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Post by fumobici on Sept 13, 2009 4:55:11 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Sept 13, 2009 5:04:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2009 5:06:46 GMT
Those are great, fumobici. I keep telling myself I am going to "do some doors" in Paris (I already did a lot of house doors on the Mouzaïa and Campagne à Paris threads) -- the big pretentious ones that proclaim prosperity are always interesting, but so are little mysterious doors in walls.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 13, 2009 5:10:59 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 13, 2009 5:11:56 GMT
Oh ~~ no wonder you are fascinated by the doors of Perugia! I'm really taken by the sort of crypto-Egypto ones, but the use of that pinkish brick is lovely. Is that seen all over that part of Italy?
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Post by fumobici on Sept 13, 2009 5:15:15 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 13, 2009 5:27:12 GMT
Any idea what's going on with the peachy-yellow house that seems to have plastered around old ornamental brickwork? I love the exposed arc of electrical cable that mirrors the brick arch above the door.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 13, 2009 5:30:45 GMT
K2, Paris is definitely worthy of a door tour as you say though a lot of the older architectural detail in the center looks a little over-restored and has lost a lot of its essential funk to my eye. Venice like Paris has jaw droppingly fancy/pretentious doors in profusion that are amazing but these somehow speak to me more. There's enough left there in Paris to keep me busy for months/years/decades still though. I love the Liberty doors in Paris.
Bixa (if I may), I'm not really seeing an Egyptian motif but that may merely reflect on my uneducated eye, as for the brickwork- I'd say you could see roughly similar stuff anywhere in Central Italy, but to me nothing of the amazing quality and preservation that Perugia has. I've never been anywhere that has doors like this.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 13, 2009 5:36:06 GMT
Well, architecturally and archeologically incorrect, but there is something about those fatly finished gray stones around the doors that somehow suggests Egypt to me.
The doors definitely have a certain something beyond their beauty and antiquity. They also compel you to wonder what goes on behind them.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2009 5:38:23 GMT
Everybody knows that. Mamma is cooking pasta!
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Post by fumobici on Sept 13, 2009 5:41:52 GMT
I've no idea, though I've seen similar instances of rather odd seeming stonework peeking out from stucco (although that's the word for stuff we call mortar there). There's obviously been some pretty extensive revisions made. It reminds me a little of this building in Pisa, which also caught my eye:  |
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 13, 2009 5:42:47 GMT
I dunno about that ~~ there's a couple that surely have Marcello Mastroianni riding horsey on Anita Ekberg, a few that have brittle aristocrats sitting around in over-dressed gloomy splendor, fitting cigarettes into holders, some have been gentrified by "young professionals", some harbor pedestrian businesses ..............
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Post by fumobici on Sept 13, 2009 5:54:12 GMT
Honestly a surprising number of these have little brass plaques with 'avvocato' whomever on them- they are small law offices.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 13, 2009 14:11:08 GMT
Many are also home to foreign students, who are incredibly crowded together if they hail from the global South. I was staying in the dearest little flat in a medieval stone building. The staircase was also all stone inside. Though very small, it wasn't a true studio as I had a separate kitchen, which is a nice thing to have so as not to always be living in cooking smells. The WC was beautiful blue tiles, but so small that the shower was directly over the toilet bowl. There were two narrow wrought iron beds in the main room, and a table that was both a writing desk and dining table. From my window I could see one of the rare medieval towers still standing (fortifications, not pretty as such) and a coniferous tree that annoyed me at first because it seemed too "Canadian" though of course it eventually grew on me.
I have definitely seen sombre old wooden furniture filling gloomy rooms, though the occupants weren't aristocrats, but ordinary middle-class families who had lived in those rooms for generations. As for sex ... well, people do that everywhere, though most aren't Marcello or Anita. Mamma could be cooking (not just pasta, il primo E il secondo) but she could also be a prof at either the University of Perugia or the "University for Foreigners" (teaching Italian language and culture at all levels, and pedagogy). Or she could be an avvocatessa...
bixi who is more used to Spanish will find there are a lot of double letters in Italian...
There is a lot of that pink stone in Umbria - even more in Assisi. Assisi is a very beautiful town too, though obviously often swarming with pilgrims. Not the worst examples of religious kitsch (Padre Pio would win that award) because of the Franciscan ideal of simplicity, but still, there is some.
Another nearby town famous for its doors is Gubbio. Especially the "door of the dead", a small door only used to transfer a coffin (or perhaps in times past, a shrouded corpse) out of a home, so death would not cross the normal doorstep.
Hmm, not really Egyptian, but of course medieval Mediterranean architecture has elements that hark to way back then, and many of the vaulted narrow streets could be in the "Muslim" parts of the Mediterranean as well.
I was back in Perugia in 2006 and was thrilled that I found my way around all the little narrow streets winding up and down the high hill (or little mountain?) which I hadn't visited in 20 years. Perugia mi manca molto, molto. I'm really looking forward to taking the minimetro, which was under construction in 2006.
Indeed the hills are great for working off food and drink, though I'm a "savoury" not a sweet and barely touched the chocolate.
These photos are loading a bit slowly, so I haven't seen fumobici yet, but I'll be back.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 13, 2009 15:26:07 GMT
Here's a tip for when your computer is running slowly and you want to see a picture thread, but you're also eager to browse the rest of the forum ~~
Open the picture thread, then scroll to the top of the page and right-click on Home. Select "Open in a new window". You can be using the rest of the forum while the picture thread is loading, then return to the original window to find that thread all nicely opened.
This is also handy when you're writing a Reply and want to refer to something in another thread. Again, scroll to the top and right-click on the board you need.
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Post by imec on Sept 13, 2009 15:39:54 GMT
Really nice work fb - Thanks!
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Post by spindrift on Sept 14, 2009 10:23:39 GMT
fb - I've very much enjoyed viewing those doors. I'll return and visit them again, there's so much detail to be taken in.
I did a thread on 'Look! Tibetan Windows'..... not sure where it is; you might care to look at it. Might be on Asia or Postcards.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 5, 2009 14:20:31 GMT
Probably too many photos but I can't bring myself to edit any out at the moment. Hmmmm ~~ Fumobici, does that comment mean you have more doors to show us? I'd love to see them! fb - I've very much enjoyed viewing those doors. I'll return and visit them again, there's so much detail to be taken in.
I did a thread on 'Look! Tibetan Windows'..... not sure where it is; you might care to look at it. Might be on Asia or Postcards. Those windows are fabulous. They can be found here. |
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Post by Kimby on Jul 19, 2010 4:41:19 GMT
I did a thread on 'Look! Tibetan Windows'..... not sure where it is; you might care to look at it. Might be on Asia or Postcards. Those windows are fabulous. They can be found here. bixa, this link seems to be broken. Where are spinny's Tibetan Windows now? |
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 24, 2011 15:52:02 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 24, 2011 15:54:28 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Sept 25, 2011 3:21:33 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 25, 2011 3:43:05 GMT
Wondrous!
I just went through the newest batch of doors twice and, much as I love the first group, the new camera does make everything look richer and deeper.
The new element of looking at doors through other doors is a great touch. I also like very much the glimpses of interiors. The arches and the bright natural light down the hall in the first photo make it so interesting, as well as beautiful. And I'm completely in love with #5.
I really appreciate that you give us more than one view of many of the doors, allowing us to appreciate their settings and their details.
You could also do a much less lovely, but certainly varied shoot on the downspouts of Perugia. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2011 21:55:35 GMT
One thing that strikes me is the idea of the "world behind the door" that one finds in Africa and the Middle East (and also in France to a certain extent, as well as a number of other countries probably). The doors and the walls are there to dissimulate the wealth and beauty that can be found behind.
It's probably one of the reasons that I have never forgotten the film The Garden of the Finzi-Contini.
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