The Tadeusz Pavilion, four by four room by Erwin Heerich, Insel Hombroich, Neuss, Germany, 2025

‘Passing through the formative processes of nature and then stepping into the buildings, you will find the specifically human power of design – that is, art.’
Erwin Heerich

Upon the suggestion of the founder of Stiftung Insel Hombroich, the sculptor and draughtsman Erwin Heerich (1922–2004) translated his terse geometric sculptural and drawn works into the architectural plane. Ten walk-in sculptures came about as museum buildings for Museum Insel Hombroich, with an exterior of reclaimed hand-made, fired Dutch brick. The upper part of the Tadeusz Pavilion, named after the painter Norbert Tadeusz, houses my favorite room which is usually kept empty as it’s perfect in itself. Emptiness fills the space while the space is empty.

For more than thirty years a unique cultural location of international significance has been evolving between Düsseldorf and Cologne, near the city of Neuss. Hombroich is a museum, an artists’ workplace and a landscape, a place for architecture and for events in art, literature, philosophy and music all in one.
The Museum Insel Hombroich was opened in 1987 as a realisation of the collector Karl-Heinrich Müller’s concept of art in parallel to nature in an ideal museum and landscape space. The pavilions house his significant collection of art and artefacts spanning two thousand years, with the emphasis on the Modern period.

To me personnaly The Tadeusz Pavilion encompasses everything architecture should be.

#architecture #contemporaryart #blackandwhite #tv_simplicity #archiporn #heerich #sculpture #inselhombroich #blackandwhitephotography
#contemporaryphotography #bnwphotography #architectlovers #bnwphotography #architectlovers #contemporaryart #geometricalsculpture #abstractsculpture #light #schadow #lightandshadow #contrast #empty #emptiness

West facade of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Reims, Reims, France, 2021

A prominent example of High Gothic architecture, Reims Cathedral was built to replace an earlier church destroyed by fire in 1210. Although little damaged during the French Revolution, the present cathedral saw extensive restoration in the 19th century. However, it was severely damaged during World War I and the church was again restored in the 20th century.
Since the 1905 law on the separation of church and state, the cathedral has been owned by the French state, while the Catholic church has an agreement for its exclusive use. The French state pays for its restoration and upkeep.

The West facade, the entry to the cathedral, particularly glorifies royalty. Most of it was completed at the same time, giving it an unusual unity of style. It is harmonic and balanced, with two towers of equal height and three portals entering into the nave. The porches of the portals, with archivolts containing many sculptures, protrude from the main wall. The two bell towers were originally planned to have stone spires rising 120 m (390 ft) up in the air and making them three times taller than the nave, but they were never finished. Currently the towers measure 81 m (266 ft) in hight. Since 1027 all but seven of France's future kings were crowned at Reims Cathedral.

#church #cityphotography
#bnwphoto #bnwphotography #gothicarchitecture #gothic #gothicart #gothicstyle #blackandwhitephotography #architecture #archtecturephotography #city #bnwphotography #bnw #notredamereims #reims #tower #oldchurch #churchtowers

Crypt of the Cathedral of Saint-Cyr-and-Sainte-Julitte in Nevers, France, 2021

A crypt (from Latin crypta "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi or religious relics. First known in the early Christian period, in particular North Africa and Byzantium, churches were often built over a Mithraic temple, erected in classical antiquity by the worshippers of Mithras. Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation and communal ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those "united by the handshake". They met in an underground temple, the so called Mithraeum. This Mithraeum was either a natural cave or cavern, or a building imitating a cave, that was adopted by the early christian builders to serve as a crypt for the newly build church above.

In antiquity the Mithraeum primarily functioned as an area for initiation, into which the soul descends and exits. The Mithraeum itself was arranged as an "image of the universe". It is noticed by some researchers that this practice, especially in the context of mithraic iconography, seems to stem from the neoplatonic concept that the "running" of the sun from solstice to solstice is a parallel for the movement of the soul through the universe, from pre-existence, into the body, and then beyond the physical body into an afterlife.

#colorphotography #streetphotographymagazine #streetphotography #nevers #mithras #crypt #contemporaryphotography #romanesquearchitecture #architecturephotography #colorfull #church #amazingarchitecture #devine #light #heavenlylight #romanesque #solstice #architecture #colourphotpgraphy #cathedral #underground #romanesquechurh #colorful #humanity #door #stairs

My dear mother (aged 82), Museum Langen Fondation, Neuss, Germany, 2023.

None of us know how much time we have but, interestingly, time is relative, depending on its observer rather than an immutably fixed constant everywhere in the universe. Our perception of time is especially influenced by our own perspective: Are we living in the moment or looking backward on time? It’s also influenced by our memory of past experiences. As we get older the rate at which we process experiences slows down and thus time seems to “speed up”. The many and often new things young children have to do in a day contribute to their notion that time is more plentiful. Therefore, when looking back, time may feel slower. This can apply to adults, too. When we look back on a time period that was filled with lots of new and exciting things we see a large expense of events and memories. They make it seem like time stretches out. Looking back on fewer moments that have past, the less rich your own representation is, the more it’s going to seem like time went by quickly. Thus, how we process what we experience and see influences how we view time. Not introducing new patterns into your life, can make you feel like time is going by much quicker overall.

The whole concept of “time being of value” only has meaning for living, breathing, thinking and feeling beings. Afterall, a universe with nothing living in it would have nothing of value in it because there would be nothing to appreciate that value itself. Hence, life is the sufficient and necessary condition for anything of value. I think the trick is to make life an adventure - be it in your imagination, in real life or both - not tedious and unimaginative.

#architecture #mother #blackandwhite #tadaoando #langenfoundation #inselhombroich #blackandwhitephotography
#contemporaryphotography #contemporaryart #bnwphotography #architectlovers #minimal #minimalarchitecture #concrete #neuss

Time lapse photograph of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, Maincy, France, 2021

Built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe. At Vaux-le-Vicomte, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André Le Nôtre and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked together on a large-scale project for the first time. Their collaboration marked the beginning of the Louis XIV style combining architecture, interior design and landscape design. The garden's pronounced visual axis is an example of this style.

When visitng the chateau last weekend it was turned into an enchanting and fairytale-like castle with thousands of sparkly and colorful lights. It is christmas festivities like these that add an excessive garishness or sentimentality to an already lavish but perfectly balanced piece of baroque architecture. This extra layer of extravagance enables one to get some idea of what it must have been like for people back in the day to lay eyes upon the chateau for the very first time during the festivities of its grand opening in 1661.

As so often is the case with my work, this photograph wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the inspiring music of Jean Michel Jarre, - especially his 45 minute track “Waiting for Cousteau” - and Nils Frahm - in particular his brilliant live performance of “Says”.

#colorphotography #movement #streetphotography #chateau #contemporaryart #movement #modernphotograph #colourphotography #amazing #moving #spacetime #minimalzine #baroquearchitecture #architecture #timelapse #architectureporn #colorful #vauxlevicomte #baroque #jeanmicheljarre #chateaudevauxlevicomte #nilsfrahm
#architecture #buildings #visitfrance

Nineteenth century bronze statue of a male nude in the gardens of Powerscourt Estate (Irish: Eastát Chúirt an Phaoraigh), located in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland.

The male nude in art is not as often talked about as its female counterpart. However, apart from being idealized and easy on the eye, the male body in art is full of history and has undergone a host of fascinating transformations over the past 2000 years. The establishment of Art Academies across Europe from the sixteenth through to the eighteenth century had a big impact on the male nude. Not only did these academies bring along a very regulated, classicised style, but life drawing and sculpting was seen as a central element of artistic education and an eye for realistic bodily structure was valued. Furthermore, as the Academies favoured grand classical and historical subjects, the male nude often pops up as a young, strong, masculine, heroic character. Looking at todays modern culture and the male body image it presents to us nothing much seems to have changed since then.

Never the less, seeing and experiencing real nudity was rare during the prudish 19th century. At first, nudes invaded the public space through neoclassical and academic art to the detriment of reality. Moreover, social conventions also allowed women to unveil some parts of their body but only in specific cases. Yet, we know little about nudity in private spaces or practices, including sexual activity or washing oneself. In fact, nudity was probably experienced in marginal places such as brothels, the privacy of ones bedroom and in the spaces of a new somatic culture such as beaches, barracks, or gyms.

#sculpture #arthistory #bronzestatue #bronze #classicalart #statues #anatomy #realisticsculpture #femalebody #malenude #malenudity #male #humananatomy #statue #classicalart #architecture #powerscourt #sensual #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #contemporaryphotography #contemporaryart

The synagogue of Ulm, Germany, 2023.

The Jewish symbol of the Star of David is used to create patterned windows in the limestone walls of the synagogue in Ulm, Germany. The town's original synagogue was torn down in 1938 as part of the Kristallnacht, or "night of broken glass", a series of attacks on Jewish community buildings within Nazi Germany. After World War II, a secular building was constructed where the old synagogue once stood. The current synagogue was reinstated right beside the site of its predecessor, in the middle of the square. It is as though the synagogue has taken a step forward from its former position, reclaiming its location. Both a synagogue and a Jewish community centre are contained within the cubical structure, which stands apart from the surrounding buildings. With no constructed borders, it stands abrupt and solitary recalling the building of the first temple.

When Solomon was building his temple to God, there was to be no noise. The stones were to be hewn in the quarry and brought to the place of construction. One of the stones was the largest stone ever taken out of a quarry. It’s a miracle of engineering that without the use of earth moving machinery, the Israelites were able to haul this enormous cubical stone to the temple site and set it in place. Once there, the builders weren’t sure what to do with it. It didn’t seem to fit anywhere in the blueprints for the temple. So, the builders pushed it over the temple mount into the Kidron Valley and there it lay. Later, they realized their mistake and hauled it back up again. They placed it in the foundation of the temple and it remains on the western wall of the temple mount to this day.

#streetphotography #synagogue #contemporaryphotography #colorphotography #abstractphotography #modernism #stars #window #windows #minimalism #modernarchitecture #arcitecture #newphotography #jewish #starofdavid #symmetry #corner #tempel #religion #temple #salomon #colorphotography #colourphotogrphy

My dear wife Loes walking underneath a railroad bridge, Passage du Sablon, Metz, France, 2019.

Railroad bridges are usually made of either stone, concrete, steel or timber. Nearly all of the North American, South American and Asian railroad bridges were built of either steel or timber. In Europe, Russia and parts of China, timber was almost never used but concrete and stone were quite prevalent. The simple arch bridge not only is the most beautiful and spectacular of all railroad bridge types but it is also the most perfect form for handling the heavy load of a train since the materials in the bridge are always in compression. Arches are shaped into some form of either a semicircle or a segmental. If the arch is made of steel, hinges are often located at the two springing points to relieve temperature related expansion and contraction stresses.

#architecture #contemporaryart #building #blackandwhitephotography #railroad #bridge #metz #blackandwhite #contrast #lightandshadow #bnw #bnwphotography
#contemporaryphotography #contemporaryart #architectlovers #architectlovers #newphotography #beautifullight #light #lightandshadows #walking #citysidewalk #railroadbridge #monochrome

Stairs leading from the terrace into the gardens, also known as a Grand Parterre, at the Château of Chantilly, France, 2016.

The Château of Chantilly and its gardens hold a special place in my heart. It is where I got down on my knees back in the summer of 1997, presented my then girlfriend with a ring and proposed. She accepted and we got married the two years later. And we still are.
The Château of Chantilly is comprised out of several buildings, each of which is a testament of its time. Yet, the total doesn’t look like a collection of individual buildings but rather presents itself as a ‘whole’. The entire building is a continuity of shape and form whilst at the same time it willingly expresses its collage nature, thus stating, however subtle, a distinction between old and new, between tragic past and majestic present, between that what ones was and things yet to come. The château embodies the passing of time in the most elegant way possible. Over the centuries constructing, destroying, reconstructing and remoddeling all seem to have constituted a building that couldn’t have been build in any otter way. In these turbulent and confusing times that to me somehow is a very comforting and hopeful thought.

#chateauchantilly #bnw_rose #stairs #blackandwhite #tv_simplicity #chateaudechantilly #blackandwhitephotography #contemporaryphotography #instatravel #bnwphotography #bnwmood #minimalzine #9minimal #gottolove_bnw #bnw_switzerland #7bnwcreation_1day #building #bnwphotography #stairsonstairsonstairs #contemporaryart #newphotography #gf_bnw #raw_bnw #city_in_bnw #buildings #bnw_epic #bnw_of_the_world #architecture