Ever since I came across this post by Miss Moss, I’ve been wanting to do a similar post devoted to art appreciators, but with my own photos. These past few years I’ve done quite a few city trips, and there’s always at least one museum visit involved. There photos have been taken in museums all over Europe: Belgium, Denmark, Lisbon, Germany and Austria. You’ve seen most of these before, but I loved going through all my old travel photos and selecting these, brings back great memories and makes me anxious to visit some new museums!
Our road trip ended in Porto. I visited this city before, but this time the weather was a bit of a letdown, despite having had the most amazing weather during the rest of the trip. But no harm done, we managed to get inside casa da musica (which wasn’t possible the first time I was there) and visited the museum and park of Serralves. And of course the next morning, when we had to go home to return the car, the weather was wonderful again!
One of the things I was really looking forward to when my best friend came to see me in Lisbon, was paying a visit to the CCB, or the Centro Cultural de Belém. We both love visiting museums of modern art (the fact that we spent all our money on museums when we were in Vienna says enough) so this was a must-do during her stay. The CCB was one of the most fun museums we’ve visited together: one of the artworks included a sandpit, parrots, a tent and required bare feet, while another one existed out of a room with mattresses on the floor, rock’n’roll music and projections all over. I’ll warn you right now for the photo overload, but I just couldn’t resist showing you all the wonderful art this museum has on display! Oh – and they get two thumbs up for their creative use of signage!
The former convent, Convento da Ordem do Carmo, and it’s church were severely damaged during the earthquake in Lisbon in 1755. Until this day, the ruins of the Igreja do Carmo, are the biggest proof of the earthquake. Nowadays, it’s an archeological museum which you can visit for only €2,50 if you’re a student. In my opinion, you don’t have to go there to see the ‘archeological treasures’, but just to enjoy these breathtaking ruins.
We visited quite a lot of museums as we wanted to see as much Klimt paintings as possible, which are -of course- spread over several museums in Vienna. The first museum we visited was the museum of the history of art (see photo above), which wasn’t really my cup of tea as I’m more into modern art.
Art was also visible in the streets though, this was an installation next to a cross road, which included sound effects. Apparently the installation was a memorial for the end of the occupation of Austria by the U.S.
We visited the Technical Museum too, as a part of the course we were taking, and this museum was all about mining, old trains and engines, the history of household appliances and so on. Quite nerdy if you ask me! It was nice relaxing in the entrance hall afterwards though.
The Hundertwasser House, I think this can count as a piece of art aswel!
We also visited the Secession hall to see the famous Beethoven fresco by Klimt (no pictures allowed), where we could also enjoy some modern art. This was an other installation including sound effects, where mirrors would reflect the sounds to the walls. This sparked the interest of the engineering students that accompanied us, I was just very pleased with the photo opportunities this installation offered.
I think I’ve shown these pictures of the Belvedere before, but these were the museums where most Klimt paintings could be found. No photos allowed inside though, but you just have to see them in real life. I’ve been staring at the Kiss and other famous Klimt works for quite a long time, they are all so beautiful! I did manage to sneakily take a photo of my friend in the new, modern corridor of the museum though. Rebel!
The mumok was my favorite though, it included a lot of stunning modern art and the building was quite impressive too.
Herbert Brandl
Gerhard Richter
And finally, the entrance stairs of the Albertina museum. We weren’t planning on visiting this one, but then we came across these stairs on our city walk and learned that there was an exhibition on Monet (of course) and Picasso, and another one on Magritte, our Belgian pride. We just couldn’t resist!
My trip to Vienna was lovely, although very cold. I took a course about industrial archaeology at the TU Wien for one week, which luckily included very few lessons and lots of free time to go sightseeing in Vienna. In this first photo-loaded post, I want to give you an impression of this city. I didn’t come home as enchanted as I did after my visit to Lisbon, but it’s a very beautiful city. All the streets are very wide and clean, all the buildings are decadent and bombastic. Not really my kind of thing (I liked the little streets and charming houses in Lisbon a lot more), but gorgeous nonetheless.
So, a little tour through Vienna! In the upper photo, you can see Hofburg palace, which nowadays is the official residence of the President of Austria, but it also hosts the national library, the Sisi museum, the Spanish riding school and more.
The old Karlsplatz station by Otto Wagner, which currently is used as a café.
Karlskirche, the enormous church next to our university.
And our university building!
The Viennese city hall.
One of the many many christmas markets in Vienna (apparently you can’t start the holiday spirit early enough), this one was probably the biggest, and in front of the city hall.
The Belvedere, previously a summer palace of a french prince, nowadays a museum where you can find a lot of Klimt paintings (one of my favorites!), including The Kiss.
Inside St. Stephans cathedral: there were colorful lights projected everywhere. Kind of weird for a church but I did end up with a few cool photos so I’m not complaining. You should take a look here to see the outside of the church, the roof of this church is so weird.
Inside the museum of art history. Seriously almost every building in Vienna looked like this on the inside!
I recently visited the MAS again, and this time I got to see the collection (last time the museum wasn’t officially open yet), but I must say I was a little bit disappointed! The museum rooms were too crowded and too dark to my liking, and all the items were placed very closed to each other, which made it even harder to enjoy the collection easily. Maybe I have to give it another chance on a calmer day? Anyway, I did get a nice photo out of it.
Another museum! It seems like I spend all of my freetime in museums, buth I have to admit, all of these museums I have visited for the architecture rather than their collection, and most of these visits were for one of my courses! That aside, I really enjoy these visits. Anyway, this is Museum M, Leuven’s pride.
Last weekend, the ‘Museum Aan de Stroom’ (or simply the MAS), was opened in Antwerp with the expected festivities. I didn’t make it to the opening, but a few weeks ago, we already payed a visit to the MAS for one of our courses. Here are a few pictures!
Kapelle St. Bruder-Klaus by Peter Zumthor, located in the middle of nowhere, inbetween fields.
The breathtaking interior of Zumthor’s chapel. I didn’t know what to expect from the interior, but it certainly wasn’t this. A must-see.
Kunstmuseul Bonn by Shultes Frank architects.
Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt.
Siedlung Westhausen and Siedlung Römerstadt from Das Neue Frankfurt. I enjoyed walking in between the small houses and big trees with their pretty shadows.
all photos by me
Last weekend, the ‘Museum Aan de Stroom’ (or simply the MAS), was opened in Antwerp with the expected festivities. I didn’t make it to the opening, but a few weeks ago, we already payed a visit to the MAS for one of our courses. Here are a few pictures!
