.

At present, in this vicinity, the best part of the art is not private property, the art is not owned privately, and the cultural walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly the day will come again when the art will be a status object, bought by the wealthy. In which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only. Therefore, I am glad that art museums and galleries are open to public viewing so art is available to everyone.I am also glad that Anthropological museum continually gives us access to a different views of the world.

As there is something in the art that feeds the spirit and inspires, will not man grow to greater perfection intellectually as well as spiritually under these influences ?
If the answer is yes, then one wonders why there is so many issues of hate crimes, racism, discrimination, racial profiling, stereotyping, and cultural conflicts, while, at the same time, there are thousands of artistic institutions, and countless artistic events. What is even mind-boggling is that people can enjoy and appreciate art and at the same time still be discriminatory or even racist.

Well, things are not as simple as that, art is only one aspect of culture, culture is not just about painting, music, theatre, literature or dance. Culture is seeped into all the activities and expressions that extend below the surface and unite individuals under a common sense of self. All of us are cultural beings. All of us have culture. Our culture shapes how we see the world and make sense of it. The essence of culture is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized society. Unfortunately, culture has also been (and still is) used by some in a negative manner. Throughout history, culture has been used by some to oppress other groups, to look down on others, and to form preconceived and often negative notions regarding various cultures.

The root of hate crimes, racism, discrimination, racial profiling, stereotyping and cultural conflicts is difference. Cultural conflict will occur when beliefs and traditions of one cultural group represent a challenge to individuals of another. Such conflict is not always violent, it can come in a form of disagreement or discord   or friction, which can occur as an intragroup conflict or intergroup conflict. A tension may at later stage bring violence. However, this does not mean cultural differences inevitably produce conflict.

When problem or an issue surface, intragroup or intergroup, it is often a response to difficulties in dealing with differences. Whether this pertains to racial, religious, political, social, or economic matters difference is often a source of fear and misunderstanding. When differences surface in or between societies, culture is always present, shaping perceptions, attitudes, behaviors and outcomes. Many conflicts throughout our history are not just about territory, boundary and sovereignty - they are also about acknowledgement, representation and legitimization of different identities and ways of living, being and making meaning.

Despite that, culture does not always play a central role in conflict. Conflict can be a complex and often tightly woven web of factors. These factors are embedded in specific historic, political and social context. But here too, culture can play subtle role especially when we hold our identities. That's why despite the increasing diversity in many communities, bias, prejudices, racism, discrimination and hate crimes still pervade our society.

In this decade and decades to come, the advancement of transportation, telecommunication and technology rapidly grows, makes the world smaller and smaller. Advancement of transportation and industrialization accelerates the human migration in unprecedented manner. Therefore, according to the IOM's World Migration Report 2011, the number of international migrants was estimated at 214 million in 2010. If this number continues to grow at the same pace as during the last 20 years, it could reach 405 million by 2050.

While some modern migration is byproduct of wars, political conflicts, and natural disasters, contemporary migration is predominantly economically motivated. The pressures of human migrations, have contributed some negative aspects in an unprepared communities. Hence, bringing cultural conflicts. When a community is not prepared to accept and/or misunderstand the differences of cultures, fears of the lost of jobs or opportunities, or migrants becoming part of the so-called problem neighborhoods, tends to rear the ugly head of racism, prejudism, stereotyping and hate crime. Thus, the way community negatively portrays immigrants within their communities also leads to negative portrayals of societies outside their community.
In different circumstances, the contemporary conflicts around the world, particularly but not exclusively with religion as conflict factor, contributes to bias perception about different societies.

My cultural walking made me realize that artistic practices and cultural understanding could ease and adapt people towards different cultures. Art can initiate connections between cultures in a non-threatening way. It can start communication and interaction. Art can inspire curiosity. Curiosity about other cultures can lead to acknowledgement of cultural diversity. Communicating this diversity trough art can allow preservation, healing, reconciliation and peace-building. Art can stimulate cultural awareness and celebrate diversity, it can make us realize that people/societies are not all the same, that people have different values and perceptions, and being different is beautiful and not at all threatening as well as, most importantly, teach us to communicate with one another in a better way.

My cultural walking is discovery. It's a walk into different worlds. When I undertake my journeys into different worlds, I leave all my preconception and walking into museum of art or anthropology I learn the history, the tradition, and trough that I observe how different cultures deal with their own issues, how they express themselves, their ideas, beliefs, interpretations, perceptions, views and self-actualization, quest for spiritual enlightenment and pursuit of knowledge as well as their social structures and values.
When I do that, I smile and admire other cultures, inspirations and ideas flows in me, and ultimately in the end, I accept the differences.

Marcel Proust, the French novelist, observed that "the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new lands but in seeing with new eyes".            

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 Sources:
1. Henry David Thoreau - Civil Disobedience and Other Essays, Dover Thrift Editions
2. Michelle LeBaron - "Culture and Conflict." Beyond Intractability. Conflict Information Consortium. University of Colorado.
3. The Power of Culture - Culture and Conflict: Introduction. www.powerofculture.nl
4. World Migration Report 2011, International Organization for Migration
5. OED Online - Art, Oxford University Press
6. Useem, J., & Useem R. - Human Organizations
7. Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C.A. - Multicultural Education. Allyn & Bacon

The Neue Pinakothek Munich

The Neue Pinakothek is an art museum in Munich, Germany. Its focus is European Art of 18th and 19th century and is one of the most important museums of art of the 19th century in the world. Together with the "Alte Pinakothek" and the "Pinakothek der Moderne", it is part of the Munich's art area.

The Neue Pinakothek - Munich

Its holdings amount to about 5,000 works of art, dating from the mid-eighteenth century to the early twentieth, with emphasis on paintings and sculpture of the nineteenth century. About 550 works are on display. Like the Alte Pinakothek, The Neue Pinakothek was founded by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. The building was destroyed during World War II. The ruin of the museum was demolished in 1949 and it was decided to construct another on the site.

When the Neue Pinakothek was opened in 1853, some 300 paintings could be exhibited. At that time, The Neue Pinakothek was the first public museum in Europe devoted exclusively to contemporary art. Following Ludwig's death in 1868, the authorities began making new purchases in 1880s. In 1990s, private donors contributed large and important works by artists such as Van Gogh, Manet and Gauguin among others.

The Museum reopened on 28th March 1981, designed by Alexander von Branca. Anyone walking through the Museum will obtain a clear impression of developments in art from the middle of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth. The visitor will notice not only the differences between 'schools' and individual artists but also a divide between works, sometimes of great historical interest or importance, that were typical of their period or highly successful in their own day and other works that conform better to our own understanding of what makes great art.


There are several paintings that caught my attention when I visited this museum. They are my personal favourite, here they are:

Madame Soler - Pablo Picasso

Although not a great follower of 'Expressionism' and Picasso, this one surely caught my attention. First because the painting is still in a lawsuit about its ownership.Secondly, because Madame Soler belongs to Picasso's 'Blue Period', a time when the artist was in Paris and turned for his subjects to the poor and the rejected, to those who inhabited the fringes of society.The deep melancholy of these works were emphasized by the graduated blues of the palette.Madame Soler was the wife of Picasso's tailor in Barcelona.

The Sin - Franz von Stuck

Franz Ritter von Stuck was a German Symbolist/Art Noveau painter. Between 1891 and 1912, Stuck painted many versions of this picture, in response to its success with the public.

Tired of Life - Ferdinand Hodler

Ferdinand Hodler is one of the most important Swiss painters of the late 19th and early 20th century. Hodler was one of the leading Symbolist painter, a proponent of 'Style Art'. His position in international symbolists are most evident in his large historical paintinings and his allergorical compositions, as well as in his portraits and landscapes all of which reveal his independent solutions.

Garden Bower - Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical  landscapes which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins.

The Play - Honoré Daumier

Honoré Daumier was best known for his caricature works and he used the classic caricature techniques of physical absurdity to lay bare the cruelty, unfairness and pretension of the 19th century French society and politics.

The Poor Poet - Carl Spitzweg

Carl Spitzweg was a German romanticist painter and poet. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era. Three versions of the Poor Poet are known. It is thought that Etenhuber, a poet living in impoverished circumstances in Munich, was the model. Spitzweg  shows the poet writing in bed to keep warm, for there is snow outside on the roofs and he has no wood to heat the stove. But he seems unconcerned at his scant means and the leaking roof, and his pen in his mouth, he counts off the meter of the meter of his rhyme on his fingers.

Cinderella - Moritz von Schwind 

Moritz von Schwind was born in Vienna and, in his younger years, was friend with the composer Franz Schubert. His illustrations of fairytales and legends won him great popularity. Although his painting tendencies late in life went in a more realistic and natural direction, he remain true to his late romantic style. His paintings, distinguished by their polished surface and subtle coloration and with themes taken from the world of folk stories and fables, take their cues from a more graphic approach. Schwind was often able to bring the bizarre and fantastic closer to the more understandable and traditional.

In addition, The Museum has several great paintings from Van Gogh (Vase with Sunflowers, The Plain at Auvers, View of Arles); Claude Monet (Water Lilies, The bridge over the Seine at Argenteuil); Karl Blechen (The construction of the Devil's Bridge); Édouard Manet (Breakfast in the Studio, The Boat); Edvard Munch (Village street in Aasgardstrand); Francisco Goya (A party in the countryside, Plucked Turkey). 

Note: This blog is based on several books, sites and private visit to Neue Pinakothek Munich

Beethoven-Haus Bonn

If you have seen movies like The Age of Innocence, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Crime of Padre Amaro, Dead Poets Society, Mr. Holland's Opus, Traffic, A Clockwork Orange, The Company of Wolves, The Horse Whisperer, Howards End, The Pianist, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Far and Away, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Trek: Insurrection, L.A. Story, Saturday Night Fever, Fight Club, there is a great chance that you have heard Beethoven's musical pieces.

Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the world's most famous and influential composers of classical music. His music has been played all over the world for over 180 years. His best known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets. His most famous piece being "Für Elise" and "Moonlight Sonata".

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in December 1770. The house where he was born is now a Museum  and Studio of Digital Archives, which today houses the world's largest Beethoven collection. The exhibition rooms contain a selection of more than 150 original documents from the time Beethoven spent in Bonn and Vienna.

Beethoven-Haus Bonn

The Beethoven-Haus is located at Bonngasse 20, Bonn and is made up of two buildings which were originally separated. After their marriage in 1767, Beethoven's parents lived in the back house, toward the garden. The family lived in this house for a number of years and moved afterwards at least three times within the city of Bonn.

Here in his house, in Room 2, on the first floor, you will be able to see the earliest document of Ludwig van Beethoven's public performances is the announcement of a concert on March 26, 1778 in Cologne. You will also find Beethoven's first composition that was published in 1782 (9 variations for Piano on a March by Dressler), aided by his most important teacher in Bonn, the court organist, theater conductor and composer Christian Gottlob Neefe.

In Room 3, First Floor, displays the viola which Beethoven played in the orchestra during his time in Bonn. Augustusburg Palace in Brühl, the summer residence of the Elector, and his residence in Bonn were the most important locations in which the orchestra performed. 

Beethoven's viola

In room 5, there is organ manual from the Church of the Minor Orders (now St. Remigius) that Beethoven played regularly from his 10th year on. Also in the room, in the showcase, the first edition of the three early piano sonatas which he dedicated to the Elector are on display.

Beethoven left Bonn in 1792 in order to study composition with Joseph Haydn. He was supposed to come back to Bonn as a court musician at the end of his studies. The French occupation of the Rhineland in 1794 lead to the dissolution of the Electoral state, however, so that Beethoven remained permanently in Vienna. 

Beethoven's last grand piano

Room 8, Second Floor ushers the visitors into Beethoven's Viennese period. Evidence of Beethoven's deafness is found in the case on the left-hand wall. Already at the age of 30, Beethoven reported a growing difficulty with his hearing and the isolation resulting from it to his friend Wegeler. Ear trumpets were of only limited help so that Beethoven had to communicate with the aid of notebooks, the so-called "Conversation books". Exhibited in this room also, the piano identical in its construction to the grand piano presented to Beethoven by Thomas Broadwood, the London piano builder and the instrument built by the famous Viennese piano builder Conrad Graf, which was Beethoven's last grand piano. 

The two pianofortes are displayed here as they were positioned in Beethoven's last Viennese lodgings in the "Schwarzspanierhaus". Hanging on the wall above the two pianos is what is probably the most famous Beethoven portrait of all times, painted in 1820 by Joseph Karl Stieler. Exhibited as well is the string quartet instruments which Beethoven received as a gift from his patron, Prince Carl Lichnowsky.

Beethoven's Funeral

Beethoven's died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna in his lodgings in the "Schwarzspanierhaus". The funeral cortege on March 29, 1827 in which about 20,000 mourners took part, depicted in watercolour by Franz Stöber, reveals how very famous and acclaimed Beethoven was already during his own lifetime (Room 9). 

Digital Archives Studio entrance is in the Sculptures courtyard. It contains more than 5,000 digital documents. In addition there are explanations and recordings of all Beethoven's works as well as audio letters, music scores which can be listened to, virtual exhibitions and digital reconstructions of his last home.

Note: This blog was written based on various sites and the author's visit to the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn

The Pergamon Museum - Berlin (Part I)

Pergamon Museum entrance

The Pergamon is situated on the Museum Island in Berlin. Construction of the Pergamon Museum, the youngest structure on Berlin's Museum Island took many years. From 1830-1876 three neoclassical museum buildings had been erected on the island in the Spree: The Altes Museum, The Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie. But already there was no room for the display of the large number of objects that found their way to Berlin thanks to new purchases and from excavations in the Mediterranean region and Near East that had begun in 1875.
In 1881 the Berlin Architects' Association was commissioned to design structures to house the finds from Olympia and Pergamon, as well as an extension for the enormous collection of plaster casts. The smaller and first Pergamon Museum accommodated finds from Pergamon, Magnesia on the Maeander, and Priene.
The new, bigger Pergamon Museum with three-winged complex was build between 1910 and 1930 under the supervision of Ludwig Hoffman, working from designs by Alfred Messel. Today, it houses three separate museums: The Collection of Classical Antiquities, The Museum of Ancient Near East and the Museum of Islamic Art.The monumental reconstructions of archaeological building ensembles - such as the Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate including the the Processional Way of Babylon and the Mshatta Façade-made the Pergamon Museum world famous and the most visited museum in Germany. 
In this Part I, I will describe what can be seen in the Collection of Classical Antiquities.

The Collection of Classical Antiquities

Hall of Hellenistic Architecture
In the Hall of Hellenistic Architecture, architectural fragments are presented in partial reconstructions in such a way as to illustrate their function and effect. The hall combines reconstructions and original fragments from Hellenistic buildings from Miletus, Priene, Magnesia on the Maeander and Pergamon. 

Hellenistic Architecture Hall

Athena Parthenos

Entrance Gate

Opposite the doorway leading from the centre hall with the Pergamon Altar is the façade from the Temple of Zeus Sosipolis. This temple stood in the marketplace (agora) at Magnesia, surrounded by colonnaded halls, and is a typical example of Hellenistic architecture in Asia Minor from the 2nd century BC. In the corner to the right is a reconstruction of the Doric Temple of Athena, and to the left the graceful Temple of Zeus from the upper market at Pergamon. The Temple of Athena, built of andesite and tufa in the late 4th century BC, features the traditional Doric order with simple cushion capitals and a geometric entablature frieze. Also from Pergamon is the entrance gate (propylon), through which one enters the hall. Behind the palace's Hephaestion Mosaic in the centre of the hall stands a colossal Hellenistic copy of the Athena Parthenos from the Acropolis in Athens that was found in Pergamon's Athena sanctuary. To the left of the gate is a corner column with Corinthian capitals from the entrance to the courtyard of the Miletus town hall.The hall's long walls feature sections of two famous large temple columns in their full original height. One is from the Temple of Athena from Priene and the opposite pair of columns come from the Temple of Artemis in Magnesia. 

The Pergamon Altar
The Great Altar of Pergamon, excavated in the 19th century and partially reconstructed in its original size in the Pergamon Museum opened in 1930, is one of the most famous monuments on Berlin's Museum Island.

Altar of Pergamon

The ancient fortress of Pergamon lies in the north-west coastal region of Asia Minor opposite the island of Lesbos. Its acropolis, 330 metres high, commands the fertile plain of the Caicus River. At its foot lies the modern Turkish city of Bergama. Pergamon first took on political significance under the successors of Alexander the Great. Under Eumenes II and Attalus II, Pergamon became a splendid royal residence. The most important monument in this redesigned city, visible from afar, was Pergamon Altar, built on a terrace of the acropolis under Eumenes II. The altar, nearly square, stood atop a base surrounded by a frieze. Above this stood a portico whose back wall enclosed a courtyard containing the actual altar. The courtyard wall was faced on the inside with additional, smaller frieze picturing the Telephus myth. The altar's base frieze with its large number of figures in almost fully three-dimensional relief represents the Gigantomachy, the struggle between the Olympian gods and the Giants. According to ancient Greek myth, the Giants hoped to plunge the divine order into chaos, and the Olympian gods managed to prevent them only with the help of the mortal hero Heracles. The turmoil of battle is impressively evoked in overlapping, richly varied sculptures of pairs of combatants, the menace of the Giants emphasized by their serpentine legs and animal attributes. 
The central event of the Gigantomachy is found in the right half of the east frieze. Here, Zeus, the father of the gods, and his daughter Athena are seen in combat with several Giants, and the earth mother Gaia is begging for the life of her son Alcyoneus, who has been subdued by Athena. 

The Telephus Frieze

Relief Panel in Telephus Hall

After climbing the altar's tall stairs, one enters the Telephus Hall, where offerings were actually made. The fire altar, of which only a few exquisitely decorated marble cornices survive, stood a courtyard. In its place, in the middle of the floor, there is a mosaic from the small altar chamber of Palace V in Pergamon. At the bottom of it there is a frieze with garlands of fruit enlivened by birds. 
A frieze that narrates the life of Telephus circles the walls of the hall, just as originally appeared in the altar courtyard. This mythical hero was thought to be a son of Heracles, and Pergamon's founder. By celebrating this mythical precursor, the Attalids hoped to lend legitimacy to their only recently established ruling dynasty. 

Hall of Roman Architecture (Miletus Hall) 
Planned as a counterpart to the Hall of Hellenistic Architecture, the Miletus Hall contains monuments dating from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD from various regions of the Roman Empires, from Italy to Syria. It is supplemented by the smaller balustrade-fronted Trajaneum hall. The most important monuments came from the cities of Miletus and Pergamon in Asia Minor, present-day Turkey. In addition to these are partial reconstructions of temples from Baalbek (modern Lebanon) and Sia (southern Syria), portions of a round mausoleum from Falerii (Italy) and relief friezes and a statue of a seated emperor from Rome. 

Market Gate from Miletus (Miletus Hall)

The hall is dominated by the reconstructed Market Gate from Miletus. The two-storey gate was erected in the early 2nd century AD as a magnificent passage-way between two large squares, the agora and the so-called South Market at the heart of the wealthy trading city of Miletus.

The Orpheus Mosaic

Inset into the floor in the centre of the room, between the Market Gate and the Tomb of Cartinia, is a mosaic from the dining room (triclinium) of a private house in Miletus. The polychrome panels with figural decoration and a framing of meanders and guilloches are original. In the centre of the upper section the mythical singer Orpheus is seated on a rock, holding his cithara in his left hand and the plectrum used to strike its strings in his right. With his singing he has tamed all the nearby animals. In a charming contrast, the long rectangular panel benetah it pictures a mythical hunt led by four cupids. For centuries, both subjects, the hunt with cupids and Orpheus playing his cithara surrounded by tamed beasts, were highly popular in the art of antiquity.
The south wall of the Miletus Hall is dominated by the reconstructed pair of columns from the altar courtyards with monolithic shafts of Egyptian rose granite. In front of them sits the heavily restored statue of Roman emperor from Rome, to which a head of Trajan that was not part of the original sculpture was affixed in the 18th century.
In the Trajaneum hall there are additional building fragments from Baalbek, a colossal marble tripod from the Miletus bouleuterion and reliefs from Rome and Miletus. The model of the city centre of Miletus is also there.

Note: This blog is based on various sites and books as well as author's private visit to the museum.
  

Museum Karl-Marx-Haus

Karl Marx
Karl Marx is one of my favorite revolutionary philosopher. And if you are into philosophy, history, sociology or economy and happened to be visiting Germany, a visit to Museum Karl-Marx-Haus in Trier is a must. Museum Karl-Marx-Haus is a house where he was born. It is now a museum dedicated to life and work of Karl Marx as well as the history of the labor movement. Just a brief history on Karl Marx before I tell you more about the museum.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was born in Trier on May 5, 1818, where he received classical education. He studied jurisprudence in Bonn and Berlin, where, however, his preoccupation with philosophy soon turned him away from law. His interest was in the philosophical ideas of the Young Hegelians. After his studies, he wrote for radical newspaper in Köln, the Rheinische Zeitung and began to work out his theory of dialectical materialism. In pursuing that he found himself confronted with points of view which neither jurisprudence nor philosophy had taken account of. Proceeding from the Hegelian philosophy of law, Marx came to the conclusion that it was not the state, which Hegel had described as the 'top of the edifice', but 'civil society', which Hegel had regarded with disdain, that was the sphere in which a key to the understanding of the process of the historical development of mankind should be looked for. However, the science of civil society is political economy, and this science could not be studied in Germany, it could only be studied thoroughly in England or France.

After moving to Paris in 1843, he devoted himself primarily on studying political economy and the history of the Great French Revolution. He met Friedrich Engels in Paris, and the two men worked together on series of books. Exiled to Brussels, pursuing the same studies there, until the outbreak of February revolution. In Brussels, Marx was introduced to socialism by Moses Hess and finally broke off from the philosophy of Young Hegelians completely. While there, he wrote The German Ideology. 

At the beginning of 1846, Marx founded a Communist Correspondence Committee in attempt to link socialists from around Europe. Inspired by his ideas, socialists in England held a conference and formed the Communist League, and in 1847 at  a Central Committee meeting in London, the organization asked Marx and Engels to write Manifesto of the Communist Party. The Communist Manifesto, was published in 1848, and shortly after, in 1849, Marx was expelled from Belgium. He went to back to Köln with his friends and founded there Neue Rheinische Zeitung, the same year he was expelled from Prussia, and therefore had to move to Paris, from where he was once again expelled and from where he moved to London. In London, Marx helped found the German Workers' Educational Society, as well as a new headquarters for the Communist League. He continued to work as journalist as well as focusing himself on capitalism and economic theory, and in 1867, he published the first volume of Das Kapital. The rest of his life was spent writing and revising manuscripts for additional volumes, which he did not complete. He died in London on March 14, 1883.

Museum Karl-Marx-Haus in Trier

Karl-Marx-Haus

Marx's birthplace, No. 10 in what today is the Brückenstraße, was rebuilt and extended under a series of different owners. It was not recognized for a long time as the birthplace of Karl Marx. In 1904, it was 'rediscovered' by an announcement in the 'Trierische Zeitung' on 5 April 1818 in which Heinrich Marx announce his move to what was then Brückergasse No. 664.

Attempts of the SPD (Social Democratic Party) to acquire the house dragged out over many years. On 26 April 1928, the Social Democratic newspaper 'Volkswacht' proudly announced that the SPD had purchased the property. The seizure of power by the Nazis prevented the museum from opening. Immediately after the German capitulation, Social Democrats in Trier attempted to repossess it. With help from an international solidarity committee it was returned to the SPD, who opened it as a monument to Karl Marx in 1947. In 1968, the SPD entrusted the house to the care of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation.

Karl Marx quote

If you enter the exhibition room 02 you will witness the eventful history of the house from the subject of bitter dispute as a political symbol up to modern day museum. Room 03 shows an object hanging in the center onto which well known quotes from Marx and also critical utterances about him. In Room 11 you will find information about his roots, youth and education as well as his early bonding with Jenny von Westphalen.

Communist Manifesto

Room 12 shows the young journalist and political philosopher and the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Friedrich Engels. In Room 13 you can witness the great importance of the 1848 revolution which was followed by a life in exile for Karl Marx. In this room you can see an electronic book of the Communist Manifest in various languages.

Room 14 gives an impression of Marx life with his family in London and of his daughters and their private situation. In Room 15, you will find further information about the great universal scholar, journalist and author of his comprehensive major work, Das Kapital.  The first volume did not appeared until 1867. Volumes 2 and 3 were not published until after his death.

Room 16 shows you the relationship of Karl Marx and the labour movement. An object clearly shows the climax of his second and last active political phase within the International Workingmen's Association (Internationale Arbeiter-Assoziation/IAA). Room 17 gives you an impression of the decade after Marx' death and points out the importance of Friedrich Engels for early Marxism.

Here in this floor, there is an open hallway, where you can see several names of intellectuals which were influenced for their entire lives or maybe periodically by Marx and his ideas.

Intellectuals influenced by Marx 

In Room 21, you will see the impact of Marx's ideas. Central themes are splitting of the labour movement during the First World War and in the wake of the Russian Revolution as well as the contrast between communists and social democrats. Room 22, describes the splitting of Europe after the Second World War with its symbolic Berlin Wall all the way through to the overcoming of this division in 1989.

Room 23 is the last room which is focused on the world-wide utilization of the ideas of Karl Marx with the help of a world map which is lowered into the floor. With the breakdown of the state socialism in Middle and East Europe and the transformation of the Asiatic communism in partly capitalistic development dictatorship, the influence of Karl Marx does not end.

If you are interested in buying his books or souvenirs, there is a small shop inside the museum, besides the entrance. There are wide range of souvenirs to choose from, like shirts, canvas books bags, books, statues of Karl Marx and even Karl Marx Wine.  

Note: This blog is research based on various sites and private visit to the Museum