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The-Bakaliko-Crete-experience-featured traveljus

Bakaliko – to make you just eat great Cretan food

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Fine foods & wines from Crete and the rest of Greece 

 

Bakaliko – to make you just eat great Cretan food

Heading to Bakaliko

The coasts of Crete are famous for their beauty (if not yet ruined by mass tourism). Nevertheless, there is great pleasure in spending some time in the enticing inland, adorned with stunning natural landscapes. We are heading to Bakaliko in the beautiful village of Archanes. We are driving 15 km south from Heraklion along the waving roads surrounded by endless vineyards to the sun-baked village of Archanes. There is a lot to tell about this village, located on the slopes of Mount Giouhtas. Archanes has a 5000-year-old history and important archaeological sites, besides wonderfully built houses, famous for their typical Cretan architecture. Archanes has won an award as the ‘second best-restored village in Europe.’ Archanes seems quiet and empty in the hot afternoon sun until we reach the main square. The central square is full of lively tavernas, their tables carefully arranged in the shade of leafy, old trees. It struck us that many activities occur simultaneously on the square, people come are sit here to meet each other, to eat, to drink, to talk, to gossip, as long as the time lasts.

Island love story

Amidst all the Greek tavernas, we find Bakaliko. Bakaliko was founded in early 2013 by two pioneering Hungarian women, Agnes and Susanna, who had come separately to Crete and both fell in love with Cretan island living. Enamoured by the beauty and bounty of Crete, the Cretan produce and wines, they decided to stay. The idea was to create a store and delicatessen restaurant. To cook some simple recipes to help visitors discover the amazing Cretan products. The name Bakaliko was a natural choice. Bakaliko, a word of Turkish origin, refers to a store. In 2017, Agnes returned to her native Budapest to pursue other interests.

Bakaliko is now run solely by Susanna and her husband George, a native Cretan. Susanna and George met at a sailing-club restaurant in the port of Heraklion, where she worked as a cook and he in the dining room, before they started their Bakaliko adventure together with Agnes. We ran into George after lunch to discover his passion and knowledge of the wines of Crete and Greece. 

Bakaliko – to make you just eat great Cretan food
Bakaliko – to make you just eat great Cretan food

Local with a twist

As lovers of good food, we could not resist the temptation to savour the tastes Babaliko had discovered. Bakaliko’s commitment to fresh ingredients, prepared with lot’s of love for the produce, delighted us. Genuine Cretan flavours, but with a twist, executed with modern techniques, sophistication and elegance. We are in for a remarkable lunch. We order Dakos, the typical Cretan rusks topped with tomatoes, olives, olive oil, fresh herbs and crumbled Myzithra;  delicious dolmades, the beautiful bulgur-wrapped vine leaves finished with lemon and mind tzatziki, and the rice pilaf with feta, toasted pistachios and pomegranate seeds. All accompanied by a savoury watermelon salad. George was kind enough to pair all of our dishes with a well-selected wine per glass that complemented the dish. Life is filled with unusual surprises. One of them was the tarte tatin. This heavenly French dessert with the taste of dark and sticky caramel, sweet apples and crisp pastry. George told us that people come specially to Bakaliko to eat this wonderful dessert. Good food and wines are part of Crete and Greece. 

The details:

When you visit Bakaliko restaurant you’ll be in for a treat, as much as we were at this charming, little place.

Bakaliko Archanes  – Main Square, Ano Archanes, Crete

Website: https://www.bakalikocrete.com

Email: info@bakalikocrete.com

Meredith-Monk-Oude-Kerk-featured-traveljus

Music icon Meredith Monk in the 700-year-old ‘Oude Kerk’ Amsterdam

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Meredith Monk: Calling

Already for 5 decades Meredith Monk is pushing the boundaries of of vocal music with her highly unique approach to the exploration of the human voice. The 700-year-old Oude Kerk in Amsterdam inspired Meredith Monk to create a multi-dimensional journey that blurs the lines between visual art, music and performance. 

Music icon Meredith Monk in the 700-year-old ‘Oude Kerk’ Amsterdam

An iconic retrospective

Meredith Monk is a true music legend, having dedicated her entire career to exploring the possibilities of the voice and the expressiveness of that human instrument. Knowing Meredith Monk mainly through her sound singing, often described as ancient and contemporary at the same time, the theatre performances and films were a big unknown. You think you know Monk’s art, realising not to know. When you enter the exhibition it is not difficult to see that her work with voice, music, staged performances, and film found a natural home in the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam’s oldest building and nowadays a venue for contemporary art too. What makes the exhibition interesting as well is the fact that Meredith looks back on almost 6 decades of work. She takes us on a tour along the century old walls via immersive video and sound installations and smaller archive presentations of scores, drawings and objects. Monk transforms the church space into a singing body that immerses the visitor in a fascinating audio-visual adventure.

Archaeology of perceptions

In interviews, Meredith Monk said: “I work between the cracks, where the voice starts dancing, where the body starts singing, where theatre becomes cinema.” In doing so, she stretches what you can do and where you can go. Monk creates works that deal with an intersection of music and movement, image and object, light and sound. Interdisciplinary works that encourage the healing power of art. That allows you to discover and build new ways of perception. In this 700-year church, Monk plays with the idea of the church as a body of archived stories. Yet seen from a humanistic perspective on the world. We are all very different, but still all human. There is a curiosity about what we leave behind in our world and what stories the objects tell. Meredith also stands up for nature. One of her pieces is called On behalf of Nature. In it, she tells us that the smallest particle always connects with the largest: the macrocosm. In the Oude Kerk, the contrast of the ancient and contemporary, aided by the beautiful filtered light, imparts a great sense of beauty. It all contributes to an allure we were unprepared for.

Music icon Meredith Monk in the 700-year-old ‘Oude Kerk’ Amsterdam
Music icon Meredith Monk in the 700-year-old ‘Oude Kerk’ Amsterdam

Monumental & intimate

Three of Meredith Monk’s pioneering key performance/multimedia installations are included in Calling. Monk’s groundbreaking 16 Millimeter Earrings, is a seamless integration of live performance, film, vocal and instrumental music, movement, objects, text, recorded sound and light. 16 mm explores different ways to manipulate individual images. Still very actual is Quarry revolving around the musings of an American child who lies sick in bed during WWII having a dream that gradually turns into a nightmare. An old radio in the middle of the room emits Monk’s voice, piano solos and fragments from fictional news broadcasts. The child’s illness is a metaphor for the darkness of the world at war. Juice is a theatre cantata in three instalments. It is considered one of Monk’s most important location-based musical theatre performances. After establishing her interdisciplinary company, The House, in 1968, Monk expanded this concept to large groups of local artists performing in monumental architectural spaces, such as the Guggenheim Museum. Monk goal for every location was to find another relationship between the audience and the artists. 

Rooms for looking & listening

Two listening and viewing rooms next to the entrance show the archive of Monk’s broad and diverse oeuvre. They also display the underlying central theme of Monk’s work: the cycles present in all processes, such as the relationship between humans and nature, the planetary world and the spiritual. Monk often gets inspiration from examining the way cells in the body and nature function. According to Monk, a process in which cooperation is more important than competition, altruism is more essential than selfishness, and mutual solidarity overcomes division. The Mirror Room contains recordings of live musical theatre and concert works. In the Kerkmeesterskamer you can listen to unpublished works material, fragments of interviews, documentaries and short films. 

Website Meridith Monk: Calling, Oude Kerk 

Oude Kerk, Oudekerksplein 23 1012 GX Amsterdam
E info@oudekerk.nl

Music icon Meredith Monk in the 700-year-old ‘Oude Kerk’ Amsterdam
Dominique-Climasander-the-International-Brand-Ambassador-of-Piper-Heidsiec-at-De-Rozari-traveljus

Prestige cuvée Rare and gourmet at Michelin* Restaurant De Rozario

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Chef Jermain de Rozario: “great cooking comes from the heart and soul”

Prestige cuvée Rare and gourmet at Michelin* Restaurant De Rozario

A love affair with taste

Coming from Amsterdam, Helmond in the south of The Netherlands may look far, but it is here Traveljus journeyed. On a grey, drizzly afternoon, Dominique Climasander (International Brand Ambassador of Piper-Heidsieck) proudly launched the long-awaited Rare Millésime 2013 during a champagne tasting lunch. It turned out to be a memorable lunch. If you get the real thing, it takes no effort at all to appreciate the champagnes from Piper-Heidsieck paired with the modern, noteworthy dishes of Michelin star chef Jermain de Rozario. De Rozario makes contemporary dishes with an Asian twist. Taste and flavour intensity are essential to Jermain. “Great cooking comes from the heart and soul”. They occasionally do things a little more unconventionally than usual in other top restaurants. And, with flamboyant sommelier Edgaras Razminas (named sommelier of the year 2021 by Michelin) anything is possible during service.

The story behind cuvée Rare

French champagne house Piper-Heidsieck has produced extraordinary champagnes since 1785. Piper-Heidsieck is renowned for its unique blends made of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. In the summer of 1976, France was hit by an unprecedented heat wave, one the Champagne region had never experienced before. The year started with a cold winter and spring, followed by an extremely hot, dry summer with thunderstorms and a windy, cold autumn. The harvest took place late, in October. Piper-Heidsieck’s winemaking team wondered whether it would be possible to create a Millésime cuvée under these remarkable circumstances. Millésime indicates the vintage or harvest year of the grapes. Following the assembly of the different base wines and after bottling, the team was so proud of the end product that they called it Piper-Heidsieck Rare. In 2019, the name became simply Rare. According to Émilien Boutillat, Chefs de Caves of Piper-Heidsieck Rare Champagne, the aim is to make the best possible wine in limited quantities and only in exceptional vintages. 

Prestige cuvée Rare and gourmet at Michelin* Restaurant De Rozario
Prestige cuvée Rare and gourmet at Michelin* Restaurant De Rozario

Restaurant De Rozario

Chef Jermain de Rozario of restaurant De Rozario believes in the power of flavour. His dishes show a lot of respect and love for the country of birth of his Javanese grandmother: Indonesia. What surprises me is that it brings back a memory of the Indonesian smells and flavours of my youth. While talking about Asia and Asian food, Jermain indicates that he would also like to travel to gain inspiration. “I don’t know yet everything. There is still so much to learn”. Jermain already came a long way. He was a garbage collector before his love for food and hospitality took over and he eventually earned his first Michelin star. Jermain wants to make his own flavour combinations, his own choices, even if they do not fit what people expect in a Michelin star restaurant. Also unexpected, yet it still fits in when you get to know the chef and his team a bit, is the sometimes bright graffiti art on the walls. It makes it clear what the essence of restaurant De Rozario is. Beautiful dishes in which the chef’s personality is not only unmistakably present but also his memories and emotions. And he does that surprisingly well. 

Menu De Rozario 

Appetizers: The various appetizers Pecel bonbon / Topinambumbu / Shellfish / Mama’s chicken/satay/bao, combined well with the dry style of the Piper-Heidsieck Essentiel Extra Brut.

Steak tartare: A beautiful dish of piccalilli ice cream/oyster leaf/sesame ‘kletskop’ / vinaigrette of roasted peppers in paired with the excellent Champagne Rare Millésime 2008.

Turbot: A classic dish with softer flavours and a citrus twist, made from pumpkin/orange / beurre blanc vadouvan. The turbot and the Piper-Heidsieck Essentiel Blancs de Blancs paired well together.

Rendang: The rendang, made from coconut and sereh / mango ice cream/enoki/pandan oil, is a course I would definitely come back for. It paired surprisingly well with Piper-Heidsieck French Riviera.

Wagyu / Oyster: A delicious dish of Wagyu beef, with a rich, buttery and umami-like undertone, further enhanced by the miso eggplant/mushroom / perkedel / gravy from Pedro Ximénez and BBQ. Excellent combi with the long-matured Piper-Heidsieck Vintage 2014.

Prestige cuvée Rare and gourmet at Michelin* Restaurant De Rozario

I want to extend my thanks to the Dutch importer Maxxium, Dominique Climasander, the International Brand Ambassador of Piper-Heidsieck, restaurant De Rozario, and Pitch PR for the organization.

The-Battle-of-the-Zuiderzee-Hoorn-featured-traveljus

Stepping into the extraordinary Eighty Years’ War heritage of Hoorn

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About Hoorn and the 1573 Zuiderzee Battle for freedom and democracy

 

Stepping into the extraordinary Eighty Years’ War heritage of Hoorn

History and trade 

They say it takes a proud predilection for history to re-enact a historic event. An event that occurred 450 years ago when the Spanish fleet was defeated by the Dutch rebels “watergeuzen”. Geuzen translates in English as beggars. Yes, we are stepping into the heritage of Holland by travelling to a former home base of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and a very prosperous centre of trade at the time. We drove to Hoorn, about 40 km north of Amsterdam, a beautiful city with a rich past, full of monumental buildings and a museum brimming with treasures. Only to emphasise its importance in the 16th and 17th centuries, Cape Horn located off the southern tip of South America was named after this little town. Another contribution to world history includes Hoorn’s close ties with the East India Company (VOC). Hoorn was one of the 6 chambers (regional bases) of the VOC and ships sailed from here all around the world. From its foundation, the Dutch East India Company had dual objectives; it was a trading company and an instrument in the Eighty Years’ War against Spain.

Quest for freedom 

During 80 years in between the 16th and 17th centuries, the Netherlands formed part of the Spanish Empire. Emperor Charles V, born in Ghent and raised in the Netherlands, inherited what is now called the Benelux, and the Spanish kingdom. During the 16th century Protestantism rapidly gained ground in northern Europe. Its rise fuelled by the expanding trade. In a society dependent on trade, freedom and tolerance are considered essential. However, Charles V’s son, Philip II, sought to eradicate Protestantism in favour of an increased central authority  in matters of religion, law and taxes. The Dutch Revolt, or Eighty Years’ War, was a series of battles fought in between 1568 and 1648 against the dominant power structure of the Spanish government and Catholic Church that had been enforced by Philip II. Many Dutch provinces rebelled. They opposed the idea of religious persecution, wanted to trade without paying exorbitant taxes and more personal freedom. Moreover, the Spanish repression and religious wars slowed down the quest for self-determination and unification of the Netherlands. 

Stepping into the extraordinary Eighty Years’ War heritage of Hoorn
Stepping into the extraordinary Eighty Years’ War heritage of Hoorn

The Battle of the Zuiderzee 

In 1573, an exciting naval battle took place in the port of Hoorn during this Eighty Years’ War. The Republic of the Seven United Provinces was in the middle of its struggle for independence. As the supply routes for the cities like Amsterdam almost exclusively passed the Zuiderzee, the Dutch Watergeuzen attempted to disturb this sea route as much as possible in small skirmishes and raids against ports of call dominated by the Spanish. In 1573 the Spanish Governor Maximilian de Henin, Count of Bossu was so fed up with these raids that he sent a fleet comprising of 30 ships with a crew of over 1,300 people to Hoorn with the prerogative to halt the attacks and destroy the enemy force. Bossu and his fleet left Amsterdam on October 5 and immediately hit a standstill amid attacks from the Watergeuzen. For the rebels, it seems like a battle lost in advance: Bossu’s Spanish admiralty ship was apparently invincible with its enormous size and armament. Not until October 11th, 1573, the Dutch could execute a surprise attack in the waters of the Hoornse Hop. The Watergeuzen do what they can, even attacking the Spanish enemy in rowing boats.

Courageous sailor Jan Haring

A sailor from Hoorn, Jan Haring manages to board the Spanish admiralty ship. In a flash he decides what to do. He climbs into the rigging of the Admiralty ship and pulls down the Admiralty flag with his own hands. It turns out to be a turning point in the battle. Shot from the mast of the ship  by Spanish soldiers, Jan Haring falls fatally wounded on the deck and dies. Other Spanish ships assume that Admiral Bossu has surrendered and flee. Bossu, realising that further resistance is idle, surrenders and is imprisoned in Hoorn together with 200-300 soldiers. Jan Haring’s body is carried through Hoorn with reverence and laid out in the Oosterkerk.  After winning the Battle of the Zuiderzee, a period of great prosperity starts for the northern part of the Zuiderzee, now called Ijsselmeer. The enemy has been driven out  and will not return. Free trade can be conducted from the northern Zuiderzee port cities and Hoorn becomes the administrative centre. Amsterdam, which has stayed in Spanish hands, could no longer trade by sea for years to come and the West Frisian cities take over maritime shipping, especially to the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean.

Stepping into the extraordinary Eighty Years’ War heritage of Hoorn
Stepping into the extraordinary Eighty Years’ War heritage of Hoorn

450 years after 

In October 2023, it will be exactly 450 years since the Battle of the Zuiderzee took place and Hoorn freed itself from the Spaniards through this epic naval battle. The event was a turning point in Dutch history and in hindsight contributed greatly to the establishment of the Dutch nation and its national identity. After the lost Zuiderzee battle and the failed siege of the nearby city Alkmaar, the Spanish realised that the struggle to conquer North Holland was lost. Later they abandoned Amsterdam as well and returned to Spain. On October 14 and 15, 2023 Hoorn commemorated the anniversary of this historic event, re-enacting the battle.

The re-enacting made us realise that it is necessary to celebrate the importance of freedom then and now, even centuries after the historic event took place. The best thing we can do is to reconstruct the experience and add some history to our daily lives to remember the importance of preserving the fundamental freedoms that define life in a free, democratic society.

Westfries Museum Hoorn

Featured-traveljus-light-of-venice

The irresistible appeal of Venice’s unique light and architecture

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The interplay between Venice’s light and architecture creates a magical experience

 

The irresistible appeal of Venice’s unique light and architecture

One of the main attractions of Venice is light

The cause of my love affair with Venice is that strange, fabulous light. Each moment of the day new effects arise that generate some astonishing illuminations. The endlessly changing beauty of light on the water an its reflections on houses, churches and palaces is part of an interplay that exploits alluring optical effects but is also profoundly mystical. It is when art perfectly complements urban nature. Added by the fact that Venice has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. This urban environment is full of architectural styles and details seen nowhere else in Italy or the world. Even with this kind of visual appeal, let’s not forget that the Doge’s city is a real city, despite the many visitors enjoying the canals, gondolas and cooing pigeons on San Marco Square. It is a tangle of stones and water where normal residents pursue their business like anywhere else in the world.

The rhythm of the lagoon

Most cities are in a constant state of decay and transformation, demolition and rebuilding, but not Venice. In Venice, it seems that familiarity and memory dominate. Venetians hold their past cultural stories tight to themselves. No matter how big the crowds are at the Rialto Bridge, the residents think the city in the lagoon should be theirs. It is a veritable sentiment representative of the loss of a traditional, communal way of life in the face of tourism. The signs of daily life in the lagoon city are slowly draining away. It is no secret that the population of Venice is in steady decline. The number dropped last year below 50,000 for the first time in over 300 years. Residents complain about the lack of affordable housing, the high cost of living in a tourist-driven city, and the loss of businesses that sell essential items. Residents do not want Venice to become unhomely, to lose what was once familiar, safe, and stable. Venice wants to keep on writing her own story according to the rhythm of the lagoon.

The irresistible appeal of Venice’s unique light and architecture
The irresistible appeal of Venice’s unique light and architecture

Venice is the city of mirages

The cause of our love affair with Venice is that strange, fabulous light. Each moment of the day new effects arise that generate some astonishing illuminations. The endlessly changing beauty of light on the water an its reflections on houses, churches and palaces is part of an interplay that exploits alluring optical effects but is also profoundly mystical. It is when art perfectly complements urban nature. Added by the fact that Venice has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. This urban environment is full of architectural styles and details seen nowhere else in Italy or the world. Even with this kind of visual appeal, let’s not forget that the Doge’s city is a real city, despite the many visitors enjoying the canals, gondolas and cooing pigeons on San Marco Square. It is a tangle of stones and water where normal residents pursue their business like anywhere else in the world.

Tangible reality

There are more reasons to love Venice than the tangible reality of its light. Meeting friends, and locals who live there, to spend time together, laughing, eating and drinking, diminishes the influence of the tourist cliché of bell towers, arched bridges and gondolas. Though many have been seduced by its art, architecture, poetry and beauty, Venice is more than half a tourist trap and half a fairy tale or a library of our collective memory. It invites us to walk. There you are, exploring. Only then you will realise that in this urban labyrinth, water and architecture can be a hundred things at the same time. The truth is that everywhere you go, you will find the endlessly changing beauty of Venetian light. A light that is concrete and tangible through the senses. As a suggestion, read also our article about the unbuilt Venetian hospital project of the famous French architect Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier too recognised that there is no place on earth with such light. But be aware, in Venice nothing is ever quite certain. Enjoy the journey!

The irresistible appeal of Venice’s unique light and architecture
featured-van-nelle-factory-rotterdam-traveljus

Van Nelle Rotterdam & the architectural challenge of the ‘ideal factory’

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Van Nelle factory: an icon of 20th-century industrial architecture in Europe & Unesco world heritage site

 

Van Nelle Rotterdam & the architectural challenge of the ‘ideal factory’

Van Nelle articulates the  ‘ideal industrial factory’

On my visits to Rotterdam, the Dutch port city, I was often told that there was one place I should go: the Van Nelle Factory. It is one of the most remarkable icons of industrial architecture in The Netherlands, de facto in the world. It is also a textbook example of the Dutch “Nieuwe Bouwen” or “New Building” representing various modern building styles (1915 to 1960) that focus on functionality combined with aesthetics.

The story of Van Nelle started in 1782 when Johannes van Nelle opened a coffee, tea and tobacco shop at the Leuvehaven in Rotterdam. After the death of the founders, their son continued to run the company until the Van der Leeuw family took over the entire Van Nelle company in 1845. Van Nelle bears witness to the long history of importing, processing and trading tropical products such as coffee and tea through the port of Rotterdam.

Family Van Der Leeuw 

Coffee, tea and tobacco became increasingly relevant around the turn of the century, contributing to the success of the family Van Der Leeuw. Using pragmatism as a business tool, the family established worldwide trade contracts and founded their very own coffee and tea plantations in the Dutch West Indies. With business going well, the demand for bigger premises grew. In 1916, CEO Cees van der Leeuw bought a site close to Schie, a waterway between Rotterdam and Schiedam. Van der Leeuw was not your average director. Interested in spirituality, art and architecture, Cees had a good eye for talent. He hired architect Michiel Brinkman as architect for the new Van Nelle. Brinkman, well known for his Spangen  “streets in the sky” project, worked in the Dutch modernist tradition. After completing the first sketches, Michiel Brinkman suddenly died in 1925. A successor was found in his son, Johannes Brinkman, who studied at the Delft Technical College. Alongside Johannes a more experienced architect was called for. Leendert van der Vlugt was appointed. This successful collaboration led to the architectural office Brinkman & Van der Vlugt (1925 – 1936).

Van Nelle Rotterdam & the architectural challenge of the ‘ideal factory’
Van Nelle Rotterdam & the architectural challenge of the ‘ideal factory’

Nieuwe Bouwen and the 1rst daylight factory in Europe

The van Nelle factory is a textbook example of the so-called “Nieuwe Bouwen” architecture. Van der Leeuw and architects Brinkman and Van der Vlugt wanted to realise the ‘ideal factory’:  functional, beautiful and open with characteristic facades of steel and glass and ‘mushroom columns’ made of reinforced concrete. The ‘ideal factory’ showed that Van Nelle cared about the physical and mental well-being of his employees. More daylight provides pleasant working conditions and radiates openness to the outside world. Van Nelle also provided large sanitary facilities in the factory. The workers often experienced poor living conditions and could wash on-site before work. Good hygiene was necessary for production as well. There were slightly more women than men employed and to prevent distraction, there were separate work places and stairs for men and women. The famous Rotterdammer W.H. Gispen designed the chrome work of the notably beautiful stairwells. 

The glass palace

Built between 1927 and 1931 the complex consists of three connected factories for coffee, tea and tobacco. Each floor was intended for one step of the processing process: seven for tobacco, five for coffee and three for tea. Each of the processed gods – tobacco, coffee and tea used a separate section of the building and its form and size responded to the processing needs. The idea was to start each process on top of the building. The raw material was brought to a higher floor to go down a floor after each stage of the treatment. This explains the difference in building levels. The tobacco section needed eight treatments, coffee five and tea three levels. The characteristic bridges serve as connecting corridors to transfer products hanging from rails between the factory and the warehouses. After its completion in 1931, the Van Nelle Factory was the most modern factory in the Netherlands. Not surprisingly, because of its gigantic glass facade, the building was soon called “The Glass Palace”.

Van Nelle Rotterdam & the architectural challenge of the ‘ideal factory’
Van Nelle Rotterdam & the architectural challenge of the ‘ideal factory’

Unesco World Heritage site

On June 21, 2014, the Van Nelle Factory was awarded a World Heritage site by UNESCO. The Van Nelle Factory is one of those iconic buildings, unique for its time in material and form promoting light, air and space, and far ahead of its time from a social point of view. The inclusion of the Van Nelle Factory on the UNESCO World Heritage List is a recognition of the architectural quality of this modernist peace palace and the ultimate culmination of the repurposing process. The recognition did not come out of the blue but is the result of years of preparatory work by many people from the van Nelle Factory, the municipality of Rotterdam and the Cultural Heritage Agency. The fact that the Van Nelle factory is still in full use as a functional and unusual event location, office complex and museum presents an exciting challenge between ‘conservation’ and ‘use’.

Adress: Van Nelleweg 1, 3044 BC Rotterdam

Website Van Nelle

Le-Corbusier---Venice-hospital-project

What remains of Le Corbusier’s fascinating hospital project in Venice?

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Le Corbusier Venice Hospital project

Venice missed a huge opportunity in the 1960s to include contemporary architecture in its city shape. At the time, the French modernist architect Le Corbusier was invited to build an open-form hospital on three levels in San Giobbe. The idea was to extend the hospital site into the lagoon by building on stilts. Sadly, any hope to see the project completed faded in August 1965, when Le Corbusier died of a heart attack.

What remains of Le Corbusier’s fascinating hospital project in Venice?

A love affair with Venice

I have affection or respect for other cities, but with Venice, it is more: I treasure the architecture of this floating city. Fenced in by the rippling water of the lagoon, Venice has many admirers, including some you would not expect. None other than Swiss-French architect Charles Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, known as Le Corbusier, fell in love with Venice since his first visit in October 1907. Over time, the figurehead of modernism and a critic of many urban developments travelled again and again to the lagoon. Le Corbusier loved the human proportions of the Venetian alleys, the small arteries of the city. For the site in San Giubbe, Le Corbusier’s design strategy is an attempt not to eradicate history, but to translate it into the future, to shape it into something new. Le Corbusier seems to be someone who can transform the events of his own history or knowledge in architectural designs. It take a genius to fit a modernist building into a centuries old urban environment. 

Research of urban proportions

Talk about a new hospital in San Giobbe started in 1959. In 1962, Mayor Giovanni Favaretto Fisca contacted Le Corbusier and asked him to be the architect in charge of the project. After some heated public debates, Venice decided on April 20, 1963, to announce a competition for Italian architects and engineers to submit proposals for the hospital project. With no clear winner of the competition, the hot potato arrived again on Le Corbusier’s plate. Le Corbusier moved to Venice for a first survey of the Venetian urban fabric in August 1963 . He calculates the proportions of Venetian streets and squares. The architecture of Venice is clearly horizontal, and the average building height 13.66 metres. There are only a few vertical exceptions, such as the tower of San Marco. Venice is a small city of only 8 km2, comparable to the historic city centre of Amsterdam. Like Amsterdam, buildings lay down on water, held up by stilts. The idea of a building on stilts extending over water, may originate from Le Corbusier’s interest in prehistoric lake dwellings in central Europe. 

What remains of Le Corbusier’s fascinating hospital project in Venice?
What remains of Le Corbusier’s fascinating hospital project in Venice?

A horizontal hospital

Based on his research Le Corbusier concluded it was best not to alter the urban city shape, but rather extend it on stilts within the lagoon landscape. The Venice Hospital should not be built vertically, but built as a ‘horizontal hospital.’ In November 1964, a first draft arrived in Venice accompanied by a letter: “A hospital is the house of man. The key is the man, his height, his step, his eye, his hand. That is why the starting point will be his accommodation, the hospital room”. Three main levels were planned. The ground level with general services makes a connection with the city. On this level it is all public access. The second level is for medical care and technology. And the third level serves as the zone for hospitalization, plus a visitor area. The number 4 is leading. 4 rooms are placed side by side to form a so-called “care unit”. 4 care units are grouped together and are served by 4 “calli” or alleys. The route along the alleys, where patients can meet and relax, is organized in a similar way as the alleys of Venice. 

Venice, a unique phenomenon

One of the most interesting contributions Le Corbusier made is his reflection on the position of the patient. Forced into his bed, the patient cannot enjoy a view of Venice. In Venice there is this thing called the “transenna”. It is the way buildings, water and light merge into a completely different image. Le Corbusier designed a system of ceilings and windows that capture these variations of natural light in the lagoon. Like this the patient can feel the “transenna” of Venice. Le Corbusier’s hope to see the Venice project completed vanished in August 1965 when he died of a heart attack, 87 years old, swimming below the cliffs at Eileen Grey’s house in Cap Martin, France.

Venice is a totality. It is a unique phenomenon” wrote Le Corbusier once. He saw Venice as a fluid city of human proportion, a city “of total harmony, integral purity and unity of civilization. In its most hidden corners and you will realize that in this urban enterprise one finds, everywhere, tenderness.” It is fitting, perhaps, that his final project was for Venice, the city he came to love so deeply.

What remains of Le Corbusier’s fascinating hospital project in Venice?

Le Corbusier unbuilt hospital project in Venice

 

See also our article about the light and architecture of Venice

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Foodie’s paradise Chelsea market in New York City has something for everyone

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Chelsea market

has it all

We eat 3 times a day, so why not grab a bite at Chelsea Market when you are in the neighbourhood? Considered a foodie’s paradise, Chelsea Market is home to some of the best food in the city. Plus, it is located in a beautiful industrial building with a long history definitely worth a visit. Chelsea Market was constructed in the 1890s as the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) factory, where the original Oreo Cookie was made in 1912.

Meatpacking District and Chelsea Market 

The Manhattan location of Chelsea Market always involved food. Centuries ago, on the banks of the Hudson River, the Algonquin Indians traded there their game and crops. Fast forward to the 1880s. Around that time, the transformation of the area into a commercial marketplace began. First to open was the Gansevoort open-air Farmer’s Market, selling fresh produce grown in the region. West Washington Market was next, featuring wholesale meat, poultry and dairy. Gansevoort preluded the slaughterhouses and packing plants of a small area in Manhattan surrounded by Chelsea, Greenwich Village, and West Village called the Meatpacking District. The Meatpacking District thrived until the 1930s, becoming the 3rd largest meat processing industry in the U.S. The Gansevoort Farmer’s Market Meat Centre built on the site of the former Farmer’s Market is still in operation today.

Foodie’s paradise Chelsea market in New York City has something for everyone
Foodie’s paradise Chelsea market in New York City has something for everyone

Constructed in the 1890s for the National Biscuit Company

Chelsea Market was constructed in the 1890s by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) as its production facility. It is here where the original Oreo Cookie was made for the first time in 1912. Being so close to the wholesale butchers of the Meatpacking District meant the easy availability of lard, very convenient for a company that manufactured Crackers. Other products followed: Fig Newtons, Nabisco Wafers, Anola Wafers, Barnum Animal Crackers, Cameos, Lorna Doones and Oreos in 1912. When Nabisco sold the building in 1958 and moved to Fair Lawn, New Jersey, the Chelsea building sat vacant for decades. It was a sign of the times. In the 1960s and 1970s industries started to relocate from Manhattan. In the late 1980s, the building even witnessed a gruesome triple murder. Two men had been executed in the basement, while a third man died from his wounds due to a robbery. Outside it wasn’t any safer. Prostitution was booming in the deserted streets. 

At the time it was a bold move to focus on a food hall

It was not until the 1990s, that a group of developers took the initiative for a food market. The idea was to combine wholesale with small retail outlets to promote local entrepreneurs and artisans. Thanks to New Yorker Irwin Cohen and daughter Cheryl, who were pushing the development of the project, Chelsea Market began to take shape. Central is the idea that food works, just because the amount of food that’s consumed in New York is so great. 

Fortunately the developers preserved many of the original architectural features of the building, such as the exposed brick walls and industrial ceilings. They also kept many of the original wooden beams and columns used to support the weight of the once-heavy machinery. Chelsea Market opened on Nov. 12, 1997. In 2018, Google paid $2.4 billion to snap up the property with its long history and the stripped-down brick architecture.

Foodie’s paradise Chelsea market in New York City has something for everyone
Foodie’s paradise Chelsea market in New York City has something for everyone

Come hungry and dig in at Chelsea Market

It is clear that Chelsea Market became an iconic culinary destination. Chelsea Market attracts 6 million local, national and international visitors annually. It is one of the City’s most written-about, filmed and photographed destinations. Chelsea Market has around fifty first class restaurants and food stalls, catering to virtually all food preferences. One can go to the Market in the morning and not exit until after lunch without getting bored or hungry. And we are not talking here only about foodies. Chelsea Market has  more claims to fame than only food or the Oreo cookie.

Address 75 Ninth Avenue (between 15th & 16th St.) NYC, NY 10011 Market Hours Mon – Sat | 7 AM – 9 PM & Sunday | 8 AM – 8 PM

Website https://www.chelseamarket.com/

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Spotlight on the Staten Island Ferry with stunning vistas of the Statue of Liberty

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Staten Island Ferry is more than a means of transportation

 

Whenever I come to New York City, I want to see the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry. The Staten Island Ferry is an attraction unto itself. For no charge, visitors can take a 25-minute voyage by water to see the Statue of Liberty. The iconic figure was donated by France in 1886 to the United States of America during the centenary celebrations of the American Independence.

Spotlight on the Staten Island Ferry with stunning vistas of the Statue of Liberty

How it all came to be

In 1865, a French political intellectual and anti-slavery activist named Edouard de Laboulaye took the initiative to present the United States with a statue symbolising liberty. The French Alsatian sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi supported his plan. In 1870, on his own initiative, Bartholdi began designing the Statue of “Liberty Enlightening the World” using funds he raised in France and the United States.

Statue of Liberty symbolism

Atop the statue’s crown the 7 rays represent the 7 oceans and 7 continents of the world. The tablet in her left hand annotating the day of the American independence, July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals, symbolises America’s fight for liberty and freedom. To immortalize the end of slavery, Bartholdi added  chains and shackles at the feet of Lady Liberty to symbolise Liberty breaking free from bondage.

Location and work delays

While designing the Statue, Bartholi took a trip to the United States in 1871. Bedloe’s Island seemed the right location for the Statue. Although the islet in the Upper New York Bay was small, it was visible to every ship entering New York Harbour. The harbour considered to be the “gateway to America.” Bedloe’s Island was later renamed Liberty Island by an act of the United States Congress in 1956

The Statue of Liberty is made from copper sheets hammered into shape by hand. The copper sheets were assembled over a framework of four gigantic steel supports designed by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and finished by Gustave Eiffel, who later became famous for -yes, you guessed it – the Eiffel Tower in Paris. July 1884 saw the completion of the construction of the Statue of Liberty in France. When the Statue of Liberty arrived on board the French ship Isère on June 17, 1885 in New York Harbour, it had to be stored for 11 months in crates, due to ongoing work on its pedestal.

Spotlight on the Staten Island Ferry with stunning vistas of the Statue of Liberty
Spotlight on the Staten Island Ferry with stunning vistas of the Statue of Liberty

Unveiling the symbol of freedom

The pedestal was finally done on April 22, 1886, the re-assembly of Lady Liberty lasted only 4 months. On the Lady Liberty pedestal there is a tablet that has a set of words inscribed on it. These words were written by Emma Lazarus in 1883. “Give me your tired, you poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty “lighting the way, peacefully and lawfully” was unveiled by President Grover Cleveland.

After its unveiling the Statue of Liberty instantly became iconic. It began to feature on postcards, pictures, books, posters, and whatnot. Lady Liberty is still Enlightening the World, yet also educating people about freedom, inspiration and hope. Not only freedom in America but also the idea of freedom in other countries. 

A change to see Lady Liberty 40,000 times annually

When you take the ferry to Staten Island, and this pleasant trip should also be high on your NYC to-do list, you’ll use a form of transportation that existed in former colonial times. The Staten Island Ferry transported people between Manhattan and its surrounding boroughs long before bridges were introduced. Even now, the ferry is still the link that connects Manhattan with Staten Island and vice versa. Actually the ferry is the only non-vehicular mode of transport, thereby reducing vehicular pollution.

The Staten Island Ferry carries around 22 million passengers annually on a 5.2-mile run between the St. George Terminal in Staten Island and the Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan. The ferry runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. All for free. One thing it does extraordinary well travelling from one shore to the other, it offers stunning views of the Statue of Liberty about 40,000 times per year. That is if you are up to it, of course.

Spotlight on the Staten Island Ferry with stunning vistas of the Statue of Liberty

Additional information

More info about the Staten Island Ferry
Plan your visit to the Pedestal of the Statue of Liberty
One more option to visit the Statue of Liberty and Statue of Liberty tickets

Tip: Did you know that in the capital of France, Paris, there are 8 replicas of the Statue of Liberty? And that Lady Liberty’s face is modelled after the artist’s mother? But that is another story.

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Cousteau’s fascinating quest for the remains of Atlantis near the Greek island of Pseira

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“But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.”
*Timaeus, by Plato. Written 360 B.C. Translated by Benjamin Jowett.

Sea explorer Jacques Cousteau search for Atlantis

What if Atlantis lies drowned in the Aegean Sea? There is only one way to find out. To look for archaeological clues that can support or contradict the theories according to which Atlantis and the Minoan civilization are one. “He who dives,” says Cousteau, “ends up in heaven.”

Cousteau’s fascinating quest for the remains of Atlantis near the Greek island of Pseira

The story of Plato’s Atlantis

Around 360 B.C. the ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote in Timaeus and Critias about the cataclysmic destruction of the civilization of Atlantis. It is a story that still captures our imagination. As nobody found any traces of Atlantis yet, it justifies the question is Atlantis fiction or not? According to Plato, the founders of Atlantis were half god and half human. They created a utopian civilization, which became a mighty Mediterranean maritime trading empire. According to Plato, Atlantis reigned over all of Libya, all the way to Egypt’s far borders. Atlantis became so powerful, aggressive and evil that it merited divine punishment. When Atlantis waged an unprovoked war on the parts of Asia and Europe it was destroyed by a disaster, an earthquake and tsunami. The presumption is that the islands of Crete and Thera, later called Santorini, formed the “Lost Continent of Atlantis” as they were ravaged by a volcanic eruption in around 1450 B.C.

Cousteau’s search for Atlantis

In 1975 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Greek Tourism Organisation invited world-renowned French explorer Jacques Cousteau to Greece to shoot a series of documentary films named “Calypso’s Search for Atlantis”. Greek archaeologists and a research team from the newly established Institute of Marine Archaeology (HIMA) participated in the mission too. Atlantis is a myth people like to fantasise about, but what is the truth behind the myth? In “Calypso’s Search for Atlantis” Cousteau and his team are looking for clues that can support or contradict the theories about Atlantis and/or any link with the Minoan civilisation. Cousteau’s famous ship the Calypso anchored for a few days near Pseira, an island in the Gulf of Mirabello in North-Eastern Crete with the archaeological remains of the Minoan and Mycenean civilisation. While exploring one of the underwater hills near the harbour of ancient Pseira, divers found a real “cliff” of ceramic products. It stretched over a hundred meters in length and formed an inclined wall at a depth of 8 to 30 m. 

Cousteau’s fascinating quest for the remains of Atlantis near the Greek island of Pseira
Cousteau’s fascinating quest for the remains of Atlantis near the Greek island of Pseira

Archaeological discoveries of this magnitude are rare

This wall of pottery or “warehouse” of ceramics belonged to the Minoan period. Next to hundreds of thousands of vases, vessels, mugs and cups on the seabed, Calypso’s divers discovered hewn building stones. And, stumbled upon perfectly preserved remains of a wall, most likely part of an embankment to moor and shelter ships from the fierce north-western winds. The dived up pottery is more than 3000 years old. Moreover, it is surprising that all these products are of approximately  of the same age and have been preserved mostly in an excellent condition.

It is all something of an enigma. How could such a huge accumulation of clay products mount up in one single place? Yet even more mysterious, why does most of the pottery look intact, despite the effects of sea water and the inexorable passing of time? Does it indicate the remnants of Atlantis? Or is it the outcome of a shadowed memory of past events reshaped by human imagination?

More…

Read also our story about Elphida Hadjidaki, a woman, the Cretan sea and a Minoan shipwreck. Elphida Hadjidaki started to dive in 2003 for a Minoan shipwreck, not far from the Pseira diving site of Jacques Costeau.

More info about this part of Calypso’s Atlantis quest you can find on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/oHvGsD8QwqE?si=ojv6ZTARgqtXEb0b

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