17.4.10

Beautiful Mess

Not far from where I live, there's an amazing old building. In nearly every respect, it's a tumbled-down dilapidated gem. But it has one thing in common with masterpieces of classical sculpture, the kind that demand a strange sort of pilgrimage walk, a circumnavigation so that it can be viewed from every angle. One does this because the sculpture, or the old building in this case, rewards you for going to the effort. Every angle reveals or conceals something worth seeing, and it's the totality of these views that gives the full impression of it.

Museums generally have exactly this sort of viewership in mind. They enable you. Sculptures stand on pedestals placed where you can walk all the way around--not in corners or against a wall behind a velvet rope. No.

But crowded city architecture is a different matter, and necessarily so. It isn't possible for most buildings to be set apart and alone. Often more than one side will be blocked completely or perhaps the structures were simply built too near each other to allow a decent view.

This bulding was special because I was able to walk all the way around, to see it from every side. It was on the alley-way side of this beautiful mess that I took the picture you see here.

8 comments:

  1. What a fantastic blog you have here. I've just browsed through it and I am impressed to see such a great blog from what the world perceives to be such a dangerous place.

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  2. Beautiful indeed, this mess speaks volumes.

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  3. A great "messy" portrait of a wonderful building with character, history and surely lots of stories!

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  4. Oh, you write like an angel - straight from the heart.

    Decadence and delapidation have a mesmerising beauty, as does this pink.

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  5. The shadows and the view through the windows really catch my attention. Thank you!

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  6. very cool. I love your description of art as we see it in museums compared to the "art" that can be found in more common places. In Venice Derek was taking pictures of the art found in museums and on church walls and I was after the beauty of the city itself.

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  7. Sara, I can't wait to see pictures from your travels. Hope you'll post soon!

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  8. I enjoy reading your blog as much as I enjoy your pictures. I've only recently discovered it, but have found I am intrigued by Beirut through your eyes. Thanks.

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