re-constructions and renovations of Monuments

City Palace Berlin, Sagrada Familia Barcelone, FrauenKirche Dresden, Lower Town Quebec City, Ara Pacis Rome, Parthenon Athens.

In my life of travelling and living abroad I have come across many sights which have been resurrected from the past or cleaned up or re-built. Why do governments do it, in most cases to recapture shares of the mass tourist market, tourist want to see things they do not have back home. Per example see London like Mary Poppins or the Rome of the Popes or early Christians or see ancient monument reborn after centuries of neglect. We want to recapture the past and with our modern sensibilities pretend we are just like the ancient, though sometimes it makes for funny situations, per example one remark often heard when visiting a former Royal Palace now a museum, tourist no.1 will say to tourist no.2 Can you imagine living in a place like this, it must have been nice.
The reality is if either of these persons had lived in the past centuries, they probably would have been peasants in the fields working hard and would never have come anywhere near such a place, this because of social barriers and strict divisions of society.

In 1962 the old City of Quebec the portion within the old Walls and the Lower town below by the St-Lawrence river dating back to 1608 was in ruins. Things were so bad the Provincial Government was considering bulldozing the whole thing and making it all modern. Luckily the Federal Government owned most of it and forbade the grand scale demolition, it also started to invest into rehabilitating the City walls, Quebec is the only city in North America with complete defensive walls and gates and dozens of stone homes from the 17th Century built in a French Norman Style. Today people from around the world come to Quebec City to see La Vieille Capitale, because Quebec was the Capital of the French Empire until 1763 and then the Royal Capital of Canada until 1820. So history is everywhere in its historic streets.

 Eglise Notre Dame des Victoires, 1688

Place Royale, Ville de Quebec

Petit Séminaire de Quebec, 1664

I started to visit Athens around 1998 though I had often flown over the City in the late 1980's never had I actually visited.
Athens was a small city until 1960's it is only in the last 35 years that a real estate boom has made it
into a megapolis, though the total population is 800,000. Not exactly Montreal or even Rome at 3 million people.   The Symbol of the City is the Acropolis and the Parthenon built originally in 480 BC and re-built in 438 BC to honour the Goddess Athena Parthénos, ( Virginal Pallas triomphant) who protects her City and its people. The Parthenon is said to be the most perfect Doric style temple ever built.

To my mind the Parthenon is the symbol of the Western World, there is no more beautiful site than to watch the Sun rise in the morning and its rays hitting the White with a golden tinge Pentelic marble of the Temple making it shine as if it was made of gold.  When you look at it you are reminded that theatre, philosophy, democracy, trial by jury, all come from this ancient site.

The statue of Athena stood in her temple until the fifth century AD when a fire destroyed it. With the arrival of Christians the Acropolis and the Parthenon suffered vandalism and then the Ottoman Turks occupied the site for many centuries until that fateful day when a Venetian Captain Morosini attacking Athens from the Sea aimed his canons on the Temple which at this point was used as a gunpowder store by the occupying Ottoman Turkish army. The explosion from the direct hit in September 1687 caused the devastation we see to this day. However in the last 25 years Greek Archeologists with funds from the European Union have worked at restoring this ancient temple and others on the Acropolis, like the small temple of Athena Nike and the main entrance gate the Propylae and the Erechtyion returning them to what they were like before the attack by the Venetian fleet of 1687. It is also a function of consolidating the buildings and preventing any further degradation. Using titanium rods on the blocks instead of steel which rust and then eats away at the marble. In some cases new marble blocks have been carved to replace those to weak or degraded. In my lifetime I can say that I have seen the Parthenon and the other temples restored or reborn. Many might say why restore such an ancient site, I think that in this case given the importance of this sacred place for us Occidentals, this hill must continue to live forever.

Temple of Athena Nike, restored 2011

Propylae gate, Acropolis in restoration 2010

Parthenon under continuous restoration in June 2014.

The Capital of Saxony, Dresden was totally destroyed in a fire bombing by the British forces on the night of 14 February 1945, 600,000 civilians died burned alive in the firestorm. Dresden was not a strategic city and had no military value, it was known for its culture and art. Canaletto had made a very famous painting of the city in the 18th century. This painting was so accurate in its architectural detailing that it was used to rebuilt the city from its ashes after 1989. 

The devastation of Dresden was total and after the end of the Second World War, Dresden was behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany. There was no money for re-building and very little effort was made to repair the damage inflicted. Most of its civilian population had died, so the Communist authorities decided to rebuilt here and there in a haphazard way outside of the old city limits. The Lutheran Church wanted it's main temple re-built because of its association with Martin Luther who had preached there. But all this re-building had to wait German reunification in 1990, from public donations from around the world the Lutheran Church was able to rebuild the Frauen Kirche of Dresden originally built by architect George Bahr in 1726 it had survived intact other wars and invasions until that fateful night in 1945.

The plan to rebuild this one church gave the impetus to massively rebuild the old city including the other churches and the Royal Palace of the Princes of Saxony, the Semper Opera house and other palaces and museum. We first visited around 1999, the old City was a field of construction and the Frauen Kirche was only half rebuilt. When we returned in 2014 most of the work was complete and the Church itself had been re-dedicated and is now serving the Lutheran Community of Dresden. 

Dresden is also famous for its porcelain and the celebrated Meissen Porcelain factory. Some 23,000 pieces of 17th and 18th century porcelain can be admired in the Zwinger Palace forming the private collection of the Royal Family of Saxony.  Then the beautiful Art museums and the Residenzschloss or Royal Palace and its incredible precious jewels and other rare objects collections, requiring a minimum of 2 days to fully appreciate the wealth of the collections which can now be seen as prior to 1939 in all its glory.

Dresden and the FrauenKirche on the New Market Square, 1742 by Bernardo Bellotto

Dresden re-built in June 2014

FrauenKirche re-built in June 2014

FrauenKirche in ruin after fire bombing of 1945 with the Statue of Martin Luther. Reconstruction will start in 1996 only.

Partial view inside the FrauenKirche, Dresden, 2014 (Lutheran Baroque)

Despite the beauty of the reconstruction and how faithful to all the details to ensure accuracy, I was somewhat disappointed, difficult to explain, maybe it was the realization that I was not looking at the original Church or City but a faithful copy. I also wondered if future generations will understand what happened to this city in 1945, one could understand if they forgot all about it or disbelieved any tale of war and mayhem.

Moving on to Rome where nothing is ever changing or so it seems one could be forgiven for the fact that much of what we see today in Rome is often the case of the will of men to change the city to suit a political program. It is often said that Rome looks like a theatre set, every angle is like a theatre set design to attract the eye to a beautiful panorama.
First the Popes on their return from Avignon in France decided to remake Rome.
The numerous well preserved Temples of Antiquity were dismantled to be used in the rebuilding of churches and public works. Then other works of art were used to decorate palaces and gardens, often with a beautiful effect. However much was also destroyed carelessly for mercantile reasons.

Unified Italy as of 1870 embarked on a program of changing Rome to suit its new image as a Republican Monarchy opening new streets like Via Cavour and Via Nazionale in the heart of the City and building the great walls along the Tiber to prevent winter floods. Then when Mussolini came to power in 1923 he wanted Rome to reflect its imperial glory so he employed historians, archeologists and architects to find all those pieces of the puzzle that were still buried and he resurrected temples or part of them like the Temple of the Vestal Virgins in the Roman Forum or the Arch of Titus or went on to build the Via dei Fori Imperiali crossing the whole of the ancient Forum area so he could have great military parades à la Hollywood.

So when you visit Rome today the ruins you see are the work of the Fascist era (1923-1943), unwittingly Mussolini helped the Italian Tourist Industry for decades to come. Tourist have something to see.

One such monument amongst many to have been resurrected and it is a magnificent one, is the Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar to Augustan Peace) as the name indicates it was to celebrate world peace brought about with the pacifying of the Barbarian nations. A monument built as a testimony to the legacy of Octavian the nephew of Julius Caesar better known to us as Augustus the first Emperor of Rome (63BC to 14AD) and probably the greatest and best. His legal legacy still resonates with us today and is found carved in stone on the side of the building housing the Ara Pacis, the Res Gestae in Canada Lawyers call it the Law of Evidence.

The monument was built at the request of the Roman Senate in July of 13BC and was located in the Field of Mars an area nowadays around the Via del Corso and Via del Parlamento. The soil being quite soft in the area the weight of the monument caused it to sink into the ground and only 60 years later it was half buried. Eventually it disappeared completely only to be re-discovered by accident during excavations in 1568 under Palazzo Chigi and more fragments surfaced in 1859 and in 1903. Those fragments ended up in the Vatican Museum, the Villa Borghese, the Uffizi Museum and the Louvre in Paris. In 1937 to celebrate the 2000 Birthday of Augustus, Mussolini ordered that the whole monument be excavated and re-assembled in a new site by the Tiber and next to the Mausoleum of Augustus at Ponte Cavour and Via Tomacelli, a special building was also built to house the monument. That building was again completely re-designed in 2006 by architect Richard Meier. Nonetheless the Ara Pacis is a very important monument for the Western World.

I studied that monument in school as a kid and imagine how wonderful it was for me to see it in 2007 for the first time in person. Though the white marble stone today does not show the original colours, think of an Hindou Temple, every year on the anniversary of the birth of Augustus the monument is displayed at night with a show of light so the public can see it again as it was then, the bold colours are jarring to our modern sensibilities.

I visited the Ara Pacis numerous times and am still in awe of its magnificent grandeur.

West side  

 East Side

Members of the Imperial Family, all can be identified by name.

One monument which is being re-created from scratch is the City Palace of Berlin, for centuries this was the Palace of the Princes of Brandenburg, then the Official Palace of the Prussian Kings and finally the Palace of the German Emperor until 1918.

The palace was bombed and burned in 1944 but could still be restored, however with the partition of Germany in 1945 it fell in the Eastern Sector of the City and the Communist authorities decided to blow it up in 1953 to make way for a military parade ground instead, more goose stepping. 

The palace was in an area of Berlin which housed a unique complex of buildings, university and museums at the end of the ceremonial road Unter den Linden (under the linden trees) which starts at the Brandenburg Gate. The palace was located on an island on the Spree River next to the Lutheran Cathedral and all the museums housing the various art and archeological collections. 

As of 1990 the new united City of Berlin and the Federal Government of Germany decided to renovate all the historical buildings of the Eastern sector left derelict by the Communist government for decades. In fact in 1985 the East German government had threatened to blow up every historical building in its sector if the West German government did not pay the full price of reconstruction. Had this plan gone ahead much of the 800 years of the history of Berlin would have been lost forever. 

Berlin has been one huge rebuilding project since 1990, it's infrastructure, the rail system, the U and S ban and its real estate all of it renewed or rebuilt. The Lutheran Cathedral, the various museum on the island and every other monument and palace rebuilt. Frederick II the Great is back on Unter den Linden riding into the City again a top his monument. The one missing link was the City Palace, it took years of discussion and consultation and finally the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) sitting in the rebuilt old Reichstag building voted in favour of rebuilding, the City of Berlin also supported the plan. However first the old East German Parliament building had to be demolished and that took 3 years when it was discovered the building was full of asbestos. 

Palast der Republik, GDR, Berlin in 1977

The idea is to rebuild the palace on the outside as it was before 1918 and make of the interior a modern University conference centre and library with museums on foreign cultures. It will be called the Humboldt Forum after the German brothers Alexander and Wilhelm Von Humboldt. With the palace rebuilt the entire area will have a homogenous architectural look recalling the 18th Century and the age of Enlightenment. 

What the rebuilt City Palace or Humboldt Forum will look like in 2019.

I have been following the entire saga since the beginning in the 1990's and this December construction of the shell of the palace is complete. Though the Federal Government of Germany will pay for the entire completion of the inside of the structure the decorative Baroque elements on the outside must be paid for by private donations and at the moment some 60 Million Euros still need to be raised, completion date 2019. It should be said that a lot of controversy surrounds this project, though now it is well on its way to be completed. Though it is only to fulfil a wish to have the city centre whole that this project was put forward, many advocated that something different be built. However historically speaking for 600 years a Palace stood in this place. See the link
http://berliner-schloss.de/en/humboldt-forum-new-palace

You can see a photo of today 1 Dec 2014 at 21:05 Berlin Time and how advanced the construction of the Palace is at this point, they are at the roof top.
http://cam01.berlinerschloss-webcam.de/?id=1417459501

Another project this one in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain is the Church of the architect Gaudi, La Sagrada Familia under construction since 1882 it is nearing completion now due to strong tourist interest and ticket sales to visit the site. As a child I had heard of this church by Gaudi and how no one knew if it would ever be completed. Antoni Gaudi died in 1926 in Barcelona run over by a street car. After his death no one knew if the church could be completed, since it was very much his inspiration which created this masterpiece. Then the Spanish Civil War saw a great deal of chaos, the Catholic Church in Spain sided with the Fascist forces of General Franco and in Catalonia there was much repression of the population. The Church was no ones friend, the Republican lashed out and attacked the construction office where all the archives of Gaudi were kept everything was destroyed including the mock-ups of the final product. Now construction stopped completely, to add to this sad situation General Franco was victorious, he exiled the Royal Family and proclaimed himself dictator at the same time he allied himself with Nazi Germany. The Second World War saw more economic disaster befell Spain and despite being a Neutral country it was very isolated. After the war a commission of academics and other experts decided that the Sagrada Familia Church should stand as is incomplete as a monument to Gaudi. It was only in 1975 with the death of General Franco and the return to democracy and a restoration of the Monarchy that once again the construction work re-started but this time with a panel of artists and architects devoted to seeing the vision of Gaudi for his church in the completion of the project. Only having a few documents in private hands from the time of Gaudi and some of his writings to guide them, new financing was devised in organized tours of the site where tourist would pay to gawk at what was going on.

Here is the first drawing of what the Sagrada Familia would have looked like, a design by Francisco de Paula Villar y Lozano, the first architect who would be replaced by Antoni Gaudi. Of this original design only the underground crypt church was completed in 1900. Gaudi then changed everything and started on his vision.

Floor plan of the Sagrada Familia by Gaudi. 

The current construction schedule is going well and the Church is well on its way to be completed after 70 years of sleep. At this time though it is not clear if the main front entrance of the Basilica the Portico of Glory will be completed, the reason is that it now stands above a express train tunnel (Paris -Barcelona) and the vibration of this high speed train as it enters Barcelona may affect the front of the building. Also in 1975 the land immediately across the street was sold to a developer in what many see as a shady land deal. So the great staircase and plaza planned for the area cannot be built now since condominiums occupy this land. 

Glory Portico which may never be finished.

The Passion Portico and the Nativity Portico face parks and can easily be admired. Maybe in a way given the tortuous story of the construction of this church it is better if part of it remains unfinished.

Certainly the rest 90% will be completed by 2026, sone 144 years after the beginning of the work.

What is wonderful about this construction is that all the funds came and still come from private donations and tourists buying tickets to visit the site.  

Panoramic view of the ceiling vault of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

This view is dizzying but given the high luminosity of the Church and the multitude of stain glass, the gold on the ceiling, your eyes are really seeing a marvellous feat of architecture. The columns are not painted, they are stone and they take on various shades of colour as the Sun illuminates the building, this changes as the hours pass. The most magical of effect.
There are more photos at this site http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia

The basilica in 2014.

There are many more projects around the world, St-Petersburg is another one where dozens of Palaces have been meticulously restored and turned into museums or hotels. A whole generation of Russian artisan is being trained to produce furniture and other objects but also trades in refurbishing these historical buildings. This could be another entry unto itself.
In Asia Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia have projects to redo sites which have been neglected or abandoned. China redid its Forbidden City in advance of the Olympics games a few years ago, though unfortunately with little care for historical accuracy. 

  

Epicurian Pleasure

In modern parlance Epicurian pleasure is understood to mean the exaggerated excess in all things.
A contemporary of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson depicts what for many centuries Epicurean pleasure was understood to mean, I'll have all my beds blown up not stuffed, goose down is too hard. Jonson's pleasure seeker is called Sir Epicure Mammon.

However hundreds of scrolls unearthed in the Library for the Villa dei Papyri in Herculaneum which belonged to Lucius Calpurnius Piso gives the true ancient meaning to Epicureanism and it is vastly different than what we thought it actually meant. This is due to the fact that after his death the enemies of Epicurus ridiculed his writings and twisted the meaning of what his philosophy meant. Then after the Fourth Century we lost his writings which were only rediscovered in a Monastery in Fulda in 1407.

School of Athens (Philosophy) (1510) by Raphael in the Stanza della Segnatura, Apostolic Palace, Vatican. Epicurus appears in the left corner dressed in blue and crowned with vines leafs.

Philodemus who lived around (110-60 BC) was a true follower of Epicurus (341-270 BC), wrote ''Men suffer the worst of evils for the sake of the most alien desires.  They neglect the most necessary of appetites as if they were the most alien to Nature''. What are these necessary appetites that lead to pleasure? ''It is impossible to live pleasurably without living prudently and honourably and justly, and also without living courageously and temperately and magnanimously, and without making friends and without being philanthropic''.

This if the true definition of Epicureanism.

The problem comes in the 4th Century when ''Pagan'' philosophies are rejected by the Jews and Christians who now wish to establish firmly their beliefs on good and evil in the Roman World. Pleasure as the highest good? Even if described in restrained terms it was a source of scandal for both Judeo-Christians belief sets. Even 2000 years later the fear that to maximize pleasure and to avoid pain are in fact appealing goals and might serve as the rational organizing principles of human life. If these goals succeeded then a whole set of time honoured principles, like sacrifice, ambition, social status, discipline and piety would be challenged with the institutions attached to them. This is why Epicureanism is presented in a grotesque and extravagant manner to this day.

We will have to wait the Renaissance (1297-1580) to see a rediscovery of Antiquity and its philosophies, in 1430 invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg which will put books at the disposal of far more people and then 1492 when Admiral Christopher Columbus lands in America. Two events which will transform world view.

Thinking of today, reading this definition of true Epicureanism, I wonder how could it apply to our post-modern world and age of technology. Is it even possible in a world like ours where Education is ridiculed and where politicians make constant cuts to the entire educational system. Where Culture is seen as worthless or is constantly assimilated to some multi-million dollar sporting event. Where the masses are easily amused by shopping mall openings as we have seen in Ottawa in the last month, or by news of professional athletes or where a dead Coach is elevated to the rank of demi-god and athletes make ridiculous tributes claiming that their lives would have been worthless otherwise.

However Philosophy was never meant for everyone's study but for those who were interested to follow one school or another. Or the art of discussion on various topics was an exchange of ideas and wit was a quality.

I suppose that if you wish to follow that path today you would have to separate or segregate yourself from the commercial world with its values based on money and power.

Thinking of Greece today

I started thinking of Greece today, we use to fly to Athens in 90 minutes from Rome and the cost on Aegean Airways was fairly low.
Maybe it is because Spring so far as been cold and not exactly what one would expect. Elsewhere the weather is more pleasant. Listening to a selection of Greek songs, many are poems and I find the Greek language so rich and it has this wonderful velvet quality about it.

I am also reading at the moment a book by Joan Breton Connelly, The Parthenon Enigma, which is fascinating as it fills in the blanks of my visits to Athens for the last 20 years wondering about the many little details about the Acropolis.

Just thinking of the islands of the Aegean Sea and all the little villages, Mount Parnassos and Delphi and other places we visited touring around Attica, so very nice.

The old archaic temple of Apollo in Corinth

Greece

I often write about my time in Rome but I also spent quite a lot of time in Greece, Athens,traveling by road around the Peloponnese and sailing the Aegean Sea around the Cyclades Islands between 2007-2011. Greece is a wonderful country and I always enjoyed my stay there even during my last visit when I became the victim of a pick-pocket who stole my wallet in the old Plaka. I always stayed at the same hotel The Athens Gate after trying many others which I did not like much, this includes the pretentious and terrible Hilton.

 Hadrian's Gate, near the Athens Gate Hotel

Hellenic Parliament on Syntagma Square

We also had a chance to travel to the islands in different seasons by boat from Athens. We also took a tour by car of the Peloponnese and then to Mount Parnassus along the gulf of Corinth.  There are many beautiful places to visit in Greece and the people are nice and hospitable.

I grew up listening to Melina Mercouri and her 1960 movie Never on Sunday. I also like the music of Mikis Theodorakis and Georges Moustaki both composers who were very popular in the 1950 to 1980 and remain musical icons. The blue of the sky, the sunshine, that certain relax atmosphere you find.
The various monuments of antiquity have by themselves the ability of creating beauty and peace simply by their age and the fact they came to us from such a distant past.



There are seasons to visit Greece and summer is not one of them. Far too hot and the Islands like Mykonos and Santorini are stuffed with tourists, prices are high, it is unpleasant to many crowds and the heat is oppressive. If you need to go in the Summer, choose a lesser known islands, there are hundreds of them, so you do have a choice. Then after end of October the ferry boat schedule from Piraeus is modified and because of winter storms, far fewer boats connect the islands. I recommend the book of Lawrence Durrell, The Greek Islands (1978) where he describes the islands in the 1930's as almost primitive by the simplicity of life on them and then in the 1950's how everything had changed. A very good portrait of Greece.

                                          Delphi

                                         From Delphi a view of Mount Parnassus lost in the clouds

The mainland becomes the place to visit. The premier winter ski station is at 2450 meters above sea level at Mount Parnassus, a place sacred to Apollo and his 9 aunts, the Muses, is wonderful. We stayed at Arachova in a wonderful stone hotel, very rugged with great restaurants of authentic Greek cuisine. This is mostly a resort for wealthy Greeks from Athens. You are also minutes away from ancient Delphi and its sanctuary and breathtaking views.

 Corinth Canal connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea

Corinth, Temple of Apollo, Doric style, built in 540 B.C.

 Mykonos in late afternoon, October

Santorini Island in late October

You can tour the Peloponnese and visit numerous ancient sites and the scenery is always beautiful.
Corinth and the canal is spectacular, Epidaurus with its wonderful ancient theatre still in use today and the sanctuary of Asclepius the Healer, son of Apollo. This is were I learned what the symbol of medicine meant, the snakes had healing powers and the staff is knowledge.

There is also Nafplio, a seaside port and the first capital of independent Greece (1829). We had a lovely lunch there on a terrace facing the sea. An interesting story about the town of Nafplio, this is where the potato was introduced in 1828 into the Greek diet. This tuberous vegetable was unknown in Greece previously and the Governor Ioannis Kapodistria who was the ruler of the then Capital of newly independent Greece, decided that it could help supplement the diet of people. He bought a large shipment of potatoes and offered them free to anyone who might be interested, of course no one was since they had no idea what it was and had never eaten them before. So he devised a strategy by posting guards in daytime only to watch over the shipment and the growing crops. People were curious as to why potatoes which had been given away freely were now guarded carefully in day time only. Like all things, some individual wanted to know and started stealing them at night and eating them. Today the potato is present in almost all Greek dishes, often offered in restaurants as French Fries large cut with a healthy helping of rice, two starches on one plate.

Returning to Athens by the more scenic road instead of the highway is well worth it for the scenery alone of mountains and sea views. Athens is a huge metropolis today but until 1960 it was a relatively small town. I always stay in the Plaka area, at the foot of the Acropolis. The ancient city grew around it and the Plaka is the oldest part of the city.

Olympian Zeus Temple, Athens

For years I had been travelling to Athens, I think that the first time was in the 1990's this means that I was able to see the renovation and reconstruction of the temples of the Acropolis including the Parthenon. I was anxious to travel to Athens in November 2009 to see the new Acropolis Museum designed by Bernard Tschumi, a masterpiece of architecture http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en. This is an absolute must, if you go to Athens. The one artifact in the museum I was fascinated with where the original statues of the Cariatides from the Temple of the Erechthion on the Acropolis. They are displayed in such a way that you can walk around them and see their incredibly complicated hairstyle, each very different from the other, no two women would want to be coiffed like her neighbour. The statues you see on the Acropolis are copies.

Other great museums are the Benaki http://www.benaki.gr  near the Parliament and the Byzantine and Christian Museum http://www.byzantinemuseum.gr just a few blocks away and the Museum of Archeology with its magnificent marbles from the great masters of the Golden age of Greece, http://www.namuseum.gr/wellcome-en.html  it will celebrate 125 years of existence in 2014.

There is also the neighbourhood of Psiri a gentrified area on the other side of the Acropolis known for its restaurants and bars and Monasteraki which is part of old Athens and known for its shopping and various specialty shops. Athens is a place for walking exploring the old streets. The Agora at the end of the Plaka has many beautiful ruins and some of the oldest roads of the city. Not to be missed is the Stoa. The Agora (city centre) dates from the 7 century B.C., today it is a beautiful, peaceful Park.

One of my best souvenir of Athens is of having breakfast in the morning on the roof top of the Athens Gate Hotel watching the sun rise over the city and its rays hitting the acropolis and the Parthenon, the pentelic marble changes colour as the light increases, a wonderful way to start the day, looking at the birth place of Western Civilization, always gave me a good feeling.

View from the Hotel rooftop restaurant

Through are friends in Athens we also discovered the neighbourhood of Gazi, until 20 years ago it was heavily industrial and not a place you would visit. Today the old gaz works are gone, the area is a lively open air museum, with restaurants, bars, music and parks.

We still have friends in Greece and I do hope to go back one day.

Temple of Poseidon, Cap Sounion, Attica, near Athens in late afternoon at Sunset. The little Olive tree is a sacred symbol to Poseidon and Athena.

Euripides in English

Went to the Seat of the European Union in England, Europe House on Smith Sq near the Palace of Westminster to see a special cultural event, it was the presentation of the play Paris Alexandros by Euripides. Written some 2500 years ago, when theatre was being invented by the Greeks. It is part of a trilogy of plays written at a time when Athens was expanding its empire into greater Greece meaning Sicily and Southern Italy. The most famous of the trilogy is the play The Trojan Women, the two others were lost, Paris Alexandros is only partially complete. Nonetheless it is a fascinating story that of Paris who meets 3 Goddesses and makes a bad choice angering the powerful Athena Goddess protector of Troy and giving himself to lust by going with Artemis the Goddess of Sparta. There he will meet the most beautiful women of Sparta, Helen, kidnap her and seal the fate of his city Troy.
Paris is a bad boy and has many faults and Cassandra his sister will try in vain to warn their parents King Priam and Queen Hekabe of the dangers of Paris, of the fulfilment of the prophecy to no avail, calling for his death to avoid the Trojan wars.

The group Dionysia (AOD) composed of famous names of the British Theatre present such plays to school groups in order to foster a love of theatre, in this case ancient theatre.
This is a great group, you can visit their web site at: www.actorsofdionysus.com

Lady Lucy French, whose grandfather Field Marshall Sir John French created the version of the British Poppy we wear at this time of the year in England and in Canada in Remembrance of all our War Dead (1914-1918), also provided important support as did the Hellenic Foundation and the Embassy of Greece.

Such evenings in London are especially nice, got to meet and speak with actress Fenella Fielding and actor Nigel Anthony, Joseph Wickes, Tamsin Shasha. Also met author David Stuttard who was instrumental in putting this recreated play together.

Europe House, seat of the European Union Office in London on Smith Sq. near Parliament.

From Smith Square you can see the towers of Westminster Abbey

The Church of St-John on Smith Square in London, today used as a concert hall.

Homes on Smith Square dating from 1726. Expensive real estate given the prestige of the proximity to Westminster Palace and Abbey.

The Victoria Tower of Westminster Palace.

I wish I was in Greece

It is raining tonight here at home and the weather seems to be turning towards autumn though we are still in early August.  This song written in 1962 by Mikis Theodorakis on a poem by George Seferis. On the Seashore sung by Maria Farantouri.  About life and its changes, the past, the present, the future.
We spent a lot of nice time in Greece and have wonderful friends. One day we will return.

Ethics

A long time ago Aristotle wrote about Ethics, I have this little book next to me. Aristotle was a vigorous polemicist and a rational philosopher. He lived between 384 and 322 BC in Greece. The success of Aristotle can be measured by the enormous impact of his book Ethics on Western moral philosophy. He converts ethics from a theory to a practical science. He first composed it simply as notes for lectures he gave.

'Our task is to become good men, or to achieve the highest human good. That good is happiness'.

Individual can behave in an ethical manner, this is true of each person to chose to do good, to be moral.
Professionals like medical doctors are guided by ethical concerns for their patients. 'Do no harm' This of course can apply to many other professions or human behaviour. However nowadays many corporations and government bodies love to issue mission statements on codes of conduct, codes of ethics for their employees. It is good to present this mirage of concern to the general public to reassure the naive and the easily deceived. We should remember that governments are essentially political entities driven by the pursuit of control and power and the public good is a distant third, based on the re-election prospects of the politicians or the sale prospects of products marketed by corporations. Spin which is so much part of our political discourse nowadays is easily confused with ethical speech.

Political correctness is also often confused with ethics, appear to do good without ever doing it. Saying out loud what no one actually thinks or believes quietly. We have in the workplace people charged with promoting ethical behaviour which is associated with correct, officially sanctioned attitudes and pre-fabricated responses to any and all situations. In other words you are told what to think. It appears that we are in fact returning to fascist values of the mid twentieth century, confusing them with modern advanced thought and what passes for modern ethical behaviour.  We have forgotten the lessons of the past and are too willing to accept what is thrown at us as long as it satisfies instant gratification or excitement which masquerades for happiness.

So what happened to ethics in our every day life, it has been replaced by instant profit and reward, greed is justified as success and blissful ignorance is the new normal.

                                    Mourning Athena, goddess of Wisdom

Noto, City of the Hermit Saint Corrado, Sicilia

Lovely Noto just a few minutes away from Siracusa, a new town really, reborn after the terrible earthquake on the evening of 11 January 1693 as Mount Etna was erupting devastating all of South East Sicily and destroying numerous towns and villages. Ancient Noto lays in ruin to this day, abandoned some 10 Km away from the new city. No one wanted to live there after the destruction and death of so many people.

                         The cathedral of Noto rebuilt in 2007.

Noto today is a city built a new with baroque churches and palaces, well laid out. It can be visited in a few hours, museums and churches are open in the morning, usually from 8:30 to 12:30 and then close for lunch time.

If you start at the Porta Real and go down the main avenue you will see all the important buildings including the newly re-built cathedral (2007). The original cathedral’s dome collapsed in 1995 after one of the columns supporting it gave way suddenly, the church was severely damaged, it was however rebuilt identical to the original. The drum of the dome has a new fresco showing the nearly naked apostles dancing around with the Mary Magdalene and they point to the Holy Ghost hovering above them, symbol of Pentecost. This representation of the apostles is somewhat startling, they are usually shown as old and serious, dressed as Roman Senators. Here it is the opposite, they could pass for devotees of Dionysius.

Noto also has several other beautiful palaces like the one of Prince Nicolace di Villadorata, one of the first palace to be built in new Noto around 1698. On the street it has these figures supporting balconies, ferocious lions, galloping horses, round face putis, bearded men, etc.

The inside gives you a glimpse of what life was like in the age of Princes.

Noto also has several good restaurants and one good gelateria Costanzo Dolceria behind the Ducezio Palace in the centre of town. There is a funny fresco in this Dolceria, Costanzo who is now dead, stands behind Christ at the last supper and Christ is having a nice glass of red wine while giving the thumbs up, the wine of Salvation or in Vino Veritas. Some might think this sacrilegious but in Sicily it is not, the meaning here is more on the joyful aspects of Faith and Salvation, Sicilians like in the celebration of Easter and of their Patron Saints love to sing and dance and be joyful for the triumph of Good over Evil. Sicily is a place of agriculture and of wine making, the soil is very rich and fertile, people work the earth and produce some of the best fruits, vegetables and wines in all of Italy, not to mention some excellent cheeses. So these activities influences the way they see the world or their world.

                         God the father blessing all from Heaven

You can get easily to Noto by train from Siracusa, a regional train comes by every 2 hours. Though be warned that the Noto Station is closed like most small train stations and no services are provided, you can only board or leave the train. An automatic voice announcement warns you of the imminent arrival of the train. If you do not have a return ticket you can purchase one at a Travel Agency on the main street in Noto.

We were going to skip the visit in Noto but now we are glad we went, it is only a few minutes away from Siracusa and it is so lovely. 

Well our trip to Sicily is coming to an end, tomorrow we go to Catania about 45 minutes driving time from Siracusa, where we will take the ferry to Naples and then on to home in Rome to our puppies Nicky and Nora. We really miss them and the babysitter says that Nicky has behaved himself this time. Some of the cases of wine have also arrived in Rome. This trip was a good deal in terms of gathering excellent Sicilian wines.

Agrigento, Agrigentum or Akragas

Akragas was the great Greek colony in Greater Greece (Sicily). The Doric temples of Akragas were so magnificent as to be described by all as wonders of the ancient world. Pliny, Virgil, Cicero and many others wrote about them when they visited, Goethe in the XIXth century rediscovered in his fashion the site and wrote of it in his travel journal, this may explain why so many German speaking tourists find their way here. The temples are made of the local friable sandstone instead of Pentelic Marble like the temples in Greece.  The temples of Akragas were covered with a white glaze as to imitate the effect of white pentelic marble, from the sea they shone like bright objects and in the sunset you could not look at them, because they were so bright, conveying a look of austere majesty.

 The Doric style temple of Concord in Agrigento.

What you see today is still immensely beautiful, in a peaceful and tranquil setting.  UNESCO designate the site as World Heritage and the National Trust of Italy (FAI) have taken over the whole valley of the temples come under their protection away from unscrupulous speculators. Another Englishmen Alexander Hardcastle and his wife came to live in the Valley and built a great house amongst the temples. His wife developed a garden of exotic plants, he got into his head that he would rebuilt the Temple of Ercole (Hercules), so he did manage to raise several columns and clear the site, unfortunately disaster struck and one worker was killed during restoration work by a piece sandstone from the temple which crushed him to death. Hardcastle was dispirited by this accident and after compensating the family of the dead worker abandoned the project, he died in 1933. He probably knew of Whitaker who lived in Mozia, I mentioned him in a previous entry. They were all part of these Englishmen who did the grand tour and wrote about their travels and often settled abroad by getting involved in some project. 

 The temple of Ercole restored in part by Hardcastle.

The park of the valley of the temples is currently hosting the works of Mitoraj the great Polish sculptor who has integrated his creation into the historical complex.

 One of the works by Mitoraj on display in Agrigento until November 2011.

The temples are well preserved considering the terrible damage inflicted upon them by zealot Christian groups who under a decree of Emperor Theodosius of Bysantium were incited to destroy anything pagan and kill priests working in such temples. In Agrigento per example the Christians destroyed completely the great temple of Olympian Zeus which was considered one of the great marvels of the ancient world. A little like the Taliban in Afghanistan went about destroying to our horror the Buddhas of Bamyan.

It is best to travel to Agrigento between March and end of May and then from October to end November, as of June and the summer months the heat will be unbearable often reaching upwards of 42 C, in the shade.

 One of the many olive trees in the park, they are considered sacred to the Cult of the Goddess Athena, this one is said to be 1800 years old. Many plants were brought to Sicily by various conquerors, the olive tree was brought by the Greeks, the Arabs brought date palm and almond trees, the Spaniards imported from Mexico the Nopales Cactus and other flowers which now bloom everywhere.

We arrived at the park by 10:00 am and left by 12:30 pm thus avoiding the heat of the mid-day. As we were leaving huge throngs of tourists were arriving at the park, this reminded me instantly of the song of Noel Coward about Mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the mid-day sun.

We truly enjoyed our stay in Agrigento and the visit to the valley. It gives a real appreciation for Greek influence in the Mediterranean at the dawn of Western Civilization.