Posts about travels to places around the globe that reflect our shared heritage
Every two years the world’s preservation and heritage conservation community comes together for the International Conference of National Trusts, a wonderful gathering of colleagues and friends working together across the globe to protect, enhance and responsibly enjoy our planet’s fragile heritage. To read my full post on the opening of ICNT13, check out the PreservationNation blog on the National Trust web site. More to come… DJB
I am blessed with two talented children who teach me so much every day. Claire has an imaginative and artistic eye that she uses to great effect in her photography of buildings and landscapes. Andrew has been fascinated by architecture since he was a toddler and stood in our hall to carefully run his hand over the curved beaded siding on our wall. As a preservationist and father, I love talking with them about their passions. So when Andrew texted me on Friday morning to say, “Dad, there are two Santiago Calatrava-designed bridges in Dublin,” I knew they must be special. I wanted to see them not only based on Andrew’s message, but because I had seen the Spanish-born Calatrava’s Milwaukee Art Museum (a building I’ll be in again in a few weeks) and was intrigued as to how he handled his designs in this city of bridges. To make a long story short, I left in dawn’s early light this morning and went on a 1 1/2 hour walk, beginning at Calatrava’s James Joyce …
During last evening’s three-hour ringing of the bells at Christ Church Cathedral here in Dublin (apparently, a Friday evening tradition), I looked out the window to focus on the music and noticed the beautiful sunset. I raced out of the hotel and took a few pictures to capture in my mind the wonderful juxtaposition of the bell ringing and the Irish sunset on the medieval portion of the city. Today was all business, but we had a chance to conduct it in wonderful space. An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, is our host this week and our INTO meeting today was in their headquarters – the old Tailors Hall. I took a few pictures, including the view out the window from my seat. I will talk more about the meetings in follow-up posts, but wanted to include the photos of the Hall as a post for today. Enjoy the photographs. More to come… DJB
I arrived in downtown Dublin mid-morning local time with the better part of the day free before my meetings began for the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO). We’re here because An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, is hosting the 13th International Conference of National Trusts. So with the city’s two cathedrals located just steps from my hotel, I awoke from a short nap and headed out to explore these great historic landmarks. (And as I’m writing this, my connection with the cathedrals continue, as I’m listening to the late afternoon peal of 19 bells from the Christ Church bell tower.) Christ Church Cathedral (pictured at the top of the post) was my first stop. This is the Anglican-Episcopalian cathedral of the Church of Ireland and it dates from 1030, when Viking Dublin’s first cathedral was built on the site. The current building took its present shape in 1180, and was extensively remodeled in the 1870s. It is a beautiful fall day in Dublin, so the light was streaming into the building through the stained …
Late last month, Claire and Andrew took a trip to Northern Ireland with their youth group. While there they walked the wonderful coastline of County Antrim and the Giant’s Causeway; visited sites of the National Trust of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; met with groups focused on peace and reconciliation; and took lots and lots of photographs. In looking at those photos, my mind went back a decade to my own trip to Northern Ireland for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Like the children’s trip, mine was an eye and mind-opening experience. I recently looked at my diary from that trip and enjoyed reliving my experiences. So I’ll share Andrew’s (color) and Claire’s (black-and-white) photos from June/July 2009, and I’ll share a few diary entries from December 1998. 12/8/98 – I found Crom Castle most interesting. As we arrived, Irish deer – with huge racks – stared at us from the deer park…had my first Irish whiskey of the trip. Great for warming chilled bones! 12/8/98 – We have a late afternoon stop at …
It is always a treat to travel to a city and find an unexpected gem. That was the case this past week in Kansas City. While on a tour of Main Street in downtown KC, we stopped in to see the magnificent Midland Theatre. The historic photo at left comes from the website Cinema Treasures, which catalogs great historic theatres and gives you a sense of the beauty of this amazing place. The Midland was built in 1927 for $4 million – a huge number for the period. But once you step inside and see the restored and opulent interior, you’ll know where the money went. Once a movie palace, the Midland is now home to live events. It was easy to see the role this landmark plays in the downtown’s renaissance. Do yourself a favor the next time you’re in Kansas City and find a way to visit this beautiful place on Main Street. More to come… DJB
New Orleans is a city just waiting to be photographed.
I am in New Orleans with supporters of the National Trust for Historic Preservation on a visit to see how the city is recovering in the three and one-half years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall. I’ve been in the city many times – and several since Katrina hit – but on this trip I found a couple of gems that tell me that I really haven’t seen all this great city has to offer. First, an update on our work. The National Trust had staff on the ground just weeks after Katrina hit, and we still maintain an office where we help homeowners – primarily in the historic Holy Cross neighborhood of the Lower Ninth Ward – rebuild their homes and their lives. Meeting the homeowners we’ve helped, seeing the way ravaged buildings have been turned back into beautiful homes, and listening to the volunteers and partners who’ve helped us in this recovery is always inspiring and gratifying. In Holy Cross you can’t walk down the streets without seeing our Home Again signs, or those …
I was in Boston earlier this week for the launch of Partners in Preservation – a terrific $1 million grant program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express. For the next five weeks, you can join thousands of others who will go online at the PiP website and vote for your favorite Greater Boston landmark. The winning site in the popular vote is guaranteed to get a grant of up to $100,000, and the remaining funds will be allocated among some of the other 25 sites who are part of the competition. Tuesday was a beautiful day in Boston and we were in historic Faneuil Hall for the launch event. Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino were on hand to help us kick off the program (see photo below). Representatives of the 25 sites were also there – many dressed out in period clothes to depict the historical era of their site. One of the more innovative schemes came from the Lowell Boat Shop volunteers (see photo above) who brought oars with “Lowell’s” …
Last October I wrote a post about the Vintage Roadside folks and their great t-shirt designs from old and often defunct roadside businesses. This morning, the weather in Washington promised to be warm enough to get around in a t-shirt, so I pulled out my Route 66 t-shirt (see photo at left) from Vintage Roadside and didn’t think much more of it. But when I opened up the blog this morning and went to the Word Press home page, there was a blog posting from a Route 66 News blog that featured a great new design from – you guessed it – the Vintage Roadside folks. Just too cool and too much of a coincidence not to write a bit about it. I posted a comment on the blog and took the opportunity to give a shout out to the wonderful folks at Vintage Roadside. To top it off, they are members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and contribute some of the proceeds to help save historic places. If the great designs aren’t enough to …
MORE TO COME... 