Schinkels Look Towards India - Hardcover

Zadow, Mario Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3936681716 ISBN 13: 9783936681710

Publisher: Edition Axel Menges, 2013

Synopsis

Text in German & English. Schinkels Look towards India discusses a subject to which little attention has been paid to date: Schinkels interest in Indian architecture and culture. This interest was first aroused by the English traveller to India William Hodges, who proposed the thesis that Greek and Indian architecture were of equal value. Later, the English landscape painters Thomas and William Daniell were to become even more important for Schinkel. Oriental Scenery, the book that described their travels, left its mark on Europes image of India for decades and inspired longing for that country, which was considered almost magical. The cultural elite of Prussia were also caught up in this fascination. At the royal court of Prussia, Lalla Rookh, based on Thomas Moores romance, was celebrated in 1821 as an oriental festival. In 1822 the Indian-themed pageant Nurmahalwas performed at the opera. For both productions Schinkel created enchantingly beautiful stage sets. His interest in exotic architecture was lifelong. The sketches he based on the work of the Daniells were preliminary studies for a huge round panorama that was to show the buildings of various periods and nations in their particular setting. His unrealised project for the summer palace Orianda on the Crimea, at the geographical interface of eastern and western culture, was Schinkels convincing and timeless memorial to his dream of the unity of world cultures. The style of the exterior is classical, while that of the interior is Indian and Islamic. The work is character-ized by the hall of caryatids that lies in front of the building, with a view of the Black Sea, and the museum of Caucasian antiquities, its counterpart in the interior of the palace. Schinkel found the idea for the museum in Oriental Scenery, in the drawings of the legendary 1000-Pillar Hall in Madurai, in southern India, which the Daniells had toured full of admiration and included in their book.

About this title

Product Description:

This book discusses a subject to which little attention has been paid to date: Schinkel's interest in Indian architecture and culture. At the royal court of Prussia, Lalla Rookh, based on Thomas Moore's romance, was celebrated in 1821 as an oriental festival. In 1822 the Indian-themed pageant Nurmahal was performed at the opera. For both productions Schinkel created enchantingly beautiful stage sets. His unrealised project for the summer palace Orianda on the Crimea, at the geographical interface of eastern and western culture, was Schinkel's convincing and timeless memorial to his dream of the unity of world cultures. The style of the exterior is classical, while that of the interior is Indian and Islamic. The work is characterized by the hall of caryatids that lies in front of the building and the museum of Caucasian antiquities, its counterpart in the interior of the palace.

About the Author:

Mario Alexander Zadow, born in 1927, has spent the last 35 years doing biographical research about Schinkel. He is an honorary member of the Karl-Friedrich-Schinkel-Gesellschaft in Neuruppin and an "Honorary Historian" of the American society Friends of Schinkel. In 2000 Zadow received the Schinkel Prize of the city of Neuruppin, and in 2010 the honorary award of the Karl-Friedrich-Schinkel-Gesellschaft in Neu-ruppin for his lifes work.

About this edition

• Publisher: Edition Axel Menges
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 3936681716
• ISBN 13: 9783936681710
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 64