Nara is the capital city of Nara Prefecture located in the
Kansai region of Japan. Nara was the capital of Japan from 710 to 794, lending
its name to the Nara period.
Tōdai-ji or Eastern Great Temple, located in the city of
Nara, is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven
Great Temples. Todai-ji , is a complex of buildings that includes the world's
largest wooden structure, and the main hall houses the colossal bronze Buddha
statue .
Buddhism’s influence grew in the Nara era during the reign of Emperor Shomu and his wife,
Empress Komyo who fused Buddhist doctrine and political policy—promoting
Buddhism as the protector of the state.
In 741, reportedly
following the Empress’ wishes, Emperor Shomu ordered temples, monasteries and
convents to be built throughout Japan’s 66 provinces under the jurisdiction of
the new imperial Todai-ji to be built in the capital of Nara.
The vast temple at Todaiji was constructed as a symbol of
imperial power, and took over 15 years to complete at great expense. Emperor
Shomu’s motives to build Todai-ji temple on such an unprecedented scale seem to
have been a mix of the spiritual and the pragmatic: in his bid to unite various
Japanese clans under his centralized rule, Emperor Shoumu also promoted
spiritual unity.
Todai-ji would be the chief temple of the monastery system
and be the center of national ritual. Its construction brought together the
best craftspeople in Japan with the latest building technology. It was
architecture to impress—displaying the power, prestige and piety of the
imperial house of Japan.
On the centre of this Buddhist temple, you will be able to
find the biggest statue of Great Buddha, or Daibutsu, made of bronze. The
height of the statue is reaching 15 meters and weighs 500 tons.
The Buddha is seated with the palm of his right hand
extended forward. This gesture means "fear not" and “conversion of
jealousy and envy” into all-accomplishing wisdom.
Deer, regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto
religion, roam the grounds freely. According to legend a mythological god,
Takemikazuchi, arrived in Nara on a white deer to guard the newly built capital
of Heijokyo.
The deer that populate Nara are Sika deer or spotted deer
and are also known as bowing deer because they often times bow their heads
before being fed.
You will find a lot of deer and you can also feed them if
you want, but you need to buy the food first.
Kinkaku-ji which means Temple of the Golden Pavilion is a
Zen Buddhist temple located at the foot of the gently-sloping Kinugasa Hill,
northern Kyoto, Japan. The Temple’s top two floors are
completely covered in gold leaf. The image of the temple richly adorned in gold
leaf reflects beautifully in the water of Kyokochi, the mirror pond.
The Pavilion, that constitutes of Kinkaku-ji,
gardens and other buildings, is said to be designed to realize Buddhist
paradise on the earth. The Pavilion's first purpose was to serve the retiring
Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as a residence. Yoshimitsu was a one of the most powerful
persons during the Muromachi period of Japan. He created a solid political foundation
of Muromachi shogunate and restored the relation between Japan and China. The
Pavilion was turned into a Zen temple after Yoshimitsu’s death in 1408, and
continues to function as a temple of sacred relics.
The first floor of the Pavilion is in the
Japanese palace style and was used for Noh plays or Japanese classical dance
drama. The second floor is in the samurai style and was used for composing
poetry. This floor is built in the Bukke style used in samurai residences.
Inside is a seated Kannon Bodhisattva, as the goddess of mercy Kannon helps
people who are in distress. The third floor is in the old Chinese style and was
used for meditation.
The roof is in a thatched pyramid with
shingles. The building is topped with a bronze phoenix ornament. In Japanese
mythology the Phoenix brings goodwill as it descends from the heavens and is
typically shown sitting on top of a gateway to a Shinto shrine. This ornament adorns
the roof of the Kinkaku-ji Temple, it is a symbol of an imperial household.
From the outside, viewers can see gold
plating added to the upper stories of the Pavilion. The gold leaf covering the
upper stories hints at what is housed inside: the shrines. The outside is a
reflection of the inside. The elements of nature, death, religion, are formed
together to create this connection between the Pavilion and outside intrusions.
The garden complex is an excellent example of
Muromachi period garden design. The Muromachi period is considered to be a
classical age of Japanese garden design. The correlation between buildings and
its settings were greatly emphasized during this period. It was a way to
integrate the structure within the landscape in an artistic way. The garden
designs were characterized by a reduction in scale, a more central purpose, and
a distinct setting. A minimalistic approach was brought to the garden design,
by recreating larger landscapes in a smaller scale around a structure.
“Akira-san”, I said, “ I must confess that your movies
Throne of Blood and Ran introduced me to Shakespeare. The stories are
compelling, tragic and dark but you masterfully expressed it in the cinemas, in
black and white and in color. In Ran, which is an adaption of King Lear, the
dark , cruel world is expressed in cinematic beauty, highlighted by the colors
of the traditional costumes and the color of blood. Is this more or less how
you see the world?”
Akira-san:
“Tragedy is part of Japanese life which has been frequented
by by earthquakes, tsunamies and wars. The Kanto earthquake was a terrifying
experience for me, and also an extremely important one. Through it I learned
not only of the extraordinary powers of nature, but extraordinary things that
lie in human hearts. The Edogawa river had raised its bottom and showed new
islands of mud. The whole district was
veiled in a dancing, swirling dust whose grayness gave the sun a pallor like
that during an eclipse. The people who stood to the left and right of me in
this scene looked for all the world like fugitives from hell, and the whole
landscape took on a bizarre and eerie aspect. I stood holding on to one of the
young cherry trees planted along the banks of the river, and I was still
shaking as I gazed out over the scene, thinking, "This must be the end of
the world."
I said:
“ In the Throne of Blood, which is an adaption of Macbeth,
there is a scene with the piles of human skeletons forming little mountains. Is
this how it looks like in the aftermath of the Kanto earthquake?”
Akira-san:
“When the earthquake had died down, my brother Heigo brought
me to look at the ruins. The burned landscape for as far as the eye could see
had a brownish red color. It looked like a red desert. In the conflagration
everything made of wood had been turned to ashes, which now occasionally
drifted upward in the breeze. Amid this expanse of nauseating redness lay every
kind of corpse imaginable. When I involuntarily
looked away, Heigo scolded me, "Akira, look carefully now." I failed
to understand my brother's intentions and could only resent his forcing me to
look at these awful sights. The worst was when we stood on the bank of the
red-dyed Sumidagawa River and gazed at the throngs of corpses pressed against
its shores. I felt my knees give way as I started to faint, but my brother
grabbed me by the collar and propped me up again. He repeated, "Look
carefully, Akira." I resigned myself to gritting my teeth and looking.
Later he said "If you shut your eyes to a frightening
sight, you end up being frightened. If you look at every-thing straight on,
there is nothing to be afraid of." Looking back on that excursion now, I
realize that it must have been horrifying for my brother too. It had been an
expedition to conquer fear. “
I said:
“You once said that your brother Heigo has a great influence
in your interest in cinemas. How did he influence you? “
Akira-san:
“Heigo was a professional silent-film narrator. The
narrators not only recounted the plot of the films, they enhanced the emotional
content by performing the voices and sound effects and providing evocative
descriptions of the events and images on the screen— much like the narrators of
the Bunraku puppet theater. The most popular narrators were stars in their own
right, solely responsible for the patronage of a particular theater. Under the
leadership of the famous narrator Tokugawa Musei, a completely new movement was
under way. He and a group of like-minded narrators stressed high-quality
narration of well-directed foreign films.
In matters of both film and literature I owe much to my
brother's discernment. He was addicted to Russian literature. But at the same
time he wrote under various pen names for film programs. He wrote in particular
about the art of the foreign cinema, which was much promoted following the
First World War. I took special care to see every film my brother recommended.
As far back as elementary school I walked all the way to Asakusa to see a movie
he had said was good.”
I said:
“What happened then when the cinema transitioned silent
movies into sound movies?”
Akira-san:
“As the silent films went out, so did the need for the
narrators, and Heigo's livelihood was struck a terrible blow. At first all
seemed well because by this time my brother was chief narrator at a first-run
movie house, the Taikatsukan in Asakusa, where he had his own following.
Then it had now become clear that all foreign movies would
henceforth be sound movies, and theaters that showed them decided as a
universal policy that they no longer needed narrators. The narrators were to be
fired en masse, and, hearing this, they went on strike. My brother, as leader
of the strikers, had a very difficult time.”
I said:
“As what has happened, the transformation of cinema is
inevitable, from silent to sound, from black and white to colors, and from
celluloid to digital.”
Akira-san:
“In the midst of this, one day we heard of my brother's
attempted suicide. I believe the cause was his painful position as leader of
the narrators' strike, which had failed. My brother seemed to be resigned to
the fact that narrators would no longer be needed when film technology
progressed to the point of including sound. Since he knew it was a losing
battle, the fact that he had to accept the leadership of the strike must have
been indescribably painful for him.”
I said:
“ Didn’t he told your mother that he would die before he
reached the age of thirty?”
Akira-san:
“My brother had always said that. He claimed that when human
beings lived past thirty, all they did was come uglier and meaner, so he had no
intention of doing so. I had made light of my brother's words, but a few months
after I had assuaged my mother's fears in this way, my brother was dead. Just
as he had promised, he died without reaching the age of thirty. At twenty-seven
he committed suicide.”
I said:
“Some people said you're just like your brother. But he was
negative and you're positive. You have made good black and white as well as
good color movies, you are the first Japanese movie director receiving
international acclaim.”
Akira-san:
“That time Japanese films all tend to be rather bland in
flavor, like green tea over rice. I watched a woman read a book throughout the
Japan home-grown movie. Japanese films have lost their youth, vigor and high
aspiration. Movies . . . look like the work of tired, old men, who make petty
judgments, have dried-up feelings, and whose hearts are clogged.”
I said:
“Your first international acclaim is
Rashomon which received Golden Lion in Venice Film Festival in 1951. Set in 11th
century Japan, a time of fire, earthquake, pestilence, banditry, war. A period
when the country’s central government were being undermined by the growth of
political and military powers. There were rebellions, fires, earthquakes and
violent crime in the capital city. It was a period where it appeared to be the
end of the law, and the country is on the brink of disaster.
The movie opens at the Rashomon Gate,
the main gate to the city of Kyoto. The gate is in ruins, and so is the city as
well. The rain in black and white
gashing down the Rashomon Gate paints a bleak picture of the world. The destroyed
gate, its apparent grand scale and strong foundation reduced to utter ruins. The
clothing of the men is ragged, dark, dirty
and wet.”
Akira-san:
“The film goes into
the depths of the human heart as if with a surgeon’s scalpel, laying bare its dark complexities and
bizarre twists. These strange impulses of the human heart would be expressed
through the use of an elaborately fashioned play of light and shadow. Light and
shadow, represents not only good and evil, but also rationality and
impulsiveness. The introductory section in particular, which leads the viewer
through the light and shadow of the forest into a world where the human heart
loses its way, was truly magnificent camera work by Miyagawa Kazuo.”
I said:
“The story and the
characters are interesting, involving various characters providing subjective,
alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same murder
incident. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, you reveals the
complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the
story of a samurai's murder and the rape
of his wife.”
Akira-san:
“Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about
themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing. This script
portrays such human beingsthe
kind who cannot survive without lies to make them feel they are better than
they really are. The characters deceive even themselves; they refuse to face or
acknowledge the truth because they fear it. The commoner’s standpoint is that all men and women are like
this, and it is a property of mankind to lie and embellish reality even to
itself. As the priest said, if men dont
trust each other, this earth might as well be hell.”
I said:
“ At the end there is the scene of an abandoned
baby whom was crying loudly. At first we
did not understand how did this baby arrive at Rashomon gate, out of the blue. Later I found from readings that other than
being a place to abandoned corpses the Rashomon gate also became known as a
place where people abandoned unwanted babies. Then I can appreciate that this scene is not
as out of place as some people thought.”
Akira-san:
“We see the
Woodcutter accept the abandoned infant to take the child home to be cared for,
although he is poor and already has 6 children. This symbolizes the man
choosing to do what’s good. This is important because the Woodcutter for the
entire film to this point has merely stood by, choosing not to be a participant
in what he sees, “I didn’t want to get involved”, he says. By choosing to take the
child he gives hope to the priest that man is good and that the world does not
belong to the selfish.”
This is an imaginary interview in memory of Akira Kurosawa.
Source: “Something Like an Autobiography” by
Akira Kurosawa
Mount Fuji is 3,776 meters high and is the
highest mountain in Japan. With
unrivaled magnificence and a beautiful cone shape, Mt. Fuji has often been
selected as the subject of paintings and literature. It is a volcano that has been dormant since its last eruption, in
1707, but is still generally classified as active by geologists. Mount Fuji's
exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is
frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers
and climbers.
Mt. Fuji has an image of being snow-capped,
but actually it's not covered in snow all year round. Usually, the snow melts
in the summer and you can see the surface. Mt. Fuji usually starts being
covered in snow in late September to early October, and the peak of the
snowfall is from March to May.
In Japan, there has been a culture to
respect a mountain as a spiritual spot since old times. Mount Fuji has been a
sacred site for practicers of Shinto since the 7th century. Shinto is the
indigenous spirituality of Japan. From the old days, many people worshipping
and practicing Shintoism have been visiting this Komitake shrine, located at the 5th Station of Mt. Fuji.
It is said that Mt. Komitake was a mountain
that existed before Mt. Fuji of today, and that this Komitake shrine was
established as a place to pray more than 1000 years ago.
Komitake and Ko-Fuji (Old Fuji) became a
base and erupted repeatedly, which formed the present figure of Mt.Fuji. In 937, Fujisan Komitake Sharing was located and the Komitake Shrine constructed on the peak of
Komitake Mountain as the sacred place of the mountain faith.
At 2,400 meters the 5th station is the highest
starting point to climb Mount Fuji, and it connects to a trail which is the
shortest route to the top. Populated with several shops, cafes, a temple, a
couple of observation decks and a post office, the station has the feel of a
small village. You can thoroughly enjoy the magnificence of Mt. Fuji by just
looking at the beautiful sight and its surrounding environment close at hand in
all seasons without having to climb all the way to the top.
Roppongi Hills is a development project in Tokyo and one of
Japan's largest integrated property developments, located in the Roppongi
district of Minato, Tokyo. Constructed by building tycoon Minoru Mohri, the
mega-complex incorporates office space, apartments, shops, restaurants, cafés,
movie theatres, a museum, a hotel, a major TV studio, an outdoor amphitheatre,
and a few parks.
The centerpiece is the 54-story Mohri Tower. Mohri's vision
was to build an integrated development where high-rise inner-urban communities
allow people to live, work, play, and shop in proximity to eliminate commuting
time. He argued that this would increase leisure time, quality of life, and
benefit Japan's national competitiveness. Seventeen years after the design's
initial conception, the complex opened to the public on April 25, 2003.
The first six levels of Mohri Tower contain retail stores
and restaurants. Roppongi Hills features more than 200 shops, cafes and restaurants.
Most shops specialize in fashion, accessories, interior design and household
goods, while restaurants offer a wide array of Japanese and international
cuisine.
The top six floors house the Mohri Art Museum and the Tokyo
City View with panoramic views of the city. A new exit from Roppongi Station
empties into a glass atrium filled with large television screens and
escalators, as well as several shops and restaurants. The rest of the building
is office space.
Large open spaces have been built into the design of
Roppongi Hills. About half of the area consists of gardens, pavilions, and
other open spaces. A small oasis of greenery between the tall buildings of
Roppongi Hills, the Mohri Garden is built in the style of a traditional
Japanese landscape garden complete with a pond and trees. The garden has a
number of cherry trees that make it a nice spot to enjoy the cherry blossom
season in late March and early April. The Mohri Garden is a part of a lost
mansion that housed members of the feudal Mohri clan.
By night, Roppongi becomes Tokyo’s most foreigner-centric
nightlife spots, a center of late-night hedonism and fun. Bars, pubs, clubs and
restaurants jostle for attention among the bright lights, giving visitors in
search of a good time options the whole night.
Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the Sensō-ji, a
Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other
temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the Sanja Matsuri.
For many centuries, Asakusa used to be
Tokyo's leading entertainment district. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), when
the district was still located outside the city limits, Asakusa was the site of
kabuki theaters and a large red light district. In the late 1800s and early
1900s, modern types of entertainment, including movie theaters, set foot in
Asakusa.
The complex resembles the Edo-period site,
with several imposing gates, including the Kaminarimon or the Thunder Gate,
with its iconic giant red lantern, and a five-story pagoda. The giant red
lantern is 4 meters tall, 3.4 meters in circumference and weighs 670 kilograms.
The front of the lantern displays the gate's name, Kaminarimon. Painted on the
back is the gate’s official name, Fūraijin-mon. A wooden
carving depicting a dragon adorns the bottom of the lantern.
The Asakusa temple is dedicated to the
bodhisattva Kannon. According to legend, a statue of the Kannon was found in
the Sumida River in the year 628 by two fishermen, the brothers Hinokuma Hamanari
and Hinokuma Takenari. The chief of their village, Hajino Nakamoto, recognized
the sanctity of the statue and enshrined it by remodeling his own house into a
small temple in Asakusa so that the villagers could worship Kannon.
Every year on a weekend in mid May, a
festival takes place in the Asakusa area , called the Sanja Matsuri. It is one
of Tokyo’s most popular festivals. It is held in celebration of the three
founders of Sensoji Temple, who are enshrined next door to the Sensoji Temple
in Asakusa. Its prominent parades revolve around three mikoshi (portable
shrines), as well as traditional music and dancing. The procession of Sanja
Matsurifor the three mikoshi, begins from
Nakamise-Dōri towards the Kaminarimon. These three elaborate shrines honor and
represent the three men responsible for founding the Sensō-ji. During this
final day of the festival, thesethree
important mikoshi are split up in order to visit and bestow blessing to all 44
districts of downtown and residential Asakusa.
Nakamise Dori is a shopping street that
runs from the Kaminarimon right up to the Senso-ji Temple. Around 90 stores
line up along the 250 meter long strip, transforming this street into the prime
shopping spot in Asakusa. Nakamise Dori is one of the oldest shopping streets
in Japan.
Various products are sold here, such as Japanese
chopsticks, wooden combs, fabrics, dolls,
art products and traditional Japanese snacks.
Further down between Asakusa and Ueno there
is Kappabashi-dori, also known just as Kappabashior Kitchen Town, a street which is almost
entirely populated with shops supplying the restaurant trade. These shops sell
everything from knives and other kitchen utensils, mass-produced crockery,
restaurant furniture, ovens, and decorations, through to esoteric items such as
the plastic display food (sampuru) found outside Japanese restaurants.
If you’re after some reasonably priced
traditional pottery, kitchen utensils, sake or tea sets, chopsticks or knives, you
won’t leave disappointed.
Tokyo is officially known as a "metropolitan
prefecture", which differs from and combines elements of a city and a
prefecture, a characteristic unique to Tokyo. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous
metropolitan area in the world.
The Metropolitan area of Tokyo is a cultural hub bursting
with historical traditions versus the relatively new cities’ buildings and huge
shopping obsession.
With over 13,000,000 people Tokyo is known as one of mega cities in the
world. Many people commute from neighbor cities to Tokyo. During the daytime,
the population swells by over 2.5 million as workers and students commute from
adjacent areas.
In Tokyo, there are 49 buildings and structures that stand taller
than 180 metres. Skyscrapers are a relatively recent phenomenon in Japan. Due
to Tokyo's location on the Pacific and Eurasian tectonic plates, it is prone to
earthquakes. This caused many of the buildings to be lower in height than those
of major cities of its size.
However, this fact has not deterred Tokyo from building
skyscrapers, and the modern-day city boasts more high-rise buildings than just
about any other city in Asia - possibly even the world. Engineering is a key
feature of Tokyo's skyscrapers, taking precedence over height and beauty.
Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower in the
Shiba-koen district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan. At 332.9 metres, it is the
second-tallest structure in Japan. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired
lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air
safety regulations. Built in 1958, the tower's main sources of income are
tourism and antenna leasing. Over 150 million people have visited the tower.
At the center of Tokyo, the Tokyo Imperial Palace is located
as the primary residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area
located in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains buildings including the main
palace, the private residences of the Imperial Family, an archive, museums and
administrative offices.
It is built on the site of the old Edo Castle. The total
area including the gardens is 1.15 square kilometres. The modern palace is designed
by Japanese architect Shōzō Uchii and was completed in 1993. The Palace
complexcontains buildings including the
main palace and other buidlings. The palace is surrounded by a water-filled moat and
tree-covered grounds - a precious taste of nature within the bustling
metropolitan city.
I sat with Leonardo in a sunny afternoon
in a café in Milan, at the Piazza Mercanti (Market Square). The square dates
back to the 12th and 13th centuries and was the commercial centre of the city.
Various traders, such as bakers, cobblers, and tailors conducted their business
here. Leonardo, as usual was in his dandy
style and his perfumed air, wearing a rose-pink tunic.
He seemed at ease with himself, sipping
his cappuccino.
I asked him:
“ The first thing people want to know is
about the Mona Lisa painting. People are not sure who she actually is, who is
she?”
Leonardo:
“She is Lisa, a Florence born woman whom
married in her teens to a cloth and silk merchant who later became a local
official, she was a mother to five children and led a comfortable ordinary
middle-class life. You can see her clothing is rather simple and ordinary and her
gown,the scarf around her neck does not
indicates her aristocratic standing.”
I said:
“Mona Lisa is very famous for her smile.
But there are people who see her faint smile as a sad smile.”
Leonardo:
“I painted it by using the “sfumato”
technique which translated means ‘without lines or borders, in the manner of
smoke’. In this technique I did not use
an outline, but used different tones and
shades of paint to create an illusion oflight and shadow. Starting with dark undertones I built the illusion of
three-dimensional features through layers and layers of thin semi-transparent
glazes. You used darker shades to highlight features and borders of the
subject.”
I said:
“Probably because of this sfumato
technique both the eyes and the mouth were prominent features. When the viewer
looks at the eyes, the mouth falls under the viewer’s peripheral vision and
therefore the features of the mouth are not clear, this along with a little
shading at the cheek bones make the mouth look like a smile. But once the
viewer focuses on the mouth, the smile disappears, as it was not meant to be a
smile.”
Leonardo:
“That is probably why some people see
her smile as a sad smile.”
I said:
“ Aside from paintings you are also well
known for your ideas on engineering, anatomy, geometry, and other scientific
observations of nature.
You once presented King Francois of
France with one of your robotic lions.It was an amazing feat of engineering, it moved its head, shook its tail
and opened its jaws. When François was invited to tap the lion with his sword,
its body opened to reveal a mass of lily flowers. Considering the technology
available to you, the lion was nothing short of a miracle. “
Leonardo, talking a bit proudly:
“I also told Ludovico Sforza, the Duke
of Milan, that I can share my secrets of my war machine inventions, I can
construct bridges which are very light and strong and very portable with which to
pursue and defeat an enemy... I can also make a kind of cannon, which is light
and easy of transport, with which to hurl small stones like hail... I can
noiselessly construct to any prescribed point subterranean passages — either
straight or winding — passing if necessary under trenches or a river... I can
make armored wagons carrying artillery, which can break through the most
serried ranks of the enemy. In time of peace, I believe I can give you as
complete satisfaction as anyone else in the construction of buildings, both
public and private, and in conducting water from one place to another. I can
execute sculpture in bronze, marble or clay. Also, in painting, I can do as
much as anyone, whoever he may be.”
I said:
“Bravo, but you are also known as a slow
painter and notorious for leaving your
work unfinished, like “the Virgin and Child with St Anne”, “St Jerome in the
Wilderness”, “The Adoration of the Magi” and the Bronze Horse commissioned by
Ludovico Sforza. Your reputation for not finishing things meant that you no
longer received big commissions.”
Leonardo:
“Details make perfection, and perfection
is not a detail. For instance, experience shows us that the air must have
darkness beyond it and yet it appears blue. If you produce a small quantity of
smoke from dry wood and the rays of the sun fall on this smoke, and if you then
place behind the smoke a piece of black velvet on which the sun does not shine,
you will see that all the smoke which is between the eye and the black stuff
will appear of a beautiful blue colour. And if instead of the velvet you place
a white cloth smoke, that is too thick smoke, hinders, and too thin smoke does
not produce, the perfection of this blue colour.”
I said:
“ It seems that you love nature very
much. The Mona Lisa painting has a natural landscape background, there is a
winding road and a bridge. The landscape seems wild and there is uninhabited space of
rocks and water which stretches to the horizon, at the level of the Mona Lisa's
eyes.”
Leonardo:
“Nothing originates in a spot where
there is no sentient, vegetable and rational life; feathers grow upon birds and
are changed every year; hairs grow upon animals and are changed every year,
excepting some parts, like the hairs of the beard in lions, cats and their
like. The grass grows in the fields, and the leaves on the trees, and every
year they are, in great part, renewed. So that we might say that the earth has
a spirit of growth; that its flesh is the soil, its bones the arrangement and
connection of the rocks of which the mountains are composed, its cartilage the
tufa, and its blood the springs of water. The pool of blood which lies round
the heart is the ocean, and its breathing, and the increase and decrease of the
blood in the pulses, is represented in the earth by the flow and ebb of the
sea; and the heat of the spirit of the world is the fire which pervades the
earth, and the seat of the vegetative soul is in the fires, which in many parts
of the earth find vent in baths and mines of sulphur, and in volcanoes, as at
Mount Aetna in Sicily, and in many other places."
I said:
“ You are also known to love animals
very much, you even questioned the morality of eating animals when it was not
necessary for health. The mere idea of
permitting the existence of unnecessary suffering, still more that of taking
life, was abhorrent to you. Giorgio Vasari told us how when in Florence you
passed places where birds were sold you would frequently take them from their
cages with his own hand, and having paid the sellers the price you would let
them fly away in the air, thus giving them back their liberty.”
Leonardo, his face glowing:
“Aside from that, I was also
thinkingabout how to make a flying
machine learning from the movement and the configuration of the bird’s wings. What
are the differences in air pressure above and beneath a bird’s wing, and how
might this knowledge enable man to make a flying machine?
The flying machine must imitate no other
than the bat, because the web is what by its union gives the armour, or
strength to the wings.
If you imitate the wings of feathered
birds, you will find a much stronger structure, because they are permeable;
that is, their feathers are separate and the air passes through them. But the
bat is aided by the web that connects the whole and is not permeable.”
I said:
“The Last Supper was painted literally
hundreds of times throughout art history, by different artists in different
styles. Your Last Supper is seen more natural and dynamic than the rest. Judas is
fully included in the group, rather than separated, and the figures are engaged
in lively interaction.”
Leonardo:
“It is the moment after Jesus said ”One
of you shall betray me…”.
The painting shows the emotions of love,
dismay, and anger, or rather sorrow, at the apostlesfailure to grasp what Jesus means. Bartholomew who was drinking and has
left the glass in its position and turned his head towards Jesus. James,
twisting the fingers of his hands together turns with stern brows to Andrew. And Andrew, with his hands spread open
shows the palms, shrugs his shoulders up his ears making a mouth of
astonishment. Thomas thrusts himself with finger extended as if to prod Jesus to
explain himself more clearly. Peter speaks into John's ear and as John
listens to him, Peter holds a knife in one hand. Judas is grasping a small bag of the 30
pieces of silver he has been paid to betray Jesus and hasknocked over the salt pot - another symbol of
betrayal. Philip is asking “Lord, is it I?”Jesus replies, “He that dippeth his hand with
me in the dish, the same shall betray me”.We see Jesus and Judas simultaneously reaching toward a plate that lies
between them, even as Judas defensively backs away.”
I said: “ Thanks Leonardo for the chat, I see
you would be remembered in history as “The epitome of a Renaissance man”.
This is an imaginery interview in memory
of Leonardo da Vinci.
Milan Duomo is the cathedral church of
Milan, Italy. It is dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente (St Mary of the Nativity).
It is the most impressive structure in Milan. Standing tall in Piazza del
Duomo, it took more than 600 years to build. The front facade of the Duomo was
completed only in the 19th century.
This cathedral is a genuine Gothic
masterpiece with more than 3,500 statues of saints, animals and monsters, and
135 towers stretching towards the heavens.
The roofline dissolves into openwork
pinnacles that are punctuated by a grove of spires, topped with statues that
overlook the city. The main spire is 109 meters high. These can all be
investigated up close on a breathtaking walk on the roof.
The most famous of the statues on the roof is
the Madonnina (Little Madonna), a copper statue of the virgin Mary covered with
3900 pieces of gold leaf. It was cast in 1774 by goldsmith Giuseppe Bini and
sculptor Giuseppe Perego. The statue, four meters and sixteen centimeters tall
, was placed on top of the cathedral's tallest spire.
The Duomo's most imposing element, the
front façade facing Piazza del Duomo, was completed in the 19th
century. The façade is baroque up to the first order of windows, and neo-Gothic
above. The five ornated bronze doorways provide a magnificent entrance to the
Duomo. Each of the five bronze doors was
sculpted by a different artist. The central one is the oldest and was decorated with
floral Gothic reliefs by Ludovico Pogliaghi. The panels on the doors depict
episodes in the lives of the virgin Mary, Saint Ambrose (patron of Milan) and
Saint Charles Borromeo, as well as scenes from the history of Milan and the
construction of the cathedral.
The inside of Milan's Duomo is expansive
and magnificent. There are five large naves divided by fifty-two pillars - one
for each week of the year - that support the cross vaulted ceiling.
Above the apse (the arched part above the
altar) there is a spot marked with a red lightbulb. This marks the spot where
one of the nails of Jesus’ crucifixion was placed.
The American writer and journalist Mark
Twain one time visited Milan and the Duomo, he was very impressed by the Duomo
and describes it in his travel book “Innocents Abroad” as follows:
“What a wonder it is!
So grand, so solemn, so vast!
And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful!
A very world of solid weight, and yet it
seems ...a delusion of frostwork that might vanish with a breath!... “
The monument of Leonardo da Vinci by sculptor Pietro Magni
is located at the center of Piazza della Scala in Milan. The Piazza is
connectedwith Piazza Duomo by the
shopping mall Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
Leonardo da Vinci worked and livedin Milan in the 15th century at the Sforza
Castle, under the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza.
His job was to take care of the cultural life and the arts
at the court of Milan. During this period, Leonardo da Vinci was busy with
inventions, the expansion of the canal system and the construction of locks as
well as the study of man. During his time in Milan, he also created the famous
mural painting "The Last Supper".
The Last Supper is contained in the church Santa Maria delle
Grazie in Milan, which is displayed in the dining hall of the convent. It was
painted on the northern wall ofthe
dining hall for the Dominican monks. It measures fifteen by twenty-nine feet.
It stands whole as of today, except for the construction of a doorway in 17th
century, eliminating the lower central area of the painting. Leonardo da Vinci
set the long dining table at stage center in this room, with Jesus at the
center surrounded by the 12 apostles.
It is said that the look of every apostle was based on a
real-life model. When it came time to pick the face for the traitorous Judas
(fifth from the left, holding a bag of telltale silver), da Vinci searched the
jails of Milan for the perfect looking scoundrel.
During world war 2 the Allied bombers struck and heavily
damaged the Church. The Dining hall was razed to the ground, a few of the walls
survived, including that of the Last Supper, as it had been reinforced prior
with sandbags.
The Last Supper, which miraculously survived the Allied
bombing, suffers from other problem which are due to Leonardo’s experimental
technique, which deteriorated the painting faster than expected.
Careful treatment of the extremely delicate paint layer
restored the painting hidden colours. The church and convent have been the
object of continuous restorationfrom
the 1990s onwards, following a unified conservation strategy.
The church Santa Maria delle Grazie was originally
commissioned by the Dominican Order to Guiniforte Solari for their monastery.
Solari designed a beautiful structure in a late Gothic style, which was
completed in 1490.
Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, decided that the church
Santa Maria delle Grazie would be a perfect burial place for him and his wife,
and in preparation asked Donato Bramante to remodel the church. Bramante
rebuilt the apse and crowned it with a magnificent sixteen-sided drum in
Renaissance style.
Both the interior and exterior of the church show an
interesting combination of Gothic and Renaissance styles. The sober brick facade
was designed by Guiniforte Solari while the Renaissance-style entrance is
attributed toDonato Bramante.
The central nave and aisles are magnificent examples of late
Gothic architecture. It features elegant pointed arches embellished with
delicate frescoes. The Renaissance style is less decorated and seems almost
sparse in contrast.Along the aisles are a number of chapels, many of which are
beautifully decorated with frescoes.
The church and convent has been included in the UNESCO World
Heritage sites list.
Milan is the capital of
Lombardy region, and the second most populous city in Italy after Rome. It is
the leading financial centre and the most prosperous manufacturing and
commercial city of Italy. In the Renaissanse
period, Milan was a large city with extensive territory, and it was rich. Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan from 1494
to 1499, made Milan the most splendid not only in Italy but in Europe , with
lavish but enlightened patronage of artists and scholars. Leonardo da Vinci and
the architect Donato Bramante were among the many artists, poets, and musicians
who gathered in Milan. Ludovico presided over the final and most productive
stage of the Milanese Renaissance, and he is probably best known as the man who
commissioned The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Ludovico also sponsored
extensive work in civil and military engineering, such as canals and
fortifications. One of the main tourist
attraction of Milan is the Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle) which was built by Ludovico’s father,
Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the
remnants of a 14th-century fortification. Extensively rebuilt in 1891–1905, it
now houses several of the city's museums and art collections.
The castle has a
quadrangular plan, site across the city's walls. The wall which once faced the
countryside north to Milan has square towers and has an ogival gate. This was
once accessed through a drawbridge.
The central tower of
the castle is dedicated to King Umberto I, who was assassinated 5 years
earlier.The central tower is designed and decorated by the sculptor and
architect Filarete, so the tower is named after him, Torre del Filarete.
Just a few minutes walk
from the Milan Duomo, there is a square called Piazza Mercanti or Market
Square. The square dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries and was once the
commercial centre of the city. Various traders, such as bakers, cobblers, and
tailors would conduct their business here.
Adjacent to the Castello Sforzesco there is large park named Sempione Park. It has an overall area of 38
hectares, designed by the architect Emilio Alemagna. The park is nicely laid
out in a landscape style with winding paths, open grassy areas, tall trees and
a picturesque bridge across a central pond.
The Sempione Park was
established in the 17th century filled with oak and chestnut trees
as well as exotic animals. After the Spaniards
conquered Milan, the park was converted to crops. Later under Napoleon's rule,
the park was once again convertedto its
original use and given back to the locals.
After World War 2, a
real estate company lobbied for the conversionof the Park to residential buildings. However, a strong opposition from
the local population allowed this park to be preserved the way we see it today.
