The Trevi Fountain is a - if not the - baroque masterpiece. Found in the very centre of Rome, Italy, its gaudy extravagance has wowed tourists since 1762.
The fountain marks the end of the Acqua Vergine, the aqueduct that replaced the ancient Roman Aqua Virgo.
It took over a century for the fountain to go from paper to stone. In 1629, Pope Urban VIII set out to build a new city fountain, but it was in 1730 under Pope Clement XII that construction began.
Thirty years and two popes later, it was finally finished.
It's baking here. Roman summers are notoriously hot. Let's get out of the sun and find the fountain. Stay on this slide and point & click to explore the streets.
There it is, you can't miss it! Let's take a closer look...
Four different sculptors were hired to complete the fountain's decorations: Pietro Bracci, Filippo della Valle, Giovanni Grossi, and Andrea Bergondi. Their designs combine practicality and symbolic power into one powerful artwork.
The sculptures describe the 'taming of the waters'. Mythological Tritons guide the seashell chariot of Oceanus, father of the river gods, which is pulled by half-fish, half-horse hippocampi. The raging waters of nature tumble into the calm pool of civilisation.
Rome, the 'eternal city', is filled with historic monuments, such as the ancient Roman Pantheon. Take some time out and wander around the city. Thanks for joining us!
Mount Fuji is not only Japan's highest mountain (at 3,776.24m) but also its spiritual centre. There are 25 shrines and temples to be found on its slopes, and the mountain's iconic silhouette and snow-capped peak is now recognised around the world as a symbol of the nation itself.
Click the arrows to take the Fujinomiya trail up the mountain. It's the shortest route up, though not the easiest. But this means it's not the busiest path - which makes it perfect for a challenging day trip. Set aside 5-7 hours for the 3.7km ascent.
Take a moment to admire the view - we're already so high up - but don't forget the geology and flora of the mountain. As an active stratovolcano, Mt Fuji is made from layers of volcanic ash and rocks. At this altitude, hardy plants grow on the steep, mist-soaked slopes.
About an hour's walking will take you to the Goraikou-sanso mountain hut. Above the low clouds, the landscape here is a little more desert-like, with dry, red rocks and little vegetation. The hut here offers a respite from the hard climb, save your energy, there's far to go.
At the Mannenyuki-sanso hut, we're truly high above the clouds. The air is getting drier, windier, and colder, you may even see the first signs of snow. The altitude may be beginning to affect you here, so why not take a break and have a warming tea.
The scene is unreal, it's like the surface of Mars. Step carefully, the summit isn't far.
The last station, we've made it.
We're standing on the rim of the crater. Banks of snow remain in the shaded parts of the landscape.
As you walk around the rim, you'll climb the Hasshin-po, the Eight Sacred Peaks - an extra challenge, if you have it in you.
It seems remarkable, but if you do walk along the crater rim, you'll find the Fujisan-cho Post Office, the highest post office in Japan. You can send postcards with special stamps and postmarks to your friends and family, right from the top of the mountain.
Thanks for joining this tour of the sights of Mt Fuji. If you'd like to learn more about the mountain and its significance in Japanese culture, you can read about the work of Hokusai, whose famous book 36 Views of Mt Fuji has captivated viewers for over a century. Domo arigato!
An expedition to discover the art and architecture of this famous French palace.
About 16 km southwest of Paris, Château de Versailles was originally built by Louis XIII as a hunting lodge. In 1661, Louis XIV began transforming Versailles into an opulent palace, and during his reign it became the official seat of Royal power. Louis XV and Louis XVI reigned from here, and both also made changes to the palace. After the French Revolution brought an end to the monarchy, Versailles fell into disuse. Today, it serves as a museum.
The restrained garden facade—the palace’s “back”—exhibits characteristics of the classical architecture of the time, with very little decoration. The nearly flat face, the ordered ranks of windows, and the structure’s symmetry were meant to convey power and authority.
The 3-story palace features arched windows on the ground floor and first story. Regularly spaced bays extend out from the facade on the ground floor and bear 1st-floor columns. Above the attic story, an ironwork balustrade lines the flat roof.
The palace sits on a broad, deep terrace with water parterres on either side of a wide central walkway. Created by landscape architect André le Nôtré, these pools reflect sunlight onto the facade of the palace and into its rooms.
Below the garden facade terrace is the Leto Basin, a pool with a central fountain featuring the Titan goddess Leto. Connecting the Leto Basin and Grand Canal is the Tapis-Vert, or green carpet, a stretch of grass lined with statues.
Completed in 1686, the Hall of Mirrors—la Galerie des Glaces in French—is located in the central block of the palace on the back, or garden side. Originally an open gallery, it was enclosed by architect Hardouin-Mansart and decorated by Charles Le Brun. During the residencies of the 3 King Louis, the 73-meter-long hall was used primarily as a meeting place. In 1745, Marie-Antoinette danced here at a ball celebrating her wedding to the future Louis XVI.
Opposite each of the hall’s 17 arched windows is a mirror of the same shape and size, all reflecting light cast up at them from pools on the terrace outside. Each mirror is actually comprised of many mirrors—357 in total.
In homage to Louis XIV’s nickname, the Sun King, the Hall of Mirrors’ barrel-vaulted ceiling is hung with a series of crystal chandeliers that glitter with reflected light from the mirrors. The chandeliers originally bore candles, but are now electrified.
The Hall of Mirrors ceiling is covered by paintings framed by ornate, gold-leafed plaster moldings. The cartoons, or drawings, for the paintings were created by the palace’s chief decorator, Charles Le Brun, and celebrate the early accomplishments of Louis XIV.
Adjoining the Hall of Mirrors is a sitting room, The War Salon (Salon de la Guerre). Its marble walls are decorated with gilded bronze carvings showing emblems of the king, trophies, shields, and thunderbolts.
In Louis XIII’s time, the room that eventually became the King’s Chamber, or bedroom, was a reception room. Where the bed stands now, windows provided a view of the gardens. Louis XIV had the room closed off to serve as his bedchamber. Each morning, a crowd of courtiers would watch as he was washed, shaved, and dressed in a ceremony known as the First Levee. At night, the king’s retirement to bed—the Coucher—was also witnessed.
At Versailles, the Royal Family lived on public view, and the king essentially slept on a stage behind a gilded railing. Favored courtiers attended the king morning and night in his bedchamber—a coveted sign of high status.
Sumptuous fabrics served as status symbols in 17th-century France and you’ll see a rich, colorful brocade used throughout the chamber. Louis XIV employed his own textile weavers, but the fabric you see today is a 1980 copy of the original.
Projecting from the wall above the bed is a relief carving by the sculptor Nicolas Coustou called France Watching Over the King’s Sleep. It depicts the nation of France as a woman with scepter and shield.
If you look toward the ceiling, you’ll see a narrow “shelf” or cornice that runs all the way around the room. Above the cornice on 2 facing walls are 6 paintings, all showing the influence of the Italian painter Caravaggio.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was fashionable for the very rich in France and other European countries to have orange trees, other fruit trees, and exotic shrubs native to warmer climates. The trees and shrubs were grown in boxes, which could be brought inside during the cold months. “Inside” was an orangery. These were covered, heated buildings, unlike later glass greenhouses and conservatories. The orangery at Versailles is among the world’s most famous.
Architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed and built Versailles’ orangery from 1884 to 1886. Entry is not permitted, but inside is a vast, empty space beneath a high, barrel-vaulted (arched) ceiling. This unheated orangery’s walls are thick enough to keep out frost.
A parterre is simply a level area in a garden. Designed by André Le Nôtre in symmetrical fashion, the orangery parterre has a round pool surrounded by 6 beds, each planted with grass—not flowers—in an ornamental pattern.
The Baroque-style Parterre du Midi, or Flower Parterre is a parterre de broderie: the flower beds lined with closely trimmed hedges and the paths that cut through them form a complicated pattern resembling an embroidery pattern.
Dotted amidst the grounds and gardens of Versailles are 15 groves, or open-air lounges, designed by the château’s master gardener André Le Nôtre. These are green spaces where the king and members of his court gathered to dance or be entertained, or just to relax. The Ballroom Grove was also known as the Rocaille Grove. The French rocaille means rubble or loose stones. In garden design, a rocaille, or rockery, is a structure made of loose stones.
The Ballroom Grove’s rockery is actually a formal stone fountain, where water cascades down 8 levels and jets into the sky at the base. It was fed by water pumped from the River Seine at Marly-le-Roi about 9 km away.
At the base of the fountain is the “island,” a circular, open space used as a dance floor. Dances in the time of Louis XIV were highly choreographed and included the minuet, the gavotte, and the bourée.
Surrounding the island is the amphitheater, made up of circular tiers of seats planted with grass for comfort. Though aristocrats wore extravagant clothing made from silk, satin, velvet and lace, they nevertheless sat on the grass seats.
The Hercules Salon in the King’s Grand Apartment is 1 in a set of 7 interconnected rooms (or enfilade), where each room follows 1 after another, their connecting doors exactly aligned. The king and select courtiers paraded through these rooms en route to the palace’s chapel. Louis XIV intended the Hercules Salon to be a showcase for the Feast of the House of Simon, a gift from the Republic of Venice in 1664. Louis XV used it as a ballroom.
The Hercules Salon is adorned with 3 important paintings. Above the fireplace, a work by Veronese depicts the Bible story of Rebecca at the Well. Italian painter Paolo Veronese was a dominant force in the development of the Renaissance style.
A 2nd Veronese painting, the Feast in the House of Simon, hangs on the wall opposite the fireplace. The 1572 masterpiece depicts the Bible story in which Jesus bestows forgiveness on a sinful woman, demonstrating charity and goodness.
The room’s namesake masterwork, François Le Moyne’s Apotheosis of Hercules, covers the entire ceiling vault and was finished in 1736 after 3 years of work. A restoration of the painting, completed in 2001, took 13 restorers 2 years of work.
The term "instrument" comes from the Latin for "device" or "tool," and is a word that can be used in many ways. Optical instruments, for example, are used to survey the sky and explore the universe. Acoustic instruments, on the other hand, produce sounds. This is a short journey through the worlds of astronomy and music.
Observing the universe has fascinated people since the beginning of time, but it was only in the era of Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler that it became possible to see the stars up close with the aid of telescopes. Over the centuries, telescopes became increasingly precise. The Very Large Telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory, for example, can focus so sharply that in theory it could distinguish the 2 headlights of a car on the moon.
There was great interest in exploring the universe in the early 17th century. Scientists such as Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler built large refracting telescopes. Here is a model which the Ansbach court astronomer, Simon Marius, was said to have used to find Jupiter's moons.
Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel (1738–1822) wasn't just a gifted musician but also an important astronomer. In 1781 he discovered the planet Uranus. He built his large reflector telescope with a mirror diameter of 4 feet in Slough, England in 1789.
In the 20th century, telescopes made it possible to keep looking deeper into the vastness of the universe. In 1986 the European Southern Observatory built the world's first telescope mirror with active optics. They can be moved, readjusted, and optimally aligned according to weather conditions.
Without telescopes, we would hardly know anything about our
Solar system and the universe. When Galileo Galilei observed Jupiter moons with a telescope, it was clearly demonstrated that not everything revolves around the earth. This changed the
worldview of many people – and it was the reason why Galileo was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment. Great inventions such as the telescope can shatter how we see the world. Today people are observing the universe with a whole palette of instruments: radio telescopes and infrared telescopes open up a completely new, fascinating view of the universe.
The ROSAT satellite was in orbit for almost 9 years from 1990 to 1999. 140,000 new stars emitting X-rays were found with its high-resolution detectors and telescope (whose mirrors were long considered to be the smoothest in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records).
Astronomers used heliometers (from the Greek for "sun" and "measure") to calculate minute angular distances between individual stars.The first heliometer was built as early as 1743, England. Shown here is the heliometer of the Remeis Observatory, Bamberg with a focal length of just over 102 inches.
The Danish nobleman Tycho Brahe was one of the most important astronomers in his day. His main patron was King Frederick II, who not only gave him the island of Hven (Sweden) but also assumed all the costs. This allowed for the construction of one of the world's most important observatories by 1580.
Nowadays our music comes from smartphones and MP3 players. But these aren't the first self-playing instruments to produce sound without a musician. Like the legendary Wurlitzer, there were already jukeboxes on paper tape, or on perforated plates, at the turn of the 20th century. Instruments that could actually record and store an artist's live music were major innovations.
The Symphonion was one of the first mechanical music players. It worked with perforated disks whose individual punch holes served as recording media for musical pieces. After a coin was inserted, the discs turned and played the desired song.
Mechanical music players became more unusual over time. The Phonoliszt Violina was built in Leipzig around 1912. Paper rolls with perforated strips could be inserted into it as recording media. The violins and piano were then operated by the bellows inside the device.
This Steinway-Welte piano also uses perforated tape reels as recording media. A bellows then pneumatically moves the keys of the piano. It stands out from other machines as in 1906, the so-called Welte-Mignon system made it possible to store pieces played by pianists directly on perforated tape for the first time.
The "Yamaha Disklavier" performing the Piano Sonata No. 16 KV 545 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Disklavier was developed in 1987. This mechanical piano can be brought to play via computer, a CD or a USB stick. When playing the movement of the hammers is scanned by an LED light barrier. This information is stored as a MIDI file in the computer. During playback the signals are electronically converted and the keys are moved hydraulically.
Music and musical instruments have been around since the dawn of humanity, when our ancestors made flutes, pipes, and drums. Over the millennia, we created not only countless different instruments but also different styles. The victory march of electronic music began in the 20th century. One of the great pioneers in this field was Friedrich Trautwein, the inventor of the Trautonium. Oskar Sala, a composer from Berlin, developed the instrument further and conquered Hollywood with it.
Oskar Sala (1910–2002) was one of the most important composers of the 20th century. Alongside engineer Friedrich Trautwein he developed the Trautonium, which could mimic tones as well as vocals and voices. The soundtrack of Hitchcock's "The Birds" was also created in Sala's recording studio.
At the end of the 1950s, the composer Josef Anton Riedl developed a studio for electronic music for the Siemens Group. Its special feature was that it could be programmed using punched tape. This made it possible for the sounds and their timing to be archived and reused.
The Trautonium was first presented at the "Neue Musik" (New Music) festival in Berlin. Instead of a keyboard it has a metal rail and a string wrapped in resistance wire stretched over it. When the string is pressed onto the metal rail, the current produces a certain sound.
Visitors to the Deutsches Museum will have seen the astronomical instruments in the courtyard in front of the main entrance. The collection includes the solar globe—a sun-shaped sculpture that acts a sundial and marks the beginning of the museum's Inter-planetary Walk—and the large astronomical clock over the eastern exit of the museum courtyard. The courtyard also offers a good view of the 2 observatory domes, which house famous telescopes that can still be used to explore the stars.
Every visitor walks past the sundial on the courtyard floor of the Deutsches Museum. This sun-shaped sculpture is also the start of the 2.8-mile Inter-planetary Walk that leads visitors along the Isar River and through our solar system. One step corresponds to about 620,000 miles.
The Zeiss refractor in the western observatory
The telescope was designed specifically for the Deutsches Museum in 1924 and it has stood in the western observatory since 1925. The refractor was used for observations until the mechanics were damaged in 2008. After its repair in Jena, the telescope was returned to Munich in 2012.
Made by Goerz in Berlin in 1913, this telescope was originally designed to observe the total solar eclipse on August 21, 1914. The Goerz telescope has been the main instrument in the eastern observatory of the Deutsches Museum since 1925. It was renovated and restored in Jena in 2009.
The astronomical clock above the eastern courtyard entrance is as unmissable as it is eye-catching. In addition to the time of day, day of the week, and month, the clock also shows the moon's phases and the position of the sun in the zodiac. The dial has a diameter of about 21 feet.