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Jul

An Epic Building Project at Sperlonga

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Archaeology, Architecture, Outside Rome and Everything Else

The Villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga

Dispatch from Sperlonga: Early 1st Century AD

The trials and tribulations of ruling a vast Empire are fraying the delicate nerves of our luxury-loving emperor, Tiberius. In a desperate attempt to find (yet another) place to get away from it all, our esteemed ruler is in the process of constructing a swanky seaside villa on a particularly idyllic stretch of the Tyrrhenian coast, some 70 miles south of Rome, where rocky cliffs riddled with caves or speluncae overlooking broad sandy beaches and a crystal clear sea once sailed by Odysseus.

Though the area is a well-established Roman resort, royalty watchers are shocked that the Emperor should choose to further expand his portfolio of luxury real estate with a villa in this locale, for his strained architects are already working around the clock to construct the twelve villas he’s scattering across the toney island of Capri. Countering arguments that the Emperor chose the location because of the quality of the local eels, an anonymous source close to the ruler reports that the site was chosen both for its natural beauty and for its proximity to important sites that affirm the heroic origins of Tiberius and his Julio-Claudian ancestors.

The Coast at Sperlonga

Always eager to keep our readers apprised of the latest in imperial architecture, the eCool blog is happy to report that we’ve been given exclusive access to plans for the royal retreat. Our preliminary study of those plans – as well as interviews with unnamed sources close to the Emperor – suggest that the new villa will provide the frazzled sovereign with state-of-the-art luxuries like hypocaust-heated rooms, inlaid marble or opus sectile floors, and a twelve-chariot garage.

Well-positioned to take in spectacular seaside views, the villa complex will also include a dining room unlike any other known in the Roman world. At this very moment, an unusually large cave at the water’s edge is being retro-fitted with fish-breeding pools and stylish banqueting couches. Decoration of the dining cave will follow a mythological theme, with artworks created by the most esteemed sculptors of our era.

Rumor has it that the centerpiece of the triclinium will be a colossal sculpture carved by the Rhodian wonderboys, Athanadoros, Polydorus, & Hagesandros of Rhodes (the super-sculptors that earned so much acclaim for their representation of the Laocoon, now on display in Rome). We are told that the artists have been asked to render an over-life-size image of the blinding of the Cyclops Polyphemus, a story known to us all from our childhood study of Homer’s Odyssey.

Blinding of the Cyclops, a Sculpture at Sperlonga

Though the artists will not confirm the report, they do suggest that such a theme would be in keeping with their long-standing interest in depicting dramatic and even shocking subjects. They also hint that if asked to undertake this task, they would likely depict the very moment that the hulking Cyclops, collapsed in a drunken stupor, has his eye gouged out by Odysseus and his men. “It would be such a challenge to represent a one-eyed creature without making him look utterly repulsive,” said Athanadoros during our recent interview. “Yes, and I’d love an opportunity to carve Odysseus in such a way as to convey his courage, tenacity, and cleverness,” added Polydorus while Hagesandros nodded and winked slyly.

Rumor also suggests that Cyclops will not be alone in the cave, but that he will be part of a larger decorative ensemble that includes another colossal sculpture, this time of valiant Odysseus and his brave men battling Scylla. Life-size representations of Odysseus with the body of Achilles and Odysseus and of Diomedes with the Paladium, the sacred image of Athena stolen from the city of Troy are also planned.

Why the relentless Homeric rehash? While the great Augustus, stepfather of Tiberius, bored us to tears with endless references to his magical, mystical ancestors, Aeneas and Romulus, our current monarch focuses on another line of his family tree. Those readers who were attentive in their high school Roman Civics courses will recall that Tiberius, as well as the other members of the Claudii family, claim descent from Telegonus, a son born to Odysseus during his fling with the sorceress Circe.

The Cave / Triclinium at Sperlonga

Which, dear readers, explains everything. Imagine that you have been invited to feast with Tiberius in his glorious dining cave. Torches line the walls. As the flames flicker, the Odyssean sculptures that surround your dining couch seem almost to come to life Before your very eyes, the wily and daring Odysseus performs the superhuman feats that generations have celebrated. Is it the light? Is it the wine? Or have you entered the realm of gods and heroes?

Outside the cave, the waves lap the sandy shore, making a rhythmic noise that reminds you that in his long bout with post-Trojanic stress, Odysseus’s ship ploughed that very sea, stopping just a few miles away on Monte Circeo where the hero took up residence with Circe, an enchantress whose pharmaceutical powers caused Odysseus to forget his home and family temporarily and to live happily as her consort. From their union sprang a family so powerful as to now lead the Roman Empire.

Will it end here? Will the villa at Sperlonga (along with the 12 on Capri) satiate our Emperor’s desire for luxury settings? Or will Tiberius be lured away by the song of the sirens?

The Museum at Sperlonga

May

Mayor Alemanno Wants to Move the Ara Pacis Building?

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Surely You Jest?, Historic Sites and Architecture

Rome's Ara Pacis

Rome’s new mayor, Gianni Alemanno - a former street-fighting neo-fascist - wowed TV audiences last night with a bit of archaeological and architectural “shock and awe.”

Speaking on the popular show, “Porta a porta,” the mayor announced that he’ll be holding a referendum to allow Roman citizens to decide the fate of the Ara Pacis museum, which was designed by American architect Richard Meier and which opened to the public in 2006 after a decade of construction (and associated delays). Talking about this much maligned building, the neo-mayor (as the Italian papers are calling him) said:

The first occasion we have where we will not need money to spend on elections we will promote a city referendum to decide whether to keep Meier’s structure or not.

If our citizens opt not to keep it we will move it to the suburbs.

Alemanno added:

It is an issue of compatibility: the [building] is in a baroque part of the city, and that style suits the area. It is not a priority, but I think that some interventions were excessively invasive.

Really? Will the Ara Pacis go with it or will Augustus’s altar stay where it is? From the comments above, it seems that it’s only the building that Alemanno wants to exile to the outskirts and not the ancient artwork that it houses. And so what of Augustus’s altar? One can only imagine that it will neatly boxed up and surrounded with scaffolding for many years.

In the interest of full disclosure, it must be admitted that we at the eCool Compound have mixed feelings about Meier’s museum. There are aspects that we like, for example the gorgeous sunlight that streams through the glass walls and enlivens Augustus’s oh-so-neat-and-tidy monument, as well as the simple fact that we can actually see and visit the ancient altar after the ten-year political and architectural debacle that took place while Meier’s building was under construction. (We can’t get into that here. It’s just to much to dredge it all up again. If you’re looking for information about that decade-long controversy, we suggest you start with this Newsweek article and this New York Times article.)

That said, there are also things about Meier’s building that we hate. From some angles it looks like a stark white fortress constructed to defend the banks of the Tiber from the invasion of post-modern monsters that might rise from the muddy mess that is Rome’s venerable river.

Yet, when all is said and done, Meier’s building is at last finished - and the ancient monument it houses (which looks almost as good as it did when it was dedicated in 9 BC) can be admired and studied once again. In this city of slow-moving public works, that alone is something for which to be grateful.

Yet, Mr. Alemanno is not convinced. He hates the building (or at least he’s clever enough to capitalize on general Roman disdain for the new museum) and so he’s called for an old-fashioned damnatio memoriae.

The subtext for his TV announcement seems to go something like this: “Let’s get rid of the Ara Pacis Museum and thereby erase the memory of Rome’s past culture minister, Francesco Rutelli. Left-leaning liberals be gone! They allowed foreign architects to march on Rome and to spoil the city, but I’m here to claim the Eterna back for its citizens!”

Mamma mia! Mr. Alemanno is going to be a formidable force. Clearly he understands that any effort to rule modern Rome necessarily involves the politization of antiquity and archaeology. Thus Augustus - an emperor so privileged and prized by Rome’s last liberal administration - is headed for the sticks.

In honor of Mr. Alemanno’s appalling announcement, we’ve invented a new category for the eCool Blog - it’s called “Surely You Jest” and we suspect that in the coming months we’ll have the opportunity to make many entries under that heading.

Apr

Lightstyles: Santa Maria in Aracoeli

By idcrome 1 Comment

Categories: Myth/Legend/Religion and Architecture

Santa Maria del Aracoeli in Rome

The Capitoline Hill was once the bustling center of ancient Rome. It was home to city’s most important site of worship, the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, while it also hosted a temple dedicated to Jupiter’s consort, Juno, and a site called ‘the asylum’, where Romulus was said to have recruited the city’s very first citizens.

By the early Middle Ages, however, the temples on the Capitoline had fallen into disuse and disrepair. The steep hill was uninhabited and covered with olive trees. Yet, this didn’t keep a group of Greek monks from building a church on the site of the Temple of Juno in the seventh century. Their church was meant to honor a legendary miracle which happened on this hill and was said to have foretold the coming of Christ.

The legend (which probably originated in the fourth century), suggests that during a visit to the Capitoline Hill, Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, saw the sky open. Between the clouds he saw a beautiful woman, seated on an altar, and holding a baby. In response to this vision, Augustus is said to have exclaimed, “Here is the altar of God’s son,” and to have fallen upon his knees. Alternatively, it is also said that an oracle, speaking to Augustus, foretold the birth of the Jesus on this site.

For these reasons, the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli (or Saint Mary of the Altar in the Sky) stands high on the Capitoline Hill. Here at the eCool Compound, it is one of our favorite churches. A clever friend once quipped that it has the “smoothest floor in all of Rome” and she is absolutely correct. On a bright sunny day, sunlight absolutely dances across the highly-polished and foot-worn marble floor.

Yet, here at the eCool compound, we’re partial to another aspect of this church’s decor. It’s those nutty chandeliers that please us so very much. We love the way they dangle between the columns, but we are even more taken by the way in which they arch over the altar (see the upper right corner of this photo and look closely!).

Apr

Tidying Up the Temple of Portunus

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Archaeology, Historic Sites, Architecture and Art & Design

Temple of Portunus in Rome

Some months ago, when we published a brief article about Rome’s lovely little Temple of Portunus, we became aware that there are readers out there who are utterly and completely dedicated to this architectural gem. Thus, when a bit of recent web-surfing led us to a series of photos documenting how the temple and its position in the city have changed over time - as well as others depicting photos of the newly restored and conserved medieval frescoes inside - we were inspired to share the images with you.

As our February article discussed, the Temple of Portunus (once called the Temple of Fortuna Virilis) is currently being cleaned and restored. But, as the images here will show, it’s not the first time that this temple has been subjected to a bit of tidying up. For most of its post-antique life, the building was encased in the dense urban fabric that grew up around sturdy ancient monuments in the Middle Ages. It was liberated from these structures only in the early 20th century.

One can see just how cramped and crowded was the area round the temple in the print made by Piranesi in 1758 (above, left) in which one sees the Temple (really, at the time, a church as it was consecrated to the Virgin Mary c. 872 AD) with its left side disappearing into the wall of an abutting and later building. And the relationship between the two buildings is even clearer in the adjacent photo (above, right) taken in 1860.

Temple of Portunus in Rome

Like so many ancient ruins, the Temple of Portunus was “liberated” under the reign of Italy’s fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini. The process by which the abutting buildings were demolished is seen in the photos above, taken in 1924. While one of Mussolini’s aims was certainly that of showcasing such ancient artifacts as this first century BC temple, in this part of town his urban demolition was meant to fulfill another goal as well - that of creating a broad street that would lead from Rome’s historic center towards the sea - a road today known as Via Petroselli.

Fresco in Rome's Temple of Portunus

Mussolini’s “liberation” of the temple led to the discovery of early Christian frescoes inside the structure. Dating in the eighth or ninth century AD, the paintings show images from the life of the Virgin Mary as recounted by apocryphal texts. Though these frescoes have been known for some 90 years, they’re only now being cleaned and restored as part of the greater conservation and consolidation effort at the temple.

This recent conservation work allows us to see these frescoes clearly for the first time and they’re quite stunning. Above, is an image of Saint John the Baptist. Below, left, an image of soldiers, and below, right, a fragment of a fresco depicting the Virgin Mary.

For more on the Temple of Portunus, click here.

Medieval Frescoes at the Temple of Portunus, Rome

Mar

Photo Friday Paris: Roman Redux

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Historic Sites, Photo Friday, Photography, Architecture, Outside Rome and Everything Else

Tomb of Napoleon in Paris

Faithful readers may have noticed that we’ve been skimping on posts this week. That’s because some of us here at the eCool Compound took advantage of the Easter holidays and spent most of the week in Paris. While there we were continually reminded of Rome - particularly when looking at all things Napoleonic.

On this Photo Friday, Susan Sanders offers us a Parisian image that is Roman in scope and scale. The gargantuan Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte at Les Invalides belies his physique but speaks volumes about his imperial ambitions.

Made of Russian porphyry (as Egyptian porphyry - that used to create the tombs of the Roman Emperors was out of stock), the massive sarcophagus rests under a gilded dome that reaches some 350 feet into the gray Parisian sky.

The imperial tomb - certainly meant to recall those in which Roman rulers like Hadrian were laid to rest - is positioned on axis with an altar covered by a canopy or baldacchino undeniably reminiscent of that which covers the Papal altar in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

So much Rome, so little time.

For more photographs by Susan Sanders, visit her Rome With A View blog.

Mar

Passing Time

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Historic Sites, Photography, Architecture and Art & Design

Lantern Slides of Rome from the Notre Dame Architecture Library

In perusing The Cranky Professor’s blog today (who, by the way, often appears to be much less cranky than we ourselves), we were alerted to the pleasant fact that the Architecture Library at Notre Dame University is uploading scans of their old lantern slides to Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

At the moment there’s about 700 images of pre-World War II Italy (and many slides of other places too) and they make for a wonderful tour across the boot-shaped peninsula. Click here to start your travels.

And to read about photographer Johanna Inman who makes art from old lantern slides, click here.

Mar

The Via Giulia Celebrates its 500th Birthday!

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Architecture and On the Street

Pope Julius II and the Via Giulia in Rome

When Pope Julius II della Rovere was crowned in the year 1503, it was the fulfillment of his lifelong dream. The new and powerful pope thought of himself as the upholder of several traditions: his uncle, Sixtus IV, had been pope from 1471-1484, so Julius’s election as Pontiff was a means of keeping the title in the family; while as temporal ruler of Rome, the new pope could also think of himself as heir to the power of the Roman Emperors and reviver of the splendors of Imperial Rome.

As was common in the Renaissance, Julius chose to convey such ideas by means of an elaborate program of art and architecture commissioned from such superstars as Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante. A respected art historian, Howard Hibbard, both characterized and praised Julius II’s patronage of the arts in the following mannner:

Julius II operated as a patron on a scale and on a level of quality that make him equal to the artists we associate with him: Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo. If, as many believe, this was the greatest assembly of talent ever to work for one man at the same time, we must hail Julius as the most perspicacious as well as the most fortunate patron the world has ever known. (cited from Hibbard’s Michelangelo, London, 1986, p. 86)

Among Julius’s artistic achievements are those of commissioning Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, asking Raphael to fresco his private apartments or stanze in the Vatican Palace, and assigning Bramante the task of tearing down Old St. Peter’s Basilica and constructing a new one.

Yet, like any good Roman Emperor, Julius was interested in the greater well-being of the city and therefore worked even beyond the bounds of the Vatican. As temporal ruler, the pope was responsible for making changes that would improve the city fabric and help restore Rome to a level of beauty and majesty akin that it had achieved in antiquity.

The idea of being a caretaker of the city was one that had been passed down through the della Rovere family, for Julius’s own uncle, Pope Sixtus IV, had himself been a restorer of Rome, replacing an old and ruined Roman bridge over the Tiber with the new Ponte Sisto, thereby connecting one of the city’s most populated areas with the neighborhood Trastevere (the bridge still functions today - see image below).

Rome's Ponte Sisto, built by Pope Sixtus IV

Following his uncle’s lead, Julius commissioned his architect Bramante to create several long straight streets in Rome, starting in 1508. Among them was the Via Giulia - named for the pope himself - which was meant to connect Sixtus’s Ponte Sisto (as well as the city’s most densely populated area) with the Vatican, thereby allowing for easier movement of people and commercial goods. The street - about a kilometer in length - was to be the longest straight street cut in Rome since antiquity and Julius intended that the project should not just improve Rome’s infrastructure, but should also better city administration, for he asked Bramante to design a giant streetside palace that would house the Roman judiciary and notary courts, the Palazzo dei Tribunali.

The project was begun in 1508 but progressed slowly. It was not yet finished when Julius died in 1513 and though the street itself would be completed, the project for the monumental administrative center was abandoned. (The large, rusticated travertine blocks with which Bramante began the project are now incorporated into one of Rome’s hippest hotels, the Saint George. Click here to read our story.)

Today the Via Giulia celebrates its 500th birthday with a year-long array of concerts, guided tours, and special openings. You can check out the schedule here. The inaugural event occurs tonight when the Sistine Chapel Choir gives a concert in honor of the Papal thoroughfare in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. (We’re quite sure that Julius would be thrilled to have the Sistine Chapel Choir singing in honor of his street as he was fond of taking the choir with him when he led the Papal army to battle. We can only conclude that he was a music lover!).

Throughout 2008, guided tours of the street will be held on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. The first one, Discovering Via Giulia, will be on 15 March at 10.30, meeting in Piazza dell’Oro. The tours cost €5 and must be booked in advance on tel. 066868260 or by emailing prenotazioni@viagiulia500.net.

Other events lined up include an exhibition on The Art of the Easter Egg by Sergio Valentini in the Museum of Sacred Art at S. Giovanni de’ Fiorentini at 19.00 as well as talks on the urban planning of Pope Julius (26 March) and on the area as it was in imperial Rome (10 & 29 April).

Mar

The Obelisk of Axum

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Historic Sites, Architecture and Past & Present

View of Piazza del Popolo

Visitors to Rome soon become fascinated with the 13 ancient obelisks (8 Egyptian and 5 made by the Romans in imitation of the Egyptian - additionally there are 5 modern obelisks) that mark such majestic urban spaces as Piazza del Popolo (see image above), Piazza San Pietro, Piazza Montecitorio, and Piazza del Quirinale. The eight Egyptian obelisks were brought to Rome after 31 BC, when the Roman troops led by the Emperor-to-be Augustus decidedly routed those of Marc Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. Besides putting the cinematic lovers out of business, the Battle of Actium marked the accession of Egypt into the Roman Empire. Elated about bringing such an old and wealthy Mediterranean civilization under their reign, the Romans celebrated by loading obelisks on boats, transporting them across the Mediterranean, erecting them in ancient Rome, and then eventually crafting their own look-alike monuments. Any resident or visitor to the city would have understood such obelisks to be trophies indicating Roman dominance over Egypt and North Africa.

Fast forward several millenia to the year 1937 when the Fascist dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini, annexed Ethiopia in an effort to build a modern Roman Empire. Again following the model of ancient Emperors, Mussolini seized an 24-meter-tall obelisk dating to the third century BC from the holy city of Axum and had it transported to Rome (see image below) where it was erected next near the Circus Maximus, aside his “Ministry for Italian Africa” (now the headquarters of the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization).

In 1947, after World War II, Italy signed a peace treaty with Ethiopia in which it agreed to return the obelisk, but it took a further half a century for that to happen with the obelisk becoming a source of contention between the two countries. That Italy ignored this obligation for so long outraged Ethiopians, who hold the city of Axum (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site) to be a place of special historic and religious importance. It was the seat of the powerful pre-Christian Axumite Empire, which thrived during the first millennium A.D., and also remains the holiest of cities for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, who believe that the Ark of the Covenant resides in a church there.

The Obelisk of Axum in Rome

In 1997, under pressure from Italian, Ethiopian, and British intellectuals, a treaty was signed in which Italy agreed once again to return the obelisk - but again they did nothing to further the process, citing the border war between Ethiopia and Eretria as the cause for non-conformance. Then, in a dramatic nighttime thunderstorm in 2002, lightning struck the obelisk and sent pieces of it crashing to the ground - it was then that efforts to return the now-damaged antiquity got serious.

Finally, in 2005, the obelisk was dismantled and returned to Ethiopia. The process was an onerous one, best described by Ian Limbach in Archaeology Magazine:

When the Fascists removed the monument in the 1930s, they relied on newly built roads and bridges leading to the seaport at Massaua. Seventy years later, the infrastructure is decrepit and the port belongs to Eritrea. Relations between it and Ethiopia are virtually nonexistent.

The sole option was to fly the stele back in three 60-ton pieces on a Russian-built Antonov 124, the only plane capable of transporting such a load. Because Axum lies nearly 7,000 feet above sea level, the thin air meant that the gargantuan plane could only land when the temperature was below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. But since the airstrip lacks navigational aids, a night landing was ruled out. The only option was to land exactly at dawn. “Did we have doubts it could be done? Oh, yeah, right up to the end!” says Paul Furlonger, commercial vice president at Antonov Airlines.

Yesterday, the Italian ambassador to the East African country announced that Ethiopia is at last ready to re-erect the obelisk in Axum and will commence the project later this year after the final technical wrinkles are ironed out. Ambassador Raffaele de Lutio said that a concrete slipway leading up to the obelisk’s site had been completed and that the base itself has been reinforced to prevent the monument causing damage to a recently discovered necropolis. He voiced the hope that the official ceremony will take place ”within the first week of September, just before the Ethiopian New Year which falls on September 11”.

Transport of the Obelisk back to Axum

For more on the obelisks of Rome, read our story about the erection of the Vatican obelisk.

Jan

Photo Saturday: At the Trevi

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Photo Friday, Historic Sites, Photography and Architecture

Rome's Trevi Fountain, Photo by Susan Sanders

Yes, we’re a day behind, making this Photo Saturday instead of Photo Friday. And, given that it’s a brilliantly sunny winter day today, we thought we’d feature Susan Sander’s recent Trevi Fountain photos as they so majestically showcase the dramatic contrast between light and dark that characterizes Rome in the winter months.

Rome's Trevi Fountain, a photo by Susan Sanders

In the two shots above, the stage set that is the Trevi (read more about that here) is made ever more dramatic by the angling shadows thrown by surrounding buildings. Seen this way, one realizes just how small is the space in which the Trevi stands, for it was inserted into a densely populated neighborhood when it was created.

Below, tourists rest on the rough-hewn rocks of the Trevi’s base, taking in the last glimmers of sunlight on an unusually warm winter day.

To see more of Susan’s evocative photographs of Rome, visit her website: romewithaview.com

Rome's Trevi Fountain, a photo by Susan Sanders

Jan

The Interactive Nolli Map

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Architecture, Everything Else and On the Street

The Nolli Map of Rome

Giambattista Nolli (1701-1756) was an architect and surveyor who lived in Rome and devoted his life to documenting the architectural and urban foundations of the city. In 1748, he drew one of the most detailed and accurate maps ever created for the city of Rome. Improving on the Buffalini Plan of 1551, Nolli’s plan was drawn to an incredible precision.

The Nolli map is an ichnographic plan map of the city, as opposed to a bird’s eye perspective, which was the dominant cartographic representation style prevalent before his work. Not only was Nolli one of the first people to construct an ichnographic map of Rome, his unique perspective has been copied ever since.

The map depicts the city in astonishing detail. Nolli accomplished this by using scientific surveying techniques, careful base drawings, and minutely prepared engravings. The map’s graphic representations include a precise architectural scale, as well as a prominent compass rose, which notes both magnetic and astronomical north. The Nolli map is the first accurate map of Rome since antiquity and captures the city at the height of its cultural and artistic achievements. The historic center of Rome has changed little over the last 250 years; therefore, the Nolli map remains one of the best sources for understanding the contemporary city.

Interested in comparing Rome of the 18th century to the Rome that you know and love today? You can do so by visiting University of Oregon’s Interactive Nolli Map. The website features a digitally mastered, high resolution interactive Nolli map, designed for broadband connections. The Map Engine allows you to navigate through the city at a variety of scales, to pan in any direction and to zoom in or out from the macro-scale of the city to the micro-scale of the building. As well, layers have been created to showcase particular urban features like gardens and fountains.

The website was developed by:

Jim Tice, University of Oregon Dept of Architecture
Erik Steiner, InfoGraphics Lab, Dept of Geography
Consulting: Allan Ceen PhD., Pennsylvania State University/Studium Urbis
Graduate Students: Mark Brenneman, Ben Humphrey, & Eric Sproles

Interactive Nolli Map