This past Saturday started with snow that eventually turned to rain and then to freezing rain. The result was loss of power and internet as well as several large fallen pine limbs. Sunday was bright and sunny and that is when I took this in Portland.
Tags: Maine Portland Ice Storm Trees Ice Coated
I am not sure which of the multiple courtyards this is.
Tags: Cordoba Spain Palacio di Viano
I like the pattern caused by the sun.
Tags: Cordoba Spain Fountain Palacio di Viana
Another of the several courtyards in the Palacio di Viana in Cordorba, Spain. The following is from their website.
The Patio del Archivo was built during the baroque remodeling carried out by the eleventh owner of the palace, Ana Rafaela Fernández de Mesa y Argote (1737-1788), also responsible for the renovation of the Patio de la Madama. But although the construction is from the 18th century, it occupies a site that was part of the original core of the palace, from the 15th century.
It is the innermost courtyard of Viana and is an example of the most sober Cordoba Baroque. The discreet gardening is designed not to break the harmony created by the white walls and the set of blue doors and windows. For this reason, and unlike in other patios, there are no climbing plants that cover the walls.
These walls are asymmetrical and two of them have the doors slightly displaced to create a visual axis that connects this patio with the Patio de las Rejas, that is, the heart of the house with the exterior, reflecting the openness and change of mentality of The time.
The central tiled fountain adds a touch of color to this enclosure, but without stridency or altering the function for which it was built: providing the palace with light and tranquility.
With Ana Rafaela Fernández de Mesa, the rooms were also built to guard one of the greatest treasures of Viana: the historical archive, which is located on the mezzanine floor and gives its name to the patio. A note found in it reports this fact and says: “On August 29, 1765, the archive of the house of my lady, the Marchioness of Villaseca, began to be compiled. Pedro del Río earns 6 reales of fleece every day and is paid by the week.”
Tags: Cordoba Spain Palacio de Viana Patio del Archivo Fountain Courtyard
In the 19th century, the Patio de los Jardineros completed the belt of service patios of a group of houses owned by the counts of Torres Cabrera, adjacent to the palace, and the staff of the rural estates stayed there when they came to Córdoba.
When these houses were incorporated into the Viana Palace in the 19th century, after being exchanged for a farm, this space remained as a workspace for the gardeners, who kept their tools there.
The main focus of attention in this patio is the wall covered in celestina or blue jasmine: an authentic vertical garden, splendor in summer. Meanwhile, the opposite wall invites the discovery of small details that embellish the whole. Pots of geraniums, asparagus, ribbons, elephant grass and knapweed are distributed discreetly throughout the space so as not to overshadow the celestina.
In the Patio de los Jardineros the tiles and antiques also stand out. The second Marquis of Viana, at the beginning of the 20th century, and the third Marchioness of Viana, who lived in the palace until the 1980s, incorporated archaeological and decorative objects brought from the Moratalla estate (Hornachuelos, Córdoba) and the Viana Palace of Madrid (current headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to give a more stately air to a work yard.[palaciodeviana.com]
Tags: Cordoba Spain Palacio di Viana Courtyard Patio Patio de los Jardineros