25 January 1778 Sunday
Vases, Candelabra, Grave Stones, Sarcophagi. Tripods, Lamps and Ancient Ornaments volume I
Ancient marble vase of great size found in Villa Adriana.
To Signor Guglielmo Patoun, an English Knight and a lover of the fine arts
In Act of Obsequio Il Cavalier Gio: Batt(ist)a Piranesi D. D. D.
In the series of Knights, who possess genius and taste in the liberal arts, this work must include Mr. Cav. Grenville. Among the various selected pieces of antiquity he purchased during his stay in Rome in the year 1774, one is the present ancient vase in marble of large size, found in the year 1769 in Villa Adriana by Mr. Gavino Hamilton, English painter on the site. known as Pantanello, today owned by the noble Lolli family of Tivoli. This Vase is particular for its beautiful ornaments, and in particular for the Handles, the judicious Sculptor having employed in them four scaly marine Fishes, the Tails of which are grafted with the Trunks of Vine in a mass of ben' grouped Leaves; from which depends the bizarre invention of the said Handles, and the branching around the Vase of many interweaving of Branches, from which hang various Bunches of Grapes, and Pampani. Here and there among those Branches are some winged Genj in graceful attitudes arranged with Grapes and Pampani in both hands; which with other different friezes form a well-ordered and rich embellishment to the whole body of the vase. Antiquities, and a fireplace designed by the same author, adorned with various marbles and metals; which shall be situated in Stow Villa in England, Place of Delight of my Lord Temple. Here the Vase is superimposed on an ancient Marble Pulvinar, which, given that it is not known which Deity, Image, or truly other Symbolic Figure it supported, renders the Meaning of its Ornaments uncertain and obscure, but otherwise its Sculptures are of excellent fashion. Tal Pulvinare today is found in England.
Cav. Piranesi F.
25 January 1812 Saturday
Morning thick with fog, calm. Therm. 36°. The fog continued till late PM. Therm. rose to 43. When the fog vanished the form of the higher clouds indicated a probable wind from NNW. S & SL came hither about 5 PM. He brought me the paper of the day containing a long letter from the Secr. of the Treasury to the Committee of Ways and Means, the substance of which one would suppose to be sufficient to rouse a nation to a sense of our state, empty treasury, to owe 10 million and ..... serving[?] the war, new taxes to pay the interest vs. what is the war to produce?!
25 January 2001
AD[vocating] PUBLICITY
Virtual architecture can be many things, and not necessarily something facilitated by the internet. Virtual architecture that is facilitated by the internet, however, should reasonably utilize whatever the internet has to offer. There can be representation and there can be presentation. Virtual architecture can represent the world as we know it or it can present something other than the world as we know it. Personally, I think it more challenging and design-wise more stimulating to use virtual architecture facilitated by the internet to try presenting something other than what is already available.
Because I focused on creating an 'other than what is already there' museum I learned that collecting and exhibiting digital data only begets more and more and more digital data, i.e., I found myself with a[n architectural] collection that is virtually infinite. This virtual infinite characteristic comes from the intrinsic mutable nature of digital data. As an architect, I now see a virtual architecture challenge in now trying to design a virtual museum [of] architecture that matches the virtual infinity of its collection.
Engaging the intellect
Given your example's of architecture that engages the intellect and the notion that the most rewarding architecture "challenges the intellect and keeps its secret a mystery," isn't the Great Pyramid of Egypt then the most "rewarding" architecture of them all?
25 January 2006
The Beginning of a Semester, or Some Meditations on...
Enrique, my mother was working as cook at the Baron von Ow villa in Harlaching when the Allies first bombed Munich. Harlaching, a wealthy neighborhood, seemed to be one of the targets, maybe because Rudolph Hess's (empty?) villa was just around the corner from the von Ow's. January two years ago I asked my mother to tell me all about the experience. Franziska Baroness von Ow, the daughter and youngest son, the upstairs maid and my mother huddled in the basement, while Konrad Baron von Ow and the two older sons were outside--did the Baron maybe have a rifle with him? One of the houses down the street toward Theodelinden Platz was badly hit. My mother remembers carrying blankets for the Baroness as they, and the whole neighborhood actually, went down to aid the victims.
25 January 2015
Horti Luciliani with other plans implanted
25 January 2023 Wednesday
The new hospital bed was delivered two days early. Assembly of the new bed and disassembly of the old bed took just under three hours. Thankfully, things are back to normal again.
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