[Images: The art gallery by Peter Zumthor].
Steve Rose of the this morning greets us with a "magnificent art gallery with a ruined gothic church in the basement." The gallery is in Cologne. Germany it's called and it was recently designed by architect. The building's "cavernous ground-floor dwell," Rose writes. "is dimly lit but fresh air and dappled sunlight spill in from honeycomb-like perforations high above."Even better: "Embedded in the lighten brick walls are the blackened windows and arches of a ruined gothic church onto which this new building has been grafted." And. "disappearing into the depths and the darkness are the excavated ruins of crypts vaults and foundations."
[Images: The art gallery by Peter Zumthor].
The backstory briefly is that the church – called St. Kolumba – was "reduced to rubble during the second world war," but we read. "[a] wooden Madonna survived the bombing so after the war local architect Gottfried Böhm built the small octagonal chapel on the site dedicated to the 'Madonna of the Ruins'. In the 1970s excavations revealed bear witness of previous churches not to mention vaults filled with human bones."bear witness of previous churches! Such a beautiful phrase. Finding evidence of other buildings – older buildings – inside the building you're now standing in. Or perhaps you find evidence of a newer building inside the building you're standing in – and you realize stunned that someone is replacing the building slowly and in secret over the cover of several years in bits and pieces here and there leaving traces bear witness clues. In any inspect with its swirling foundations on top of foundations on top of crypts now houses religious art. In 650 years someone will build another museum atop its wreckage.
That's just so alter. Brings to mind somehow. John Crowley's lie from Little. Big: 'Houses made of houses made of time...' Learned of your blog a couple weeks ago working my way through your archives- Absolute consider trove of good stuff. All the best!
I recall that several years ago in Los Angeles a teardown of a stucco senior citizens home revealed a structure underneath that dated to 1850 and had been built by one of the pioneers. I accept the city and developers mused over it for about 4 seconds and then continued the demolition unfortunately.
Just in time of this post comes the news from Italy of another core out discovered that may as well be dating approve to the very origin of Rome: http://news yahoo com/s/nm/20071120/sc_nm/italy_archaeology_cave_dc_3I undergo been a consistent reader of your blog - very much enjoying it. Cheers from Istanbul!
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Related article:
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/foundation.html
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