A selection of photographs taken in Brazil in 2013.
Part 44:
Paraty (RJ) – Water reflection on the street
Paraty (RJ) – Water reflection on the street
Paraty (RJ) – Water reflection on the street
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2013, 2017
Archives
All posts for the month April, 2018
A selection of photographs taken in Brazil in 2014.
Part 30:
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Lioness at ZOO
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Orange cloud
Belo Horizonte (MG) – White flowers
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Lioness at ZOO
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Orange cloud
Belo Horizonte (MG) – White flowers
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2014, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
034: Gable stone
Gevelstenen (gable stones or stone tables) are quite common in various Dutch cities, principally in cities with a historic center, such as Amsterdam, Maastricht, and The Hague. Gable stones appeared in the 16th century, as a kind of identification of a certain house, or just adorning a house. Many of these gable stones represent a profession, status, or a talisman. Others can express a joke, or a religious support, and the latter are often accompanied with quotes from the Holy Bible. The gable stone in the photograph was found in the center of The Hague. A quite anonymous gable stone; however, it seems that this stone dates back from some centuries ago.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
374: Edifício Niemeyer
The phograph clearly shows the contours of a car seat with the headrest. It’s a windshield of a car, in which the Niemeyer Building is reflected. That day, it was sunny with a clear blue sky. Niemeyer Building, or Edifício Niemeyer in Portuguese, is located at Praça da Liberdade. Projected one decade of the Pampulha Architectonic Complex, the Niemeyer Building was built on the site of former Dolabela Palacete. Niemeyer got his inspiration by the natural curves of the mountain range that borders the city. When you look at the building, you would count fifteen floors. However, there are only eight floors, thanks to Baroque art and illusionism.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2012, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
014: Castelo de Guimarães
Guimarães Castle is considered as the monument linked to the birth of Portugal. It was the countess of Mumadona who ordered the construction of the castle in the 10th century, in order to defend her land against Moorish and Normand invasions. About one century later, count Henrique was granted to rule over Portugal, and he and his wife moved into the castle, where their son, the future first king of Portugal was born: Afonso Henriques. In a battle on the São Mamede field, he defeated his mother and was recognized as king of Portugal in 1179. During the centuries, the castle underwent various reforms and was almost demolished in the 19th century. Restoration in the 1940s eventually resulted in the inclusion of the castle in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2001, 2003, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
017: Carriage wall painting
Boppard is located in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2002. This valley, also known as the Rhine Gorge, 65 km section of the Rhine River between Koblenz and Bingen. This section gained much fame with the Lorelei legend, in which a siren named Lorelei seduced shipmen with her singing, while sitting on a treacherous rock. As a result, many of the shipmen lost their attention to navigation and had their ships wrecked against the rock. For centuries, Boppard was an important city along the track that follows the Rhine River. Carriages must have arrived and departed frequently. Close to a local hostel, at Schinderhannes Platz, this wall painting depicts a carriage pulled by two horses,
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1991-2001, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
373: Upright marlin statue
When you are at Morro Beach in Guarapari, you can hardly miss the giant statue of an upright blue marlin. This statue, created by Italian artist Juliano Filippi in 1998, commerorates the catch of the biggest blue marlin in Guarapari in 1992. The lucky fisherman was Paulo Armorim, who needed the help of 28 people to have the 636 kg and 4,62 m long blue marlin out of the water. He gained much fame worldwide, and had many people arriving to fish with him. Paulo died after a road accident in 2006. The marlin statue is a bit taller than the fish itself, about eight meters.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2012, 2017
A selection of photographs taken in Brazil in 2013.
Part 43:
Paraty (RJ) – Water reflection
Paraty (RJ) – Yellow door
Paraty (RJ) – Water reflection
Paraty (RJ) – Yellow door
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2013, 2017
A selection of photographs taken in Brazil in 2014.
Part 29:
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Chimpansee at ZOO
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Lion couple at ZOO
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Chimpansee at ZOO
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Chimpansee at ZOO
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Lion couple at ZOO
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Chimpansee at ZOO
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2014, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
033: Binnenhof Square
For centuries, the Dutch political power is concentrated around the Binnenhof, in the historic center of The Hague. Little is know of its origin, but the Gothic-style castle, built in the 13th century, was a residence for the counts of Holland, until 1584, when it became the political center of the Dutch Republic. It is the oldest House of Parliament still in use. The Prime Minister’s office (Torentje), the Cabinet, the Senate as well as the House of Representatives are housed within the Binnenhof complex. From 2020, the Binnenhof will be renovated completely, an operation that will last at least five years. Meanwhile, the politicians and their staff have to be housed elsewhere. Also the tourists will be barred from the complex. The tourist group in the photograph listened to the broad history of the Binnenhof, provided by a local tour guide.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
372: Blue lilies
Blue lilies are quite common in Brazilian parks and gardens, but they are not native Brazilian plants. These lilies are called Agapanthus praecox, or African lily, or Lily of the Nile. However, they are also not native along the margins of the Nile River; their origin is in the far south of the African continent, in Natal and in Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. The lily now has been naturalized in various countries across the world, like the United Kingdom, Mexico, New Zealand, Ethiopia, and Costa Rica. The lily has about ten long, leathery leaves and may reach up to one meter. They usually flower between December and February. The two blue lilies in the photograph were found in the campus of the Federal University, near the Economic Sciences Faculty. The lilies are also found along the nearby Pampulha Lake.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2012, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
021: Wheel track
Death Valley, located at the border between the states of California and Nevada, is one of the lowest, hottest and driest locations on earth. The air temperature can reach almost sixty degrees, while the surface temperature may hit almost a hundred degrees. It hardly rains in the valley, that has the lowest point at 86 meters below sea level. When I was in the Valley, it was a cool day, with a temperature just above forty degrees. The air felt hot and dry, als if you were in front of an oven wide open. We walked around, and it was easy to imagine, in this dusty environment, how it would be to walk on the moon, albeit that the gravity force is much lower on the moon. Because of the lack of rain, it is really hard to estimate the age of this tire track. It could have been made yesterday, but even long ago: who knows, years ago even!
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
016: Playing giant outdoor chess
Boppard is a small town in the Rhine Gorge, in the German state of Rhine-Palatinate. Archaeologic findings have unearthed traces of early civilizations that date back some 13,000 years. The Romans that their settlement, at the border with the Germanic tribes. Until 1309 Boppard was a free imperial city, but then became part of the Holy Roman Empire. The well-conserved historic center has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2002. Tourism and wine production are the main economic activities. The picture shows a different activity. Older people that participate in an unusual outdoor chess game with giant pieces. The chess board is located at the margin of the Rhine River.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1991-2001, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
371: Shopping mall window reflection
There are several interesting shopping malls in Rio de Janeiro. Many Brazilians love to spend part of their leisure time in those shopping malls; not only for shopping and wandering along the shop windows, but also for their lunch and social drinks. The shopping malls in Rio are large: each with hundreds of stores and dozens of restaurants, and many of them host a cinema with several big rooms. The largest Mall of South America is Barra Shopping, with more than seven hundred stores. Other major malls are Norte Shopping, Shopping Nova América, Shopping Rio Sul, Praia Shopping, and Shopping Tijuca. The glass window in the photograph is Shopping Rio Sul, which is located in the neighborhood of Botafogo, near Urca. This shopping, built in 1980, hosts more than four hundred stores and welcomes more than twenty million people annually.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2012, 2017
A selection of photographs taken in Brazil in 2013.
Part 42:
Paraty (RJ) – Historic Center
Paraty (RJ) – Historic Center
Paraty (RJ) – Historic Center
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2013, 2017
A selection of photographs taken in Brazil in 2014.
Part 28:
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Monkey
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Turtle
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Spiderweb with morning dew
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Monkey
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Turtle
Belo Horizonte (MG) – Spiderweb with morning dew
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2014, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
032: Mauritshuis
The Mauritshuis, located near the political center of the Dutch government in The Hague, hosts an important collection of works by Dutch and Flemish painters of the Dutch Golden Age. They include Rembrandt, Hals, Holbein, Steen, Potter, and Vermeer. The latter became world famous with his work “The Girl with the Pearl Earring”. The Mauritshuis was constructed between 1636 and 1641, after designs by Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post. It was owned by Johann Moritz (Maurits in Dutch) until his death in 1679. In 1704, a great fire destroyed much of the building, but it had been restored completely except the original cupola. The Mauritshuis became a museum in 1822, and now attracts over 300 thousand visitors annually.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
370: Sunlit spheres in Inhotim Park
In 1966, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama illegally placed 1500 stainless steel spheres on a lawn during the 33rd Venice Biennale. During the first week, she sold, like a peddler, the spheres for two dollars each, in protest against the commercialization of art. She then got expelled from the Biennale, but her work remained. In 2009, a new version of the spheres was installed in Inhotim – an institute containing a contemporary art museum integrated with a botanical garden – near Belo Horizonte. Five hundred spheres floating in a pond near the Burle Marx Educational Center, inspirational for various photographs showing reflections on the shiny spheres.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2012, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
013: Clerigos Church
One of the landmarks in Porto is without doubt the Torre dos Clérigos (Clérigos Church and Tower). The more than 75 meters high bell tower can be seen from different points in the city; from the top, one has a splendid view over the city of Porto. At the request of the Brotherhood of the Clerics (Clérigos), Italian architect Nicolai Nasoni a project of a new baroque-style tower, its construction started in 1754. Nine years later, in 1763, the construction was completed with the placement of the iron cross on top of the tower. The top of the tower can be reached by climbing 225 steps, but the 360 degrees view over the city of Porto is unforgettable. The complex also host a museum that shows the history of the Brotherhood of the Clerics.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2001, 2003, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
015: Poppelsdorf Palace
One of the most beautiful constructions in Germany’s former capital is without doubt the baroque-style Poppelsdorfer Schloss (Poppelsdorf Castle). Located at walking distance from the railway station, the pale yellow-plastered castle is hard to miss. It is unknown when the original castle was built, but in 1341, the castle was acquired by an archbishop, and became a regional seat. In 1583, the castle was destroyed in a regional war (Cologne War), which occurred within the context of Protestant Reformation in Germany. Only in 1715, rebuilding of the castle was started, and finished twenty years later. About a century later, in 1818, the castle became part of the newly founded Bonn University, which moved the natural science collections to there, and transformed the garden in a botanical garden. The castle was heavily damaged during WWII in 1944, but was rebuilt in 1959. The castle still hosts important natural science collections, and several university departments. The photograph shows the reflection of the building in the pond that is part of the botanical garden.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1991-2001, 2017
Adriano Antoine 