Page 106 - Off The Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 2 of 2)

274 44 MORE DESTINATIONS FOR OF ART AND CULTURE

ART AND CULTURE

ABOVE Works from the Ancient Art Collection at the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
RIGHT Vivid 14th-century frescoes by the Florentine artist Giotto in the Capella degli Scrovegni, Padua, Italy

MUSÉES ROYAUX DES BEAUX-ARTS DE BELGIQUE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM The poem GIOTTO FRESCOES, CAPELLA DEGLI SCROVEGNI, PADUA, ITALY Here in this chapel,
Musée des Beaux Arts, written by W. H. Auden after a visit to this gallery, is a hymn of praise Giotto, the shepherd-boy painter from Florence, produced his most complete series of
to old masters such as Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel, famous for capturing daily frescoes. Painted between 1303 and 1305, its depictions of the life of Christ and the Virgin
life with wonderful realism. That was in 1938, when the museum occupied a former royal Mary are full of human warmth and a sense of calm; honesty is imbued in the simple
palace in the Belgian capital. Today the palace holds the Ancient Art Collection, while a figures, and the vivid colors have endured. The barrel-vaulted chapel holds the tomb of
new building houses work from the 18th century on, including a room devoted to local its patron, Enrico Scrovegni. He commissioned the work to atone for his userer father, whom
Surrealist René Magritte. The whole collection is one of the finest of its kind. the Renaissance poet, Dante Alighieri, had just confined to hell in The Divine Comedy.

GARMA FESTIVAL, NORTHERN TERRITORIES, AUSTRALIA Every August thousands VILLA MAJORELLE, MARRAKECH, MOROCCO Villa Majorelle demonstrates the
of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians are joined by foreign visitors in Garma in dramatic emotive effects of color and design. With the sun radiating off piercing blue
Arnhem Land, home of the Yolngu tribe, for this five-day event in celebration of the walls, it is impossible to walk through the villa’s garden without feeling happy. The shade
country’s indigenous culture. Apart from the sale of art, and much reveling in music, of blue is even named bleu majorelle after Jacques Majorelle, the painter who designed
song, and dance, the festival provides a forum for discussion and debate on Aboriginal and built the property in French colonial days. More recently it belonged to the French
issues. Staged on the remote Gove Peninsula overlooking the Gulf of Carpentaria, it’s a couturier Yves St Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bourgé, whose collection of North
memorable spot in which to contemplate Australia’s cultural heritage. African textiles is in the Islamic Art Museum of Marrakech, housed in the main building.

THE BOATHOUSE, LAUGHARNE, UK BAUHAUS, DESSAU, GERMANY Walter DOMAINE DES COLLETTES, CANNES, ALBA INTERNATIONAL TRUFFLE FAIR,
Tucked into a cliff, looking out across a Gropius’s 1920s straight-lined Bauhaus FRANCE In the hills behind Cannes lies a PIEDMONT, ITALY In a region renowned
Welsh river estuary, the Boathouse is an Building, a powerhouse of art, design, small farm where the Impressionist artist for its food, this is the gourmet highlight.
inspirational spot. Described as “sea and architecture, is an icon of classical Pierre-Auguste Renoir spent the last 11 Every October, food experts from all over
shaken on a breakneck of rocks” by Dylan modernism. While still actively involved years of his life. Setting up his easel in its the world descend on the hilltop town of
Thomas, who spent the last years of his in experimental design, research, and lovely ancient olive grove, he painted Alba to indulge in local delicacies such as
life here, it is hard to imagine a better teaching, it also hosts exhibitions and right to the end, his brushes strapped to chocolate, nougat, cheese, and wine. The
place for a writer in search of solitude. Up events. Nearby Bauhaus gems include his arthritic fingers. The original furniture prized white truffles are sold in a special
the road lies Laugharne, the town he the Masters’ Houses, the Törten Estate is preserved in the house together with tent, at astronomical prices – a single
fictionalized in his play Under Milk Wood. and the cool Kornhaus restaurant. sculptures, paintings, and memorabilia. truffle once sold for 95,000 euros.

EPIDAVROS THEATRE, GREECE Take CÉSAR MANRIQUE FOUNDATION, THE PHOTOGRAPHERS’ GALLERY,
center stage in this 15,000-seat theater LANZAROTE, CANARY ISLANDS LONDON, UK At its launch in 1971, this
and clear your throat – and you will be In Lanzarote, it can be hard to tell where was the first independent photographic
heard 50 rows back. The acoustics here nature ends and buildings begin. One gallery in London. By 2008 it was drawing
are impeccable, and the setting, in the man is responsible for this unusually half a million visitors a year, and has moved
Peloponnese countryside, makes this the sympathetic architecture, inspired by the into a new, purpose-built six-story
perfect Greek theater. Watching a play island’s folds of flowing lava and green, building due to be completed in 2011. It
here can still induce catharsis – the mental palm-filled valleys: César Manrique. mounts popular exhibitions, encourages
and emotional healing believed by Greeks His own beautiful home is built around new talent, and awards an International
to be achieved by watching a drama. five volcanic bubbles. Photography Prize every year.

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