There are so many old buildings, but rather than letting them fall into ruin or preserving them as exact replicas, they are melded into amazing juxtapositions of old buildings with ultra-modern extensions, additions and upgrades.
Today's museum visit was a case in point, to the San Telmo Museum of Basque history and art. Half of the museum is an old monastery with cloisters and a beautiful, now deconsecrated, church. As part of the old building, and compelled integrated, is an ultra-modern building, of concrete and glass and polished wood. It works, it's bright, and light, and quirky as anything. Spot the plants growing out of the concrete building.
In the old church, there are some great artworks, depicting maritime scenes form previous centuries, but all painted in the 1920's and 30's. Each hour, there's a sound and light show, where the story of San Sebastián is projected onto various walls of the church with a narrative, using different parts of the church to capture different parts of the history. This then was followed by a beautiful piece of music, as the backgroud to another light show, broadcast on different walls, depicting the important issues for the city - environment, tolerance, human rights ... it was beautiful, and while no longer a consecrated site, the space felt very special.
As another example, the sculpture park I visited yesterday was a park, set around a headland, paved over to provide a public space ( very well used yesterday) with large sculptures set in place and various levels of paving set to enhance the natural rock structure. The whole place is called "The Wind Comb", so the wind is figuratively straightened as it comes into the bay. See yesterday's pictures as well as this one. There is a blending of natural features, public space, and artworks, that I've rarely seen elsewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment