Torre Tavira

Torre Tavira is situated in Cadiz, Andalucia, Spain. It was originally a watch tower, sat at a vantage point of 45m above sea level, but now is home to an exhibition on the Camara Obscura.

The camara obscura represents photography and its humble beginnings. It was the stepping stone from which an image was transported onto another surface. Obviously our ancestors were yet to master how to make that image stick. Henry Fox Talbot was to later produce the Calotype method during the Victorian era but up until then it was the camara obscura that dominated the scene.

The Camara Obscura literally means the 'dark chamber', referring to the blacked out room they would be placed in in order to create a live image. This 'dark chamber' has lived on though, in the form of rooms devoted to developing photographs.

The Camara Obscura as a concept is as old as time but was a term that was only coined in the 17th century by the astronomer Kepler.

The exhibition is lead by a member of staff actually using the camara obscura. They take you through an explanation of how it works. Briefly, there are mirrors at the top of the tower that project an image onto a crater-like white bowl in a blacked out room. The mirror is connected to a lever whereby the people using it can adjust the mirror, moving it back and forth, to increase/decrease focus and to change direction. The focus blurs a lot the closer you get. The image that is projected onto the bowl is a live feed of what is going on in the street below.

The man leading the exhibition was brilliant. So much fun.

At the end you get to go up to the top and see the city of Cadiz.

Here are some pictures:

Cadiz Cathedral

I visited Cadiz a few months back and had the chance to visit lots of pretty places (I wrote about our visit to the museum here).

One of the magnificent places that I was able to visit was the cathedral, known as Catedral de Santa Cruz de Cadiz.

The cathedral took over a century to build because, much like all the other impressive cathedrals around Europe, no one ever had enough money. Construction began in 1722 and was completed in 1838. It is currently the seat of the diocese of both Cadiz and Ceuta, one of the two Spanish autonomous communities in northern Africa. Its importance to heritage has been acknowledged by a heritage register in Spain known as the Bien de Interes Cultural, meaning Heritage of Cultural Interest. You can visit the cathedral for a small price and it is well worth the money. It is situated on the aptly named Plaza del Catedral and there is a blue print of the building itself on the space in front of it. My friend tried to point it out for me but unfortunately it was hidden by the setting up of the stages for their festival over Easter!

You are offered an audio guide which comes in a handful of languages. We picked some up although listening to it all would take you hours.

 

The Baroque exterior. It has a look of almost every single other Spanish church or cathedral I have seen from the period. They loved a Borromini style recess and protrusion coupled with a bright and cheerful render. I think that is perhaps the most pronounced element of Spanish Baroque, the facades are airy and maximise the power of the Mediterranean sun. The effect of light on these buildings produce a sense of awe much akin to the mission of the baroque style: to impress and intimidate. The cupola's either side of the hilariously magnified pedestal on which the equally as funny tiny pediment sits remind me of Wren's St Paul's. The style is not solely baroque though, although most certainly a large quantity of it is(the exaggerated-ness of it definitely gives the building an overwhelming sense of the baroque), it also has elements of the rococo and neoclassical.

 

The architect responsible for the design was Vicente Acero, who also produced the designs for the cathedral in Granada. The designs were drafted almost two whole centuries after the 13th century cathedral that originally stood there had been burnt down. Like Granada's cathedral the outcome strayed slightly from the original design due to the time scale in which it was completed. This accounts for the neoclassical and rococo elements.

The cathedral contains much of its past within it, in the form of relics and such. Not only that, it also represents churches in the area, with parts of their collection having been amassed over the years from their neighbouring places of worship.

 

If you recall me mentioning rococo, here it is. Serpentine columns and an abundance of different materials, textures and colours used at the same time.

 

 

Two very different pulpits. The first is the kind you find in the larger, more important cathedrals and the bottom is more of a modest one that you might find in your local parish church.

 

 

The beautiful neoclassical dome strung out on pendentives. You can kind of see the netting beneath it. This netting covered almost all of the roof and if you looked close enough you could see big chunks of plaster caught in them. Really sad that its so delicate, it obviously needs a lot of attention.

 

 

The entrance into the crypt.

 

The photos below are of the crypt where important figures from Cadiz have been buried. Most notably Manuel de Falla, a famous composer.

 

Looked Dali-ish to me

 

Very purrdy

Will have to visit again

 

Florence top 5

#5 Boboli Gardens
Beaut in the summer. These gardens belong to the Pitti Palace, the former residence of the Pitti family before the Medici's made it their summer house. Entry can be solely to the gardens or with entry to the Palace and galleries. Cutest place ever, but you need some good shoes if you want to make the most of it. Good value for money and literally a stones throw away from the Ponte Vecchio.

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#4 San Miniato al Monte
A gorgeous Romanesque church right on top of a hill in Florence. Lovely views, and neighbours a grave yard which houses the massive tombs of rich Floretian families from back in the day (and now). It is a good place to go because of the views and because the church begins to show hints of the proto-renaissance style. Florence is obviously the center of the Renaissance but it's cool to see where the Renaissance came from in the first place! If you time it right, then you will be able to catch the monks singing too which is a scary but unique experience. The name supposedly derives from the name of a saint of whom had his decapitated head rolled up the hill to its final resting place.





#3 Santa Croce
Santa Croce translates into English as the 'Holy Cross'. It is a church dedicated to the Story of the True Cross - where Helena, the mother of the first Christian Emperor of Rome Constantine searches for the cross that Jesus was crucified on. The story is illustrated in Fresco in the main chapel opposite the main entrance. I am unsure of whether the conservation work is yet complete but it's worth a look. What is more, the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo reside here too, alongside the dining room in the convent of the church with the Last Supper by Taddeo Gaddi. If you happen to be in Florence during the Christmas season there is a lovely German inspired Christmas market in the Piazza outside of it too.










#2 Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio was the government house for the brief republic that thrived during the expulsion of the Medici. Needless to say, once they came back in the early 16th century they were not too pleased and held a public execution of the head of the republic (Savonarola) in the middle of the Piazza della Signoria to send the message that they are a force to be reckoned with. Moreover, for those who lurve a good old Dan Brown style conspiracy then the Hall of 500 inside of this building is where there is a supposedly lost Leonardo Da Vinci drawing. My lecturer out there was actually on a research team of whom had found evidence that there was Leonardo's very identifiable pigment behind the Vasari Fresco. Famously behind the Italian phrase 'cerca trova' - he who searches shall find. Outside is also a collection of sculptures both around the perimeters of the building and under the Loggia dei Lanzi. If you're rich as well then you should book the tour of the secret Medici pathway that runs from the Pitti Palace, through the Ponte Vecchio and ending at the Palazzo Vecchio. If you're not rich, like the most of us, then en route to the Pitti Palace you will come across a simple church to your left (if you're coming from the Ponte Vecchio), the entrance is free and once you enter, turn around and look up. The small window is part of the passage way, so that the people using the passage could admire the inside of the church. Once you've seen that, you'll be able to notice the path that the passage way takes: It weaves in and around already built buildings. And Robert Langdon went there.
P.S, if you like art and Florence then I 100% recommend Dan Brown's Inferno - I have never been so excited by a book before!!







#1 Gilded Doors of the Battisero di San Giovanni
It seems as if most people pay more attention to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in the Piazza del Duomo than they do the Baptistery. The doors though deserve more attention because a) they are beautiful and so intricately carved b) they single handedly represent the transition from proto-renaissance to renaissance better than any museum or gallery could and c) because Dan Brown's Robert Langdon hid in there! The doors have been shifted around a bit so that the doors that face the door of the Cathedral (east) are now the Doors of Paradise, when really they were not in the central position to begin with. It is only when they were completed that the patrons decided that Ghiberti's doors deserved to be where they are now. It was originally Pisano's design that resided in its place but has since been moved to the south side of the Baptistery. The first doors were finished in 1336 by Pisano, Ghiberti then completed the second set of doors by the 1420's and then after their success began the long journey to complete the spectacular Doors of Paradise. They deserve a visit, and more than a superficial glance. However, these doors have recently been duplicated and the originals stored in the cathedral museum behind the cathedral for preservation, which is fairly pricey to enter.