Norway’s capital city is famous for Vigeland Sculpture Park. Rightly so, for the park featuring 212 sculptures of celebrated visionary Gustav Vigeland has long been one of the country’s leading free tourist destinations.
12.04.2024 - 16:29 / lonelyplanet.com / Jane Austen / Art
From Moorish monuments and Roman ruins to Gothic gargoyles and modern marvels, these cities have glorious design masterpieces.
Ask people to rattle off Andalucía’s architectural knockouts and Granada and Seville invariably make the grade. Less hyped but just as Moorish is Córdoba. You’ll never forget the moment you first lay eyes on the 8th-century Mezquita (Great Mosque). Passing the fountain-splashed, orange tree–shaded Patio de los Naranjos courtyard, once the site of ritual ablutions before prayer. The minaret rising up to offer sweeping city views. Then the main event: the astonishing maksura, with its skylit domes, star-patterned stone vaulting and arches forming a forest of interwoven horseshoe shapes. Pinging you back to an age when Córdoba was capital of the Muslim kingdom of Al-Andalus, this is one of Europe’s most brilliant Islamic jewels.
But since Córdoba has four UNESCO World Heritage sites, the Mezquita is just the tip of the cultural iceberg. The city’s real magic unfolds when you slip away from the crowds and dive into the medieval centre’s maze of cobbled lanes, strolling past wrought-iron balconies, potted plants, flower-draped patios, hidden plazas and ornate buildings of golden stone. Other Moorish beauties include the remains of the Medina Azahara, a lavish palace-city built by Caliph Abd ar-Rahman III in the 10th century for his favourite wife, Az-Zahra. Brimming with fish ponds, fountains, orange trees and flowers, the terraced gardens of fort-turned-palace Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos are also a delight to stroll.
The pomp and ceremony of high society and the grace of Georgian architecture mix and mingle in Bath, a refined vision of limestone along the banks of the River Avon in Somerset, England. This easy-on-the-eye city whisks you back to the 1800s in streets that look ripe for a bodice-ripping period drama. Indeed, many scenes in TV romance Bridgerton were filmed here, while novelist Jane Austen called the spa town home from 1801 to 1806.
Parade around the show-stopping Royal Crescent, a grand semicircle of magnificent overlooking Royal Victoria Park, designed by John Wood the Younger (1728–82), then pop into No 1 for an insight into the razzle-dazzle of Georgian life. Inspired by Rome’s Colosseum, The Circus is another of Wood’s unmissable masterpieces. Famous past residents include Thomas Gainsborough, Clive of India, David Livingstone…and the actor Nicholas Cage.
Bubbles drew fashionable folk to Bath in the first place. Attracted by its 115°F (46°C) hot springs, the Romans first arrived in the place some 2000 years ago, and built a spectacular bathhouse dedicated to the healing goddess Sulis-Minerva. Rewind time at the Roman Baths, one of the world’s best-preserved
Norway’s capital city is famous for Vigeland Sculpture Park. Rightly so, for the park featuring 212 sculptures of celebrated visionary Gustav Vigeland has long been one of the country’s leading free tourist destinations.
The 60th edition of the art extravaganza that’s the Venice Biennale runs until 24 November at the two main venues Giardini and Arsenale. as well as countless offsite locations, official and unofficial. There are 88 National participations this year, with four countries participating for the first time: Republic of Benin, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, and Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. Here are eleven of the must see country pavilions.
The creations of Arizona-born Orlando Dugi, a member of the Diné Nation, are nothing if not dramatic: gowns glittering with delicate beadwork, silks embroidered with symbolic flora and fauna. Some have been exhibited at places like the Denver Art Museum and the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. While his imagination is fueled by his upbringing—days spent watching his grandmother sew and nights stargazing at his family's sheep ranch—Dugi also finds inspiration in Santa Fe, which he's called home since 2010. “All the tribal, colonial, and Spanish history—it's all here,” he says. “It's very small, but it's also pretty international.” New Mexico's capital city is set to draw a global audience as host of the inaugural Santa Fe Native Fashion Week, the first of its kind in the country, held from May 2 to 5, where Dugi will present highlights from his mens- and womenswear collections. When he's not designing, he enjoys connecting with Indigenous culture on the ancestral lands of the Tewa people—or kicking back with a margarita.
I absolutely love Italy, for many different reasons. But I hate the way in which many Americans go about planning trips there. Survey after survey shows it is the number one dream destination for U.S. leisure travelers, but the way those travelers get their information and advice gives me nightmares.
As a travel writer, one of my greatest loves is experiencing a new country, region, or city with my son. But one place has always been our favorite: London.
For a harried mom, the recipe for a perfect Mother’s Day is undivided time with her loved ones without the hassles of waking up early, cooking, and doing dishes.
UN Tourism has partnered with the European Committee of the Regions for a comprehensive study of the significant impact and potential of tourism in fostering socio-economic development in rural areas.
The Venice Biennale is renowned for tackling weighty and complex themes from nationalism to climate change. But that doesn't mean all the works on show are sombre or obscurely conceptualized. This year, dozens of contributions to what is known as the 'Art Olympics' are joyous, celebratory and spectacular to look at.
Lonely Planet editor, Alex Butler, recently traveled to Georgia. Here, she shares some tips and insights for anyone planning a similar trip.
Much to the astonishment of some of my friends and family, I traveled to Israel on a seven-night press trip, returning home on April 8, less than a week before Iran launched its attack on the country.
Lyme Regis’s charms have always been resolutely genteel and old-fashioned, from its sedate regency seafront to its fondness for fossil shops and all things antique and literary.
Hopie Stockman Hill and Grier Stockman grew up in an old farmhouse in a sylvan pocket of New Jersey. They played in wheat fields, craggy apple orchards and dense forests; built birdhouses and painted murals. The sisters’ childhood, spent merging art with nature, inspired their latest wallpaper collection from Block Shop, their textile, art and design studio, which combines a breezy California aesthetic with Indian printing and weaving techniques. The seven new patterns, which are printed on paper, fiber and grass cloth, include a peony motif that’s a homage to the blooms their mother grew, while also referencing the Austrian Wiener Werkstätte designer Dagobert Peche. “We envisioned an Anne Bancroft-esque grande dame with a sky-high collection of art books, listening to ‘Madama Butterfly’while harvesting her beets,” says Stockman Hill, the CEO and creative director of the studio. “These are the wallpapers you find in her home.” The Block Shop store, which opened in Los Angeles’s Atwater Village neighborhood this past December, further extends the sisters’ canvas with a harmonious blend of color and texture. A bronze snail door handle greets you on the way in, while the shelves are brimming with Apuglian splatterware dishes, rare books on décor and semi-fine jewelry, as well as the brand’s signature textiles.