This post is in response to Weekly Photo Challenge: Rare
I just bought a book named ” Architecture Without Architects.” By Bernard Rudofsky, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1965. It is a very good book, providing a backdrop in understanding about Vernacular Architecture. It is easy-to-read with lots of B&W pictures. This book is recommended by the Professor of this class that I am taking:Vernacular Architecture of Asia: Tradition, Modernity and Cultural Sustainability. The class is offered by https://www.edx.org/
To my surprise and delight, I recognized from the old picture in this book, a place that we passed by in our Eastern Europe trip in 2013. One picture on page 77 has nearly the same angle as the first one I am attaching here. Compare this with the Black and White one from the book (the last picture attached here). All the buildings are exactly the same. The town is called Telč.
This place is described under “Arcades” in this book. The word “Arcades” here means “altruism turned architecture –private property given to an entire community. “ The author said: “This old Moravian town of Telč in what is now called Czechoslovakia consists mainly of two monumental blocks of patrician houses bordering the town square on one side and the lake on the other. Thus each one has an urban and a pastoral part, the latter ending in a garden. The town square (which is anything but square), forms the only thoroughfare. The entire length of its perimeter is covered by arcades.”
In the Lonely Planet, a popular tour book, it described Telč this way:
“The Unesco-protected town of Telč, perched on the border between Bohemia and Moravia, possesses one of the country’s prettiest and best-preserved historic town squares. Actually, we can’t think of another that comes close! The main attraction is the beauty of the square itself, lined by Renaissance and baroque burgers’ houses, with their brightly coloured yellow, pink and green facades. Spend part of your visit simply ambling about, taking in the classic Renaissance chateau on the square’s northwestern end and the parklands and ponds that surround the square on all sides. Telč empties out pretty quickly after the last tour bus leaves, so plan an overnight stay only if you’re looking for some real peace and quiet.”
We only stayed there for an hour or so for lunch and toilet!
Go and visit this place when you happen to be in that area. It was not very exciting when we were there but after attending this class, I found more interests in knowing about this place and the architecture here. I am quite excited and have just shared with all my sisters who were my travel mates at that time.
Keep on traveling and learning, my friends!
To those who are interested to learn something new, check this out:
It is free. The teachers are professors from top universities around the world. The students are from every part of the world. You can communicate with the teaching team and the students through discussion online. There are many courses you can choose from. But you need to work hard, study, take the exams, do all the assignments!
Why am I doing this? Just for fun! Well, I passed!!