Escolania de Montserrat: Virolai (March 2011)

Escolania de Montserrat sing the traditional midday Virolai. This piece is the hymn to the Virgin of Montserrat:

La Pedrera, or Casa Mila (Barcelona)

Rome Part 3 (1st April 2011)

   

View from the Roman Forum and Colosseum: two of the most famous Roman remains to be found in Rome. The Roman Forum extends over a huge surface, with hills, a few museums, various church ruins, thermal baths, and of course the ruins of Augustus' House, of the Temple of Apollo, and a few imperial arches. 

 These pictures show just how tall and imposing such temple structures were. They are only a few columns now, but if these few columns impact us in such a strong way, imagine what a whole temple, let alone the entire Fora, would have looked like! This is the reason why Rome is know as the "city found in brick and left in marble".

Dome of St Peter's basilica, the Vatican. The central skylight is also an observation deck from which visitors can see the whole of Rome at their feet. The second picture is that of the reflection of the dome on the Vatican buildings and gardens, early Sundau moening. It was a good thing I left the hostel at 7:30 for an 8:00 entrance!

To climb the done you must first take a lift which will leave you at its base. From there the ascent takes place within the dome itself, along a set of winding stairs which form a gradual spiral inwards towards the top. The climb is tiring, especially as most people will have to lean towards the interior side of the stair to clim due to the dome's curvature, but the views from the top are absolutely breathtaking!

Rome on April 2nd: Sunday morning calmness. View of St Peter;s square from the top of St Peter's dome. 

Vatican Museums in the foreground. 

The city of spires really lives up to that name (I don't know whether it really applies to Rome, but after these shots it really should!) The morning mist creates an ethereal haze over the city, punctured continuously here and there by an endless number of age-old church spires, by the parliament buildings and their giant winged horses... If you look closely enough you will see a large, layered and slightly flat dome near the left of the picture: the Pantheon. 

Barcelona on the night of Championship Final (28th May 2011)

Obviously, this was going to gear up to be a huge night, whether Barcelona won or lost. I think this region in the world must be one of the most sports- centred. If you are not a Barca fan you are not Catalan, some people say. It is a symbol of regional identity, for many even a symbol of a national Catalonian identity which marks most people form this part of Spain.




During the last few years especially, football has given Barcelona nearly as many prizes and rewards as any industry in Barcelona. Football is a religion here and certainly one of its biggest markets too! But it has probably been since the 2010 World Cup when Spain won that the Barca team has gained even more momentum. Most of the Spanish national team were Catalonians and from the Barcelona team, so thousands of people around here cheered them as if they Catalunya had won the World Cup, and not Spain.

The longstanding enmity between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid caused as much happiness over the fact that Barcelona had beaten Real Madrid to the title as the fact that they had actually won the Champions. For about fifteen minutes, people shouted the now famous "Porque?" which Real Madrid coach Mourinho had uttered in a press conference, and even a song has been made about it, to which over thirty thousand people responded after each verse with a tremendous "Porque?"


These events in Spain cause thousands of people to flock to the streets to share the moment which could become legendary or a moment to be forgotten. Luckily for Barcelona, the last few times major matches has been played they have always won, so there was reason to hope for another celebration that night. And that is exactly what happened.


We met some american student who had come over to Spain for a few months. One of the only things we talked about was football and how everyone joins in the celebrations on the streets for the whole night. One of the most repeated statements by the Americans was that they had come to Spain for this experience: people gathering socially to see a match which not only brought home a sense of deep Catalan pride, but also joined them together on the streets to show the world that they are the best fan club in the football world.

Giant screen at Arc del Trimof

Just as it is typical in Madrid to celebrate a football victory at the central Cibeles square, here in Barcelona it is tradition to celebrate at the top of the Rambla, a large street heading from Plaza Catalunya down to the shore. At the top end is the statue of Canaletes, where the Barcelona fans traditionally gather to celebrate. Ignoring the odd occasional disturbance, these nights generally go by without major incidents.

Chaos in the Metro: thousands of people boarded trains at Arc del Triomf, whilst another few thousand had to wait up to fifteen minutes for another train of late night revellers pouring out. 

These sort of public events are always popular with Spaniards, because it provides yet another opportunity to go out and have a good time; and Spanish people have always been night owls, to avoid the day's heat. With Spain's reputation for being a party nation, such events always attract thousands, and this night at the Arc del Triomf there could not have been more people who were enjoying their night. It was a scene which will probably last a long time in the minds of those who lived it. And if this is the reception of winning the Championship final, I wonder what winning the World Cup final must have been like!

It reminds me of a certain scene in Cinema Paradiso when the people gather on the square to watch a film being screened against a large building. Times and people don't change really, do they?

Casa Batllo (28th May 2011)

When talking about Barcelona's buildings, one to immediately spring to mind might be the famous Casa Batllo. This masterpiece stands out amongst all the buildings around it, modern office blocks and retail spaces, almost hidden from sight and even looking cramped amongst taller, less architecturally astounding buildings. However, this particular buildings seems to have been lifted out of a remote exotic beach.

When walking down the central Passeig de Gracia, you might suddenly see a crowd of tourists standing by bus stops taking pictures at a particular building slightly hidden amongst the tall trees. Some tourists might even be standing on the road blocking rapidly on-coming traffic. But when you reach this point you will understand why there is such a crowd.

A modernist construction of tall windows, wacky balconies (one of Gaudi's trademarks) and infinite numbers of colours suddenly spring out to you from amongst the trees. The building structure is the same as any other: ground floor, a few upper floors and a roof. However, the most remarkable sight is right at the top: the roof itself.

The roof of Casa Batllo evokes images of waves, of sea shells, of scale-clad animals, of lizards (remember Gaudi created the world renowned statue of a lizard or dragon for the Parc Guell)... the list could go on depending on each individual's imagination! Like the inside "patio" (central open skylight), whose wave-like wall colour gradually evolves from a very light blue to a darker hue, so does this roof change colour from a dark blue with a greenish tinge to a dark rusty red or copper colour. These two colours seem like they were two of Gaudi's favourites, as they are two predominant colours amongst his art. As the day moves on, the intensity of these colours varies, creating an effect which is very striking (although you would have to stand in front of the building all day and film it and then press fast forwards x3 to see this change)

As you move further down the building from the roof, you start to see that even what looked like a normal facade is indeed packed with new and evolved shapes and colours. One of Gaudi's main influences came from skeletons and bones, and this particular building showcases this in a much more obvious way than many of his other buildings:

As you can very clearly see in these two pictures, both balconies look as if they are actually being supported by mammoth-sized bones. Gaudi must have obviously compared the building to an actual living body, because for a body to stand tall it needs bones, otherwise it would be a rather large lump of meat on the floor. So what way to give this body an even bigger sense of life inside it that by placing a few bones here and there?

If you look at the picture of the balconies, you will probably not associate them with bones so much. But in reality these balconies almost look like vertebrae plate or pelvis bones! So, to the allusion of life which we see when we see the slanted and "scaled" roof, we can now add long leg bones and pelvis and vertebrae bones. This almost makes it feel like a real body: the long bones stand at the bottom for the legs, the pelvis supports the middle, and the scales cover the head.

Above these lines you can see a picture of the main "body" of the building, which, like Gaudi's famous "lizard" and bench at the Parc Guell, seems to be entirely covered by extremely colourful and varied tiles all the way up. Again looking at the image we see images of birds and trees on the wall, another clear hint as to what this particular building seems to be all about. 

Unfortunately the inside was actually close at the time of day I arrived, so I was unable to see the inside, which is very impressive apparently. But I leave you with this, which I hope should be enough to persuade anyone to visit this when next in Barcelona, and also to have a possible interpretation of what the building  is all about.

Rome Part 2 Itinerary (1st April 2011)

To anyone who has just started reading the blog, I am adding these posts now because I have transferred my blog over from Tumblr onto Blogspot a few days ago; that is why I am adding a post from April now!

So far I had been in Rome for four hours and had already had enough time to walk leisurely through the Forum, crossed the old quarter (including the Pantheon, Piazza di Venezia, Galeria Doria Pamhilj) and visited the Vatican Museum. Now it was lunch time and once more I was on my feet, across the Tiber and over to the Museum of the Ara Pacis.

I had wanted to visit this museum for some time now. At school I completed an Extended Project on Emperor Augustus' very extensive builting programme in Rome during the start of the Roman Principate. I had seen a section of the altar at the Louvre the summer before, but I had never seen the actual thing. So this was the time to visit once and for all!

The "Altar of Peace" itself is now in a very modern white building right by the Tiber, which has caused some controversy amongst the Romans, partly for being too modern. Personally I think that this new building, in the same way that La Defense in Paris creates a modern counterpart to the Arc de Triomf, creates a new lasting house for a very old temple to extend it's life lease. It also gives Rome a contemporary new icon and showcases the extremely high value which the Ara Pacis has, especially amongst international archeologists and architects. 

I had never realised how tall the altar was until I first saw it. If you see the picture above these lines, you will see the entrance into the altar itself: a person would reach about halfway up the door! It is a really striking monument; and marble makes it stand out eve more, although in Roman times it would have been isolated, probably in the fields next to Rome.

The history behind the Altar of Peace is long: Augustus erected it after finishing his battles against Gaul and Spain, and portrayed himself as a religious figure, with his head covered and amongst his people, not physically separated form them. He had quite a reputation after the Civil War for being a very brutal and fearless man, a warrior, and now he had to create an image of himself as a victorious and peaceful leader, not a military commander.

The side wall outside the building is inscribed in big letter with one of history's most important documents to date: the "Res Gestae", Augustus' "Things Done". I was surprised to see that few people (not more than 30 inside the museum) although yet again I had arrived only about 40 minutes before closing time... Thank god I had planned out my day in advance and stuck to the timetable!

Rome is a beautiful city, especially in spring, when all the cherry trees are in bloom. After visiting the Ara Pacis museum, I headed North a bit to the main thoroughfare of Rome, which crosses from Piazza Venezia all the way to Piazza del Poppolo. This is the main shopping district, with high end names such as Cartier, Versace, and especially the big Italian brands of Armani and Gucci, as well as many international brands.

Something which struck me about Rome was its extremely laid back atmosphere, very similar to Spain. People would shout across the road to each other, without any regard to whether they were distracting passers by or whether they had burst into a family's photo pose by accident. And it was already getting quite late, although the sun was still shining. This is exactly what the Mediterranean lifestyle is famed for, and without a doubt it is very much more sociable than the cold Northerners who bustle quickly to escape the rain or snow at this time of year.

I was planning on walking across Rome again (it is very manageable, as the city centre is only a few km wide) starting at the famous Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna, and heading on towards one of Rome's most impressive monuments: La Fontana di Trevi.

The fountain itself is completely hidden away from view. One moment you are walking down small cobbled streets, then you start hearing a rush of distant water, and suddenly you find yourself staring open-mouthed at a huge crowd staring at a wall. You turn around and there stands one of the most impressive sights in the world: La Fontana di Trevi. 

"There's No Solution Without a Revolution" (Barcelona, 15th May 2011)

"This square has been reclaimed for the people". This is what is written across half of Spain in various different ways to express the anger caused by policemen bashing peaceful protesters with truncheons on Friday 27th May when they didn't want to leave the Plaza Catalunya, the central square of Barcelona.

This poster, for instance, targets policemen not to attack them, because the Health service would not cope with the insurge of patients. To understand this you must read a little bit further on.

So what exactly is going on in Spain these days with the street protests and campsites in squares? Well, I have had a chance to see some of the protests first hand, and I can safely say that their main concern is unemployment and the political corruption and misruling of Spain. However, after the violent attacks of police against peaceful protesters on Friday 27th May, the flame has once more been reignited in both Madrid's Puerta del Sol, the central square and epicentre of the protests across Spain and across haf the world by Spaniards who live abroad. 

15-M stands for "Movimiento 15-M", otherwise known across Spain and beyond as "Democracia Real YA!" ("Real Democracy NOW!"), or as the Spanish Revolution on Twitter.

As I write this, I am referring specifically to events on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st May 2011, and it has now been over two weeks that peaceful protesters have been camped out here. On that Friday, armed policemen entered Plaza de Catalunya saying that the street cleaners needed to clean the square of potential hazardous material ahead of Saturday's Championship final (Manchester United vs Barcelona). In case of Barcelona winning, this would be immediately packed with thousands of people celebrating on the streets, and in case of losing it would probably end up with a few odd riot. 

The few hundred protesters sitting in the square let the lorries into the centre, but then surrounded it and sat on the floor because they were taking away all the posessions, including laptops, microphones for the regular assemblies and essential food supplies as well as camping tents and plastic sheets for roofing. What happened next stunned the world: the police approached the sitting protesters in a thick line and started to hit the people, many of them aiming at their heads specifically, whilst the protesters sat there with their arms covering their faces for protection. Such an image conveyed anger once more throughout Spain, and prompted a new wave of gathering across many squares in main cities, in Spain and as far afield as Washington and Tokyo. 

I would like to remember at this point that these are not oponions, but facts, so please do not accuse of anything which is not true!

One thing which I will now speak about is the organization of these gatherings. As you can see in the picture below, the crowds were more than large on the evening of Friday 20th, in support of the people who were beaten up by the police that morning. This is what is called a "cacerolada", when thousands of people congregate at a certain hour and spend a few minutes shaking any metal objects theymight have. Many bring saucepans and frying pans and start making a lot of noise, in a "silent" cry of indignation against what the officers did. if people didn't have saucepans or similar things, all they did was shake their house keys over their heads. This went on for several minutes, and ended with a very long cry of "Puig, dimision!" ("Puig, satdn down!")

As you can see from the pictures, there were many stores set up around the perimeter of the square, each one housing a particular group of people or a certain facility: a voting house, a kitchen, a portaloo area, a resting area, a proposals area, etc... This, being Spain, seems like the most organised anyone has ever been until now, especially as us Spaniards have a reputation for being late, laid back and generally quite lax about things. But what we were seeing here, and even more obviously at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, were mini republics being set up, places where each person knew where to go and how to act, and what to do and what not to do. In short, a reverse of what Spain seems like at the moment. 

The next morning I happened to cross the square once more, and stopped at various assemblies. These were being arranged to discuss issues like how long the camping would remain, or how to draw up a document for the authorities stating their wishes, or when to have a next big congregation and cacerolada. Again, this was not the Spain I knew: it was quite, civilised, patient and organised. There was a rota for who would speak at what time. When a speaker made a point supported by many people they would shake their hands over their heads instead of roaring in agreement and clapping, and if they disliked his/her point they would move their hand in a rotating manner, like a wheel. 

So why are people protesting and why at this time? Well, to answer the first question precisely would mean having to ask each individual, which would amount for a large list, but in short they want to curb the extraordinarily high level of unemployment in Spain, to shake up the political system, end corruption within political parties, to name but a few. 

Personally, I think such a movement has raised enough awareness in the press to give politicians much to worry about. It has also been good that the protesters, most of whom are younger that 35, should have finally raised their anger at Spain's current crisis. One thing that I don't understand is why most people out here seem to be almost like hippies. Although this movement never properly spread over to Spain because of General Franco's opporession, the people here should maybe start being entrepreneurs and start to shape their own ideas or businesses, rather than sit around all day not looking on the Internet for jobs. However, it is a very difficult situation, and had I been in their position I would have definitely protestes earlier or emigrated!