Glasgow – The Clyde
These photos were taken during a very sunny April day in Glasgow. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and has a lot of great new architecture mixed with old industrial buildings and beautiful art nouveau houses.
The Clyde is the major river in Scotland and 21 bridges cross it only in Glasgow…
Kaisertempel, Eppstein
The pictures were taken in Eppstein (Hesse), Germany. The picturesque city lies west of Frankfurt am Main and is at the edge of the Taunus mountains.
The Kaisertempel was built in 1894 as a memorial to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian War (1870/71). This victory unified the German Empire under King Wilhelm I of Prussia. From the area, you have a wonderful view of Eppstein as far as Bremthal.
Footdee, Aberdeen
I took these pictures in Footdee, also known locally as “Fittie”. Footdee is an old fishing village near Aberdeen Harbour, Scotland. In former days the cottages would have housed fishermen and their fisherfolk families and had a first recorded refernce in the year 1398. I heard, that some fish families still live in the picturesque fishing cottages and their well maintained gardens set away from the hustle and bustle of Aberdeen City. Round the outside of the buildings square the cottages are regular, granite houses, but from the inside they’re anything but with shacks, sheds including outhouses jumbled with washing lines, floweres and a lot of knick-knack. First, the area was called Futty then the village became Fittie and nowadays the area is named Footdee and presents the official name.
Inverness
Inverness is situated in northern Scotland, where the River Ness enters the Inverness/Moray Firth and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland.
The strategic location of Inverness has led to many conflicts in the area. The settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by King David I. in the 12th century. Inverness castle was built by Malcolm III. of Scotland after he had razed to the ground the castle in which MacBeth had murdered Duncan I. In the year 1562 Mary, Queen of Scots, was denied admittance into Inverness Castle by the governor and whom she afterwards caused to be hanged.
St. Johannis Kirche (St. John’s Church), Herford
Herford is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), located near the Teutoburg Forest. The town was founded in 789 and was a member of the Hanseatic League in late medieval times.
All photos were taken in the St. John’s Church (St. Johannis/Neustädter Kirche), a late Gothic hall church from 1340.
Frankfurt am Main (Hesse), Germany
Frankfurt (a. M.) is the largest city in Hesse and the 5th largest city in Germany. Situated on the River Main (“ford” engl.), Frankfurt is the largest financial centre in continental Europe and it is the home of a number of major banks and brokerages. Most of these banks are situated in skyscrapers and contain the two tallest skyscrapers in the European Union, the Commerzbank Tower and Messeturm.
The Römer (“Roman” engl.) is a set of three buildings located in the Römerberg and it was the city hall of Frankfurt for 600 years.
The famous old opera house (Alte Oper) was built in 1880 by the architect Richard Lucae and the building was one of the major opera houses in Germany until it was heavily damaged in World War II. Until the late 1970s it was a ruin, with the nickname: “Germany’s Most Beautiful Ruin”. The public pressure resulted in a fully reconstructed and reopened Opera in 1981. The inscription on the frieze says: “Dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten” (“To the true, the beautiful, the good”).
The IG Farbenhaus (IG Farben Building) was built from 1928 to 1930 as the headquarters for the german chemical industry conglomerate and was the largest office building in Europe and remained so until the 1950s. After World War II, the IG Farben Building served as the headquarters for the Allied Command and was returned to the German government in 1995. Today, the complex houses the Westend Campus of the University of Frankfurt, which includes the departments of Philosophy, History, Theology, Art and Music, Modern Languages and Linguistics, Cultural and Civilization Studies, the Center for North American Studies and the Fritz-Bauer-Institute.
The secretive door
The photo was taken in Groß-Umstadt (Hesse) behind the city church. Groß-Umstadt is near Darmstadt and Frankfurt (Main) and at the northern border of the Odenwald.
Staatstheater Darmstadt
The Staatstheater was found in the year 1972, when the new building was finished at the Georg-Büchner-Platz and was renovated in the years 2002 – 2006.
Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt
These photos were taken after a very snowy day in Darmstadt (Hesse), Germany.
The artists’ colony “Mathildenhöhe” was founded in 1899 by Ernest Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and the first exhibition of the artists’ colony took place in 1901. Ernest Ludwig motto was: “My Hesse should flourish, and the art in Hesse too” and he brought together several artists of the Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) in Darmstadt: Peter Behrens, Hans Christiansen, Ludwig Habich and Joseph Maria Olbrich.
Glasgow – The West End
These photos were taken during a very cloudy November day in Glasgow. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and has a lot of great new architecture mixed with old industrial buildings and beautiful art nouveau houses.
The former docklands site on the south bank of the River Clyde is the site of the Glasgow Science Centre, Glasgow Tower and the headquarter for the BBC Scotland and STV. At the opposite, the Clyde Auditorium (Armadillo) and other new buildings found their places. In addition, several new bridges spanning the River Clyde have been built, including the Clyde Arc Bridge (Squinty Bridge) and others at Tradestone and Springfield Quay.
