Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 info@mar tinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com
Telephone 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@mar tinrandall.com.au Canada Telephone (647) 382 1644 Fax (416) 925 2670 canada@mar tinrandall.ca USA Telephone (toll-free, to the London office) 1 800 988 6168
2016: 2nd edition
Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia
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M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E l
Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Bar ley Mow Passage London W4 4GF United Kingdom
M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L A RT • A R C H I T E C T U R E • G A S T R ONO M Y • A R C H A E OLO G Y • H I S TOR Y • M U S I C
2016
second edition
Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF, United Kingdom Telephone +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@mar tinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia Telephone 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@mar tinrandall.com.au Canada Telephone (647) 382 1644 Fax (416) 925 2670 canada@mar tinrandall.ca USA Telephone – connects to the London office 1 800 988 6168
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This brochure was produced in house. Much of the text was written originally by Martin Randall; all staff were involved in editing and proofing, as were Julia MacRae and Caroline Cuss. Lecturers also contributed. It was designed by Jo Murray.
1–10 The Grand Duchy of Tuscany (md 829) Dr Flavio Boggi.............................................124 1–15 Persia (md 822) Dr Charles Melville.......................................187 2– 5 Poets & The Somme (md 820) Andrew Spooner..............................................73 2– 8 St Petersburg (md 853) Dr Alexey Makhrov.......................................157 2– 9 Kraków & Silesia (md 837) Sebastian Wormell........................................152 2–14 The Road to Santiago (md 821) John McNeill..................................................160 3–10 Franconia (md 823) Dr Jarl Kremeier..............................................94 4–11 Courts of Northern Italy (md 832) Professor Fabrizio Nevola.............................116 5–11 Walking Hadrian’s Wall (md 825) Graeme Stobbs.................................................22 5–12 Bohemia (md 839) Michael Ivory...................................................59 5–13 The Heart of Portugal (md 824) Adam Hopkins...............................................156 6–12 Cave Art in Spain (md 828) Dr Paul Bahn.................................................159 6–16 Samarkand & Silk Road Cities (md 826) Dr Peter Webb...............................................208 7–10 Flemish Painting (md 827) Dr Sophie Oosterwijk......................................53 7–16 Californian Galleries (md 876) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................215 9–14 Wine, Walks & Art in Alsace (md 856) Marc Millon.....................................................75 11–27 Peru (md 834) Dr David Beresford-Jones.............................212 12–17 Pompeii & Herculaneum (md 833) Dr Mark Grahame........................................137 12–18 The Imperial Riviera (md 843) Richard Bassett..............................................113 12–19 Music in the Saxon Hills (md 855) Dr David Vickers & Tom Abbott...................92 13–17 Connoisseur’s London (md 835).................41 13–19 Connoisseur’s Prague (md 841) Michael Ivory...................................................60 14–18 Haydn in Eisenstadt (md 852) Richard Wigmore............................................48 14–27 China’s Silk Road Cities (md 838) Dr Jamie Greenbaum....................................196 17–26 Classical Greece (md 842) Dr Andrew Farrington....................................99 18–22 Arts & Crafts in the Cotswolds (md 844) Janet Sinclair....................................................33 19–25 Walking a Royal River (md 847) Dr Paul Atterbury...........................................25 19–26 The Heart of Italy (md 846) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................130 19– 3 The Iron Curtain (md 849) Neil Taylor.......................................................88 20–30 Samarkand & Silk Road Cities (md 848) Professor Dominic Brookshaw.....................208 20–28 Connoisseur’s New York (md 851) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................214 22–28 Gardens & Villas of the Italian Lakes (md 854) Steven Desmond...........................106
22–30 Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden (md 840) Dr Jarl Kremeier..............................................86 24– 5 Frank Lloyd Wright (md 830) Tom Abbott....................................................217 26– 2 Walking a Royal River (md 871) Dr Paul Atterbury...........................................25 26– 2 The Etruscans (md 873) Dr Nigel Spivey..............................................136 26– 3 Footpaths of Umbria (md 874) Dr Antonia Whitley......................................131 26– 6 Essential Andalucía (md 875) Adam Hopkins...............................................177 27– 3 Istanbul (md 878) Jane Taylor.....................................................180 28– 2 Ravenna & Urbino (md 877) Dr Luca Leoncini...........................................119 28– 6 The Cathedrals of England (md 872) Tim Tatton Brown...........................................18 29– 6 Insider’s Istanbul (md 879) Barnaby Rogerson.........................................182 Paintings in Paris...........................................71
october 2016 1– 7 Gastronomic Piedmont (md 885) Marc Millon...................................................104 2– 8 Art in the Netherlands (md 884) Dr Guus Sluiter.............................................147 2– 9 Courts of Northern Italy (md 881) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................116 3– 9 Malta (md 883) Juliet Rix.........................................................146 3–11 Ancient & Islamic Tunisia (md 899) Professor Roger Wilson ................................193 3–16 The Western Balkans (md 880) David Gowan..................................................55 7– 9 Music Weekend: The Heath Quartet..........43 9–16 Dark Age Brilliance (md 893) John McNeill..................................................118 11–16 Palladian Villas (md 896) Dr Sarah Pearson..........................................111 12–16 Siena & San Gimignano (md 900) Dr Antonia Whitley......................................125 13–22 New England Modern (md 901) Professor Harry Charrington.......................220 17–25 Palestine (md 915) Felicity Cobbing.............................................191 17–29 Sicily (md 914) Professor Roger Wilson.................................140 17–30 The Heart of Japan Phillida Purvis MBE & Christopher Purvis CBE...........................206 18–31 Essential China (md 916) Dr Rose Kerr..................................................194 19–23 Art in Madrid (md 917) Gail Turner....................................................170 21–27 Roman & Mediaeval Provence (md 920) Dr Alexandra Gajewski..................................77 24–30 Pompeii & Herculaneum (md 923) Henry Hurst...................................................137 24–31 Gastronomic Sicily (md 924) Marc Millon...................................................143 24–31 Bilbao to Bayonne (md 922) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................164 25–31 Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur (md 925) Lydia Bauman.................................................80
25– 7 30–12 31– 5
The Indian Mutiny......................................203 Art in Japan (md 928) Dr Monika Hinkel.........................................204 Walking in Madeira (md 929) Dr Gerald Luckhurst.....................................153 History Weekend...........................................43 Opera in Wales...............................................46 Sacred China................................................197
november 2016 1– 6 Connoisseur’s Rome (md 931) Dr Kevin Childs.............................................134 1– 7 Essential Rome (md 932) Dr Thomas-Leo True....................................133 2– 9 Florence & Venice (md 933) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................123 5–15 Oman (md 935) Professor Dawn Chatty.................................190 7–14 Gastronomic Valencia (md 940) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................172 7–19 Sicily (md 939) Christopher Newall.......................................140 14–18 Essential India Dr Anna-Maria Misra..................................199 14–20 Art History of Venice (md 945) Dr Susan Steer...............................................114 18–20 Music Weekend: The Schubert Ensemble................................43 20–29 The Melbourne Ring Barry Millington...........................................221 22–26 Venetian Palaces (md 950) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................115 History Weekend...........................................43 A Festival of Music in Florence (md 909)...........................122 Gastronomic Kerala....................................203
december 2016 4–17 Guatemala, Honduras, Belize (md 960) Professor Norman Hammond......................210 We will run six or seven tours over Christmas and New Year. Full details will be available for most of them in April. Contact us to register your interest.
february 2017 10–23 Kingdoms of the Deccan............................203 23– 5 Temples of Tamil Nadu...............................203 27–13 Essential India Dr Giles Tillotson..........................................199
march 2017 13–25 Indian Summer............................................203 25– 7 Bengal by River............................................201 The Printing Revolution.............................117 Stephen Parkin & Dr Michael Douglas-Scott
TOURS BY DATE
Cover illustration: Venice, vue d’optique, hand-coloured copper engraving c. 1774. This page: design by William Morris, reproduced in Pen Drawings & Pen Draughtsmen by Joseph Pennell, publ. 1889. The vast majority of illustrations in this brochure originate from the MRT collection.
september 2016
april 2017 14–17 Music Weekend: The Vienna Piano Trio..................................43 Francisco Goya (Spring 2017)....................170
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M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L A RT • A R C H I T E C T U R E • G A S T R O N O M Y • A R C H A E O L O G Y • H I S T O R Y • M U S I C • L I T E R AT U R E
Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, United Kingdom W4 4GF T +44 (0)20 8742 3355 F +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com
Dear reader, To say that life is a journey is platitudinous. To talk of the customer journey is not much better, though only a very few years ago the phrase located the user at the cutting edge of marketing practice. From a recent conversation with the pianist Graham Johnson I take the idea that a concert is a journey. Attend, follow the thread, watch the ball, and at the end of the concert one emerges as a slightly different person, a more enriched one. The really exhilarating thing is that this journey has been undertaken in the company of other people, who will have emerged similarly transfigured by the experience Likewise with architecture and design, painting and sculpture, history and archaeology, food and wine: look, listen, probe, interrogate – the process guided by the inspiring words of an expert –and with interest piqued, mind stimulated, sensitivities tweaked, perceptive powers honed and emotions touched, one has journeyed forward, one’s awareness and very being extended. Participation on one of the journeys described in the following pages therefore involves a concatenation of myriad little journeys. I’m not sure that this conclusion sounds any less banal than the opening clichés; the point is that enrichment of life is the intended outcome of a journey with Martin Randall Travel. With best wishes,
Martin Randall November 2015 Martin’s photo ©Emmie Scott, 2015.
Contents About us............................................................................................... 4–5
British Isles......................................................................................16–46
Tours by country................................................................................. 6–7
Mainland Europe..........................................................................47–179
Our lecturers.....................................................................................8–14
Turkey...........................................................................................180–186
What is included?................................................................................... 7
Middle East & North Africa.....................................................187–193
More about our tours: Fitness requirements Private groups Amendments Responsible tourism Financial protection Travel insurance..................................................................................... 15
Asia................................................................................................194–209 The Americas & Australia.........................................................210–221 Booking details: Making a booking............................................................................... 222 Booking Conditions............................................................................ 222 Booking form...............................................................................223–224 Tours by date...............................................................................225–227
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Directors: Martin Randall (Chief Executive), Fiona Urquhart (Chief Operating Officer), Sir Vernon Ellis (Chairman), Ian Hutchinson, Neil Taylor, William Burton Registered office: Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London W4 4GF. Registered Company no. 2314294 England. VAT no. 527758803
Britain’s leading provider of cultural tours
Leaders in the field At Martin Randall Travel we are committed to providing the best planned, the best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours available. We offer an unequalled range of tours and events focusing on art, architecture, music, archaeology, history, gardens and gastronomy. Our mission is to deepen your understanding and enhance your appreciation of the achievements of civilizations around the world. For over two decades we have been the most influential organisation in the field of cultural travel. Pioneering and innovative, we have led the way with ideas and itineraries and by setting the benchmarks for customer service and administration. Martin Randall Travel is one of the most respected travel companies in the world, among both travellers and within the tourism community.
First-rate lecturers Expert speakers are a key ingredient in our tours and events. Academics, curators, writers, broadcasters and researchers, they are selected not only for their knowledge but also for their ability to communicate clearly and engagingly to a lay audience. Their brief is to enlighten and stimulate, not merely to inform. And they also have to be good travelling companions.
We select our hotels with great care. Not only have nearly all been inspected by members of our staff, but we have stayed in most of them. Hundreds of others have been seen and rejected.
Nearly all of our tours are also accompanied by a trained tour manager who unobtrusively attends to administrative matters.
Obviously, comfort ranks high among our criteria, together with good service and warmth of welcome. We also set high priority on charm and style, and location is an important consideration. Most of the hotels we use are rated as 4-star, with some 5-star and a few 3-star (one is 2-star, but pleases every time).
Original itineraries, meticulously planned
We invest similar efforts in the selection of restaurants, menus and wines, aided by staff with a specialist knowledge of these areas.
We select our lecturers through reputation, interview and audition, and provide them with guidance and training.
about us
Rooted in knowledge of the destination and of the subject matter of the tour, the outcome of assiduous research and reconnaissance, and underpinned by twenty-seven years of thought and experience, our itineraries are second to none. They are original and imaginative, well-paced and carefully balanced. Meticulous attention to practical matters ensures a smooth-running as well as an enriching experience. Special arrangements feature on nearly all our tours – for admission to places not generally open to travellers, for access outside public hours, for private concerts and extraordinary events.
4
Travelling in comfort
In innumerable ways, large and small, we lift our clients’ experience far above standards which are regarded as normal for tourists. book online at www.martinrandall.com
For flights and trains we try to choose the most convenient departure times. Rail journeys are usually in first-class seats. We can provide a holiday without international travel if you prefer, allowing you to make your own arrangements. It is also usually possible to make other variations to the package.
Small groups, and congenial company Most of our tours run with between ten and twenty participants. We strictly limit numbers, specifying the applicable maximum in each tour description. The higher costs of smaller numbers are outweighed by the benefits of manoeuvrability, social cohesion and access to the lecturer.
Nice, 20th-century etching.
The small-group principle is diluted when there are private concerts or several speakers exclusively for our clients. Not the least attractive aspect of travelling with MRT is that you are highly likely to find yourself in congenial company, self-selected by common interests and endorsement of the company’s ethos.
We aim for faultless administration from your first encounter with us to the end of the holiday, and beyond. Personal service is a feature. We won Best Holiday Company for Customer Service at the 2014 British Travel Awards.
Where we are able to, we assign those travelling on their own to rooms which are normally sold as doubles.
Value for money, and no surcharges The price includes nearly everything, not only the major ingredients such as hotel, transport and the costs of the lecturer and manager but also tips, drinks with meals and airport taxes.
And if anything does go wrong, we will put it right or compensate appropriately. We want you to come back again and again – as most of our clients do.
We do not levy surcharges for fuel price increases, exchange rate changes, additional taxes or for any other reason. The price published here is the price you pay.
Travelling solo
(Note that bookings paid for by credit card will have 2% added to cover processing charges. This brings us into line with standard travel industry practice. It does not apply to other forms of payment.)
We welcome people travelling on their own, for whom our tours are ideal, as many of our clients testify. There are usually several solo travellers on tour. On evenings when dinner is not included there is always the option of dining with the tour manager.
about us
Care for our clients
Hotels usually charge a supplement for single occupancy of a room, but we never add anything to this – indeed, most of the supplements we charge are subsidised by ourselves, sometimes by hundreds of pounds.
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Tours by region and country scotland
estonia
The Georgians in Scotland........................................46 Edinburgh Festival.....................................................46
The Baltic Countries..................................................63
Occupation in the Channel Islands.........................16
wales
Savonlinna Opera.......................................................65
england
Opera in Wales............................................................46
British Isles channel islands
Mediaeval Sussex & Hampshire...............................17 The Cathedrals of England........................................18 The Age of Bede..........................................................19 Ryedale Festival...........................................................20 Northumbria...............................................................20 The Suffolk Festival......................................21 Walking Hadrian’s Wall.............................................22 Yorkshire Houses........................................................23 Walking to Derbyshire Houses.................................24 Walking a Royal River...............................................25 Royal Residences........................................................26 Tudor England............................................................28 Great Houses of the South West...............................29 Great Houses of the East...........................................30 ‘Capability’ Brown......................................................32 Arts & Crafts in the Cotswolds................................33 The South Downs........................................................34 Stonehenge & Prehistoric Wessex............................35 Turner & the Sea.........................................................36 Literature & Walking in the Lake District..............37 The Victorian Achievement......................................38 The Industrial Revolution.........................................40 Connoisseur’s London...............................................41 Shakespeare & his World...........................................41 Mediaeval East Anglia...............................................42 Music Weekends.................................................43 The Wihan Quartet; The Chilingirian Quartet; The Aronowitz Ensemble; The Heath Quartet; The Schubert Ensemble; The Vienna Piano Trio symposia..................................................................43 Evelyn Waugh; History Weekend LONDON DAYS.........................................................44 The Ever-Changing City Skyline london Lecture Afternoon....................45
mainland europe armenia Armenia.......................................................................47
austria Haydn in Eisenstadt...................................................48 Mozart in Salzburg.....................................................48 The Schubertiade........................................................49 Opera in Vienna.........................................................50 Connoisseur’s Vienna................................................51 Vienna’s Masterpieces................................................52 The Danube Festival of Song...................52 The Iron Curtain.........................................................88
belgium Flemish Painting.........................................................53 Flanders Fields............................................................54 The Western Front......................................................74
bosnia & herzegovina The Western Balkans..................................................55
croatia The Western Balkans..................................................55
czech republic Prague Spring..............................................................57 Moravia........................................................................58 Bohemia.......................................................................59 Connoisseur’s Prague.................................................60 The Iron Curtain.........................................................88
denmark Vikings & Bog People ...............................................62 Opera in Copenhagen................................................62
What is included in the price? tours by country & region 6
• The services of the lecturer; often also a tour manager and sometimes local guides. • Hotel accommodation for the duration of the tour – hotel names are given under each tour description. • All admissions to museums, galleries and sites included in the itinerary. • If a music tour, good tickets to all of the performances listed on the itinerary (unless they are marked as optional). • For tours outside the UK, return travel between London and the destination – with occasional exceptions. • Travel by private coach for all included excursions and, for tours with included flights, airport transfers.
• All breakfasts. • Most lunches and dinners including wine or beer, water, soft drinks and tea or coffee. • Gratuities for restaurant staff, porters, drivers and guides. • All state and airport taxes. • If a visa is required, this is often also included in the price – unless it is not possible for us to obtain it on your behalf. If you would like to see more detailed list of components for any individual tour, please visit our website, www.martinrandall.com. Alternatively, contact us and we will post or email a copy to you.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
finland france Mediaeval Normandy................................................66 French Gothic..............................................................67 Great French Gardens................................................68 The Seine Music Festival..............................69 Versailles......................................................................70 Music in Paris..............................................................71 Paintings in Paris........................................................71 A Festival of Impressionism.....................................72 Poets & The Somme...................................................73 The Western Front......................................................74 Wine, Walks & Art in Alsace....................................75 Mediaeval Burgundy..................................................76 Roman & Mediaeval Provence.................................77 Pilgrimage & Heresy..................................................78 Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur...............................80 Gardens of the Riviera...............................................81 Opera in Nice & Monte Carlo..................................82 The Pyrenees..............................................................163
germany The Danube Festival of Song...................52 Music in Berlin............................................................82 Opera in Berlin...........................................................83 The Ring in Berlin......................................................83 Gardens & Palaces of Berlin & Potsdam................84 Berlin: New Architecture..........................................85 Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden.........................................86 Cold War Berlin..........................................................87 The Iron Curtain.........................................................88 Wagner in Leipzig.......................................................90 The Leipzig Bach Festival..........................................91 Music in the Saxon Hills............................................92 A Festival of Music in Franconia.........93 Walking in Franconia................................................93 Franconia.....................................................................94 German Gothic...........................................................95 German Romanesque................................................96 Munich’s Masterpieces...............................................97 Opera in Munich & Bregenz.....................................98
greece Classical Greece..........................................................99 Minoan Crete............................................................101 Central Macedonia...................................................102
hungary The Danube Festival of Song...................52 The Iron Curtain.........................................................88 Budapest.....................................................................103
italy The Iron Curtain.........................................................88 Gastronomic Piedmont...........................................104 Genoa & Turin..........................................................105 Gardens & Villas of the Italian Lakes....................106 The Duchy of Milan..................................................107 Gastronomic Veneto................................................108 The Veneto.................................................................110
Palladian Villas.........................................................111 Verona Opera ...........................................................112 The Imperial Riviera................................................113 Art History of Venice...............................................114 Venetian Palaces.......................................................115 Courts of Northern Italy.........................................116 The Printing Revolution..........................................117 Dark Age Brilliance..................................................118 Ravenna & Urbino....................................................119 Gastronomic Emilia-Romagna..............................120 Florence......................................................................121 A Festival of Music in Florence...........122 Florence & Venice.....................................................123 The Grand Duchy of Tuscany.................................124 Siena & San Gimignano...........................................125 Incontri in Terra di Siena........................................126 Tuscan Gardens.........................................................126 Lucca...........................................................................128 Torre del Lago...........................................................129 The Heart of Italy......................................................130 Footpaths of Umbria................................................131 The Duchy of Urbino...............................................132 Opera in Macerata & Pesaro...................................133 Trasimeno Music Festival........................................133 Essential Rome..........................................................133 Connoisseur’s Rome.................................................134 Baths of Caracalla Opera Festival .........................135 The Etruscans............................................................136 Pompeii & Herculaneum.........................................137 Naples: Art, Antiquities & Opera..........................138 Normans in the South..............................................139 Martina Franca.........................................................140 Sicily............................................................................140 Palermo Revealed.....................................................142 Gastronomic Sicily...................................................143 Walking in Eastern Sicily........................................144
latvia The Baltic Countries..................................................63 Verdi in Riga..............................................................145
lithuania The Baltic Countries..................................................63
malta Malta...........................................................................146 Valletta Baroque Festival.........................................147
russia St Petersburg..............................................................157
Serbia
iran
The Western Balkans..................................................55
Persia...........................................................................187
slovakia
israel
The Danube Festival of Song...................52 The Iron Curtain.........................................................88
Israel & Palestine......................................................188
slovenia
Oman..........................................................................190
The Iron Curtain.........................................................88 The Imperial Riviera................................................113
spain Cave Art in Spain......................................................159 The Road to Santiago...............................................160 Walking to Santiago.................................................161 The Pyrenees..............................................................163 Bilbao to Bayonne....................................................164 Castile & León...........................................................165 Barcelona....................................................................167 Opera in Spain..........................................................168 Madrid Revisited......................................................169 Francisco Goya..........................................................170 Art in Madrid............................................................170 Toledo & La Mancha................................................171 Gastronomic Valencia..............................................172 Extremadura..............................................................173 Eastern Andalucía: Caliphs to Kings....................174 Granada & Córdoba.................................................176 Essential Andalucía..................................................177 Gastronomic Andalucía..........................................178
sweden Drottningholm & Confidencen..............................179
switzerland The Lucerne Festival.................................................179
turkey Istanbul.......................................................................180 Ottoman Turkey.......................................................181 Insider’s Istanbul.......................................................182 Classical Turkey........................................................183 Central Anatolia.......................................................184 Lycia & Pamphylia....................................................186
poland Kraków & Silesia.......................................................152
portugal Walking in Madeira..................................................153 Gardens of Northern Portugal...............................155 The Heart of Portugal..............................................156
Israel & Palestine......................................................188 Palestine.....................................................................191
tunisia Ancient & Islamic Tunisia.......................................193 Currently we are not running tours to Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan or Morocco. However, if you are interested in travelling to any of these countries, please register your interest with us and we will contact you as and when future tours are in the pipeline.
asia china Essential China.........................................................194 China’s Silk Road Cities...........................................196 Sacred China.............................................................197
india Essential India...........................................................198 Bengal by River.........................................................200 Architecture of the British Raj...............................202 The Indian Mutiny....................................................203 Mughals & Rajputs...................................................203 Temples of Tamil Nadu............................................203 Kingdoms of the Deccan.........................................203 Indian Summer.........................................................203 Gastronomic Kerala.................................................203 Art in Japan...............................................................204 The Heart of Japan....................................................206
uzbekistan Samarkand & Silk Road Cities...............................208
the americas & australia
Guatemala, Honduras, Belize.................................210
peru Peru.............................................................................212
usa Connoisseur’s New York..........................................214 Californian Galleries................................................215 Frank Lloyd Wright..................................................217 East Coast Galleries.................................................218 Mid-West Galleries...................................................219 The American Civil War..........................................219 Great Houses of the South......................................219 New England Modern..............................................220
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tours by country & region
Norway: Art, Architecture, Landscape.................150 Bergen Music Festival..............................................151
Engraving c. 1880 of a Greek shoulder strap.
norway
palestine
belize, guatemala, Honduras
The Western Balkans..................................................55 Art in the Netherlands.............................................147 Rijksmuseum & Mauritshuis..................................148 Historic Dutch Organs............................................149
oman
japan
montenegro the netherlands
middle east & north africa
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Our lecturers Tom Abbott. Specialist in architectural history from the Baroque to the 20th century with a particular interest in German and American modern. Studied Art History in the USA and Paris and has a wide knowledge of the performing arts. Since 1987 he has lived in Berlin. Dr John Allison. Writer and music critic. He is Editor of Opera magazine, music critic for The Daily Telegraph and former critic for The Sunday Telegraph and The Times. John has served on the juries of various international music competitions. Professor James Allan. Expert in Islamic art and architecture. He read Arabic at Oxford, worked as a field archaeologist in Jerusalem and at Siraf, and spent most of his career in Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, where he also lectured for the Faculty of Oriental Studies. He retired in 2011.
Patrick Bade. Historian, writer and broadcaster. He studied at UCL and the Courtauld and was senior lecturer at Christies Education for many years. He has worked for the Art Fund, Royal Opera House, National Gallery, V&A. He has published on 19th- and early 20thcentury painting and on historical vocal recordings. His latest book is Music Wars: 1937–1945. Dr Paul Bahn. Archaeologist and the UK’s foremost specialist in prehistoric art. He led the team which discovered Britain’s only known Ice Age cave art at Creswell in 2003. Books include Prehistoric Rock Art, Journey Through the Ice Age and Images of the Ice Age.
our lecturers
Lydia Bauman. Art historian, artist, and lecturer at the National Gallery. Lydia studied at Newcastle University and the Courtauld Institute, specialising in Matisse and 19th–20th-century European and American art. She has lectured at the Tate, National Portrait Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Arts Club of Chicago.
Raaja Bhasin. Author, historian and journalist. He has published several books on the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and its capital Shimla and is a recognised authority on both. He is the state Co-convenor of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. Professor Tim Blanning. Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Sidney Sussex College and Fellow of the British Academy. Among his many books are the award-winning The Culture of Power & the Power of Culture, The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648–1815, and The Triumph of Music in the Modern World. His most recent book is The Romantic Revolution. Dr Flavio Boggi. Art historian specialising in mediaeval and Renaissance Italian art. He studied in Scotland and Italy and is now head of the department of Art History at University College Cork, Ireland. He has published on the artistic culture of Tuscany and has co-written two books on Lippo di Dalmasio. Monica Bohm-Duchen. Lecturer, writer and curator specialising in 20th-century art. She obtained her MA in Art History from the Courtauld and has lectured for the National Gallery, Tate, Royal Academy, Courtauld, Sotheby’s and Birkbeck College. Her latest book Art & the Second World War was published in 2013. Dr Xavier Bray. Art historian specialising in Spain. He is Chief Curator of Dulwich Picture Gallery where his recent exhibitions include Murillo & Justino de Neve: The Art of Friendship. He was formerly at the National Gallery, London, and recently returned to curate Goya: The Portraits.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Professor Dominic Brookshaw. Associate Professor of Persian Literature and Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University. He holds a DPhil in pre-modern Persian poetry and a BA in Arabic with Persian. His
latest book is Ruse & Wit: The Humorous in Arabic, Persian & Turkish Narrative. He has travelled widely in the Middle East and south west/central Asia. Professor John Bryan. Professor of Music at the University of Huddersfield, where he was also recently awarded a DMus (higher doctorate). A regular contributor to BBC Radio 3’s early music programmes and artistic adviser to York Early Music Festival. He is a member of the Rose Consort of Viols and Musica Antiqua of London. Polly Buston. Art historian specialising in Venetian art. She obtained her MA from the Courtauld and lectured at their Summer School for several years. She works for art history publishers as editor and picture researcher and was co-author of Titian’s Venice, a multi-media project accompanying the 2003 National Gallery exhibition. Professor John Butt obe. Lecturer, writer and musician, specialising in historical performance. Professor of Music at Glasgow University, director of the Dunedin Consort, and guest-conductor with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment among others. He was awarded the OBE in 2013. Dr Katie Campbell. Writer, garden historian and lecturer. She has taught at Birkbeck, Buckingham and Bristol Universities. Her books include British Gardens in Time (to accompany the BBC TV series), Icons of 20th-century Landscape Design and Paradise of Exiles: The Anglo-American Gardens of Florence. Sophie Campbell. Travel writer and lecturer. She has written for the Telegraph, Times, Guardian and Condé Nast Traveller among others. She lectures on travel writing and is a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide. Her book on the traditional events of the summer, The Season: A Summer Whirl Through the English Social Season was published in 2013. Jon Cannon. Writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and specialist in historic religious architecture. He teaches in the Art History department at Bristol University and co-wrote and presented the BBC’s How to Build a Cathedral. He has also travelled extensively in China and has published on the country in the London Review of Books and in his The Secret Language of Sacred Spaces. Professor Harry Charrington. Architect and Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Westminster. He read architecture at Cambridge and obtained his PhD from the LSE. His research focuses on modernism, and his books include the award-winning Alvar Aalto: the Mark of the Hand.
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Richard Bassett. Journalist and historian. He was a foreign correspondent for The Times in the 1980s and early 90s, covering central and eastern Europe. His books include Austrians: Tales from the Vienna Woods, Hitler’s Spy Chief: The Wilhelm Canaris Mystery, Balkan Hours and A History of the Habsburg Army (2014).
Dr David Beresford-Jones. Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge University. His research interests include the ancient south coast of Peru, the origins of agriculture, PreColombian textiles and the synthesis of archaeology and historical linguistics, particularly in the Andes.
©LaFayette
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Dr Paul Atterbury. Lecturer, writer and broadcaster specialising in the art, architecture and design of the 19th and 20th centuries. He has published widely on pottery, porcelain, canals, railways, and the Thames. He curated the V&A exhibitions Pugin & the Victorian Vision and is an expert on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.
Gail Bent. Expert on British architectural history and historic interiors. She studied at Toronto and Leeds Universities, where she has also taught, and Edinburgh College of Art. She lectures for The Art Fund, The National Trust, NADFAS and at Christ Church, University of Oxford Summer Programme. She has acted as an expert on country houses for BBC TV.
“Our many forays with your team over the years have been a highlight of our lives. Martin Randall Travel must definitely be the best enterprise of its kind in the world.” Imogen Corrigan. Specialist in Anglo-Saxon and mediaeval history. She spent 20 years in the army, retiring in the rank of Major, then obtained a first-class degree in Medieval History from the University of Kent, and has been studying and lecturing ever since. Imogen is currently researching a PhD at the University of Birmingham.
Dr Kevin Childs. Writer and lecturer on culture and the arts with a focus on the Italian Renaissance. He obtained his PhD from the Courtauld and has been a Fellow of the Dutch Institute in Florence and the British School in Rome. He blogs for The Huffington Post and has published in The New Statesman.
Steven Desmond. Landscape consultant, architectural historian and a specialist in the conservation of historic parks and gardens. He broadcasts for the BBC, advises the National Trust, writes for Country Life, lectures at Buckingham and Oxford universities and is a Fellow of the Institute of Horticulture.
Felicity Cobbing. Executive and Curator of the Palestine Exploration Fund in London. She has excavated in Jordan with the British Museum and travelled throughout the Middle East. Widely published, she is co-author of Beyond the River – Ottoman Transjordan in Original Photographs and Distant Views of the Holy Land.
Sir Jeremy Dixon. Architect and lecturer. He is a partner at Dixon Jones architects in London. Having trained at the Architect Association, Jeremy has taught at a number of architectural schools, served as an RIBA examiner and lectured widely. Much of his work at Dixon Jones has involved buildings for the arts and culture in London.
Dr R. T. Cobianchi. Art historian and lecturer. He completed his PhD at Warwick University, was a Rome Scholar at the British School in Rome and was fellow of both the Biblioteca Hertziana, Rome, and Villa I Tatti, Florence. His research includes iconography and patronage of the late Middle Ages to the Baroque.
Misha Donat. Writer, lecturer and senior music producer for BBC Radio 3 for more than 25 years. He writes programme notes for Wigmore Hall and other venues, and CD booklets for many labels. Currently he is working on a new edition of the Beethoven piano sonatas being published by Bärenreiter.
Dr Elizabeth Collingham. Food historian and writer. She obtained her PhD at Cambridge University. After teaching at the University of Warwick she became a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. Her books include Imperial Bodies: the Physical Experience of the Raj. c. 1800–1947, and she is currently writing a history of food and the British Empire.
Dr Michael Douglas-Scott. Associate Lecturer in History of Art at Birkbeck College, specialising in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. He studied at the Courtauld and lived in Rome for several years. He has written articles for Arte Veneta, Burlington Magazine and the Journal of the Warburg & Courtauld Institutes.
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Professor Dawn Chatty. Professor of Anthropology and Forced Migration at the University of Oxford. She has long been involved with the Middle East as a university teacher, development practitioner, and advocate for indigenous rights. She has carried out research among Bedouin sheep herders in Syria and Lebanon and camel nomads in Oman.
Dr Michael Downes. Director of Music at the University of St Andrews. He is a reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and his publications include a study of British composer Jonathan Harvey. He has an interest in opera both as conductor and writer, and has lectured for companies including the Royal Opera and Glyndebourne. Professor David Ekserdjian. Professor of the History of Art and Film at the University of Leicester and Trustee of the Public Catalogue Foundation. Author of Correggio, Parmigianino and Alle Origini della Natura Morta. He was the organiser of the exhibition Bronze at the Royal Academy in 2012. Professor Sir Richard J. Evans. Regius Professor of History and President of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge. He is author of numerous books on Central European history and is working on The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815–1914. His latest book is Altered Pasts: Counterfactuals in History.
our lecturers
Ian Colvin. Historian and Byzantinist specialising in Late Antiquity and the South Caucasus. Trained at Oxford, he is now a researcher at Cambridge. He has directed an ongoing archaeological expedition to ancient Archaeopolis in the South Caucasus since 2001, and leads a number of tours in the region. Peter Cormack. Art historian and curator. He is the Honorary Curator of William Morris’s Oxfordshire home, Kelmscott Manor, and was formerly Keeper of the William Morris Gallery, London. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and VicePresident and Honorary Fellow of the British Society of Master Glass-Painters. Major Gordon Corrigan mbe. Military historian and former officer of the Royal Gurkha Rifles. The latest of his numerous books is Waterloo – A New History of the Battle & its Armies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a Member of the British Commission for Military History.
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20th-century Chinese woodblock print. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Our lecturers continued
“This holiday gave us so much pleasure, something to remember always. Attention to detail and concern for participants’ welfare was outstanding.”
Dr Andrew Farrington. Assistant Professor in Ancient History at the Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, in northern Greece. He also teaches for the Greek Open University and previously held academic posts in Australia and New Zealand. His specialism is the sporting life of the ancient Greeks, especially under the Roman empire.
Dr Mark Grahame. Archaeologist and lecturer, whose research interests focus on Roman Pompeii. He has taught courses on the archaeology and history of the Roman Empire including for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education.
Dr Frances Fowle. Senior Curator of French Art at the Scottish National Gallery where she has curated several exhibitions including, in 2014, American Impressionism. She is Reader in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh and her publications include Monet & French Landscape: Vetheuil & Normandy and Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880–1910. Lucia Gahlin. Lecturer in Egyptology at Exeter and Bristol Universities and a Research Associate at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology. She is closely involved with the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and has worked on excavations at Amarna in Egypt. Her publications include Egypt: Gods, Myths & Religion. Dr Jana Gajdosova. Affiliated lecturer in History of Art at the University of Cambridge. She obtained her MA at the Courtauld Institute, and her PhD at Birkbeck College. Her research interests include late medieval art and architecture, especially in Central Europe, England, Germany and Italy. Dr Alexandra Gajewski. Architectural historian and lecturer specialising in the mediaeval. She obtained her PhD from the Courtauld and has lectured there and at Birkbeck College. She is currently in Madrid researching ‘The Roles of Women as Makers of Medieval Art and Architecture’.
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Dr Ffiona Gilmore Eaves. Read Archaeology at Cambridge and obtained her PhD from Nottingham. Her special interest is in the Adriatic and she is the co-author of Retrieving the Record: A Century of Archaeology at Porec. She has lectured extensively in adult education, especially for the WEA, and for various extra-mural departments. Dr Garth Gilmour. Biblical archaeologist based at Oxford University. His interests include eastern Mediterranean trade in the Late Bronze Age and the archaeology of religion in ancient Israel. He has excavated at the sites of Ekron and Ashkelon and is currently researching the Palestine Exploration Fund’s excavation in Jerusalem in the 1920s. David Gowan. British Ambassador in Belgrade from 2003–6 and Minister and Deputy Head of Mission in Moscow from 2000–3. He was Kosovo War Crimes Co-ordinator in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1999 and has published papers on Serbia and Kosovo.
Dr Jamie Greenbaum. Historian specialising in Ming dynasty cultural history. He is a Visiting Fellow in the School of Culture, History & Language at the Australian National University and lectures at the Renmin University, Beijing. He has published books on the late-Ming literary world and the early 20th-century political figure Qu Qiubai. Dr David Griffiths. Specialist in Viking and early mediaeval archaeology. He is Reader and Associate Professor in Archaeology, University of Oxford, and Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. His book Vikings of the Irish Sea was published in 2010. He also has extensive experience of fieldwork in Scandinavia. Sheila Hale. Writer and lecturer with a focus on the Italian Renaissance. Among her books are Titian: His Life & the Golden Age of Venice and Verona: An Architectural History. She has contributed to numerous newspapers in the UK and US including the New York Times and London Review of Books. Michael Hall. Historian and writer on British architecture and design. He was architectural editor of Country Life and his books include The Victorian Country House, Waddesdon Manor: The Biography of a Rothschild House and, most recently, George Frederick Bodley & the Later Gothic Revival in Britain & America. Professor Norman Hammond. Leading expert on Maya civilization. He is a Senior Fellow at Cambridge University and Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at Boston University. His many books include Ancient Maya Civilization, Nohmul: a Prehistoric Maya Community in Belize and Cuello: an early Maya community in Belize. He is Archaeology Correspondent for The Times. Gijs van Hensbergen. Art historian and author specialising in Spain and the USA. His books include Gaudí, In the Kitchens of Castile and Guernica. He studied Art History at the Courtauld and is a Fellow of the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies at the LSE. Dr Monika Hinkel. Lecturer and curator specialising in Japanese woodblock prints and Research Associate of the Japan Research Centre at SOAS. She studied at Bonn, was curator for Japanese art at the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne, and a
book online at www.martinrandall.com
researcher at Gakushuin University, Tokyo. She has lectured at Birkbeck, the V&A and Morley College. Dr Frank Høifødt. Art historian, lecturer and writer. He is a former director of the Vigeland Museum and is Associate Professor at the University of Oslo. He is an expert on the life and works of Edvard Munch and was for years a curator at the Munch Museum in Oslo. Caroline Holmes. Garden historian, author and consultant. She lectures for Cambridge University’s ICE, NADFAS and the Landmark Trust and her books include Monet at Giverny, Follies of Europe – Architectural Extravaganzas and Impressionists in their Gardens. She is a regular contributor to BBC TV and radio. Adam Hopkins. Journalist and author, now living in a mountain village in Spain. He studied at King’s College, Cambridge, and has contributed extensively to national newspapers in Britain on Spanish culture and travel. Among his many books: Spanish Journeys: A Portrait of Spain. Professor Maurice Howard. Art historian and lecturer at the University of Sussex. His books include The Early Tudor Country House and The Building of Elizabethan & Jacobean England. He has worked for the V&A and National Portrait Gallery and is former President of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. Henry Hurst. Emeritus Reader in Classics at Cambridge University. His special interest is the archaeology of ancient cities and he has been an excavating archaeologist – working at Carthage for many years and more recently in Rome. He has travelled widely in Greece and Turkey. Michael Ivory. After studying modern languages at Oxford, Michael qualified as a town planner and landscape architect. He taught these subjects at university level and now works as a writer and translator, specialising in Central Europe. His publications include guides to Prague and the Czech Republic, including the Berlitz Czech Republic. James Johnstone. Organist specialising in the Baroque and Professor of early keyboards at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Trinity Laban. He has performed and recorded as a soloist, with the Gabrieli Consort & Players and with Florilegium and he re-formed the chamber group Trio Sonnerie. Dr Philippa Joseph. For 20 years, Philippa published journals and books for learned societies in the humanities. She is now an independent lecturer and researcher, and reviews editor for History Today.
Her research looks at societies in Andalucía and Sicily where Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures flourished, each building on a Classical past. Jonathan Keates. Author, journalist and teacher. His books include Purcell: A Biography and The Siege Of Venice, and fiction includes short story collections Allegro Postillions and Soon to be a Major Motion Picture. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Trustee of the London Library and Chairman of Venice In Peril. Professor Hugh Kennedy. Professor of Arabic at SOAS. He studied at the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies in Beirut, and read Arabic and Persian at Cambridge. He is author of The Early Abbasid Caliphate, The Prophet & the Age of the Caliphates, Crusader Castles and Muslim Spain & Portugal. Dr Rose Kerr. Honorary Associate of the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, having retired as Keeper of the Far Eastern Department at the V&A. She graduated in Chinese studies and spent a year as a student in China during the last year of the Cultural Revolution, 1975–6. In 2014 she became an Honorary Citizen of Jingdezhen. Professor Helen King. Professor of Classical Studies at The Open University and Visiting Professor at the Peninsula Medical and Dental School (Exeter and Plymouth), and at the University of Vienna. Her publications include Greek & Roman Medicine and Midwifery, Obstetrics & the Rise of Gynaecology: Uses of a 16th-century Medical Compendium. Dr Jarl Kremeier. Art historian specialising in 17thto 19th-century architecture and decorative arts. He teaches Art History at the Berlin College of Acting and Berlin’s Freie Universität. He is a contributor to the Macmillan Dictionary of Art and author of Die Hofkirche der Würzburger Residenz.
Dr Helen Langdon. Art historian and author. She studied at Cambridge and the Courtauld and was a Research Fellow at the Getty Institute, LA, and Visiting Fellow at Yale. Her books include Claude Lorrain, Caravaggio: A Life and Vision & Ecstasy: Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione’s St Francis.
Professor Richard Langham Smith. Music historian, broadcaster and writer specialising in early music and 19th–20th-century French music. He co-authored the Cambridge Opera Guide on Pelléas et Mélisande and has published widely on Debussy and Bizet. He is a Research Professor at the Royal College of Music. Dr Luca Leoncini. Art historian specialising in 15th-century Italian painting. His first degree and PhD were from Rome University followed by research at the Warburg Institute in London. He has contributed to the Macmillan Dictionary of Art and has written on Mantegna and Renaissance drawings. Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones. Chair of Ancient Greek and Iranian Studies at the University of Edinburgh and specialist in the history and culture of ancient Iran, the Near East and Ancient Greece. Books include Ctesias’ History of Persia, Creating a Hellenistic World and King & Court in Ancient Persia. He has contributed to TV documentaries and is a regular reviewer for The Times. Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones mbe. An authority on colonial India. Among many publications, her Mutiny, The Great Uprising in India: Untold stories, Indian & British won critical praise. She lectures for the Asian Arts course at the V&A. She was awarded the MBE in 2015 for services to the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia and to British Indian Studies. Dr Gerald Luckhurst. Landscape architect and garden historian involved in both historic restoration and contemporary garden design. He is an expert on sub-tropical and Mediterranean garden flora and his books include The Gardens of Madeira & Sintra: A Landscape with Villas. His doctoral thesis is focussed on the gardens of Monserrate in Sintra, near Lisbon.
Dr Alexey Makhrov. Russian art historian and lecturer. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Arts and obtained his PhD from the University of St Andrews followed by post-doctoral work as a Research Fellow at Exeter. He now lives in Switzerland where he teaches courses on Russian art. Andrew Martin. Journalist, novelist, historian and author of Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube (2012). During the 1990s he was ‘Tube Talk’ columnist for the Evening Standard. John McNeill. Architectural historian and a specialist in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. He lectures at Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education and is Honorary Secretary of the British Archaeological Association. Publications include the Blue Guides: Normandy and Loire Valley, and Romanesque & the Past. Professor Charles Melville. Professor of Persian History at Cambridge. He studied Arabic and Persian at Cambridge and Islamic History at SOAS. His speciality is the history of Iran in the Mongol and Safavid periods. He is Director of the Cambridge Shahnama Project and has travelled extensively in Iran. Patrick Mercer obe. Military historian. He read History at Oxford and then spent 25 years in the army, achieving the rank of colonel, and subsequently worked for BBC Radio 4 as Defence Correspondent and as a journalist. He was MP for Newark from 2001 to 2014 and is the author of two books on the Battle of Inkerman.
our lecturers
Anthony Lambert. Historian, journalist, travel writer. He has worked for the National Trust for almost 30 years. Books include Victorian & Edwardian Country House Life and he writes regularly for the Historic Houses Association magazine. He has written numerous travel and guide books, and contributes to a range of newspapers and magazines.
Munich, Königsplatz, watercolour by E.T. Compton, publ. 1912.
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Dr Jeffrey Miller. Art historian specialising in architecture of the Middle Ages, with an MA from the Courtauld and PhD from Columbia University where he is now a Core Lecturer. He has lectured for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and contributed to the forthcoming Cambridge History of Religious Architecture of the World. Barry Millington. Writer, lecturer and broadcaster specialising in Wagner. He is founder/editor of The Wagner Journal and author of eight books on the composer including The Wagner Compendium and Richard Wagner: The Sorcerer of Bayreuth. He is Chief Critic for the Evening Standard. He has also acted as dramaturgical adviser at opera houses internationally. Marc Millon. Wine, food and travel writer. Born in Mexico, he was raised in the USA and then studied English Literature at the University of Exeter. He owns a business importing Italian wines from family estates and is author of The Wine and Food of Europe, The Wine Roads of Italy and The Food Lover’s Companion to Italy. Dr Anna-Maria Misra. Lecturer in Modern History at Oxford University and a specialist on Indian history and the British Empire. She has published widely including Vishnu’s Crowded Temple: India Since the Great Rebellion and she wrote and presented Channel 4 series An Indian Affair. David Mitchinson. Former Head of Collections and Exhibitions at the Henry Moore Foundation. He has curated exhibitions of, and written extensively on Moore’s life and work including Henry Moore: Unpublished Drawings, Celebrating Moore and most recently Henry Moore: Prints & Portfolios.
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Dr Andrew Moore. Writer and curator, and a specialist in the study of country houses and their art collections. He is Keeper of Art at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery and recently co-authored a reassessment of Sir Robert Walpole’s art collection at Houghton Hall. Professor Fabrizio Nevola. Chair and Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at the University of Exeter. His research focuses on the urban and architectural history of early modern Italy and he has published widely including Siena: Constructing the Renaissance City. He obtained his PhD at the Courtauld. Christopher Newall. Art historian, lecturer and writer. A specialist in 19th-century British art he also has a deep interest in southern Italy, its architecture, politics and social history. He studied at the Courtauld
and has curated various exhibitions including John Ruskin: Artist & Observer at the National Gallery of Canada and Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Dr Charles Nicholl. Honorary Professor of English at Sussex University and the author of several books of biography, history and travel. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and recipient of the Hawthornden prize, the James Tait Black prize for biography and the Crime Writers’ Association ‘Gold Dagger’ award for non-fiction. Dr Cathy Oakes. Lecturer in History of Art at Oxford University with a focus on the mediaeval. She worked previously in the Education Department at the V&A and ran the art history programme for the Department for Continuing Education at Bristol. She has published on French and English Romanesque and on Marian iconography. Dr Sophie Oosterwijk. Researcher and lecturer with degrees in Art History, Mediaeval Studies and English Literature. Her specialisms are the Middle Ages, Netherlandish and Dutch art. She has taught at the universities of Leicester, Manchester and St Andrews, and lectures at Cambridge. She is former editor of the journal Church Monuments. Dr Sarah Pearson. Architectural historian, writer and lecturer specialising in Italy. Her MA focused on Andrea Palladio and her PhD investigated convent building in Northern Italy with particular reference to the Duchy of Urbino and the architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini. She currently lectures at Madingley Hall at the University of Cambridge. Dr Alan Peatfield. Archaeologist specialising in the Minoan Bronze Age Civilisation of Crete. He obtained his PhD from University College London. From 1984–90 he was Knossos Curator for the British School at Athens and has lectured at University College Dublin since 1991. He has excavated on Crete and he writes on Minoan religion and ancient Greek combat. Asoka Pugal. Historian and lecturer. Born in Tamil Nadu, he graduated from the University of Madras followed by postgraduate studies at Madras Law College. He has worked in the tourist industry for many years and has produced TV documentaries. In 2001, he joined the Board of studies in Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Madras. Christopher Purvis cbe. Former investment banker once based in Tokyo. He organised Japan 2001, a cultural festival in the UK and has served as Chairman of the Japan Society. He was appointed CBE in 2002 for services to UK–Japan relations, and has received the Order of the Rising Sun from the Emperor of Japan.
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Phillida Purvis cbe. Former diplomat who has spent the last 20 years working with the civil society sector in Japan. She studied Japanese at SOAS, University of London, and Japanese foreign policy at Tokyo University. She founded and runs Links Japan and is a trustee of several Japan-related and other international NGOs. Professor Peter Rees. City Planning Officer for the City of London 1985–2014 and a founder member and director of the British Council for Offices. He is Professor of Places and City Planning at UCL. He has an Honorary Fellowship from RIBA and an Honorary Doctorate from London South Bank University. Simon Rees. Writer of programme articles and surtitles for many British opera companies, and reviewer for Opera, Opera Now, Musical Opinion, Early Music Today, Bachtrack and a range of other publications. A novelist, poet and librettist, from 1989 to 2012 he was dramaturg at Welsh National Opera. Julian Richards. Archaeologist, writer and broadcaster, best known for his BBC2 series Meet the Ancestors. He has long been involved with the archaeology of Wessex, where he has lived and worked for over 30 years. He is the author of a series of English Heritage books on Stonehenge. Mary Lynn Riley. Specialist in 19th- and 20th-century modern and contemporary art. She lives on the Côte d’Azur where she teaches art courses at the Musée Bonnard in Le Cannet and the Espace de l’Art Concret at Mouans-Sartoux. Previously she worked at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Juliet Rix. Writer and broadcaster with a particular interest in the history of Malta. She studied History of Art at Cambridge and is the author of the Bradt Guide: Malta and Gozo. Her career in journalism has involved working for the BBC and writing for British national newspapers, magazines and online media. Barnaby Rogerson. Writer and publisher with a particular interest in North Africa. Among his numerous works are North Africa, A Biography of the Prophet Muhammad and guide books to Morocco, Tunisia, Cyprus and Istanbul. He also runs Eland Books, home to over 100 great classic travel books of the world. Sue Rollin. Archaeologist, interpreter and lecturer, widely travelled in the Middle East and India. Her linguistic repertoire includes three ancient Near-Eastern languages and several modern European ones. She has taught at UCL, SOAS and Cambridge, interprets for the EU and UN and is co-author of Blue Guide: Jordan and Istanbul: A Travellers’ Guide.
“The honesty with which you present the itineraries in your brochures impresses me and prompts this letter. Your candid approach is refreshing and inspires confidence that you will deliver what you promise.” Dr Paul Sanders. Associate Professor at NEOMA Business School (Reims, France). He obtained his PhD from Cambridge University and he is fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He specializes in the German occupation, his published works including The British Channel Islands under German Occupation 1940–1945.
Dr József Sisa. Art historian specialising in the 19th century. He is Head of Department at the Research Institute for Art History at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. A native Hungarian with fluent English, he lectures in the UK, across Europe and the USA and co-edited The Architecture of Historic Hungary. Dr Guus Sluiter. Art historian and Director of the Dutch Funeral Museum in Amsterdam. Prior to this he worked for the Mauritshuis in The Hague and the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. He has published widely in the Netherlands and Italy and is a Research Fellow of the Dutch Institute for Art History in Florence.
Emeritus Professor Antony Spawforth. Historian, broadcaster, lecturer and writer specialising in Greek and Roman antiquity and in rulers’ courts. Books include The Complete Greek Temples, Greece: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (with C. Mee), and Versailles: A Biography of a Palace. He is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at Newcastle University.
Neil Taylor. Leading expert on the former Communist world. He read Chinese at Cambridge and has worked in tourism in China, the USSR and many developing countries. His publications include Bradt Guides to Estonia, Tallinn and Baltic Cities and A Footprints Guide to Berlin.
Professor Gavin Stamp. Architectural historian with an interest in 19th- and 20th-century British architecture. He has published on Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, the Gilbert Scott dynasty and Sir Edwin Lutyens. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and RIBA, and Honorary Professor at Glasgow and Cambridge Universities. Dr Susan Steer. Art historian and lecturer specialising in Venice. Her PhD focused on Venetian Renaissance altarpieces, followed by work as researcher and editor on the National Inventory of European Painting, the UK’s online catalogue. She has taught History of Art for university programmes in the UK and Italy. Graeme Stobbs. Archaeologist with over 20 years experience in field archaeology and an expert on Hadrian’s Wall. He is Assistant Curator of Roman Collections of English Heritage’s Hadrian’s Wall Museums and until recently worked as Archaeological Project Officer for Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums. Professor Richard Stokes. Professor of Lieder at the Royal Academy of Music. His books include Complete Cantatas of J.S. Bach and The Book of Lieder. He has lectured at the Edinburgh Festival, given masterclasses at Aldeburgh, and was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for services to German culture.
Tim Tatton-Brown. Former Consultant Archaeologist to Canterbury and Salisbury cathedrals, Westminster Abbey, Lambeth Palace and St George’s Chapel, Windsor. He has been VicePresident of the Royal Archaeological Institute. Books include Great Cathedrals of Britain and Salisbury Cathedral, the making of a Medieval Masterpiece.
Dr Lars Tharp. Specialist in ceramics who appears regularly on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. He was Director of the Foundling Museum and is now its Hogarth Curator as well as vicechairman of The Hogarth Trust. He is a member of the English Ceramics Circle and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Dr Giles Tillotson. Writer and lecturer on Indian architecture, art and history. His books include Taj Mahal, Jaipur Nama: Tales from the Pink City, and the novel, Return to Bhanupur. He is a Fellow, and the former Director, of the Royal Asiatic Society and was Chair of Art & Archaeology at SOAS. Dr Thomas-Leo True. Art historian specialising in Renaissance and Baroque architecture and Assistant Director of the British School in Rome. He obtained his PhD at Cambridge University and studied at the British School in Rome, where he was Rome Scholar. He has lived in Le Marche and is writing a book on the Marchigian Cardinals of Pope Sixtus V. Gail Turner. Art historian, lecturer and artist with a special interest in Spanish history and art. She read Modern History at Oxford and completed her MA at the Courtauld. She lectures for the National Trust and Art Fund, and teaches on courses at the V&A and the Courtauld Institute Summer School. Dr Geoffrey Tyack. Architectural historian with a particular interest in the 18th–20th centuries in Britain and Europe. He is Fellow of Kellogg College, University of Oxford, and is the author of John Nash: Architect of the Picturesque. He is also Editor of the Georgian Group Journal. Dr David Vickers. Author, journalist, broadcaster and lecturer. Co-editor of The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia and is preparing new editions of several of Handel’s music dramas. He is a critic for Gramophone and BBC Radio 3 and an essayist for many record labels. He teaches at the Royal Northern College of Music. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
our lecturers
Professor Jan Smaczny. Hamilton Harty Chair of Music at Queen’s University, Belfast, and an authority on Czech music. An author, broadcaster and journalist, he has published books on the Prague Provisional Theatre, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, Music in 19th-century Ireland and Bach’s B-minor Mass. He studied at the University of Oxford and the Charles University, Prague.
Andrew Spooner. Military historian specialising in the Great War. He runs his own battlefield tours and organises specialist study days for colleges and museums throughout the country. He is a regular visiting lecturer at the Imperial War Museum Duxford and has appeared in documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4. ©Bill Knight
Janet Sinclair. Art historian, curator and lecturer. She studied at the Courtauld and the Barber Institute, Birmingham. She has held senior management posts at several heritage sites and is currently Curator at Stansted Park, Sussex. She is a panel member of the Sustainable Communities Fund in the South Downs National Park.
Jane Taylor. Writer, photographer, television producer and long-term resident of Amman. She studied Mediaeval History and Moral Philosophy at the University of St Andrews and her numerous books include Imperial Istanbul, Petra & the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans, Jordan Images from the Air and Beyond the Jordan (with Isabelle Ruben). ©Bill Knight
Professor Timon Screech. Professor of History of Art at SOAS, University of London. He is an expert on the art and culture of the Edo period, including its international dimension, and has published widely on the subject. His books include Sex & the Floating World and Obtaining Images.
Dr Nigel Spivey. Senior Lecturer in Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Emmanuel College. Among his publications are Understanding Greek Sculpture, Greek Art, Enduring Creation, The Ancient Olympics and Songs on Bronze. He presented the BBC2/PBS series How Art Made the World.
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“I have very much enjoyed all my travels with Martin Randall. You always live up to my expectations.”
Dr. Matthias Vollmer. Art historian specialising in the German Middle Ages and Renaissance. He read History of Art, Philosophy, and Orientalism at the Freie Universität Berlin; his PhD was on book illustration of the Middle Ages. He lectures at the Freie Universität Berlin, Courtauld Summer School and Berlin University of the Arts.
Dr Peter Webb. Arabist and historian, specialising in early and mediaeval Islam. He has travelled extensively in the Middle East and Central Asia and has taught at SOAS and the American University of Paris. He is currently a Fellow at the Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin, researching Mamluk Cairo.
Isola Bella on Lake Maggiore, 18th-century copper engraving.
Our lecturers continued
our lecturers 14
Professor Stephen Walsh. Music writer and broadcaster. He is the author of a major biography of Stravinsky and of Musorgsky & his Circle. Former deputy music critic for The Observer, he remains a contributor to other broadsheet newspapers. He currently holds a personal chair in the School of Music at Cardiff University. Giles Waterfield. Independent curator and writer, Director of Royal Collection Studies and Associate Lecturer at the Courtauld. He has curated exhibitions including The Artist’s Studio and his publications include Soane & After, Palaces of Art, Art for the People and Art Treasures of England. Professor Charles Watkins. Professor of Rural Geography at the University of Nottingham. His recent books include Europe’s Changing Woods & Forests. He is Chair of the Society for Landscape Studies, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and trustee of the Sherwood Forest Trust and the VCH Herefordshire Trust.
Dr Adam White. Art historian and museum curator. He has worked at the Leeds Museums and Galleries since 1983. Since 1994 he has been based at Lotherton Hall and Temple Newsam House. He is Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and has published widely on British art, particularly sculpture. Dr Antonia Whitley. Art historian and lecturer specialising in the Italian Renaissance. She obtained her PhD from the Warburg Institute on Sienese society in the 15th century and has published on related topics. She has lectured for the National Gallery, organises adult education study sessions and has led many tours in Italy. Richard Wigmore. Music writer, lecturer and broadcaster for BBC Radio 3. He writes for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone and and has taught classes in Lieder history and intepretation at Guildhall, Trinity Laban and Birkbeck College. His publications include Schubert: The Complete Song Texts and Pocket Guide to Haydn.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Dr Sam Willis. Leading authority on naval and maritime history and author of numerous books on the subject. He has worked as maritime history consultant for Christies and the Discovery and the History Channels. He has appeared on BBC4 and his recreation of the first ever voyage down the Grand Canyon was broadcast in 2014 on BBC2. Professor Roger Wilson. Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empire and Director of the Centre for the Study of Ancient Sicily at the University of British Columbia. Former posts include Professor of Archaeology at the University of Nottingham. His publications include Piazza Armerina and Sicily under the Roman Empire. Dr Matthew Woodworth. Art historian with a focus on mediaeval architectural history. He obtained his MA from the Courtauld and completed his PhD on Beverley Minster at Duke University, North Carolina. He has published articles on English Gothic architecture, French Gothic sculpture, and the re-use of Gothic in the post-mediaeval period. Sebastian Wormell. Art historian specialising in Central Europe and Byzantium. As a translator and editor, he has prepared art-historical guidebooks to countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania, Yemen and the Holy Land. He studied at Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute and has lectured for London University.
More about our tours Responsible Tourism
Fitness Ours are active holidays. Walking, stair-climbing and standing around for lengthy periods are unavoidable aspects of every tour. They should not present problems for anyone of normal fitness but they are not suitable for those who are slow, need support or are low on stamina. On many tours there is a lot of walking on streets that may be steep or poorly paved. On others you may need to scramble over fallen masonry and very uneven ground. More usually it is just a case of moving from one place to another, and getting on and off coaches several times a day. The tours are also group events. The presence of even one person who is not fit enough to cope can spoil the experience for everyone else. We therefore ask people wishing to join a tour to take the quick and simple self-assessment tests described here to ascertain whether they have an adequate level of fitness. By signing the booking form you are stating that you have passed these tests. (It is not necessary to take the tests to attend our chamber music weekends and symposia in the UK.) If during the tour it transpires you are not adequately fit, you may be asked to opt out of certain visits, or invited to leave the tour altogether. This would be at your own expense. Tours do vary. Please refer to the How strenuous? paragraph in each tour description.
A certain level of fitness is a requirement for participation on our tours. We ask that all participants take these quick and simple tests to ascertain whether they are fit enough. 1. Chair stands. Sit in a dining chair, with arms folded and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down at least eight times in thirty seconds. 2. Step test. Mark a wall at a height that is halfway between your knee and your hip bone. Raise each knee in turn to the mark at least sixty times in two minutes. 3. Agility test. Place an object 3 yards from the edge of a chair, sit, and record the time it takes to stand up, walk to the object and sit back down. You should be able to do this in under seven seconds. An additional indication of the fitness required, though we are not asking you to measure this, is that you should be able to walk unaided at a pace of three miles per hour for at least half an hour at a time, and to stand unsupported for at least fifteen minutes.
Walking tours Tours which are billed as walking tours, with hikes through hilly countryside of up to three hours, require a different scale of fitness and agility. Please attend to the descriptions of these tours carefully.
Amendments There is an amendment fee for changes to the basic package, such as moving the dates of flights, organising flight upgrades, or booking additional hotel nights.
Many of our tours visit towns and villages off the beaten tourist trail, enabling you to experience local traditions and practices. We also strive to limit our impact on the environment. Our itineraries are designed to spend more time in places than on conventional tours; this often means there are days without travel. Martin Randall Travel contributes to Beyond Carbon, a travel industry scheme that assists development projects that encourage carbon savings (beyond-carbon.com). We make a donation to offset all the carbon in flights every time a lecturer, tour manager or member of staff takes a flight for a tour or a prospecting trip. You can choose to donate too, when you book online or pay your final invoice. Our policy is published on our website: www.martinrandall.com/responsible-tourism.
Financial security The Association of Independent Tour Operators. Martin Randall Travel Ltd is a member of AITO, an association of specialist travel companies most of which are independent and owner-managed. Admission is selective, and members are subject to a code of practice which prescribes high standards of professionalism and customer care. To contact the Association visit www.aito.com or call 020 8744 9280. ABTA – The Travel Association. Martin Randall Travel Ltd is a Member of the Association of British Travel Agents (membership number Y6050). ABTA and ABTA members help holidaymakers to get the most from their travel and assist them when things do not go according to plan. We are obliged to maintain a high standard of service to you by ABTA’s Code of Conduct. For further information about ABTA, the Code of Conduct and the arbitration scheme available to you if you have a complaint, contact ABTA, 30 Park Street, London SE1 9EQ. www.abta.com.
A growing part of our activities is tours for private groups – for university alumni, supporters and friends of museums and for various associations and institutions. We welcome enquiries. With our knowledge of a wide range of destinations, our unparalleled skills at designing tours and our long experience of working with private clients, Martin Randall Travel is well qualified to be the partner for a travel venture. The manager of our private client business is Hannah Wrigley, who first joined MRT twelve years ago. Please get in touch with her if you would like to discuss a travel possibility: hannah.wrigley@ martinrandall.co.uk.
Financial protection for holidays that do not include a flight is provided by a bond held with ABTA.
Travel insurance Architectural detail from Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, Milan, from Byzantine & Romanesque Architecture by Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, publ. 1920.
more about our tours
ATOL. Most of the flight-inclusive holidays in this brochure are financially protected by the ATOL (Air Transport Operators’ Licence) scheme. When you make your first payment you will be supplied with an ATOL Certificate. Please check it to know what is covered in your booking. For more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to www.caa.co.uk/ ATOLCertificate. In the unlikely event of our insolvency, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange to refund any money you have paid us for an advance booking. See our booking conditions (page 222) for further details.
Tours for private groups
Experience tells us that free travel insurance offered by some credit card companies is not reliable in the event of a claim.
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Occupation in the Channel Islands Hitler’s ‘impregnable fortress’ channel islands
15–19 May 2016 (mc 677) 5 days • £1,970 Lecturer: Dr Paul Sanders In-depth look at a fascinating and relatively unknown portion of WWII history. Visits Jersey’s and Guernsey’s primary military sites including special appointments and talks by local experts. Features walks along striking coastlines. Excellent hotels on both islands. Led by historian Dr Paul Sanders. The Channel Islands, the oldest possession of the British Crown, were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by German forces during the Second World War. Following the fall of France in June 1940 the British government withdrew from the islands, their exposed position in the bay of Saint-Malo having rendered them strategically untenable. On 19 June 1940, the islands were demilitarised, and it was announced that those who wanted to be evacuated should register forthwith. German forces landed in Guernsey on 30 June 1940 and in Jersey the next day. There was no organised resistance movement against German forces – only acts by individuals or small groups. The occupying forces enforced a number of restrictions such as a nightly curfew and censorship of the press. In 1942 the deportation began of about 2,000 Britishborn Channel Islanders to internment camps in Germany. Other residents were deported to concentration camps. During the occupation the islands were heavily fortified as part of Hitler’s ‘Atlantic Wall’. Construction was overseen by the German Forces and the Organisation Todt – a paramilitary engineering outfit. Forced labourers were
imported to build the fortifications. This included Spanish Republican refugees from France who had been surrendered by the Vichy government, and people rounded up in Eastern Europe who were treated as work-slaves. Visitors to the islands are often struck by the scale of construction; a staggering 10% of German resources spent on the Atlantic Wall were used to fortify the Channel Islands, much of which remains visible today. This has been deliberately preserved by local volunteers, as a reminder of this chapter in Channel Islands history. The D-Day landings in June 1944 came as both a blessing and a curse. Whilst they marked the beginning of the end for the German occupiers who relied on supply lines from the continent, they also meant that food imports were cut. As supplies dwindled, islanders faced starvation. However, following trilateral negotiations involving the Foreign Office, the Germans and the Red Cross, the SS Vega was authorized to deliver food, saving the lives of many islanders. The islands were finally liberated on 9 May 1945, the day after VE Day. HMS Beagle and HMS Bulldog arrived in Jersey and Guernsey respectively, with on board British officers who finalised the unconditional surrender of German forces in the islands. This tour visits the two largest islands exploring a fascinating and little understood episode of Britain’s WW II history.
Itinerary Day 1: London to Jersey. Fly at c. 12.45pm (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Jersey. The vast complex of the Jersey War Tunnels provide an excellent introduction to the background of the Occupation of Jersey including individual wartime stories and award winning galleries. It also provides an idea of the scale and intent of the occupying forces in defending the Islands. First of two nights in Jersey.
Day 2: Noirmont Point, St Ouen, Grosnez, St Brelades. The dramatic coastline on Jersey’s western and northern fronts were some of the most heavily defended parts of the island. The coastal artillery batteries protected German shipping between Cherbourg and Brest as well as providing all-round defence from the air and sea. The location of these batteries provide the opportunity to look inside these impressive outposts while enjoying some of Britain’s finest coastal scenery. St Ouen’s Bay, one of the island’s most picturesque bays, was one of the most vulnerable and is now the location of the privately owned Channel Islands Military Museum. Day 3: St Helier, St Peter Port. In 2011 the Jersey Occupation Collections held at Jersey Archive were inscribed on the unesco UK Memory of the World Register. After a guided tour and lecture, some free time in St Helier. Visit the impressively located Elizabeth Castle before a short ferry ride to Guernsey for the first of two nights. Day 4: Fort Hommet, Pleinmont, St Peter Port. Guernsey, the first Channel Island to be occupied, has much in common with its sister Island but is distinctly different. The excellent German Occupation Museum displays an impressive collection of occupation memorabilia while Fort Hommet and Pleinmont Tower on the island’s western coast reveal the scale of German defences that contributed to Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. The afternoon is free to wander the charming streets of St Peter Port, considered one of the prettiest of Channel Island towns. Overnight Guernsey. Day 5: St Peter Port. The headquarters of the German Naval Commander Channel Islands handled all the important radio signals traffic for the German forces in the Channel with messages being transmitted and received by naval codes using the Enigma enciphering machines. Housed in the original bunker, these have been accurately restored providing a rare opportunity to see inside a German military operations centre. Fly to London Gatwick (Aurigny) arriving at c. 3.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,970 or £1,810 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,210 or £2,050 without flights.
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Included meals: 1 lunch, 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Somerville Hotel, Jersey (dolanhotels.com): located above the picturesque St Aubin’s Bay, the hotel enjoys sea views and excellent facilities. Old Government House, Guernsey (theoghhotel.com): former Governor’s residence, this historic hotel is considered the best on the island and is located in the heart of St Peter Port. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
German military band marching past Lloyds Bank on The Pollet, St Peter Port. © IWM. book online at www.martinrandall.com
How strenuous? This tour would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulty with walking. Some of the sites are on exposed cliff paths; participants must be sure-footed. Military bunkers often have numerous steps and low ceilings; sufferers of claustrophobia might struggle in some of the inner chambers. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Mediaeval Sussex & Hampshire Mediaeval art & architecture in the South East
a series of quirky set-pieces woven around an Anglo-Norman core, complete with retrochoir, eccentric cloister, and superb late mediaeval furnishings. First of four nights in Goodwood.
Well-balanced survey of the outstanding mediaeval monuments of West Sussex and Hampshire.
Day 2: Shoreham, Sompting, Steyning, Arundel. A gentle drive west beneath the South Downs to Old and New Shoreham, whose juxtaposition of an aisleless cruciform church on high ground (Old Shoreham), and a magnificent early 13thcentury quayside aisled parochial chancel (New Shoreham), should open the day. Thence to a great pair of 11th- and 12th-century Sussex churches, Sompting and Steyning, before rounding off the day at mighty Arundel Castle.
Beautiful drives through the stunning scenery of the South Downs. Led by renowned mediaeval architectural historian John McNeill. Stay in one hotel throughout.
Day 4: Portchester, Netley, Titchfield, Boxgrove. A day of local horizons, starting with the extraordinary late-Roman Saxon shore fort at Portchester, home to an important Augustinian church and royal castle, and progressing via two great monastic ruins, Cistercian Netley and 13th-century Titchfield. Lunch will be included in Titchfield, after which we will continue to its stunning little parish church and the magnificent former priory at Boxgrove.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,210. Single occupancy: £1,450. Included meals: all dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Goodwood Hotel (goodwood.com): located on, and owned by, the Goodwood Estate. Housed in the old 7-acre walled garden and family inn, it retains many original features. Stylishly decorated, it has good amenities including spa facilities and an award-winning restaurant serving estate-reared produce. Bedrooms are comfortable and well appointed. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? This tour involves quite a lot of getting on and off coaches and standing. It should not be attempted by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. What else is included in the price? See page 6.
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Famed for its seaside churches and the quality and virtuosity of its Romanesque architecture, the area at the western end of the South Downs, essentially West Sussex and East Hampshire, boasts one of the richest collections of mediaeval churches to survive in southern England. It is also, unusually, an area where one might pick out examples from every important phase of church building in mediaeval England – from the early Anglo-Saxon tower at St Peter’s, Titchfield, to Richard Fox’s magnificent earlysixteenth-century remodelling of the presbytery at Winchester cathedral. That said, the tour develops around three overlapping themes. The first concerns the effects of the Norman Conquest – the creation of great fortifications at Portchester and Arundel, the move of the See of Sussex from Selsey to Chichester, and the establishment of a new type of great church architecture in Chichester and Winchester cathedrals. The second of these themes is aesthetic and concerned with the type of architecture that developed towards the end of the twelfth century. As with much of south-east England, Hampshire and West Sussex experienced largescale rebuilding during the period c. 1150–1220, the greatest evidence for which is to be found at Steyning, Bosham, New Shoreham and Boxgrove. Distinctive approaches to the late Romanesque and early Gothic interior are a great feature of Sussex churches, immeasurably enhanced by the subtle juxtaposition of creamy limestone and polished dark marble colonettes. The last of the tour’s main themes is commemorative. At around the date that the first of Winchester cathedral’s chantry chapels was created, the chancel of the parish church at Arundel was made collegiate, and effectively brought within the castle wall. The result was to turn the east end of Arundel into an aristocratic mausoleum, while Winchester developed the most impressive series of episcopal chantries to survive in Europe. Taken together, the two afford an exceptional insight into English late-mediaeval tomb design.
Day 3: Winchester, Romsey. A perfect opportunity to slip west into Hampshire, with Winchester cathedral the day’s principal objective; library, monastic precinct, chantry chapels, crypt and all. An afternoon walk through the flood meadows to the great hospital of St Cross, whose 15th-century almshouses and hall survive more or less intact, and on to the former royal nunnery at Romsey Abbey, possessor of the best preserved Romanesque east end in England.
Day 5: Bosham, Fishbourne, Chichester. Begin with the loveliest of the harbour churches at Bosham. A gentle drive along the northern shore of Chichester Harbour to Fishbourne, site of perhaps the greatest Roman villa to have been constructed in England and one of the greatest north of the Alps. Then back into Chichester for a visit to the important late mediaeval foundation of St Mary’s Hospital, famed for its superb late-mediaeval choir stalls. The coach returns to Chichester railway station by 3.30pm.
england
18–22 April 2016 (mc 640) 5 days • £1,210 Lecturer: John McNeill
Itinerary Day 1: Chichester. Leave Chichester railway station on foot at 2.15pm for the short walk to Chichester cathedral, Ian Nairn’s ‘well-worn, well-loved, comfortable fireside chair of a cathedral’, and a building best approached as
Tower of Ambulatory, Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, watercolour by W. Ball, publ. 1909. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Cathedrals of England
Ely, Lincoln, Durham, York, Coventry, Gloucester, Bristol, Wells, Salisbury, Winchester england
20–28 April 2016 (mc 641) This tour is currently full 28 September–6 October 2016 (md 872) 9 days • £2,610 Lecturer: Tim Tatton Brown A study of ten of Britain’s greatest buildings – their history, architecture, sculpture, stained glass and current life. Built between the Norman Conquest and Henry VIII’s Reformation, with Coventry Cathedral a moving exception. Organ recitals exclusively for us, and many other special arrangements. Five hotels and quite a lot of driving, but an uncrowded itinerary includes time for rest and independent exploration. This is an architectural journey that would be hard to equal for intensity of aesthetic delight. As a way into the minds and lives of the people of the Middle Ages it would be difficult to surpass. Personalities of extraordinary capability and vision will be discovered, and the thought processes and techniques used by craftsmen of genius revealed and decoded. The tour ranges across England – north, south, east and west – to see some of the most glorious mediaeval architecture to be found anywhere. Connoisseurs may carp at the omissions, but logistics exclude only a couple of cathedrals of comparable beauty, magnificence and interest. With an average of little over one cathedral a day, there is plenty of time at each to really get to know, assimilate, appreciate and contemplate each one.
All but one are mediaeval, Norman (as Romanesque is generally called in Britain) and Gothic. It is easy to underestimate the length of time the Middle Ages encompasses: the span from the earliest work we see on the tour to the latest, from the Norman Conquest to the Reformation, equals that from the Reformation to the present day. There was huge variety in the building arts and historical circumstances during those 460 years. The one non-mediaeval cathedral on the itinerary is Coventry. Rebuilt after the Second World War, not only is it a treasure house of mid-twentieth-century art but it is a moving monument to rebirth and reconciliation. There are many special arrangements to enable you to see more than most visitors. Organ recitals are organised for us at some cathedrals. There are also opportunities to hear some excellent choirs at Evensong. Cathedrals come with cities, and many of these were relatively little changed during the era of industrialisation and now rank among the loveliest in England. Much beautiful countryside is traversed as well. For centuries, British scholars and critics laboured under an inferiority complex, believing English Gothic to be a defective derivative of the thoroughbred French version, inferior according to the degree to which it departed from the soaring, clean-limbed and impeccably rational paradigms across the Channel. That cultural cringe has all but evaporated in the last couple of generations, not least because evidence has been piling up that masons and architects in England had entire confidence in their inventiveness and deliberately chose to shun French conventions in favour of England’s own distinctive and fascinating imaginative universe.
Day 1: Ely. The coach leaves King’s Cross, London at 9.30am for Ely, a surprisingly remote and rural location for one of England’s greatest cathedrals. The mighty Norman nave and transepts (c. 1110–30), with their thick walls, tiers of arches and clusters of shafts, leads to the crossing and its unique 14th-century octagonal lantern, a work of genius. The detatched Lady Chapel, also in the Decorated style, is the largest and perhaps the finest in the country; the Early English quire a ravishing setting for the lost shrine to St Etheldreda. Overnight Lincoln. Day 2: Lincoln. Also largely by-passed by modern urban development, Lincoln’s hilltop site above the broad Witham valley renders this enormous cathedral even more imposing. Largely rebuilt from 1192, it is one of the finest of Gothic cathedrals, its fascinations enhanced by myriad minor inconsistencies and variations which reveal the struggle for solutions at the frontiers of artistic fashion and technological capability. The steep streets of the ancient town are a delight. First of three nights in York. Day 3: Durham. By train to Durham (c. 40 minutes), where the topography and riverside walk provide the most exciting approach to any English cathedral. Massive towers rise above the trees which cling to the steep embankment, a defensible bulwark in the frequently hostile North. Largely completed in the decades from 1093 and little altered since, the nave and quire with their great cylindrical pillars, distinguished by their engraved patterns, constitute one of the world’s greatest Romanesque churches. Day 4: York. York Minster is the largest of English mediaeval cathedrals. Above ground it is all Gothic, from Early English to Perpendicular but predominantly 14th-century, demonstrating an exceptional knowledge of the latest French Rayonnant ideas. It is a treasure trove of original stained glass, and the polygonal chapter house is without peer. The city retains its mediaeval walls and an exceptional quantity of historic buildings. Day 5: Coventry. Coventry Cathedral is perhaps internationally Britain’s best-known 20th-cent. building. Built to designs by Sir Basil Spence beside the ruins of its predecessor, destroyed in 1940, it is both a showcase for some of the best art of the time (Graham Sutherland, John Piper, Jacob Epstein). In the evening, a walk through Stratford-upon-Avon, which has retained many buildings Shakespeare would have known. Overnight Stratford.
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Itinerary
Durham Cathedral, engraving in The English Provinces, 1888. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 6: Gloucester, Bristol. The procession of tall cylindrical pillars in Gloucester’s nave is unadulterated Norman, but, following the burial of Edward II in 1327, the eastern parts are exquisitely veiled in the first large-scale appearance of Perpendicular architecture. The east window, which retains its mediaeval stained glass, is one of the largest in Europe. Bristol cathedral is a much-overlooked gem with fine work of every era, from the lavishly patterned walls of the Romanesque chapter house to G. E. Street’s great Victorian nave. But its highlight is the east end, among the most innovative and
The Age of Bede Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Day 7: Wells. An exceptionally unspoilt little city, Wells has a fortified bishop’s palace, 14th-cent. houses of the Vicars Choral and much else of charm and interest. The cathedral was one of the first in England to be built entirely in Gothic style. Its screened west front, eastward march of the nave, sequence of experimental contrasted spaces of the Decorated east end, serene chapter house and Perpendicular cloisters all contribute to the cathedral’s exceptional allure. The strainer arches supporting the sagging tower are among the great creations of the Middle Ages. Day 8: Salisbury. One of the most uplifting experiences in English architecture, Salisbury is unique among the Gothic cathedrals in England in that it was built on a virgin site and largely in a single campaign, 1220–58. To homogeneity are added lucidity of design and perfection of detail. Completed a century later, the spire at 404 feet is the tallest mediaeval structure in Britain. The close is the finest in the country, and the town beyond has an extensive expanse of historic fabric. Overnight Winchester. Day 9: Winchester. Winchester Cathedral is one of Europe’s longest churches, reflecting the city’s status intermittently from the 9th to the 17th centuries as a seat of English government. The transepts are unembellished early Norman (1079), raw architecture of brute power, whereas the mighty nave was dressed 300 years later in suave Perpendicular garb. The profusion of chantry chapels constitutes an enchanting collection of Gothic micro-architecture. Wall paintings, floor tiles, the finest 12th-cent. Bible. Return to Tothill Street in central London by 4.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,610. Single occupancy: £2,930. Included meals: 1 lunch and 6 dinners with wine.
How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking; sometimes up to 30 minutes at a time. There are a lot of steps and uneven surfaces. Roof and tower visits are optional, but at Salisbury there are 332 stairs to climb. Two of the hotels do not have lifts. Three days without any coach travel, but an average on the remaining five of 73 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Examines the remarkable efflorescence of culture and learning in Anglo-Saxon northern England. Jarrow, Monkwearmouth, Holy Island, Hexham and other Anglo-Saxon sites. Studies also Durham Cathedral, perhaps the greatest Romanesque building in Europe, with special arrangements. Imogen Corrigan, a specialist in Anglo-Saxon and mediaeval history, leads the tour. For a few decades around ad 700, a handful of monasteries in Northumbria became beacons of culture and learning in a Britain that was largely tribal, warlike and unstable. Within a century Viking raiders extinguished these fragile flickers of civilization, and destruction and division again ruled the land. England – as it can now be called – steadily recovered, and on the eve of the Norman Conquest had become one of the bestgoverned and most prosperous territories in Europe. The tour visits some of the most significant Anglo-Saxon remains in the area – Jarrow and Monkwearmouth, the two-campus monastery to which Bede was given as a child oblate and where he became a monk; church architecture at Escomb and Hexham; and sites of powerful resonance, of the royal court at Yeavering and Lindisfarne, now known as Holy Island. The tour introduces a cast of remarkable men – Benedict Biscop, Aiden, Cuthbert, Wilfrid, Bede, characters of extraordinary tenacity, learning, piety and courage. One of the great intellectuals of the Middle Ages, the Venerable Bede (c. 673–735) wrote on science and the measurement of time and on languages and literature as well as compiling a work of inestimable value, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Durham Cathedral is the last resting place of Cuthbert and Bede. In the opinion of some the finest Romanesque church in Europe, its massiveness and defensibility express the often tenuous hold on the region by institutions representing southern-based royal government.
Itinerary Day 1: Jarrow and Monkwearmouth. The tour begins with a lecture in the hotel in Durham (where all three nights are spent) at 1.30pm. The monasteries at Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, ten miles apart but one institution, were founded in 674 and 681 by Benedict Biscop, whose five journeys to Rome resulted in a unique network of international contacts and awareness of European artistry. Parts of the original chapels survive, with stained glass and stone carvings. ‘Bede’s World’ is an excellent museum, with a living Anglo-Saxon farm adjacent. Day 2: Durham. The day is spent in and around Durham Cathedral, one of the greatest Romanesque churches in Europe and one of the
Anglo-Saxon cross (detail), after a drawing of 1912.
most impressive of English cathedrals. Mighty towers rise above the encircling river Wear, while the interior cannot but move with its power and piety. The bulk of the building is little altered since the 40-year building campaign begun 1093. There is the opportunity to attend Evensong here. Day 3: Yeavering, Holy Island. On the journey to Lindisfarne the tour visits Yeavering, evocative site of a royal settlement. The monastery on the little island of Lindisfarne (later ‘Holy Island’) was founded in ad 635 by an Irish monk from Iona, St. Aidan, and became an important centre for scholarship and missionary activity. A place of remarkable charm and tranquillity, there Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Accommodation (autumn departure only). The Castle Hotel, Lincoln (castlehotel.net): an historic building close to the cathedral. The Grange, York (grangehotel.co.uk): also in an historic building with a new wing, within walking distance of the city centre. Alveston Manor, Stratford on Avon (macdonaldhotels. co.uk): a comfortable hotel, a short walk from the town across the river Arden. The Swan, Wells (swanhotelwells.co.uk): in a building of 15th-cent. origin in a narrow street close to the cathedral. The Wessex, Winchester (mercure.com): excellently located overlooking the cathedral in a 1960s building. Rooms at all the hotels, being citycentre historic properties, vary in size and outlook.
16–19 July 2016 (mc 760) 4 days • £930 Lecturer: Imogen Corrigan
england
beautiful of early-14th-cent. buildings. First of two nights in Wells.
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The Age of Bede continued
Nor thumbria
Countryside, coast, architecture & art england
are Anglo-Saxon fragments, ruins of the Norman priory, and a castle, turned into a home by Edwin Lutyens. Day 4: Escomb, Hexham. The tiny Saxon church at Escomb was built c. ad 675, a rare survival. A lovely market town on a bluff above the Tyne, Hexham grew around a monastery founded in 671 by St Wilfrid. The magnificent mediaeval church is post-Conquest except for the crypt, the largest surviving expanse of Anglo-Saxon architecture in England. The coach sets down at Newcastle Central Railway station by 3.00pm and returns to Durham by 3.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £930. Single occupancy: £1,000. Included meals: 1 lunch and 2 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham (radissonblu.co.uk/hotel-durham) is a modern hotel situated on the river and is about 15 minutes on foot from the town centre. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. How strenuous? This tour would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and who cannot stand for long periods of time. Average distance by coach per day: 55 miles. Combine this tour with German Gothic, 7–14 July (page 95).
Ryedale Festival 15–22 July 2016 Details available in December 2015 Contact us to register your interest
Hexham Abbey, wood engraving 1892.
15–23 June 2016 (mc 715) 9 days • £2,760 Lecturer: Christopher Newall Wide-ranging exploration of the natural and man-made beauties of one of the most interesting but least visited regions of England. Castles, country houses, villages, towns and cities and wonderful landscape. Several special arrangements, a private boat for a day, two exhilarating country walks (optional – alternative visits are provided for non-walkers). Good hotels: Jesmond Dene House in Newcastle and Waren House outside Bamburgh.
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Scarborough, watercolour by Gordon Home, publ. 1908.
Northumbria is border country in depth. The Romans had a bumpy ride in their attempts to fix the limits of their empire and pacify the populace, despite the extraordinary achievement of Hadrian’s Wall. After the Norman Conquest the region was supposedly within England but was subject to frequent Scottish incursions and effectively ruled by a handful of clans beyond the writ of the English Crown. To this day castles characterise the region more than country houses, and yet those houses that exist share an austere aesthetic. But perhaps the most striking and alluring consequence of its buffer-zone heritage is the landscape. Remote and sparsely inhabited, ruffled by majestic undulations and etched with dry stone walls, rugged uplands mixing with picturesque farmland, Northumbria has some of the most enthralling scenery in all England. Such marginal land was a magnet to monastic foundations, and outstanding mediaeval church architecture is another feature.
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And yet, by extreme contrast, the region became one of the powerhouses of the industrial revolution. The Tyneside conurbation has some of the most fascinating cityscapes in Britain. Beyond the city, wealth and innovation led to the great Victorian country estate such as Norman Shaw’s Cragside. Northumbria was far larger than the (relatively) modern counties of Northumberland, Durham and Tyne and Wear. This tour presents a grand sweep of history, architecture and landscape by selecting the finest sights in an itinerary that is balanced in content and pace.
Itinerary Day 1: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Durham. The coach leaves the hotel at 1.00pm and Newcastle Central Station at 1.30pm. Drive to Durham Cathedral, one of the great monuments of Romanesque Europe, its glories enhanced by a hilltop site in one of the loveliest little cities in England. Return via St Paul’s church in Jarrow, the monastery home of the Venerable Bede (ad 673–735), one of the greatest intellectuals of the Middle Ages. First of five nights in Newcastle. Day 2: Newcastle. A day in the city, an undulating site tumbling down to the Tyne through fine buildings and streets. Start at the Laing Art Gallery, home to a collection of paintings by north-eastern artist John Martin. Opened in 1825, the Literary and Philosophical Society is the largest independent library outside London and houses over 150,000 books. See the library at the Mining Institute, built at the height of the English Gothic Revival. Planned and developed by Richard Grainger, Grey Street in the commercial city centre is often described as one of the finest planned streets in England. Outstanding post-
“A well-balanced itinerary which gave me an overall impression of the area and an idea of the places I might like to re-visit.”
Day 3: Bywell, Hexham, Hadrian’s Wall. Nestled in the Tyne Valley, the village of Bywell has two fine churches, one with a Saxon tower. The delightful town of Hexham grew up around an abbey founded in ad 674; the grand 13thcentury church survives. An optional walk along Hadrian’s Wall from Housesteads (3½ miles), scenically and archaeologically perhaps the most spectacular stretch. Non-walkers visit Vindolanda, site of a Roman town; ongoing excavations are yielding exciting discoveries. Overnight Newcastle. Day 4: Alnwick, Edlingham, Cragside. Externally still a formidable mediaeval fortress, Alnwick Castle, seat of the Dukes of Northumberland, has sumptuous interiors and a superb painting collection. A beautiful drive via Edlingham to see the Norman church and remains of a 12th-cent. hall house. Cragside, built for Sir William Armstrong, is the masterpiece of Norman Shaw and the interiors form a wonderful sequence of late-Victorian taste and technology. Day 5: Warkworth, Woodhorn, Belsay. More palace than castle, the 15th-century Warkworth Castle towers above the town. Woodhorn Colliery is one of the best surviving examples of a 19thcentury coal mine. After Sir Charles Monck’s return from Greece in 1805 he built Belsay Hall in a severely Grecian style, a contrast to the delightful woodland gardens which lead to a mediaeval castle. Overnight Newcastle. Day 6: Craster, Dunstanburgh. En route to Craster visit Tynemouth to see the impressive Collingwood Monument and the North and South piers at the mouth of the Tyne – astonishing pieces of engineering. Lunch in the pretty seaside town of Craster, kipper capital of the UK. A glorious coastal hillside walk to Dunstanburgh Castle (2½ miles round trip; optional), in splendid isolation on a rocky promontory. Non-walkers visit the gardens at Howick Hall. Drive to the hotel at Waren Mill two miles away. First of three nights here.
Day 8: Farne Islands, Holy Island. Drive to Holy Island to see Lindisfarne Priory and the Castle which was later converted by Lutyens into Edward Hudson’s country home. Sail on a privately chartered boat to the Farne Islands and Inner Farne, famously the setting of Grace Darling’s heroism and home to some of England’s richest birdlife. St Aidan lived as a hermit here before establishing Lindisfarne Priory, as did St Cuthbert who later became the patron saint of Durham. Overnight Waren Mill.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,760. Single occupancy: £3,030. National Trust or English Heritage members (with cards) will be refunded c. £45.
Christopher Newall Art historian, lecturer and writer. A specialist in 19th-century British art he also has a deep interest in southern Italy, its architecture, politics and social history. He studied at the Courtauld and has curated various exhibitions including John Ruskin: Artist & Observer at the National Gallery of Canada and Scottish National Portrait Gallery. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Included meals: 1 lunch and 7 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Jesmond Dene House, Newcastle (jesmonddenehouse.co.uk): 19thcentury mansion in a quiet wooded suburb which opened as a hotel in 2007; stylish, very comfortable, exceptional service, good amenities, garden, excellent restaurant. Waren House Hotel, near Bamburgh (warenhousehotel.co.uk): a Georgian house in the countryside with 13 rooms; furnished and adorned by the owners in a charmingly quirky way with light, floral bedrooms, sitting room-cum-library and dining room; patio, garden and sea views. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking involved, even without the two optional country walks. Coaches can rarely park near the sites and some places visited are extensive. Average distance by coach per day: 47 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Tudor England, 8–13 June (page 28); Yorkshire Houses, 25 June–1 July (page 23). What else is included in the price? See page 6.
The Suffolk Festival Music of Tudor & Stuart England 13–16 June 2016 (mc 714) Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com Western Suffolk is only seventy miles from London but it seems another country, another age. Embedded in rolling rural English countryside are some exceptionally attractive villages and some of the finest parish churches in the kingdom. This festival is one of MRT’s own creations. There are concerts in five churches (Bury-StEdmunds, Lavenham, Long Melford, Cavendish, Kedington), in the rare Georgian theatre at Bury, and at Melford Hall, a Tudor and Stuart country house. The music is largely English and of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Two of the earliest English operas feature – John Blow’s Venus & Adonis and Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas, as well as Purcell’s Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary. These are performed by La Nuova Musica, which under the leadership of David Bates is emerging as one of the most exciting early music ensembles in Britain. The other four concerts are performed by The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips, who need no introduction as the world’s leading specialists in Renaissance polyphony.
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Day 7: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Norham, Bamburgh. The border town of Berwick has been much fought over by England and Scotland in the past. It is protected by the most complete set of ramparts in England. Barracks, Cromwellian church and Royal Border Bridge. Drive into wild Northumberland to the ruins of Norham Castle, once one of the strongest border castles and finally defeated by James IV of Scotland. Some free time at the hotel or in Bamburgh.
Day 9: Newcastle. Wallington Hall dates to 1688 but was refurbished in the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, the latter resulting in an arcaded twostorey hall with scenes of Northumbrian history painted by William Bell Scott. Drive south to Newcastle, dropping off at the station by 1.45pm and at the Jesmond Dene House c. 2.30pm.
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industrial regeneration on the quayside with the Millennium Bridge (Wilkinson Eyre) and Foster’s Sage Gateshead. Overnight Newcastle.
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Lavenham, St Peter and St Paul’s, engraving c. 1900. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Walking Hadrian’s Wall
Roman civilization at the edge of an Empire england
9–15 May 2016 (mc 670) 7 days • £1,840 Lecturer: Graeme Stobbs 5–11 September 2016 (md 825) 7 days • £1,840 Lecturer: Graeme Stobbs The archaeology and history of the largest Roman construction in northern Europe. The most spectacular stretches accessible only on foot, this is also a walking tour through some of the most magnificent scenery in England. Excursions from coast to coast include all the major Roman sites and relevant museums. One hotel throughout, the best in the region. The lecturer is Graeme Stobbs, curator for the Hadrian’s Wall Museums.
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Traversing England from the Tyne estuary to the Solway Firth, the Wall was conceived and ordered by Emperor Hadrian in ad 122 to mark and control the northernmost limit of the Roman Empire. The ambition was extraordinary, its fulfilment – far from the pool of skills and prosperity in the Mediterranean heartlands of the Empire – astonishing: a fifteen-foot-high wall 73 miles long through harsh, undulating terrain with 80 milecastles, 161 intermediate turrets and flanking earthwork ditches and ramparts. Fifteen or sixteen forts, many straddling the Wall, housed a garrison of 12–15,000 soldiers from radically different climes elsewhere in the Empire, including Syria, Libya, Dalmatia, Spain and Belgium. A populous penumbra of supply bases and civilian settlements grew up nearby. As a feat of organisation, engineering and willpower, Hadrian’s Wall ranks among the most extraordinary of all Roman achievements. Its story does not end with its completion within Hadrian’s reign because for the remaining three centuries of Roman control there were constant changes both to the fabric and to its administration and occupation. A study of the Wall leads to an examination of practically every aspect of Roman civilization, from senatorial politics in Rome to the mundanities of life for ordinary Romans – and Britons – who lived in its shadow. But the Wall itself remains the fascinating focus, and the subject of endless academic debate. For the modern-day visitor the Wall has the further, inestimable attraction of passing some of the most magnificent and unspoilt countryside in England. Happily, archaeological interest is greatest where the landscape is at its most thrilling, and it is in this central section, furthest from centres of population, that the tour concentrates. The principal excavated sites can be visited with no more exertion than on an average sightseeing outing, but to see the best surviving stretches of the Wall, and to appreciate the vastness of the Roman achievement, to view many of its details and to immerse fully in the scenic beauties, there is no substitute for leaving wheels behind and walking along its course.
How strenuous are the walks? On each of the five full days there is a walk of between two and three hours, covering between two and four miles. The slow progress is in part due to stops to examine the archaeology and to take in the wonderful views. But also the terrain is often quite rough, and periodically there are rises and falls, sometimes quite steep, though rarely of more than 50 metres and often aided by roughhewn stone steps recently made for the Hadrian’s Wall Path. It is not a tough trek but nevertheless it should only be attempted by people whose regular country walks include some uphill elements. A coach takes you to the start of each walk and meets you at the end, eliminating the need to retrace steps or carry much except water and waterproofs. Each day has been planned to provide a balanced mix of archaeology, more general sight-seeing and cross-country trekking, and for this reason the walks do not constitute a linear progression. On most days you return to the hotel by 5.00pm, allowing plenty of time to relax before dinner.
Day 3: walk Housesteads to Steel Rigg; Chesters. Again for much of the route the Wall rides the crest of the faultline of dolerite crags, dipping and climbing. There are spectacular stretches, excellently preserved milecastles, staggering views: moorland, lakes, conifer forests to the north, richly variegated greens, plentiful livestock, distant vistas to the south (3½ miles, up to 2¾ hours). Pub lunch. Chesters, the most salubrious of the forts (lavish bath house), built for 500 Asturian cavalrymen, in enchanting river valley setting. Day 4: Vindolanda, Newcastle. The fort and town of Vindolanda is the site of ongoing excavations which are revealing everyday artefacts including, famously, the ‘postcard’ writing tablets which uniquely document details of everyday life. In Newcastle the Great North Museum has the best collection of objects excavated along the Wall. Day 5: walk Gilsland to Birdoswald; Chesters, Brocolitia. Walk through low-lying and pretty farmland with streams and wild flowers. The only mile with both milecastles and turrets visible, and good lengths of Wall (2 miles, 1 hour). Pub lunch followed by a couple of archaeological remains, the Mithraic temple at Brocolitia and the bridge abutments across the river from Chesters. Day 6: walk Walltown to Cawfields; Carlisle, Bowness-on-Solway. The final walk is spectacularly varied, from rocky hilltops to lowland pasture (3½ miles, 2½ hours). Great Chesters fort has good remains of gates and other structures, with lengths of the Wall up to two metres high. Drive to Carlisle to see the Wall collections in the Tullie House Museum, and continue to the evocative estuarial landscape of the Solway Firth. The Wall ended at the remote village of Bowness-on-Solway.
Bust of Hadrian, engraving c. 1840.
Itinerary Day 1: Housesteads. The coach leaves Newcastle Central Station at 2.15pm (or from the hotel, Matfen Hall, at 1.30pm) and takes you straight out to Housesteads. With standing remains of up to 10 feet, this is the best preserved of the Wall’s forts and evocatively reveals the usual panoply of perimeter walls and gateways, headquarters building, commander’s palatial residence, granaries, hospital, latrines. Remote and rugged, there are superb views. Day 2: walk Steel Rigg to Cawfields; Corbridge. The first walk is perhaps the most consistently rugged as it follows long, well-preserved stretches of the Wall through moorland above the cliffs of the Whinsill Crag; a thrilling walk (2¾ miles, up to 2½ hours). Pub lunch. Corbridge began as a fort in the chain built by Agricola c. ad 85 but left to the south by Hadrian’s Wall it became a supply depot and then a largely civilian town.
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Day 7: South Shields, Wallsend. At South Shields Arbeia is a fine reconstruction of a fort gateway, as well as reconstructions of a soldier’s barrack block and an opulent house belonging to the Commanding Officer. At aptly named Wallsend and now engulfed in the Tyneside conurbation, Segedunum was the most easterly of the forts, the layout clearly seen from a viewing platform. Drive to Newcastle railway station, arriving by 2.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,840. Single occupancy: £1,960. English Heritage members (with cards) will be refunded c. £20. Included meals: 3 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Matfen Hall Hotel (matfenhall.com): a 19th-century Jacobean-style mansion, Matfen Hall is a fine country house hotel offering excellent service. How strenuous? Please read the final two paragraphs of the introduction. You should not consider this tour unless you possess a well-used pair of walking boots, are more than averagely fit, have good balance and a head for heights. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Yorkshire Houses
Historic houses in one of England’s most spectacular counties
The finest country houses and gardens in Yorkshire, several with special arrangements. Unhurried: there is plenty of time to rest, relax and absorb. Led by Dr Adam White, the Hon. Curator of Lotherton Hall.
Day 1: Lotherton Hall. The coach leaves York railway station at 2.00pm (or from the hotel at 1.40pm). Lotherton Hall is a charming Edwardian country home rich in collections of paintings, furniture, silver, china, costume and oriental art, set in beautiful grounds. Day 2: Sledmere, Scampston Hall. Designed and built in the mid- to late-18th century, mostly by Sir Christopher Sykes, Sledmere remains in the Sykes family today. It was badly damaged by fire in 1911 and has since been immaculately restored. Scampston Hall is a wonderful example of an English country house, combining fine architecture with a wealth of art treasures set in ‘Capability’ Brown parkland. The walled garden is a magnificent example of contemporary design. Day 3: Harewood House, Fairfax House. One of the grandest and most beautiful of English country houses, with architecture by John Carr (1772) and Charles Barry (1843), interiors by Adam, furniture by Chippendale and a park by ‘Capability’ Brown. There are excellent paintings, Italian Renaissance to modern. Private dinner at Fairfax House in York, built in 1745 and the best preserved and furnished such house in Britain. Day 4: Newby Hall, Markenfield Hall. Designed by Wren, augmented by Adam and filled with art, Newby Hall is utterly enchanting. The 25 acres of gardens are wonderful. Markenfield Hall is the best surviving mediaeval moated manor house in England. Parts date to c. 1290, while the crenellations were licensed in 1310. Day 5: Nostell Priory, Brodsworth Hall. Nostell Priory, an architectural treasure by James Paine, later modified by Robert Adam. The collection of Chippendale furniture is unequalled. A Victorian time capsule, Brodsworth Hall is a magnificent Italianate mansion built and furnished in the
1860s, and ‘conserved as found’ by English Heritage 20 years ago. By contrast, the gardens have been restored to their former splendour. Day 6: Castle Howard. One of the great houses of Europe, Castle Howard was begun in 1699 to designs by the leading architect of the English Baroque, Sir John Vanbrugh. Fine collections, grand gardens and park, famous garden temple and mausoleum. Most of the day is spent here for in-depth exploration and time to absorb. Day 7: Temple Newsam. A fine Tudor-Jacobean mansion with restored interiors and outstanding collections of paintings, furniture, silver and decorative arts, and another ‘Capability’ Brown landscape. Return to York railway station by 3.00pm (the coach continues to the hotel).
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,930. Single occupancy: £2,240. Included meals: 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Grange, York (grangehotel.co.uk): 10 minutes’ walk from the Minster, The Grange is converted from a Georgian town house; décor and furnishings combine period and modern; very good restaurant. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Unavoidably there is quite a lot of walking. Coaches can rarely park near the houses, many of the parks and gardens are extensive and most of the houses visited don’t have lifts (nor does the hotel). Average distance by coach per day: c. 60 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Walking to Derbyshire Houses, 19–24 June (page 24); Northumbria, 15–23 June (page 20); Stonehenge & Prehistoric Wessex, 3–7 July (page 35).
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Yorkshire is England’s largest and one of its most beautiful counties, renowned for the spectacular countryside of the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales. It is also a county blessed with an outstanding range of country houses. This tour provides the opportunity to explore the best. The visit will be based in York, the English city with the finest concentration of historic buildings outside Oxford and Cambridge. Though the celebrated mediaeval Minster is its crowning glory, Fairfax House, a beautifully restored Georgian town mansion, is a similarly periodperfect work. The story of the country house in Yorkshire begins in the Middle Ages and Markenfield Hall, near Ripon, is a remarkable survival from that time. The splendours of the Renaissance can be found at Temple Newsam while Castle Howard is one of the finest Baroque houses of its date, equal in magnificence to some of the European palaces of that period On an equally magnificent scale is Harewood House. This dazzling neo-classical chef d’oeuvre – ‘a St Petersburg palace on a Yorkshire ridge’ (Simon Jenkins) – is a perfectly balanced synthesis of the greatest talents of the age. The tour will focus on houses that were really homes, the creation and vision of powerful dynasties over centuries. Many (Castle Howard, Harewood, Newby Hall, Sledmere) are still in the hands of the families who originally built them, and participants on this tour have the opportunity for early admission and evening visits to some of houses. The majority are houses with museumquality treasures and, amongst the highlights, are the Gobelins tapestries at Newby Hall, the Burne-Jones stained glass in the chapel at Castle Howard, and one of England’s finest private art collections (Bellini, Titian, El Greco, Turner and Gainsborough) at Harewood. But they are also places that reflect the serendipity of everyday life – if on a rather grand scale. From the dolls’ house at Nostell Priory (an exact miniature of the house itself) to Lotherton Hall, a gentleman’s country residence which evokes the comfort and sense of security enjoyed by the English upper classes in the years before the First World War, these were houses evidently lived in and enjoyed. The tour is led by Dr Adam White, Honorary Curator of Lotherton Hall, and will explore every aspect of country-house life, from architecture and interior design to conservation and custodianship. Guests stay at the award-winning boutique hotel The Grange in York, itself a grade II-listed Georgian townhouse.
Itinerary
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25 June–1 July 2016 (mc 738) 7 days • £1,930 Lecturer: Dr Adam White
Harewood House, chromolithograph from Country Seats Vol.I, publ. 1880. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Walking to Derbyshire Houses Magnificent countryside and great country houses england
19–24 June 2016 (mc 720) 6 days • £2,110 Lecturer: Dr Paul Atterbury Daily walks over hills, dales and landscaped parks followed by visits to country houses. A mixture of grand stately homes and smaller mansions: Kedleston, Haddon, Tissington, Chatsworth, Sudbury and Hardwick. Stay throughout in a comfortable hotel on the Chatsworth Estate. One of the joys of a walk in the English countryside is glimpsing a great house in the distance. At first just dimly perceived chimneys and roofs, the rest screened by trees, but as the walk continues more is revealed, and beauty beckons. But after further progress along the path, foliage and land mass reassert themselves and the mansion passes from sight. Unless the house is the goal of the walk. Then it continues to grow in size, in detail, in magnificence, until one is examining it from the front lawn. Maybe next one mounts the steps and passes over the threshold; or peel away for refreshments or lunch – on this tour the more frequent course, given that arrival follows a country walk of an hour or two or three. This tour includes some of the greatest houses in the country, outstanding representatives of their period, laden with treasures – Haddon, Hardwick, Chatsworth, Sudbury and Kedleston. Tissington also features, for contrast but also for its intrinsic delight.
Famously, the Peak District offers wonderful walking country, and all but one of our walks are within the boundaries of this, the oldest National Park in Britain. Most consists of rumpled hills and their covering of little green fields, dry stone walls, deciduous trees and a dense population of cattle and sheep. There are only occasional hints of moorland. Landscaped parks are another feature, with their carefully composed arboreal clumps syncopated with grassy hillsides, serpentine lakes and grand avenues. River valleys provide another pleasure. Romantic poets delighted in Dovedale, for over two hundred years one of the most famous walks in the world. Wordsworth explored the valley as a young man and crystallised his recollections many years later in The Prelude: ‘In summer, making quest for works of art, / Or scenes renowned for beauty, I explored / That streamlet whose blue current works its way / Between romantic Dovedale’s spiry rocks’.
Itinerary Day 1: Derby, Kedleston Hall, Baslow. Leave Derby Station at 12.30pm for the 20-minute drive to Kedleston. Starting at the Doric gateway to the estate, walk through meadows, woodland and the ‘Capability’ Brown park to one of the supreme monuments of Classical architecture and decoration in England (40 minutes, cumulative elevation gain 15 metres). Inside and out Kedleston Hall has hardly changed since the 1760s. Continue to Baslow where all five nights are spent.
The Dove Holes, Dovedale, from Picturesque Europe: The British Isles, 1879.
Day 2: Bakewell, Haddon Hall. Drive to the lovely historic town of Bakewell. Walk out into fields and gradually up through farmland to the village of Over Haddon (c. 55/60 mins, elevation gain 125m). After refreshments, descend through fields, gently at first, with views of the hillsides beyond the Wye and Lathkill Valleys, with tantalising glimpses of Haddon Hall in the valley (60/70 mins). Late mediaeval and Tudor, and with exquisite terraced gardens, Haddon Hall is for some the most arrestingly beautiful and atmospheric house in England. Return to Baslow by coach. Day 3: Tissington, Parwich. Sir Richard FitzHerbert gives commentary during a walk through his estate (1½ hours, negligible elevation gain). The landscape is enchanting, quintessential Derbyshire, the hills gentle, trees plentiful, fields bounded by hedges or stone walls. Tissington is an extraordinarily pretty village, and the largely Jacobean Hall is a delight; Georgian interiors, family documents and terraced gardens. After lunch and time in the village there is an optional walk along an enchanting rural route to the village of Parwich (1 hour, elevation gain 50m). The coach back to the hotel picks up at Tissington and Parwich. Day 4: Chatsworth House. Walk from the hotel through fields to the park, and climb steadily to an inhabited Elizabethan tower for views across the valley and down to the house (75 mins, elevation gain 105m). Dating largely from around 1700 and the 1840s, Chatsworth is not only one of the grandest country houses in Britain but also an extraordinary treasure-house of art and furnishings, brilliantly presented as refurbishment continues. A tour in the morning is followed by nearly four hours of free time, to revisit the house and to explore the gardens. Leave at 4.30pm for the half-hour walk along the valley bottom to the hotel.
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Day 5: Dovedale, Sudbury Hall. The River Dove has carved a spectacular limestone gorge which has delighted walkers for generations. Our route leads up Hall Dale and out into the open countryside where livestock graze and the views stretch for miles across Ilam and the Manifold Valley. The three-hour (with stops) walk shows all the diversity of the White Peak (6.2 miles, elevation gain 170m). Rebuilt in the 17th century, Sudbury Hall features an Englishmade, richly decorated Great Staircase. It is now owned by the National Trust and houses the Museum of Childhood. Day 6: Hardwick Hall. The final walk is another which begins at the edge of an estate and winds through varied terrain to reach the house, which sits atop a high scarp. Features include two magnificent avenues and a woodland walk laid out by Lady Spencer, mother of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire. (1½ hours, elevation gain 90m). Built in the 1590s by the richest woman in England, Hardwick Hall ranks among the greatest Elizabethan architecture and most memorable interiors in England. Return to Derby station by 5.00pm.
24 book online at www.martinrandall.com
Walking a Royal River
Art, architecture & history from the source to Hampton Court england
Dr Paul Atterbury Lecturer, writer and broadcaster specialising in the art, architecture and design of the 19th and 20th centuries. He has published widely on pottery, porcelain, canals, railways, and the Thames. He curated the V&A exhibitions Pugin & the Victorian Vision and is an expert on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,110. Single occupancy: £2,500. Included meals: 2 lunches, 3 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. The Cavendish Hotel, near Chatsworth (cavendish-hotel.net): located on the Chatsworth Estate, it has been an inn for centuries. All bedrooms have good views and elegant décor with original artwork. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? This is a walking tour, with 8 to 10 (2 could be omitted) country walks of between 40 minutes and 3 hours. Two are on fairly level terrain but some are moderately strenuous with cumulative elevation gain of up to 170 metres. Participants must be used to regular country walking with significant uphill element (see the itinerary for cumulative elevation gain). A feature of the Peak District are the squeeze stiles, gaps in drystone walls too narrow for livestock. Some step stiles require walkers to raise the foot as high as their knee. Participants require fitness, stamina and agility. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Turner & the Sea, 12–17 June (page 36); Yorkshire Houses, 25 June– 1 July (page 23).
19–25 September 2016 (md 847) 7 days • £2,410 Lecturer: Dr Paul Atterbury 26 September–2 October 2016 (md 871) 7 days • £2,410 Lecturer: Dr Paul Atterbury Walk between two and five miles a day from the source of the Thames to Hampton Court. Along the towpath and through the gentle hills which flank the valley. Visit villages, churches, country houses, gardens and palaces with regal connections from the Middle Ages to the present day. ‘The Thames is no ordinary waterway. It is the golden thread of our nation’s history.’ It is not to disparage Churchill’s irresistibly orotund metaphor to assert nevertheless that, by comparison with the other great rivers of the world, the Thames is puny. But therein lies its enchantment. While in its lower reaches the river passed through what was for a couple of centuries the largest city in the world and host to its largest port, above the tidal limit at Teddington it was too narrow, too shallow and too meandering to contribute much to the industrial or commercial might of Britain in the early modern era. A vital channel of communication when oars and poles were the locomotive forces – not least to transport rulers and courtiers to their country retreats upstream of the capital – for much of its length the Thames is now a bucolic backwater. This tour selects some of the most attractive stretches of the river to walk along, but it does not follow a linear journey from one end to the other. While resorting regularly to the towpath (now a designated long-distance trail, the Thames Path), the itinerary also ranges through varied countryside and gentle hills, and includes a representative spread of the best of the buildings, artefacts and art in the region. As much as anything, this tour is an exploration of the English village. The numerous
examples are as well-preserved as they are various. Parish churches and Iron Age forts, manor houses and major mansions, rapturous gardens and leafy churchyards, mediaeval, classical and railway-era bridges, associations with artists and writers, and of course quintessential riverine landscapes: these are chief among the attractions of the tour. It omits the larger towns and the more frequented sights. As a travel writer put it in 1910, ‘You cannot rusticate at Reading’. Even Oxford is by-passed; to cram the city into an afternoon would be cruel.
Itinerary Day 1: Thames Head. Leave The Swan, Bibury, at 2.15pm or Kemble Railway Station at 3.00pm. The tour begins with the source of the Thames. A soaring rockface, a majestic spurt: an awesome spectacle. Actually, no. A damp patch, the trickle varying with yesterday’s weather, reached by walking across three fields. Total walk: 2 miles on grassy, level paths. First of three nights in Bibury. Day 2: Inglesham, Lechlade, Great Coxwell. Begin the day with Inglesham church, beautifully isolated and dating to Saxon times. Walk c. 3 miles along the river to Lechlade-on-Thames, a vibrant small town with a fine Gothic church and a handsome bridge. Visit the masterful mediaeval barn at Great Coxwell, which King John gave to the Cistercian monks in 1203 as part of the Manor of Faringdon. Return to Bibury with a 2-mile walk along grassy paths and through woodland from Coln St Aldwyns.
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Haddon Hall, by Ernest W. Haslehurst, publ. 1910
Cookham, steel engraving c. 1850.
Day 3. Buscot, Kelmscott. Walk from Buscot, whose church has a Burne Jones window, c. 2½ miles on a level, grassy path beside the Thames. Visit Kelmscott Manor, the Tudor house acquired by William Morris, founder of the Arts and Crafts movement. In the afternoon visit Buscot Park, a Palladian mansion with Burne Jones paintings and outstanding gardens. Day 4: Wittenham Clumps, Dorchester, Ewelme. Begin at the river at Shillingford and then walk up to Wittenham Clumps, a pair of hillocks Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Walking a Royal River continued
Royal Residences
Palaces & houses in & around London, with private visits england
with views over a particularly attractive stretch of the Thames Valley. Descend through woods and across farmland, passing an Iron Age fort, to Dorchester-on-Thames. Total walk: c. 4½ miles. Visit the abbey church here, one of the finest mediaeval buildings in Oxfordshire, where St Birinus baptised King Cynegils of Wessex in 635. Continue to Ewelme, site of a Saxon palace, and today a unique complex of 15th-century church, almshouses and school, all still functioning. First of three nights in Marlow. Day 5: Hardwick, Henley-on-Thames, Cliveden. Hardwick House (to be confirmed January 2016) is a grand, gabled Tudor residence: Elizabeth I and Charles I once stayed there. Now privately owned, it is open by special arrangement. See the River and Rowing Museum at Henley-on-Thames with its extensive collection of art, photographs and boats. Cliveden’s magnificent formal gardens and woods beside the Thames have been admired for centuries. Cliveden was once the glittering hub of society, visited by virtually every British monarch since George I, home to Waldorf and Nancy Astor in the early 20th century and renowned for its parties and political gatherings. Day 6: Cookham, Eton. Walk from the hotel beside the river (4½ miles on a level path along tarmac or grass) to Cookham, life-long home of painter Stanley Spencer (1891–1959); there is a gallery of his work and a fine parish church. Tour the buildings of Eton College (founded 1440 by King Henry VI). Eton College is currently undergoing extensive renovations and is unable to confirm a visit this far in advance. Day 7: Hampton Court Palace, London. Hampton Court was begun by Cardinal Wolsey, enlarged by Henry VIII and 150 years later partly rebuilt by Christopher Wren for William III and Mary II. The most sumptuous of surviving Tudor palaces is joined to the most magnificent of 17thcentury buildings in Britain; great interiors, fine works of art, beautiful gardens, a formal park. Drive to London, arriving by c. 3.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,410. Single occupancy: £2,700. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine.
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Accommodation. The Swan, Bibury (cotswoldinns-hotels.co.uk): a former 17th-century coaching inn. The Compleat Angler, Marlow (macdonaldhotels.co.uk): very comfortable; beside the Thames with good views. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There are 6 walks of 2–5 miles, usually on flat and well-trodden grassy paths or tracks through woodland, and some paved roads and towpaths. Some include ascent and descent, climbing over stiles and on day 4, a climb of 230 feet. You should be used to countryside walking and prepared for (sometimes inclement) British weather. Average daily coach travel: 38 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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Combine this tour with Connoisseur’s London, 13–17 September (page 41).
Hampton Court, Ann Boleyn’s Gateway, watercolour by E.W. Haslehurst, publ. c. 1910.
16–20 August 2016 (mc 801) 5 days • £2,220 Lecturer: Giles Waterfield Visits nine palaces and homes, several of which are still in use by the Royal Family. Up to four very special out-of-hours private tours, including Windsor Castle. Led by Giles Waterfield, distinguished art historian, curator and director of the annual Royal Collections course. As rich a theme as any that London and its environs has to offer, with outstanding art and architecture, with past and present brought alive. Good hotels near Windsor and in Whitehall. This tour studies some of the most splendid secular buildings in Britain: Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court are of a size and magnificence which are unrivalled. Other buildings visited are glorious fragments – the Banqueting House and the Queen’s House, surviving parts of the longdemolished palaces of Whitehall and Greenwich, and the Great Hall of Westminster Palace, rebuilt as the Houses of Parliament. The dominant role of royalty in building activity in England ended abruptly with the death of Henry VIII and did not revive until the late eighteenth century under George III and George IV. Subsequently, royal patronage was constrained by the parsimony of Parliament and a prevailing dislike of Continental-style absolutism – and, long before constitutional monarchy emerged as the established political order after 1688, shortage of cash. There is no Versailles in England, no Caserta, no Winter Palace. Nevertheless, decorum continued to demand that the official residences of the monarch be appointed with a decorative richness which
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set them apart from even the grandest apartments of the nobility. The gorgeous gilded interiors of Buckingham Palace need to be seen in this context, and the seemingly bombastic sequence of halls and chambers at Windsor and Hampton Court need to be read as symbolic of the might of the nation as well as of the aspirations of the sovereign. The taste and predilections of the inhabitants of these royal residences also contribute to their appearance, of course. Some members of the Royal Family have been passionate about art and architecture and aspired to be enthroned amidst the latest style and in maximum magnificence, but many have been content with – or even yearned for – something more modest. So within the remit of this tour are some charming, fascinating but really rather modest mansions – Frogmore House in Windsor Great Park and Clarence House in St James’s. Modesty, however, is relative, and these rank among the finest historic houses of England. Architecture and decoration are not the sole subjects of the tour. The Royal Collection is one of the greatest in the world; the Queen’s palaces are replete with paintings, sculptures, furniture, porcelain and textiles of international importance. The unoccupied palaces are also amply furnished and adorned. Art, architecture, history, personalities: the theme of royal residences is one which is as rich and stimulating as any that London and her environs has to offer.
Itinerary Note that appointments for private tours cannot be confirmed until January 2016. Day 1: Kensington Palace, Windsor. The coach leaves central London at 9.45am. Kensington Palace began modestly and was extended for William and Mary and the first two Georges by leading architects. Recently restored, it is thoughtfully presented to differentiate suites. Drive to Egham and settle into Great Fosters Hotel. There is a private evening tour of the state apartments of Windsor Castle, which was founded by William I – the Norman motte and bailey still dominates – and has been occupied by nearly every monarch since (the present Queen included). Centuries of embellishment has resulted in one of the most impressive palaces in the world. Overnight Egham. Day 2: Hampton Court, Frogmore. Hampton Court was begun by Cardinal Wolsey, enlarged by Henry VIII and 150 years later partly rebuilt by Christopher Wren for William III and Mary II. The most sumptuous of surviving Tudor palaces is joined to the most magnificent of 17th-cent. buildings in Britain; great interiors, fine works of art, beautiful gardens, a formal park. There follows a private visit to rarely-open Frogmore House. A farmhouse bought and enlarged by George III, it was used by successive sovereigns as a country residence, and is still used for entertaining. Overnight Egham. Day 3: Windsor, Clarence House. Return to Windsor Castle to see more of this vast complex, including St George’s Chapel, one of England’s
“I was unprepared for the gobstopping brilliance of the buildings. It will remain with me for a long time.”
Day 4: Greenwich, Buckingham Palace. By fast river bus down the Thames to Greenwich. Of the great palace, a Tudor favourite, only the Queen’s House remains, designed by Inigo Jones in 1616 and the first truly Classical building in Britain. The rest was replaced by the Royal Naval Hospital built by Wren, Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh, the finest ensemble of Baroque architecture in Britain. In the afternoon visit the state rooms of Buckingham Palace. A mansion of 1703 remains at its core, but periodic refurbishment and enlargement, most significantly by John Nash for George IV in the 1820s, led to today’s truly palatial experience. Overnight London. Day 5: Westminster, Whitehall. Edward the Confessor began building an abbey and adjacent
palace at Westminster in 1050. The Great Hall, the largest in Europe when built by William II 50 years later, and spectacularly re-roofed c. 1400, is the main mediaeval survivor; fires in 1512 and 1834 erased the rest. The present Houses of Parliament, designed by Barry and Pugin and the most richly ornamented of Victorian buildings, rose in its place and still ranks as a royal palace. Whitehall was one of the largest palaces in Europe but was burnt in 1698; only the epoch-making Banqueting House by Inigo Jones and Peter Paul Rubens survives. The tour ends at lunchtime.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,220. Single occupancy: £2,580. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Great Fosters, Egham (greatfosters.co.uk): located between Windsor and Hampton Court, Great Fosters is a Grade One listed building of the 16th and 17th centuries, sympathetically restored and surrounded by acres of gardens and park. Bedrooms vary in size and
décor, but many are furnished with antiques and all are well equipped with modern conveniences. Royal Horseguards Hotel, London (guoman. com/royal-horseguards-hotel): just off Whitehall and within walking distance of, or a short taxi ride to, most of the London palaces. The style is that of an international hotel and bedrooms are very comfortable with all mod cons. All have a bath and shower. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
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finest Gothic buildings, and the Albert Memorial Chapel. In the late afternoon there is a private visit to Clarence House, a Nash mansion which was home to William IV while king, Princess Elizabeth from 1947, the Queen Mother from 1952 and the Prince of Wales from 2002. After seeing the excellent collection of Tudor portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, stay for dinner at its roof top restaurant. Overnight London.
How strenuous? Participants need to be good walkers and have stamina. On occasion there is a walk of 20 minutes or more between the coach (or water bus) and the palace, and some of the visits are of two hours or more without a break. Average distance by coach per day: 20 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Great Houses of the South West, 30 August–6 September (page 29).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
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Kensington Palace, Cupola Room, engraving c. 1910 by J. Sutherland after a drawing by R. Cattermole. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Tudor England
Monarchs & subjects, bridging mediaeval & modern england
8–13 June 2016 (mc 713) 6 days • £1,680 Lecturer: Professor Maurice Howard Tudor England studied through a variety of architecture, artefacts and artworks. Dynastic houses and rustic cottages, seats of learning and merchants’ mansions, artisan plasterwork and world-beating stained glass. Accompanied by a leading Tudor specialist, historian and art historian. Can be linked to The Suffolk Festival, 13–16 June 2016 (see page 21). On the day prior to the tour, the option to add a London Day: Tudor London, which studies the Tudors through visits to Westminster Abbey, the National Portrait Gallery. Please contact us to register your interest. The defeat of Richard III by Henry Tudor in a Leicestershire field on August 22, 1485, heralded a glorious age over which the Tudor monarchs would preside for the next 118 years. Out of the turmoil of the Wars of the Roses a new social and economic order emerged: an age of discovery, trade and commerce, in which the old mediaeval aristocracy was joined by a prosperous new class of bureaucrats at court and a wealthy merchant class in towns and cities. This tour explores the legacy and interests of the Tudor gentry and nobility through the prism of some of their finest surviving monuments in the south-eastern counties. Many of them owe their existence to the flourishing wool trade.
Itinerary Day 1: Hatfield, Leicester. Leave London at 10.15am. Henry VIII’s three children spent much of their childhoods at Hatfield – of the palace the great hall survives. The discovery of Richard III’s remains in a Leicester car park in 2012 was one of the most extraordinary archaeological events of recent times. The King was reinterred in Leicester Cathedral in March 2015, beneath a tomb of Swaledale Yorkshire stone. A visitor centre places the Plantagenet defeat into a wider historical context. First of three nights in Rutland. Day 2: Kirby Hall, Burghley House. In taste and ambition these great houses, owned by two of Elizabeth I’s closest and most powerful courtiers, epitomise the standing achieved by the Queen’s favourites. Kirby was completed with precocious classicism by Sir Christopher Hatton; though now partly ruined, it remains extraordinarily impressive. Magnificent Burghley House, perhaps the finest Elizabethan house in England, was built by William Cecil in a palatial compound of mediaeval, classical and pseudo-classical styles. The handsome Cecil funerary monuments in St Martin’s Church, Stamford.
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Under Henry VIII vast estates of the monasteries passed into new hands; housebuilding was now dominant rather than lavish spending on churches. The ambition to demonstrate wealth through these buildings is clear from all levels of society down to even the lesser gentry. Gainsborough Old Hall is one of the largest and most complete brick and timberframed manor houses in England; Ellys Manor House contains rare survivals of 16th century interior decoration; the immense gatehouse at Layer Marney has delicate Renaissance ornament in the form of its windows. The list goes on. The visual arts were complemented by a great flourishing of the musical and literary arts that have made some of the great works of the late sixteenth century stand out as the quintessential products of the Elizabethan age. The achievements of John Caius at Cambridge, manifest in a series of gateways to his college, mark the absorption of new approaches to classical learning into English education, while the great house at Burghley, completed by William Cecil, uses tradition and innovation in design and ornament fit for Elizabeth’s first minister and ready to receive the Queen herself.
Day 3: Gainsborough Old Hall, Ellys Manor. Dating from the mid-15th century, Gainsborough Old Hall played host to Richard III in 1483 before the owner, Sir Thomas Burgh, switched allegiance to Henry Tudor. Sources suggest that Henry VIII may also have spent a night here. In addition to the formal rooms a remarkably intact suite of service interiors has survived. Built by an international wool merchant in the late 15th century, Ellys Manor has continental influences throughout and exceptional 16th-century wall paintings, ‘a rare English interpretation of French verdure tapestries’ (Pevsner). Cambridge, King’s College, lithograph 1814.
Day 4: Cambridge. Though begun in 1446 by Henry VI, King’s College Chapel acquired
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its present form during the reign of Henry VIII. Combining the very best of Tudor era architecture, stained glass, sculpture and furnishings, this is one of the world’s greatest buildings. The three splendid gateways created in the 1550s–70s at Gonville & Caius College are remarkable for their Renaissance design and symbolism. Trinity was founded by Henry VIII in 1546; the university’s largest and wealthiest college was endowed with land from dissolved monasteries. First of two nights in Lavenham. Day 5: Coggeshall, Paycocke’s House, Layer Marney. The village of Coggeshall, Essex, has many fine Tudor buildings of which Paycocke’s House (1509–10) is the most impressive with fine beam-work, panelling and other rare survivals. The abbey was granted to Sir Thomas Seymour, brother to Jane, by Henry VIII, and the 16thcent. manor house incorporates elements of the monastic complex. Had it been completed, Layer Marney would have rivalled Hampton Court in splendour. The spectacular Tudor gatehouse with its Italianate decoration is the tallest in England. Henry VIII and Elizabeth both visited. Day 6: Otley Hall. Beautiful, moated Otley Hall was the seat of Bartholomew Gosnold, who rallied support to plant an English colony in north Virginia; in 1602 he landed on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, named after his deceased daughter. Set in 10 acres of gardens, Otley’s exterior has splendid chimneys, brickwork and vine leaf pargetting. Inside, wall paintings commemorate a marriage of 1559, and the Great Hall and Linenfold Parlour are unequalled in Suffolk. The tour finishes at Ipswich Railway Station by 2.30pm. For those combining this tour with ‘The Suffolk Festival’, there is a transfer to Bury St Edmunds at 4.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,680. Single occupancy: £1,890. Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Barnsdale Lodge Hotel, Rutland (barnsdalelodge.co.uk), housed in an old farmhouse close to Rutland Water; public rooms and bedrooms are arranged around a courtyard; traditional, country décor. The Swan, Lavenham (theswanatlavenham.co.uk): dating from the 15th century, The Swan has been an inn since 1667; rooms have been recently renovated yet retain their historical character; excellent restaurant. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? This tour would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Coaches can rarely park near the houses, many of the gardens are extensive and the houses visited do not have lifts. Average distance by coach per day: c. 77 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Also combine this tour with Northumbria, 15–23 June (page 20).
Great Houses of the South West
Wiltshire, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon
Great country houses, historic gardens and parks in Wiltshire, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset and Devon. Major examples of a huge range of styles from the twelfth century to the twentieth. Many houses contain outstanding picture collections and exceptional furniture. Special arrangements and out-of-hours visits. Hotels in former country houses. The landscapes seen on this tour are immensely varied and endlessly alluring – the noble chalk downs of Wiltshire, the evocative Levels of Somerset, the enchanting patchwork fields of Devon, the verdant hidden valleys of Exmoor, the little hills of Dorset. The houses seen are equally varied. Lacock and Longleat and Montacute are among the finest of Henrician and Elizabethan mansions in England. The Stuart era is superbly represented by the incomparable Wilton House, star of the first phase of Palladian classicism in England, and by the Dutch classicism of Dyrham, while the eighteenth century is wonderfully exemplified at Stourhead and by the delicious Adam interiors at Saltram. Victoria’s reign has a magnificent ambassador in Tyntesfield, and the Edwardian continuation is beautifully if eccentrically demonstrated at Castle Drogo. Real castles are represented by the extraordinary Berkeley, still a family home, and, if now more picturesque than defensive, at Dunster.
A first-rate country house is more than a house. Clustering around are gardens, auxiliary buildings and a park – at Stourhead, perhaps the most influential one in the world – and beyond lie working farms and enterprises of all sorts. And of course inside the houses there are furnishings and works of art and gadgets and utensils and curios: in many of the houses on this tour these moveables are of a quality and a quantity which surpass the collections of all but a couple of dozen of Britain’s museums. Corsham and Kingston Lacy in particular are renowned for their picture collections. Word must be added about the hotels on this tour, all three of which are excellent, and two of which are former country houses.
Itinerary Day 1: Highclere. Leave London at 11.00am and drive (1h 40m) to Hampshire, arriving at Highclere in time for lunch. Begun in 1838 by Charles Barry (architect of the Houses of Parliament) for the Earl of Carnarvon, it is one of the grandest and most opulent houses of the age. (Now known to millions as Downton Abbey.) The Egyptian antiquities here are of international importance. Spend the first of three nights in the village of Bishopstrow, Wiltshire. Day 2: Wilton, Kingston Lacy. Inigo Jones contributed to the design of Wilton House, the outstanding achievement of the first phase of Palladianism in England. The double-cube room, with paintings by Van Dyck, is the most sumptuous English interior of the Stuart period. Also of the 17th century, Kingston Lacy is noted for its lavish interiors and outstanding art
collection of Spanish, Italian and Flemish Old Masters. Both houses have important gardens and parkland. Overnight Bishopstrow. Day 3: Longleat, Corsham. Longleat was one of the largest and architecturally most progressive of Elizabethan houses, and is set in a ‘Capability’ Brown park. Corsham (Wiltshire) is an Elizabethan mansion enlarged in the 18th century and again in the 19th to display a collection of Old Master paintings, still in situ. Overnight Bishopstrow.
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30 August–6 September 2016 (mc 818) 8 days • £3,150 Lecturer: Anthony Lambert
Day 4: Stourhead, Montacute. Though built in two phases, 1720s and 1790s, Stourhead is the perfect classical villa. The 1740s landscaped park is the most important of its kind, with lake, temples, careful planting and contrived, if seemingly natural, vistas. Montacute is a magnificent Elizabethan house with the longest long gallery in England. An outstation of the National Portrait Gallery, it houses 16thand 17th-cent. pictures. Garden layout and architecture survive. Two nights in Taunton. Day 5: Saltram, Castle Drogo. Drive across Devon to Saltram, a largely 18th-century house with lavish Robert Adam interiors and fine pictures and furnishings. There are dramatic views of the Plym Estuary. A rugged Dartmoor setting overlooking the Teign Gorge matches Sir Edwin Lutyens’s imaginative exercise in mediaevalism at Castle Drogo, though inside
Montecute House, Somerset, lithograph 1842.
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Great Houses of the South West continued
Great Houses of the East
Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Rutland england
there are all the latest in early 20th-century comforts. The castle is undergoing a 5-year restoration programme and whilst some rooms may be closed, it has meant the National Trust has opened rooms not normally available for public viewing. Fine Arts & Crafts garden. Day 6: Dunster, Tyntesfield. Drive between the Quantocks and Exmoor to the famously picturesque village of Dunster. Atop a wooded hillock, the castle of Norman origin long ago domesticated its defensive features, notably in the Carolean age. The great Gothic Revival mansion of Tyntesfield has hardly changed since the nineteenth century, caught in a time warp and stuffed with the authentic bric-a-brac of a Victorian country house. First of two nights in a country-house hotel in Colerne, Wiltshire. Day 7: Berkeley, Lacock. The keep of Berkeley Castle dates to 1117, the bulk of the rest to 1340–61. Little has been altered since, and yet it is still the private home of its builders, a family that served Edward the Confessor. The contents – tapestries, paintings, furniture – are magnificent. In one of the loveliest villages in England, Lacock Abbey retains a cloister from the nunnery dissolved by Henry VIII and given to a courtier. There are Georgian modifications and being the home of William Fox Talbot, a window which was the subject of the first ever photograph.
12–20 May 2016 (mc 675) 9 days • £2,880 Lecturer: Dr Andrew Moore The best country houses in East Anglia and the East Midlands, outstanding examples from the end of the Middle Ages to the Victorian era. The Tudor and Stuart age is particularly well represented, as is the Palladian style. Great architecture, major works of art, spectacular gardens, landscaped parks, life both sides of the green baize door. Exceptionally attractive towns and villages and magnificent lowland landscape. Special arrangements and out-of-hours visits. Houghton, entrance hall, after a drawing by F. G. Kitton in The Art Journal, 1887.
Day 8: Dyrham. Transformed from a Tudor mansion at the end of the 17th century and scarcely changed since, Dyrham Park externally is mild Baroque in golden Bath stone, and inside exquisitely Anglo-Dutch with pictures and furnishings to match. Return to central London at c. 4.30pm. Please note that some appointments cannot be confirmed until late 2015.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,150. Single occupancy: £3,480. National Trust members (with cards) will be refunded c. £90. Included meals: 5 dinners with wine.
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Accommodation. Bishopstrow House (bishopstrow.co.uk): the house dates from the early 19th century and has been a hotel for 35 years. The Castle Hotel, Taunton (the-castlehotel.com): an award-winning family-run hotel, pleasingly decorated and with excellent service. Lucknam Park Hotel, Colerne (lucknampark. co.uk): this 5 star hotel is a fine example of a country-house hotel, set in 500 acres of parkland and with a Michelin-starred restaurant. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? Unavoidably, there is quite a lot of walking on this tour and it would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Coaches can rarely park near the houses, many of the parks and gardens are extensive, the houses visited don’t have lifts (nor do all the hotels). Average distance by coach per day: c. 95 miles.
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Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Why is Britain the locus classicus of the country house? Wealth is a precondition of their erection in the first place, and by and large there was a sufficiency. Geography has been kind in allowing agricultural prosperity, and we pass through places key to the Agricultural Revolution of the eighteenth century which further enhanced what Nature provided. The financial benefits of Britain’s primacy in trade and industry seeped into stately piles. Relative peace and absence of foreign occupation, preference for primogeniture, a reluctance to revolt, a fruitful balance between the power of the monarch and the rights of the nobles: all these have been factors in the creation and maintenance of country house culture. Many of the houses on this tour have been in the same family for several generations. The broad spread of this tour, East Anglia and the East Midlands, allows for the inclusion of some of the very finest country houses in England. If all you ever see of eighteenthcentury England are Houghton and Holkham,
“The houses chosen were an excellent mix. The private, off hours guided tours arranged by MRT impressed us greatly.”
Itinerary Day 1: Layer Marney (Essex). The coach leaves London at 1.30pm. Layer Marney Tower is an apposite first visit: the seven-storey gatehouse is a final flamboyant fling of the Middle Ages, while its Renaissance ornament is harbinger of the classicism which dominated English architecture for the next 400 years. First of three nights in Lavenham (Suffolk). Day 2: Audley End, Lavenham (Essex, Suffolk). Audley End was the most ambitious house to be built in the reign of James I but was later reduced, altered and re-Jacobeanised, revealing both changes in taste and styles of country house living. Delicious Robert Adam rooms and park landscaped by ‘Capability’ Brown. In the later afternoon explore the abundance of mediaeval and Elizabethan houses in Lavenham and its superb parish church. Overnight Lavenham.
Day 4: Norwich, Holkham (Norfolk). Stop for a while at Norwich, an exceedingly attractive county town with castle and cathedral. With Holkham Hall (1730s) the English country house reached a moment of perfection, the serene Palladian edifice contrasting with the ‘natural’ layout of the deer park. Within are magnificent classical halls and a collection of paintings, sculpture and furniture of staggering richness. First of two nights in Norfolk.
Audley End, wood engraving c. 1890.
Dr Andrew Moore Writer and curator, and a specialist in the study of country houses and their art collections. He is Keeper of Art at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery and recently co-authored a reassessment of Sir Robert Walpole’s art collection at Houghton Hall. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. Day 5: Felbrigg, Blickling (Norfolk). Felbrigg Hall is a lovely 17th-century house whose chief glory is the suite of rooms arranged in the 18th century to display paintings collected on the Grand Tour. Jacobean Blickling Hall is one of the loveliest of English country houses, red brick with stone dressings and mediaeval sprawl constrained by Renaissance symmetry. Among its treasures are a long gallery, library and a variety of art and furnishings, and the gardens are spectacular. Overnight Norfolk. Day 6: Houghton (subject to confirmation), Sandringham (Norfolk). The grandest monument of English Palladianism, Houghton Hall was built for Sir Robert Walpole. There are outstanding artworks, a spectacular walled garden and an extensive park. Sandringham was built for Edward VII when Prince of Wales and now belongs to the Queen. An attractive Jacobeanstyle mansion set in a landscaped garden, the principal rooms have the glittering opulence of a royal residence despite their intended informality. First of three nights in Rutland. Day 7: Deene Park, Burghley (Northants, Lincs). Though also largely 16th-century, Deene Park feels very different and is still very much the home of the Brudenell family. Full of good things, there is also an enchanting riverside garden. The grandest of Elizabethan houses, Burghley was built by the Queen’s chief minister and magnificently remodelled internally a hundred years later. The paintings and furniture are superb. Time is spent in Stamford, one of England’s best preserved historic towns. Overnight Rutland.
Day 8: Belton, Harlaxton (Lincs, Rutland). A building of supreme and serene beauty, Belton is the classic Restoration house. Fine contents and formal gardens. Victorian Harlaxton Manor is Elizabethan revival on steroids, hallucinatory historicism, quite splendid (you might hate it). Overnight Rutland. Day 9: Rushton, Boughton (Northants). Rushton Triangular Lodge, an Elizabethan miniature, is laden with symbolism. Palatial in scale and sumptuously fitted out, Boughton House echoes Versailles (its builder was ambassador to the court of Louis XIV). It has scarcely changed since the end of the seventeenth century, and sits amid a great estate. Return to London at c. 4.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,880. Single occupancy: £3,190. National Trust: members (with cards) will be refunded c. £55. Included meals: 1 lunch and 7 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Swan, Lavenham (theswanatlavenham.co.uk): dating from the 15th century, The Swan has been an inn since 1667; rooms have been recently renovated yet retain their historical character; excellent restaurant. Congham Hall Hotel, Congham (conghamhallhotel.co.uk): rooms are airy and well appointed with a traditional country house décor; public rooms are pleasant and informal; attractive gardens. Barnsdale Lodge Hotel, Rutland (barnsdalelodge.co.uk): housed in an extended old farmhouse close to Rutland Water. Public rooms and bedrooms are arranged around a courtyard and have a traditional, country décor. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
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Day 3: Ickworth, Melford (Suffolk). Ickworth is almost as eccentric as its builder, the 4th Earl of Bristol (a bishop), a glorious Neo-Classical rotunda attached to curving wings intended to accommodate art and antiquities acquired on his incessant travels. Visit Melford Hall, a house largely built in the 16th century, with beautiful Edwardian gardens and fountain. Overnight Lavenham.
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they will suffice to shine in the memory for ever as the epitome of restrained grandeur and elegant opulence. Burghley is the most elaborate and monumental of Elizabethan great houses, Blickling the most beautiful of Jacobean, Belton the most perfectly proportioned of the Restoration period. There are also several brilliant if less mainstream masterpieces. Layer Marney Tower is little more than a Tudor gateway, but what a gateway, the highest such in Britain. Felbrigg is not much more than a large-scale manor house, albeit an exceptionally handsome one, but it is one element in an enchanting ensemble which includes walled gardens, Italian paintings and a remote location. The Queen’s private estate at Sandringham will impress with its quietly regal interiors despite pretensions to be unexceptional. Deene Park will captivate with the depth of its history and the authenticity of its atmosphere. A feature of the tour is the opportunity to spend a little time in some of the loveliest towns and villages in England – Lavenham, Norwich, Stamford. And then there is the ravishing countryside, East Anglia with its broad undulations, big skies, fens and bosky vistas, and the rolling farmland and magnificent trees of the ‘Dukeries’.
How strenuous? Unavoidably, there is quite a lot of walking on this tour and it would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Coaches can rarely park near the houses, many of the parks and gardens are extensive, the houses visited don’t have lifts (nor do all the hotels). Average distance by coach per day: c. 87 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Gardens & Palaces of Berlin & Potsdam, 24–29 May (page 84). Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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‘Capability’ Brown
His best-surviving work in his anniversary year england
Day 3: Croome Park, Berrington Hall. At Croome Park Brown designed both the house and the park from 1750 onwards. He designed the stables and the church (1758–63), the rotunda and the grotto. Lord Coventry erected a memorial to Brown in 1797 ‘who by the powers of his inimitable and creative genius formed this garden scene out of a morass.’ Thomas Harley employed Henry Holland to design his new house at Berrington between Leominster and Ludlow, and Brown to design the classic Brownian park with ha-ha, lake, screens and clumps of trees (from 1776). Day 4: Chillington, Weston Park. The river at Chillington Hall, about half a mile long, and the large pool, which may have included a duck decoy, were designed by Brown and the park improved c. 1760. At Weston the park was refashioned closely to Brown’s design in 1765–8. A new ha-ha was built to separate the gardens from the deer park and plantations were made. The Temple of Diana is by James Paine.
Blenheim, aquatint 1793 after Joseph Farington (1747–1821).
27 June–1 July 2016 (mc 733) 5 days • £2,220 Lecturer: Professor Charles Watkins Celebrate 300 years since the birth of the great landscape gardener, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Includes Brown’s best-surviving work at Petworth, Hampton Court and Blenheim. Stay as guests at Weston Park, a 17th-century house set in 1,000 acres of ‘Capability’ Brown landscape.
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The year 2016 marks the tercentenary of the birth of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1716–1783), by far the most significant and well-known English landscape gardener. His influence was felt throughout Europe and much of the world as the originator and most famous exponent of the English landscape tradition. Lancelot Brown was born at Kirkharle near Morpeth in Northumberland and worked on a local estate until he was twenty-four. After working in Lincolnshire and Oxfordshire he was employed by Lord Cobham at Stowe, Buckinghamshire, where he worked through the 1740s with William Kent and James Gibbs on the establishment of that influential landscape. It was said that he could grasp the ‘capabilities’ of an existing site after an hour’s examination on horseback. From the 1750s onwards he became the most famous professional landscape designer and gardener in England and worked on more than forty estates in the 1750s and nearly seventy in the 1760s. In 1764 he was appointed master gardener at Hampton Court and Richmond and also gardener at St James’s, living at Wilderness House at Hampton Court. Key aspects of his style include the careful use of trees to form plantation screens around
parks and clumps within them; the setting of the mansion, with a seemingly uninterrupted view of parkland, protected from grazing animals by a ha-ha; the careful design and positioning of lakes and garden buildings; and the removal of old-fashioned gardens including avenues and parterres. He is associated with around two hundred different sites and commissions and was working up to his death at the age of sixty-seven in 1783. His style of ‘natural’ garden, known on the Continent as ‘le jardin anglais’, has been a powerful influence across the world ever since.
Itinerary Day 1: Petworth, Hampton Court. Leave central London at 9.30am and drive (1h30) to West Sussex. Petworth House is one of Brown’s most important early commissions (1751). He screened Lord Egremont’s park from the main road to Guildford with a plantation belt and protected the wilderness from the park with a ha-ha. Brown was appointed Master Gardener at Hampton Court by George II in 1764 and lived with his wife at Wilderness House, Hampton Court for almost 20 years. He planted a ‘Black Hamburgh’ grape vine in 1768 and this survives as the Great Vine. Overnight in Egham. Day 2: Compton Verney, Charlecote. Brown started work at Compton Verney in 1768 when the remodelling of the house by Adam was complete. A ha-ha was built to open up views and formal avenues were made serpentine. Brown’s thatched ice house was built in 1772 and the mediaeval church was replaced by Brown’s Palladian-style chapel in 1776–9. At Charlecote from 1750–71, Brown widened the River Avon, smoothing its banks, replaced an old-fashioned formal water garden with a wilderness and established a new lawn of cedar trees. First of three nights at Weston Park.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 5: Blenheim. Brown worked at Blenheim Palace for the 4th Duke of Marlborough for many years (1763–73). The huge park of over 2,000 acres already boasted a bridge by Vanbrugh (c. 1710) and a Grand Avenue of elms planted by Henry Wise in 1716. Brown extended and improved the lake, planted clumps of trees and remodelled buildings such as High Lodge and Park Farm as Gothic landmarks. The tour ends in central London by 5.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,220. Single occupancy: £2,310. National Trust members (with cards) will be refunded c. £25. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Great Fosters, Egham (greatfosters.co.uk): located between Windsor and Hampton Court, Great Fosters is a Grade I listed building of the 16th and 17th centuries, surrounded by acres of gardens and park. Bedrooms vary in size and décor, but many are furnished with antiques and all are well equipped with modern conveniences. Weston Park, Weston under Lizard (weston-park.com): set in 1,000 acres of ‘Capability’ Brown parkland. A country house where one may stay, rather than a hotel, offering the experience of being a guest while the family is away. How strenuous? Unavoidably, there is quite a lot of walking on this tour and it would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Coaches can rarely park near the houses, many of the parks and gardens are extensive. Average distance by coach per day: c. 90 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Versailles, 20–23 June (page 70); Northumbria, 15–23 June (page 20); Stonehenge & Prehistoric Wessex, 3–7 July (page 35).
Ar ts & Crafts in the Cotswolds
Art & artefacts in the buildings they were designed for
Visits to see some of the finest output of the Arts and Crafts movement, including three private houses with work in situ. Includes Kelmscott Manor, Rodmarton Manor and Madresfield Court and workshops where the work was created. Some of the loveliest countryside in the world with the honey-coloured stone that marks the buildings from Oxford to the Severn Valley. Stay all four nights in the charming Cotswolds village of Broadway.
Day 1: Oxford, Broadway. The coach leaves Oxford Railway Station at 1.30pm. Oxford was the meeting place of William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Follow in their footsteps from Exeter College and its spectacular chapel by George Gilbert Scott, to the Ashmolean Museum
Day 3: Chipping Campden, Madresfield. In 1902 C.R. Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft arrived in the quiet village of Chipping Campden. Here they set up workshops, some of which survive to this day, and their lives and skills are celebrated in a small museum. The Guild’s most important commission was the library for Lord Beauchamp at Madresfield Court, an ancient moated manor house sympathetically extended in the 19th century. At the same time the Birmingham Group led by Henry Payne decorated and furnished Madresfield’s celebrated chapel that so enchanted Evelyn Waugh, a family friend. Day 4: Broadway, Cheltenham. Broadway now houses a branch of the Ashmolean Museum focusing on vernacular British decorative arts. The Gordon Russell museum showcases an arts and crafts-trained designer whose work is influential today. The Museum and Art Gallery in Cheltenham, self-styled ‘capital’ of the Cotswolds, contains a nationally important Arts and Crafts collection, and contemporary work by their artistic descendants. Day 5: Kelmscott, Oxford. Kelmscott is the most evocative and best known of the houses associated with William Morris. It looked to him as if it had ‘grown up out of the soil’, and became his spiritual as well as his family home. It holds
Art historian, curator and lecturer. She studied at the Courtauld and the Barber Institute, Birmingham. She has held senior management posts at several heritage sites and is currently Curator at Stansted Park, Sussex. She is a panel member of the Sustainable Communities Fund in the South Downs National Park. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. an outstanding collection of his possessions and works: furniture, textiles, pictures, books, carpets, ceramics and metalwork. The coach takes you to Oxford Railway Station by 4.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,310. Single occupancy: £1,410. Included meals: 2 lunches, 3 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. The Lygon Arms, Broadway (thehotelcollection.co.uk): a 16th-century coaching inn; some parts date back to the 14th century. Situated in the high street of Broadway. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking on this tour and it would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Coaches can rarely park near the houses, and gardens are extensive. Average distance by coach per day: c. 64 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Connoisseur’s London, 13–17 September (page 41).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
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Itinerary
Day 2: Rodmarton, Sapperton, Owlpen. The first commission for Morris and Co was from architect G.F. Bodley for stained glass for All Saints Church on the Cotswold hills, which therefore contains work by Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Madox Brown, Philip Webb and Morris himself. Owlpen Manor, untouched since the 17th century, was sympathetically restored for the Mander family by craftsmen with sensitive respect for the past vernacular. In contrast, Rodmarton is one of the last country houses to be built and furnished in a traditional style, by hand with local stone, local timber and local craftsmen. Nearby Sapperton became home to several members of the Cotswolds group including Gimson and the Barnsleys.
Janet Sinclair
Kelmscott Manor, from Thames Valley Villages, 1910.
Following the ideals of Pugin, amplified by Ruskin, the call for a return to a golden age of craftsmanship with respect for the individual became a moral as well as an aesthetic crusade in mid-century Britain. A number of idealistic artists, architects and thinkers found inspiration that was essentially mediaeval but went beyond the imitative aspect of the Gothic Revival. William Morris and his collaborators and followers, now collectively known as the Arts and Crafts movement, reacted against the worst byproducts of industrialisation, poverty and social injustice, and believed in a link between these ills and mass-manufactured, poorly designed goods and shoddy housing. Ironically perhaps, the railways, the most omnipresent sign of industrialisation, opened up unspoilt Cotswolds villages as an escape from sordid city life and provided easy access to its commercial markets. The villages of Daneway and Sapperton were colonised by craft workers who shared their wealthy patrons’ respect for past styles and high standards of craftsmanship. Inspired by Morris, their attitude towards historic buildings was based on conservation rather than ‘improvement’. Thus the past and the modern imperceptibly fuse at magical Owlpen Manor, while Rodmarton, begun as late as 1909, seems as if it has always been there. Ernest Gimson and the Barnsleys, who built and furnished Rodmarton, were not alone: in 1902 C.R. Ashbee had moved the entire Guild of Handicraft, workers and their families, from East London to rural Chipping Campden. Later exponents, like C.F. Voysey, turned towards a newer, more ascetic style, yet worked alongside their mediaevally-inspired colleagues. Nowhere is this better illustrated than at Madresfield where Ashbee and Voysey worked in the early twentieth century with Payne’s Birmingham Group who created the extraordinary chapel later immortalised in Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.
– a treasure-house of art and artefacts. All four nights are spent in Broadway.
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18–22 September 2016 (md 844) 5 days • £1,310 Lecturer: Janet Sinclair
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The South Downs Great houses & gardens england
22–27 April 2016 (mc 644) 6 days • £1,890 Lecturer: Janet Sinclair The stunningly beautiful landscape of the West Sussex Downs. Great country houses and landscaped parks, charming country towns, inspiring upland and lowland countryside. Special arrangements and private openings. One hotel throughout. The chalk ridge of the South Downs runs eighty miles from Hampshire to meet the sea at Eastbourne. With spectacular viewpoints, unique natural history and ease of access, it also contains a glittering string of great stately homes, housing personal collections that reflect changing national fortunes as well as personal tastes and triumphs. For successive generations of settlers and great builders, the strategic importance of the South Downs overlooking the Channel was gradually replaced by the attraction of their spectacular beauty. Be inspired by histories of fortifications and pleasure palaces: repositories of treasured collections as symbols of power, and places of leisure and entertainment. Exploitation of natural resources, from flint-mining, charcoal burning and ironsmelting to sheep-farming and forestry, shaped the Downland landscape. The great family estates helped to create and conserve this area of outstanding natural beauty, now protected and sustainably managed as Britain’s newest National Park. Changing attitudes to conservation are illustrated by the contrasting fortunes of Midhurst’s Cowdray Ruins, magnificently restored Uppark, and rebuilt Stansted House – each destroyed a century apart by disastrous fires and reborn in a new context.
Two thousand years of history, taste and politics survive, including the most important collections of fine art in the care of the National Trust at Petworth and Uppark. Exquisite mediaeval sculpture at Boxgrove and Chichester, the unique Stansted Chapel and High Victorian Gothic at Arundel are highlights of religious patronage. Splendid historic houses that are still private homes reflect the tastes and fortunes of royal Dukes, Earls and Lords of church and country. The story of the English country house would not be complete without an exploration of life ‘downstairs’. At both Petworth and Stansted these stories are vividly brought to life. Contemporary patronage can be enjoyed in Chichester Cathedral and in England’s oldest continuously occupied castle at Arundel, where the seventeenth-century Collector Earl was recently commemorated in a wonderful modern garden commission by the Duke of Norfolk. Modern art sits in a striking contemporary setting alongside one of the finest eighteenthcentury houses in Chichester at Pallant House.
Itinerary Day 1: Chichester, Stansted Park, Goodwood. The coach leaves the Goodwood Hotel at 1.30pm and Chichester railway station at 2.00pm. Stansted Park provides a fascinating insight into the social history of an English country house in its Edwardian heyday. Day 2: Arundel, Denmans Garden. Home to the Duke of Norfolk, England’s premier duke, Arundel Castle has Norman origins, later mediaeval parts and 18th- and 19th-century embellishments. The totality is splendid, the art collection outstanding. The picturesque and unspoilt little town of Arundel is capped by a soaring 1870s Catholic cathedral in Gothic style. Denmans Garden is a beautiful, four-acre 20thcentury creation.
Day 3: Goodwood, West Dean, Boxgrove. Goodwood House, seat of the Duke of Richmond, is a magnificent late Georgian country house with excellent furniture and paintings by Stubbs, Canaletto and van Dyck. The Edward James Foundation at West Dean has extensive, beautifully-kept gardens. At mediaeval Boxgrove Priory, the remains include a vaulted Gothic choir of cathedral-like proportions. Day 4: Singleton, Cowdray Ruins, Parham House. The Weald and Downland Museum at Singleton is an assembly of rescued and reerected vernacular buildings from the 14th to the 19th centuries, including two hall-houses. Cowdray Ruins are the dramatic remains of a noble and extensive Tudor palace. One of the loveliest of Elizabethan buildings, Parham House has an extensive collection of 16th- and 17thcentury portraits and tapestries, and a clutch of award-winning gardens. Day 5: Chichester, Uppark House. Chichester Cathedral houses an extraordinary range of modern religious commissions, as well as nationally important Tudor panel paintings. Pallant House is a unique combination of a Queen Anne townhouse with a recent awardwinning extension, which holds one of the best collections of 20th-century British art in the country. Uppark enjoys extraordinary views over rolling downland and to the Solent and the Isle of Wight. A perfect late-17th-century mansion with a splendid Grand Tour collection, it is also a masterpiece of restoration after a fire in 1989. Day 6: Pulborough, Petworth, Chichester. Bignor Roman Villa in Pulborough has fine mosaic floors in a beautiful downland setting. In one of ‘Capability’ Brown’s most poetic landscapes, immortalised by Turner, Petworth is an impressive ducal palace of the 17th century. It contains major works by Turner, van Dyck and Blake. The coach takes you to Chichester railway station by 3.30pm before returning to the Goodwood Hotel.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,890. Single occupancy: £2,180. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine.
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Accommodation. The Goodwood Hotel (goodwood.com/the-goodwood-hotel): located on, and owned by, the Goodwood Estate. Housed in a 7-acre walled garden and inn, it maintains many original features. Stylishly decorated with good amenities including a spa and awardwinning restaurant. Comfortable and well appointed. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking on this tour and it would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Coaches can rarely park near the houses, and gardens are extensive. Average distance by coach per day: c. 25 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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Arundel Castle, watercolour by C.H. Ashdown, publ. 1911. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Combine this tour with Mediaeval Sussex & Hampshire, 18–22 April (page 17).
Stonehenge
& Prehistoric Wessex
Includes many of Europe’s finest Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age monuments. Special out-of-hours visit to Stonehenge (subject to confirmation). Ranges through Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset, though one hotel throughout. Features countryside walks of up to four miles to explore the sites in detail.
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Day 1: Salisbury, Durrington, Woodhenge, Old Sarum. The coach leaves the hotel at 1.30pm and Salisbury railway station at 2.00pm. Winterbourne Stoke Barrows is one of the most impressive barrow cemeteries in Wiltshire. Durrington Walls and Woodhenge are contemporary with Stonehenge: one is a large earthwork enclosure with traces of massive circular buildings of wood, and the other a sacred site orientated towards the rising midsummer sun. Old Sarum is an Iron Age hillfort, though from ad 1066 to c. 1220 it flourished as a Norman stronghold. There are fine views across Salisbury, the city which replaced it. Day 2: Stonehenge, Salisbury. Two visits to Stonehenge today, one in opening hours and one when closed to the public. The morning is spent walking around the vast sacred landscape of Salisbury Plain where in addition to Stonehenge
destroyed in 1723. Silbury Hill is, at 37 metres, the highest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. The henge at Avebury was built around 400 years after The Sanctuary. With huge earthwork banks and ditches a mile in circumference, it is the biggest in Britain, and one of its three circles of standing stones, with 98 megaliths, is Britain’s largest. A special evening opening at the Devizes Museum, which has first-rate galleries covering the prehistory of Wiltshire. Day 5: Danebury, Andover, Silchester. Developed and inhabited from the 7th century bc to c. ad 20, Danebury is the most completely investigated hillfort in England, providing a great deal of information about life in the Iron Age. Material from the excavation is excellently displayed in the Museum of the Iron Age in Andover. With the Roman invasion, Prehistory came to an end; the final visit is to Silchester, a rare case of a Roman town becoming completely abandoned with the result that the entire layout is known in detail.
Stonehenge, lithograph 1829.
there are the Avenue, its ceremonial approach; the cursus, a 3 km-long enclosure; and several spectacular cemeteries of Bronze Age round barrows. In the early afternoon visit the South Wiltshire Museum for its excellent prehistoric displays. There is some free time before leaving for the evening visit (subject to confirmation). Day 3: Rockbourne, Dorchester, Down Farm. Rockbourne Roman Villa spans from the Iron Age to the 5th century ad and houses living quarters, farm buildings, workshops and beautiful mosaics. Maiden Castle in Dorset is the largest and most sophisticated Iron Age hillfort in Britain. Excavations revealed details of its conquest by Vespasian in ad 43. Nearby Maumbury Rings was in turn a Neolithic henge, a Roman amphitheatre and a Civil War fort. Martin Green of Down Farm is a farmer and amateur archaeologist whose private museum provides an excellent study of prehistoric tools. Day 4: Silbury, Avebury, Devizes. The Sanctuary, situated on Overton Hill, dates back to 3,000 bc. It was originally composed of six concentric rings of timber uprights; these were replaced by two double stone circles of sarsen stones, but
Excavations continue. Return to Salisbury railway station and the hotel by 4.30pm (or leave the tour at Basingstoke station c. 3.30pm).
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,280. Single occupancy: £1,390. English Heritage members (with cards) will be refunded c. £20. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The White Hart (whitehartsalisbury.com): a short walk from Salisbury cathedral, the White Hart occupies a 17th-cent. building. Public areas have been recently refurbished; bedrooms are comfortable and well equipped. It has a restaurant and garden terrace. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
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The span of time between the earliest earthworks at Stonehenge and the final abandonment of the site is approximately equal to that between the abandonment of Britain by the Romans and the launch of the iPad. Time enough, therefore, not only for it to undergo major constructional changes but also for shifts in its use and in the understanding of its purpose. Beginning in c. 2900 bc with a circular earthwork 300 feet in diameter it acquired in c. 2550 bc concentric rings of bluestone pillars and soon afterwards the huge sarsen stone structure, so familiar today, was erected. Modifications continued for another thousand years. The technological achievements beggar belief. The bluestones, with an average weight of four tons, were dragged 150 miles from the west of Wales. The sarsens, weighing up to forty tons, travelled a comparatively modest twenty miles but were placed upright on a plan hundreds of feet in extent within a margin of error of less than one percent. The top of the lintel of thirty giant stones deviated from the horizontal by only six inches; one could go on. So what was Stonehenge for? We shall never know with any certainty, of course. Its layout is carefully aligned with major events in the solar calendar, but it was at times during its long history a place of burial. There is also the fascinating possibility that the bluestones may have been regarded as having healing powers. Uniquely spectacular and fascinating (and controversial) it may be, but Stonehenge is not alone. It stands amid one of the world’s greatest concentrations of Neolithic and Bronze Age constructions, burial mounds and earthwork enclosures of various shapes and sizes, a vast sacred area of exceptional potency. Study of this broader context is a distinguishing feature of this tour, which also ranges beyond the undulating chalk uplands of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire into Dorset and Hampshire. A remarkably comprehensive overview of prehistoric Britain is the result. Walking is an integral part of this tour. It is not possible to dig deeply into the subject without straying far from roads and car parks. On the whole the terrain is fairly easy, steepness being confined to Iron Age hillforts, and while there are about five miles on one day, other days cover a lesser distance on foot.
Itinerary
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3–7 July 2016 (mc 742) 5 days • £1,280 Lecturer: Julian Richards
How strenuous? Country walking is an integral part of this tour, with between 2 and 5 miles each day. Average distance by coach per day: 61 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Vikings & Bog People, 12–19 July (page 62). Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Turner & the Sea
Marine painting & Nelson’s navy england
contemporary arts centre which opened in 2011 and was designed by David Chipperfield. At Chatham is the most perfectly preserved example of an 18th-century royal dockyard, with a ropewalk, sail loft, building slips and much else. Many of Nelson’s ships were built and maintained here. Day 4: Petworth, Portsmouth. Petworth House in Sussex is one of the finest country houses in England. The home of Lord Egremont, Turner’s best patron, it houses his paintings of Chichester harbour and of the beautiful park of Petworth, a ‘Capability’ Brown masterpiece. In Portsmouth, make the first visit to the incomparable Historic Dockyard. Here see the excellent Royal Naval Museum, vital for Nelson studies, and HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship at Trafalgar. First of two nights in Southsea.
Sun Rise, Whiting Fishing at Margate, steel engraving 1825 after J.M.W. Turner.
12–17 June 2016 (mc 712) 6 days • £1,780 Lecturer: Dr Sam Willis A study of historic ships and dockyards – Turner’s favourite subjects – and of the maritime history of his and Nelson’s time. A study also of marine paintings and drawings by J.M.W. Turner, Britain’s greatest artist. Includes the National Maritime Museum and Turner Contemporary, the exciting contemporary arts centre in Margate. Led by distinguished maritime historian and archaeologist Dr Sam Willis.
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More than one third of Turner’s prolific output was devoted to ships and the sea, and to river estuary and harbour scenes. His sketchbooks contain hundreds of drawings of fishing boats, beach scenes, breaking waves, and studies for paintings such as Calais Pier and The Shipwreck. He was inspired by, and painted a number of pictures as homage to, the seventeenth-century Dutch painters who pioneered the seapiece. In The Bridgewater Seapiece he successfully challenged van de Velde, the acknowledged master of marine art, in a picture designed to hang alongside his Dutch Boats in a Gale. From these beginnings he went on to develop a unique style which conveyed a sense of water and light with an intensity which has never been surpassed. He was equally adept at stormy seas and tranquil calms. Dordrecht, his painting of a Dutch packet boat becalmed, was described by John Constable as ‘the most complete work of genius I ever saw’. Many of Turner’s paintings reflect Britain’s conflict with Napoleonic France and the part played in that long-running war by Nelson’s navy. As did most Englishmen and women of his day, Turner followed closely the exploits of Britain’s warships. With an invasion by Napoleon’s army a constant threat, the Royal Navy was crucial to the defence of the realm. News of Nelson’s victories
at the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar produced rejoicing across the country with church bells ringing and bonfires in the streets, while Nelson’s death and funeral were the occasion of grief and mourning on an unprecedented scale. Turner painted two controversial pictures of the Battle of Trafalgar, and many fine watercolours of warships at Spithead. The most popular of all his paintings is The Fighting Temeraire, the superannuated hulk of a first-rater being towed to her last berth, an evocative view of the ship which had fought alongside Nelson’s Victory. This tour follows two interweaving themes: places associated with Nelson’s navy; and places where Turner painted and where his pictures can be seen.
Itinerary
Day 5: the Solent, Bucklers Hard. Drive to the New Forest and to Bucklers Hard, an enchanting 18th-century village which was dedicated to ship building. Nelson’s Agamemnon was built here. In the afternoon take a trip by privately chartered boat along the Solent to see the anchorage at Spithead (once swarming with Nelson’s ships) and the entrance to Portsmouth harbour (much painted by Turner). Day 6: Portsmouth, London. Return to the Historic Dockyard to see the remarkably wellpreserved artefacts from Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, in the new state of the art museum, opened 2013. Also see HMS Warrior, an ironclad of 1860, which represents a technological development chronicled in Turner’s paintings. Return to London by c. 3.30pm when there is the choice of spending more time in the Tate’s Turner collection or of leaving the tour; Tate visitors are taken to Tothill Street at c. 5.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,780. Single occupancy: £2,000.
Day 1: London, Greenwich. Meet in central London at 10.00am and visit the Clore Gallery. A wing of Tate Britain, this was built to display the Turner Collection, bequeathed to the nation by the artist on his death in 1852 and by far the largest holding of his works. Drive to Greenwich to see the paintings of the National Maritime Museum, now displayed in Inigo Jones’s exquisite Queen’s House. Turner’s huge painting of Trafalgar is here. See also the splendid hall and chapel of the former Royal Naval College. First of three nights in Greenwich.
Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine.
Day 2: London, Greenwich. Return to central London by fast ferry along the Thames. Visit the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House – location of the Navy Board in Turner’s time. Walk through Maiden Lane where Turner was born and visit the National Gallery which possesses some of his major sea pieces. Return to Greenwich by waterbus for the Nelson collections in the National Maritime Museum.
How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking and standing around in museums and galleries. Average distance by coach per day: 70 miles.
Day 3: Margate, Chatham. Drive east along the Kent coast. Turner first saw the open sea at Margate and he continued to visit throughout his life. Visit Turner Contemporary, the acclaimed
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Accommodation. Devonport House, Greenwich (De Vere Venues): modern conference hotel housed in an historic building on the World Heritage Site. Bedrooms are bland but have all mod cons. The Queens Hotel, Southsea (queenshotelportsmouth.com): 3-star hotel, the best available near central Portsmouth. Public rooms are opulent though bedrooms feel tired and décor is dated. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Rijksmuseum & Mauritshuis, 5–8 or 19–22 June (page 148); Walking to Derbyshire Houses, 19–24 June (page 24); Norway: Art, Architecture, Landscape, 20–28 June (page 150).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Literature & Walking in the Lake District Following Wordsworth & Ruskin in spectacular countryside
Wordsworth, Ruskin and Beatrix Potter, their homes and surrounding countryside, combined with five country walks. Led by acclaimed writer and biographer Dr Charles Nicholl. Stay all four nights in a country house hotel overlooking Lake Windermere. There is no single supplement.
Itinerary Day 1. The coach leaves Oxenholme Lake District Railway Station at 2.40pm (c. 2 hours 40 minutes from London on the West Coast line). Blackwell was designed by the Arts and Crafts architect, M. H. Baillie Scott, in 1898 as a holiday home for Manchester brewer, Sir Edward Holt. With spectacular views of Lake Windermere,
Dr Charles Nicholl Honorary Professor of English at Sussex University and the author of several books of biography, history and travel. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and recipient of the Hawthornden prize, the James Tait Black prize, and the Crime Writers’ Association ‘Gold Dagger’ award for non-fiction. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. it is a wonderful example of Arts and Crafts architecture. In 1999 it was saved by the Lakeland Arts Trust. Drive to Merewood Country House hotel where all four nights are spent. Day 2. A full day in the footsteps of Wordsworth. Beginning at Rydal Mount, the Wordsworth family home from 1813–50, this elegant house and fine gardens welcomed many literary visitors. Walk along the ‘Coffin Route’: coffin bearers used this path from Rydal to Grasmere before the main road was built and heavy flattened stone slabs still intermittently line the path. Following a lecture at the Jerwood Centre from an expert speaker, visit Dove Cottage, the Wordsworths’ first Lakes home which subsequently belonged to Thomas de Quincey. Walk to the thriving town of Grasmere, rich with literary connections, for some free time.
BRITISH ISLES
For over two hundred years, tourism, agriculture and industry have enjoyed a synergy in the English Lakes thanks in part to its rich and diverse geology. The striking contrasts between fell and dale are apparent to all visitors, the result of glacial action during the last few thousand years, when the snow and ice melting around very hard rocks formed lakes in the valleys left below. This sheer natural splendour caught the attention of the wider world by two revolutions in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; firstly artistic, as learned English gentlemen travelled to the Lake District to see the ‘picturesque’ landscapes of European masters like Poussin, Lorraine and Rosa, and secondly industrial. A network of roads was built to improve communications, and by 1768 a road north through Westmorland and Cumberland had been built, providing open road to privatelyowned carriages. The idea of touring the Lakes for artistic purposes took hold – the poet Thomas Gray travelled between Keswick and Lancaster in late 1769, observing and commenting on the scenery. His account, published in 1775, was received to great acclaim and the region soon became a popular destination for the ‘touring’ classes, particularly as travelling to continental Europe was impossible. William and Dorothy Wordsworth returned to their childhood roots (he was born in Cockermouth and educated at Hawkshead) when they moved to Dove Cottage in Grasmere in 1799. From this modest two-storey house he spent many hours walking: to and from Rydal, to Ambleside and to Keswick, the home of Coleridge and Robert Southey. Dorothy recorded his many walks in her Journal; indeed the day that they first saw those daffodils on the shores of Ullswater Lake in April 1802 is immortalised with her diary entry: ‘I never saw daffodils so beautiful’. Wordsworth’s poetry and essays had a deep impact on other artists, notably John Ruskin. His long poem The Excursion, an essay on the virtues of mankind, and in particular Wordsworth’s social concern and eagerness to promote respect between humans and the rural landscape, chimed with Ruskin’s conservationist views. Ruskin had visited the Lakes many times before making his home at Brantwood on Coniston Water, from where he would observe the colour of the sky and bemoan changes to the rural idyll that he attributed to human intervention through the local quarrying industry. The arrival of the steam engine and the first railway into the Lakes in 1847 vexed both men,
and as the tourist numbers accumulated year on year, they became increasingly vocal about manmade structures damaging and destroying what they considered the delicate balance between man and nature that defined the Lake District. Beatrix Potter also championed traditional artisanship, and after settling in Hawkshead in the 1900s, used the proceeds from her books to buy properties and land to save them from development. A large part of her estate was left to the National Trust, which was co-founded by her friend H.D. Rawnsley in the 1880s. The Lake District became one of the UK’s first National Parks in 1951, after nearly a century of campaigning. Today its enduring beauty and rich history continue to attract many visitors, but the vast landscapes ensure there is space for reflection and rejuvenation for everyone. This short tour picks the region’s literary highlights and intersperses them with moderate walks, no more than four miles in distance, and with limited ascents, so that it can be enjoyed by everyone who is used to country walks of up to three hours.
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27 June–1 July 2016 (mc 739) 5 days • £1,390 Lecturer: Dr Charles Nicholl
Ruskin’s house at Brantwood, wood engraving c. 1880 after a drawing by L.J. Hilliard. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Literature & Walking in the Lake District continued
The Victorian Achievement
Architecture, Industry & Art in Lancashire & Yorkshire england
Return to Rydal Mount along Loughrigg Terrace, a raised footpath which traverses the slope of Loughrigg Fell above Rydal Water. Total for both walks along footpaths and country lanes of 5½ miles, moderate–strenuous in places with some uneven ground and two short climbs. Day 3. Drive to the pier at Coniston for the passenger ferry across Lake Coniston, setting for Arthur Ransome’s Swallows & Amazons and the best way to arrive at John Ruskin’s home (1872–1900). The house has an extensive literary history and a major collection of Ruskin’s drawings, paintings, and scientific collections; it also contains his original furniture and his boat and Brougham carriage are displayed in outhouses. An afternoon walk of 4 miles mostly level on footpaths and country tracks, easy underfoot, with a short ascent from Brantwood through Monks Coniston and the restored walled garden to Coniston. Day 4. Tarn Hows is a picturesque man-made lake built on land donated by Beatrix Potter. A moderate walk around the lake, with refreshment break en route, before descending to Hawkshead. Visit Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s 17th-century farmhouse, before driving to Hawkshead to see Wordsworth’s grammar school. There is also the opportunity to visit the Beatrix Potter gallery. Day 5. Set in 17 acres above Windermere, Holehird Gardens are some of the finest gardens in England and home to the national collections of Astilbe, Hydrangea and Polystichum Ferns. Walk a total of 2 miles along grassy paths through fields, with steep ascents in places up to Orrest Head, at 784 feet above sea level, with magnificent views of Lake Windermere. Return to Oxenholme train station by 2.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person: £1,390 (no single supplement). Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Merewood Country House Hotel (lakedistrictcountryhotels.co.uk/ merewood-hotel): an early 19th-century manor house, located to the east of Windermere lake in 20 acres of woodland and landscaped gardens.
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How strenuous? This is a walking tour: it is essential for participants to be in good physical condition and to be used to country walking. There are some short but steep uphill sections and terrain can be uneven and slippery in wet weather. There are four walks (two on one day) of no more than 4 miles or 2½ hours in length. Average distance by coach per day: 21 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Walking to Derbyshire Houses, 19–24 June (page 24); Stonehenge & Prehistoric Wessex, 3–7 July (page 35).
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What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Liverpool, St George’s Hall and Lime Street Station, 19th-cent. lithograph by C. Wilkinson.
15–22 August 2016 (mc 797) 8 days • £1,890 Lecturer: Dr Paul Atterbury Studies the social history, industrial archaeology, architecture and art of the reign of Queen Victoria, a period when Great Britain led the world in trade, industry and ideas. Includes some of the most beautiful architecture of the era and immensely impressive works of engineering – canals, railways, bridges. Painting and sculpture in all its manifold variety features; many of the country’s best collections of Victorian art are in the region. The historical, social and economic context is an important strand of the tour, with attention to the lives of some of the greatest Victorians. A subsidiary theme is the remarkable postindustrial regeneration of recent years. Led by Dr Paul Atterbury – specialist in 19th- and 20th-century art, architecture and design. Athens, Florence, Manchester: there is no fourth. Another risible Victorian polemic? No. The essence of this proposition concerning the paramount importance of Manchester in the history of civilization remains valid. The impact of the industrial cities of Victorian Britain in shaping the modern world cannot be overestimated. But the era still needs rescuing from twentieth-century disdain. Ignorance and misunderstanding remain deep and widespread. The truth is that nineteenth-century Britain was one of the most dynamic and innovative societies in history, and that Victorian cities, as the principal material manifestation of that great age
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– and their post-industrial reincarnation – are among the most fascinating features of the United Kingdom. In the earlier decades of the century Britain led the world in industrialisation and technology, dominated world trade and became the world’s wealthiest nation. It can also be claimed that Britain was a leader in the development of ideas, the extension of education, the practice of philanthropy and social amelioration and the advance (if haltingly) of political reform. Meanwhile the British Empire grew and grew, almost by accident, and became the most extensive the world has ever seen, and the best administered. London might have been the world’s biggest city and the seat of government of the Empire, but the crucible of progress did not lie beside the Thames. The great inventors were mainly from the north, railways were at first a northern phenomenon and the north was the source of many of the great ideas of the age, free trade among them. The arts, too, particularly architecture, were less Londoncentric than they became subsequently; a very large proportion of the great buildings of Victorian England are in the northern counties. (Liverpool has more listed buildings than any city outside London.) For variety, vigour, muscularity, ambition, technological boldness, ingenuity, symbolism and, yes, beauty, Victorian architecture has few peers in all history. Much of the interest of this tour lies in the built environment: palatial town halls, Pirenesian warehouses, fabulously embellished churches, noble Philosophical Institutes, mansions for the rich and tenements for the poor. But of no less interest are the stunningly impressive engineering accomplishments – canals, railways, bridges – whether their aesthetic power arises from raw functionalism or historicist adornment.
“We had a superb guide and lecturer, often illuminating a familiar area of history or architecture with new light.”
Itinerary Day 1: Manchester. Assemble at the Midland Hotel in Manchester and leave at 2.15pm for a walk to see many of the great Victorian buildings which still predominate in the city centre. The City Art Gallery has a superb collection of Victorian paintings, particularly Pre-Raphaelites. First of two nights in Manchester. Day 2: Manchester. The industrial landscape of Castlefield encompasses the world’s first passenger railway station (1830), the nodal point of England’s most important canal network and other monuments of the industrial revolution. A palatial manifestation of municipal pride, Alfred Waterhouse’s Town Hall (1867–77) is one of the most splendid buildings of the era, an imaginative Gothic design with glorious interiors and murals by Ford Madox Brown. An afternoon by coach includes the soaring beauty of Bodley’s St Augustine at Pendlebury. Overnight Manchester.
Day 5: Leeds, Liverpool. Among sights today are the 1830s Parish Church, a key monument in the history of the Gothic Revival, a Venetian Gothic warehouse disrupting the Georgian serenity of Park Square and the Municipal Buildings complex with the Art Gallery, Library and Tiled Hall. By coach from Leeds to Liverpool. First of three nights in Liverpool. Day 6: Liverpool. The Albert Docks (1843) are among the most impressive constructions of the century, ruggedly functional but perfectly proportioned. Time for exploration, lunch and a museum or two (Tate Liverpool is here). See other waterside buildings, including the enormous Tobacco Warehouse. To the salubrious suburb of Sefton Park and two fine late Victorian churches, St Agnes (JL Pearson 1883) and St Clare (Leonard Stokes 1899). Overnight Liverpool. Day 7: Liverpool. St George’s Hall is the most magnificent of a group of buildings which are unequalled as a display of potential for variety of classical architecture. Another is the Walker Art Gallery with an outstanding collection of Victorian painting. Explore the architectural riches of the central business district including the former Bank of England (Cockerell 1845) and cast iron Oriel Chambers (1864). Finally Giles Gilbert Scott’s Anglican Cathedral, begun 1904 so not quite Victorian but the superb culmination of the Gothic Revival. Overnight Liverpool.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,890. Single occupancy: £2,210. Included meals: 6 dinners with wine.
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Victorian painting and sculpture is an important part of the tour; a good proportion of the country’s finest collections are in the North West. The best is world-class, the Pre-Raphaelites in particular, but irrespective of artistic merit the art is fascinating for what it reveals of Victorian attitudes and mores as well as for what it purports to depict. A week’s holiday in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool is an unusual proposition, and this itinerary is probably unique. We might not have risked it ten years ago but recent regeneration has reversed decline and dramatically assisted the transformation to the post-industrial era. As a trio of cities to visit they should be considered to rank with, say, Bologna, Parma and Verona, or Augsburg, Nuremberg and Regensburg: there is as much of artistic and architectural interest to see, and arguably the historical significance is greater.
Accommodation. All hotels are excellently located within walking distance of much that is seen on the tour and are among the more comfortable hotels in each city. The Midland, Manchester (qhotels. co.uk): large, elaborately adorned Victorian hotel, recent refurbishment blending something of its original character with modern comforts. Queen’s Hotel, Leeds (qhotels.co.uk): a very comfortable 1930s establishment which has retained Art Deco interiors. Hope Street Hotel, Liverpool (hopestreethotel.co.uk): in a salubrious area between the cathedrals, it brings good modern design and comforts into a 19th-century factory and adjacent 1960s police station. How strenuous? This tour would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and who cannot stand for long periods of time. Average distance by coach per day: 25 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with The Industrial Revolution, 8–13 August (page 40).
Day 8: Port Sunlight. Cross the River Mersey to Port Sunlight, the exceedingly pretty and superbly appointed township started in 1888 for workers at Lord Leverhulme’s adjacent soap factory. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is outstanding for English painting of the 18th and 19th centuries with pieces by Millais, Leighton, Burne Jones and others. Drive to Manchester, reaching Piccadilly Station by 3.30pm.
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Day 3: Manchester, Saltaire, Leeds. The John Rylands Library (Basil Champneys) is late Victorian architecture at its most refined. In 1853 Titus Salt consolidated his five cloth factories into one, added a model town and named it Saltaire. It survives intact, a monument to Victorian ameliorism and to 21st-century regeneration. Arriving in Leeds, visit the stupendous Classical town hall (Cuthbert Broderick 1853) and the Corn Exchange (also Broderick), a masterpiece of Victorian commercial architecture. First of two nights in Leeds. Day 4: Leeds, Bradford. The industrial heritage of Leeds: a vast 1840s mill, an Egyptian-style mill and factory chimneys imitating mediaeval Italian towers. The retail and commercial district is the most extensive and unspoilt area of Victoriana in Britain, with dazzlingly elaborate arcades and endlessly inventive façades. An afternoon in Bradford (20 minutes by train), source in the 1850s of two-thirds of Britain’s woollen cloth. Retaining a mediaeval street pattern on a sloping site, the centre has a magnificent set of Gothic Revival buildings. Overnight Leeds.
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Manchester Town Hall, wood engraving c. 1880. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
The Industrial Revolution
Invention, manufacture & design in 18th-century England england
was a genius of the Industrial Revolution, dedicated equally to improvements in design and technology, to natural philosophy and commerce, and to social amelioration and progressive politics. The Wedgwood Museum, one of the finest ceramics museums in the world, well documents the development of an iconic English brand. First of three nights in Stoke-on-Trent.
Ironbridge, wood engraving from The Rivers of Great Britain, South & West Coasts, 1897.
8–13 August 2016 (mc 796) 6 days • £1,510 Lecturer: Dr Paul Atterbury The 18th-century Industrial Revolution when Britain led the world in technology, invention, manufacture and commerce. Highly significant industrial archaeology. Fine and applied arts, created with the wealth generated by industrialisation or which was the outcome of new factory processes. Led by Dr Paul Atterbury – specialist in 19th- and 20th-century art, architecture and design.
BRITISH ISLES 40
In a putative ‘Concise History of World Civilization’, Britain might garner a few mentions (Magna Carta, Parliamentary democracy) but would probably be awarded only one substantial passage. This would be an account of the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century. The modern world began in the English Midlands. It is difficult to overestimate the global impact of the technological developments which took place in this relatively out-of-the-way region of Europe (there were few roads in pre-modern Shropshire and Staffordshire). Enabled by the abundance of accessible mineral resources, propelled by an Enlightenment spirit of enquiry and experiment, and forged by the enterprise and ambition of a few exceptional individuals, Britain came to lead the world in manufacturing, commerce and science through to the middle of the nineteenth century. Places have been chosen to show most of the main constituents of the Industrial Revolution: water power and steam, coal and iron, textiles and pottery, the factory system and urbanisation, canals and roads. Sights include the visible remains of early industrial enterprise of the highest importance. The subsequent two centuries are not ignored. Indeed, much of the industrial archaeology and art we see takes us well into the twentieth century. The tour concentrates on five centres. Two are the upper reaches of fast-moving rivers,
the Severn in Shropshire (dubbed Ironbridge Gorge) and the Derwent in Derbyshire. (Both are now tranquil and fairly rural, the Derwent Valley in particular being a place of outstanding natural beauty.) The six towns of the Potteries in Staffordshire were a unique concentration of the ceramic industry – as indeed they still are. The fourth is the group of towns in the West Midlands known as The Black Country, and the fifth is Birmingham, ‘workshop of the world’.
Itinerary Day 1: Birmingham. The coach leaves from New Street Railway Station at 11.45am and there follows a walk around a nexus of canals – Birmingham famously has more canals than Venice. Soho House, excellently restored and presented, was the home of Matthew Boulton and a meeting place of the Lunar Society, a group of progressive thinkers, scientists and manufacturers who played key roles in the Industrial Revolution. Continue to Telford for the first of two nights there. Day 2: Ironbridge Gorge. By the end of the 18th century this short stretch of the upper River Severn (a unesco Heritage Site) was the most heavily industrialised location in the world. The blast furnace at Coalbrookdale, where in 1709 Abraham Darby I achieved the smelting of iron with coke and thus ushered in the modern world, survives as part of a fascinating Museum of Iron. Abraham Darby III was largely responsible for the Iron Bridge of 1779, an epoch-making structure of powerful beauty as well as an icon of the Industrial Revolution. Two mansions lived in by the Darby family overlooking the works retain original furnishings. Day 3: Dudley, Barlaston. The Black Country is a contender for the title ‘birthplace of industry’, being named after the smoke from the unequalled density of mines, workshops and factories. An outstanding museum shows historic industrial installations, many in working order, including a replica of a Newcomen steam engine of c. 1717, rescued houses, shops and other buildings furnished as 100 years ago. Josiah Wedgwood
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Day 4: Stoke-on-Trent. Stoke-on-Trent remains the world’s foremost pottery city despite the loss of much mainstream production. The Gladstone Pottery Museum is the only complete Victorian pottery factory: original workshops, bottle ovens, historic products. See the wonderfully archaic production processes at Burleigh Pottery and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley, which excellently displays Staffordshire wares and other ceramics; another outstanding museum. Day 5: Derwent Valley, Derby, Cheadle. A stretch of the River Derwent in Derbyshire is the birthplace of the modern textile industry (and another unesco Heritage Site). The world’s first water-powered cotton-spinning mill, built by Richard Arkwright in 1771, survives at Cromford, and his 1783 Masson Mills are equipped with 19th-cent. machinery. The Derby Museum displays many paintings by Joseph Wright, one of Britain’s finest 18th-cent. painters, who excelled at innovatory scenes of industry and scientific experiment and portraits of industrialists. The Church of St Giles at Cheadle, 1841–7, A.W. Pugin’s masterpiece, has been called ‘the outstanding English church of the 19th century’. Day 6: Birmingham. Established in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter in 1881, J.W. Evans is an exceptional survival of a historic factory where little has changed for a century. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has the largest public collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings in the world. The tour ends at New Street Station by 4.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,510. Single occupancy: £1,670. Included meals: 1 lunch, 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Telford Golf and Spa Hotel (qhotels.co.uk-golf-course): a modern hotel in a quiet location on the edge of town. The Best Western Moat House (web search: ‘Best Western Moat House’): though incorporating the shell of Etruria Hall, Josiah Wedgwood’s home, is also a new hotel, adequately comfortable, lively. At both hotels, rooms are comfortable, restaurants not bad and service willing – they are the best in their localities. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? This tour would not be suitable for anyone who has any difficulty with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Average distance by coach per day: 42 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with The Victorian Achievement, 15–22 August (page 38); Royal Residences, 16–20 August (page 26).
Connoisseur’s London
Less accessible & lesser known treasures
Great art and architecture and places of interest off the beaten track, not generally accessible or simply overlooked amid London’s vast riches. Several different lecturers and specialist guides and many special arrangements. Most evenings are free. Participants are offered theatre or concert tickets. Very centrally located 5-star hotel. London’s riches of art and architecture are both multitudinous and widely dispersed. Has even the most assiduous of Londoners seen everything that merits a visit? Surely not, so the good news for visitors and short-term residents is that there are plenty of delights awaiting discovery. This tour is intended for those who have some familiarity with the main sights and museums but have seen fewer of the innumerable lesser-known or out-of-the-way treasures. One major item is included – in this case Westminster Abbey – but special arrangements lift the visit above the ordinary. During planning, themes emerged and the recurring feature of this itinerary is proximity to the Thames, the river Winston Churchill described as ‘a golden thread in the national tapestry’. Most days are over between 4.30 and 5.30pm, giving opportunity to attend a concert or play. We will buy a few tickets for choice events as they come on sale and offer them to participants.
for retired soldiers, a function which continues. Sir Christopher Wren designed the splendid buildings on a site beside the Thames. Day 4: The City. London’s Roman and mediaeval core has become a major financial centre, resulting in a fascinating mix of narrow streets and alleys, historic parish churches and livery halls, ornamented Victorian office and warehouse façades and a dazzling array of recent architecture. Details of the day will be announced nearer the time (August closures are decided closer to the time) but the itinerary will include a range of art and architecture both old and new, with some special access. Day 5: Greenwich. Take the river bus downstream to Greenwich. The Old Royal Naval College, founded by Queen Mary in 1692, is claimed by unesco to be the ‘finest and most dramatically sited architectural and landscape ensemble in the British Isles’. Wren is again one of the architects, others include Inigo Jones, Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh. The Queen’s House, a brilliant remnant of the royal palace (1616), houses the picture collection of the National Maritime Museum. Among other sights are the Cutty Sark, a tea clipper, and the Royal
Observatory. The tour finishes at the Whitehall hotel by 4.00pm. Note that appointments for some visits cannot be confirmed until January 2016.
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13–17 September 2016 (md 835) 5 days • £1,830 Lecturers & guides: various specialists
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,830. Single occupancy: £2,210. Included meals: 3 lunches, 1 dinner, with wine. Accommodation. The Royal Horseguards, London (guoman.com): 5-star hotel in the heart of Whitehall with the style of an international hotel. Bedrooms are comfortable with all mod cons. All have a bath and shower. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Participants need to be good walkers and have stamina. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Walking Hadrian’s Wall, 5–11 September (page 22); Arts & Crafts in the Cotswolds, 18–22 September (page 33); Walking a Royal River, 19–25 September (page 25).
Itinerary Day 1: Whitehall, Strand. Leave the hotel at 11.00am for a two-hour walk around Whitehall and Strand. After lunch there is a tour of Somerset House, a magnificent classical building designed by Sir William Chambers in 1776 to house civil servants and learned societies. It is now the home of the Courtauld Gallery, an amazing collection renowned for its Impressionists and Post-Impressionists but also including Old Masters and decorative arts.
Day 3: Dulwich, Chelsea. Opened in a building designed for it by Sir John Soane in 1817, Dulwich Picture Gallery was Britain’s first public art gallery. The Old Master collection remains one of the best in the country. Chelsea Physic Garden, an enchanting oasis, was established for medicinal purposes in 1673. Also in Chelsea, the Royal Hospital was instituted by Charles II as a home
Shakespeare & his World
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Day 2: Westminster, Syon Park. Westminster Abbey is not only one of Britain’s greatest mediaeval churches, displaying all the arts of the era as well as architecture, but also burial place of 17 monarchs and other great names in British history. As a museum of sculpture it has no parallel. Drive out to Syon Park, situated beside the Thames on the western outskirts of the city, whose remodelling by Robert Adam bequeathed some of the finest 18th-cent. interiors in England.
Somerset House, copper engraving 1797.
August 2016 Details available in February 2016 Contact us to register your interest 2016 marks 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare. Our tour includes tickets to Cymbeline and Hamlet at Stratford, and the new Romeo & Juliet at the Garrick, London – part of the Kenneth Branagh season. Performances also at the Globe and visits to other events marking the anniversary.
1930s reproduction after M. Droeshout, 1623. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Mediaeval East Anglia Cathedrals, castles, parish churches england
9–13 June 2016 (mc 717) 5 days • £1,160 Lecturer: Dr Jana Gajdosova Two cathedrals, Norwich and Ely, major Romanesque buildings with glorious Gothic additions.
Bury St Edmunds is also within easy reach of some of the finest castles and parish churches in England, and the majority of buildings visited fall into these latter categories – the great twelfth-century castles at Castle Rising, Castle Hedingham and Framlingham, and the incomparable late mediaeval churches of Lavenham, Long Melford and Gipping.
Three great keeps at Castle Rising, Castle Hedingham and Framlingham.
Itinerary
Fine parish churches including Long Melford, Lavenham and East Harling. Based in Bury St Edmunds. Can be combined with The Suffolk Festival, 13–16 June 2016 (see page 21). Famed for its mediaeval wool churches and for the virtuosic qualities of its Romanesque architecture, East Anglia boasts the greatest concentration of mediaeval buildings to survive in any region of England. It is also an area whose towns and villages have grown little since 1500, and whose mediaeval infrastructure remains relatively clear. This is perhaps most apparent in Bury St Edmunds, whose street plan is still that of the new town laid out, along with the abbey, in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest. Thus Bury is an irresistible and ideal base for the tour. The major buildings to be visited are, of course, East Anglia’s two mediaeval cathedrals at Ely and Norwich. Both retain a substantial Romanesque core, and were magnificently refurbished between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. Ely Cathedral, copper engraving 1655.
Day 1: Ely. The coach leaves the hotel at Bury St Edmunds at 1.00pm and Ely railway station at 2.00pm. At Ely Cathedral study the Lady Chapel, monastic precincts and all, a complex whose Romanesque crossing tower famously collapsed in 1322 and whose replacement is quite simply the most inventive response to disaster 14th-century Europe has to show. All four nights are spent in Bury St Edmunds. Day 2: Norwich, East Harling, Woolpit. Visit Norwich Cathedral, beginning with the choir and progressing through transepts and nave to the late mediaeval cloisters. The afternoon is spent in two contrasting parish churches, aristocraticallyfinanced East Harling (excellent 15th-century screen and glass) and guild-financed Woolpit (spectacular hammerbeam roof). Day 3: Long Melford, Lavenham, Castle Hedingham, Thaxted. A short drive south to Holy Trinity at Long Melford, a building dazzling not only for its scale but for the quality and quantity of its late 15th-century decoration, most famously the great run of stained glass donor portraits which light the north aisle. Then to that other ‘rich clothier’s church’, Ss. Peter and Paul at Lavenham, whose heraldically-enriched elevations and screenwork make such an excellent foil to Long Melford. The afternoon is divided between the de Vere Earls of Oxfords’ mighty 12th-century keep at Castle Hedingham and the stunning late mediaeval elevations of Thaxted.
Day 4: Gipping, Framlingham, Bury St Edmunds. A morning in north Suffolk. Gipping, Sir James and Lady Ann Tyrell’s jewel of a chantry chapel, remote, moated and all of a piece. Framlingham, a striking complex of church and castle that made the town the most potent symbol of seigneurial power in Suffolk. A free afternoon to wander at leisure in Bury St Edmunds, suggestions include the parish church of St Mary’s with magnificent hammerbeam roof and the remains of the Abbey of St Edmunds. Day 5: Castle Acre, Castle Rising, King’s Lynn. A morning in west Norfolk. Castle Acre, Cluniac priory church and proud possessor of the finest of all East Anglian Romanesque arcaded façades. Castle Rising, a stunning juxtaposition of a castle built for Henry I’s widowed queen, Alice, and the sumptuously decorated late Romanesque parish church of St Lawrence. Break for lunch in King’s Lynn and return by coach to Bury St Edmunds, arriving in time for the first event at 4.00pm. The coach continues to Ely railway station by 5.00pm for those not participating in The Suffolk Festival.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,160. Single occupancy: £1,280. Included meals: 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Angel Hotel, Bury St Edmunds (theangel.co.uk): 4-star hotel in an historic coaching inn in the centre of town. Rooms are warmly furnished with a contemporary décor in the public areas. There is a good restaurant. Parking is available at no cost. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is a lot of standing around for the church and castle visits. You must be able to walk at the speed of the group. There is quite a lot of driving and getting on and off the coach. You will need to arrange your own travel to Ely or to Bury St Edmunds. Average distance by coach per day: 75 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Northumbria, 15–23 June (page 20).
BRITISH ISLES 42 book online at www.martinrandall.com
Music Weekends Taunton & Lavenham
They include performances by artists of the very highest calibre, and who are among the very best in their fields – many are from the UK, often also from Europe. Four concerts (occasionally more) over the course of a weekend. Pre-concert talks by a musicologist are also often included. In addition to the concerts and talks we inclulde accommodation, breakfasts, afternoon teas, dinners, interval drinks, and even gratuities in the price.
2015–16 is particularly special for The Castle Hotel, this being the 40th anniversary of its very first season of music weekends – for it, we have chosen some of our favourite ensembles. The Castle Hotel in Taunton has been owned by the Chapman family for over sixty years and is famed for its excellent service and comfort. We are holding our very first music weekend at The Swan in Lavenham in October 2016. Dating from the 15th century, The Swan has been an inn since 1667; rooms have been recently renovated yet retain their historical character. Contact us to register your interest. Tickets to individual concerts are also available.
History & literature
Our Symposia weekends take place in various locations in the UK – so far we have held these in Taunton, Newcastle, York, Canterbury and Lincoln.
england
These are undeniably indulgent and leisurely retreats held at two of the UK’s most comfortable and welcoming hotels
symposia
Participants either stay in a range of hotels close to a central conference centre, or in some cases we take over one hotel where all the events of the weekend take place. Please contact us to register your interest.
Evelyn Waugh The 50th anniversary
©Marklik.cz
22–24 April 2016 The Castle Hotel, Taunton Details available in December 2015 Contact us to register your interest
History Weekend October or November 2016 Location to be announced Details available in May 2016 Contact us to register your interest
The Wihan Quartet Schuber t, Dvořák & Mozar t
The Aronowitz Ensemble Chamber music masterpieces
15–17 January 2016 (mc 559) The Castle Hotel, Taunton Price: from £700 Pre-concert talks by Richard Wigmore
8–10 April 2016 (mc 628) The Castle Hotel, Taunton Price: from £750 Musical illustrations by the musicians 2016–17 season Full details available in May 2016, with the first two available in January. Contact us to register your interest.
The Heath Quartet 7–9 October 2016 The Swan, Lavenham
26–28 February 2016 (mc 579) The Castle Hotel, Taunton Price: from £720 Pre-concert talks by Richard Wigmore
BRITISH ISLES
The Chilingirian Quartet Beethoven & Haydn
The Schubert Ensemble 18–20 November 2016 The Castle Hotel, Taunton
The Vienna Piano Trio 14–17 April 2017 • Easter weekend The Castle Hotel, Taunton Two or three more are planned to take place between January and April 2017.
A village in the Quantocks, wood engraving c. 1880. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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LONDON DAYS
Non-residential events to inform & inspire england
These London Days explore the art, architecture and history of the most varied and exciting city in the world. They are led by carefully chosen experts who provide informative and enlightening commentary. Meticulously planned with special arrangements and privileged access being significant features. Radio guides enable lecturers to talk in a normal conversational voice while participants can hear without difficulty. All are accompanied by an assistant to ensure arrangements run smoothly. These are active days, often with a lot of walking and standing. Travel is mainly by Underground, sometimes taxi, and occasionally by private coach or bus. Below is a selection of titles planned for 2016. Visit www.martinrandall.com to explore our full current offering or contact us for more information.
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The Ever-Changing City Skyline Wren’s Cathedral to Rees’s Towers Wednesday 6th April 2016 (lc 652) Price: £205 Lecturer: Professor Peter Rees For twenty-eight years Peter Rees was the City of London’s chief planning officer, and since 2014 has been Professor of Places and City Planning at University College London. Charismatic, articulate and passionate about planning, he has done more to shape the City’s current appearance than any other single individual, and this is an exceptional opportunity to hear his story and to understand how and why London looks as it does.
Starting at St Paul’s, we see some of the planning challenges posed by the ‘reframing’ of the Cathedral over the last decades. Paternoster Square was redeveloped following a tortuous process of consultation, royal intervention and redesign. After a visit to the roof-top space at Jean Nouvel’s 1 New Change, there is a surreptitious stroll through The Royal Exchange, the City’s centre of gossip, and an exploration of the hidden alleyways between Cornhill and Lombard Street. Here banking was born, and City pubs still fulfil a vital business role.
The City of London, 20thcentury reproduction of an engraving by S. & N. Buck, 1749.
We expect to run the following London Days in 2016, but this is by no means an exhaustive list.
Historic architecture
Modern architecture
John Nash
Dixon Jones
Details are released on an ongoing basis throughout the year. Please contact us to register your interest.
Hawksmoor
The Ever-changing City Skyline
Ancient history
‘Wren’ in the City
Egypt at UCL
Great Railway Termini
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Ancient Greece at the British Museum
Robert Adam Seven Churches & a Synagogue
London’s Underground Railway
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Decorative arts
Islamic Art in London Chinese Arts Mosaics Stained Glass
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“A feisty and utterly fascinating lecturer. Professor Peter Rees entertained us with unique insights and amusing anecdotes.”
Having grown outwards in the 80s and 90s, the City is now growing upwards, with a cluster of office towers sited to maximise their proximity to an abundance of public transport while minimising their impact upon the London skyline. A Gherkin sits alongside a Cheese-Grater, and the Walkie-Talkie provides a high-level opportunity to contemplate the ever-changing City below. Start: 10.30am, St Paul’s tube station. Finish: c. 6.30pm, The Walkie-Talkie, 20 Fenchurch Street EC3. Price: £205. This includes lunch, refreshments and one taxi journey. Fitness: most of the day is spent outside and on foot, both standing and walking. Group size: maximum 16 participants.
Rembrandt & Vermeer
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The Italian Renaissance Sculpture in London The Complete London Hogarth
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Your name(s), address, telephone number and e-mail address.
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Name, date and code of the London Day(s) you are booking.
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Special requirements, and your contact details for the night prior to the day.
Payment. If by credit or debit card, give the card number, start date, expiry date and 3-digit CVV code. Confirmation will be sent to you upon receipt of payment. An itinerary will be sent about two weeks before the Day. Cancellation. We will return the full amount if you notify us 22 or more days before the event. We will retain 50% if cancellation is made within three weeks and 100% if within three days. Please put your cancellation in writing to info@martinrandall.co.uk. We advise taking out insurance in case of cancellation and recommend that overseas clients are also covered for possible medical and reparation costs.
Houses & interiors
The Genius of Titian The Poetic Landscape
at the Tower of London
Please contact us with:
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The talks are followed by a private concert in The Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula with the choir of the Chapel. Visit www.martinrandall.com/lecture-afternoons to book, or contact us.
London’s Squares
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Garden City London new
Thameside Country Houses
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Interwar Interiors
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Great Halls Tudor London
Colonel Richard Harrold: Fortress, Palace, Prison – The Tower of London; Professor Owen Rees: Tudor and Stuart music; Dr Paul Atterbury: Rain, Steam and Speed: Art and the Train; Professor Timon Screech: Why is the Shogun’s Armour in the Tower? Gifts between rulers in 1613; Helena Attlee: Medici citrus collection in Florence.
Walking London
The Georgian House Great Houses in Westminster
Thursday 10th March 2016 (lc 594) Price: £65 Speakers: Colonel Richard Harrold, Professor Owen Rees, Dr Paul Atterbury, Professor Timon Screech, Helena Attlee
London Gardens
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BRITISH ISLES
Art history
Lecture Afternoon
Booking a London Day
england
From the mid-1980s, and boosted by the ‘Big Bang’, the square mile became larger, swallowing parts of neighbouring boroughs. Broadgate is a fine example of a late 20thcentury business quarter with ground-scraper buildings accommodating large dealing floors for international banks and fine publicly-accessible spaces providing the social opportunities which are conducive to business activity. Only 25 years later, the development is being refurbished and some buildings replaced.
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The London Backstreet Walk The South Bank Walk Music
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Handel in London Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Georgians in Scotland Architecture, interiors & landscape SCOTLAND, WALES
20–28 June 2016 (ec 725) 9 days • £3,210 Lecturer: Gail Bent Stay in the historic Balmoral hotel in Edinburgh, a country house hotel in the Borders and as guests at Ardgowan, a grand 18th-century country house which remains a private home, not a hotel nor a museum. Visit several houses not generally open to the public, some by special arrangement or with privileged access. Pass through the wonderful coastal and Lowland landscapes of western Scotland. Led by Gail Bent, an expert on British architectural history and historical interiors.
Itinerary Day 1: Edinburgh. Assemble at the hotel and leave on foot at 3.00pm for a walk up Calton Hill to see an assembly of monuments including the National Monument, a reproduction of the Parthenon (Edinburgh: ‘the Athens of the North’). First of three nights in Edinburgh. Day 2: Hopetoun House, Newliston. In the morning visit Hopetoun House, a few miles outside Edinburgh. Property of the Earl of Hopetoun, the house was begun by Sir William Bruce in 1699 and added to by William Adam in 1721. It has a large collection of James Cullen furniture and an excellent art collection including works by Rubens, Raeburn and Canaletto. 18th-century Newliston is one of Robert Adam’s last and smallest country houses and remains a private family home.
Day 3: Edinburgh. The day is spent on foot in Edinburgh. Begun in 1766, the New Town is a magnificent expanse of wide streets, squares, circuses, crescents and parks and terraces, and is one of the finest areas of Georgian architecture in Britain. Robert Adam’s dome in Register House is his largest room. Finish the day with a private visit to the Georgian House, furnished as a typical New Town home belonging to a wealthy family might have been in 1790–1810, the time of the first owner, John Lamont of Lamont. Day 4: Arniston, Mellerstain. Palladian Arniston is an important William Adam house with family portraits by Ramsay and Raeburn. The house remains in the Dundas family today. Unique in being built by both William Adam and his son Robert, Mellerstain House has some of the finest Adam interiors, with a classic enfilade of rooms, exquisite plasterwork and a magnificent Great Gallery. First of two nights in Roxburghe. Day 5: Manderston, Paxton. Built in the late 18th century, Manderston was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s with breathtaking ‘Adam Revival’ interiors. Paxton House, designed by John Adam in grand 18th-century Palladian style and almost untouched, houses paintings from the National Galleries of Scotland and a remarkable collection of Chippendale furniture original to the house. Day 6: Traquair, Burrell Collection. One of the most romantic houses in the Borders, Traquair is an almost untouched 16th- and 17th-century Scottish castle house, a high Catholic stronghold still lived in by a royal Stuart descendant. The collection of a wealthy shipowner, Sir William Burrell, the Burrell Collection focuses on late mediaeval and early Renaissance Europe among other things. It is set in the grounds of Pollok Country Park. First of three nights in Ardgowan.
Day 7: Ardgowan. All day is spent at Ardgowan, a superb mansion of the 1790s designed by a follower of Robert Adam. There is time at leisure as well as the opportunity to tour the house. Day 8: Culzean, Dumfries. Drive to the clifftop Culzean Castle, Robert Adam’s boldest creation, with oval stair hall and round drawing room with views out to sea. Also by Adam, Dumfries House, famously saved for the nation with the help of the Prince of Wales in 2007, is a perfect Palladian composition which retains unspoilt interiors and a unique set of Chippendale furniture. Day 9: Holmwood House, Glasgow. Holmwood House was designed by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson and was built in 1857–8 for James Couper, a local businessman. From here the coach takes you to Glasgow Railway Station by 12.30pm and to Glasgow Airport by 1.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,210. Single occupancy: £3,770. Included meals: 1 lunch and 6 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Balmoral, Edinburgh (roccofortehotels.com): historic 5-star hotel with a prime, central location. Elegant and comfortablewith restrained décor. The Roxburghe Country House Hotel (roxburghehotel.net): 18th-century manor house set in a 50,000 acre estate. Public rooms are comfortable and pleasant. Service is excellent. Good restaurant and lovely garden. Ardgowan (ardgowan.co.uk): Ardgowan is a private house, not a hotel – keys to bedrooms are not provided. Bedrooms vary in size, furnishings and facilities. Each room has its own bathroom, in some cases this is a few yards along a corridor. All have baths, some with a shower fitment. Towels, bathrobes and toiletries are provided. There is a lift to the first floor. Single rooms have single beds. Closer to departure, double rooms may be offered for single occupancy at a supplement of £150. How strenuous? There is a fair amount of walking. Coaches can rarely park near the entrance to houses and grounds are often extensive. Most of the houses do not have lifts. Group size: between 10 and 18 participants.
BRITISH ISLES
This tour is provided in association with the Center for Palladian Studies.
Edinburgh Festival August 2016 Details available in March 2016 Contact us to register your interest
Opera in Wales 46
Culzean Castle, steel engraving c. 1850. book online at www.martinrandall.com
October 2016 Details available in January 2016 Contact us to register your interest
Armenia
Early Christian monasteries & modern-day Yerevan ARMENIA
23–30 June 2016 (mc 734) 8 days • £2,840 Lecturer: Ian Colvin Monasteries and other sacred buildings from as early as the seventh century. Outstanding mountainous landscape. Time to get to know Yerevan, with its squares, cafés and street-life. Comfortable hotels and surprisingly good food.
Yerevan, copper engraving c. 1750.
the dungeon where St Gregory the Illuminator was incarcerated, defiantly advertises the indomitable Armenian Christian tradition.
at Garni is the last remaining pre-Christian building in Armenia. Much of the monastery at nearby Geghard is carved out of the cliffside. First of two nights in Yerevan.
Itinerary
Day 7: Khor Virap, Noravank, Yerevan. Visit the Khor Virap monastery in the foothills of Mount Ararat, where St Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned. Hidden from view in a remote valley, Noravank, the masterwork of the architect and sculptor Momik, is perhaps the most beautiful of Armenia’s thirteenth-century monasteries.
Day 1. Fly at c. 9.50am from London Heathrow to Yerevan via Paris (Air France), arriving at c. 8.00pm. Transfer to the hotel in the heart of the city. First of three nights in Yerevan. Day 2: Yerevan. The day begins with a visit to the comprehensive and fascinating State Museum of Armenian History. At the National Art Gallery see collections from Armenia, Russia and Western Europe. Day 3: Echmiadzin, Yerevan. In the morning, visit the Matenadaran, a repository of 17,000 illuminated manuscripts. The Museum of the Armenian Genocide is all the more powerful for its simplicity. After lunch, drive to Echmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, also a unesco world heritage site. The vast ruined cathedral at neighbouring Zvartnots tells of the extraordinary ambition of early architects. Day 4: Amberd, Dzoraget. The ruins of Amberd Fortress, dramatically located on the southern slopes of Mount Ararat, date back to the twelfth century, although it has been a stronghold since the seventh. In the afternoon, drive to Dzoraget. First of two nights here. Day 5: Akhtala, Alaverdi. The 13th-century frescoes in Akhtala are strongly influenced by Byzantium. The monasteries at Haghpat and Sanahin, both unesco-listed sites, are both fine examples of Armenian sacred architecture. Day 6: Lake Sevan, Yerevan. Drive to Lake Sevan, and the peerlessly situated Sevanavank monastery that overlooks it. The Hellenic temple
Day 8. The morning flight from Yerevan arrives Heathrow at c. 1.45pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,840 or £2,310 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,210 or £2,680 without flights. Included meals: all lunches and dinners. Visas: British nationals do not require a visa. Other nationalities should obtain one on arrival at the airport (c. £5). Accommodation. The Armenia Marriott Hotel, Yerevan (marriottarmenia.am): recentlyrenovated 5-star hotel on the central square; impersonal but with excellent facilities. The Avan Dzoraget (tufenkianheritage.com): small, stylish hotel on a riverside; 4-star equivalent. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? You will be on your feet for long periods. Many of the sites are reached by steep, uneven steps often without handrails. There are 220 steps to a monastery. There are four coach journeys of over two hours (average distance by coach per day: 72 miles). Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
MAINLAND EUROPE
Of all the lands straddling east and west, the nation of Armenia is perhaps least like a gateway and most like a frontier. ‘Unique’ is a lazy and unenlightening epithet with which to characterise distant lands, but Armenia, both ancient and new, both Asian and European, both a melting-pot and defiantly individual, is fully deserving of the description. Its long and tenacious history is one of frequent tragedy and renewal. At its apogee in the first century bc, Armenia stretched from the Mediterranean to the Caspian, and almost to the Black Sea. For the next three centuries, however, Armenia would suffer conquest and reconquest as the Romans and the Parthians traded blows in the southern Caucasus, with intermittent periods of self-rule keeping the flame of independence alive. It was in large part to keep themselves distinct from the two vast empires on either hand that the Armenians adopted the new religion of Christianity in ad 301, developing a new alphabet a hundred years after that. These two markers of Armenian identity survived domination by Byzantines, Arabs, Mongols, Turks and Russians, as did many spectacular religious buildings, which were built to withstand not just invasions but earthquakes too. Armenia’s sacred architecture was a greater influence on mediaeval Europe than is commonly assumed, after its round towers and cross-plans were noted by returning crusaders. Thick-walled, built from local tuff or basalt, and housing a particularly severe strain of eastern Christianity, there is a resplendent austerity about these churches which is only heightened by their frequently spectacular natural surroundings. Many of the finest, including the rockhewn Geghard and the unesco world heritage site of Echmiadzin, are easily visited from the capital, Yerevan. And while calling Yerevan the most sensitively-remodelled of all Soviet cities may sound like damnation with the faintest praise imaginable, today it is attractive and confident, its proliferation of cafés, galleries and public spaces making it a truly pleasant place to spend time. In the north of the country are two more unesco-listed monasteries, at Sanahin and Haghpat; both tell the story of Armenian religion and cultural endurance. Meanwhile Yerevanis live, work and socialise in the literal and metaphorical shadow of Ararat, still Armenia’s most emotive symbol despite now being on Turkish land. A few hundred yards from the border, the monastery of Khor Virap, which proudly boasts
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Haydn in Eisenstadt
Where the composer lived & worked austria
Eisenstadt, 17th-century copper engraving.
14–18 September 2016 (md 852) 5 days • £2,260 (including tickets to 6 performances) Lecturer: Richard Wigmore International festival in the small country town where Haydn was based for most of his career. The Prague Philharmonic, and Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra under Adam Fischer. Visits to other places associated with Haydn including the great summer palace in Hungary. Led by Richard Wigmore, music writer, lecturer and broadcaster for BBC Radio 3.
MAINLAND EUROPE 48
Few small country towns have such an important place in the history of music as Eisenstadt; and few festivals other than the Haydntage offer the privilege of hearing music in the hall where it was first performed. Eisenstadt is now in the Burgenland, the small province south-east of Vienna which before 1919 was part of Hungary. Dominating the townscape is a vast mansion, the principal seat of the Esterházy, the richest and most powerful noble family in Habsburg Hungary. Successive princes, but especially Nicholas (1762–90), were lovers of music who maintained a choir, orchestra and Kapellmeister whose duty it was to conduct and compose. For over forty years their Kappellmeister was Joseph Haydn. The wooden floor that Haydn insisted be laid on the marble original to improve the acoustics is still in the Great Hall of Schloss Esterházy; here the orchestral concerts and operas of the festival take place. Further associations with the composer extend into the town of Eisenstadt and the countryside around. In the 2016 festival symphonies and chamber music by Haydn are juxtaposed with works by gifted Bohemian contemporaries including Leopold Kozeluch, court composer to Emperor Franz II, and Johann Baptist Vanhal, whose fiery minor-keyed symphonies rival all but the best of Haydn’s.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.15am from London Heathrow to Vienna (Austrian Airlines). Drive to Eisenstadt stopping at Rohrau to visit Haydn’s birthplace en route. An introductory lecture is followed by a pre-concert dinner. Evening concert at Schloss Esterházy, Haydnsaal with the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic, Adam Fischer (conductor), Nicolas Altstaedt (cello): Haydn, Symphony ‘A’, Hob. L/107; Haydn, Cello Concerto No.1 in C, Hob.Vllb:1; Wanhal, Cello Concerto in C; Haydn, Symphony No.27, ‘Hermannstädter’. Day 2. The historic centre of Eisenstadt has changed little since Haydn’s day. Visit the Haydn Museum in the house he bought after his release from service with the Esterházy family, and see the state apartments of the Baroque and NeoClassical Schloss Esterházy. Evening concert in the Haydnsaal with the Prague Philharmonic, Milan Turkovic (conductor), Gábor Boldoczki, Sergei Nakariakov (trumpet): Haydn, Symphony No.10; Haydn, Trumpet Concerto in E flat, Hob.Vlle:1; Neruda, Trumpet Concerto in E flat; Haydn, Symphony No.11; Bellini, variations from ‘Norma’. Day 3. Morning concert in the Empiresaal with the Gustav Mahler Piano Quartet: Mahler, Piano Quartet in A minor; Haydn, String Trio in B; Divertimentos, Hob.XIV:11 & Hob.XIV:9; Dvořák, Piano Quartet No.2, Op.87. Free afternoon or option of joining a tour of 18th-century organs in Eisenstadt. Evening concert in the Haydnsaal with the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic, Adam Fischer (conductor), Ferhan & Ferzan Önder (piano): Haydn, Symphony No.20; Kozeluch, Concerto for Piano 4 hands in B flat. Day 4. Morning concert in the Empiresaal with Cornelia Herrmann (piano), Christian Altenburger (violin), Patrick Demenga (cello): Dvořák, 4 Romantic Pieces for violin and piano, Op.75; Haydn, Piano Trio No.32 in A, Hob.XV:18; Dvořák, Piano Trio No.4 in E minor, ‘Dumky’. Drive into Hungary and to Eszterházá, the estate housing the magnificent Rococo country house of the Esterházy princes, where Haydn spent many
book online at www.martinrandall.com
long summers. Visit the recently restored princely apartments and park. Free evening in Eisenstadt. Day 5. Morning concert with the AustroHungarian Haydn Orchestra, Adam Fischer (conductor), Elisabeth Pratscher (soprano): Haydn, Symphony No.60, ‘Il distratto’; Mahler, Symphony No.4. After lunch drive to Vienna airport. Fly to Heathrow arriving c. 6.45pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,260 or £2,060 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,340 or £2,140 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 2 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Burgenland, Eisenstadt (hotelburgenland.at): functional but comfortable 4-star hotel, located in the heart of the old town, c. 10 minutes on foot from Schloss Esterházy. Music: top category tickets for 6 performances are included, costing c. £390. To be confirmed in December 2015. How strenuous? There is a reasonable amount of walking, including to and from the concert venue. Average distance by coach per day: 28 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Mozar t in Salzburg 23–28 January 2016 (mc 564) This tour is currently full Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com The Iron Curtain, 19 September–3 October 2016 with Neil Taylor. See page 88.
The Schuber tiade
Music & mountains in the Vorarlberg
24–29 August 2016 (mc 810) 6 days • £3,130 (including tickets to 8 performances) Lecturer: Dr Michael Downes In June: ten performances; artists include Christian Gerhaher, Marc André Hamelin and Andras Schiff. In August: eight performances; artists include Igor Levit, Ian Bostridge, Isabelle Faust and Gerard Finley. The June departure also includes five country walks in the surrounding hills: two to three hours long, led by an experienced walking guide. Visits to towns and art galleries in Austria and Switzerland, while leaving plenty of free time. The combination of music-making of the highest quality with a pre-Alpine mountain setting is a heady mix. Devotees of the Schubertiade return year after year; addiction is a distinct possibility. Add a great art collection, guided walks in the hills and top up with relaxation among ravishing upland scenery and this begins to sound like the recipe for the perfect holiday. The annual Schubertiade in the Vorarlberg, the westernmost province of Austria, is one of the most prestigious and enjoyable music festivals in Europe. It attracts artists of the highest calibre, while the rural setting and the predominance of Schubertian music create an endearing informality and intimacy. But the festival’s success has not stifled a constant desire for change and experiment, as its periodic peregrinations demonstrate. Having started in the village of Hohenems, it migrated a few years later up the valley to the little town of
Feldkirch, which in 2001 it abandoned in favour of mountain villages amidst the beautiful scenery of the Bregenzerwald. The hill village setting has been further refined by confining all the concerts to Schwarzenberg, described by Herder as ‘the prettiest village in Europe’. Our tour is based in the neighbouring village of Mellau, seven miles away.
Day 5. Morning walk. Mid-afternoon lecture before an afternoon recital with Anna Lucia Richter (soprano), Dorottya Láng (mezzo soprano), Mauro Peter (tenor), Helmut Deutsch (piano): Schubert Lieder. Dinner between performances. Concert with Sir András Schiff (piano) and the Jerusalem Quartet: Haydn, String Quartet in D, Op.64 No.5 ‘The Lark’; Weinberg, Piano Quintet, Op.18; Brahms, Piano Quintet in F minor, Op.34.
Itinerary – June (with walks)
Day 6. Morning walk. Mid-afternoon lecture before an afternoon recital with Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Gerold Huber (piano): Schubert, ‘Die schöne Müllerin’. Dinner and concert with Renaud Capuçon (violin), Guillaume Chilemme (violin), Adrien La Marca (viola), Edgar Moreau (cello), Alois Posch (double bass): Beethoven, String Quartet in B flat, Op.130; Hofstetter, String Quartet No.5 in F; Dvořák, String Quintet in G, Op.77.
Day 1. Fly at c. 9.30am from London Heathrow to Zurich (British Airways). Drive into Austria arriving late afternoon at Mellau in the lovely upland landscape of the Bregenzerwald. Lecture followed by dinner. Drive to Schwarzenberg for a concert at the Angelika-Kaufmann-Saal (all concerts are held here) with the Artemis Quartet: Schubert, ‘Quartettsatz’; Bartók, String Quartet No.6; Beethoven, String Quartet No.16 in F. Day 2. A lecture followed by a morning recital with Paul Lewis (piano): Brahms, Ballades, Op.10; Schubert, Sonata in B, D575; Brahms, Intermezzi, Op.117; Liszt, ‘Dante’ Sonata. An experienced local walking guide leads all four walks, beginning after lunch with a moderate distance. Dinner in Schwarzenberg before a concert with L’Orfeo Barockorchester, Michi Gaigg (conductor), Daniel Behle (tenor): Schubert, arias and orchestral pieces from various operas.
austria
18–24 June 2016 (mc 719) 7 days • £3,440 (including tickets to 10 performances) Lecturer: Richard Wigmore
Day 7. Homeward journey. Stop at Winterthur (Switzerland) to see the Old Master and Impressionist paintings of the Oskar Reinhart Collection, beautifully displayed in the collector’s home in woods outside the city. Lunch here before continuing to the airport. Fly from Zurich arriving at London Heathrow c. 7.15pm.
Itinerary – August
Day 3. Morning walk. Mid-afternoon lecture before a Recital with Michael Volle (baritone) and Helmut Deutsch (piano): Schubert Lieder. Dinner, then a recital with Marc André Hamelin (piano): Mozart, Sonata in D, K.576; Szymanowska, Nocturne in B flat; Schubert, Walzer-Suite; Liszt, No.9 from ‘Soirées de Vienne’; Schubert, 4 Impromptus, D935.
Day 1. Fly at c. 9.30am from London Heathrow to Zurich (British Airways). Stop at Winterthur (Switzerland) to see the paintings of the Oskar Reinhart Collection, beautifully displayed in the collector’s home in woods outside the city. Drive through Switzerland and into Austria, arriving early evening at Mellau in the lovely upland landscape of the Bregenzerwald. An introductory lecture is followed by dinner.
Day 4. Morning walk stopping for a picnic lunch before returning to Mellau for free time. Lecture before a recital with Marlis Petersen (soprano), Werner Güra (tenor), Christoph Berner (piano): Schubert Lieder.
Day 2. Morning lecture before driving down the valley to Feldkirch, a little town built at a narrowing of the valley of the River Ill, with historic buildings, arcaded streets and a network of alleys nestling beneath high limestone cliffs.
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Feldkirch in the Vorarlberg, lithograph c. 1850. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
The Schuber tiade continued
Opera in Vienna Mozart, Strauss, Verdi
austria
Itinerary
A guided tour includes mediaeval defences, town hall and Gothic cathedral (altarpiece by Wolf Huber). Drive to Schwarzenberg for an afternoon recital at the Angelika-Kaufmann-Saal (all concerts are held here) with Igor Levit (piano): Beethoven, Sonata in E minor, Op.90; Sonata in A, Op.101; Sonata in B flat, Op.106. Dinner in Schwarzenberg before an evening recital with Matthias Goerne (baritone), Martin Helmchen (piano): Schubert, ‘Schwanengesang’.
Day 1. Fly at c. 2.45pm from London Heathrow to Vienna (British Airways). Day 2. A lecture is followed by a visit to the Hofburg, the sprawling Habsburg palace; see its splendid library hall and imperial apartments. Evening opera (semi-staged) at the Theater an der Wien (1801): Lucio Silla (Mozart). Laurence Equilbey (conductor), Paolo Fanale (Lucio Silla), Olga Pudova (Giunia), Franco Fagioli (Cecilio), Chiara Skerath (Cinna), Ilse Eerens (Celia).
Day 3. Morning lecture before an excursion to Bregenz, the capital of the Vorarlberg on Lake Constance. Begin in the picturesque upper town; continue down to the lower town for a lakeside walk and visit to the local history museum. Return to Mellau before driving to Schwarzenberg. Recital with Michael Volle (baritone), Helmut Deutsch (piano): Schubert Lieder. Dinner and recital with Ian Bostridge (tenor), Julius Drake (piano): Schubert Lieder. Day 4. Morning lecturebefore a concert with The Mandelring Quartet: Haydn, String Quartet in D, Op.71 No.2; Ravel, String Quartet in F; Schubert, String Quartet in G, D887. Lunch and free time before a recital with Christina Landshamer (soprano), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor), Gerold Huber (piano): Lieder by Schubert. Day 5. Morning lecturebefore a concert with Isabelle Faust (violin), Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), Alexander Melnikov (piano): Haydn, Piano Trio in D, Hob.XV:24; Schumann, Piano Trio in G minor, Op.110; Schubert, Piano Trio in E flat, D929. Return to Mellau for free time or an optional walk in nearby Bezau. Dinner and final recital with Gerard Finley (baritone) and Julius Drake (piano): Schubert Lieder. Day 6. Homeward journey. Fly from Zurich arriving at London Heathrow c. 4.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: June £3,440 or £3,230 without flights. August £3,130 or £2,920 without flights. Single occupancy: June £3,540 or £3,330 without flights. August £3,220 or £3,010 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 5 dinners with wine.
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Music: June – tickets (top category) to 10 performances are included, costing c. £690. August – tickets (top category) to 8 performances are included, costing c. £510. Accommodation. Hotel Sonne, Mellau (hotelsonne.at): 4-star hotel, modern and functional with a pleasant atmosphere and very helpful staff. There is a swimming pool and restaurant. All rooms are doubles. How strenuous? Some walking through towns and over uneven ground. Additionally, the June departure includes 5 country walks of 2–3 hours each. Average coach travel per day: 55 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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Combine this tour with, in June: German Romanesque, 26 June–2 July (page 96). In August: Verona Opera, 18–22 August (page 112).
Day 3. A morning walk through the centre of the inner city includes the Stephansdom, the Gothic cathedral and the Baroque church of St Peter. Some free time before a late-aftenoon talk, early dinner and an evening at the Volksoper: Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss), Heinz Zednik (conductor), cast to be confirmed. Theater an der Wien, wood engraving c. 1880.
26 April–1 May 2016 (ec 647) 6 days • £2,960 (including tickets to 4 performances) Lecturer: Dr Michael Downes Two performances at the Staatsoper, one of the world’s greatest opera houses, one at the Volksoper, the premier stage for operetta, one at the historic Theater an der Wien. The operas are Lucio Silla, Die Fledermaus, Un ballo in maschera and Don Giovanni. Daily talks by a musicologist, and a programme of walks and visits in the city. Based at a venerable and very comfortable hotel perfectly located beside the Staatsoper. Not content with being the most important city in the history of western music, Vienna continues to nurture an exceptionally active cultural life of a high level of excellence. Music and opera are cherished (and paid for) by government and citizens perhaps more than anywhere else. Vienna is notoriously wedded to tradition, and Staatsoper productions are generally not what could be called progressive by standards prevalent in the German-speaking world. But stagecraft, stage design and dramatic portrayal are of the highest order, and the house continues to attract the world’s finest singers and conductors. And of course it enjoys the supreme skills and sumptuous sound of the Vienna Philharmonic, the orchestra in residence. Highly sophisticated audiences and critics give no quarter to complacency or laziness; opera at the Staatsoper is a fairly safe bet. Meanwhile, the Volksoper guards the flame of the very Viennese tradition of operetta. Lifeless museum pieces should not be feared, however, for the house has been refreshed in the last decade by staging a wide range of opera with a number of adventurous directors and conductors. Our third venue is the historic Theater an der Wien, founded in 1801 by Emanuel Schikaneder, librettist of The Magic Flute.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 4. Morning talk before a visit to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, one of the world’s greatest art galleries. Walk through a series of gardens to a restaurant for lunch. Free time or visit to an apartment where Beethoven lived. Un Ballo in maschera (Verdi) at the Staatsoper. Jesús López-Cobos (conductor), Piotr Beczala (Gustavo), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Count Anckarström), Krassimira Stoyanova (Amelia), Nadia Krasteva (Madame Arvidson). Day 5. A morning walk studies monuments to composers – Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner and Johann Strauss – and examines these images in the light of the subject’s posthumous reputations. Finish near the Museum of Applied Arts, especially rewarding for Secessionist furniture and design. Free time followed by a talk, dinner and a performance at the Staatsoper: Don Giovanni (Mozart). Sascha Goetzel (conductor), Adam Plachetka (Don Giovanni), Rachel WillisSorensen (Donna Anna), Maximilian Schmitt (Don Ottavio), Olga Bezsmertna (Donna Elvira), Jongmin Park (Leporello). Day 6. Free morning before the flight to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 3.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,960 or £2,720 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,250 or £3,010 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Music: tickets (first category) for 4 operas are included, costing c. £530. Accommodation. Hotel Bristol (bristolvienna. com): 5-star hotel in a superb location near the opera house. Traditional décor and furnishings. How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking, mainly through the centre where coach access is limited. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Lucca, 18–24 April (page 128). This tour is provided in association with the University of Cambridge.
Connoisseur’s Vienna
Art, architecture, music & private visits austria
22–28 June 2016 (mc 727) 7 days • £2,860 (including tickets to 2 performances) Lecturer: Dr Jarl Kremeier Art, architecture, music: the main sites as well as lesser-known ones. Several special arrangements for out-of-hours visits or private buildings. Two included performances at the world class Staatsoper: The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) and Manon Lescaut (Puccini). Perfectly located heritage hotel.
Itinerary Because the itinerary is dependent on a number of appointments with private owners, the order and even the content of the tour may vary. Day 1. Fly at c. 9.30am from London Heathrow to Vienna (Austrian Airlines). Walk around the Hofburg, the Habsburg winter palace, a vast agglomeration of 600 years of building activity. See the incomparable collection of precious regalia and objets d’art in the Treasury, and the glorious library hall by Fischer von Erlach. Day 2. Walk through the Roman and mediaeval core to see a cross-section of architecture
National (formerly Court) Library, lithograph c. 1950.
including Gothic and Baroque churches and some of Vienna’s most enchanting streetscapes. Guided tour of the Synagogue (Josef Kornhäusel, 1824), followed by a visit to a private chapel. Another special arrangement to see a grand 18thcentury hall. The Jesuit church was spectacularly refurbished c. 1700 by the master of illusionist painting, Andrea Pozzo. Visit to and dinner at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, one of the world’s greatest art collections, particularly rich in Italian, Flemish and Dutch pictures. Day 3. Drive to the outskirts to see buildings by Otto Wagner; the richly decorated apartment blocks in the Linke Wienzeile, the emperor’s personal railway station at Schönbrunn and the hospital church ‘Am Steinhof’, the finest manifestation of Viennese Secessionism. The Liechtenstein collection in the family’s great Baroque palace is perhaps the finest in private hands in Europe, currently not open to the public. Day 4. Drive around the Ringstrasse, the boulevard which encircles the old centre and is the locus classicus of historicist architecture. The magnificent Liechtenstein Palace was built at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries by the richest family in the Habsburg Empire and has magnificent Rococo interiors and original furnishings. At the Staatsoper: The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart): Cornelius Meister (conductor), Luca Pisaroni (Count Almaviva), Rachel Willis-Sorensen (Countess Almaviva), Valentina Nafornita (Susanna), Alessio Arduini (Figaro), Marianne Crebassa (Cherubino). Day 5. Visit Schloss Belvedere; built on sloping ground overlooking Vienna for Prince Eugene of Savoy, it constitutes one of the finest residential complexes of the 18th century. It now houses the Museum of Austrian Art with paintings by Klimt and Schiele. Free afternoon.
Day 6. A tour of the Parliament building, a splendid example of enriched Neo-Classicism, and visit a late-19th-century town house on the Ringstrasse. Afternoon at the Museumsquartier, an art centre in the imperial stables, including the Leopold Collection of Secessionist art. At the Staatsoper: Manon Lescaut (Puccini) with Marco Armiliato (conductor), Anna Netrebko (Manon Lescaut), David Pershall (Lescaut), Marcello Giordani (Chevalier des Grieux). Day 7. The Secession building, built in 1898 as an exhibition hall for avant-garde artists, contains Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze. Visit the great hall of the Academy of Art and the Church of St Charles, the Baroque masterpiece of Fischer von Erlach. The flight arrives at Heathrow at c. 6.30pm.
Practicalities Price –per person. Two sharing: £2,860 or £2,660 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,250 or £3,050 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Bristol (bristolvienna. com): 5-star hotel in a superb location near the opera house. Traditionally furnished and decorated. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. Music: tickets to 2 operas are included, costing c. £385. To be confirmed autumn 2015.
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With visits to the chief sights as well as lesser ones and little-visited treasures, with privileged access to places not normally accessible and two musical evenings, this tour provides an exceptionally rich and rounded cultural experience. Whether or not you have been to the city before, it will present Vienna in a truly memorable way. Grandiloquent palaces and labyrinthine mediaeval streets; broad boulevards and quiet courtyards; at times embattled on the frontier of Christendom, yet a treasury containing some of the greatest of European works of art; an imperial city without an empire: Vienna is a fascinating mix, a quintessentially Central European paradox. The seat of the Habsburgs, pre-eminent city of the Holy Roman Empire and capital of a vast multinational agglomeration of territories, Vienna is magnificently equipped with buildings which were created by imperial and aristocratic patronage. But the history of Vienna is shot through with diversity, difference and dissent, and some of the choicest items we see were created in defiance of mainstream orthodoxy. A feature of this tour is the number of specially arranged visits to private palaces or institutions which are not generally open to the public or are off the beaten track. Because of the privileged nature of these visits we can only name a few of them here, but they include Baroque palaces, nineteenth century halls, pioneers of modernism, churches and a synagogue. And then there is the music. As home for Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler and countless others, Vienna is preeminent in the history of music. We have chosen to include two operas at the Wiener Staatsoper.
How strenuous? This tour involves a lot of citycentre walking. Public transport (metro or tram), is also used on some occasions. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Moravia, 13–20 June (page 58); The Leipzig Bach Festival, 13–20 June (page 91); Great French Gardens, 29 June–1 July (page 68). Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Vienna’s Masterpieces
The art collections of an imperial capital austria
1–5 July 2016 (mc 741) 5 days • £1,980 Lecturer: Professor David Ekserdjian Focuses on the best of the art in the city – painting, sculpture and decorative arts. Also the key architectural monuments and characteristic streetscape. Perfectly located 5-star heritage hotel. Can be combined with The Danube Festival of Song, 5–12 July 2016. Vienna possesses one of the most significant concentrations of great art to be found anywhere in the world. There are Old Master paintings of the highest quality, indigenous early-modern art and design of the highest importance, furnishings and decorative arts from many civilizations, precious regalia and goldwork without peer – and much else besides. This tour includes all of the main art museums and many of the smaller or less-visited ones. There is also more than a passing glance at the most important works of architecture, and the lecturer’s input touches on the fascinating and turbulent history of Austria and her empire. Vienna, the Cathedral of St Stephen, copper engraving c.1700.
The seat of the Habsburgs, pre-eminent city of the Holy Roman Empire and capital of a vast multinational agglomeration of territories, Vienna is appropriately equipped with magnificent buildings and broad boulevards. But cheek by jowl with grandiloquent palaces and trumpeting churches are narrow alleys and ancient courtyards which survive from the mediaeval city. In Vienna the magnificent mixes with the unpretentiously charming, imperial display with the Gemütlichkeit of the coffee houses. Diversity and delight.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.15am from London Heathrow to Vienna (Austrian Airlines). After a light lunch, walk to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, one of the world’s greatest collections of Old Masters. Concentrate on the northern schools, especially the early Netherlandish school, the famous Bruegels, Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer. Day 2. The splendid Belvedere Palace houses the national collection of Austrian art, mediaeval, Baroque, Biedermeier and Secessionist – Klimt and Schiele. Afternoon walk around the Roman and mediaeval core of the city to take in the Cathedral, the greatest of Gothic buildings in the Danubian lands, and the Hofburg, the sprawling winter palace of the Habsburgs. The precious regalia and objets d’art in the Schatzkammer (Treasury) are the best of their kind. Day 3. In a park a few minutes from the hotel see the Art Nouveau former metro stations by Otto Wagner and the great Baroque Church of St Charles. The excellent Vienna Museum traces the city’s history through art and artefacts. In the afternoon visit the Secession Building which contains Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze, the magnificent Great Hall of the Court Library and the excellent if small gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts. Among its holdings is a masterpiece by Hieronymus Bosch. Day 4. Another walk through picturesque streets and squares passes private palaces and public buildings such as the Gothic Revival city hall and the Neo-Classical Parliament. The Leopold Collection comprises excellent examples of the arts from the turn of the 19th century. The
afternoon is spent in the Kunsthistorisches Museum again, this time concentrating mainly on Italian pictures – Bellini, Titian, Bellotto. There is also the recently re-displayed Kunstkammer here, an outstanding collection of metalwork and sculpture. Day 5. Take a tram around the Ringstrasse, a boulevard encircling the inner city lined with magnificent palaces and institutions of the later 19th century. Visit the Museum of Applied Arts, an outstanding collection from all eras and places. Walk back to the hotel through further enchanting streetscape. Leave the hotel at 3.00pm and return to London Heathrow c. 6.45pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,980 or £1,770 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,240 or £2,030 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Bristol (bristolvienna. com): 5-star hotel in a superb location on the Ringstrasse, traditionally furnished and decorated. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking on this tour and standing around in galleries. Tram is used on some occasions. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with The Danube Festival of Song, 5–12 July (see below); Connoisseur’s Vienna, 22–28 June (page 51); German Gothic, 7–14 July (page 95).
The Danube Festival of Song 5–12 July 2016 (mc 750) Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com
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Twelve of the world’s greatest Lieder singers, seven of the finest pianist-accompanists, eleven beautiful, historic and appropriate halls; eight days of recitals, lectures and discussion: this can only be the MRT Festival of Song. Soprano • Mary Bevan, Susan Bullock, Véronique Gens, Miah Persson. Mezzo-soprano • Katarina Karnéus, Dorottya Láng, Renata Pokupić. Tenor • Ian Bostridge, Christoph Prégardien. Baritone • Benjamin Appl, André Schuen, Roderick Williams. Piano • Susie Allan, Julius Drake, Daniel Heide, Susan Manoff, Malcolm Martineau, Christoph Schnackertz, Roger Vignoles. The audience stays on board a luxury river cruiser; the price includes accommodation, flights, meals and more.
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Flemish Painting
From van Eyck to Rubens: Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels belgium
7–10 September 2016 (md 827) 4 days • £1,420 Lecturer: Dr Sophie Oosterwijk Immersion in the highlights of Flemish painting in the unspoilt cities in which they were created. The main centres of Flemish art: Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels and Louvain. Based in Ghent, which is equidistant to the other places on the itinerary. First-class train travel from London.
Itinerary Day 1: Ghent. Depart at c. 11.00am from London St Pancras by Eurostar for Lille, and from there drive to Ghent. Check into the hotel before visiting the cathedral to see the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb polyptych by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, one of the greatest masterpieces of Netherlandish painting. Visit briefly the Museum of Fine Arts, principally to see a work by Hieronymus Bosch.
The Virgin & Child with Canon van der Paele, wood engraving after J. Van Eyck, c. 1870.
Day 2: Bruges. With its canals, melancholic hues and highly picturesque streetscape, Bruges is one of the loveliest cities in northern Europe. A major manufacturing and trading city in the Middle Ages, decline had already set in before the end of the 15th century. The Groeninge Museum has an excellent collection by Flemish masters including Jan van Eyck, and the mediaeval Hospital of St John contains major paintings by Hans Memling. Also seen are the market place with its soaring belfry, the Gothic town hall and the Church of Our Lady, where Michelangelo’s marvellous marble Madonna and Child is located. Day 3: Antwerp. The great port on the Scheldt has an abundance of historic buildings and museums and churches of the highest interest. Four of Rubens’s most powerful paintings are in the vast Gothic cathedral, joined for the first time since 1799 by a dozen major altarpieces dispersed by Napoleon. The house and studio Rubens built for himself are fascinating and well stocked with good pictures, and the Mayer van der Bergh Museum has a small but outstanding collection including works by Bruegel. Day 4: Louvain, Brussels. The attractive university city of Louvain has a splendid Gothic town hall and the Triptych of the Holy by Dieric Bouts, still in the chapel for which it was painted. Thriving in the 19th and 20th centuries, Brussels nevertheless retains splendid historic townhouses and guildhouses around the Grand Place. The Fine Arts Museum is one of the best in Europe, and presents a comprehensive collection of Netherlandish painting as well as international works. Take the Eurostar from Brussels to London St Pancras, arriving c. 6.00pm.
Dr Sophie Oosterwijk Researcher and lecturer with degrees in Art History, Mediaeval Studies and English Literature. Her specialisms are the Middle Ages, Netherlandish and Dutch art. She has taught at the universities of Leicester, Manchester and St Andrews, and lectures at Cambridge. She is former editor of Church Monuments. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,420 or £1,260 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £1,570 or £1,410 without Eurostar. Included meals: 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel NH Gent Belfort (nhhotels.com): comfortable 4-star hotel, excellently located beside the town hall. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of standing in museums and walking on this tour, often on cobbled or roughly paved streets. You will need to be able to carry (wheel) your own luggage on and off the train and within stations. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 60 miles.
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One might argue that Western art began in the southern Netherlands. In the context of 40,000 years of human artistic endeavour, painting which gives primacy to the naturalistic depiction of the visible world was an eccentric digression. Yet the illusionistic triad of solidity, space and texture first came together early in the fifteenth century in what is now Belgium, and dominated European art for the next five hundred years. The Flemish cities of Bruges and Ghent were among the most prosperous and progressive in mediaeval Europe. Brussels and Antwerp peaked later, the latter becoming Europe’s largest port in the sixteenth century. All retain tracts of unspoilt streetscape which place them among the most attractive destinations in northern Europe. Jan van Eyck and his brother Hubert stand at the head of the artistic revolution in the fifteenth century. Their consummate skill with the hitherto unexploited technique of oil painting resulted in pictures which have rarely been equalled for their jewel-like brilliance and breathtaking naturalism. The tradition of exquisite workmanship was continued with the same tranquillity of spirit by such masters as Hans Memling in Bruges and with greater emotionalism by Rogier van der Weyden in Brussels and Hugo van der Goes in Ghent, while Hieronymus Bosch was an individualist who specialised in the depiction of human sin and hellish retribution. The sixteenth century saw a greater focus on landscape and a shift towards mannerist displays of virtuoso skill and spiritual tension, although the outstanding painter of the century was another individualist, Pieter Bruegel. A magnificent culmination was reached in the seventeenth century with Peter Paul Rubens, the greatest painter of the Baroque age. His works are of an unsurpassed vigour and vitality, and are painted with a breadth and bravura which took the potential of oil painting to new heights. This tour presents one of the most glorious episodes in the history of art.
Group size: between 10 and 20 participants. Combine this tour with Poets & the Somme, 2–5 September (page 73); Connoisseur’s London, 13–17 September (page 41); Connoisseur’s Prague, 13–19 September (page 60).
What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Flanders Fields
Walking the battlefields of World War I belgium
10–13 June 2016 (mc 710) 4 days • £1,180 Lecturer: Andrew Spooner In depth look at one of The Great War’s most infamous battlegrounds. Tracing personal wartime tales and exploring lesser known events. Opportunity to research personal family histories in advance. Led by military expert Andrew Spooner. There were four major battles at Ypres between October 1914 and April 1918. The first was a powerful German offensive to take the town during the last week of October and the first week of November 1914 in an attempt to thrust towards the channel ports. The Second Battle of Ypres began on 12th April 1915 with a strong German attack to the north; the British replied with an attack successfully capturing Hill 60. On 22nd April the Germans used poisonous gas for the first time on the Western Front. The lull between June 1915 and June 1917 was in fact an artillery duel, with both sides attempting to destroy the other’s defensive positions. The consequence was the almost total destruction of the magnificent town, in the Middle Ages a leading centre of cloth manufacture. On June 7th 1917 the Third Battle of Ypres commenced. Known today as ‘Passchendaele’, this series of limited objective attacks on the German positions, using lessons learned from the attacks on the Somme in 1916, saw Ypres finally being relieved from threat.
The Battle of Messines started this offensive with the exploding of nineteen huge mines under the German lines. On November 6th the Passchendaele Ridge was finally cleared by British and Canadian troops. The cost of victory was extremely high as visits to Tyne Cot Cemetery, Langemark and the Menin Gate will illustrate. In 1918 the Germans, in one last effort to achieve victory, swept through this area in a matter of days, and although they advanced as far as Kemmel, Ypres managed to hold out. This tour studies trench warfare and follows the fronts of both Allied and German forces. Through walking the scarred landscape of Ypres, personal and moving stories of individuals caught up in the war, whether as soldiers or civilians, are uncovered and expertly recounted by Andrew Spooner, a military historian with over twenty years experience of leading tours to the region.
Itinerary Day 1: Spanbroekmoelen, Bayernwald. Travel by coach at 7.30am from central London to Folkestone for the 35-minute Eurotunnel crossing to Calais. Walk the battlefield, including Spanbroekmoelen and Bayernwald, for an introduction to the landscape and environment. Continue to Ypres for the first of three nights. Day 2: Zonnebeke, Potijze, Zillebeke. Visit the museum at Zonnebeke followed by Hussar Farm, a former 19th-century farmhouse concreted over by the Royal Engineers and used as an artillery post. The rest of the morning is spent at Hell Fire Corner on the Menin Road, and walking the original frontline from Spoilbank Cemetery towards the Bluff. After lunch continue the walk towards Caterpillar, Hill 60 and Larch Wood.
Day 3: Zonnebeke, Broodseinde, Langemark, Boezinge, Ypres. Walk from Zonnebeke Railway Station to the Tyne Cot Military Cemetery observing examples of the change from rigid trench warfare to defence by following an Australian Battalion along the former railway line. Experience the direct contrast of the German Cemetery at Langemark before visiting Essex Farm and exploring the medical and evacuation services. Return late afternoon to the hotel in order to attend the Menin Gate Ceremony (there will be an opportunity to lay a wreath of poppies). Final night in Ypres. Day 4: Kemmel, Poperinge. Morning visit of Kemmel to investigate the practice of execution of deserters before visiting Talbot House, the sanctuary established by Gilbert and Neville Talbot for soldiers seeking peace and rest from the Great War. Drive to Calais for the Eurotunnel journey to London, arriving c. 7.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,180. Single occupancy: £1,320. Included meals: 3 lunches, 3 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Novotel Centrum, Ypres, (accorhotels.com): 3-star hotel located near the Menin Gate. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking, most of it over rough ground and standing for long periods of time. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Cold War Berlin, 5–9 June (page 87).
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British troops on the Western Front, photograph 1916. book online at www.martinrandall.com
The Western Front, 26–30 July 2016, with Major Gordon Corrigan. See page 74.
The Western Balkans
Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina & Montenegro Kotor, from The Shores of the Adriatic, The Austrian Side, The Küstenlande, Istria & Dalmatia, publ. 1908.
bosnia & herzegovina, croatia
9–22 May 2016 (mc 665) 14 days • £4,210 Lecturer: David Gowan 3–16 October 2016 (md 880) 14 days • £4,210 Lecturer: David Gowan A ground-breaking journey through one of the most politically complex and fissiparous yet fundamentally similar regions of Europe. A political and historical tour, led by a former British ambassador in Belgrade, David Gowan. Rural villages, little-visited towns, imposing capitals; magnificent mountainous landscapes; little tourism. Exquisite Byzantine wall paintings in the fortresslike monasteries of Southern Serbia, Ottoman mosques, Art Nouveau architecture.
One particular feature of this journey is that it takes in remote and functioning Serbian Orthodox monasteries that are of exceptional architectural and artistic interest, and include unesco World Heritage sites. This tour is emphatically a journey, with some long days and much driving through hilly terrain. The late-spring and summer departures will show the magnificent countryside at its best.
Itinerary Day 1: Zagreb. Fly at c. 8.30am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Zagreb. Lunch is served upon arrival followed by an orientation walk, including a visit to the State Archives. First of two nights in Zagreb (Croatia). Day 2: Zagreb. The westernmost place on this tour, the capital of Croatia ranks with the loveliest cities of Central Europe. The Meštrović Atelier displaying the works of the renowned Croatian sculptor, private viewing of the Golden Hall, the Gothic Cathedral of the Assumption. Walk to the upper town, the Kaptol district, via the bustling market. After lunch there is free time to visit the Modern Art Gallery and Museum of Arts and Crafts. Overnight Zagreb. Day 3: Zagreb, Osijek. Drive through Croatia’s rustic north-eastern region of Slavonia via lunch at a vineyard to Osijek. Located on the River Drava amid gently undulating countryside, Osijek is the administrative centre of Slavonia. There is a remarkably unspoilt 18th-century quarter built by the Austrians as their military and administrative headquarters when they pushed back the Turks, with cobbled alleys and fortress walls. Overnight Osijek (Croatia). Day 4: Ilok, Novi Sad. Pass through Vukovar, the Croatian town worst damaged by the 1991 war. Stop near Ilok, a picturesque fortified settlement on a bluff high above the Danube. Cross the river into Serbia and spend the afternoon in Novi Sad. This has a picturesque core with buildings
from the 18th century. Onwards and, across the Danube, the massive fortress of Petrovaradin which was pivotal in Prince Eugene’s wars with the Turks. First of two nights in Belgrade (Serbia). Day 5: Belgrade. With its broad avenues and imposing public buildings, Belgrade is unmistakably a capital and instantly recognisable as a Balkan one. After Diocletian divided the Roman Empire in the late third century ad, it became the westernmost stronghold of the eastern portion. Its kernel is a citadel on a hill above the meeting of the Danube and Sava rivers, which holds the record for the number of times it has changed hands between hostile powers. Most of the city’s architecture dates from the late 19th century onwards. Liveliness is provided by the café culture typical of the Balkans. Final night in Belgrade. Day 6: Belgrade, Manasija. Free morning in Belgrade. Then begin three days visiting what Serbia does best, mediaeval Orthodox monasteries. Tucked in a wooded valley, Manasija is ringed by surely the highest and stoutest walls of any monastery anywhere, built in the early 15th century in expectation of the inevitable Turkish assault. Frescoes of the highest quality – a late flowering of Byzantine art – survive well. First of two nights in Kraljevo (Serbia). Day 7: Studenica, Sopoćani. This includes a drive through spectacular mountain scenery. We visit two more superb mediaeval monasteries, Studenica and Sopoćani. Both are located in remote and beautiful valleys, both have amongst the finest 13th-and 14th-century Byzantine frescoes to survive anywhere. We stop briefly near the Bosniak town of Novi Pazar in the Sandžak.
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This journey takes us to borderlands where, for much of their history, the South Slavs have been divided by competing empires and cultures. In Serbia, the Nemjana dynasty flourished from the twelfth until the fourteenth centuries and built monasteries that combined Byzantine and Romanesque influences. But from the early fifteenth century (following the defeat of Prince Lazar in 1389) until the mid-nineteenth century, the Ottoman Turks ruled Serbia, Bosnia and much of Slavonia. Meanwhile, the Habsburg Empire reached south into Croatia, and Venice dominated the cities of the Adriatic coast. The modern politics and structure of the Western Balkans were defined by the Congress of Berlin in 1878; the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, which created the first Yugoslavia; the Second World War, which ravaged the region and gave birth to Tito’s Yugoslavia; and, most recently, the maelstrom of the 1990s and the emergence of the present seven independent states. What are the Western Balkans like now? There has been a major change in the past decade. The capitals and main cities that we shall visit are all lively and welcoming, but each retains a distinct character. Croatia is prosperous and joined the EU in the summer of 2013. Its historic links to Vienna and Budapest can be seen clearly in Zagreb and Osijek. Our other destinations are more complex and multi-layered. Belgrade is historically the extension of a strategic Ottoman citadel overlooking the Danube and Sava. It has fine and varied architecture (including some from the Art Nouveau period) and a cosmopolitan feel. Sarajevo combines mosques, Orthodox churches, squares and kafanas in a mountainous setting. Its troubled history is not far below the surface. The smaller Bosnian towns on our route (Višegrad, Mostar and Trebinje) have great charm. Kotor – in Montenegro – is a small fortified Venetian port city with a Romanesque cathedral on the shore of a fjord. Visits to the old capital, Cetinje, and the coast will offer insights into Montenegro’s history and strongly independent national character.
Day 8: Višegrad, Sarajevo. Cross from Serbia to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Stop at the beautiful late 16th-century Višegrad bridge before continuing to the capital, Sarajevo. First of two nights here. Day 9: Sarajevo. Famously squeezed by high treeclad hills at the head of a river valley, Sarajevo Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Western Balkans continued
“My memory of this tour will be that of a wonderful thought provoking experience to which the excellence of the lecturer contributed enormously.”
bosnia & herzegovina, croatia
H U N G A RY S L OV E N I A Virovitica
Zagreb
RO M A N I A Osijek
C ro a t i a
Ilok
Novi Sad Belgrade
Bosnia & Herzegovina Sarajevo
Serbia Višegrad
Stolac Dubrovnik
M o n t e n e g ro
Trebinje Perast Cetinje
was founded in the 15th century by the Ottoman Turks in the wake of their steady conquest of the Balkan Peninsula. The various assorted mosques, churches and synagogues highlight the pluralist nature of the city. It is possible to stand where Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand; in the adjacent museum it is strangely moving to see the trousers of the man who started the First World War. Final night in Sarajevo. Day 10: Mostar. Driving over the mountains that encircle Sarajevo and following the Neretva river, we arrive in Mostar in the late morning. A thriving trading town since Herzegovina came under Ottoman rule in 1482, this is Bosnia-Herzegovina’s most picturesque town, an open-air museum with narrow cobbled streets and original Ottoman architecture. At its heart is the Old Bridge, shelled until it collapsed in 1993 and rebuilt in 2004. Overnight Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina).
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Day 11: Stolac, Trebinje, Kotor. This is wine country, and after a stop in the quiet Ottoman town of Stolac lunch is at a winery in Trebinje, the southernmost city of BosniaHerzegovina. Walk around the historic walled town and a country market. In the afternoon cross from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Montenegro and descend into the Bay of Kotor. First of three nights in Kotor (Montenegro). Day 12: Kotor, Perast. Kotor nestles at the foot of high hills, a harbour on a sheltered fjord off the Adriatic. This diminutive city retains its fearsome ramparts, much unspoilt streetscape and an astonishing Romanesque cathedral incorporating Roman columns. In the later afternoon drive around the fjord to Perast, perched between towering mountains and the water, with large mansions, mediaeval to Baroque. A short boat ride allows a visit to an island church, Our Lady of the Rock, before lunch on the water’s edge. Illustration: Mostar, from Balkan Sketches, 1926.
c. 100 km
David Gowan British Ambassador in Belgrade from 2003–6 and Minister and Deputy Head of Mission in Moscow from 2000–3. He was Kosovo War Crimes Co-ordinator in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1999 and has published papers on Serbia and Kosovo. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. Day 13: Cetinje, Budva. A mountain drive to the Cetinje which until the end of the First World War was the capital of Montenegro, and still retains the echo of uniforms, a royal court and Balkan diplomacy. Visit the Palace of King Nikola, the Art and History Museum and former embassies. In the afternoon visit the historic old town of Budva on Montenegro’s Adriatic coast. Final night in Kotor. Day 14: Kotor. Fly from Dubrovnik, arriving London Gatwick at approximately 1.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,210 or £3,980 without flights. Single occupancy: £4,600 or £4,370 without flights.
Sopoćani
Kosovo
Kotor
I TA LY
Kraljevo Studenica
Mostar
Adriatic Sea
Manasija
ALBANIA
M AC E D O N I A
hotel built in 1926 with a great deal of character, recently renovated. Hotel Crystal, Kraljevo (hotelcrystal.rs): simple but adequate and with welcoming service, the only acceptable hotel in a region with little tourism. Hotel Europe, Sarajevo (hoteleurope.ba): a centrally located 5-star hotel, the best in the city, built in the late 19th century but comprehensively renovated. Hotel Mepas, Mostar (mepas-hotel.ba/en) a modern business hotel just a short drive from the historic centre. Hotel Cattaro, Kotor (cattarohotel.com): located within the old city walls, this hotel provides an excellent base from which to explore. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There is a lot of walking in the city centres, some of it on uneven ground and up and down steep flights of steps. Though the average distance by coach per day is 65 miles, many roads are slow and mountainous and some travelling days are long. Border crossings may entail minor delays. There are 6 hotel changes. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with, in May: Courts of Northern Italy, 8–15 May (page 116); Gardens & Palaces of Berlin & Potsdam, 24–29 May (page 84). In October: Ravenna & Urbino, 28 September–2 October (page 119) Palestine, 17–24 October (page 191).
Included meals: 9 lunches, 10 dinners, with wine Visas: not required for British citizens, and ctizens of Australia and the US do not require visas for tourist stays of up to 90 days. Accommodation. The Regent Esplanade Hotel, Zagreb (esplanade.hr): grand 5- star hotel within walking distance of the city centre. Hotel Osijek, Osijek (hotelosijek.hr/en): a modern and comfortable high-rise hotel on the bank of the river Drava. Hotel Moskva, Belgrade (hotelmoskva.rs): a well-located and comfortable
book online at www.martinrandall.com
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Prague Spring
The International Music Festival in the capital of Bohemia
A varied programme including performances by the Staatskapelle Berlin, Al Ayre Español, and a special concert in St Vitus Cathedral, as well as two operas, Janáček’s From the House of the Dead, and Mozart’s Die Entführing aus dem Serail. Musicologist Jan Smaczny leads the tour and gives talks on the performances. Visits and walks led by a local guide are fitted around the performances. Stay in the Grand Hotel Bohemia, comfortable and very well-positioned in the Old Town.
Day 4. Walk across the 14th-century Charles Bridge, the greatest such structure in Europe, wonderfully adorned with sculptures. In the Lesser Town visit St Nicholas, one of the finest Baroque churches in Central Europe and the Czech Museum of Music, which houses an interesting collection of musical instruments. Evening concert at St Vitus Cathedral: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek (conductor): Petr Eben, ‘Tribute to Charles IV’; Suk, ‘Praga’; Dvořák, ‘Te Deum’. Day 5. A morning walk in and around Wenceslas Square, threading through a succession of arcades which takes in some outstanding turn-of-thecentury architecture, decoration and early modernist masterpieces. Free afternoon. Evening opera at the Estates Theatre: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart). Day 6. Strahov Monastery has commanding views over Prague and two magnificent library halls, which by special arrangement we enter. Then walk down the hill, passing the formidable
bulk of the Černín Palace and the delightful façade of the Loreto Church, for some free time at the Castle. There is an excellent museum of Czech 19th-century art, the Lobkowicz Palace with Canaletto’s paintings of London, and the Treasury of St Vitus. Opera at the National Theatre: From the House of the Dead (Janáček). Day 7. Visit the Veletržni (Trade Fair) Palace of 1928 which now houses fascinating Czech art of the 19th and 20th centuries and a remarkable holding of modern French art. The flight returns to London Heathrow at c. 2.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,470 or £2,310 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,830 or £2,670 without flights. Included meals: 5 dinners with wine. Music: tickets (top category) to 3 concerts and 2 operas are included, costing c. £260. To be confirmed in January 2016. Accommodation. Although elsewhere in Europe unlikely to be rated more than a 4-star, the Grand Hotel Bohemia (worldhotels.com/en) is a 5-star hotel very well located in the Old Town. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking, much of it on roughly paved streets, some on inclines. The tour would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with St Petersburg, 6–12 May (page 157).
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Prague’s celebrated Spring Festival remains one of the most illustrious in Europe and has the added attraction of being set at a time of year when the city is at its loveliest. This tour offers two operatic productions: Mozart’s sparkling and melodious Die Entführung aus dem Serail in the superbly restored theatre in which Don Giovanni was premièred, and Janáček’s inspiring masterpiece From the House of the Dead in the magnificent National Theatre. Janáček’s opera plumbs the depths of the human condition and concludes with a peaen to freedom. Complementing the operas are three concert performances comprising Bruckner’s majestic fifth symphony performed by one of Germany’s finest orchestras conducted by Daniel Barenboim, a scintillating concert of Baroque music by one of Spain’s premier early music groups, and the chance to join in the final celebrations of the Czech’s greatest king, Charles IV, in St Vitus Cathedral including a performance of Dvořák ’s glorious Te Deum. Given that the festival is also a celebration of Czech nationhood, this tour is not only about attending concerts. You also have the opportunity to join guided walks and excursions through the beautiful city of Prague. There are daily talks and discussions with distinguished Czech musicologist, writer and broadcaster, Jan Smaczny. However, afternoons are left free for independent exploration – or for preserving your energies for the evening performances.
Day 3. Drive up to Prague Castle, the extensive hilltop complex, long-time residence of the Dukes and Kings of Bohemia and now the home of the President. Visit the mediaeval Old Royal Palace, within it the largest stone hall in Europe with incredible late-Gothic vaulting, and the Cathedral of St Vitus, a pioneering monument of High Gothic, richly embellished with chapels, tombs, altarpieces and stained glass. Evening concert at the Rudolfinum: Al Ayre Español, Eduardo López Banzo (director), Raquel Andueza (soprano): ‘Tesoros españoles en Amerika’ – José de Torres, Corelli, Romano, Cabanillas.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 4.30pm from London Heathrow to Prague (British Airways). Drive to the hotel in the Old Town in time for dinner. Day 2. Begin with the first of five lectures on the music. Morning walk through the Old Town, a dense maze of streets and squares with buildings of all ages and an exceptionally lovely main square. A private guided tour of the Estates Theatre, where Don Giovanni had its première in 1786, and a visit to the Obecní dům (‘Municipal House’) to see the glorious suite of assembly rooms created 1904–12. Concert at the Obecní dům: Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim (conductor): Bruckner, Symphony No.5.
czech republic
14–20 May 2016 (mc 688) 7 days • £2,470 (including tickets to 5 performances) Lecturer: Professor Jan Smaczny
Prague, Charles Bridge, Lesser Town and Castle, lithograph c. 1860. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Moravia
Treasures of a forgotten province czech republic
13–20 June 2016 (mc 707) 8 days • £2,690 Lecturer: Dr Jarl Kremeier A little-known cornerw of Europe with a fascinating architectural patrimony. Unspoilt historic towns, Renaissance palaces, extraordinary Baroque churches. Led by Dr Jarl Kremeier, specialist in 17th- to 19th-century architecture and decorative arts. Enchanting landscape and historic gardens. For a couple of decades in the ninth century the Great Moravian Empire encompassed not only Czech and Slovak lands but also parts of what are now Austria, Hungary and Poland. This agglomeration of territories rapidly disintegrated, and neighbouring Bohemia began to take shape and take priority. Ever since then Moravia has been the lesser member in an enduring partnership with Bohemia. Yoked together, they fell together under Habsburg suzerainty in 1526, emerged together in 1920 to form (with Slovakia) the new Czechoslovakia, and stayed together in 1993 to form the Czech Republic (shorn of Slovakia). It may have been politically provincial but it was a prosperous area and quite close to the chief metropolis of Central Europe, Vienna. Its rich architectural and artistic patrimony includes fine Renaissance country houses, outstanding Baroque palaces and churches, bizarre buildings by Jan Santini-Aichel, historic gardens both formal and landscaped, galleries of fine and decorative art, much beautiful streetscape in towns and villages, and rolling landscape.
Moravia gets better every year. Architectural conservation proceeds apace, towns are smartened up, hotels and restaurants are improving, and more and more museums and historic buildings are refurbished and better presented. In spite of these developments Moravia is much less on the tourist track than Bohemia and remains fairly unspoilt.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.45am from London Heathrow to Prague and drive south into Moravia. Telč is a tiny town with the loveliest square in the Czech Lands, lined with Renaissance and Baroque façades above a meandering Gothic arcade. First of two nights in Telč. Day 2: Vranov nad Dyji, Jaromerice. Perched high above a gorge close to the Austrian border, the great oval Hall of Ancestors at Vranov is one of the most impressive Baroque creations in Central Europe, the creation of the greatest architect and greatest painter in the region at the time. The splendid mansion at Jaromerice sprawls irregularly, but contains some wonderful 18thcentury interiors and an enormous chapel. Day 3: Telč, Naměst nad Oslavou. The castle in Telč was extended in stages during the 16th century with a series of halls of brilliant, eccentric decoration around elegant, arcaded courtyards; a jewel of the Northern Renaissance. Dramatically sited above a little town in the valley below, the fabric of the castle at Naměst nad Oslavou dates largely to the later 16th century. There is a large Baroque hall with frescoes by Carpoforo Tencalla, 1670–73. First of five nights in Brno.
Lednice, after Josef Vaic (1884–1961).
Day 4: Slavkov, Lednice. Alias Austerlitz, Slavkov gave its name to Napoleon’s 1805 victory against Austro-Russian armies. After surveying the battlefield, visit the imposing Baroque mansion, which contains a fine art collection. On a vast estate straddling the Austrian border once owned by the Liechtensteins, the richest magnates in the Habsburg Empire, Lednice has a superbly crafted Gothic Revival mansion, magnificent Baroque stables and a landscaped park dotted with architectural follies. Day 5: Brno. The present capital of Moravia, and the second largest Czech city, Brno has a wealth of Gothic and Baroque churches and fine architecture of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. A walk includes the mediaeval town hall, the fine Gothic church of St James and the Baroque Minorite church, among other treasures. Villa Tugendhadt is a superb house by modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Day 6: Bucovice, Kromeriz. Bucovice has a splendid Renaissance mansion with arcaded courtyard and stucco interiors of a quality virtually without equal in northern Europe. The Bishop’s Palace at Kromeriz with magnificent Rococo hall and fine art collection. The 17thcentury walled garden with pavilion and immense colonnade is an astounding survival. Day 7: Plumlov, Olomouc. The rumbustious 17th-century mansion at Plumlov has probably the richest façade columnation of any building in Europe. Olomouc, former capital of Moravia, has many fine churches, a Romanesque episcopal palace and Renaissance town hall. Several magnificently sculpted fountains are spread through a large tract of highly attractive historic townscape, surely the loveliest little city in Europe which is not yet on the tourist trail. Day 8: Zd’ár nad Sázavou. Drive to the pilgrimage church at Zd’ár nad Sázavou, a Baroque-Gothic creation by the maverick architect Santini-Aichel and among the most bizarre and fascinating buildings of the 18th century. Continue to Prague for the flight to Heathrow, arriving c. 9.15pm.
Practicalities MAINLAND EUROPE
Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,690 or £2,510 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,950 or £2,770 without flights. Included meals: 4 lunches, 6 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hotel U Hraběnky, Telč (hotel-uhrabenky.cz/en): the only usable hotel for many miles around, this 4-star hotel is fairly oldfashioned, if adequately equipped. The luxurious boutique Grandezza Hotel (grandezzahotel.cz) is located in the heart of Brno’s historic centre. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking, some of it up slopes or up steps. There is also a fair amout of driving. Average coach travel per day: 121 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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Combine this tour with Connoisseur’s Vienna, 22–28 June (page 51). book online at www.martinrandall.com
Bohemia
Art, architecture, history & landscape at the heart of Europe czech republic
Kačina, aquatint c. 1930 by Tavik Frantisek Simon.
5–12 September 2016 (md 839) 8 days • £2,760 Lecturer: Michael Ivory A selection of the finest places with the most densely packed heritage in Central Europe. Beautiful historic town centres, architecture from Gothic to Art Nouveau, distinctive Bohemian schools of painting and sculpture. The lecturer, Michael Ivory, is a landscape architect and writer specialising in the Czech Republic. Passes through enchanting, rolling countryside. Can be combined with Connoisseur’s Prague, 13–19 September 2016 (see overleaf).
Day 2: Kutná Hora, Kačina. In the Middle Ages, the silver mines at Kutná Hora made the city wealthy. Now a small provincial town of great charm, it possesses a wonderful cathedral, perhaps the greatest Gothic building in Central Europe, the creation sequentially of Bohemia’s two finest mediaeval architects. Set in a landscaped park, the country house at Kačina is a marvellous classical design of the early 19th century with a circular library, theatre, and a sequence of fine rooms. Day 3: Nelahozeves, Troja. Nelahozeves is a magnificent house of the mid-16th century, externally retaining the aspect of a fortress but internally embodying Italianate Renaissance elegance. Restituted to the Lobkowicz family, the furnishings and works of art are excellent. Dvořák’s birthplace museum is in the village. Built as a riverside retreat, Villa Troja is a fine 17th-century Italianate mansion with painted hall and delightful formal French garden.
Itinerary
Day 4: Karlštejn, Zvíkov. Drive to South Bohemia via two castles. Karlštejn was built by Emperor Charles IV, whose reign (1346–78) saw Bohemia reach its apogee. A chapel embedded in the impregnable keep, with its walls of semi-precious stones, gilded vault and 130 panel paintings is the most opulent surviving mediaeval interior. Above the confluence of two gorges, Zvíkov has a unique two-storey, 13th-century arcaded courtyard. First of three nights in Hluboká nad Vltavou.
Day 1. Fly at c. 9.45am from London Heathrow to Prague. Drive to Zámek Mělník before settling in at a country house hotel near Liblice in time for an introductory talk before dinner. The next three nights are spent here.
Day 5: Hluboká, Český Krumlov. Summer home of the Schwarzenbergs, dominant dynasty of South Bohemia, the Gothic Revival mansion of Hluboká is sumptuously furnished. The adjacent regional art collection has good Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Draw two lines across a map of Europe, from Inverness to Istanbul and from Málaga to Moscow: the place where they cross is Bohemia. The heart of Europe thus crudely determined turns out to be a region whose exact whereabouts and current political description may challenge not a few of you, and which is synonymous with a decorously dissolute lifestyle. Yet there were times when Bohemia was a significant European power, enjoyed a thriving economy and marched in the vanguard of political, social and cultural developments. (In one of these expansionist moments, over three hundred years before A Winter’s Tale, it acquired a coast.) But Fate seems to have decreed that each rise was soon to be followed by a fall. The most recent was a double fall – dismemberment and desecration by the Nazis was followed by a fortyyear incarceration behind the Iron Curtain.
Paradoxically, Communist rule helped to preserve a wonderful architectural patrimony, the most abundant in Central Europe. Ideologically inspired contempt for and neglect of its heritage was constrained by lack of means to modernise, rebuild or demolish (thanks to a baleful economic model), a mixture that acted like a mildly corrosive aspic: there was deterioration but little destruction. But since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, a surge of restoration and rehabilitation has transformed both the architectural set pieces and the humbler buildings. The built environment and the art of Bohemia have never looked better. There are towns with streets and squares with façades from every century from the fifteenth to the early twentieth; a remarkable variety of castles and country houses, most retaining fine furnishings and pictures; magnificent churches and abbeys, mediaeval and Baroque; distinctive works of art in excellent galleries. And the landscape is enchanting, mostly gently hilly, sometimes rugged, much of it wooded interspersed with fertile fields of pasture or arable, large tracts surprisingly empty. The River Vltava is a recurring feature, cutting a curvaceous course from south to north, and so are the many small lakes, most formed in the Middle Ages for the cultivation of fish.
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Bohemia continued
Connoisseur’s Prague
Art, architecture & design, with privileged access czech republic
mediaeval and 20th-century Czech works. Clustered around a bend in the upper reaches of the Vltava, Český Krumlov is a highly picturesque little town. The hilltop castle was largely rebuilt in the 16th and 18th centuries; among its treasures are a hall painted with masked revellers, an excellently preserved theatre and a formal garden. Overnight Hluboká. Day 6: Jindřichův Hradec, Třeboň. Jindřichův Hradec is a pretty little town whose extensive aristocratic residence is notable for its Renaissance parts, in particular a beautiful rotunda. At the heart of a district of lakes formed in the Middle Ages to cultivate fish, Třeboň is another delightful little town, still partly walled. Overnight Hluboká. Day 7: Kratochvíle, Plzeň, Kladruby. Secluded within a walled garden amid particularly lovely countryside, Kratochvíle is the finest Renaissance villa in the country. Continue to West Bohemia. The centre of the city of Plzeň adheres to its 13thcentury grid plan; Gothic cathedral, the world’s third largest synagogue (1880s) and varied street frontages. The Baroque-Gothic monastery church at Kladruby (1720s) is a masterpiece by Bohemia’s most original architect, Giovanni Santini. Overnight Mariánské Lázně. Day 8: Mariánské Lázně (Marienbad). For most of the 19th century and into the 20th, Marienbad was one of Europe’s most fashionable spas, with patronage from monarchs (Edward VII) to mavericks (Marx, Chopin, Wagner). White, yellow and ochre, from serene classicism to riotous ‘Renaissance’, the hotels and spas gather around a lovely landscaped park. Fly from Prague Airport, arriving Heathrow c. 6.15pm.
13–19 September 2016 (md 841) 7 days • £2,690 Lecturer: Michael Ivory Includes inaccessible and hidden glories as well as the main sights of this endlessly fascinating city. Special arrangements and private visits are major features. Also museum tours with curators. Museums and galleries have been transformed in recent years, and new ones added. Particular focus on art and architecture around the turn of the 19th century. The lecturer, Michael Ivory, has led many tours to the Czech Republic. Can be combined with Bohemia, 5–12 September 2016 (see the previous two pages). This is an experience of Prague like no other. The capital of Bohemia needs no introduction as the most beautiful city in Central Europe, with plenty to delight the cultural traveller for a week or more. Yet many a façade screens halls and rooms and works of art of the highest interest which can scarcely ever be seen except by insiders. Other fine places are open to visitors but hard to get
to. Gaining access to the inaccessible is a major strand of this tour. Pursuing the private and straying off the beaten track will not be at the expense of the well-known sights, among which are some of the most fascinating buildings and artworks. But here participants are enabled to focus on the essentials and as far as possible to visit when crowds have subsided. Prague enjoys an unequalled density of great architecture, from Romanesque to modern, but it is the fabric of the city as a whole rather than individual masterpieces which make it so special. The city has the advantage of a splendid site, a crescent of hills rising from one side of a majestic bend in the River Vltava with gently inclined terrain on the other bank. A carapace of red roofs, green domes and gilded spires spreads across the slopes and levels, sheltering marvellously unspoilt streets and alleys and magically picturesque squares. Though the whole gamut of Czech art and architecture is viewed, the tour has an emphasis on the period from the 1870s to the 1920s. The spirit of national revival and the achievement of independence (in 1918) inspired a ferment of creativity among artists, writers and composers. A bewildering variety of styles drew on earlier Bohemian traditions, led Art Nouveau
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,760 or £2,560 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,870 or £2,670 without flights. Included meals: 3 lunches, 6 dinners, with wine.
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Accommodation. Hotel Château Liblice, near Liblice (chateau-liblice.com): 4-star hotel and conference centre converted from an 18th-cent. country house. Hotel Stekl in Hluboká nad Vltavou (hotelstekl.cz): a 4-star hotel converted from an auxiliary building belonging to the neighbouring mansion. Hotel Villa Butterfly, Mariánské Lazně (danubiushotels.com): a modern hotel in the centre of town. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking on this tour, some of it up slopes or up steps (250 steps are climbed during the visit to Karlstejn, for example). To be able to enjoy the tour it would be essential to manage daily walking and stair-climbing without any difficulties. Average distance by coach per day: 104 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. As an alternative to Connoisseur’s Prague, combine this tour with Music in the Saxon Hills, 12–19 September (page 92).
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Prague, Old Town Square, lithograph by Samuel Prout 1839. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Itinerary Day 1. Fly from London Heathrow to Prague at c. 9.45am (British Airways). After settling into the hotel, there is a first exploration of the ancient core of the city on the right bank of the Vltava. A dense maze of dazzlingly picturesque streets and alleys converges on Old Town Square, surely the prettiest urban space in Europe, with shimmeringly beautiful façades – mediaeval, Renaissance, Baroque and Art Nouveau. Then a special visit to the Obecní dům (‘Municipal House’) to see the glorious suite of assembly rooms created 1904–12, a unique and very Czech mélange of murals and ornament.
Day 3. Drive up to Prague Castle for a first visit to this extensive and fascinating hilltop citadel, residence of Dukes and Kings of Bohemia from the 10th century and now of the President. The Old Royal Palace rises from Romanesque through Gothic to Renaissance, the chief glory being the largest stone hall in Europe and its extraordinary vaulting. There follows privileged access to a wonderful sequence of halls not open to the public, dating from the 1570s to the 1930s (state occasions permitting). Walk through a sequence of delightful gardens on the south slope down to the Lesser Town.
12th September. At the end of Bohemia, the coach continues to Prague with anyone continuing on Connoisseur’s Prague, which begins the following day (13th September). The rest of the day is free. Overnight Prague. 13th September. Morning walking tour with a local guide. Connoisseur’s Prague begins at c. 3.45pm at the hotel. Price for combining the two tours. You pay the price of Bohemia with flights and the price of Connoisseur’s Prague without flights, unless you are arranging your own travel to and from the Czech Republic. Price of the additional night in Prague: £120 per person sharing a room, or £140 for single occupancy. This includes the walking tour on the morning of 13th September. Cathedral of St Vitus, watercolour by B. Granville Baker, publ. 1923.
Day 4. Begin with the Moorish style Jubilee Synagogue of 1908 and the rare Rondo-Cubist Legion’s Bank of the 1920s. The Veletržni (Trade Fair) Palace of 1928 now houses fascinating Czech art of the 19th and 20th centuries., a remarkable holding of modern French art and Alphons Mucha’s 20 vast canvases of his ‘Slav Epic’, which ranks as the concluding episode in the 400-year European tradition of history painting. Return to the Castle District to see the delicately arcaded Belvedere in the Royal Gardens, the finest Renaissance building in Prague, and the cathedral of St Vitus, a pioneering monument of High Gothic, richly embellished with chapels, tombs, altarpieces and stained glass. Day 5. The Klementinum is a vast Jesuit complex with library halls and chapels. See also in the Old Town the church of St James, a Gothic carcass encrusted with Baroque finery after a fire in 1689. Walk across 14th-century Charles Bridge, the greatest such structure in Europe, wonderfully adorned with sculptures. In the Lesser Town visit the Wallenstein Palace, a rare example of a 1630s residence (now the Senate), and St Nicholas, one of the finest of Baroque churches in Central Europe. Free afternoon. Day 6. Sunday morning traffic enables efficient mopping up by coach of treasures south of the centre, among them St John Nepomuk ‘on the Rock’, a little Baroque masterpiece (rarely accessible), the bizarre phenomenon of Cubist houses and the fortress of Vysehrad, rising high above the river and enclosing a cemetery with the graves of many great Czechs. There is a special tour of the National Theatre (1869–83) to which all the leading Czech artists of the time contributed, and a quick visit to the Prague City Museum to see the extraordinarily detailed model of the city made in the 1830s. A riverside country retreat, Villa Troja is a 17th-century Italianate mansion with a French formal garden.
Please let us know on your booking form if you would like to take up this option.
Day 7. Strahov Monastery has commanding views over Prague and two magnificent library halls, which by special arrangement we enter. Then walk down the hill, passing the formidable bulk of the Černín Palace and the delightful façade of the Loreto Church, for some free time at the Castle. There is an excellent museum of Czech 19th-century art, the Lobkowicz Palace with Canaletto’s paintings of London, and the Treasury of St Vitus. The flight returns to London Heathrow at c. 6.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,690 or £2,490 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,020 or £2,820 without flights. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Although elsewhere in Europe unlikely to be rated more than a 4-star, the Grand Hotel Bohemia (worldhotels.com/en) is a 5-star hotel very well located in the Old Town. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking, much of it on roughly paved streets, some on inclines. The tour would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Fitness is essential. Group size: between 10 and 19 participants.
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Day 2. Continue the tour of the Old Town with the Gothic Týn church, at the heart not only of Prague but also of Czech history. There follows the 13th-century Convent of St Agnes, where one of the world’s greatest collections of mediaeval painting is brilliantly installed. A walk in and around Wenceslas Square, threading through a succession of arcades, takes in some outstanding turn-of-the-century architecture and decoration and early modernist masterpieces.
Combining Bohemia with Connoisseur’s Prague
czech republic
into highly innovatory directions and pioneered some radical and unique features at the dawn of modernism. Another high point in Prague’s history was the fourteenth century, when Kings of Bohemia were also Holy Roman Emperors and the city became one of the largest in the western world. The Gothic cathedral rising from within the precincts of the hilltop Royal Castle is one of the many monuments of that golden age, and the exquisite panel paintings from this era, now excellently displayed in the Convent of St Agnes, are among the chief glories of the city. Subordination within the Habsburg Empire from the sixteenth century curtailed Bohemia’s power but not its wealth or architectural achievements: some of the finest Renaissance buildings in Central Europe arose here. In the eighteenth century, some of the richest landowners of the Baroque age built palaces here. In the city where Mozart had his most enthusiastic audiences and where Smetana and Dvořák reached fulfilment, there is still a rich musical life in a range of beautiful historic opera houses and concert halls. There will be the opportunity to attend performances. The itinerary given below does not list by any means all that you see. Nor does it indicate all the slots for free time, which is necessarily a feature of a tour of such richness and variety.
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
The Iron Curtain, 19 September–3 October 2016 with Neil Taylor. See page 88. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Vikings & Bog People Ancient Denmark denmark
immense burial mounds and the rune-stones of Gorm and Harold which record the early history of their dynasty. These stand outside a stone church, emblematic of the rise of Christianity. In Silkeborg see the best-preserved Iron Age bog body known as Tollund Man. The final three nights are spent in Aarhus. Day 6: Moesgaard, Aarhus. In a charming countryside setting, the state-of-the-art museum at Moesgaard, designed by Henning Larsen Architects, opened in 2014. It houses exhibitions on prehistory, including Grauballe Man who was discovered in a peat bog in 1952 and dates to the 3rd century bc. Return to Aarhus for free time. Watercolour by A.R. Hope Moncrieff, publ. 1920.
12–19 July 2016 (mc 754) 8 days • £3,310 Lecturer: Dr David Griffiths The most important Viking sites in Denmark including Roskilde, Copenhagen and Jelling. See some of the best-preserved ‘bog bodies’: Tollund Man and Grauballe Man. Stay in central Copenhagen, the charming mediaeval town of Ribe and the important regional city of Aarhus. Journey through idyllic countryside and visit the environmentally precious wilderness of the Wadden Sea. Led by Dr David Griffiths, a leading expert in Viking and early mediaeval archaeology.
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A country with a fierce and proud national history, but which today is renowned for its excellent food, world-class museums and high standards of art, architecture and design, Denmark is a pleasure to visit. Its archaeological treasures include the collections of the National Museum in Copenhagen, the Viking ships at Roskilde and the exceptionally well-preserved Iron Age ‘bog bodies’ known as Tollund Man and Grauballe Man. The peaceful and prosperous image of modern Denmark belies its roots as northern Europe’s first, and most aggressive, nation state. Between the eighth and the eleventh centuries ad, Danes attacked, conquered and colonised a wide swath of Europe. Bands of well-armed warriors spread out from its fjords and islands in ships of unrivalled quality and effectiveness. They travelled the northern seas, wreaking terror on indigenous populations and causing political chaos. Treaties and buy-offs, such as ‘Danegeld’ paid by the English under Æthelred ‘The Unready’, consolidated their power. The keys to understanding Denmark’s rise as a centralised state are its compact geography and the ease of communication across its waterways and gently contoured landscape. Emerging from warring Iron Age tribes, a succession of ambitious and successful rulers established national defences, roads, bridges, canals and a network of towns. Trade and the new religion of Christianity prospered.
The high-point of the Viking Age occurred under the Jelling dynasty, which began with the reign of Gorm the Old in the early decades of the tenth century. Gorm’s son Harold Bluetooth, his grandson Svein Forkbeard and his greatgrandson Cnut the Great presided over a ‘golden age’ of Danish achievement, marked by the construction of spectacular dynastic monuments and accompanied by astonishing artistic endeavour. Under Cnut, Denmark’s conquests extended to parts of Norway, Sweden, Germany and, its greatest prize, the Kingdom of England.
Itinerary Day 1: Copenhagen. Fly at c. 10.00am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Copenhagen. Much of the surviving artistic finery of Denmark’s Viking Age, in metal, wood, bone and semi-precious stone, can be found in the National Museum, Copenhagen. One of the great museums of the world, it hosted the first stage of the Vikings: Life and Legend exhibition, which subsequently went on to the British Museum and Berlin. The National Museum’s prehistoric exhibits are also exceptional, and it has played a key role in the history of European Archaeology. First of two nights in Copenhagen. Day 2: Roskilde. Excursion to the small historic city of Roskilde to see the extraordinary Viking Ship Museum, which houses several original vessels and reconstructions. There is an option to be part of a crew and sail a reconstructed Viking long ship into the Roskilde Fjord. Day 3: Trelleborg, Ribe. The well-preserved circular military fortress at Trelleborg is part of a network of similar ‘command and control’ sites across Denmark. Picturesque mediaeval Ribe is Denmark’s oldest town, and one of the earliest in post-Roman Europe. First of two nights in Ribe. Day 4: Wadden Sea, Ribe. Spend the morning at the environmentally precious wilderness of the Wadden Sea. In the afternoon visit the excellent Viking Museum in Ribe. Some free time. Day 5: Ravning, Jelling, Silkeborg. A short walk to Ravning, site of the Viking bridge built by Harold Bluetooth across the Vejle valley, 760 metres long and over 5 metres wide. The small eastern Jutland town of Jelling, a World Heritage Site, preserves a vast stone ship-setting, two
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 7: Lindholm Høje, Aalborg, Fyrkat. Head north to Lindholm Høje, a major late-Viking burial site. Rare ship monuments (burial sites demarcated by stones in the shape of ships) are found as well as hundreds of burial sites marked with stones or mounds. Stop in the pleasant market town of Aalborg for lunch before visiting the Viking fortress of Fyrkat. Day 8: Ladby, Copenhagen. The only ship burial discovered in Denmark, the Ladby boat is a Viking chieftain’s burial vessel. The wood of the 22-metre ship has long since rotted away but left a perfect impression in the earth. Buried with 11 horses and many valuables and possessions, the skeletal remnants of the animals are all that remain of the contents. Fly from Copenhagen to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 7.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,310 or £3,060 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,720 or £3,470 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. 71 Nyhavn, Copenhagen (71nyhavnhotel.com): traditional 4-star hotel close to the museums and Amalienborg Palace. Rooms are small but comfortable. The Dagmar Hotel, Ribe (hoteldagmar.dk): characterful 3-star hotel on the town square with views of the cathedral. Hotel Royal, Aarhus (hotelroyal. dk): 4-star hotel in the centre, public rooms are opulent and luxurious while bedrooms are classic and comfortable. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout (though small doubles in Ribe). How strenuous? There is quite a lot of standing in museums and walking over rough ground. Average distance by coach per day: 92 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Stonehenge & Prehistoric Wessex, 3–7 July (page 35).
Opera in Copenhagen 2–5 June 2016 Details available in December 2015 Contact us to register your interest
The Baltic Countries Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Three countries with different languages, diverse histories and distinct cultural identities. An extensive legacy from German, Polish, Russian and Swedish occupations. The focus of the tour is history, politics and general culture, rather than art and architecture. The lecturer, Neil Taylor, is a leading expert on the Baltic countries.
Day 3: Lahemaa National Park (Estonia). Drive east into an area now designated as a national park. The charming manor houses of Palmse and Sagadi have full 18th-century classical dress disguising the timber structure. Lunch is in a roadside inn, with wooden buildings – a former postal service station on the road to St Petersburg. Day 4: Tartu (Estonia). Drive through a gently undulating mix of woodland and fertile fields, with traditional vernacular farmsteads. Tartu is in some ways the cultural capital of Estonia, the university having been founded in 1632. There are fine 18th- and 19th-century buildings, especially the town hall and university and there is a visit to the restored Jaani church. First of two nights in Tartu. Day 5: Lake Peipsi. Drive to the shores of Lake Peipsi and visit Alatskivi, Raja, Kolkja and Varnja, all villages which provided refuge for the Old Believers, persecuted for their disaffection with the Orthodox Church. Overnight Tartu.
Day 6: Cesis (Latvia). Enter Latvia travelling through hilly landscape renowned for its beauty. Cesis is an historic and well-preserved small town with church and ruined castle. Its manor house Ungurmuiza (about 10 miles out of town) is constructed in wood with a Baroque façade and interior. First of three nights in Riga. Day 7: Riga (Latvia). Explore Latvia’s capital on foot. The Art Nouveau district is a residential quarter of grand boulevards, with classical, historicist and outstanding façades. Within the extensive Old Town there are mediaeval streets, Hanseatic warehouses, Gothic and Baroque churches and 19th-century civic buildings. There are visits to the Menzendorff House, a restored merchant’s house and now a museum, Gothic St Peter with its distinctive tall spire and the cathedral, which is the largest mediaeval church in the Baltic countries. Day 8: Riga. A drive via the market, formerly Europe’s largest, situated in five 1920s Zeppelin hangars, followed by a visit to the fascinating outdoor museum of vernacular buildings. Free afternoon in Riga; possibilities include the Occupation Museumor the Jewish Museum.
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Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania: the regaining of independence in 1991 by these three countries was a happy outcome of the demise of the Soviet Union. Of all the fragments of that former superpower, the Baltic countries have perhaps the brightest future and the least clouded present. Though geographical proximity leads the countries to be conventionally thought of together as a single entity, the degree of difference between them is surprisingly great in terms of ethnicity, language, historical development and religion. The Estonians are of Finno-Ugric origin and their language has nothing in common with their Latvian or Russian neighbours. Lithuanian history has for much of the postmediaeval era been linked with Catholic Poland, whereas Estonia and Latvia were early recipients of Protestantism. In the eighteenth century these states succumbed to the bear-hug of the Russian Empire – and only after the First World War did they achieve full independence. In 1940, with the annexation by the Soviet Union, they once more fell under Russian rule. Between 1941 and 1944 they had the additional suffering of the German Occupation. Yet the Baltic States were always among the most prosperous and liberal of the Soviet republics, and among the most independent-minded. Surprise ranks high among the responses of the visitor now – surprise that there is so much of interest and beauty, and surprise that the Iron Curtain was indeed so opaque a veil that most of us in the West could remain so ignorant of these countries and their heritage. Surprise, perhaps, that on the whole the region functions with considerable efficiency and sophistication.
see the church of the Holy Ghost and the City Museum. Visit St Nicholas, a Gothic basilica with a museum of mediaeval art.
Itinerary Day 1: Tallinn (Estonia). Fly at c. 10.15am (Finnair, Flybe) from Heathrow to Tallinn via Helsinki. First of three nights in Tallinn. Day 2: Tallinn. The upper town has a striking situation on a steep-sided hill overlooking the Baltic Sea with views over the city. Among the mediaeval and classical buildings are the Toompea Palace (Parliament), Gothic cathedral and late 19th-century Russian cathedral and the 15th-century town hall (visit subject to confirmation). Continue through the unspoilt streets of the lower town with its mediaeval walls, churches and gabled merchants’ houses and
estonia
24 July–6 August 2016 (mc 778) 14 days • £3,560 Lecturer: Neil Taylor
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Tallinn, view from Castle Hill, 20th-century etching. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Day 12: Vilnius. Walk to the Gates of Dawn, the Carmelite church of St Theresa, the former Jewish ghetto, the cathedral and the exquisite little Late-Gothic church of St Anne. Visit the church of Saints Peter and Paul with outstanding stucco sculptural decoration and the newly restored Grand Dukes’ Palace.
Day 10: Kaunas (Lithuania). A diverse historic town with a wealth of architecture. Near the central square are a number of churches and the Town Museum. The Ciurlionis Art Museum has works of Lithuania’s most famous composer and artist. Other afternoon visits include the Resurrection Church and the neoBaroque Synagogue. Day 11: Pazaislis, Vilnius (Lithuania). At Pazaislis is a magnificent Baroque nunnery and pilgrimage church, one of the architectural gems of Eastern Europe. Continue to Vilnius which, far from the sea, has the feel of a Central European metropolis, with Baroque the predominant style. Afternoon walk to the bishop’s palace (now the Presidential Palace), the university, and the Church of St John. First of three nights in Vilnius.
Tallinn
Lahemaa National Park
Baltic Sea
Estonia
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Day 9: Rundale (Latvia), Kaunas (Lithuania). Rundale was one of the most splendid palaces in the Russian Empire, built from 1736 by Rastrelli for a favourite of Empress Anna. Lunch is in the palace restaurant. Lithuania is entered via the town of Bauska and there is a stop in Kedainiai to visit the regional museum. First of two nights in Kaunas.
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“Very thoughtfully assembled. Overall we felt we had gained very full overviews of all three countries.”
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The Baltic Countries continued
Tartu
Day 13: Vilnius. Visit the Church Heritage Museum and Kazys Varnelis House Museum, an eclectic private collection of art and maps. In the afternoon visit the Vytautas Kasiulis Museum and there is some free time; suggestions include the Genocide Museum, Vilnius Picture Gallery or the Theatre and Music Museum.
Cesis
Day 14: Vilnius. Fly from Vilnius to London Heathrow, via Helsinki, arriving c. 3.15pm.
Riga
Latvia
Rundale
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,560 or £3,280 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,970 or £3,690 without flights.
Lithuania
Included meals: 5 lunches, 8 dinners, with wine. Vilnius, 20th-century etching.
Kaunas c. 50 km
Pazaislis Vilnius
POLAND
Accommodation. Hotel Palace, Tallinn (tallinnhotels.ee/hotel-palace-tallinn): comfortable 4-star hotel on the edge of the old town, recently reopened after a smart refurbishment. London Hotel, Tartu (londonhotel.ee): modern, centrally located 4-star hotel with a good restaurant; decor is quite bright. Radisson Blu Ridzene, Riga (radissonblu. com): 5-star hotel though more akin to a 4-star, well-located with views over the park. Hotel Daugirdas, Kaunas (daugirdas.lt): 19th-century mansion with modern features. Novotel Centre, Vilnius (novotel.com): plain but comfortable 4-star chain hotel in a good location on the edge of the old town.
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How strenuous? This is a long tour with four hotel changes and a lot of driving. There is a lot of walking, sometimes on cobbled or roughly paved ground. Average coach travel per day: 56 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Mediaeval Normandy, 15–22 July (page 66); The Industrial Revolution, 8–13 August (page 40).
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What else is included in the price? See page 6. book online at www.martinrandall.com
B E L A RU S
Savonlinna Opera Otello, Falstaff & Macbeth
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11–15 July 2016 (mc 753) 5 days • £2,520 (including tickets to 3 performances) Lecturer: Simon Rees Productions at Savonlinna are musically and dramatically first-rate, in the incomparable setting of a mediaeval castle on an island. A pleasant, small town amidst the unassertive beauty of lakeland Finland. Simon Rees, dramaturg of Welsh National Opera from 1989 to 2012, leads the tour and gives talks on the performances. Three Verdi operas after plays by Shakespeare, on the quatercentenary of his death.
Day 3. The morning lecture is followed by a visit to the castle of St Olav at Savonlinna. The afternoon is free to explore the attractive old part of the town beside the lake, with its art galleries and museums. Evening opera: Falstaff (Verdi). Nicola Paszkowski (conductor), Cristina Mazzavillani Muti (director); soloists include Kiril Manolov (Falstaff), Federico Longhi (Ford), Giovanni Sebastiano Sala (Fenton), Giorgio Trucco (Caius), Matteo Falcier (Bardolfo), Graziano Dallavalle (Pistola), Eleonora Buratto (Alice Ford), Damiana Mizzi (Nannetta), Isabel De Paoli (Mrs. Quickly), Anna Malavasi (Mrs. Meg Page). Day 4. Visit the Punkaharju nature reserve and the Finnish Forest Museum. In the afternoon, drive to Kerimäki, the largest wooden church in the world (1840s). Evening opera: Macbeth (Verdi). Nicola Paszkowski (conductor), Cristina Mazzavillani Muti (director); soloists include Matias Tosi (Macbeth), Luca Dall´Amico (Banquo), Vittoria Ji Won Yeo (Lady Macbeth), Antonella Carpenito (Lady-in-waiting to Lady Macbeth), Giordano Lucà (Macduff). Day 5. Fly from Savonlinna to London, via Helsinki, arriving at Gatwick at c. 5.15pm (Airlink and Finnair).
Simon Rees Writer of programme articles and surtitles for many British opera companies, and reviewer for Opera, Opera Now, Musical Opinion, Early Music Today, Bachtrack and a range of other publications. A novelist, poet and librettist, from 1989–2012 he was dramaturg at Welsh National Opera. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,520 or £2,210 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,820 or £2,510 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Music: tickets for 3 opera performances are included, costing c. £370. Accommodation. Sokos Hotel Seurahuone (sokoshotels.fi): located by the lake in Savonlinna, this functional hotel is the best in town. It is basic but adequately equipped and with modern facilities. All rooms (including rooms for single occupancy) have twin beds. How strenuous? Access to the castle and forest walk would be difficult with impaired walking. Average distance by coach per day: 14 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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A massive structure of rough-hewn granite rising from a rocky islet, the castle at Savonlinna is the largest in Scandinavia. It was built in 1475 and frequently re-fortified during the next three centuries, for this was border country: Nordic occupancy alternated with Russian until modern times. Opera has been performed here in the courtyard since 1912, so it even pre-dates Verona as a festival in a spectacular historic setting. During the last couple of decades its artistic achievements have placed this festival among the best in the world, yet its unlikely and rather inaccessible location keeps the number of international visitors well below what it deserves. The courtyard is backed by a starkly beautiful wall of rough mediaeval masonry: its huge gateway and precipitous staircase make a wonderful setting for productions of operas especially if – like Macbeth and Otello – they take place partly or wholly in fortresses and dungeons. Musically, the acoustically-designed temporary roof allows both intimate scenes and vast choral ensembles to sound at their best. In all three operas, the Savonlinna Festival Orchestra and Choir – picked from among the best instrumentalists and singers in Scandinavia – will have the greatest opportunities to show their strength. The lake district of eastern Finland is an area of gently beguiling beauty. Thousands of inter-connected lakes meet forests of birch and pine at an incredibly convoluted shoreline, the pattern varied with scattered patches of pasture and arable land neatly arranged around timber farmsteads. The scenery and pure air provide a restful and refreshing foil to nights at the opera. Visits include a guided tour of the castle at Savonlinna; a boat trip through beautiful lakeland scenery; a visit to the Punkaharju nature reserve and the Finnish Forest Museum; and the largest wooden church in the world (1840s) in Kerimäki.
opera: Otello (Verdi). Xian Zhang (conductor), Nadine Duffaut (director); soloists include Kristian Benedikt (Otello), Joska Lehtinen (Rodrigo), Petri Lindroos (Ludovico), Markus Nieminen (Montano), Yana Kleyn (Desdemona), Niina Keitel (Emilia), Juha Eskelinen (Messenger).
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Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.45am from London Gatwick to Savonlinna, via Helsinki (Norwegian Air and Airlink). Day 2. After a morning lecture, take a boat through beautiful lakeland scenery. Evening
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Scene from Macbeth, wood engraving c. 1880. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Mediaeval Normandy Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance france
15–22 July 2016 (mc 757) 8 days • £2,610 Lecturer: Dr Cathy Oakes Superb examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. A mediaeval architectural history tour, with due attention to other periods. Led by Dr Cathy Oakes, lecturer in art history at Oxford University. First-class rail travel on Eurostar. Based in Rouen and Bayeux in 4-star hotels.
During the late ninth century, Norse raiding parties first pillaged, then occupied, the coastal reaches of northern France. The effect on Carolingian France was catastrophic and, as its governmental systems collapsed, France disintegrated into a patchwork of small feudal domains. Normandy was one of the most significant of these, and after the old Norse chieftain, Wrolf the Gangler, was granted the lordship of all lands north of the rivers Epte and Andelle in 911, the duchy was set on expansion. With feudalism came Christianity, the adoption of the French language and the emergence of one of the most far-reaching and influential schools of architecture to grace mediaeval Europe.
It is no exaggeration to see in the events of 1066 something quite central to the English sense of self-identity, events which are relayed in the Bayeux tapestry. But the most visible reminders of William’s success at Hastings are the great Norman castles and churches which are such familiar landmarks of English towns. Their origins lie in the pioneering eleventhcentury buildings of Jumièges, Rouen and Caen. This development of a mature Romanesque architecture places Normandy at the forefront of an initiative which was to have profound consequences for later mediaeval Europe – the development of the integrated and articulate church on a colossal scale. This alone would be justification for the tour, but while Normandy’s Romanesque buildings have often been the subject of lavish praise, that distinctive late twelfth- and early thirteenthcentury architecture, of polished surfaces, giddying spires, and inventive geometry, remains less widely appreciated. It is also the case that the buildings undertaken in the aftermath of the Hundred Years War have been sadly overlooked by historians of the period. And yet these are characterised by an extraordinarily welldeveloped interest in the picturesque and the fantastical, by myriad angles, flickering tracery, and twisted, slate-hung roofs. They number among the most accomplished buildings of late mediaeval Europe.
Itinerary Day 1: Les Andelys, Château Gaillard. By Eurostar at c. 10.30am from London St Pancras to Paris, and by coach to Les Andelys. From the ruins of the Château Gaillard, a 12th-century fortification, there are fine views of the River Seine. Below in Grand Andely is the church of Notre-Dame (16th- and 17th-century). First of three nights in Rouen.
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Day 2: Rouen. Unquestionably the greatest city of Normandy, and one which retains enough of its historic fabric to rank among the most architecturally enthralling cities of northern Europe. Visits include the wonderfully inventive cathedral, the Palais de Justice, Musée des Antiquités and the important late Gothic churches of St-Ouen and St-Maclou.
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Day 3: Caudebec-en-Caux, Fécamp, Jumièges, Boscherville. Drive along the Seine to Caudebecen-Caux to see the virtuosic parish church of Notre-Dame. Continue to the mighty abbey of La Trinité at Fécamp. The afternoon is spent at the peerless ruined abbey of Jumièges, one of a handful of buildings which might be said to mark the arrival of mature Romanesque architecture in Europe and finally, the altogether more intimate spaces of St-Martin-de-Boscherville.
Caen, abbey church of La Trinité, etching 1819 by J.S. Cotman. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 4: Evreux, Conches-en-Ouche, Bernay. The transition from Romanesque to Gothic in Norman architecture is most apparent at Evreux cathedral. The nearby church of Evreux St Taurin houses one of the most celebrated mediaeval reliquaries. Conches-en-Ouche displays one the finest sequences of late mediaeval and early
French Gothic
Cathedrals of Northern France 1–7 July 2016 (mc 740) 7 days • £2,110 Lecturer: Dr Matthew Woodworth
Day 5: Bayeux. The Bayeux tapestry, subject of much scholarly attention and an object whose splendour and importance can scarcely be overstated, one of those rare ‘marvels’ which exceeds expectations. Bayeux cathedral is an exceptional building whose piecemeal 13thcentury rebuilding programme had the effect of producing an essentially Gothicised Romanesque interior. Free afternoon.
The cradle of Gothic, northern Europe’s most significant contribution to world architecture.
Day 6: Caen, Rucqueville. Caen, capital of Basse-Normandie, offers a feast of celebrated Romanesque buildings, the great abbey churches of St-Etienne and La Trinité and Henry I’s great castle hall, all buildings of the first rank and all built c. 1065 to c. 1140. The church of St Pierre at Rucqueville is a little known Romanesque treasure in which a remarkable collection of sculpted capitals. Day 7: Lessay, Coutances, Cerisy-la-Forêt. An excursion into the granite country of the Cotentin peninsula. Lessay has a hauntingly beautiful Romanesque abbey while the cathedral at Coutances is a superb example of Norman 13th-century Gothic. In the afternoon drive to Cerisy-la-Forêt to visit the stunning Romanesque abbey church. Day 8: Falaise. The castle at Falaise is the birthplace of William the Conqueror, though the present building was started by his son Henry I and enlarged and altered by subsequent generations of English kings. Drive on to Paris and return by Eurostar to London St Pancras arriving at c. 6.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,610 or £2,410 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £3,030 or £2,830 without Eurostar.
Nearly all the most important buildings in the development of Early and High Gothic, with an entire day at Chartres. Unparalleled examples of stained glass, sculpture and metalwork. Led by architectural historian Dr Matthew Woodworth. Option to combine this tour with The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016 (see page 69). Gothic was the only architectural style which had its origins in northern Europe. It was in the north of France that the first Gothic buildings arose, it was here that the style attained its classic maturity, and it is here that its greatest manifestations still stand. From the middle of the twelfth century the region was the scene of unparalleled building activity, with dozens of cathedrals, churches and abbeys under construction. Architects stretched their imaginations and masons extended their skills to devise more daring ways of enclosing greater volumes of space, with increasingly slender structural supports, and larger areas of window. But Gothic is not only an architectural phenomenon. Windows were filled with brilliant coloured glass. Sculpture, more life-like than for nearly a thousand years yet increasingly integrated with its architectural setting, was abundant. The art of metalwork thrived, and paint was everywhere. All the arts were coordinated to interpret and present elaborate theological programmes to congregations
which included both the illiterate lay people and sophisticated clerics. Nearly all the most important buildings in the development of the Early and High phases of Gothic are included, and the order of visits even follows this development chronologically, as far as geography allows. A whole day is dedicated to the cathedral at Chartres, the premier site of the building arts of the mediaeval world.
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Renaissance stained glass. Bernay Abbey is the essential starting point for an understanding of Norman Romanesque. First of four nights in Bayeux.
Itinerary If combining this tour with ‘The Seine Music Festival’ spend the night of 30th June in the 4-star Hotel Westminster in Paris and take a taxi to Gare du Nord on 1st July to join the rest of the group. Day 1. Travel by Eurostar at c. 12.30pm from St Pancras to Paris. Continue by coach to Laon and the hotel, in an attractive lakeside setting. First of three nights near Laon. Day 2: Noyon, Laon. One of the earliest Gothic cathedrals (c. 1150), Noyon’s four-storey internal elevation marks the transition from the thickwalled architecture of the Romanesque to the thin-walled verticality of Gothic. Laon is spectacularly sited on a rock outcrop. Begun c. 1160, the cathedral is the most complete of Early Gothic churches and one of the most impressive, with five soaring towers. Day 3: Reims, Soissons. Reims Cathedral, the coronation church of the French monarchy, begun 1211, is a landmark in the development of High Gothic with the first appearance of bar tracery and classicising portal sculpture. At the church of St Rémi the heavy Romanesque nave contrasts with the light Early Gothic choir. Soissons Cathedral is a fine example of the rapid changes which took place in architecture at the end of the 12th century. Amiens Cathedral, lithograph c. 1840.
Included meals: 5 dinners with wine.
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Accommodation. Mercure Centre Cathédrale, Rouen (accorhotels.com): modern 4–star hotel in the historic centre of Rouen, a few minutes walk from the Cathedral. Hotel Villa Lara, Bayeux (hotel-villalara.com): small, 4-star hotel in the historic centre of town. Rooms are spacious. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking, some on roughly paved streets, and a fair amount of standing around. You need to be able to carry your luggage on and off the train and within the stations. On some days there is a lot of coach travel; average distance per day: 85 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with The Danube Festival of Song, 5–12 July (page 52); German Gothic, 7–14 July (page 95); The Baltic Countries, 24 July–6 August (page 63); The Western Front, 26–30 July (page 74).
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French Gothic continued
Great French Gardens Historic & contemporary
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Day 4: St-Denis. On the outskirts of Paris, the burial place of French kings, St-Denis was an abbey of the highest significance in politics and in the history of architecture. In the 1140s the choir was rebuilt, and the pointed arches, rib vaulting and skeletal structure warrant the claim that this was the first Gothic building. 100 years later the new nave inaugurated the Rayonnant style of Gothic with windows occupying the maximum possible area. First of two nights in Chartres. Day 5: Chartres. The cathedral at Chartres, begun in 1145 and recommenced in 1195 after a fire, is the finest synthesis of Gothic art and architecture. Sculpture and stained glass are incorporated into an elaborate theological programme. The full day here provides time for unhurried exploration of the building and space to reflect and absorb. See also the church of St Pierre. Day 6: Mantes-la-Jolie, Beauvais, Amiens. Visit the 12th-century collegiate church at Mantes-laJolie. Beauvais Cathedral, begun 1225, was, with a vault height in the choir of 157 feet, the climax in France of upwardly aspiring Gothic architecture and the highest vault of mediaeval Europe. Overnight Amiens. Day 7: Amiens. The cathedral in Amiens is the classic High Gothic structure, its thrilling verticality balanced by measured horizontal movement. Drive to Lille for the Eurostar to London St Pancras, arriving c. 7.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,110 or £1,970 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £2,300 or £2,160 without Eurostar. Included meals: 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hôtel du Golf de l’Ailette, Chamouille (ailette.fr): comfortable 3-star, a short drive from Laon in an attractive position by a lake. Hotel Le Grand Monarque, Chartres (legrandmonarque.com): centrally located 4-star hotel. Hotel Mercure Amiens (mercure.com): modern 3-star hotel near the cathedral. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
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Supplement for combining with The Seine Music Festival. Two sharing: £340 per person. Single occupancy: £300. How strenuous? There is a fair amount of walking and standing around. Some long coach journeys. You should be able to lift your luggage on and off the train and wheel it within the station. Average distance by coach per day: 89 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June (page 69).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
29 June–8 July 2016 (mc 731) 10 days • £3,390 Lecturer: Steven Desmond A selection of the finest gardens in northern France, from the Renaissance to the present day. Selected for visual impact, horticultural interest and historical importance. Led by Steven Desmond, landscape consultant and architectural historian, specialist in the conservation of historic parks and gardens. Unrushed: 16 gardens in 10 days. Four hotels, two of which are converted châteaux. This tour presents a selection of the finest and most famous gardens in France – which means some of the best in the world. Variety, visual impact, horticultural interest and historical importance are among the criteria for inclusion. They range from Renaissance to contemporary, and include flower gardens, woodland gardens, walled potagers, landscaped parks, arboreta and, of course, a French speciality, formal gardens. This last category, reaching a climax in the seventeenth century, is impressively expressive of Ancien Régime absolutism, symbolic of the of royal and aristocratic dominance of both the body politic and of Nature. Avenues of lime and plane, hedges of yew and hornbeam, broderie parterres of box, vast expanses of water and the hydraulic wonders of cascades and fountains: they were intended to delight and overawe both subjects and foreign visitors, as indeed they still do. It is not all axiality and gigantism; there are subtleties and surprises and many breathtaking beauties. André Le Nôtre might have been the greatest and most influential of Baroque garden designers, but another hero of the tour is Achille Duchêne, who restored many of these gardens in the early years of the twentieth century. Reaction against overbearing formality set in during the eighteenth century; two of the most important manifestations of this are Marie Antoinette’s faux-rustic Hameau, and the park at Ermenonville, one of the most enchanting of all English-style landscaped parks on the continent. Renaissance gardens of the sixteenth century are also a very important part of France’s horticultural patrimony, even if most of them are recreations, as at Villandry and Chenonceau. But Renaissance ingredients – box-hedge compartments and broderie, filled with coloured gravel or flowers – are a recurrent ingredient of modern and contemporary gardens. Modern informality, however, is beautifully done, with curvaceous beds and winding paths an inducement to find hidden dells and pleasing surprises. Le Jardin d’Atmosphère and Le Vasterival are among the most brilliant examples. For floral abundance, it would be hard to do better than among the poppies and water lilies at Monet’s garden at Giverny, at the exquisite Lutyens and Jekyll garden at Bois des Moutiers, at the contemporary Jardin Plume outside Rouen and at the Renaissance hybrid at Villandry.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Itinerary Day 1: Versailles. Leave London St Pancras by train for Paris at c. 10.30am. Drive to Versailles and settle into the hotel before visiting the Potager du Roi, the walled produce garden of the royal palace. Vast and with multiple divisions, it is still a working enterprise, and a staggering array of fruit and vegetables are grown here, many of them historical cultivars. First of four nights in Versailles. Day 2: Versailles. Intended to express the virtually divine status of Louis XIV (1660–1714), the sheer scale of both palace and garden is overwhelming. The park is the masterpiece of the most influential garden designer of the Baroque era, André Le Nôtre, with 1.5km lakes, broad avenues, hidden groves and a multitude of sculptures. Marie Antoinette’s Hameau, a retreat from mainstream court life, has a faux-rustic farmstead, naturalistic landscaped park and a delightful little formal garden. Some free time – an opportunity for an independent visit to the state apartments of the main château. Day 3: Vaux-le-Vicomte, Courances. Vaux-leVicomte preceded Versailles; Louis XIV was so piqued by the magnificence of his finance minister’s residence that he imprisoned its patron and transferred its creators, who included Le Nôtre, into royal employment. Both house and garden rank as among the most influential creations of early modern Europe. Courances is even earlier; slabs of green – broad lawns, high box hedges, lofty plane trees, parterre de broderie – and great expanses of water; an extraordinarily lovely place, with a Japanese garden too. Day 4: Versailles, Chèvreloup, Saint-Jeande-Beauregard. Choose between a free morning (another opportunity to visit the state apartments) or an excursion to the Arboretum Chèvreloup. Converted from hunting forest to a scientific plantation in 1759, there are 2,500 species spread across 200 hectares. Domaine de Saint-Jean-de-Beauregard is a privately owned potager, 2 ha within 17th-century walls, a lovingly tended profusion of fruit, vegetables and ornamental plants, reared for historical importance and gustatory value. First of two nights near Tours. Day 5: Villandry, Chenonceau. The 1530s Château de Villandry is equipped with one of most spectacular gardens in the world, created in the early 20th century in accordance with 16th-century designs and principles. Tiers of terraces, brilliant planting, impeccable maintenance, and the startling visual effects and amorous symbolism of the vegetable parterres. Famously straddling the River Cher, the Château de Chenonceau was progressively enlarged and beautified during the 16th century for Diane de Poitiers and Cathérine de Medici. The plantings in the walled gardens are a modern interpretation of Renaissance design. Day 6: Sassy, Saint Biez en Belin. Leave the Loire and drive north. Le Jardin d’Atmosphère du Petit Bordeaux is a wonderfully inventive modern garden, an informal and seductive succession
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Château de Versailles, lithograph c. 1850 by Lemercier.
The Château d’Ermenonville has an enchanting English-style landscape garden, created from 1762, the Enlightenment antithesis of French formality (Jean-Jacques Rousseau spent his last weeks here, 1778). ‘Natural’ hillocks, composed stands of trees, lakes and streams, symbolical buildings and monuments, Arcadian meadow, meandering paths. Overnight Ermenonville.
Day 7: Le Bois des Moutiers, Le Vasterival. Two gardens on the Normandy coast. Le Bois des Moutiers is a fine example of the English partnership of Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, a sequence of ‘rooms’ with breathtakingly beautiful planting between walls of masonry or yew. Spread across a clutch of little valleys, the woodland garden of Le Vasterival was established by a Norwegian princess in 1955. Colour coordination of leaves, bark and blossom, and a unique system of ‘transparent’ pruning contribute to the extraordinary beauty of this garden.
Day 10: Paris. Founded in 1626, the Jardin des Plantes is the principal botanical garden in France, and occupies 28 hectares on the left bank of the Seine in the 5th arrondissement. There is a huge range of plants, European and exotic, and fine horticultural displays. Return to London St Pancras c. 6.00pm.
Day 8: Auzouville-sur-Ry, Giverny. Starting work on Le Jardin Plume at Auzouville in 1996, Patrick and Sylvie Quibel have created one of the finest contemporary gardens in France, with a modern blend of grasses and wild-style perennials in a design rooted in the French traditions of formality, parterres and potagers. Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny is probably unique for its intersection of art history with horticultural achievement. The artist lived here from 1883 until his death in 1926, designing and tending his gardens which grew in size as his prosperity increased. Overnight Rouen. Day 9: Rouen, Ermenonville. Free morning in Rouen, architecturally and scenically one of the finest cities in France, with a celebrated cathedral and an impressive group of Late-Gothic churches.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,390 or £3,210 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £3,950 or £3,770 without Eurostar. Included meals: 2 lunches, 7 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Pullman Château de Versailles (pullmanhotels.com): modern 4-star hotel within walking distance of the Château. Château de Pray, Chargé (chateaudepray.fr): 4-star hotel in a converted château on the river Loire with an excellent restaurant. Mercure Rouen Centre Cathédrale (mercure.com): modern and functional 4-star hotel in the historic centre. Château d’Ermenonville (chateauermenonville.com): traditional 4-star hotel in a château with views over Parc Rousseau. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? Some of the gardens are extensive; this tour is not suitable for people unable to walk a couple of miles at a time. Paths
are often uneven and there are many steps and inclines, so sure-footedness and sturdy footwear are essential. You need to lift your luggage on and off the train and wheel it within stations. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 85 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Connoisseur’s Vienna, 22–28 June (page 51); Norway: Art Architecture, Landscape, 20–28 June (page 150).
The Seine Music Festival 23–30 June 2016 (mc 737) Contact us for the full details or visit www.martinrandall.com Nine private concerts in châteaux, churches and abbeys along the Seine, admission to which is exclusive to those who take a package including transport, accommodation and all meals. Musicians of the highest calibre including Ensemble Gilles Binchois, I Fagiolini, The Orlando Consort, Pascal & Ami Rogé, Kenneth Weiss, Christophe Rousset (harpsichord), Juliette Hurel (flute), and Van Kuijk Quartet.
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of spaces with broad borders, irregular lawns, narrow paths, mature trees, clipped hedges and water – and 3,600 species and varietals. The second stop is at the 18th-century Château de Sassy: on a hillside site in a rural location, there is a 1920s version of a 17th-century garden by Achille Duchêne. Reach Normandy for the first of three nights in Rouen.
The audience lives on a comfortable river cruiser which sails from the centre of Paris to Rouen and back again. Daily talks on the music by Richard LanghamSmith and on the buildings by John McNeill. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Versailles
Europe’s greatest palace & garden france
20–23 June 2016 (mc 736) 4 days • £1,630 Lecturer: Professor Antony Spawforth Focused tour examining the most influential of European palaces and related buildings. A study not only of art, architecture and gardens but also of history and statecraft. Includes a concert in the Château’s Royal Chapel with Collegium Vocale Gent. Option to combine this tour with The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016 (see page 69). Versailles was the grandest and most influential palace and garden complex in Europe, and arguably the most lavish and luxurious and most beautifully embellished too. It was much more than a building to house the monarch, his family and his court. It was conceived as the seat of government when France was at the apogee of her power, and as a structure to demonstrate and magnify the power of Louis XIV, to subdue his subjects and to overawe foreigners. A study of Versailles encompasses not only architectural history and garden history but also political science and the psychology of power. Versailles is several palaces. This is well disguised by its overwhelming homogeneity and symmetry, but even during Louis XIV’s reign elements changed constantly, reflecting not so much changes of taste but also political realities as they changed from decade to decade. Indeed, at its core remains a small-scale hunting lodge
built by his father (surely meant to be demolished in due course), and apartments were refurbished and parts added right up until the Revolution. Enlarging the understanding of Versailles and to set it in context there are also visits to the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, in many ways its inspiration, the Louvre, principal royal palace before and after Louis XIV’s reign, and to the grounds of Marly-le-Roi, a demolished palace constructed to allow the Sun King to retreat from the formality of Versailles Particular attention is paid to the park and gardens at Versailles, with a visit to the extraordinary vegetable garden, and the tour is timed to coincide with the occasional functioning of the fountains with musical accompaniment.
Itinerary Day 1: Vaux-le-Vicomte. Leave London St Pancras at c. 9.30am by Eurostar for Paris. The greatest country house and garden complex of its time (1656–61), Vaux-le-Vicomte was built by Nicholas Fouquet, Louis XIV’s chief minister. It is in every way the predecessor of Versailles, for impelled by envy and greed the King imprisoned Fouquet, confiscated the property and later employed most of its designers and craftsmen at Versailles. Drive to Versailles. Day 2: Versailles. After circumnavigating the vast palace, spend the morning immersed in the grandeur, the beauty and the symbolism of the King’s and Queen’s apartments, which culminate in the Hall of Mirrors. Then visit the family retreats of Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon and Domaine Marie Antoinette.
Emeritus Professor Antony Spawforth Historian, broadcaster, lecturer and writer specialising in Greek and Roman antiquity and in rulers’ courts. Books include The Complete Greek Temples, Greece: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (with C. Mee), and Versailles: A Biography of a Palace. He is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at Newcastle University. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. Day 3: Versailles. Returning to the palace, explore the gardens, which remain largely as Le Nôtre created them, the parterres, basins and sculpture around the palace and the avenues and canal which seem to stretch to infinity. In the afternoon visit apartments from the time of Louis XV, characterised by lightness and delicacy and frivolity. Further excursions into the gardens take in the extraordinary King’s vegetable garden (Potager du Roi). Concert in the Chapelle Royale: Requiem for the Funeral of Louis XV (Jean Gilles) with Collegium Vocale Gent and Cappricio Stravagante, Skip Sempé (conductor). Soloists: Judith van Wanroij, Robert Getchell, Fernando Guimarães, Lisandro Abadie. Day 4: Versailles, Marly-le-Roi, Paris. Morning walk around Versailles town including the Cathédrale St Louis, for which Louis XV laid the first stone, and the ex-ministries of War and Foreign Affairs. Drive to Marly-leRoi, Louis XIV’s retreat from the formality of Versailles, which became his favourite residence. No building survives, but the terraced park is evocative. Continue to Paris, either to embark the ship for The Seine Music Festival which starts today or to travel back to London by Eurostar arriving at St Pancras at c. 5.45pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,630 or £1,450 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £1,800 or £1,620 without Eurostar.
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Included meals: 1 lunch and 2 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Pullman Château de Versailles (pullmanhotels.com): modern 4-star hotel within walking distance of the Château. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is a lot of walking and standing around. The gardens cover a large area and paths are often uneven so sure-footedness is essential. You need to lift your luggage on and off the train and wheel it within stations. Group size: between 10 to 22 participants. Also combine this tour with Great French Gardens, 29 June–8 July (page 68); Yorkshire Houses, 25 June–1 July (page 23); ‘Capability’ Brown, 27 June–1 July (page 32).
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Versailles, steel engraving 1839 by C. Mottram after F. Mackenzie. book online at www.martinrandall.com
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Music in Paris
Prokofiev, Massenet, Rossini, Strauss Palais Garnier, watercolour by Yoshio Markino, publ. 1908.
At the new Philharmonie de Paris, designed by Jean Nouvel: Prokofiev with the Orchestre National de L’Ile-de-France. At the Opera Bastille: Massenet’s Werther and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville with Pretty Yende and Lawrence Brownlee. At the Opera Garnier: Capriccio by R. Strauss.
Day 5. Morning lecture then a free day. We buy advance tickets to the Louvre to minimise queuing time. Early dinner followed by an opera at the Palais Garnier: Capriccio (R. Strauss), Ingo Metzmacher (conductor), Robert Carsen (director), Adrianne Pieczonka (The Countess), Wolfgang Koch (The Count), Benjamin Bernheim (Flamand), Lauri Vasar (Olivier), Lars Woldt (La Roche), Daniela Sindram (Clairon), Chaira Skerath (Italian soprano), Juan José De León (Italian tenor), Graham Clark (Monsieur Taupe).
Led by Patrick Bade, lecturer on the history of opera for Christie’s. First-class rail travel to Paris.
Itinerary Day 1. Eurostar at c. 1.30pm from London St Pancras to Paris. Evening lecture before dinner. Day 2. Free morning. Afternoon visit and concert at the Philharmonie de Paris. The Music Museum within Christian de Portzamparc’s building (previously Cité de la Musique) features the temporary exhibition: Chagall: the triumph of music. Concert with the Orchestre National
Day 6. Coach transfer to the Gare du Nord. The Eurostar to St Pancras arrives c. 2.45pm.
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de L’Ile de France, Stanislav Kochanovsky (conductor), Alissa Margulis (violin): Liadov, ‘Kikimora’; Prokofiev, Violin Concerto No.1 and Romeo & Juliet Suite No.2. Dinner in the Philharmonie’s panoramic restaurant. Day 3. Morning lecture followed by a visit of the Palais Garnier and lunch. Free afternoon before the an opera at the Bastille: Werther (Massenet). Alain Lombard (conductor), Benoît Jacquot (director), Piotr Beczala (Werther), Stéphane Degout (Albert), Elīna Garanča (Charlotte), Elena Tsallagova (Sophie), Paul Gay (The Bailiff). Day 4. Morning lecture and optional architectural walk, led by the lecturer. See the area of the Grands Boulevards, including the
Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,770 or £2,600 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £3,160 or £2,990 without Eurostar. Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Music: top category tickets to 4 performances are included, costing c. £340. Accommodation. Hotel Westminster (warwickwestminsteropera.com): comfortable 4-star near the Opéra Garnier with traditional décor. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? One of the performances is reached on foot. Visits require a fair amount of walking and standing around. There are some late nights but starts are leisurely. You need to be able to lift your luggage on and off the train. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Paintings in Paris
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For much of the nineteenth century Paris was the opera capital of the world. It was where the most famous singers appeared and some of the most spectacular productions were staged. This was the home of grand opera, the city to which Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi and Wagner came knowing that success in Paris was essential. In the mid-nineteenth century some French composers fared less well than visitors, though even Wagner was not much welcomed at first. Gounod was successful, while Berlioz’s operas were largely ignored. Even Bizet’s Carmen only gained success after it was performed in Vienna. Yet, the opening of the Palais Garnier in the 1870s heralded a golden age of French music in general and opera in particular. Paris was once again an operatic city to be reckoned with, hosting the operas of Dukas, Massenet, Chabrier, Debussy and others. This tour features three operatic masterpieces; Werther, The Barber of Seville and Capriccio, which allow us to explore contrasting aspects of Romanticism. They are perfectly placed in two of the city’s most famous opera houses: the airy modern space of the Opéra Bastille and the Opulent Palais Garnier. The tour also includes a concert of music by Prokoviev and Liadov at the new Philharmonie de Paris, designed by Jean Nouvel and inaugurated in January 2015. While its exterior is angular and shimmering thanks to the 340,000 bird-shaped sheets of aluminium that cover it, the 2400-seat Grande Salle is warm and curvaceous with floating balconies, earning high praise for its acoustics. In addition to the performances, visit other sites associated with the rich musical and operatic history of Paris, including the Palais Garnier and the Music Museum.
Théâtre des Varietés where Offenbach premiered La Belle Hélène in 1864, and the Opéra Comique. Explore also the fascinating passages, early 19th-century arcades full of specialist collectors’ shops, and the area of galleries and antique shops around Paris’s most venerable auction house, the HÔtel Drouot. Free afternoon before an opera at the Bastille: The Barber of Seville (Rossini), Giacomo Sagripanti (conductor), Damiano Michieletto (director), Lawrence Brownlee (Count Almaviva), Nicola Alaimo (Bartolo), Pretty Yende (Rosina), Alessio Arduini (Figaro), Ildar Abdrazakov (Basilio), Anaïs Constans (Berta).
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30 January–4 February 2016 (mc 567) 6 days • £2,770 (including tickets to 4 performances) Lecturer: Patrick Bade
Temporary shows & permanent exhibitions
Autumn 2016 Full details available in January 2016 Contact us to register your interest At the new Louis Vuitton Foundation, designed by Frank Gehry: works belonging to Sergei Shchukin, Russian art collector (Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Matisse). At the new Institut Giacometti, an exhibition in collaboration with the Picasso Museum, examining the links between the two artists.
Île de la Cité, etching 1869. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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A Festival of Impressionism Paintings & places in Paris & Normandy france
17–22 April 2016 (mc 638) 6 days • £2,270 Lecturer: Dr Frances Fowle The finest collections of Impressionism in France and places associated with the artists. Coincides with an Impressionist festival in Normandy, featuring major exhibitions in Rouen, Le Havre and Giverny. Led by Dr Frances Fowle, Senior Curator of French Art at the National Gallery of Scotland. First-class rail travel by Eurostar from London and good hotels in Paris and Rouen. Far more Impressionist pictures can be seen in the region covered by this tour than in any other territory of comparable size. This should be no surprise, as this is the region where Impressionism was born and where it was most practised, and the tour visits some of the key sites in that development. Attention is also paid to the precursors – Pre-Impressionists such as Eugène Boudin and Jongkind – and to some PostImpressionist successors. As it was for mainstream artists, so it was for rebels and innovators: throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, Paris
was the centre of the art world. All the French Impressionists spent time here, many lived here for most of their lives. Yet the essence of their art – the recording of the world about them as it presented itself to their eyes in its immediate, transitory aspect – required them to spend time in the countryside. And the countryside they frequented most was in the north and north-west of Paris, the broad valley of the meandering Seine and of its tributaries the Oise and the Epte, and on to the coast. This can be illustrated by the case of Claude Monet, the major exponent of Impressionism. He was born in Paris in 1840 and was brought up from 1845 in Le Havre on the Normandy coast before returning to Paris to study painting. He made frequent painting expeditions to river and sea, and from 1871 he made his homes in the suburbs, progressively further downstream at Argenteuil, Vétheuil, Poissy and finally, in 1883, at Giverny. Impressionism was developing at the same time as seaside tourism on France’s northern coast and the relationship between the two is fascinating. Water, fresh or salt, was an important ingredient of Impressionist pictures, its fleeting, changing, evanescent qualities similar to the characteristics of light they sought to capture on canvas. The Impressionist emphasis on the importance of painting en plein air makes a tour that includes sites where painters set up their easel particularly rewarding. For its third edition, the Normandie Impressionist Festival has chosen Portraits as its theme. The Impressionists were also masters of figure painting and renewed the genre of portraiture in their depictions of the face and body, the family, circles of friends, and the representation of society. Renoir liked to paint the delicate faces of young girls in their prime, Dégas chose milliners and washerwomen and Pissarro country girls. These artists painted the society of their time: from political to intimate portraits, offering a description of history at all levels, one contemporary with the development of photography.
Itinerary Exhibitions not confirmed at the time of printing.
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Day 1: Paris. Leave London St Pancras at c. 10.30am by Eurostar. In Paris visit the Musée Marmottan which, through a donation by Monet’s son, has one of the world’s largest collections of Impressionists including Impression: Sunrise. Continue to Rouen in Normandy where four nights are spent.
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Etching by Renoir.
Day 2: Honfleur, Le Havre. Honfleur is an utterly delightful fishing village at the mouth of the Seine, now crammed with art galleries and antique shops. In the museum are many works by Eugène Boudin, a major influence on the Impressionists. Cross the Seine estuary to Le Havre. After a recent donation and refurbishment, the Musée André Malraux has become the second largest collection of Impressionists in France. As part of the 2016 festival it will host the exhibition The Studio of Light: Portrait of Eugène Boudin, focussing on
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his depiction of natural light but also the link between his paintings and letter writing. Day 3: Giverny. A morning devoted to the premier site in the history of Impressionism, Monet’s house and garden at Giverny where he lived from 1883 until his death in 1926, designing and tending the gardens which grew in size as his prosperity increased. Also at Giverny is the newly reconstituted Musée des Impressionismes and the exhibition Gustave Caillebotte, Painter & Gardener. Return mid-afternoon for some free time in Rouen, perhaps to study the cathedral, the subject of over 30 of Monet’s paintings. Day 4: Rouen, Étretat. A morning in Rouen at the Musée des Beaux Arts and the exhibition Scenes from Impressionist Life. A collection of c. 100 paintings sheds light on the personal lives of Impressionist artists and by extension comment on the developments of French society in the 19th century, particularly the status of women and children. Spend a free afternoon in Rouen or join an excursion to Étretat, a little seaside town flanked by dramatic chalk promontories scooped into arches by wind and sea, painted by Monet and many others. Day 5: Auvers, Paris. Auvers-sur-Oise was a popular artists’ colony, frequented by Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. See sites associated with Van Gogh, who spent the last few weeks of his life here, and the studio of Daubigny. Return to Paris for an optional visit of the Musée des Beaux Arts in the Petit Palais, an under-appreciated collection for which space has recently been expanded. Overnight Paris. Day 6: Paris. Walk through the Tuileries Gardens to the Orangerie where an excellent collection of Impressionists, Monet’s famous water-lilies and 20th-century paintings are housed. Cross the river to the Musée d’Orsay; here are displayed not only the world’s finest collection of Impressionism but also masterpieces by important precursors such as Courbet and Millet. Return to London by Eurostar, arriving St Pancras at c. 5.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,270 or £2,110 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £2,540 or £2,380 without Eurostar. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Mercure Rouen Centre Cathédrale (mercure.com): modern, functional 4-star in the historic centre. Hotel Westminster, Paris (warwickwestminsteropera.com): comfortable, traditional 4-star near the Opéra Garnier. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? This is a fair amount of walking as well as standing in the art galleries. You need to be able to lift your luggage on and off the train and wheel it at stations. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Sicily, 4–16 April (page 140); Pompeii & Herculaneum, 25–30 April (page 137).
Poets & The Somme
Poetry of The Great War in battlefield context
First World War poetry in the context of the Battle of the Somme. A presentation of the poetry through a study of events, landscapes and the wartime lives of individual poets. An actor reads the poems. Led by military historian Andrew Spooner.
Day 1: Foncquevillers, Pozières. Travel by coach at 9.00am from central London to Folkestone for the 35 minute Eurotunnel crossing. Continue by coach, arriving in the field mid-afternoon. Drive the length of the front line for an initial orientation of the Somme battlefield, identifying the exact positions of the opposing trenches. The lecturer gives an introduction at the windmill site at Pozières, the highest part of the battlefield, and the first poem is read; Alec Waugh’s Albert to Bapaume Road. Visit preserved trenches and a military cemetery. Continue to the hotel in Arras. Day 2: Serre, Mesnil, Thiepval. Explore to the north of the Albert to Bapaume Road. Start at the village of Serre, site of the left flank of the main attack on 1st July where many of the assault battalions were known as ‘pals’, reflecting their recruiting centres based in the large urban cities of the Midlands and the North. Move along the line through Auchonvillers, along the Ancre Valley, with Edmund Blunden, Wilfred Owen and A.P. Herbert. At Thiepval is the Memorial to the Missing, the most monumental of the many Great War memorials, which bears over 72,000 names. Today’s poems include A Soldier’s Funeral by John
appropriate location for the choice of women’s poetry, May Wedderburn Cannan and Margaret Postgate Cole. At La Boisselle, astride the Roman road, follow the fortunes of two battalions of the 34th Division. The poetry of Wilfred Owen, Edward Thomas and Alan Seeger features (I have a rendezvous with death). Final lunch before driving to Calais for the Eurotunnel journey home, arriving in central London at c. 7.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,390. Single occupancy: £1,540. Included meals: all meals with wine. Accommodation. Hôtel de l’Univers, Arras (univers.najeti.fr): traditional 3-star hotel in Arras, installed in a 16th-century building, with a good restaurant. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of standing around and walking on this tour, most of it over rough ground. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 127 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Andrew Spooner Military historian specialising in the Great War. He runs his own battlefield tours and organises specialist study days for colleges and museums throughout the country. He is a regular visiting lecturer at the Imperial War Museum Duxford and has appeared in documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. William Streets, read at his graveside, Binyon’s For the Fallen and, at Thiepval, Charles Sorley’s When they see the millions of the mouthless dead / Across your dreams in pale battalions go. Day 3: Péronne, Longueval, Mametz. Start at the ‘Historial de la Grande Guerre’ museum at Péronne, then to the area south of the Albert to Bapaume Road where some battalions were more successful and gained their objectives on the first day, before the arduous struggle of attrition moved into the ‘Horseshoe of Woods’. The site of Siegfried Sassoon’s HQ dugout is near the village of Fricourt, ‘while time ticks blank and busy on their wrists’. At Mametz, on William Noel Hodgson’s ‘familiar hill’, read Before Action: ‘Must say goodbye to all of this / By all delights that I shall miss, / Help me to die, O Lord.’ Day 4: Agny, Contay, Louvencourt. Stray behind the lines, visiting areas associated with the Casualty Clearing Stations. The village of Agny for Edward Thomas and Eleanor Farjeon, Louvencourt for Vera Brittain and Roland Leighton, and Contay as an
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Blending history and poetry, this tour reveals the true landscape of war: locations, topography, events, but also hope, fear, anger, pain and love, all viscerally manifest in the poetry of the First World War. The opening day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916, is taken as the starting point for the tour, with an exploration of the front line area and a study of the events of that day and subsequent weeks. A sprinkling of poetry from 1914 and 1915 adds to the modern contextual understanding of the enormous sense of loss. During 1917 and 1918, other war poets became embroiled in later battles and their poetry will be placed into context on ‘the old 1916 battlefield’. This leads on to a wider examination of the nature of trench warfare and of the course of the war as a whole. Much has survived: trenches, shell holes and mine craters. The tangible remains of warfare and the pattern of cemeteries are now woven into the fabric of the modern landscape. What sets this tour apart is the parallel exploration of the lives of those regular soldiers, volunteers and civilians who bequeathed to us the most emotionally potent body of poetry in English literature. This is not an exercise in literary analysis, however, but poems are placed in the context of the battlefield and of the lives (and deaths) of the many and varied individuals who wrote them. Led by the military historian who devised the tour, Andrew Spooner, it is also accompanied by an actor who reads the poems – sometimes at the site where they were composed (often identifiable to within a few yards), sometimes at the scene of the poet’s grave, sometimes at the place of his death or disappearance. The tour is very much ‘in the field’ with a series of short walks on each day, averaging from a few hundred metres to a maximum distance 1.5 miles, and set to follow the events on particular sections of the front line. The fourteen miles of front line are neatly divided by the Roman road from Albert to Bapaume. Poets whose works are included are (in alphabetical order) Richard Aldington, Lawrence Binyon, Edmund Blunden, Vera Brittain, Eric Chilman, Eleanor Farjeon, Wilfred Gibson, Sir Alan P. Herbert, William Noel Hodgson, Roland Leighton, Frederick Manning, Lucy Gertrude Moberley, Wilfred Owen, Margaret Postgate Cole, John Edgell Rickwood, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Alan Seeger, Charles Sorley, Hugh Steward Smith, John William Streets, Edward Thomas, Alec Waugh, May Wedderburn Cannan.
Itinerary
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2–5 September 2016 (md 820) 4 days • £1,390 Lecturer: Andrew Spooner
A Canadian soldier writing from the trenches. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Western Front
WWI’s theatre of war 100 years on france Drawing by Muirhead Bone from The Western Front Vol.I, 1917.
26–30 July 2016 (mc 777) 5 days • £1,790 Lecturer: Major Gordon Corrigan Concise but comprehensive study of the main scenes of action by British and Empire forces in 1914–1918. Military history in its broadest sense, from study of the details of the terrain to the broad strategic and political background. Led by a military historian, ex-soldier and author of acclaimed Mud, Blood & Poppycock.
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The First World War was the first and only conflict in modern British history when nearly all of the British army was fighting the main enemy (Germany) in the main theatre (the Western Front) for the whole of the war. Unlike the armies of France and Germany the pre-war British army was composed of long service professionals – compulsory military service on the European pattern would have been regarded as an unacceptable infringement of the rights of a free born Briton – but it was very small. Having made the decision to declare war in support of France on land as well as at sea, the British had to create a mass army, which grew from just four infantry divisions and a cavalry division in 1914 to seventy divisions in 1918, from 100,000 men to two and a half million, initially from volunteers and then, from the middle of 1916, from conscripts. As the junior partner on land it was not for British politicians or British generals to dictate the course of the war, and until at least the spring of 1917 it was the French who directed operations on the Western Front. Thus, the rationale of much of what the British army did may be difficult to understand when viewed solely through Anglo-centric eyes, but makes complete sense when looked at in the context of the war as a whole. It is only possible to understand the Somme when one comprehends what was happening at Verdun 120 miles to the south, and Haig’s insistence on continuing the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) is fully justified only when the state of the French armies is taken into consideration, with the absolute necessity of drawing the Germans onto the British front and away from the French.
There is probably more myth and legend surrounding the Great War than any other aspect of Britain’s long military history: an unnecessary war (so why was pre-war Germany furiously building a blue-water navy?); bungling generals sitting safely in châteaux far behind the lines (so why were so many killed in action?); the loss of a generation (but 74% of all the men who went over the top in the Battle of the Somme came out without a scratch) and there are many more. But for all that, the war cost Britain 700,000 dead. This tour visits the battlefields and examines not only what happened but why; it will consider the performance of generals and privates, British (and the empire forces of India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), French, American and German, and will ask whether there was another way, or was a series of long, slogging, bloody battles of attrition the only way to prevent a German Europe?
Day 4: The Somme. A day spent studying the opening of the Somme offensive on 1st July 1916, considered one of the most traumatic days in modern British history. Overnight Arras.
Itinerary
Included meals: 4 lunches, 4 dinners, with wine.
Day 1: Lille, Loos. Take the Eurostar at c. 11.00am from London St Pancras to Lille (light lunch on board). The Battle of Loos in September 1915 involved the largest number of British troops yet deployed in this war. It saw the first use of poison gas by the British, with mixed results, and amongst the British dead were three major generals commanding divisions. Some free time before the first evening lecture. First of two nights in Lille. Day 2: Ypres. Full day visiting the Ypres Salient or ‘Wipers’ to the British who held it for most of the war, and to examine the battles of 1914 and 1915 when the Germans were trying to break through to the Channel Ports. In the evening we attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate, where the British dead have been regularly remembered ever since 1928. Overnight Lille. Day 3: Ypres, Neuve Chapelle. The second day in Ypres examines the highly successful capture of Messines Ridge by British, Australian and New Zealand troops in 1917, followed by the Third Battle of Ypres, the results of which are still controversial. Then travel south, visiting Neuve Chapelle, where in March 1915 the Indians and Gurkhas were the first to break the German line. First of two nights in Arras.
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Day 5: The Somme, Amiens, Vimy Ridge. Continue the tour of the Somme battlefields, this time looking at the later operations and the end of the battle in November 1916. Visit the scene of the August 1918 Battle of Amiens, the beginning of the final Allied offensive which three months later brought the war to an end. On the return to Lille, pause at Vimy Ridge, scene of the significant Canadian advance of 1917. The Eurostar arrives London St Pancras at c. 5.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,790 or £1,650 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £2,000 or £1,860 without Eurostar. Accommodation. Hôtel Hermitage Gantois, Lille (hotelhermitagegantois.com): 5-star hotel in a converted 15th-century hospice. Décor is traditional with a modern twist. Hôtel de l’Univers, Arras (univers.najeti.fr): a traditional 3-star hotel in Arras, installed in a 16th-century building. Rooms vary in size and decoration. There is a good restaurant. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There is a quite a lot of walking and standing for long periods of time, often over uneven ground and in open fields. Fitness is essential. We choose to travel by train because it is less harmful to the environment than travelling by plane, and avoids the stress and chaos of airports. However, trains can be crowded and there is often little room for luggage, even on the Eurostar. You will need to be able to move your own luggage on and off trains and within stations. Average distance by coach per day: 78 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Mediaeval Normandy, 15–22 July (page 66).
Wine, Walks & Ar t in Alsace Colmar, country walks & viniculture
Four walks of between 4 and 9 km in the lush landscapes of vineyards, rolling farmland and wooded hills. Stay in one hotel throughout, a charming listed building in the centre of Colmar. Marc Millon is a wine, food and travel writer, and author of The Wine & Food of Europe. Travel by train from London to Colmar via Paris by Eurostar and TGV.
Itinerary Day 1: London to Colmar. Travel by rail to Colmar, leaving London St Pancras at c. 8.30am and changing in Paris. An exceedingly attractive town with richly ornamented half-timbered and stone buildings lining the streets and canals, Colmar’s position in the foothills of the Vosges makes an ideal base for walking tours.
There is time to settle into the hotel, before an introductory talk, tasting and dinner. All five nights are spent in Colmar. Day 2: Colmar, Ribeauville, Bergheim. The Musée d’Unterlinden has an outstanding collection of 15th- and 16th-century pictures, chief of which is Grünewald’s Issenheim altarpiece, the most searing of all images of the Crucifixion. Drive to Ribeauville to begin a 5 km walk along part of the Alsace wine route. The path is mostly level on fields and grass through the vineyards with a short descent into Bergheim at the end. A picnic lunch near the village is followed by a cellar tour and tasting in Bergheim before driving to Riquewihr for a further tasting.
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Alsace, arguably the prettiest wine region in France, is also one of the best to explore by walking. Footpaths lead across a carpet of vineyards that extends over the lower slopes of the Vosges mountains. Tall pointed steeples, often topped with storks’ nests, peek out from above the rolling slopes; visible markers connect villages filled with sandstone buildings and charming half-timbered mediaeval houses with window boxes overflowing with colourful geraniums. Undoubtedly the best time to visit is September, when there is a buzz of activity as the grapes are being brought in to wine cellars and the heady smell of pressed grape must, fermentation and new wine is in the air. Wine producers take time off from their exertions to warmly welcome visitors, happy to explain the intricacies of their terroir, their style and range of wines, and to offer generous samples to taste. In historic towns and villages along the way, Winstubs offer further opportunities simply to enjoy the distinctive wines of Alsace, served in delicate green-stemmed goblets. And what wines! Alsace’s turbulent past – annexed by Germany after the Franco-Prussian war in 1871, retaken by the French after World War I, once again occupied by the Germans during World War II – has resulted in a range of varietal wines that reflect a mixed heritage. Teutonic-sounding grapes such as Riesling, Sylvaner, Gewürztraminer and others are vinified in the Gallic style to result in a range of wines that are archetypically and undoubtedly French: classic (mainly) dry, forceful white wines that are meant to be enjoyed with meals. If the wines of Alsace reflect the region’s historic past, so does its renowned gastronomy. German sauerkraut here translates into choucroute; French culinary expertise raising the mundane to the sublime: the lightly fermented cabbage simmered with spices in Riesling wine to accompany a veritable mountain of outstanding sausages and cured meats of the region. Foie gras from the fattened livers of ducks and geese is a longstanding speciality here, while, in addition to charcuterie, magnificent picnic foods include tarte à l’oignon, local cheeses such as Munster, and of course delectable and colourful pâtisseries made from the abundance of local and seasonal fruits (many of these same fruits are distilled into clean and powerful eaux de vie). Restaurants range from the humble and simple to refined and famous temples of gastronomy.
While the main focus of the tour is the wine and walking, there is also time to appreciate the immensely rich artistic and cultural heritage of Alsace. A leitmotif of the tour is the collection of late mediaeval altarpieces and mediaeval church architecture, both Romanesque and Gothic.
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9–14 September 2016 (md 856) 6 days • £2,760 Lecturer: Marc Millon
Colmar, rue des Marchands, etching by Charles Pinet (1867–1932). Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Wine, Walks & Ar t in Alsace continued
Mediaeval Burgundy
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Day 3: Munster, Truckheim. Starting uphill from Munster Haut-Rhin, this is a moderately strenuous circular walk on country lanes, farm tracks and woodland paths, which passes through picturesque villages and farms (9 km, 2½ hours). Lunch, to taste tarte flambée made with Munster cheese. Return to Colmar via Turckheim for a cellar tour and tasting. Day 4: Rosheim, Obernai. A day of small places, beginning in Rosheim which possesses a number of unspoilt mediaeval houses and the 12thcentury church of Saints Pierre et Paul. Walk (5 km) on level paths through vineyards and on fields to Obernai which is partly surrounded by fine ramparts. Time to visit the Romanesque church of St Pierre before returning to Colmar. Day 5: Kaysersberg. Drive to near Kaysersberg to begin a 5 km circular walk across the First World War battlegrounds east and south of the highly strategic Tête des Faux mountain peak, where French and German troops fought with heavy losses between the end of 1914 and the beginning of 1915. Starting at 940m we reach 1,130m at the Roche du Corbeau in the woods before making our way back through pastures and farmlands. Return to Kayserberg for a picnic lunch and a chance to see this remarkably unchanged mediaeval village with delightful houses, castle, bridge and a church with a very fine carved altarpiece. Visit a familyrun winery in Ammerschwihr before returning to Colmar. There is a tasting of a range of eaux de vie before dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Colmar.
4–11 June 2016 (mc 702) 8 days • £2,520 Lecturer: John McNeill
Day 6. Leave Colmar at c. 10.15am by TGV for Paris and continue by Eurostar to London St Pancras, arriving c. 4.45pm.
First-class rail travel.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,760 or £2,270 without train travel. Single occupancy: £3,010 or £2,520 without train travel. Included meals: 3 lunches (including 2 picnics) and 3 dinners with wine.
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Accommodation. Maison des Têtes, Colmar (lamaison-des-tetes.com): charming, independent 5-star hotel located in the historic centre of Colmar. Rooms are traditional in style. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? This is a walking tour: it is essential for participants to be in good physical condition and to be used to hill-walking in the countryside. No walk is more than 9 km or 2½ hours. Average coach travel per day: 22 miles. Group size: between 10 and 18 participants. Combine this tour with St Petersburg, 2–8 September (page 157).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Vézelay, Abbey of La Madaleine, after a drawing by R. Piot, c. 1920
Superb collection of Romanesque and early Gothic buildings. Exceptionally well-preserved historic towns. Rural drives through beautiful landscapes. Led by the renowned architectural historian John McNeill.
The key to understanding mediaeval Burgundy is its situation, a cradle of wooded hills drained by three great river systems flowing, respectively, to the north, south and west. Not only did this lend the area the status of a lieu de passage, but it guaranteed its importance, ensuring that the mediaeval duchy was open to the forms and traditions of far-flung regions. Remarkably, much of Burgundy’s mediaeval infrastructure survives. Even extending back as far as the ninth century, for in the interlocking spaces of the lower church at St-Germain d’Auxerre one might catch a glimpse of western Carolingian architecture and painting, a glimpse that presents this most distant of periods at its most inventive and personal. It is equally the case that while the great early Romanesque basilicas which once studded the underbelly of the Ile-de-France are now reduced to a ghost of their former selves, what survives in Burgundy is sublimely impressive, as one might see in that great quartet of crypts at Dijon, Auxerre, Flavigny and Tournus. As elsewhere, the twelfth century is well represented, though the depth of exploratory work undertaken here cannot fail to impress. The fundamental Romanesque research was probably conducted to the south, at Cluny and in the Brionnais, but the take-up in central Burgundy was immediate, and in the naves of Vézelay and Autun one might see two of the
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most compelling essays on the interaction of sculpture and architecture twelfth-century Europe has produced. Nor were Cistercians slow to tailor Burgundian architecture to suit their needs, and though her great early monasteries have now perished at least Fontenay survives, ranking among the most breathtaking monastic sites of mediaeval France. Gothic also arrived early, and there began a second wave of experimentation, tentative at first but blossoming in the centre (where the new choir at Vézelay is the first intimation we have that Gothic architecture had a future outside northern France) into perhaps the most lucid of all architectural styles. It is thus no surprise that the thirteenth century saw the region at the cutting edge of Europe. At Auxerre a definitive account of space as illusion took shape, and at Semur-en-Auxois a theatre of stone clambered aboard the church. Moreover, the patrons invested heavily in glass. No thirteenth-century church was without it and most have retained it, blazing the interior with a heady combination of light, meaning and colour. This sublime vigour even continued into the later middle ages, where under the Valois dukes of Burgundy Dijon became a major artistic centre, attracting artists of the calibre of Rogier van der Weyden and Claus Sluter.
Itinerary Day 1. Take the Eurostar at c. 11.00am from London St Pancras to Paris and then onwards by TGV (high-speed train) to Dijon. Continue by coach to Tournus where two nights are spent. Day 2: Cluny, Berzé-la-Ville, Tournus. Cluny is the site of the largest church and most powerful monastery in mediaeval France. Study the magnificent remains of the church and monastic buildings. The tiny chapel at Berzé-laVille was perhaps built as the abbot of Cluny’s private retreat, and is embellished with superb wall paintings of c. 1100. At Tournus see the striking and immensely influential early 11thcentury monastery. Day 3: Beaune, Autun, Dijon. The 15thcentury Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune houses Rogier van der Weyden’s Last Judgement. The stalwart Romanesque church of Notre-Dame has fine tapestries. At Autun the cathedral of St Lazare is celebrated for its sublime sequence of Romanesque capitals and relief sculptures by Gislebertus. First of three nights in Dijon. Day 4: St Thibault, Semur-en-Auxois, Fontenay. The church of the market town of St Thibault has a 13th-cent. choir that is the most graceful Burgundian construction of the period. The fortified hill town of Semur-en-Auxois has a splendid Gothic collegiate church. The tranquil abbey of Fontenay is the earliest Cistercian church to survive and has an exceptionally wellpreserved monastic precinct. Day 5: Dijon. A day dedicated to Burgundy’s capital and one of the most attractive of French cities with many fine buildings from 11th to 18th centuries. St Bénigne has an ambitious early Romanesque crypt. Notre-Dame is a quite
Roman & Mediaeval Provence The south of France in the Middle Ages 21–27 October 2016 (md 920) 7 days • £2,110 Lecturer: Dr Alexandra Gajewski
Day 6: Saulieu, Avallon, Vézelay. Visit the Basilique St-Andoche in Saulieu, with carved capitals depicting flora, fauna and biblical stories. Drive north to Avallon, whose fine Romanesque church is spectacularly situated above the river Cousin. Vézelay, a picturesque hill town whose summit is occupied by the abbey of La Madeleine, was one of the great pilgrimage centres of the Middle Ages, and has one of the most impressive of all 12th-century churches for both its architecture and its sculpture. First of two nights in Auxerre.
The many fine Roman remains had a decisive impact on mediaeval architecture and sculpture.
Day 7: Auxerre. The morning includes the magnificent Carolingian crypt of St Germain and the cathedral, a pioneering 13th-century building with exceptional glass and sculpture. The afternoon is free.
Famed for its natural beauty, its wealth of Augustan and second-century monuments, and the quality and ambition of its mediaeval work, Provence can seem the very essence of Mediterranean France. But its settlement was – historically – surprisingly concentrated, and the major Roman and mediaeval centres are clustered within the valleys of the Durance and Rhône. This is the area which was marked out for development in the first and second centuries ad, and the range and quantity of Roman work which survives at Orange, St-Rémy and Arles is impressive. Indeed, as one moves into the Late Antique period it is precisely this triangle which blossoms – and in Arles one is witness to the most significant Early Christian city of Mediterranean Gaul. This Roman infrastructure is fundamental, and the pre-eminent Romanesque churches of Provence may come as something of a surprise, being notable both for a predilection for sheer
Day 8: Sens. The striking cathedral of Sens is among the earliest Gothic churches of Europe, housing important glass and an exquisitely carved 12th- and 13th-century west front. The diocesan museum also houses an extensive collection of Roman and mediaeval antiquities. Take the Eurostar from Paris arriving at London St Pancras c. 6.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,520 or £2,260 without Eurostar/TGV. Single occupancy: £2,870 or £2,610 without Eurostar/TGV. Included meals: 6 dinners with wine.
Truly great secular buildings, including the papal palace at Avignon, and pre-eminent Romanesque churches. Led by Dr Alexandra Gajewski, specialist in mediaeval architecture. Based throughout at a 4-star hotel in Avignon. A natural setting of exceptional attractiveness.
wall surfaces and an indebtedness to earlier architectural norms. But it is above all the sculpture which is most susceptible to this sort of historicising impulse. The Romanesque sculpture of Provence is more skilfully and self-consciously antique than any outside central Italy, and is often organised in a manner designed to evoke either fourth-century sarcophagi, or Roman theatres and triumphal arches. The façade of St-Trophime at Arles is a well-known example of this, but it is a theme we also encounter in many of the smaller churches – places such as Pernes-les-Fontaines and Montmajour – where exquisite friezes of acanthus and vinescroll are used to both elaborate and articulate exteriors of stunning delicacy. For once the truly great late mediaeval building we see is secular: the mighty papal palace at Avignon.
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stunning early Gothic parish church. The palace of the Valois dukes now houses a museum with extensive collections of work from the period of their rule (1364–1477).
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 1.15pm (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Marseille. Drive to Avignon, where all six nights are spent. Day 2: Avignon. The Palais des Papes is the principal monument of the Avignon papacy, one-time site of the papal curia and by far the most significant 14th-century building to survive in southern France. The collections of late Gothic sculpture and painting in the Petit-Palais act as a splendid foil to the work at the papal palace, while the cathedral houses the magnificent tomb of Pope John XXII. Day 3: Pernes-les-Fontaines, Vaison, Venasque. Gentle stroll through Pernes, a delightful fortified river town with an important Romanesque
Accommodation. Hôtel Le Rempart, Tournus (lerempart.com): 4-star hotel formerly a 15thcentury guard house, located on the ramparts of the town. Hostellerie du Chapeau Rouge, Dijon (chapeau-rouge.fr): centrally located, comfortable 4-star hotel furnished to a high standard. Hôtel Le Parc des Maréchaux, Auxerre (leparcdesmarechaux.com): 4-star hotel in a delightful 18th-century hôtel particulier. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
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How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking, some of it on steep hillsides, and standing around. There is plenty of coach travel and you stay in three hotels. You will need to be able to lift your luggage on and off the train and wheel it within stations. Average distance by coach per day: 72 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Turner & the Sea, 12–17 June (page 36); Moravia, 13–20 June (page 58); Northumbria, 15–23 June (page 20).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
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Roman theatre at Oranges, engraving c. 1890. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Roman & Mediaeval Provence continued
Pilgrimage & Heresy Mediaeval Auvergne & Languedoc
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church and 13th-century frescoed tower. At Vaison-la-Romaine the sublime late Romanesque cathedral is attached to a northern cloister. Drive in the late afternoon over the Dentelles de Montmirail to the stunning early mediaeval baptistery at Venasque. Day 4: Villeneuve, Orange, Pont-du-Gard. A day spent mostly within sight of the Rhône, beginning with Pope Innocent VI’s now ruined Charterhouse at Villeneuve-lez-Avignon. The day’s real star is Orange, site of the greatest of all Roman theatres to survive in the West. In the afternoon visit that astonishing feat of engineering that brought water over the River Gardon at the Pont-du-Gard. Day 5: St-Rémy-de-Provence. Drive along the northern flank of the Alpilles to St-Rémy-deProvence, Glanum of old, and proud possessor of one of the truly great funerary memorials of the Roman world, the cenotaph erected by three Julii brothers in honour of their forebears. Free time.
16–25 May 2016 (mc 682) 10 days • £3,040 Lecturer: Dr Alexandra Gajewski All the building arts – architecture, sculpture, stained glass, woodwork, painting and in particular precious metals. A section of the route to Santiago intersects with the story of the Albigensian heresy. Led by Dr Alexandra Gajewski, specialist in mediaeval architecture. Enchanting landscapes.
Toulouse, Abbaye de St Sernin, from Histoire de la Nation Française, Vol. XI, publ. 1922.
Day 6: Montmajour, Arles. Explore the superlative complex of churches, cemeteries and conventual buildings that once constituted the abbey of Montmajour. In Arles the amphitheatre is a justly famous early 2nd-century structure of a type developed from the Colosseum. The Romanesque Cathedral of St-Trophime is home to one of the greatest cloisters of 12th-century Europe. The Musée Départmental Arles Antique houses a quite spellbinding collection of classical and early Christian art. Day 7: Silvacane, Aix-en-Provence. At Silvacane, a major late-12th-century Cistercian abbey, the monastic buildings descend a series of terraces down to the River Durance. Finally visit Aix, where the cathedral provides an enthralling end to the tour, with its extraordinary juxtaposition of Merovingian baptistery, Romanesque cloister, 13th-century chancel and late mediaeval west front. Fly from Marseille, arriving at London Heathrow at c. 5.45pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,110 or £1,950 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,430 or £2,270 without flights.
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Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Hôtel Cloître Saint Louis (cloitre-saint-louis.com): 4-star hotel in Avignon in a converted 16th-century convent. Some rooms are in a modern extension. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking is involved, particularly in the town centres. The tour is not suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking and stairclimbing. There are some long days and coach journeys. Average distance by coach per day: 32 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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Combine this tour with Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur, 11–18 October (page 80); Dark Age Brilliance, 9–16 October (page 118). book online at www.martinrandall.com
In the remote and largely rural centre and south of France, two aspects of popular religion were of decisive influence in shaping the art and architecture of the Middle Ages: the cult of relics and the consequent passion for pilgrimage; and the Albigensian heresy and its subsequent suppression. The cult of relics – the physical remains of saints – was on the whole encouraged as an aid to religious devotion and supported by the Church. Ideas travelled quickly along the pilgrimage routes; churches were designed to accommodate pilgrims, and imagery in sculpture, painting and stained glass was made to encourage devotion to the saints. Some saints are of purely local significance, and yet they often inspired remarkable works of art, such as the reliquaries at Mozac and St Nectaire. Other relics attracted the faithful from all over Europe. Catering for both the physical and spiritual needs of pilgrims was a lucrative business, and shrines such as those at Conques and Toulouse were intended to attract the pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, one of the most important goals of mediaeval pilgrimage.
“This tour was as near perfection as one is ever likely to obtain.” “An excellently planned and very interesting itinerary.”
Itinerary Day 1: Lyon. Fly at c. 8.30am from London Heathrow to Lyon Saint-Exupéry (British Airways). The early afternoon is devoted to Lyon cathedral, one of the great Gothic cathedrals of central France and a wonderful foil to the earlier architecture we will see in the Auvergne. Continue to the hotel outside Clermont Ferrand for three nights. Day 2: Ennezat, Montaigut-le-Blanc, StNectaire, Orcival. In Ennezat see the earliest surviving Auvergnat nave. Lunch at Montaigutle-Blanc. In St-Nectaire see the wooden Virgin and Child and a magnificent bust reliquary. In Orcival see the golden Virgin in Majesty, a remarkable survival. Day 3: Mozac, Clermont-Ferrand. The Romanesque church at Mozac has good sculpture and the largest Limoges enamel shrine. Clermont-Ferrand cathedral is a remarkable example of the Parisian rayonnant Gothic style. See Notre Dame du Port, Romanesque with sculpted portal and capitals.
Day 5: Conques, Albi, Toulouse. Conques is off the beaten track but was once one of the great churches on the pilgrimage road to Compostela, with a tympanum depicting the last judgement, one of the most beautiful and sophisticated works of Romanesque art, and a treasury containing many fine works, especially the shrine of Ste Foy (St Faith). Albi Cathedral is a potent symbol of the crushing of the Cathars, the building almost as much a fortress as a church. First of five nights in Toulouse.
Carcassonne, watercolour by A.H. Hallam Murray, publ. 1904.
Day 6: Toulouse. Spend the whole day in Toulouse. Visit St Sernin, one of the principal monuments of Romanesque architecture, an important stop on the road to Santiago de Compostela. The buildings of the Augustinians survive as a museum with a splendid collection of Romanesque sculpture. Day 7: Toulouse. Visit the cathedral. The eastern arm, perhaps by Jean des Champs, is joined to a nave of local workmanship on a much smaller scale with bizarre effect. Visit the Jacobin, a Dominican church, like a monastic refectory on a vast scale. The rest of the day is free. Day 8: Moissac, Cahors. In Moissac, there is an extensive programme of Romanesque sculpture and an awe-inspiring judgement portal. Visit the stunning mediaeval bridge at Cahors. Day 9: Carcassonne, Rieux-Minervois. Carcassonne is a spectacular walled town in the valley of the Aude. Its walled circuit was famously restored by Violet-le-Duc. Visit the exquisite church of St-Nazaire. In the afternoon drive to Rieux-Minervois, an evocative testimony to the symbolic power of Marian devotion. Day 10: St-Lizier, St-Girons. Visit an important early Romanesque painted church with an exquisite cloister at St-Lizier. Break for lunch in St-Girons. Fly from Toulouse to London Heathrow arriving at c. 7.00pm.
Dr Alexandra Gajewski Architectural historian and lecturer specialising in the mediaeval. She obtained her PhD from the Courtauld and has lectured there and at Birkbeck College. She is currently in Madrid researching ‘The Roles of Women as Makers of Medieval Art and Architecture’. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,040 or £2,830 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,470 or £3,260 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch, 7 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hôtel Le Radio, Clermont Ferrand (hotel-radio.fr): 3-star hotel just outside the city, decorated in Art Déco style with a good restaurant. Hôtel Sainte-Foy, Conques (hotelsaintefoy.com): charming 3-star hotel, dating back to the 17th century. Grand Hôtel de l’Opéra, Toulouse (grand-hotel-opera.com): 4-star hotel in the historic centre. Single rooms are doubles for sole use, except in Conques. How strenuous? A fairly long tour with a lot of coach travel and walking. Average distance by coach per day: 94 miles. Group size: between 10 to 22 participants.
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Day 4: Brioude, Rodez, Conques. Brioude has sculptured capitals in a variety of styles, extensive murals and Romanesque door knockers signed by the artist. Rodez cathedral, a symbol of North European dominance and orthodoxy, built after the Albigensian Crusade, is attributed to Jean des Champs. Overnight Conques.
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Looking back from later centuries, the universal faith of the Romanesque era seemed a golden age for Christianity. But then came a revival of an old heresy which was not only in opposition to the orthodox teachings of the church, but even challenged its very existence. The heresy of Cathars, or Albigenses, had an intense and popular following, particularly in Toulouse. The murder of the papal legate in 1208 provoked the so-called Albigensian Crusade and gave the knights of northern France an excuse to conquer Languedoc. The victory of the North and of orthodoxy is reflected in the great cathedrals of Rodez and Toulouse, modelled on the rayonnant Gothic of the royal domain. That the cathedral at Albi is also fortified allows alternative interpretations of Gothic: as a symbol of the triumph of the established Church, or of the oppression of the true faith of the people. The post-mediaeval upheavals of France touched this area less destructively than elsewhere. Exceedingly rare gold shrines and cultfigures in particular constitute a thrilling aspect of this tour.
Combine this tour with The Pyrenees, 3–12 May (page 163); Courts of Northern Italy, 8–15 May (page 116); Central Macedonia, 8–15 May (page 102).
The Pyrenees, 3–12 May 2016 with John McNeill: see page 163.
What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Modern Ar t on the Côte d’Azur Monet to Matisse & the lure of the Midi france
17–23 March 2016 (mc 600) 7 days • £2,480 Lecturer: Monica Bohm-Duchen 25–31 October 2016 (md 925) 7 days • £2,480 Lecturer: Lydia Bauman Europe’s greatest concentration of classic modern art in the idyllic Mediterranean setting where it was created. Old and new collections, with outstanding work by Renoir, Bonnard, Braque, Léger, Miró, Giacometti, Cocteau, Chagall, Matisse, Picasso. Visits to the coastal towns and villages which inspired the artists. Stay in Nice throughout. Natural resources and climate have drawn invaders and visitors to Nice and its surroundings from the Greek colonists of classical times to the jet-set of today. But from the late nineteenth century a special category of visitor – and settler – has transformed the Côte d’Azur into the greatest concentration of modern art in Europe. Monet first visited Antibes in 1883; Signac bought a house in the fishing village of St-Tropez in 1892. Matisse’s first visit to the Midi in 1904 transformed his art, and from 1918 he spent more time on the Côte d’Azur than in Paris. Matisse, Chagall and Picasso are merely among the most illustrious of the artists who chose to live in the South of France. Many of their fellow modernisers followed suit: Braque, Bonnard, Dufy, Picabia.
This tour is an extraordinary opportunity to see how modernity relates to the past as well as the present, and how gallery displays can be centred on the art, the location or the patron/collector. In Matisse’s Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence, traditional arts and crafts have been revived by a modern genius, as in the monumental mosaic and glass designs of Léger which can be seen at Biot. There are also echoes of collecting habits of earlier eras in the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. The mixture of past and present and the juxtaposition of the Goût Rothschild with the beauty of its location are breathtaking. (Graham Sutherland drew exotic flowers and plants in the extraordinary gardens.) At Antibes the Picasso Museum is housed in the Château Grimaldi, lent to Picasso as studio space in 1946 where he produced lifeaffirming paintings. Old and new galleries abound, such as the Fondation Maeght, St-Paul-de-Vence, whose building (designed by José Luis Sert, 1963) makes it a work of outstanding sympathy to its natural surroundings, in gardens enlivened by Miró’s Labyrinthe and other sculptures.
Itinerary Renovation work can lead to museum closures. At time of printing, all visits listed are possible but we cannot rule out the possibility of changes. Day 1: Nice. Fly at c. 11.40am from London Heathrow to Nice. There is an afternoon visit to the Musée des Beaux Arts Jules Cheret, concentrating on their 19th- and early 20thcentury holdings.
Day 2: Nice. The Musée Matisse unites a wide range of the artist’s work; sculpture, ceramics, stained glass as well as painting. In the afternoon, visit the Marc Chagall Museum which has the largest collection of the artist’s works, notably the seventeen canvases of the Biblical Message, set in a peaceful garden in a salubrious Nice suburb. Day 3: Antibes, Vallauris, Cagnes-sur-Mer. Most of the paintings Picasso produced in his studio in the Château Grimaldi in 1946 have been donated to the town of Antibes. Vallauris is a centre of contemporary pottery revived by Picasso, whose masterpiece War and Peace is here. Renoir’s house in Cagnes-sur-Mer is set amidst olive groves, a memorial to the only major Impressionist to settle in the south. Day 4: Villefranche-sur-Mer, St Jean Cap Ferrat, Nice. In Villefranche is the small Chapelle St-Pierre, decorated by Cocteau. Continue to St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to see the paintings, sculpture and furniture of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, a mansion set in attractive gardens. The afternoon is free in Nice or there is an optional visit to the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain with its excellent collection of post-war art. Day 5: St-Paul-de-Vence, Vence. The Maeght Foundation at St-Paul-de-Vence is renowned for its collections (Picasso, Hepworth, Miró, Arp, Giacometti, but not all works are shown at once) and for its architecture and setting. In the afternoon visit Chapelle du Rosaire, a Dominican chapel by Matisse. Day 6: St-Tropez, Biot. Drive west to St-Tropez, which has been popular with artists since Paul Signac settled here in 1892. The Musée de l’Annonciade is one of France’s finest collections of modern art (Signac, Maillol, Matisse, Bonnard, Vlaminck, Braque). Continue to Biot and visit the Musée National Fernand Léger, built to house the artist’s works bequeathed to his wife. Day 7: Le Cannet, Nice airport. The first museum dedicated to the works of Bonnard opened in Le Cannet in 2011. Fly from Nice arriving at London Heathrow at c. 4.30pm.
Practicalities MAINLAND EUROPE
Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,480 or £2,290 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,750 or 2,560 without flights. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel La Pérouse (leshotelsduroy.com): stylish 4-star hotel partially built into the cliff overlooking the Promenade des Anglais. Rooms are furnished in modern Provençal style and are at the back of the hotel. Please contact us for a quote for a sea view room. How strenuous? There is a fair amount of walking and standing around in museums. Average distance by coach per day: 40 miles Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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Combine this tour with, in October: Art in Madrid, 19–23 October (page 170). Antibes, oiliograph c. 1870. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Gardens of the Riviera In & around Menton & Nice
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6–12 April 2016 (mc 625) 7 days • £2,160 Lecturer: Caroline Holmes Inspiring historic gardens in spectacular settings, with exceptional growing conditions. Includes visits to some gardens not normally open to the public. Led by gardens historian Caroline Holmes. Based in Menton throughout.
Itinerary Some of these gardens can only be visited by special arrangement and the order of visits may vary. A couple are subject to confirmation. Day 1: Cagnes-sur-Mer, Menton. Fly at c. 12.00 noon from London Gatwick to Nice (British Airways). Renoir spent his last years in the farmhouse at Les Collettes near Cagnes-sur-Mer,
Monte Carlo, Monaco, wood engraving c. 1880 from Picturesque Europe Vol.III.
painting and sculpting from the olive terraces around the little garden. Transfer by coach to Menton where all six nights are spent. Day 2: Menton. Lawrence Johnston’s great garden La Serre de la Madone was made between the wars, and though much of the detail has gone, a romantic atmosphere still pervades the dramatic layout. The garden at Clos du Peyronnet is still owned by an Englishman who continues to develop it, blending plants from around the world in a setting of terraces, pools and pergolas. Day 3: St Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Les Cèdres is a great forest of exotic planting around a luxurious house built for Leopold III of Belgium and landscaped by Harold Peto. Four generations of the present owner’s family have brought the garden to its state of magnificent maturity. Still a secluded haven for the fortunate, the gardens at the Villa Ephrussi Rothschild, established by Beatrice de Rothschild, are rich and varied, and take full advantage of the exceptional position. The house contains a varied art collection. Day 4: Monaco, La Mortola (Italy). The astonishing outdoor collection of cacti and succulents at the Jardin Exotique in Monaco
overlooks the Principality and the sea from its clifftop walks. The Hanbury Botanic Gardens at La Mortola have been famous since their establishment in the 19th century. An unparalleled collection of specimens festoon the steep site. Curtains of plumbago and bougainvillea, perfumed parterres, pergolas, exotic pavilions and citrus orchards adorn this garden paradise on a private headland. Day 5: Menton. Perched on the hillside villa quarter of Garavan, Val Rahmeh is an early 20th-century villa surrounded by gardens of exceptional richness created by Maybud Campbell in the 1950s. Optional visit to nearby Fontana Rosa whose tiled benches still evoke the ‘Writers’ Garden’ created in 1921 by Vicente Blasco Ibaňez, successful playwright and novelist of Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse fame. Literary threads are drawn in from across the world, the surviving rotunda decorated with 100 tiles illustrating Cervantes’s Don Quixote encapsulates the mood perfectly. Alternatively spend some independent time in Menton; a chance to see the Musée Cocteau or his Salle des Mariages. Dinner is at 2-Michelin star restaurant, Mirazur. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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When Tobias Smollett arrived on the Riviera in 1763, he found himself ‘enchanted’ by a landscape ‘all cultivated like a garden’. A century later Dr Bennett’s discovery of the miraculous winter climate at Menton established the town as a haven for prosperous foreigners in need of climatic therapy. By 1900 this narrow strip of land between the Maritime Alps and the Mediterranean had been transformed into a paradise of villas, palatial hotels, seafront promenades and exotic vegetation. The migratory nature of the moneyed population meant that the region developed a character quite separate from local cultural traditions. In a landscape of olive and lemon groves, the villa gardens seem an eclectic collection, disconcerting for those who look for patterns of continuity, but best viewed as separate incidents taking advantage of the exceptional growing conditions. The Hanbury family famously made the steep Italian cliffs of La Mortola a garden of beauty and experiment. Lawrence Johnston, the maker of Hidcote, established himself in the hills above Menton where his romantically sited garden at La Serre de la Madone provided a home for his huge collection of exotics. The gardens of the villas in Garavan continue to evince the private pleasures of past and present owners of many nationalities and design persuasions. The French have added their own distinctive contribution to this artificial enclave. Renoir found new inspiration, as well as some relief from pain, in his garden at Cagnes-sur-Mer. Marguerite and Aimé Maeght established a magnificent modern art collection in a garden setting at St-Paul-de-Vence. Art of a different character adorns the rooms of the Villa Ephrussi Rothschild at St Jean-Cap-Ferrat where the gardens take advantage of an incomparable setting, viewing the Mediterranean through a filter of pines, palms and cypresses. Charles, Vicomte de Noailles, made a garden drawing together a rich variety of cultural influences at the Villa Noailles, looking out over the wooded hills near Grasse.
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Gardens of the Riviera continued
Music in Berlin
Art, architecture & music in the German capital france, germany
Day 6: St-Paul-de-Vence, Grasse. The Fondation Maeght near St-Paul provides a rare opportunity to view modernism in a garden context. There is a remarkable collection of paintings and sculpture. The gardens of the Villa Noailles were made during the postwar years in a distinctive style blending English, classical and other influences in a refreshing rural setting. Day 7: Menton, Nice. Visit a private garden in Menton, not normally open to the public (details will be provided). Transfer to Nice for some free time in the old town before the flight to London Gatwick, arriving at c. 5.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,160 or £2,050 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,420 or £2,310 without flights. Rooms with sea views are available on request. Two sharing, per person: £2,215 or £2,105 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,520 or £2,410 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Hotel Napoléon (napoleon-menton.com): modern, comfortable 4-star hotellocated near the border with Italy, looking back on Vieux Menton. Sea view rooms have balconies but suffer some noise from the busy coastal road. Rooms at the rear are quieter. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? A lot of walking and standing. Several gardens are on steep sites and paths are often slippery and uneven, without handrails. Sure-footedness is essential. Average distance by coach per day: 42 miles. Group size: between 10 to 22 participants. Combine this tour with Gastronomic EmiliaRomagna, 16–22 April (page 120).
Opera in Nice & Monte Carlo MAINLAND EUROPE
24–27 February 2016 (mc 576) This tour is currently full Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com Two performances at two of Europe’s most prestigious opera houses. In Monte Carlo: Norma (Bellini) with Cecilia Bartoli in the title role. In Nice: The Barber of Seville (Rossini) with Georgian mezzo Ketevan Kemoklidze. Led by Simon Rees, Dramaturg of Welsh National Opera from 1989–2012.
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Visits to two of the great galleries in Nice. Three nights in a good hotel in Nice.
Berlin, Unter den Linden, watercolour by E. Harrison Compton, publ. 1912.
3–6 March 2016 (mc 601) 4 days • £2,210 (including tickets to 4 performances) Lecturers: Professor Jan Smaczny & Tom Abbott Two performances at the Deutsche Oper: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Bellini) with Joyce DiDonato and Rienzi (Wagner). At the Philharmonie: The Berlin Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons with Truls Mørk (cello). At the Staatsoper im Schiller Theate: Daniel Barenboim (piano) Lisa Bathiashvili and Wolfram Brandl (violin). Excellent collections of fine and decorative arts and first-rate architecture. Talks on the operas by Professor Jan Smaczny, Hamilton Harty Chair of Music at Queen’s University, Belfast. Walks and gallery visits with Tom Abbott, a Berlin-based art historian. Berlin possesses some of the finest art galleries and museums in the world and offers the highest standards of music and opera performance. It is endowed with a range of historic architecture and is the site of Europe’s greatest concentration of first-rate contemporary architecture. Once again a national capital, it is also one of the most exciting cities on the Continent, recent and rapid changes pushing through a transformation without peacetime parallel. One of the grandest capitals in Europe for the first forty years of the last century, it then suffered appallingly from aerial bombardment and Soviet artillery. For the next forty years it was cruelly divided into two parts and became the focus of Cold War antagonism, a bizarre confrontation between an enclave of western libertarianism and hard-line Communism.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Since the Wall was breached in 1989 the city has been transformed beyond recognition. From being a largely charmless urban expanse still bearing the scars of war, it has become a vibrant, liveable city, the very model of a modern major metropolis. The two halves have been knitted together and cleaning and repair have revealed the patrimony of historic architecture to be among the finest in Central Europe. The art collections, formerly split, dispersed and often housed in temporary premises, are now coming together in magnificently restored or newly-built galleries. Berlin possesses international art and antiquities of the highest importance, as well as incomparable collections of German art. The number and variety of museums and the quality of their holdings make Berlin among the world’s most desired destinations for art lovers. With three major opera houses and several orchestras, Berlin is a city where outstanding performances can be virtually guaranteed.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 10.15am from London Heathrow to Berlin Tegel (British Airways). Take an orientation tour by coach: the New Embassy quarter, Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Pariser Platz and Unter den Linden. A lecture on the music and dinner before an evening performance at the Deutsche Oper: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Bellini), Paolo Arrivabeni (conductor), Joyce DiDonato (Romeo), Venera Gimadieva (Giulietta), Celso Albelo (Tebaldo), Ante Jerkunica (Lorenzo), Marko Mimica (Capellio). Day 2. Walk through the oldest part of the city to ‘Museums Island’, a group of major museum buildings. Visit the Neues Museum, the stunning new home to the Egyptian Museum, restored and recreated by British architect David Chipperfield and the Alte Nationalgalerie which superbly
“This was probably the best MRT holiday within Europe which I have done. The itinerary was brilliant, far exceeding my expectations.”
Day 3. Schloss Charlottenburg, the earliest major building in Berlin, is an outstanding Baroque and Rococo palace with splendid interiors. The Berggruen Collection of Picasso and classic modern art is also here. Evening performance at the Deutsche Oper: Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen (Wagner): Evan Rogister (conductor), Torsten Kerl (Rienzi), Martina Welschenbach (Irene), Tobias Kehrer (Steffano), Daniela Sindram (Adriano), Thomas Lehman (Paolo Orsini). Day 4. Morning lecture and concert at the Staatsoper with Daniel Barenboim (piano), Lisa Bathiashvili and Wolfram Brandl (violin), Claudius Popp (cello): Debussy, Violin Sonata in G minor and Four Préludes; Dutilleux, ‘Ainsi la nuit’; Franck: Sonata in A for violin and piano. Visit the Reichstag dome before lunch at the roofgarden restaurant. Fly from Berlin Tegel airport, returning to London Heathrow at c. 7.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,210 or £2,030 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,420 or £2,240 without flights. Included meals: lunch and 2 dinners with wine.
Music: tickets to 4 performances are included, costing c. £370. Accommodation. The Regent (theregentberlin. de): elegant hotel decorated in Regency style, close to Unter den Linden. Rooms are of a good size and standard. Singles are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is a reasonable amount of walking and standing around in art galleries. Average distance by coach per day: 12 miles. Group size: between 10 and 20 participants.
Professor Jan Smaczny Author, broadcaster and journalist who has published books on the Prague Provisional Theatre, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, Music in 19th-century Ireland and Bach’s B-minor Mass. He studied at Oxford University and the Charles University, Prague and is Hamilton Harty Chair of Music at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Opera in Berlin 1–6 May 2016 (mc 667) This tour is currently full Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com
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displays European painting of the 19th century including the finest collection of German Romantics. Free time before an evening concert at the Berliner Philharmonie: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons (conductor), Truls Mørk (cello): Berlioz, ‘Le carnaval romain’ and ‘Ouverture Caractéristique’, Op.9; Dutilleux, ‘Tout un monde lointain’ (‘A whole distant world’); Shostakovich, Symphony No.10 in E minor.
The Ring in Berlin 10–20 June 2016 (mc 711) This tour is currently full Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com
Tom Abbott Specialist in architectural history from the Baroque to the 20th century with a particular interest in German and American modern. Studied Art History in the USA and Paris and has a wide knowledge of the performing arts. Since 1987 he has lived in Berlin. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Wagner, after a drawing by E. de Liphart, 1889.
Berlin, Staatsoper, early-19th-century engraving.
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Gardens & Palaces of Berlin & Potsdam germany
24–29 May 2016 (mc 686) 6 days • £2,120 Lecturer: Steven Desmond Surveys one of Europe’s finest concentrations of palaces, historic gardens, parks and pavilions. Led by Steven Desmond, landscape consultant and architectural historian, specialist in the conservation of historic parks and gardens. Includes an excursion to Wörlitz, a key early landscape garden in Germany. Perhaps in compensation for nature’s parsimony, one of the greatest concentrations of landscape gardens in continental Europe is to be found in an area of unproductive sandy heathland, scrub forests and marshy plains. Poorly endowed with natural resources, Brandenburg was a minor German state when in the seventeenth century it acquired the much bigger and more prosperous state, which was then known as Prussia. But by dint of ruthless and energetic rule, backed by military prowess for which it became a byword, Brandenburg-Prussia became one of the most powerful states in Germany. By the middle of the eighteenth century, with Frederick the Great at the helm, it was successfully challenging the great powers of Europe.
Before the landscape movement came Baroque formality, the perfect expression of the absolutism of the time. Most of the innumerable princes of the highly disunited Germany had aspirations to magnificence manifested in the building of palaces and the creation of gardens – regarded as an indispensable extension of the other. As the most ambitious of all dynasties, with most to prove, the Kings of Prussia bestowed on posterity some of the grandest schemes in Europe. As well as being one of the most able of rulers and soldiers, Frederick was also a lover of art, music and gardening. Sanssouci, his retreat from the affairs of state at Potsdam, is a uniquely extensive and well-preserved complex of gardens and palaces, extended and embellished by his successors. Sanssouci is the Mecca for all lovers of historic gardens, but there are also other outstanding parks, gardens and palaces close by. Based for all five nights in Potsdam, this tour surveys the superb and elaborate gardens and palaces from Baroque to Romanticism created by the Hohenzollern royal family. There is also a day in the neighbouring state of Sachsen-Anhalt to see Wörlitz, the first and most important landscape garden in Germany.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 8.45am from London Heathrow to Berlin (British Airways). The afternoon is spent at Schloss Charlottenburg, the earliest major secular building in the Berlin area, an outstanding Baroque and Rococo summer palace with excellent interiors of the 1690s and 1750s (with Frederick II’s collection of paintings by Watteau). The first French-style formal garden in Germany extends into landscaped areas with a villa and mausoleum by Schinkel. Continue to Potsdam where all five nights are spent. Day 2. Intimacy and opulence jostle for space in Sanssouci. A full day is devoted to the 300 ha site which was in continuous additive development between 1744 and 1913. A string of contrasting palaces, the famous terrace garden and a series of ornamental buildings reflecting Italian, Chinese, Greek, Roman and Rococo tastes follow one another in this huge park.
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Day 3: Wörlitz. 90 km to the south, Wörlitz was the creation of Prince Franz of Anhalt-Dessau, his libertarian idealism contrasting with Frederick the Great’s expansionism. An extravagant homage to the Enlightenment, he created this earliest of English parks on the continent as the centrepiece of his new social order. His models in this great enterprise were Palladio, Brown and Rousseau, and the magnificent park is studded with mementos of Stourhead, Coalbrookdale and the idea of the ferme ornée. Even Vesuvius is here, overlooking its own Bay of Naples.
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Potsdam Palace, with figure added by Empress Frederick of Germany (1863), watercolour by William Callow, publ. 1908.
Day 4. Today we explore the parks which gather around the River Havel and dependent lakes between Potsdam and Berlin which, though created independently, took into account views of the other gardens. The great landscape designer Peter Josef Lenné (1789–1866) had a hand in all of them; Peacock Island, with its ‘ruined’ castle folly, is ‘the most peaceful and enchanted landscape…
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Steven Desmond Landscape consultant, architectural historian and a specialist in the conservation of historic parks and gardens. He broadcasts for the BBC, advises the National Trust, writes for Country Life, lectures at Buckingham and Oxford universities and is a Fellow of the Institute of Horticulture. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. in the whole of Germany’; the gloriously Gothic garden of Babelsberg, where Lenné collaborated with Prince Pückler, evolved around a WindsorCastle style Schloss and is as different as can be imagined from Sanssouci; the villa of KleinGlienicke is a dream of Italy, its gardens strewn with Neoclassical garden buildings. Day 5. The Neuer Garten, laid out from 1786 by Friedrich Wilhelm II, embraces the artfully informal, English landscaped style, while the lakeside Marble Palace at its centre is modest and playful and interestingly furnished. The Elizabethan-style Schloss Cecilienhof (1913–17) was site of the Potsdam Conference 1945. Free afternoon, opportunity perhaps to explore the town of Potsdam with its lively Dutch Quarter and Schinkel cathedral. Day 6. Walk once more though Park Sanssouci to the delicious Neo-Classical retreat of Charlottenhof and the adjoining Roman Baths. A sequence of Roman and Renaissance style rooms, patios and baths, this part was once a separate estate and was laid out by Lenné and Schinkel. Depart for Berlin Airport at midday, arriving Heathrow c. 5.45pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,120 or £1,840 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,250 or £1,970 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 3 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hotel am Luisenplatz, Potsdam (hotel-luisenplatz.de): comfortable 4-star hotel on the edge of Sanssouci park, overlooking the town square. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? The parks are large and the tour would not be suitable for anyone who has any difficulties with everyday walking. Average distance by coach per day: 26 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Great Houses of the East, 12–20 May (page 30).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Berlin: New Architecture The unification of a capital
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28 June–2 July 2016 (mc 735) 5 days • £1,720 Lecturer: Tom Abbott Europe’s biggest concentration of contemporary architecture. The list of architects virtually comprises a roll-call of the world’s leading architectural practices. Access to private places, and time for some of the standard sights. Leading architectural historian, Tom Abbott. ©Gary718/Shutterstock.
Itinerary Because this itinerary is dependent on a number of appointments and special arrangements, the order and even the content of the tour may vary. Day 1. Fly at c. 11.00am from London Heathrow to Berlin (British Airways). The Catholic parish church of St Canisius is based on strictly geometrical patterns enlivened through light. Foster’s library at the Free University is inspired by the human brain. Continue to the hotel, located on Unter den Linden. Day 2. Post-War and post-Wall Berlin has been all about melding old with new, and ‘Mediaspree’, was established to house the media industries along the banks of the River Spree. The devastated 19th- and early 20th-century industrial landscape has been reborn, with striking contemporary additions, including a hotel, its dramatic arm cantilevered over the water. The art scene in Berlin began its renaissance in the mid-90s with a migration to the Scheunenviertel (Barn Quarter) in the old East, now home to a multitude of highfashion galleries, bars, and cafés.
Day 3. Memory. Germany has engaged with its troubled history with as much energy as its dynamic present. The Topography of Terror sits on a site that once housed the SS and Gestapo headquarters. Here, the brief was to commemorate, but not glorify. Berlin architect
Ursula Wilms and landscape Heinz W. Hallmann responded with The Documentation Centre, a stark grey metal box contained within low concrete walls and an unkempt landscape. Later political scars are addressed in Bernauer Strasse (the street which the Wall ran along) where the Berlin Wall Memorial, by Stuttgart architects Kohlhoff & Kohlhoff, uses two six-meter-high corroded steel walls as symbols of the ‘Iron Curtain’. The Chapel of Reconciliation, replacing a 19th-century church cleansed from the former ‘death strip’, provides an aetherial monument in pressed clay and wooden rods (by Berlin architects Peter Sassenroth and Rudolf Reitermann and Austrian clay artist Martin Rauch). Berlin has become a European hub of science and technology and contemporary architectural contributions reflect this dominance, with an exciting use of materials and technologies. Visits to the Otto Bock Science Center, whose whiteribboned facade represents human muscle fibre in 3D; Bothe Richter Teherani’s renewable-energypowered EnergieForum; and The Sony Center, German-American firm Jahn’s powerful essay in glass and light. The controversial Holocaust Memorial by Peter Eisenmann is nearby. Visit the Jewish Museum, Daniel Libeskind’s jagged, lacerated, powerfully emotive extension to a Baroque palace. Potsdamer Platz, before the war a nodal point in the city centre but subsequently virtually open wasteland. Now it is at the centre of a 50-acre development and a conspectus of international contemporary architecture with contributions from Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, Helmut Jahn, Hans Kollhoff, Rafael Moneo and Arata Isozaki. Buildings of a wide range of use and design, interconnected with public atria, fill the segments and step up to the towers which front the Platz itself. Day 4. Triumph, defeat, unity: perhaps no other building is imbued with such mixed associations while remaining the unmistakable symbol of a city: isolated since the war, politically and architecturally, the Brandenburg Gate again is
integrated into a stately square, Pariser Platz. Despite strict planning regulations, buildings of individuality and distinction have arisen including the chirpy British Embassy by Michael Wilford, the DG Bank by Frank Gehry and the French Embassy by Christiande Portzamparc. Planned by Axel Schultes and Charlotte Frank, the ‘Band des Bundes’ is a long rectangle of government buildings including the Chancellery which twice crosses the meandering River Spree. The main railway station by Gerkan, Marg & Partners, which opened in June 2006, celebrates unification through its form and transparent appearance. Another potent Berlin symbol is the Reichstag, a ponderous 1880s structure scarred by the vicissitudes of the 20th century, the shell now brilliantly rehabilitated by Norman Foster and topped by the famous glass dome. Dinner is at the rooftop restaurant. Day 5. The ‘Kulturforum’ was planned in the 1960s by the West as an area for cultural institutions and became a site for Mies van der Rohe’s modern-movement New National Gallery and Hans Scharoun’s original and organic Philharmonie (concert hall); the last building to be added was the Gemäldegalerie by Hilmer & Sattler which superbly displays one of the world’s greatest collections of Old Masters. Fly to London, arriving Heathrow c. 3.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,720 or £1,400 without flights. Single occupancy: £1,900 or £1,580 without flights. Included meals: 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Westin Grand (westingrandberlin.com): stylish but traditional hotel close to Unter den Linden. Rooms are of good size and excellent standard.
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Elsewhere, antique and modern sit easily side by side. Highlights include: the German Centre for Architecture, classic Jugendstil reworked with Mies-inspired additions; the L40 or Black-Maze Building, a minimalist sculpture in black-tapered cubes by Roger Bundschuh and Philipp Baumhauer and artist Cosima von Bonin; the New Apartment, a sinuous contemporary interpretation of the Berliner Wohnhaus, by J. Mayer H. Architects. Berlin’s renewal has involved some of the greatest names in post-War architecture. We visit I.M. Pei’s dazzling glass-fronted addition to the German Historical Museum; David Chipperfield’s Neues Museum, a mediation on damage, with fragments of fresco, carving and old brick work exposed alongside new construction; the Jakob-and-Wilhelm Grimm university library, the great, glass-roofed reading room, a dramatic, porous space; Harris + Kurrle’s cuboid Archaeological Centre citing Egyptian temple architecture at the National Museum of Berlin’s cluster of archaeological museums.
Berlin, dome of the Reichstag building.
How strenuous? This is a short but tiring tour. There is a lot of walking and very little free time. Average distance by coach per day: 10 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden
Art & architecture in Brandenburg & Saxony germany
22–30 September 2016 (md 840) 9 days • £2,840 Lecturer: Dr Jarl Kremeier Chief cities of Brandenburg-Prussia and Saxony, rich in fine and decorative arts. Internationally important historic and contemporary architecture. Rebuilding and restoration continues to transform the cities. Led by Dr Jarl Kremeier, an art historian specialising in 17th- to 19th-century architecture and decorative arts. Berlin is an upstart among European cities. Until the seventeenth century it was a small town of little importance, but by dint of ruthless and energetic rule, backed by the military
prowess for which it became a byword, the hitherto unimportant state of BrandenburgPrussia became one of the most powerful in Germany. By the middle of the eighteenth century, with Frederick the Great at the helm, it was successfully challenging the great powers of Europe. Ambitious campaigns were instituted to endow the capital with grandeur appropriate to its new status. Palaces, public buildings and new districts were planned and constructed. At nearby Potsdam, Frederick’s second capital, he created the park of Sanssouci, among the finest ensembles of gardens, palaces and pavilions to be found anywhere. Early in the nineteenth century Berlin became of international importance architecturally when Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the greatest of Neo-Classical architects, designed several buildings there. Berlin has museums of art and antiquities of the highest importance. The Bode Museum
and Gemäldegalerie are among the best of their kind and the recently opened Neues Museum, designed by David Chipperfield, provides an excellent setting for the Egyptian collection. The reunited city is now one of the most exciting in Europe. A huge amount of work has been done to knit together the two halves of the city and to rebuild and restore monuments which had been neglected for decades. Dresden was the capital of the Electorate of Saxony. Though it suffered terrible destruction during the War, rebuilding and restoration allow the visitor to appreciate once again something of its former beauty. The great domed Frauenkirche has now been triumphantly reconstructed. Moreover, the collections of fine and applied arts are magnificent. The Old Masters Gallery in Dresden is of legendary richness, the Green Vault is the finest surviving treasury of goldwork and objets d’art, and the Albertinum reopened in 2010 to display a fine collection of nineteenth and twentieth-century art.
Itinerary Day 1: Dresden. Fly at c. 10.45am from London Heathrow to Berlin (British Airways) and drive to Dresden. Introductory lecture before dinner. First of four nights in Dresden. Day 2: Dresden. A morning walk around the old centre of Dresden. Visit the great domed Frauenkirche, the Protestant cathedral. The Zwinger is a unique Baroque confection, part pleasure palace, part arena for festivities and part museum for cherished collections. Visit the excellent porcelain museum and the fabulously rich Old Masters Gallery, particularly strong on Italian and Netherlandish painting. Day 3: Dresden. Start at the Hofkirche, the Catholic church commissioned by Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, to counterbalance the building of the Frauenkirche. The Green Vault of the Residenzschloss displays one of the world’s finest princely treasuries. Some free time for independent exploration before an afternoon visit to the New Masters Gallery in the Albertinum.
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Day 4: Dresden, Pillnitz. Take a boat trip to Pillnitz, a summer palace in Chinese Rococo style, with park, gardens and collections of decorative art. Drive back to Dresden for an afternoon visit of the Palais im Großen Garten, the first major Baroque building in the city.
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Day 5: Dresden, Berlin. Stroll in DresdenNeustadt on the right bank of the Elbe, little damaged in the War, taking in amongst others the Baroque Quarter around Königsstrasse, a Japanese Palace and the Dresden Museum for Romanticism. After lunch travel to Berlin by coach. Survey the historic architecture along and around Unter den Linden: the Arsenal, Schinkel’s Guardhouse, Frederick the Great’s Opera House, the Gendarmenmarkt with twin churches and concert hall. First of four nights in Berlin. Dresden , lithograph after Samuel Prout 1839. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 6: Berlin. Spend the morning on ‘Museums Island’: the Altes Museum, a major Neo-Classical building by Schinkel, displays the collection of
Cold War Berlin
Clash of ideologies, clinch of superpowers
Day 7: Potsdam. The enclosed park of Sanssouci was created as a retreat from the affairs of state by Frederick the Great. It consists of gardens, parkland, palaces, pavilions and auxiliary buildings. In the afternoon visit his relatively modest single-storey palace atop terraces of fruit trees, the exquisite Chinese teahouse and the large and imposing Neues Palais. Drive through Potsdam town centre with its Dutch quarter and cathedral by Schinkel. Day 8: Berlin. Drive to Schloss Charlottenburg, the earliest major building in Berlin, an outstanding summer palace built with a Baroque core and Rococo wings, fine interiors, paintings by Watteau, extensive gardens, pavilions and a mausoleum. The Berggruen Collection of Picasso and classic modern art is also here and has recently reopened after extensive renovation works. In the evening visit Norman Foster’s glass dome capping the Reichstag and have dinner in the roof-top restaurant. Day 9: Berlin. Europe’s greatest building project in the 1990s, Potsdamer Platz showcases an international array of architects (Piano, Isozaki, Rogers, Moneo). Scattered around the nearby ‘Kulturforum’ are museums, the State Library and the Philharmonie concert hall (Hans Scharoun 1956–63). The Gemäldegalerie houses one of Europe’s major collections of Old Masters. Choose between the Neue Nationalgalerie (changing exhibitions in a Mies van der Rohe building) or the Museum of Musical Instruments. Fly from Berlin to Heathrow, arriving c. 3.30pm.
5–9 June 2016 (mc 706) 5 days • £1,770 Lecturer: Patrick Mercer obe Historical examination of the divided city where East and West confronted each other for 44 years. Politics global and local, life in the DDR and in the western enclave. Led by a military historian and former politician who served as an army officer in Berlin. For nearly forty years after World War Two the world lived with the incessant anxiety of annihilation through the doctrine of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’. There seemed little likelihood of compromise and none of conciliation between the two great geopolitical blocs, and many of the wars around the globe were superpower conflicts by proxy. But there was nothing vicarious about the confrontation in Berlin. Here military personnel on both sides looked each other in the eye from a few feet away. Here, it was widely believed, the Third World War was most likely to begin. Though only a few traces remain, the Wall is the most striking memorial of that bizarre and frightening era. Staggering in its brazenness and cruelty, it was erected in 1961 as the culmination of attempts by the eastern sector to stop its citizens fleeing to the West, and was continually refined until its sudden breach in 1989. That is but one thread in an extraordinary and multi-faceted story which began in Year Zero, 1945. Concentrated bombardments had reduced Berlin to ruins with most of the houses flattened or uninhabitable (it took 12 years to clear the rubble), thousands starved to death each day, there was an almost complete breakdown of law and order and rape by Soviet soldiery was on a horrific scale.
Cold War Berlin is also a story of global politics, of visits by Kennedy, Khrushchev, Gorbachev and Reagan, of appeasement and resistance, of the 462-day Blockade (1948–9) and of how a devastated and deeply unstable city became a heroic beacon of western values. There is also the story of the manipulation of democratic processes to impose a tyrannical regime in the Soviet sector; a proper historical analysis overturns the currently fashionable nostalgia for the DDR. Berlin was also of course the spy capital of the world, the peculiarities of its administration allowing for clandestine meetings and exchanges of information. This is the world of John Le Carré and Len Deighton, though fiction should not be taken as fact. Some of what went on is still officially secret.
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Classical antiquities; the Alte Nationalgalerie houses an excellent collection of 19th-century paintings and sculptures; the Neues Museum (elaborately restored under the direction of British architect David Chipperfield) is the new home of the Egyptian Museum (famous for the bust of Nefertiti); the Bode Museum houses a splendid, comprehensive collection of European sculpture, including works by Riemenschneider, as well as Byzantine art.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly from London Heathrow at c. 10.45am to Berlin Tegel (British Airways). Drive around the city to Karl-Marx Allee (Stalinallee until 1956), a showpiece boulevard of socialist monumentalism. The Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse retains one of the few complete sections with double wall and death strip. Alexanderplatz and the Marx-Engels Forum are open spaces at the heart of the Soviet sector, dominated by the Television Tower. Day 2: Berlin, Kunersdorf. Drive east of Berlin to the Cold War Museum, whose permanent exhibition is housed close to a nuclear bunker. In the afternoon drive to Treptow to visit the Soviet War Memorial where 300,000 are buried, a salutary reminder of another side of the story. Some free time for the DDR Museum or one of the great art museums. Day 3: Berlin. Visit the Gedenkstätte Hohenschönhausen, a Soviet then Stasi (secret
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,840 or £2,660 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,210 or £3,030 without flights.
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Included meals: 2 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Gewandhaus Hotel, Dresden (gewandhaus-hotel.de): a traditional 5-star hotel in a reconstructed Baroque building. Regent Hotel, Berlin (theregentberlin.de): an elegant 5-star hotel decorated in Regency style, located close to Unter den Linden. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking required and standing around in museums. Average distance by coach per day: 44 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Music in the Saxon Hills, 12–19 September (page 92). What else is included in the price? See page 6.
GDR soldier Conrad Schumann escapes to West Berlin, 15 August 1961. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Cold War Berlin continued
The Iron Cur tain The Cold War & after
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Patrick Mercer obe Military historian. He read History at Oxford and then spent 25 years in the army, achieving the rank of colonel, and subsequently worked for BBC Radio 4 as Defence Correspondent and as a journalist. He was MP for Newark from 2001 to 2014 and is the author of two books on the Battle of Inkerman. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. police) prison for political deviants, and the Stasi HQ at Normannenstrasse, largely left as it was in 1990 and revealing the extraordinary scale of surveillance of DDR citizens. Checkpoint Charlie was the infamous crossing point between American and Soviet sectors (marked by a replica hut and museum), and Zimmerstrasse was the site of the Fechter shooting which shocked the world. Day 4: Berlin, Potsdam. Drive to Potsdam and visit Cecilienhof, the English-style mansion built for the Crown Prince in 1913 and scene in 1945 of the Potsdam Conference (where Atlee replaced Churchill midway). Then there is a special walk along the site of the Wall to the Glienicke Bridge on the south-western edge of Berlin. Straddling the border, it was used for the exchange of prisoners. The Allied Museum in Zehlendorf well illustrates the western occupation. Day 5: Berlin. Recently restored, Schloss Schönhausen contains the residence of Wilhelm Pieck, President of the DDR. Pariser Platz and around: the Brandenburg Gate, the most potent symbol of tragedy and triumph, the Russian (formerly Soviet) embassy, the Soviet War Memorial in the British sector. At the Reichstag the Cold War symbolically came to an end with the reunification ceremony in 1990. Lunch is here in the restaurant under its great glass dome. On the way to the airport stop at Schöneberg Town Hall, seat of Berlin city government of the western sectors and site of Kennedy’s speech: ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’. Return to Heathrow c. 5.45pm.
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Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,770 or £1,590 without flights. Single occupancy: £1,960 or £1,780 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 3 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. The Westin Grand Berlin (westingrandberlin.com): stylish but traditional hotel close to Unter den Linden. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking is required and standing around is unavoidable. Average distance by coach per day: 32 miles (primarily on two days of the tour.) Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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Combine this tour with Flanders Fields, 10–13 June (page 54).
Graz, photograph by G.F. Randall.
19 September–3 October 2016 (md 849) 15 days • £4,420 Lecturer: Neil Taylor A unique and exciting journey from the Baltic to the Adriatic. Criss-crosses between west and east, assessing the impact of the Iron Curtain on both sides. Allows time to see the many pre-20th-century buildings and museums and art galleries along the route, often with local guides. Led by Neil Taylor, a historian, writer and leading expert on the former communist world. The shape of post-war Europe was determined at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945 – unwittingly, to some extent, because the reality of division between East and West was much more
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profound, more brutal and more permanent than had been envisaged by the western leaders. A year later, when the Soviet Union was officially and popularly still the heroic ally in the victorious war against Hitler, Winston Churchill in his Fulton speech stated that an ‘Iron Curtain’ had descended across Europe; rarely has a statesman bestowed on language a phrase which was to have such widespread and potent use. Quite suddenly, and to most observers quite unexpectedly, the Iron Curtain vanished in the autumn of 1989. The barbed wire came down, minefields were cleared, watchtowers disarmed. But this removal of the physical barrier was merely symptomatic of profound changes in the lands behind the Iron Curtain, where governments and institutions collapsed and the lives of tens of millions of people were fundamentally changed. Soon free elections were held, Germany was united and market economics prevailed, binding ‘East’ Europe – which we have
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The designation after place names (W) or (E) refers to their location west or east of the Iron Curtain. Day 1: Lübeck. Fly at c. 1.30pm from London Heathrow to Hamburg (British Airways). Drive to Lübeck (W), the great port on the Baltic, leader of the Hanseatic League and home of Thomas Mann. One of the loveliest cities in Germany, there are mediaeval gateways, Gothic churches and splendid merchants’ houses. First of three nights in Lübeck.
Day 5: Quedlinburg. Two thousand timber houses in Quedlinburg’s ‘new’ town, all
Day 9: Plzeň, Cesky Krumlov. Continue through South Bohemia, a region of rolling hills, woods and lakes. Since the Middle Ages there had been a German-speaking majority in the area until they were expelled after the War. Visit the recently opened General Patton Museum in Plzen, which examines the final days of WWII in the area, and then the Baroque theatre in Cesky Krumlov (E). Overnight Cesky Krumlov. Day 10: Vienna, Bratislava. Enter Austria and cross the Danube for one of the briefest visits to Vienna (W) in the history of tourism. Visit the splendid Belvedere Palace, scene of the 1955 treaty which saw the withdrawal of the Soviets from Austria, and now home to the national collection of Austrian art: mediaeval, Baroque, Biedermeier and Secessionist, Klimt and Schiele. An afternoon walk takes in buildings most significant to postWar Vienna, ending at The Third Man Museum. Drive to Bratislava (E) in Slovakia, the ‘youngest’ capital city in Europe. Overnight Bratislava. Day 11: Bratislava, Sopron. Bratislava (Pressburg), has a sequence of restored streets and squares but has also retained something of a pre-1989 feel. Continue to Hungary and visit the Andau bridge, the escape route for over 70,000 Hungarian refugees in October 1956. Visit the site of the August 1989 pan-European picnic, used by several thousand East Germany holidaymakers then in Hungary to escape to the West. Overnight Sopron (E).
Lübeck
Wismar
Hamburg
G e r m a ny
POLAND Marienborn Quedlinburg
Weimar Coburg Cheb Mariánské Lázne Plzeň
Czech Republic Cesky Krumlov
Slovakia
Vienna Bratislava
Austria
Sopron Koszeg Ják
Graz
Italy Venice
Kobarid Udine Trieste
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Day 4: Marienborn. Drive to Marienborn for a guided tour of the zonal border, here the marshalling yard of East-West traffic; though abandoned to weeds, it retains the extensive installations of border control and there is now also a fascinating border museum. Overnight Quedlinburg (E).
Day 8: Mariánské Lázne. Spend a leisurely day in Mariánské Lázne (E), once (as Marienbad) one of the most fashionable spa towns in Europe. With opulent 19th-century hotels, apartments and parks, and set among pine-clad hills, it exudes a melancholy grandeur. Now in the former Habsburg Empire, there is a new range of historical perspectives to consider, including the impact of the 1938 German occupation of the Sudetenland. Overnight Mariánské Lázne.
c. 50 miles
Gorizia
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splendour of the Gründerzeit architecture from the late 19th century, when Graz was at its most prosperous. Many earlier sacred buildings and contemporary public architecture will be seen as well, including the 15th century cathedral and the double-spiral staircase at the regional parliament building. In the afternoon drive through Slovenia towards the Adriatic and cross into Italy. First of two nights in Udine (W). Day 14: Kobarid, Gorizia. Most of the day is spent in Slovenia (E), until 1918 known as the Duchy of Carniola and until 1991 the most progressive and independent part of Yugoslavia. The Italian front in WWI hardly features in histories of that era, but the trench warfare in the mountainous area close to Kobarid (Caporetto) was as brutal as that in France. Visit the battlefields and adjoining museum, then drive to Gorizia, a town now divided between Italy and Slovenia. Overnight Udine. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Day 3: Wismar. In GDR times the neglect of Wismar became increasingly obvious, despite its worldwide international shipping links. Now its former vitality has returned, as a glimpse at its market square will show. It was, in the 14th century, as important as Lübeck in the Hanseatic League and in the 18th century became Sweden’s most important port on the southern Baltic coast. Overnight Lübeck.
Day 7: Coburg, Cheb. The ducal house of SaxeCoburg-Gotha supplied an amazing number of consorts to royal houses throughout Europe. In Coburg (W) see the Ehrenburg, home of Prince Albert. In the afternoon cross into the former Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, and visit the charming town of Cheb (E). First of two nights in Mariánské Lázne.
Day 13: Graz, Udine. An enchanting streetscape with outstanding buildings across undulating terrain makes Graz one of the loveliest towns in Central Europe. A morning walk reveals the
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Day 2: Lübeck. A leisurely morning exploration of the city includes St Mary, the largest of brick Gothic churches, and the town hall. Afternoon at leisure to explore the mediaeval town, with the St Annen Museum of mediaeval art and furnishings, and the Buddenbrooks House. Overnight Lübeck.
Day 6: Weimar. Remote from warring factions in the big cities and redolent of the great names of German culture (Bach, Goethe, Schiller, Liszt), Weimar (E) gave its name to the constitution which ineffectively governed Germany for 14 years after the First World War. There is free time in the afternoon: select from the ducal palace (with picture collection), the ‘Herder’ church, the Bauhaus Museum and Goethe’s house. Continue south from Thuringia (E) to Bavaria (W). Overnight Coburg.
Day 12: Sopron, Ják, Köszeg. See the Gothic Goat Church, the 17th century fire tower and the Storno collection of 19th century art and furniture in Sopron. The rest of the is spent driving through Hungary close to the border, scene of the flight of 200,000 refugees after the 1956 uprising. Stop to visit the Romanesque church at Ják (E), and small town of Köszeg. Cross into the Austrian province of Styria from where Cossack troops were forcibly repatriated in 1945. Overnight Graz (W).
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Itinerary
fortunately spared from WWII, show the best of the Fachwerk style from the 14th to the 19th century. The Romanesque church at Quedlinburg possesses a marvellous treasury, key pieces of which had been purloined by a Texan soldier who kept them at home until his death in 1980. They were returned in 1993. Overnight Quedlinburg.
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now learnt again to call Central Europe – to the rest of the free world. This tour is a study of one of the most fascinating and bizarre episodes in recent European history in the form of a thousand-mile journey through the heart of Europe from Lübeck on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, more or less along the line of the Iron Curtain. Of the divide itself scarcely a trace remains, but we visit places affected by the division and by its ending, and those in which the history expressed by the Iron Curtain was made. There are side expeditions to places significant in the history and life of this great swathe of Europe. The principal themes of the tour are history and contemporary affairs, and it is on these that the lecturer’s discourse will concentrate. But the tour does nevertheless provide an extraordinary range of visual pleasures. Passing through seven countries, there is much to see in a variety of towns, cities and villages. Having been on the road to nowhere for most of the post-war period, many places escaped disfiguring over-development, and now energetic restoration is doing wonders to the areas formerly in the East. Moreover, the journey for most of the way is scenically enthralling. The obvious concomitant are long coach journeys, an average of 100 miles per day.
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The Iron Cur tain continued
Wagner in Leipzig
Das Liebesverbot, Die Feen, Rienzi germany
Day 15: Trieste. During six hundred years of Austrian rule, Trieste (W) became the largest seaport in the Mediterranean, and was bitterly disputed between Italy and Yugoslavia in the immediate post-war years. Overlooking city and sea, the citadel has Roman remains, fortress and Byzantine mosaics. Grand streets and squares with Neo-Classical buildings give rise to the epithet ‘Vienna-on-Sea’. Return to London Gatwick from Venice at c. 7.00pm.
extravagance’ and the grandiloquence of the music aptly reflects the subject: the rise and fall of the Roman tribune, Cola Rienzi. The overture and Act V Prayer are often performed, but there is much stirring music elsewhere in the opera too. The musical history of Leipzig encompasses not only Wagner but also J.S. Bach, Telemann, Robert and Clara Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Mahler. Morning walks and visits investigate this heritage, and also take in the art and architecture of the city.
Practicalities
Itinerary
Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,420 or £4,280 without flights. Single occupancy: £4,840 or £4,700 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch, 11 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Radisson Blu Senator Hotel, Lübeck (radissonblu.com/hotel-luebeck): modern, 4-star hotel just outside the old city gates. Romantik Hotel am Brühl, Quedlinburg (hotelambruehl.de): restored heritage building near the historical heart, comfortably furnished. Romantik Hotel Goldene Traube, Coburg (goldenetraube.com): comfortable 4-star historic hotel. The Falkensteiner Grand Spa Hotel, Mariánské Lázne (falkensteiner.com): modern hotel in the centre of town. Hotel Růže, Cesky Krumlov (janhotels.cz): characterful 5-star hotel in a converted 16th-century Jesuit Monastery. Radisson Blu Carlton, Bratislava (radissonblu. com): modern, 4-star hotel on one of the old town squares. Hotel Wollner, Sopron (wollner.hu): an old, established hotel in the centre, some rooms are furnished with antiques. Hotel zum Dom, Graz (domhotel.co.at): 4-star hotel in a 16thcentury building with galleried courtyard (now roofed). Hotel Astoria, Udine (hotelfriuli.udine. it): well established four-star hotel in one of the principal squares of the centre of town. How strenuous? Very long drives and frequent changes of hotel are a feature of this tour. Days begin at 8.30 or 9.00am; arrival at the hotel twice is after 7.00pm. However, there are three relatively restful days. There is a lot of walking. Average distance by coach per day: 101 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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What else is included in the price? See page 6.
‘At the head of a large body of men rode Rienzi’, watercolour by F. Lecke, publ. 1915.
20–23 May 2016 (mc 684) 4 days • £1,710 (including tickets to 3 performances) Lecturer: Barry Millington A rare opportunity to see three early Wagner operas performed in the composer’s birthplace. Stay in the city’s best 5-star hotel. Talks on the operas by Barry Millington, chief music critic for London’s Evening Standard and editor of The Wagner Journal. The three early operas of Wagner – Die Feen, Das Liebesverbot and Rienzi – are all in their different ways remarkably accomplished works for a young composer new to the genre, and yet they are too rarely heard. This is a unique opportunity to experience all three over a long weekend in the city of Wagner’s birth, Leipzig. Die Feen (The Fairies), based on a story about a mortal’s tragic love for a fairy by the eighteenth-century Venetian dramatist Carlo Gozzi, offers intriguing pre-echoes of topoi – notably redemption and the forbidden question – which were to recur in later Wagner works. The music is firmly rooted in the German Romantic tradition, with frequent references to Weber and Marschner. The stylistic assurance of the twentyyear-old composer is undeniable. Begun in the same year as Die Feen was completed (1834), Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love) essays the sparkling French–Italian style of Auber and Bellini. Based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, but relocated to sun-kissed Sicily, Das Liebesverbot exposes the hypocrisy of the German regent Friedrich, a puritanical tyrant whose attempt to proscribe all licentious behaviour is rejected by the people. In Rienzi, Wagner grappled with a third style, in this case French grand opera, in the hope of conquering the Paris Opéra. His aim was to outstrip all previous examples with ‘sumptuous
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Day 1. Fly at c. 10.45am from London Heathrow to Berlin and drive to Leipzig. Das Liebesverbot. Robin Engelen (conductor), Aron Stiehl (director), Lydia Easley (Isabella), Olena Tokar (Mariana), Magdalena Hinterdobler (Dorella), Reinhard Dorn (Brighella), Martin Petzold (Pontio Pilato), Dan Karlström (Luzio), Guy Mannheim (Claudio), Jürgen Kurth (Angelo), Sejong Chang (Danieli), Tuomas Pursio (Friedrich). Day 2. A guided walk around the city centre includes the Marketplace and Old City Hall, Stock Exchange, the churches of St Nicholas and St Thomas, and the Bach Museum. Free afternoon. Die Feen. Ulf Schirmer (conductor), Renaud Doucet (director), Chistiane Libor (Ada), Magdalena Hinterdobler (Zemina), Jean Broekhuizen (Farzana), Dara Hobbs (Lora), Jennifer Porto (Drolla), Sejong Chang (The Fairy King/Groma), Endrik Wottrich (Arindal), Nikolay Borchev (Morald), Milcho Borovinov (Gernot), Roland Schubert (Harald). Day 3. A walk led by a guide from the Leipzig Richard Wagner Society focuses on significant places in the composer’s life. Rienzi. Mathias Foremny (conductor), Nicolas Joel (director), Vida Mikneviciute (Irene), Kathrin Göring (Adriano), Sandra Janke (The Messenger), Stefan Vinke (Cola Rienzi), Martin Petzold (Baroncelli), Milcho Borovinov (Steffano Colonna), Jürgen Kurth (Paolo Orsini), Sejong Chang (Raimondo). Day 4. Fly from Berlin to London Heathrow airport, arriving c. 3.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,710 or £1,540 without flights. Single occupancy: £1,890 or £1,720 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 2 dinners with wine. Music: 3 opera tickets (first category) are included, costing c. £215. Accommodation. Hotel Fürstenhof (hotelfuerstenhofleipzig.com): the finest hotel in the city. A converted 19th-century building, it is filled with antique furniture. It is situated 20 minutes’ walk from the Opera House. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Vehicular access is restricted in the city centre and participants are expected to walk to the opera house. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
The Leipzig Bach Festival
Music by J.S. Bach, his sons & contemporaries
A total of 12 concerts (7 full length, and 5 shorter performances) featuring mainly the music of J.S. Bach and contemporaries. Led by Professor John Butt obe, Professor of Music at Glasgow University, director of the Dunedin Consort, and guest-conductor with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Guided walks to explore the architecture and museums of this historic and lively city.
Day 1. Fly at c. 9.15am from London Heathrow to Berlin (Germanwings). Drive to Leipzig (c. 3 hours), arriving at the hotel in time for an introductory talk before dinner. Evening concert at the Thomaskirche, Christian Tetzlaff (violin): J.S. Bach, Partitas and Sonatas (BWV 1001–1003). Day 2. The first of two walking tours to see the main monuments of Leipzig. A large market place lies at the heart of this ancient trading city, with the Renaissance arcaded Old Town Hall along one side. Around is a network of alleys, courtyards and arcades, and the former stock exchange. The walk finishes at the Bach Archive, which has a good public display. Free afternoon. Evening concert at the Nikolaikirche with the RIAS Kammerchor, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Sir Roger Norrington (conductor): Händel, ‘Ode for St Cecilia’s Day’ (HWV 76); Haydn, Mass in B flat (Hob. XXII: 14); J.S. Bach, Sanctus in D (BWV 232III). Day 3. A second walk concentrating on Leipzig’s musical heritage includes the Grassi Museum of Musical Instruments, one of the most important of its kind in the world, the little museum in the house where Mendelssohn lived and died, the Gewandhaus (concert hall), opera house and the Wagner memorial. Evening concert at the Thomaskirche with the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner (director): J.S. Bach, St Matthew Passion (BWV 244b, 1729 arrangement). Day 4. All-day excursion to Halle, another historic trading town, and the birthplace of Handel. At its centre is the Marktkirche, an outstandingly beautiful example of the very
Professor John Butt obe Lecturer, writer and musician, specialising in historical performance. Professor of Music at Glasgow University, director of the Dunedin Consort, and guest-conductor with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment among others. He was awarded the OBE in 2013. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. last phase of Gothic, with coevil paintings and furnishings. After lunch visit the Handel Museum which documents his life. Return to Leipzig for an evening concert at the Thomaskirche with the Thomanerchor Leipzig, Staatskapelle Weimar, Gotthold Schwarz (conductor), Julia Sophie Wagner (soprano), Nicole Pieper (mezzosoprano), Martin Lattke (tenor), Henryk Böhm (baritone): Reger, ‘Der Mensch lebt und bestehet’, Op.138 No.1; Brahms, ‘Begräbnisgesang’, Op.13; Reger: ‘O Tod, wie bitter bist du’, Op.110 No.3; Reger, Requiem, Op.144b; J.S. Bach, ‘Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis’, BWV 21. Day 5. For 2016 the festival organisers have devoted today to J.S. Bach cantatas: there are four mini concerts at different venues around the city at 9.30, 11.30, 13.00 and 15.00 respectively. Before supper attend an organ recital at the Gewandhaus by resident organist Michael Schönheit. The day culminates with an evening concert at the Nikolaikirche with the Balthasar-Neumann-Choir and Ensemble, Olof Boman (director): J.S. Bach, ‘Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens’ (BWV 148); ‘Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen’
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Over eighty members of the Bach family are listed in the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. For two centuries the Bachs, Johann Sebastian among them, plied their trade in the employ of courts, churches and free cities in Thuringia, Sachsen-Anhalt and Saxony. Though geographically in the heart of Germany, these places were not among the major political or cultural centres of Europe. And their location on the other side of the Iron Curtain in the later 20th century enveloped them further in obscurity. There was no star system in the Bachs’ time; genius was an alien concept. The tradition the family worked in was one of sheer dogged professionalism, with ability generally recognised and rewarded. Actually, Johann Sebastian was the third choice of the city fathers for the post of Cantor at St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig. And, astonishingly, until 1999 Leipzig had never mounted a fully-fledged annual festival devoted to their most famous employee. Happily the event has quickly established itself as one of the major items in the calendar of European festivals, and tickets are becoming hard to get. Many of the evening concerts we have selected are performed in the voluminous parish church of St Thomas which was Bach’s principal auditorium during the twenty-seven years, 1723– 50, when he was effectively the city’s Director of Music, in the impressive Gewandhaus Opera House and in the Nikolaikirche, which has a splendid Neo-Classical interior. Smaller morning and afternoon concerts are in other historic venues. There is also a musically embellished church service on Sunday morning. The musical history of Leipzig encompasses not only J.S. Bach and his sons but also Telemann, Robert and Clara Schumann, Mendelssohn, Wagner and Mahler. Morning walks and visits investigate this heritage, and also take in the art and architecture of the city. Plenty of time is left for individual exploration or simply resting between concerts. Leipzig is now, again, a handsome and lively city, following an almost miraculous transformation during the 1990s and beyond. Cleaning, restoration and rebuilding went hand in hand with the emergence of cafés, smart shops and good restaurants. There are excellent museums, including the Fine Arts Museum in spectacular new premises, the radically refurbished Museum of Musical Instruments and, of course, the Bach Museum.
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14–20 June 2016 (mc 716) 7 days • £2,890 (including tickets to 12 performances) Lecturer: Professor John Butt obe
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Leipzig, Nikolaikirche, lithograph 1835. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
The Leipzig Bach Festival continued
Music in the Saxon Hills The Erzgebirge Music Festival
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(BWV 48); ‘O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort’ (BWV 60); ‘Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht’ (BWV 105). Day 6. A musically embellished service at the Thomaskirche with the Thomanerchor and the Gewandhaus Orchestra. The rest of the morning is free; we suggest the Schumann House where Robert and Clara spent the first four years of their marriage, the City Museum, which houses the only authenticated portrait of J.C. Bach or the Fine Arts Museum, a good collection of European Old Masters in a striking new building. Afternoon concert at the Michaeliskirche with Dorothee Oberlinger (recorder), Jacques Zoon (flute), Berliner Barock Solisten: Vivaldi, Recorder Concerto in C (RV443); Telemann, Concerto for Recorder and Flute in E minor (TWV 52:e1), and Sonata in B minor (TWV 40: 105); J.S. Bach, Orchestral Suite No.2 in B minor (BWV 1067). The festival culminates with an early evening concert at the Thomaskirche with Les Arts Florissants, Katherine Watson (soprano), Emmanuelle de Negri (soprano), Tim Mead (countertenor), Reinoud van Mechelen (tenor), André Morsch (bass), and William Christie (director); J.S. Bach, Mass in B minor (BWV 232). Day 7. Transfer to Berlin for the flight back to London Heathrow (British Airways), arriving at c. 3.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,890 or £2,730 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,220 or £3,060 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Music: tickets (top category) for 12 performances are included, costing approximately £410. These will be confirmed in January 2016. Accommodation. The Marriott, Leipzig (marriott.com): 4-star international chain hotel with comfortable bedrooms, restaurant, bar and lounge, located in the city centre. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking involved, some of it on cobbled streets. The venues are between 10–15 minutes on foot from the hotel and participants are expected to walk to and from the concerts.
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Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Tudor England, 8–13 June (page 28); Connoisseur’s Vienna, 22–28 June (page 51); The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June (page 69).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Saxony, etching c. 1920.
12–19 September 2016 (md 855) 8 days • £2,380 (including tickets to 6 performances) Lecturers: Dr David Vickers & Tom Abbott A remarkable music festival with internationally renowned musicians in a little-visited region. Beautiful and varied landscapes, unspoilt old towns, magnificent Gothic churches. Exclusive arrangements. Accompanied by two lecturers, a cultural historian and a musicologist. The Erzgebirge is a forgotten region of eastern Germany. The mining which for centuries sustained Saxony as one of the richer territories of Europe has gone. The younger generation have deserted in droves, but among those who remain an appreciation of music seems to be something in their blood, not learnt, not a taste acquired, but lived and breathed. Located deep in the territory of the former GDR, few of the town centres have been prettified, and though neglected and drear the more perceptive visitor can enjoy the authentic, age-old vernacular. But it needs no special learning to be impressed by the
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huge Gothic churches at the centre of every community. Often at the highest point, reached up mossy steps and cobbled alleys, these are the venues for the remarkable Erzgebirge (‘ore mountains’) Musikfestival. It is the brainchild of Christoph Rademann, conductor of the Dresden Chamber Choir, the Dresden Baroque Orchestra and the RIAS Kammerchor. The aim is to bring good music to people who appreciate it, build a bridge between local tradition and international quality of performance and to create a synthesis of music, landscape and architecture. They want a mixed audience of locals, national fans (many come down from Berlin for the day) and a few foreigners. MRT was their first and only choice of English tour operator. No such quota applies to musicians, with La Folia Barockorchester and Bach Consort Wien joining the Wiener Sängerknaben, one of the best known boys’ choirs in the world, as well as Rademann’s Dresden-based choir and orchestra all performing in 2016. The landscape is a striking feature, an ever changing sequence of rolling hills, dramatic mountains, pine forests, undulating green pastures and flat grassland. Driving along the winding, rising and falling roads provides an impressive sequence of varied vistas.
“The music was beautifully chosen and performed in all cases – excellent variety and contrast.”
Practicalities
Day 1. Fly at c. 9.50am from London Heathrow to Prague (Czech Republic). Drive into Germany and to the remotely located and charming town of Annaberg-Buchholz, our base for the duration.
Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,380 or £2,270 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,440 or £2,330 without flights.
Day 2: Annaberg-Buchholz, Zwönitz. A morning guided walk around the town centre. The parish church is one of the finest of late Gothic buildings with complex vaulting and superb furnishings. There is some free time before the coach leaves for Zwönitz for dinner. Concert in Zwönitz with Dorothee Mields (soprano), Georg Poplutz (tenor), Stephan MacLeod (bass-baritone), Ludger Rémy (organist & conductor): Heinrich Schütz: Symphoniae Sacrae I & II. Day 3: Pöhlberg, Zschopau. A morning of exclusives: the artistic director of the Festival, Hans-Christoph Rademann gives a talk to our group, and afterwards there is a private organ recital. In the afternoon a gentle walk on the nearby mountain, the Pöhlberg, with breathtaking views into the surrounding hills whose mines once brought wealth to this region. Concert in Zschopau with Robin Peter Müller (conductor & violin) and La Folia Barockorchester: Vivaldi, ‘The Four Seasons’. Day 4: Freiberg. The mediaeval city of Freiberg was built with the wealth derived from silver mining and the centre is now a unesco World Heritage site. The cathedral is one of the most beautiful Late Gothic buildings in Germany and has retained an exceptional panoply of furnishings. The main organ by Silbermann (1711–1714) is one of the world’s finest instruments; three manuals, 44 stops, largely unaltered. Some free time in Freiberg before an organ recital in the Cathedral of St Mary. Day 5: Chemnitz. Visit the small but remarkable art museum in Chemnitz, particularly good for German Expressionists, and the Jugendstil Villa Esche, designed in every detail by Henry Van de Velde and one of the few remaining buildings of its kind. Evening concert in Schneeberg with Rubén Dubrovski (conductor), Wiener Sängerknaben and Bach Consort Wien: works by Pergolesi, Durante and Hasse.
Day 7: Augustusburg, Marienberg. Drive to Erdmannsdorf and take the cable car to Schloss Augustusburg. More castle than Schloss, this large mediaeval complex has fine views over the surrounding hills. There is a second private organ recital here. Concert in Marienberg, Marienkirche, with Hans-Christoph Rademann (conductor) and the Dresdner Kammerchor and Barockorchester: Mozart, Requiem Mass in D minor. Day 8. Fly from Prague to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 2.45pm.
Music: tickets for 6 performances are included, costing c. £200. Accommodation. The Wilder Mann (hotelwilder-mann.de): 4-star hotel in the centre of Annaberg-Buchholz. There are no luxury hotels in the region but this is the best available, and
How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking, sometimes on rough, hilly streets. There is quite a lot of driving to reach the different concert venues; average distance per day: 64 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Franconia, 3–10 September (page 94); Bohemia, 5–12 September (page 59); Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden, 22–30 September (page 86).
A Festival of Music in Franconia 16–23 August 2016 (mc 800) Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com Nine private concerts in beautiful and appropriate historic buildings with outstanding musicians from Austria, Germany and the UK: La Serenissima, Barocksolisten München, Dorothee Oberlinger and Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, Christiane Karg and Gerold Huber, The Mandelring Quartet, Mozart Chamber Ensemble, Amphion Wind Octet, and Markus Märkl. Daily talks on the music by Misha Donat. Accommodation on board a comfortable modern river cruiser; all meals are included. Time to explore three wonderful historic cities, Regensburg, Nuremberg and Bamberg. This new MRT music festival follows the highly successful model we have pioneered since 1994: a succession of concerts in beautiful and appropriate historic buildings, with the audience accommodated on board a comfortable river cruiser where they dine, sleep, relax and listen to lectures while sailing or moored. In this case, there are two rivers and a canal: the Danube, the Main and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. The attempt to link the two greatest rivers of Europe via an artificial waterway was first attempted by Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, in the eighth century. The canal finally opened to traffic in 1992, passing through a region which is one of the scenically
Walking in Franconia Including 7 concerts from A Festival of Music in Franconia 16–23 August 2016 Details available in December 2015 Contact us to register your interest
Bamberg, Rathaus, watercolour publ. 1912.
most alluring and artistically best endowed in Germany, particularly with great houses. In mediaeval and early modern times Franconia was at the heart of the Germanspeaking world, but by the time it was added to the Electorate of Bavaria in 1803 it was already slipping into backwater status. Strictly speaking, the festival is more than Franconia: Regensburg lies elsewhere in Bavaria, but we hope readers (and Bavarians) will allow us to stretch a point for the sake of simplicity of nomenclature. In Regensburg, there will be concerts in a magnificent seventeenth-century warehouse of timber construction beside the Danube, in an impressive Baroque church and in the exquisite ballroom of Schloss Thurn and Taxis. In Bamberg, the venues are the Baroque episcopal palace, in a hall entirely covered in frescoes which overlooks one of the most beautiful urban spaces in Europe, and in a delightful Rococo hall in the bishop’s summer residence just outside Bamberg the city. There is the great Festsaal in the princely Residenz in Ansbach, childhood home of Queen Caroline of Great Britain, and the hall of Schloss Pommersfelden, one of the most magnificent country houses in all Germany. In Nürnberg there is a concert in the splendid mediaeval town hall and a Lieder recital in the Schloss FaberCastell, a Jugendstil treasure in the outskirts. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Day 6: Pöhla. This morning’s concert takes place in a former tin mine in Pöhla: Ensemble Diderot, Johannes Pramsohler (conductor & violin), Cyrille Dubois (tenor): cantatas and arias of the French Baroque c. 1700 (Orpheus-mythology). Return to Annaberg for a free afternoon.
Included meals: 2 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine.
while it is fairly basic it is functional, clean, adequately comfortable and has helpful staff. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
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Franconia
An enchanting region of southern Germany germany
3–10 September 2016 (md 823) 8 days • £2,530 Lecturer: Dr Jarl Kremeier A neglected region of southern Germany with an exceptional heritage of art and architecture, enchanting streetscape and natural beauty. Mediaeval art including Romanesque sculpture (the Bamberg Rider) and late mediaeval wood carving by Tilman Riemenschneider. Baroque and Rococo palaces, churches and paintings (including Tiepolo’s masterpiece).
Once the very heart of the mediaeval German kingdom, Franconia possesses some of the loveliest towns and villages in Germany, beautiful countryside and a variety of art and architecture of the highest quality. Yet remarkably few Britons find their way here – or could even point to the region on a map. Würzburg, with its vine-clad riverbanks and Baroque palaces, is a delight. The tour stays here for two nights. One of the loveliest and least spoilt of German towns, Bamberg has fine streetscape, riverside walks and picturesque upper town around the Romanesque cathedral. Nuremberg, the home of Dürer, was one of the great cities of the Middle Ages, and its churches and museums
are filled with outstanding sculpture and painting. Bayreuth was a centre of Rococo culture and a mecca for Wagnerians. The end of the Middle Ages was artistically one of the most creative in Franconia, with Tilman Riemenschneider and Veit Stoss, perhaps Germany’s greatest sculptors, evoking the fraught spirituality of the age in works of remarkable virtuosity. The Romanesque sculpture in Bamberg’s cathedral is also of the highest importance. The eighteenth century also bequeathed much artistic wealth. The Prince-Bishop’s palace in Würzburg and the pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen (both designed by Balthasar Neumann) are consummate achievements of Baroque and Rococo art and architecture. Moreover, the greatest achievement of eighteenthcentury Venetian painting is here: Tiepolo’s ceiling fresco in the Würzburg Residenz.
Itinerary Day 1: Würzburg. Fly at c. 9.30am from London Heathrow to Frankfurt (Lufthansa). Drive to Würzburg, and check in to the hotel. An afternoon walk around the largely post-war reconstruction of the old centre, with its vast and sombre Romanesque cathedral, delicate Gothic church and flamboyant Baroque churches. First of two nights in Würzburg. Day 2: Würzburg. The Residenz (Prince-Bishop’s Palace), designed partly by Balthasar Neumann and extended over time, is one of the finest 18thcentury palaces in Europe, with magnificent halls, state apartments, exquisite chapel and ceiling frescoes which are the masterpieces of the Venetian painter Tiepolo. In the afternoon walk across one of the oldest mediaeval bridges to survive and visit the Marienburg, the formidable fortress dominating the city from across the River Main. Visit the vast museum within, with its sizeable collection of Riemenschneider sculpture.
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Day 3: Creglingen, Rothenburg, Pommersfelden Bamberg. Drive through gently undulating countryside to the little pilgrimage church near Creglingen; here see The Assumption by Riemenschneider, his finest work. Rothenburgob-der-Tauber is an exceedingly picturesque little town scarcely changed in appearance for hundreds of years; the church of St James has Riemenschneider’s Last Supper. Visit Schloss Pommersfelden, an early 18th-century country house with one of the grandest of Baroque staircases. Continue through lovely landscape to Bamberg. First of four nights here.
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Day 4: Bamberg. Morning walk taking in the riverside town. Visit the Gothic Church of our Lady with its Tintoretto altarpiece and the splendid Romanesque cathedral with some of Germany’s finest mediaeval sculpture, including the Bamberg Rider, a potent image of knightly values. The Diocesan Museum has outstanding mediaeval textiles. In the afternoon visit the Neue Residenz, palace of the Prince-Bishops. Nuremberg, St Sebaldus’ tomb (in the church of the same name), wood engraving 1893. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 5: Bayreuth. All-day excursion. Bayreuth developed as a minor court city in the 18th century, and a varietal of Rococo decoration
German Gothic
Glories of the later Middle Ages
Day 6: Coburg, Vierzehnheiligen. At Coburg visit the formidable fortress above the city, now a museum with good paintings and furnishings. Schloss Ehrenburg, in the centre of town was the home of Prince Albert. Across the valley, the pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen by Balthasar Neumann is perhaps the greatest of all Rococo churches. Day 7: Nuremberg. An immensely rich trading and manufacturing city in the Middle Ages, Nuremberg is girt by massive walls and possesses much art and architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries. A walk through the old town includes the church of St Sebaldus, which contains outstanding sculpture by Veit Stoss and others, and the Albrecht Dürer House. St Lorenz is the city’s other great church, and is likewise laden with major artworks including Veit Stoss’s Annunciation (1517/18). Day 8: Nuremberg. Visit German National Museum, home to the finest collection of German mediaeval and Renaissance art in the country. Fly from Munich, arriving Heathrow at c. 5.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,530 or £2,270 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,810 or £2,550 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch, 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Rebstock, Würzburg (rebstock.com): well-located, comfortable 4-star hotel. Hotel Villa Geyerswörth, Bamberg (villageyerswoerth.de): elegant, quiet 4-star hotel, conveniently located close to the old town. Le Méridien Grand Hotel, Nuremberg (lemeridiennuernberg.com): modern 4-star hotel in a late 19th-century building, a 10-minute walk from the centre.
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Pompeii & Herculaneum, 12–17 September (page 137); Connoisseur’s London, 13–17 September (page 41); Connoisseur’s Prague, 13–19 September (page 60).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
The Danube Festival of Song, 5–12 July 2016. See page 52.
Some of Europe’s finest mediaeval buildings in rural and small town Germany. A comprehensive survey of architectural masterpieces covering a wide geographical spread. Sculpture and other arts in abundance. Led by an art historian and expert in architecture of the Middle Ages. This unique tour quarries one of the richest seams of creativity in the Middle Ages – one which is familiar at first hand to few. Gothic architecture was late to take root in German-speaking lands but, once established, architects there became exceptionally accomplished and innovative, and produced some of the more outstanding buildings in Europe of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This tour provides a comprehensive survey of their achievement. By including key buildings of the thirteenth century, and illustrating the demise of the influence of French High Gothic, the genius and originality of distinctly German styles will become all the more evident. Considering the beauty and importance of these buildings, it is astonishing that so few Britons have visited them. Some, indeed, until a generation ago were difficult to access, located as they were in the depths of rural East Germany. Many of the churches visited are located in some of the least spoiled towns in the country, and the tour passes through enchanting countryside. Architecture is not the only subject of the tour. A great deal of very fine sculpture, painting and furnishing survives in Germany, much of it in situ in the churches for which it was made.
shrine of St Elisabeth is very fine. Continue to Erfurt for the first of three nights. Day 2: Erfurt, Naumburg. Erfurt is an attractive town famous for its mediaeval bridge crowned with houses. The cathedral has a soaring High Gothic choir and a Late Gothic hall-church nave. Adjacent is the Severikirche, another fine hallchurch with excellent sculpture. Some free time before the afternoon excursion to Naumburg. The imposing Early Gothic cathedral is known for the astonishingly naturalistic life-size statues of the twelve founders (c. 1250), among the greatest treasures of the Middle Ages. Overnight Erfurt. Day 3: Annaberg-Buchholz. Remote in lovely countryside, Annaberg-Buchholz has a parish church (1499–1522) which is one of the finest of late Gothic churches, with vaulting of great complexity, fascinating sculpture and superb furnishings. Linger in the charming town in the afternoon for a while. Overnight Erfurt.
Itinerary Day 1: Marburg. Fly at c. 11.00am from London Heathrow to Frankfurt (British Airways). Drive northwards across forested uplands to Marburg, a lovely university town with a wealth of halftimbered buildings. The Elisabethkirche is a pioneering hall church (side aisles and nave of equal height) of remarkable homogeneity, and is one of the first major churches to embody specifically German characteristics. The gold
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How strenuous? There is a fair amount of walking on this tour, as coach access in the town centres is restricted. It would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking and stair climbing. There are a few long drives: the average distance by coach per day: 55 miles.
7–14 July 2016 (mc 744) 8 days • £2,360 Lecturer: Dr Jeffrey Miller
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evolved in the town palace and at the Hermitage, a complex of gardens, palaces and pavilions, under the patronage of the Markgraf. Visit Wagner’s Festspielhaus, built to the composer’s specifications on a hill outside the town.
Dr Jeffrey Miller Art historian specialising in architecture of the Middle Ages. He obtained his MA from the Courtauld and his PhD from Columbia University where he is now a Core Lecturer. He has also lectured for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and contributed to the forthcoming Cambridge History of Religious Architecture of the World. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Erfurt, with the cathedral in the background. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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German Romanesque
With Carolingian & Ottonian preludes germany
Day 4: Bamberg, Dinkelsbühl. Built on seven hills and intersected by rivers, Bamberg is one of the loveliest towns in Europe. The majestic double-ended, four-towered cathedral is particularly outstanding for its Early Gothic sculpture, including the Bamberg Rider, a potent embodiment of knightly values. Continue to Dinkelsbühl, a highly attractive walled town, for the remaining four nights. Day 5: Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen. The morning is spent in Dinkelsbühl. St George is one of the most beautiful of mediaeval churches, with outstanding net vaults (architect Nicholas Eseler). Drive to nearby Nördlingen, a picturesque town with mediaeval city walls intact. Visit the Late Gothic hall church of Saint George with its 90 metre steeple. Overnight Dinkelsbühl. Day 6: Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Ulm. The Church of Holy Cross at Schwäbisch-Gmünd is one of the most beautiful of Late Gothic churches; the first major undertaking by the Parler family, it was seminal for future stylistic development in Central Europe. Parlers also worked on the enormous minster of complicated building history at Ulm, which has the world’s tallest Gothic spire (162m), and remarkable choir stalls. The museum has good mediaeval painting and sculpture. Overnight Dinkelsbühl. Day 7: Nuremberg. Despite wartime damage, Nuremberg remains one of the finest historic towns in Germany. The church of St Lorenz, with a magnificent choir by Konrad Heinzelmann (begun 1439), is remarkable for an abundance of first-rate painting, sculpture and furnishings (Veit Stoss, Annunciation), as is its rival across the river, St Sebald. The German National Museum houses the country’s biggest collection of German art. Overnight Dinkelsbühl. Day 8: Ingolstadt. The Frauenkirche at Ingolstadt has remarkable vaulting with branch-like freestanding ribs. Fly from Munich, arriving at London Heathrow at c. 5.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,360 or £2,180 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,550 or £2,370 without flights.
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Included meals: 6 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Radisson Blu, Erfurt (radisson-erfurt.de): modern hotel in the historic town centre. Hotel Hezelhof, Dinkelsbühl (hezelhof.com): 4 star hotel, furnished in a traditional Bavarian style. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There is a fair amount of walking within towns, and a lot of driving; average distance per day is 151 miles. But the coach is comfortable, and most roads are well built and maintained. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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Combine this tour with German Romanesque, 26 June–2 July (see opposite); Mediaeval Normandy, 15–22 July (page 66).
Mainz cathedral, steel engraving c. 1840.
26 June–2 July 2016 (mc 732) 7 days • £2,220 Lecturer: Dr Jeffrey Miller The Rhineland produced some of the most adventurous and sophisticated architecture of the Romanesque era. Small parish churches, great cathedrals, city and country, buildings, paintings and metalwork. Intensive and wonderfully rich study tour. Led by Dr Jeffrey Miller, art historian and expert in the architecture of the Middle Ages. To a percipient observer of Europe in the eleventh century, it might have seemed that the Kingdom of Germany was poised to become the dominant power in Europe. By all the indicators of economic development, demography and governance, the region was outpacing other embryonic nation states. Such a view would have been lent weight by a survey of the construction industry. Not only was the number of projects remarkable, but some of the most ambitious and innovative architecture in Europe was being created in the German lands, especially in the Rhineland. Wealthy abbeys, burgeoning cities and ambitious princes and emperors were instigating buildings of unprecedented size and magnificence. Romanesque architecture is distinguished by massiveness of construction and noble simplicity of form, but these characteristics often mask a high degree of structural adventurousness and very considerable sophistication of design, symbolism and iconography. Nowhere was this more so than in Germany, where many
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churches have high towers and spires, complex ground plans and evidence of bold experiments in engineering. So keen were German builders to develop the full potential of round-arched architecture that they were not attracted to the new forms and techniques of Gothic until well into the thirteenth century, nearly a hundred years after their appearance in France. A subsidiary theme of the tour – and an essential prelude to Romanesque – is the art and architecture of the Carolingian era. By the time of his death in ad 814, Charlemagne, King of the Franks and self-proclaimed Roman Emperor, had amassed territory that stretched from the Atlantic to Bohemia, and from the Baltic Sea to Central Italy. Charlemagne had a passionate interest in the culture and institutions of ancient Rome and his belief that he was reviving the Roman Empire found expression in his attempts to emulate its literature and art. The Dark Ages soon closed in again on the Carolingian Empire and its visible remains are few but fascinating. The Ottonian revival of the Empire a century and a half later was a more immediate precursor of Romanesque. The Rhine with its tributary the Mosel was the busiest river in mediaeval Europe, a major highway for people, goods and ideas, and a source of wealth for both cities and feudal lords. The abundance of Romanesque architecture in the region is matched by its variety, and in museums and cathedral treasuries outstanding examples of the other arts survive.
Itinerary Day 1: Maria Laach. Depart at c. 9.00am from London St Pancras by Eurostar to Brussels and on to Cologne. Continue to Maria Laach, an active Benedictine monastery with a Romanesque church in an unspoilt lakeside setting. There is time for a preliminary survey of one of the most homogenous and complete of early Romanesque churches and its beautifully sculpted narthex. First of two nights in Maria Laach. Day 2: Aachen, Schwarz-Rheindorf. Drive to Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), Charlemagne’s favourite capital. The cathedral, a most precious survival of early mediaeval architecture, has a remarkable rotunda based on one in Ravenna (last capital of the Roman Empire) with the emperor’s throne in situ. The treasury has outstanding mediaeval metalwork. The small lovely late Romanesque church at SchwarzRheindorf is unusual in having two storeys, and has important wall paintings. Day 3: Trier. The Roman city of Trier was for a while capital of the Western Empire and an important early centre of Christianity. Its surviving Roman buildings, still the most impressive group in northern Europe, were a major influence on German Romanesque. Visit the Porta Nigra (city gate), and the Aula Palatina, Emperor Constantine’s throne hall. Romanesque churches incorporating Roman masonry include the cathedral and the Basilica of St Matthias. Continue to Speyer, a charming town beside the Rhine. First of two nights in Speyer.
Munich’s Masterpieces
Art & architecture in the capital of Bavaria
Day 5: Speyer, Mainz, Limburg, Cologne. The busy and picturesque city of Mainz is the site of the third of the imperial cathedrals, elaborate outside (with six towers) and sombre within. The abbey church at Limburg an der Lahn enjoys a striking situation on a hilltop, the effect enhanced by a full complement of seven spires. First of two nights in Cologne. Day 6: Cologne. One of the largest cities in mediaeval Europe, Cologne has the greatest concentration of Romanesque churches to be found anywhere. Among those visited are St Maria im Kapitol, which introduced cloverleaf apse clusters, Gross St Martin, with its huge crossing tower, St Gereon, with a unique dome and arcaded decoration and St Pantaleon, with a liturgically interesting east end. There is also time for the Gothic cathedral and the Cathedral Treasury. Day 7: Cologne.The Schnütgen Museum has an excellent collection, superbly displayed, of mediaeval decorative arts. Some free time: there are fine collections in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum (paintings), Diocesan Museum (mediaeval art) and Romano-Germanic Museum. The train via Brussels arrives at London St Pancras at c. 6.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,220 or £1,870 without all train travel. Single occupancy: £2,430 or £2,080 without all train travel. Included meals: 5 dinners with wine.
How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking on this tour; coaches usually have to park at some distance from the monuments visited. Participants have to carry their own luggage at railway stations. Quite a lot of coach travel; average distance per day: 90 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with The Danube Festival of Song, 5–12 July (page 52); German Gothic, 7–14 July (page 95).
A short and sharp study of the art and architecture of the Bavarian capital. Also the key architectural monuments and characteristic streetscape. Led by Patrick Bade, art historian and writer. Can be combined with A Festival of Music in Franconia, 16–23 August 2016 (see page 93). Munich is everyone’s favourite German city. Not only is it the most prosperous in the country, but the attractiveness of the cityscape, the abundance of cultural activity, the relatively relaxed lifestyle and generally amenable ambience make it the most sought-after place to live and work in Germany. The seat of the Wittelsbachs, who ruled Bavaria from 1255 until 1918 as Counts, Dukes, Electors and, from 1806, as Kings, Munich was a city which grew up around a court, not one spawned by trade or industry. Consequently, artistically and architecturally it is still one of the best-endowed centres in Europe. There are fine buildings of every period, and it is also a city of museums. The Alte Pinakothek has one of the finest collections of Old Masters in the world, and the Treasury in the Residenz and the classical sculpture in the Glyptothek are among the best collections of their kind. The accompanying lecturer, Patrick Bade, is an art historian with a wide range of knowledge and a deep understanding of contemporary Germany.
17th and 18th centuries, with main palace, park, gardens and pavilions. The delightful Amalienburg represents the apogee of secular Rococo interiors, and the carriage museum has sleighs made for King Ludwig II. Return to the centre of Munich and visit the Neue Pinakothek, which houses paintings from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. Day 5. A morning walk includes the vast Gothic cathedral and the Town Museum which displays among many other artworks the famous Gothic Morris dancers, created by Erasmus Grasser for the festival hall of the Altes Rathaus. Some free time. After lunch a guided tour of the Villa Stuck, a museum and historic Art Nouveau house dedicated to the works of the Bavarian painter, Franz Stuck. Fly from Munich to London Heathrow arriving at c. 5.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,660 or £1,470 without flights. Single occupancy: £1,920 or £1,730 without flights. Included meals: 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Torbräu (torbraeu.de): a friendly, family-run, 4-star hotel in the centre. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking and standing around in galleries. Participants need to be able to keep up with a group of averagely fit people. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.00am from London Heathrow to Munich. An afternoon walk passes through the core of the historic city. See the vast Gothic cathedral, the 19th-century city hall and the little Baroque church of St John Nepomuk created by the Asam brothers. Day 2. By coach along some of the principal streets and boulevards of the city to see architecture of the 19th and 20th centuries. Disembark in the vicinity of the main art galleries and visit the Alte Pinakothek, one of the world’s greatest collections of Old Masters. After lunch continue to Königsplatz, a noble assembly of Neoclassical museums, and visit the Glyptothek, an outstanding collection of Greek and Roman sculpture. The Lenbachhaus has an outstanding collection of German Expressionist paintings.
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Accommodation. Seehotel, Maria Laach (seehotel-maria-laach.de): quiet and comfortable 4-star hotel next to the secluded monastery. Hotel Domhof, Speyer (domhof.de): small traditional hotel in an old building around a courtyard close to the cathedral. Mondial am Dom, Cologne (mgallery.com/gb): modern hotel a very short walk from the cathedral and main railway station. Rooms are comfortable and well-equipped. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
12–16 August 2016 (mc 802) 5 days • £1,660 Lecturer: Patrick Bade
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Day 4: Speyer, Lorsch, Worms. Speyer, second of the imperial cathedrals, is the mausoleum of the Salian emperors and the largest of Rhenish Romanesque churches. With its parkland setting, vast vaulted nave and well preserved eastern parts, it is immensely impressive. The museum has regalia from the imperial tombs. A precious and beautiful remnant of Carolingian Europe, the gateway of Lorsch Abbey is crudely classicizing. One of the three ‘imperial’ cathedrals and the least changed, Worms was rebuilt and richly ornamented around 1200.
Day 3. The morning is spent in the Residenz, rambling palace of the Wittelsbach dynasty, Dukes, Electors and Kings of Bavaria, with sumptuous interiors of the highest art-historical importance from Renaissance to Romantic, and a marvellous Rococo theatre. After lunch visit the excellent collections of sculpture and decorative arts at the Bavarian National Museum. Day 4. On the edge of Munich, Nymphenburg is one of the finest palace complexes of the
Munich, Frauenkirche, watercolour by E. Harrison Compton, publ. 1912. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Opera in Munich & Bregenz Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Wagner germany
von der Damerau (Magdalena), Jonas Kaufmann (Walther von Stolzing), Benjamin Bruns (David), Wolfgang Koch (Hans Sachs), Christof Fischesser (Veit Pogner), Martin Kränzle (Sixtus Beckmesser), Kevin Conners (Kunz Vogelgesang), Christian Rieger (Konrad Nachtigall), Johannes Oliver Zwarg (Fritz Kothner), Ulrich Reß (Balthasar Zorn), Stefan Heibach (Ulrich Eißlinger), Francesco Petrozzi (Augustin Moser), Friedemann Röhlig (Hermann Ortel), Peter Lobert (Hans Schwarz), Christoph Stephinger (Hans Foltz). Day 4: Munich. In the morning a second walking tour which culminates in a visit to the Alte Pinakothek, one of the world’s greatest Old Master galleries. The afternoon is again free, though a visit to Residenz with its exquisite Rococo Theatre by Cuvillies is recommended. Evening opera at the Nationaltheater: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart). Christopher Moulds (conductor), Martin Duncan (director), Albina Shagimuratova (Konstanze), Sofia Fomina (Blonde), Pavol Breslik (Belmonte), Matthew Grills (Pedrillo), Franz-Josef Selig (Osmin), Bernd Schmidt (Bassa Selim). Final night in Munich.
Bregenz, steel engraving c. 1850.
26 July–1 August 2016 (mc 779) 7 days • £3,210 (including tickets to 4 performances) Lecturers: Dr David Vickers & Tom Abbott Three operas at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, one of the world’s most dependable houses: Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner) and Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart). Bregenz offers perhaps the most spectacular productions of any open-air festival – in 2016 it is Turandot (Puccini). Accompanied by two lecturers – musicologist Dr David Vickers and art historian Tom Abbott.
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Munich is perhaps the most attractive of Germany’s cities, and has always been a major centre for opera. The Nationaltheater is at the moment enjoying a reputation as one of the finest houses in Europe: ‘La Scala may be grander…, Vienna more stately, the Metropolitan more prestigious… but for all-round excellence in pretty well every department, Munich’s Nationaltheater has the edge, both in matters of creature comforts and sheer dedication to the art’. Opera apart, Munich is widely considered to be the most agreeable city in Germany in which to live, and rivals Berlin for wealth of art and historic architecture. The thrilling eccentricity of the Bregenz Opera Festival is that the main stage, the Seebühne, sits on an island a few yards from the shore of one of Europe’s largest lakes. From a seat in Austria, the mise-en-scène is framed by the vast expanse of Lake Constance from which rise hills in Germany and Switzerland as well as Austria. Even though night gradually shrouds this backdrop, it requires performances of exceptional potency to compete with nature’s spectacle. In recent years this requirement has
been amply fulfilled, for Bregenz has developed a tradition of immensely exciting productions unconstrained by the conventional limitations of walls and roof. Musical quality is not sacrificed to visual effects, however. Indeed Bregenz has been the summer venue of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra since 1946. The investment necessitates that each production runs for two successive seasons. The offering for 2016 will be the second year of Turandot.
Itinerary Day 1: London to Munich. Fly at c. 12.45pm from London Heathrow to Munich. Tour the city by coach to see much of the best of Munich’s historic architecture: Neo-Classical Königsplatz, historicist Ludwigstrasse, Jugendstil houses and the modern Gasteig Arts Centre. The first of four nights in Munich. Day 2: Munich. In the morning there is a walk to see more of the city’s treasures, including the vast Gothic cathedral and the Asamkirche, a Baroque gem. Free time in the afternoon. Evening opera at the Nationaltheater: Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi). Daniele Callegari (conductor), Johannes Erath (director), Piotr Beczala (Riccardo), Simon Keenlyside (Renato), Anja Harteros (Amelia), Okka von der Damerau (Ulrica), Sofia Fomina (Oscar), Andrea Borghini (Silvano), Anatoly Sivko (Samuel), Scott Conner (Tom), Ulrich Reß (Judge), Petr Nekoranec (Amelia’s servant). Day 3: Munich. Drive out to Nymphenburg, summer retreat of the ruling Wittelsbachs. Set in an extensive park there is a Baroque palace and several delightful garden pavilions, the apogee of Rococo. In the afternoon there is an opportunity to visit more of Munich’s many outstanding art collections. Early evening opera at the Nationaltheater: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner). Kirill Petrenko (conductor), David Bösch (director), Sara Jakubiak (Eva), Okka
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Day 5: Ottobeuren, Bregenz. Journey by coach through the lovely landscape of Upper Bavaria, skirting the Alpine foothills before entering the Vorarlberg region of Austria. Break the journey at the little town of Ottobeuren to see the magnificent monastery, one of the greatest achievements of German Baroque. Arrive at Bregenz where two nights are spent. Day 6: Bregenz. Strung out along the edge of Lake Constance, Bregenz is the attractive little capital of the Vorarlberg, the western-most province of Austria. A guided walking tour in the morning begins in the historic Upper Town and then descends to the lake and the museum. The afternoon is free before an evening opera on the lake stage: Turandot (Puccini), cast to be confirmed. In the event of bad weather, this will take place indoors at a nearby theatre. Day 7: Zurich to London. Drive to Zurich and fly to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 2.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,210 or £3,070 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,580 or £3,440 without flights. Included meals: 5 dinners with wine. Music: tickets (top category) for 4 operas are included, costing c. £780. Accommodation. Hotel Torbräu, Munich (torbraeu.de): family run 4-star hotel, 10–15 minutes walk from the Nationaltheater. See Hotel am Kaiserstrand, Lochau (seehotel-kaiserstrand. com): spacious 4-star hotel on the shores of Lake Constance, 4 km from the centre of Bregenz, and a short boat journey to the Festival stage. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? A lot of walking in town centres where coach access is restricted. Average distance by coach per day: 37 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Classical Greece
The Peloponnese, Attica & Athens
17–26 September 2016 (md 842) 10 days • £3,290 Lecturer: Dr Andrew Farrington A comprehensive survey of the principal Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic sites in mainland Greece. Highlights include Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi. The lecturers both have expert knowledge of ancient Greece. In Athens, a full day on the Acropolis and in the ancient Agora.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly late morning (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Athens. The little port of Nauplion is one of the most attractive towns in mainland Greece. Arrive here in time for dinner. First of three nights in Nauplion. Day 2: Nauplion, Tiryns, Mycenae. Today’s theme is the Mycenaean civilisation of the Argolid Plain, the Greece of Homer’s heroes (16th–13th centuries bc). Visit Tiryns, a citadel with massive Cyclopean walls of enormous blocks of masonry, and Mycenae, reputedly Agamemnon’s capital, with Treasury of Atreus (finest of beehive tombs) and Acropolis (Lion Gate). There are spectacular views from the 18thcentury Venetian Fortress of Palamidi.
Day 3: Corinth, Epidauros. The site of Ancient Corinth has the earliest standing Doric temple on mainland Greece, and a fine museum with evidence of Greece’s first largescale pottery industry. Epidauros, centre for the worship of Asclepios, god of medicine, where popular magical cures were dispensed, remains here and includes the best-preserved of all Greek theatres.
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7–16 May 2016 (mc 666) 10 days • £3,290 Lecturer: Professor Antony Spawforth
Day 4: Arcadia, Bassae. Drive across the middle of the Peloponnese, through the beautiful plateau of Arcadia and past impressive mountain scenery. A stunning road leads to the innovatory and well-preserved 5th-century Temple of Apollo (in a tent for protection) on the mountain top at Bassae (3,700 feet) and through further breathtaking scenery to Olympia. Overnight Olympia.
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The Ancient Greeks had far greater influence on western civilization than any other people or nation. For two and a half millennia, philosophy and ethics, the fundamentals of science and mathematics, prevailing notions of government and citizenship, literature and the visual arts have derived their seeds, and a large amount of their substance, from the Greeks. In the words of H.D.F. Kitto ‘there gradually emerged a people not very numerous, not very powerful, not very well organized, who had a totally new conception of what human life was for, and showed for the first time what the human mind was for.’ Whatever the depth of our Classical education, there is a deep-seated knowledge in all of us that the places visited on this tour are of the greatest significance for our identity and way of life. A journey to Greece is like a journey to our homeland, a voyage in which a search for our roots is fulfilled. In no field is the Greek contribution to the modern world more immediately evident than in architecture. The grip upon the imagination that the Greek temple has exerted is astonishing, and in one way or another – ranging from straightforward imitation of the whole to decorative use of distorted details – has dominated nearly all monumental or aspirational building ever since. A striking and salutary conclusion, however, which inevitably emerges from participation on this tour, is that the originals are unquestionably superior. This is also true of sculpture. This tour includes nearly all of the most important archaeological sites, architectural remains and museums of antiquities on mainland Greece. It presents a complete picture of ancient Greek civilization beginning with the Mycenaeans, the Greek Bronze Age, and continuing through Archaic, Classical and, to a lesser extent, Hellenistic and Roman Greece. It also provides a glimpse of the spiritual splendour of Byzantine art and architecture. It is a full itinerary, but the pace is manageable. Plenty of time is available on the sites and in the museums, allowing opportunity both for adequate exposition by the lecturer and time for further exploration on your own.
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Athens, Acropolis, watercolour by Jules Guérin, publ. 1913. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Classical Greece continued
“This tour met all our hopes and expectations and more.”
Day 5: Olympia. Nestling in a verdant valley, Olympia is one of the most evocative of ancient sites; never a town, but the principal sanctuary of Zeus and site of the quadrennial pan-Hellenic athletics competitions. Many fascinating structures remain, including the temples of Hera and Zeus, the workshop of Phidias and the stadium. The museum contains fragments of pediment sculpture, among the most important survivals of Classical Greek art. First of two nights in Delphi.
Day 8: Athens. The Acropolis is the foremost site of Classical Greece. The Parthenon (built 447–438 bc) is indubitably the supreme achievement of Greek architecture. Other architectural masterpieces are the Propylaia (monumental gateway), Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion. At the Theatre of Dionysos plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were first performed. The Acropolis museum has superb Archaic and Classical sculpture, including some by Phidias and his assistants. The Agora (market place) was the centre of civic life in ancient Athens, with the small Doric Hephaisteion, the best-preserved of Greek temples.
Day 6: Delphi. Clinging to the lower slopes of Mount Parnassos, Delphi is the most spectacularly evocative of ancient Greek sites. Of incalculable religious and political importance, the Delphic oracle attracted pilgrims from all over the Hellenic world. The Sanctuary of Pythian Apollo has a theatre and Athenian Treasury, and the Sanctuary of Athena has a circular temple. The museum is especially rich in Archaic sculpture. Some free time amidst the austere beauty of the valley. Day 7: Hosios Loukas, Athens. Visit the Byzantine monastery of Hosios Loukas in a beautiful setting in a remote valley, one of the finest buildings of mediaeval Greece with remarkable mosaics. Walk in the Plaka district of Athens. First of three nights in Athens.
Day 9: Athens. Kerameikos Cemetery was where Athenians were buried beyond the ancient city walls. The refurbished National Archaeological Museum has the finest collection of Greek art and artefacts to be found anywhere. The vast Corinthian Temple of Olympian Zeus was completed by Hadrian 700 years after its inception. Some free time. Day 10: Athens. Drive to the 5th-century Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, overlooking the sea at the southernmost tip of the Attic peninsula, visited by Byron in 1810. Fly from Athens, arriving Heathrow c. 3.00pm.
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Mycenae, the Lion Gate, engraving from Greek Pictures, 1890. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,290 or £3,010 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,620 or £3,340 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 7 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Grand Bretagne, Nauplion (grandebretagne.com.gr): small, comfortable hotel near the harbour. Best Western Hotel Europa, Olympia (bestwestern. com): characterful hotel outside the town. Hotel Amalia, Delphi (amalia.gr): modern hotel a short coach ride from the archaeological site. Electra Palace Hotel, Athens (electrahotels.gr): smart hotel near the picturesque Plaka quarter. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? This is a long tour with three hotel changes and some long journeys. You will be on your feet for long stretches of time, in some cases on exposed sites and walking over rough terrain and therefore sure-footedness and agility are essential. The average distance travelled by coach per day is 70 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Samarkand & Silk Road Cities, 17–27 May (page 208); Insider’s Istanbul, 29 September–6 October (page 182).
Minoan Crete
History & archaeology of Greece’s largest island greece
Crete, engraving from Greek Pictures, 1890.
28 March–6 April 2016 (mc 615) 10 days • £2,690 Lecturer: Dr Alan Peatfield Concentrates on the extraordinary civilization of the Minoans, but also pays due attention to Classical and later cultures. Dr Alan Peatfield is an archaeologist specialising in the Minoan Bronze Age civilisation of Crete. Plenty of time for Knossos and the main sites and includes many remote and little-visited ones. Wonderful, contrasting landscapes at a beautiful time in the island’s calendar.
Itinerary The opening of sites on Crete is arbitrary and can be influenced by the politics at the time of the tour. This may mean that, at short notice, not all sites listed here can be visited. Day 1. Fly at c. 12.15pm from London Heathrow to Iràklion via Athens (Aegean Airlines). First of four nights in Iràklion. Day 2: Knossos, Iràklion. The capital of Minoan Crete and centre of the Bronze Age Aegean, Knossos is shrouded in myth both ancient and modern. At its peak it comprised a magnificent palace with courts, religious buildings and
mansions. Excavated by Sir Arthur Evans at the turn of the century, his reconstructions not only protect the excavated remains but grandly illustrate the splendour of palatial civilization. Visit the Archaeological Museum which houses the island’s largest collection of Minoan art. Day 3: Gortyn, Phaestos, Agia Triada, Matala. A day in the Mesara, a rich agricultural plain along the south coast. Gortyn was the Roman capital of Crete; a famous 5th century bc inscription has details of Greek law. On a ridge Phaestos is the second largest Minoan palace. Agia Triada, interpreted as the summer resort for Phaestos, has beautifully sited and architecturally elaborate villas. Visit the charming town of Matala, a harbour of Roman Gortyn, with rockcut tombs in a cliff nearby. Day 4: Arhanes, Vathypetro, Iràklion. Another pretty town, Arhanes possesses remarkable archaeological remains and one of the best excavated cemeteries on Crete, Phourni (this is a closed site and permission for access can be withdrawn). The town also has a beautiful museum. Another ‘villa’ site, Vathypetro is situated in verdant farmland overlooking the Pediadha district of Central Crete. Some free time in Iràklion. Day 5: Malia, Agios Nikolaos, Gournia. At Malia visit the Minoan Palace and houses belonging to the Minoan town. The Archaeological Museum at Agios Nikolaos houses a fine collection of Minoan art. The largest excavated Minoan town, Gournia’s over seventy cramped houses lie dotted about the hillside with a mini-palace at the top. First of three nights in Sitia. Day 6: Sitia, Toplou, Zákros. The museum at Sitia has a good collection of artefacts from eastern sites of the island. Positioned in the barren low hills of east Crete, Toplou monastery has a history of fierce resistance to the island’s various invaders. Káto Zákros, at the foot of the Gorge of the Dead, is an excavated Minoan palace. Day 7: Agia Photia, Petras. Visit Agia Photia, a collection of early Bronze Age sites including a cemetery and a small settlement. Continue to the Minoan Palace at Petras.
Day 8: Knossos, Hania. Second visit to Knossos and a private visit of outer-lying buildings. Drive to Hania, the spiritual capital of Crete, a beautiful town with delightful restaurants and good craft shops. First of two nights in Hania. Day 9: Aptera, Hania. One of the most powerful Graeco-Roman city states, Aptera is a huge site with Roman ruins, a theatre and a Turkish fort. See the British war cemetery at Souda Bay. Moni Agias Triadas on the Akrotiri peninsula above Hania was founded in 1630 by Venetian nobles and has some of the finest monastic architecture on the island. Day 10. Fly to London Heathrow via Athens, arriving c. 3.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,690 or £2,460 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,870 or £2,640 without flights. Included meals: 4 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Lato Boutique Hotel, Iràklion (lato.gr): family-run 3-star hotel with small but well-appointed rooms. Good location by the Venetian port. Sitia Beach Hotel, Sitia (sitiabeach.com): large, 4-star resort hotel on the edge of the town. Kydon Hotel, Hania (kydonhotel.com): 4-star hotel well located close to the old town and port. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking and scrambling over archaeological sites; it is essential that participants are sure-footed. Average distance by coach per day: 56 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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‘Land of contrasts’ is the king of clichés, but for Crete it is difficult to avoid, not only because of the variety of natural environments but also because of the influence these have had on the built environment and the history of the island. The contrasts in the landscape, vegetation and people are dramatic. Crete has its ‘deserts and jungles, its arctic and its tropics’. The high mountains and upland plains are bleak and remote; the gorges in the highly erosive limestone are lush. The west provides a retreat from the more developed stretch of north coast between Iràklion and Agios Nikolaos. The south is difficult of access, scored by gorges and with the Asterousia mountains dropping sharply to the sea. The Sphakia region further west on the south coast is one of the most culturally distinct regions. Lying between Europe, Africa and the Near East, variety also marks the island’s cultural legacy. The tour will focus primarily on the Bronze Age civilization of the Minoans. Flourishing in the second millennium bc, the Minoans created the first great palace civilization of Europe. Their art is wonderfully expressive, and its influence spread throughout Greece, Egypt and the Near East. Pottery, sealstones, frescoes and architecture reached peaks of excellence unforeseen in the prehistoric Aegean. Mycenaean, Hellenistic, Classical Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Turkish domination followed. The books written on the island’s World War II history alone fill a bookshelf. And yet throughout these millennia of foreign occupation and domination, Crete remained strong and proud and retained its own unique and captivating character.
Combine this tour with Walking in Eastern Sicily, 11–18 April (page 144); Classical Turkey, 11–20 April (page 183).
What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Central Macedonia Thessaloniki & northern Greece greece
8–15 May 2016 (mc 679) 8 days • £2,680 Lecturer: Dr Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Hellenistic and Roman architecture, art and archaeological sites in the home territory of Alexander the Great. Byzantine churches and artefacts of the highest importance in Thessaloniki, second only to Constantinople. Agricultural and mountainous landscapes in a little-visited part of Greece. To the Classical Greeks the Macedonians were barbarians. Hailing from beyond Mount Olympos, only relatively recently had they abandoned nomadism for settled agriculture and life in cities, and they persisted with the ‘primitive’ political system of hereditary kingship. But it served the Macedonians well, with territorial expansion proceeding steadily under a succession of Temenid kings, accelerating dramatically under Philip II (who conquered most of Greece) and achieving legendary scale under his son, Alexander the Great, conqueror of the known world. Meanwhile, mainstream Classical Greece gained several footholds on the islands and coastal areas in the form of colonies, before succumbing to the Macedonians in the fourth century bc, and in the second century the whole region became part of the Roman Empire. Athenian snobbishness not withstanding, the Macedonians became thoroughly Hellenised (Euripides and Aristotle, among others, graced the royal court). The treasures from the Royal Tombs at Vergina and elsewhere are among the most startlingly accomplished and beautiful artefacts to have survived from the ancient world.
St Paul established the first Christian community in Europe in Macedonia, at Philippi, and later Thessaloniki (Salonica) became a major cultural and religious centre in the Byzantine empire, second only to Constantinople. Several impressive churches from the fifth century to the fifteenth centuries survive, with frescoes, furnishings and mosaics, despite earthquake, sack and billeting.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 8.00am from London Gatwick to Thessaloniki (British Airways). From there drive eastwards via the newly constructed Egnatia motorway to the harbour town of Kavala. First of two nights in Kavala. Day 2: Thasos, Kavala. Reached by ferry, Thasos is a very attractive island, rugged and densely forested. The remains of the ancient city include one of the best-preserved agora complexes in Greece. The old part of Kavala, crowned by a Byzantine castle, sits on a promontory above the port joined to hills behind by a massive Ottoman aqueduct. Depending on ferry times, there may be a visit to the archaeological museum. Day 3: Philippi, Amphipolis. Philippi is known (courtesy of Shakespeare) for the battles in 42 bc which led to the victory of Octavian and Anthony over Brutus and Cassius, and as the place where St Paul established the first Christian community in Europe. Striking ruins of a theatre, agora and Early Christian basilicas are sited in an attractive valley. Amphipolis was an important and prosperous city from its founding as an Athenian colony in 437 bc until its demise in the 8th/9th century. The gymnasium is the best preserved in Greece. First of five nights in Thessaloniki.
Day 4: Thessaloniki. Start the day with a walk in the upper town along the ramparts, the Vlattadon Monastery and the little church of Hosios David with early Byzantine mosaics. Visit three great churches: the Archeiropoietos, an extraordinarily well preserved 5th-century basilica; Agios Demetrios, a centre of pilgrimage since the 6th century; and 8th-century Agia Sophia with beautiful wind-blown capitals. Among the smaller places seen is the exquisite little monastery church of Agios Nikolaos Orphanos with 14th-century wall paintings. Day 5: Pella, Lefkadia, Vergina. From the 5th century Pella was the luxurious capital of Macedonia, birthplace of Philip II and his son Alexander the Great. The extensive but only partly excavated site has good floor mosaics, and there are excellent finds in the little museum. A Macedonian tomb at Lefkadia has extremely rare high-quality paintings. Vergina is the site of the tombs of Philip II and members of his family. Only fairly recently discovered, the astonishing grave goods are among the finest survivals from the ancient world. Day 6: Olynthos. The most important of the Greek colonies on the fertile peninsula of Chalkidiki, Olynthos never recovered after destruction by Philip II (348 bc). The ruins, set in rolling farmland, provide a rare chance to walk the residential streets of a Classical Greek city and provides the best evidence there is for Greek houses of the late 5th and early 4th century. Day 7: Thessaloniki. Most of the significant Roman remains date to the time of Emperor Galerius (ad 305–311): parts of his palace, the Arch of Galerius and the impressive bulk of the Rotonda, which was probably built as his mausoleum. It was later converted into the Church of St George and contains superb mosaics. The Archaeological Museum is an excellent, extensive and well presented collection. Day 8: Thessaloniki. The Museum of Byzantine Culture, winner of a European prize in 2005, well presents outstanding material. Drive from here to the airport and return to Gatwick c. 3.45pm.
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Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,680 or £2,420 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,980 or £2,720 without flights. Included meals: 5 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Egnatia Hotel, Kavala (egnatiahotel.gr): modern hotel with fine views. Electra Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki (electrahotels. gr): traditional 5-star hotel with views of Aristotelous Square and the Mediterranean. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? You will be on your feet for long stretches of time in some cases on exposed sites and walking over rough terrain. Fitness is essential. Average coach per day: 60 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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Thessaloniki, wood engraving c. 1880. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Combine this tour with Lycia & Pamphylia, 28 April–6 May (page 186).
Budapest
Art & architecture in Hungary’s capital hungary
1–5 July 2016 (mc 749) 5 days • £1,670 Lecturer: Dr József Sisa Explore the cultural riches of Budapest - painting, architecture and decorative arts. Led by a native art historian with excellent English; walks and visits with a local guide. Includes a visit to the Danube Bend. Can be combined with The Danube Festival of Song, 5–12 July 2016 (see page 52). In the heart of Buda a rock outcrop rises abruptly beside the Danube. This was an impregnable citadel around which the city on the right bank developed. Adorning the site is the Royal Palace, now housing a number of museums, the Gothic Matthias Church, the key Hungarian national shrine, and an enclave of picturesque little streets. Across the river lies Pest, extending with Parisian elegance over less encumbered terrain, a rival and independent city until 1872 when it was formally united with Buda. Now Budapest is the principal metropolis of East-Central Europe, its vitality and splendour emerging again after the post-war period of Soviet domination. The fortunes of Hungary have been very mixed since the establishment of the country in the tenth century by the Magyars. At the end of the Middle Ages Hungary was one of the most powerful and prosperous kingdoms in Europe, and the most precocious in importing the new Renaissance style of art and architecture. But these achievements were wrecked by a devastating two-hundred-year occupation by the Turks; little survives from before this period. Much of what was built and created during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries stems from the desire to rival Vienna or to express Hungarian cultural difference and yearnings for independence. Emulation of western models on the one hand, and cultivation of distinctiveness and originality on the other, are in large part responsible for the allure of Budapest.
Itinerary
Day 2. Begin at parliament where the Crown Jewels are displayed. Walk to Vörösmarty Square, heart of the inner city of Pest; thence by underground railway (the first on the continent) to Heroes Square and the Millennary Monument (celebrating the founding of the Hungarian state ad 896). In the afternoon visit the Hungarian National Museum, a major Neo-Classical structure with an interesting permanent
collection on the history of Hungary from the earliest times to 1990. Day 3. Morning walk to see architecture and decoration from the turn of the 19th century and from the Bauhaus. In the afternoon a guided tour of the magnificent 1880s State Opera House. Day 4. Travel by coach along the course of the Danube to Esztergom. Visit Hungary’s first cathedral, the Bakócz chapel and the Christian Museum, one of the finest in the country. Day 5. The Museum of Applied Arts (1893–6) is one of Ödön Lechner’s most radical and memorable buildings, elaborated with forms from Hungarian folk art and Asia with symbolic references to Attila the Hun in a determined attempt to create a national style. Fly from Budapest to Heathrow, arriving c. 8.30pm. (Participants combining this tour with The Danube Festival of Song transfer to the MS Amadeus Royal in the afternoon.)
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,670 or £1,400 without flights. Single occupancy: £1,930 or £1,660 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Intercontinental Hotel (budapest.intercontinental.com): modern, international 5-star hotel excellently situated beside the Danube in Pest and close to the Chain Bridge. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
Dr József Sisa Art historian specialising in the 19th century. He is Head of Department at the Research Institute for Art History at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. A native Hungarian with fluent English, he lectures in the UK, across Europe and the USA and co-edited The Architecture of Historic Hungary. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking during excursions, some on uneven or cobbled ground. Average coach travel per day: 10 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. In addition to The Danube Festival of Song, combine this tour with Connoisseur’s Vienna, 22–28 June (page 51).
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Day 1. Fly at c. 8.45am from London Heathrow to Budapest (British Airways). After lunch cross the Danube on the 19th-century Chain Bridge (built by Scotsman Adam Clark) to the hilltop Castle District of Buda. Within the 18th- and 19th-century Royal Palace are the remains of its mediaeval and Renaissance predecessors. The National Gallery housed here has a marvellous collection of Hungarian art from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Budapest, Parliament House, early-20th-century watercolour.
The Danube Festival of Song, 5–12 July 2016. See page 52. The Iron Curtain, 19 September–3 October 2016 with Neil Taylor. See page 88. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Gastronomic Piedmont Some of the finest food & wine in Italy italy
Day 4: Bra or surrounding countryside, Asti. Choose from two options this morning: either a wine tasting in the Ascheri winery and visit to a traditional sausage maker, or take a guided walk through orchards, vineyards and hazelnut groves, for the entire morning (c. 3 hours). Reconvene for lunch and a cooking demonstration at an outstanding restaurant. In the afternoon visit the lovely little city of Asti, centre of another famous wine and food area, set amidst the gently undulating Monferrato hills. Day 5: Pollenzo, Serralunga d’Alba. In the morning there is a visit and wine tasting at the fascinating wine bank in nearby Pollenzo, which stores and ages wines from all over Italy in order to keep a historical record of the very best vintages. Lunch is at a restaurant in Serralunga d’Alba at a Michelin-starred restaurant. In the castle at Manta there are some marvellous mediaeval frescos. Continue to Cuneo where the last two nights are spent. The Val Lucerne, Piedmont, steel engraving after William Brockedon (1787–1854).
1–7 October 2016 (md 885) 7 days • £2,790 Lecturer: Marc Millon One of the most celebrated gastronomic regions in Italy, centre of the ‘Slow Food’ revolution. Wine and food production studied at source, including visits to Alba, white truffle capital of the world, and a number of Barolo wineries. Superb restaurants, from simple trattorias to the Michelin starred. Beautiful landscapes: upland pasture, rolling hills, sloping vineyards and hazelnut woods. Led by Marc Millon, wine, food and travel writer; author of The Food Lover’s Companion to Italy.
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Gastronomically, Piedmont is undoubtedly one of Italy’s most interesting regions. Its wines are superb, the food produced there is varied and the delicious cooking ranges from traditional country fare to creatively modern cuisine. Moreover, the region is the centre of the Slow Food revolution, which is transforming gastronomy in Italy and beyond. There is also another winning feature: many Piedmontese in the food and wine business have a desire to share their passion, and welcome interested visitors with generous amounts of their time and produce. In part this may be because visitors are relatively few, despite the high reputation which Piedmont enjoys. For this tour we have bypassed Turin in favour of spending time in the countryside, seeing the origins of the food and wine and meeting the producers. This bucolic exile is not at the expense of culinary excellence; you will find superb restaurants, from simple rustic trattorias where Granny’s recipes are still gospel, to Michelinstarred and innovative establishments, all serving some of Italy’s finest food. The study and enjoyment of wines is a large part of the tour. Barolo is the dominant wine –
noble, austere and complex; the Nebbiolo grape is used for the elegant, tarry Barbaresco, and various other DOCs. We meet makers, chosen as much for their charm and communicativeness as for their wines, in some cases study their vines and the wine-making process, and taste the results. Among the foods we investigate, truffles are significant – Alba is something of a truffle capital – but the mountain cheeses such as Tomino and Castelmagno make an equally powerful impression. Landscape is another of the great pleasures of the tour. As its name suggests, Piedmont reaches from high pastures to alluvial plains, and much of it is used for agriculture (or small family-run farms). The Langhe hills are among the most beautiful in Italy, the flanks almost entirely carpeted with vineyards, the summits sporting castles, little mediaeval towns or ancient farmsteads.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.30am (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Genoa and drive north to Bra, an attractive market town with some fine architecture, where the first four nights are spent. In the evening study the local wine-making process at the Ascheri winery next to the hotel. Day 2: Alba, Grinzane Cavour. Drive to Alba, chief town of the Langhe, for a truffle seminar and lunch. In the afternoon, a wine tasting in the Castle of Grinzane Cavour, a spectacularly situated unesco heritage site, home of the first regional enoteca to open in Piedmont, now almost 50 years old. Dinner is at a Slow Food restaurant. Day 3: Piozzo, Monforte d’Alba. The landscape between Dogliani and Murazzano is a patchwork of vineyards and rumpled hills, woods and pasturage. There is a truffle hunt (real, not simulated) this morning in the woods around Piozzo, then a wine tasting and lunch at a small, family-run estate.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 6: Castelmagno, Sampeyre. The steep-sided valley of the river Grana is the sole source of one of Italy’s finest cheeses, Castelmagno; visit a farm to see aspects of its production. Continue to Sampeyre for lunch and a cooking demonstration with one of Italy’s rising stars. Day 7: Rivoli. Drive to Castello di Rivoli, one of the palaces of the royal house of Savoy established in hunting grounds around Turin. Rebuilt in the 18th century, though never finished, a museum of contemporary art has been installed here. Lunch here at one of the best restaurants in Piedmont, Combal Zero. Fly from Turin, arriving London Gatwick at c. 5.45pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,790 or £2,650 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,970 or £2,830 without flights. Included meals: 6 lunches, 4 dinners, with wine; 3 wine tastings (optional 4th), and food tastings. Accommodation. Albergo Cantine Ascheri, Bra (ascherihotel.it): 4-star hotel refurbished in a very modern but enjoyable design using locally made materials as much as possible. Service is enthusiastic and rooms are comfortable. Hotel Palazzo Lovera, Cuneo (palazzolovera.com): excellently situated 4-star hotel just off the ancient arcaded Via Roma. Décor is traditional and tasteful with dark wood and faux-Rococo wall paintings. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? A fair amount of walking. You should be used to walking on uneven terrain; surefootedness is also essential for truffle hunting in the woods. Those taking the optional walk on Day 4 need to be used to hiking up and down hills. Average distance by coach per day: 65 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Gardens & Villas of the Italian Lakes, 22–28 September (page 106); Dark Age Brilliance, 9–16 October (page 118).
Genoa & Turin
Palaces & galleries in Northwest Italy
Two cities, often unaccountably overlooked. One, a leading republic of mediaeval Italy and birthplace of Columbus; the other developed on a grand scale in the 17th and 18th centuries. Magnificent palaces and churches, from mediaeval to Baroque. Led by Dr Luca Leoncini, specialist in 15th to 17th-century Northern Italian paintings. Exceptional picture collections with particularly fine examples of Van Dyck and Rubens.
Day 4: Cherasco, Venaria. Leave Genoa and take a cross-country route through the beautiful countryside and wine-producing area of Le Langhe. Stop in Cherasco which has a 14thcentury Visconti castle for a typical Piedmontese lunch. En route to Turin is the magnificent royal palace of Venaria (Amedeo Castellamonte, 1659) reopened in 2007 following extensive renovation work. First of three nights in Turin. Day 5: Turin. A walk through the beautiful Piazza S. Carlo, with arcades and 18th-century churches, is followed by a visit to the Royal Palace, built 1660, with wonderful interiors from the 17th–19th centuries. The Galleria Sabauda, housed in the Palace, has an excellent picture collection. In the afternoon visit the cathedral, with Guarini’s Chapel of the Holy Shroud. Day 6: Turin. Morning visit to the Palazzo Madama in the centre of Piazza Castello, now housing the City Art Museum, and the little church of S. Lorenzo, a Guarini masterpiece. Some free time in Turin.
Day 7: Superga, Turin Lingotto. Visit the votive church of Superga, a magnificent hilltop structure by Juvarra, and the Pinacoteca Giovanni and Marella Agnelli at Lingotto which has a small but excellent quality collection in a building designed by Renzo Piano. Fly from Milan Malpensa, returning to London Heathrow c. 8.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,330 or £2,040 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,670 or £2,380 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Grand Hotel Savoia, Genoa (grandhotelsavoiagenova.it): 5-star hotel close to the Palazzo Reale. Grand Hotel Sitea, Turin (grandhotelsitea.com): 4-star hotel, comfortable, elegantly furnished and very central. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? A lot of walking in town centres, where vehicular access is restricted, and standing in museums. The transfer days between Milan’s airports and the hotels and between Genoa and Turin involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 51 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Walking in Eastern Sicily, 11–18 April (page 144); Palladian Villas, 12–17 April (page 111).
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‘Secret cities’ would have been an absurd subtitle for two such major places, but did seem to suggest itself because of the rarity with which Britons find themselves there. But every art lover should go. The prevailing images are perhaps still predominantly commercial and industrial, but not only do both Genoa and Turin have highly attractive centres but both are distinguished by the preservation of a large number of magnificent palaces and picture collections. Genoa lays claim to the largest historic centre of any European city. It was one of the leading maritime republics of mediaeval Italy (with Marseilles it remains the largest port in the Mediterranean), and enjoyed a golden age during the seventeenth century. In the 1990s civic improvements and building restorations were undertaken to prepare the city for celebrations connected with the quincentenary of Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas, and the cultural momentum has continued. In the earlier seventeenth century, Genoa was artistically the equal of almost anywhere in Italy except for Rome and Naples. More than any other Italian school of painting, the Genoese was indebted to the Flemish school: Rubens made a prolonged visit to Genoa in 1605 and Anthony Van Dyck was based there from 1621 to 1627. Many of his paintings remain here. Turin, the leading city of Piedmont, was formerly capital of Savoy and later of the kingdom of Sardinia. Developed on a grand scale in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the historic centre is laid out on a regular plan with broad avenues and spacious piazzas. Architecture is mainly Baroque and classical. Guarino Guarini and Filippo Juvarra, among the best architects of their time, worked here for much of their lives.
Day 3: Genoa. Visit the church of S. Luca with its beautifully decorated interior. Palazzo Spinola has good pictures, Van Dycks in particular, and Palazzo Rosso has fine furnishings and excellent pictures. See also the adjacent church of the Annunciation and the Piazza S. Matteo, formed by the imposing palaces of the Doria family, which overshadow the small church of S. Matteo.
Itinerary Day 1: Genoa. Fly at c. 9.15am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Milan. Upon arrival visit the Villa del Principe with Perin del Vaga frescoes. First of three nights in Genoa. Day 2: Genoa. In the morning visit the Palazzo Reale which has a magnificent stairway, splendidly furnished rooms and a fine collection of pictures. The Cathedral of S. Lorenzo, built 12th–16th centuries, possesses many works of art and a fine treasury. See the Via Garibaldi, lined with magnificent palazzi, mostly 16th century.
italy
3–9 April 2016 (mc 624) 7 days • £2,330 Lecturer: Dr Luca Leoncini
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Turin, Palazzo Madama, wood engraving c. 1880. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Gardens & Villas of the Italian Lakes Como & Maggiore italy Lake Maggiore, aquatint c. 1830.
21–27 April 2016 (mc 645) 7 days • £3,040 Lecturer: Steven Desmond 22–28 September 2016 (md 854) 7 days • £3,040 Lecturer: Steven Desmond Among the loveliest and most romantic spots on earth – summer retreat of the wealthy, aristocratic and intellectual since the time of Pliny.
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Some of the finest gardens in Europe, glorious in their design and range. Led by Steven Desmond, landscape consultant and architectural historian, specialist in the conservation of historic parks and gardens. Sublime mountain scenery, the inspiration of Bellini and Stendhal. Historic lakeside hotels. The gardens of the Italian lakes fall into two categories: formal, terraced, parterred, allegoried and enclosed summer residences of native landowners, and the expansive, landscaped villa grounds of the rich and splendid. Some are small, others huge; some ostentatious, others retiring; some immaculate, others picturesquely mouldering. Many are the former homes of Austrian aristocrats, Napoleonic grandees, bel
canto composers or British seasonal emigrants. All respond to the setting, gazing out across bays and peninsulas, or up to mountain scenery of heroic dimensions. The tour is divided between Lake Como and Lake Maggiore. Lake Como, the home of Pliny, is intensely romantic: Shelley, Bellini and Stendhal found inspiration here on the shores of a long and slender lake divided in three parts. The little town of Bellagio surveys all three from its glittering headland, and provides a convenient (and luxurious) base for visiting the lakeside villa gardens. Lake Maggiore is altogether broader and more open, extending northwards into Switzerland, with the air of an inland sea. The great western bay includes the famous Borromean Islands, among them the contrasting garden retreats of Isola Bella and Isola Madre. As early as 1686 Bishop Burnet gushed that these were ‘certainly the loveliest spots of ground in the World, there is nothing in all Italy that can be compared to them’. Our tours are scheduled at times of the year when there is the possibility of clear, brilliant sunshine. Each lake, each shore, each promontory and island, has its own character, but everywhere is pervaded by the abundance of light, perfume and natural beauty.
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Itinerary Day 1: Bellagio. Fly at midday (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Milan. Drive to Bellagio on Lake Como. First of three nights here. Day 2: Bellagio. The neoclassical Villa Melzi at Bellagio was built in 1810 for Francesco Melzi d’Eril, vice-president of Napoleon’s Italian Republic. It overlooks the lake in an undulating English landscape park, richly planted and decorated with ornamental buildings. The Villa Serbelloni, probably built on the site of one of Pliny the Younger’s two villas on Lake Como, occupies the high ground above Bellagio. The woods offer magnificent views to all parts of the lake. The mediaeval remnants, 16th-century villa and later terraces are the setting for planting schemes in a backdrop described by Stendhal as ‘a sublime and enchanting spectacle’. Day 3: Lake Como. Villa Carlotta on the western shore of Lake Como combines dramatic terracing, parterre and grottoes with an extensive landscape park and arboretum. The house contains notable collections from the Napoleonic period. The Villa Balbianello occupies its own headland projecting into the middle of Lake Como. This glorious site is terraced to provide sites for lawns, trees, shrubs and a chorus of statuary. The villa stands among groves of oak and pine. Day 4: Renaissance villa gardens. At the Villa Cicogna Mozzoni at Bisuschio, north of
The Duchy of Milan Territory of Visconti & Sforza
Day 5: the Borromean Islands. Isola Bella is one of the world’s great gardens (and correspondingly popular), a wedding cake of terraces and greenery floating improbably in Lake Maggiore. The sense of surrealism is enhanced by the symbolic statuary and flock of white peacocks. Isola Madre is the ideal dessert to follow Isola Bella: a relaxed, informal landscape garden around a charmingly domestic villa. Visual entertainments include the marvellous plant collection, revitalized by Henry Cocker in the 1950s, the chapel garden, puppet theatre and ambulant aviary. Day 6: Pallanza, Stresa. The Villa Taranto at Pallanza is an extravagant piece of 20th-century kitsch created by Henry Cocker for his patron, the enigmatic Neil McEacharn. The alarmingly gauche design is superbly planted and maintained with loving zeal by the present staff. In the afternoon, visit either the Giardino Botanico Alpinia (spring) or Villa Pallavicino (autumn). Day 7. Fly from Milan to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 5.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,040 or £2,730 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,320 or £3,010 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine.
How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking. Some of the gardens are extensive, and all have uneven ground. Participants need to be fit and surefooted. Average coach travel per day: 23 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with, in April: Palladian Villas, 12–17 April (page 111); Walking in Eastern Sicily, 11–18 April (page 144). In September: Gastronomic Piedmont, 1–7 October (page 104); Courts of Northern Italy, 2–9 October (page 116).
Palaces, castles, abbeys – the heritage of some of the richest and most powerful rulers in late mediaeval Europe. Great fresco paintings a major feature. Based in Milan and the attractive small town of Cremona. Led by Dr Luca Leoncini, an art historian specialising in 15th-century Italian painting. Passes through some beautiful Lombard countryside and little-visited historic towns. A telling indication of the esteem that Milan enjoyed is that Leonardo da Vinci chose to spend much of his working life there rather than in other Italian cities which are now more commonly associated with artistic endeavour. It is often forgotten that the wealthiest and most powerful territory in mediaeval and Renaissance Italy was the Duchy of Milan, and its eponymous metropolis was probably the largest city in Europe. The ruling dynasties here were the Visconti and after their extinction in 1450, the Sforza. They produced a succession of the most feared tyrants in Italy – but also created around them the most glittering court in the peninsula, the rival of any in Europe. Artists, musicians and men of letters flocked here to participate in the unending spectacle of court life, and to compete for the unparalleled opportunities for the exercise of their genius. It was not only in the metropolis that the Visconti and Sforza and men of talent left their mark. Throughout their Duchy – approximately coterminous with modern-day Lombardy – there is an abundance of beautiful old cities, buildings and works of art. It is an additional pleasure, moreover, to discover an area of Italy little frequented by tourists. One of the most distinctive features of the region is the quantity of very fine Romanesque churches. Gothic buildings demonstrate the Duchy’s close connections with northern Europe. With the presence of Leonardo and Bramante, the Duchy was a cradle of the High Renaissance and Lombard builders exported the Italian style all over Europe. A fascinating feature is the series of Visconti and Sforza strongholds; the fierce and functional forms, tempered by the region’s principal building material, a lustrous red brick, can achieve great beauty. The fertile plains with their centuries-old farmsteads and villages are most alluring, and are surprisingly unspoilt by industrial development. Much of the countryside through which you pass is designated a National Park.
Day 2: Cremona. The birthplace of Monteverdi, Stradivarius and Guarini, Cremona has one of the finest squares in Italy, composed of the cathedral, Italy’s tallest mediaeval campanile, baptistery and Gothic civic buildings. The Romanesque cathedral here is magnificent, and richly embellished with 16th-century paintings. Other visits include S. Agostino where there is a Perugino, and the civic museum. Day 3: Soncino, Lodi. Morning visit to the little walled town of Soncino, which has one of the finest of Sforza fortresses. Then on to Lodi, another highly attractive town, with the Tempio dell’Incoronata, a richly decorated Renaissance church, and nearby at Lodi Vecchio, an impressive Gothic church. Day 4: Pavia, Certosa di Pavia. Drive along the border of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna to Pavia, the most illustrious Lombard city after Milan. Outstanding here are the Romanesque church of S. Michele and the brick-built Renaissance cathedral. In the afternoon visit the Certosa di Pavia, perhaps the most richly endowed monastic foundation in Italy, and mausoleum of both the Visconti and the Sforza. First of four nights in Milan. Day 5: Milan. Visit the spectacular marble Gothic cathedral and surrounding area, site of the headquarters of the rival powers of municipality, bishop, duke and commune. Then Sant’Ambrogio, a most important early mediaeval church, with rich treasury and S. Satiro, a jewel of the early Renaissance. In the afternoon visit the Brera, one of Italy’s finest art galleries with most of the greatest Italian artists represented.
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Accommodation. Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio (villaserbelloni.com): excellently situated on the edge of the lake, a historic 5-star hotel with lavishly decorated public rooms and wellappointed bedrooms (they vary in size). Rooms with a lake view are available on request and for a supplement. Grand Hotel Majestic, Pallanza (grandhotelmajestic.it): recently renovated, privately owned 4-star Belle Epoque hotel with lakeside gardens; bedrooms vary in size and all have lake views. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
16–23 May 2016 (mc 681) 8 days • £2,890 Lecturer: Dr Luca Leoncini
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Varese, the 16th-century house and garden are thoroughly intertwined; the courtyard of pools and parterres leads to a water staircase, grottoes and giochi d’acqua. Lunch is served at the villa. The Villa della Porta Bozzolo, tucked away in a mountain valley near Lake Maggiore, is a hidden treasure of a garden, shooting straight up a dramatic hillside from the village street of Casalzuigno. The beautiful 17th-century villa is unexpectedly set to one side to increase the visual drama. First of three nights in Pallanza.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. midday (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Milan. Spend the first of three nights in Cremona.
Milan, cathedral and tower of S. Gottardo, watercolour from The Stones of Italy, publ. 1925. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Duchy of Milan continued
Gastronomic Veneto From the Adriatic to Lake Garda, the Po Valley to the Dolomites
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Day 6: Vigevano. Another surprisingly attractive little town, Vigevano has at its heart one of the largest castles in Italy, a major Sforza palace and stables. Adjacent is a beautiful arcaded square and several churches of interest. Day 7: Milan. Visit the Renaissance church of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, in whose refectory is Leonardo’s Last Supper. Then the Castello Sforzesco, the vast fortified palace of Leonardo’s ducal patrons, which has room decorations attributed to him and houses a wonderful variety of works of art and artefacts including Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà. Free afternoon. Day 8: Castiglione Olona. The last morning is spent in the tiny hill town of Castiglione Olona with wonderful frescoes by Masolino in the Collegiata. Fly from Milan, arriving London Heathrow at c. 4.45pm.
11–18 May 2016 (mc 678) 8 days • £3,240 Lecturer: Marc Millon One of Italy’s most varied regions, both gastronomically and geographically. Some of Italy’s greatest and best-known wines including Amarone and Prosecco, at their absolute best in historic wineries and Michelinstarred restaurants. Artistic riches are not ignored, with time spent in the dazzlingly picturesque Verona, architecturally spectacular Vicenza and charming smaller towns such as Bassano del Grappa and Asolo. The lecturer is Marc Millon, wine, food and travel writer, and author of The Food Lover’s Companion to Italy.
While the opulence of the Doges and the abundant feasts depicted in the paintings of Veronese may be less evident today, Venice’s influence still extends over a vast region, from Padova, Vicenza and Verona, all the way to the banks of Lake Garda; and to the north, over vine-covered foothills leading up to the jagged peaks of the Dolomites. This region, known as the Veneto, later came under the influence of the Austro-Hungarians, who similarly left their mark on a cucina with middle-European accents and a coffee culture that rivals Vienna. La Serenissima’s enduring influence is evident in a love of fish and shellfish from the lagoon and the Adriatic, while, even though transport and refrigeration render the process unnecessary, baccalà — air-dried (not salted) cod — remains a favourite today. Mountain traditions, meanwhile, are steadfastly safeguarded through cheeses produced from
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,890 or £2,580 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,270 or £2,960 without flights. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel delle Arti, Cremona (dellearti.com/en): small 4-star superior close to the main square. Very modern design. Hotel de la Ville, Milan (delavillemilano.com): smart, traditionally-furnished 4-star hotel close to the Duomo. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking and standing in churches and galleries. The tour is not suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking and stair climbing. There is quite a lot of coach travel. Average distance by coach per day: 47 miles Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Courts of Northern Italy, 8–15 May (page 116); Central Macedonia, 8–15 May (page 102); Gardens & Palaces of Berlin & Potsdam, 24–29 May (page 84).
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What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Verona, Piazza Delle Erbe early-20th-century etching by Francis Dodd.
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lunch nearby overlooking the vineyards, each hill’s contours finely etched by parallel lines of vines. Some free time in Asolo. Day 6: Canove di Roana, Bassano del Grappa. Drive into the mountains to a cheese-maker on the Altopiano, a high Alpine plain on the northern edge of the Veneto, past brightlycoloured houses, pines and meadows. Taste Asiago cheese and see where it is produced. Return to the plain to visit the charming town of Bassano del Grappa for a lunch of the celebrated local asparagus. Grappa tasting in the most eminent distillery in town, overlooking the bridge designed by Palladio. Day 7: Treviso, Castelfranco Veneto. Once an important fortress city, Treviso has a fine historical centre with imposing public buildings and many painted façades. The cathedral has a
Marc Millon Wine, food and travel writer. Born in Mexico, he was raised in the USA and then studied English Literature at the University of Exeter. He owns a business importing Italian wines from family estates and is author of The Wine and Food of Europe, The Wine Roads of Italy and The Food Lover’s Companion to Italy.
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fragrant alpine milk, smoked meats, and the art of distillation. Corn was first introduced into the Italian diet some five hundred years ago and polenta remains the staple. Vialone nano rice, cultivated near Verona, is the favoured variety for making deliciously soupy risotti. Fruits and vegetables abound: asparagus from Bassano del Grappa, radicchio from Treviso and Castelfranco Veneto, cherries from Marostica, and tiny violet artichokes from Sant’Erasmo. Grapes grow almost everywhere, producing some of the country’s greatest wines, as well as more accessible if no less satisfying everyday ones. Our tour begins in Verona with visits to churches and Roman monuments, small producers and outstanding restaurants. We discover Palladian villas and travel through the wine hills of Breganze to Asolo, striking out in search of outstanding mountain cheese, gorgeous sparkling wines, fiery grappa. And we end on the Venetian lagoon with lunch on a private island with its own vineyard.
See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Asolo, engraving from The Magazine of Art, 1887.
Itinerary Day 1: Verona. Fly at c. 1.15pm (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Verona. Dinner at an historic restaurant. First of three nights here. Day 2: Verona, Villa di Serego Alighieri, Lake Garda. A major Roman settlement, Verona also flourished in the Middle Ages under the tyrannical rule of the Scaligeri dynasty. A sequence of interconnecting squares lie at the heart of the city, lined with magnificent mediaeval palazzi. Outside Verona, visit the atmospheric Villa di Serego Alighieri, surrounded by Valpolicella vineyards, for a private wine tasting and lunch. Twenty-one generations after Dante Alighieri’s son bought the estate, the house and surrounding land still belong to his direct descendants, the Counts Serego Alighieri. There is a late-afternoon passeggiata by Lake Garda before returning to Verona.
Day 4: Vicenza, Breganze. Leave Verona for the beautiful little city of Vicenza, architecturally the noblest and most homogenous in northern Italy, much of its fabric consisting of Renaissance palaces. Andrea Palladio spent most of his life here, and his buildings include the town hall (Basilica Palladiana) and an epoch-making theatre (Teatro Olimpico). Just north of Vicenza is the prestigious wine-making region of Breganze, where there is a vertical wine tasting at the top winery in the area. Continue to the lovely hilltop town of Asolo where four nights are spent. Day 5: Valdobbiadene. Spend the morning at the renowned Bisol winery in the Cartizze hills, family-run for over 500 years. Visit the cellars and have a Prosecco tasting here, before a rustic
Titian Annunciation, but the hero of the day is the 14th-century painter Tommaso da Modena: his frescoes of learned monks in the chapter house of S. Nicola are extraordinary. Return to Asolo. In the evening drive to Castelfranco Veneto for the final dinner of the tour (1-star Michelin). Day 8: Mazzorbo. Drive to the coast and cross the lagoon by motoscafo (water-taxi) to the island of Mazzorbo, with wide vistas of breathtaking stillness. Visit the beautiful orti (kitchen gardens) of the acclaimed Venissa restaurant (1-star Michelin), taste wine produced from grapes grown here, and lunch. Fly from Venice, returning to Gatwick at c. 7.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,240 or £3,040 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,600 or £3,400 without flights.
Included meals: 4 lunches, 6 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Due Torri, Verona (www.hotelduetorri.duetorrihotels.com): luxurious 5-star, excellently located near Piazza delle Erbe. Hotel Al Sole, Asolo (albergoalsoleasolo.com): small 5-star hotel, full of charm, with wonderful views from the terrace and a good restaurant. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking, sometimes uphill and over unevenly paved ground. The coach can rarely enter town centres. Fitness and sure-footedness are essential. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 45 miles.
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Day 3: Isola della Scala, Verona. Drive south to the rice fields near Isola della Scala to visit the historic rice mill at Riseria Ferron, which dates to 1650. There is a cooking demonstration here of typical rice dishes, and lunch. In the afternoon visit an olive oil producer near Verona, which uses artisanal harvesting methods to create only the highest-quality oils, tasted during the visit.
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Madrid Revisited, 20–27 May (page 169). Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Veneto
A spectrum of Italy’s finest art & architecture Padua, Basilica del Santo, engraving c. 1740.
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4–11 June 2016 (mc 708) 8 days • £2,580 Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott Mediaeval frescoes (Giotto), Renaissance paintings (Titian), 18th-century interiors (Tiepolo), Neoclassical sculpture (Canova). Rich artistic and architectural centres from the Adriatic to Lake Garda: Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, and many others. Led by Dr Michael Douglas-Scott, specialist in 16th-century Italian art and architecture.
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For centuries the Veneto comprised the heartland of Venice’s terra ferma empire, stretching from the Adriatic to Lake Garda, and from the plain of the Po to the foothills of the Dolomites. But the Veneto is no mere subordinate appendage to La Serenissima, culturally or politically. The region is too large and varied for such relegation, and has a history which is far longer than that of the upstart maritime republic. The towns and cities on this tour are among the most illustrious and art-historically important places in Italy, as well as being some of the most attractive. Most have Roman or preRoman origins; at many the mediaeval circuit of walls is still intact. In the fields of painting and sculpture the Trecento (fourteenth century) is particularly well represented, with Giotto’s finest fresco cycle heading the list. From the fifteenth century are masterpieces by Pisanello, Donatello, Mantegna and Bellini; great paintings by Titian, Giorgione and Veronese show the High Renaissance to advantage, and the eighteenth century is represented by Tiepolo, the consummate master of the age. Architecture ranges from Roman through Romanesque to Gothic, and on to Renaissance and Neoclassical. There are some great buildings here, but the appeal of the tour lies as much in the vernacular and the streetscape as in monumental set pieces. A recurring theme is the genius of Andrea Palladio. To this one man is owed the appearance of most of the villas in the countryside, and
indeed of much of eighteenth-century England, for he became the most internationally influential of all Italian architects. Work by another Italian architect also makes repeated appearances: Carlo Scarpa created some of the most affecting designs of the twentieth century, blending old with new.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 1.30pm (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Venice and drive to Vicenza, where all seven nights are spent. Day 2: Vicenza. The beautiful little city of Vicenza is architecturally the noblest and most homogenous in northern Italy, much of the fabric consisting of Renaissance palaces. Andrea Palladio spent most of his life there, and his buildings include the town hall (Basilica Palladiana), an epoch-making theatre (Teatro Olimpico) and several aristocratic residences, one of which, the Palazzo Chiericati, houses an excellent art gallery. Day 3: Verona. A major Roman settlement, Verona also flourished in the Middle Ages under the tyrannical rule of the Scaligeri dynasty. A sequence of interconnecting squares lie at the heart of the city, lined with magnificent mediaeval palazzi. The vast Gothic church of Sta. Anastasia has a fresco by Pisanello and S. Zeno is a splendid Romanesque church with an altarpiece by Mantegna. The elegant red-brick castle contains a very fine art gallery. Day 4: San Vito, Asolo, Possagno. The Brion cemetery complex at San Vito by Carlo Scarpa is 20th-century architecture at its most beautiful and moving. There is a lunch break at Asolo, a lovely hilltop town with a Lorenzo Lotto altarpiece in the cathedral. Possagno was birthplace of the leading Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova and he rebuilt the church as his memorial, a cross between the Pantheon and Parthenon. Full-scale models for many of his sculptures have been assembled in a museum. Day 5: Padua. Giotto’s fresco cycle in the Arena Chapel is one of the greatest achievements in the history of art and marks the beginning of the modern era in painting. Further outstanding
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Dr Michael Douglas-Scott Associate Lecturer in History of Art at Birkbeck College, specialising in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. He studied at the Courtauld and lived in Rome for several years. He has written articles for Arte Veneta, Burlington Magazine and the Journal of the Warburg & Courtauld Institutes. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. 14th-century fresco cycles are by Giusto de’ Menabuoi in the Baptistry and by Altichieri in the vast multi-domed Basilica of St Anthony. The Renaissance is represented by Donatello’s altar panels here and the bronze equestrian statue outside, the Gattamelata. The mediaeval town hall and surrounding squares are among the finest of such ensembles in Italy. Day 6: Vicenza, Vicentine villas. Free morning in Vicenza. The afternoon excursion is to places just outside the city: ‘La Rotonda’, the most famous of all Palladian villas, and the adjacent Villa Valmarana ‘ai Nani’, with superb frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo and his son. Day 7: Treviso. Once an important fortress city, Treviso has a fine historic centre with imposing public buildings and painted façades. The cathedral has a Titian Annunciation, but the hero of the day is 14th-century painter Tommaso da Modena: his frescoes of learned monks in the chapter house of St Nicholas are extraordinary, as is the St Ursula cycle in Sta Caterina. Day 8: Castelfranco Veneto. Drive to the delightful walled town of Castelfranco. The cathedral has Giorgione’s wonderful Madonna Enthroned and a museum in his house next door. Fly from Venice, arriving at Gatwick at c. 6.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,580 or £2,400 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,910 or £2,730 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Campo Marzio, Vicenza (hotelcampomarzio.com): just outside a city gate of Vicenza, this 4-star hotel is well located and comfortable, with decent-sized rooms. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking, sometimes uphill and over unevenly paved ground. The coach can rarely enter town centres. Fitness and sure-footedness are essential. Average distance by coach per day: 50 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Moravia, 13–20 June (page 58).
Palladian Villas
The greatest house builder in history
11–16 October 2016 (md 896) 6 days • £1,990 Lecturer: Dr Sarah Pearson A survey of various surviving villas and palaces designed by Andrea Palladio (1508–80), the world’s most influential architect. Stay throughout in Vicenza, Palladio’s home town and site of many of his buildings. Led by expert art and archaeological historians. With many special appointments, this itinerary would be impossible for independent travellers. Utility is the key to understanding Palladio’s villas. In sixteenth-century Italy a villa was a farm, and in the Veneto agriculture had become a serious business for the city-based mercantile aristocracy. As the Venetian maritime empire gradually crumbled before the advancing Ottoman Turks, Venetians compensated by investing in the terra ferma of their hinterland. But beauty was equally the determinant of form, though beauty of a special kind. Palladio was designing buildings for a clientele who, whether princes of commerce, traditional soldieraristocrats or gentlemen of leisure, shared an intense admiration for ancient Rome. They were children of the High Renaissance and steeped in humanist learning. Palladio was the first architect regularly to apply the colonnaded temple fronts to secular buildings. But the beauty of his villas was not solely a matter of applied ornament. As can be seen particularly in his low-budget, pared-down villas and auxiliary buildings, there is a geometric order which arises from sophisticated systems of proportion and an unerring intuitive sense of
design. It is little wonder that Andrea Palladio became the most influential architect the western world has ever known. Many of his finest surviving villas and palaces are included on this tour, as well as some of the lesser-known and less accessible ones.
Itinerary Many of the villas on this itinerary are privately owned and require special permission to visit. The selection and order may therefore vary a little from what is described below. Day 1. Fly at c. 2.00pm (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Venice. Drive to Vicenza where all five nights are spent. Day 2. See in Vicenza several palaces by Palladio including the Palazzo Thiene and the colonnaded Palazzo Chiericati. His chief civic works here are the Basilica – the mediaeval town hall nobly encased in classical guise – and the Teatro Olimpico, the earliest theatre of modern times. Day 3. The Villa Pisani at Bagnolo di Lonigo, small but of majestic proportions, is considered by many scholars to be Palladio’s first masterpiece. The Villa Pojana, another early work, has restrained but noble proportions and contains models of Palladio’s works. The Villa Badoer at Fratta Polesine, from the middle of his career, is a perfect example of Palladian hierarchy, a raised residence connected by curved colonnades to auxiliary buildings. Day 4. The hilltop ‘La Rotonda’, a ten-minute drive from Vicenza, is the most famous of Palladio’s buildings, domed and with four porticoes. In the foothills of the Dolomites, Villa Godi Malinverni is an austere cuboid design with lavish frescoes inside. Some free time in Vicenza. Day 5. At the lovely town of Bassano there is a wooden bridge designed by Palladio. The Villa Barbaro at Maser, built by Palladio for two highly
cultivated Venetian brothers, has superb frescoes by Veronese, while the Villa Emo at Fanzolo typically and beautifully combines the utilitarian with the monumental.
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12–17 April 2016 (mc 632) 6 days • £1,990 Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott
Day 6. Drive along a stretch of the canal between Padua and the Venetian Lagoon, which is lined with the summer retreats of Venetian patricians. The Villa Foscari, ‘La Malcontenta’, is one of Palladio’s best known and most enchanting creations. Explore one of Palladio’s most evolved, most beautiful and most influential buildings, the Villa Cornaro at Piombino Dese. Fly from Venice to London Gatwick, arriving c. 6.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,990 or £1,810 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,260 or £2,080 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 3 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Campo Marzio, Vicenza (hotelcampomarzio.com): just outside a city gate of Vicenza, this 4-star hotel is well located and comfortable, with decent-sized rooms. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking, sometimes uphill and over unevenly paved ground, as the coach can rarely get close to the villas or enter town centres. There is a lot of standing outside and inside villas. Fitness is essential. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 60 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with, in April: Lucca, 18–24 April (page 128); Ravenna & Urbino, 20–24 April (page 119); Gardens & Villas of the Italian Lakes, 21–27 April (page 106). In October: Courts of Northern Italy, 2–9 October (page 116); Malta, 3–9 October (page 146); A Festival of Music in Florence, 16–22 October (page 122).
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The Villa Foscari ‘La Malcontenta’, from an 18th-century etching. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Verona Opera
Lyric spectacle in the Veneto italy
21–25 July 2016 (mc 772) 5 days • £2,460 La Traviata, Turandot, Aida Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott 18–22 August 2016 (mc 808) 5 days • £2,460 Turandot, Carmen, Aida Lecturer: Dr R. T. Cobianchi In the setting of a Roman amphitheatre, the most famous of open-air opera festivals. Accommodation is a 5-star hotel in the historic centre, with an optional minibus to the operas. Both tours are accompanied by art historians who lead walks and visits during the day, rather than by a musicologist. The first magic moment comes well before the conductor raises his baton. Unless you have led a team onto the pitch at Wembley, or won the New Hampshire primaries, you are unlikely to have experienced anything quite like the wall of heady high spirits which hits you as you emerge from the entrance tunnel into the arena. Filling the vast ellipse of the almost twothousand-year-old Roman amphitheatre are fourteen thousand happy people, bubbling with joyous expectation of the spectacle which is to follow. Even the most dour of dusty-hearted opera purists cannot help but be uplifted.
Then the floodlights go down, the chaotic chatter quietens to a reverential whisper, and the enveloping dusk is pierced only by flickering candle flames as uncountable as the stars above. Magic again; for these special moments the Verona Festival remains without rival. The list of unique assets continues. There is the inestimable advantage of the stage and auditorium, one of the largest of ancient amphitheatres which, though built for rather less refined spectacles (‘arena’ is Latin for sand, used in quantity after the slaughter of animals and gladiators) provides miraculously sympathetic acoustics. The elliptical form also seems to instil a sense which can best be described as resembling an embrace, bonding the audience however distant or disparate the individual members might be. Then there is the benefit of being at the heart of one of the most beautiful of Italian cities. Verona is crammed with magnificent architecture and dazzlingly picturesque streets and squares. Surprisingly, the city seems scarcely deflected from a typically Italian dedication to living well and stylishly by the annual influx of festival visitors. Enough of the spectacle, what of the music? Most performances reach high standards, with patches of stunning singing. For the (largely Italian) casts, to perform at Verona is still a special event, and there remains as an incentive to excellence the typically Italian expression of audience disapproval, instant and merciless. Besides, the younger singers know that they will
be judged by more agents, casting directors and peers in one performance than usually would see them in a season. Opinions vary concerning the best place to sit. All the seats we have booked are numbered and reserved (no queuing for hours and elbowing to seize the best of what remains), and a proportion are poltronissime gold, cushioned stalls seats, which we offer for a supplement. The rest are on the lowest tiers, the gradinate numerate, with clear sight lines, while plastic seating is mercifully interposed between you and the marble. Drawbacks are reduced leg room and distance from the stage.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 3.15pm from London Gatwick to Verona (British Airways). Day 2. Visit the church of Sant’Anastasia with Pisanello frescoes, and the spectacular mediaeval tombs of the ruling della Scala family. Take an introductory walk in Verona and visit the Romanesque church of San Fermo. Some free time. Evening opera in the Arena. Day 3. A walk leads to the Romanesque cathedral, and across the River Adige to the well-preserved Roman theatre. Alternatively, bus and train services offer the opportunity to see more of the region, perhaps Lake Garda or Venice. In the afternoon, visit the church of S. Zeno, a major Romanesque church with sculpted portal and a Mantegna altarpiece. Evening opera in the Arena. Day 4. The morning walk includes the Castelvecchio, a graceful mediaeval castle and fortified bridge, now housing an art museum. Lunch is at a privately owned villa in the countryside (by special arrangement). There is some free time. Evening opera in the Arena. Day 5. Fly from Verona, arriving London Gatwick at c. 12.45pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,460 or £2,240 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,630 or £2,410 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine.
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Music: Tickets to 3 performances are included, costing c. £290. Poltronissime gold seats are available for a £250 supplement (please request at the time of booking). Accommodation. Due Torri Hotel, Verona (www.hotelduetorri.duetorrihotels.com): a luxurious 5-star situated c. 20 minutes walk from the Arena (a shuttle is provided to and from the operas). Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? To participate fully in the itinerary, a fair amount of walking is involved. It is often very hot in Italy at this time of year. Average distance by coach per day: 18 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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The Arena, Verona, wood engraving from The Illustrated London News, 1866. book online at www.martinrandall.com
The Imperial Riviera
Trieste, Ljubljana & the Istrian Peninsula italy
12–18 September 2016 (md 843) 7 days • £2,180 Lecturer: Richard Bassett Follow in the footsteps of the Habsburgs, Europe’s leading imperial dynasty. Explore three countries from one hotel, crossing between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. All six nights are spent in Trieste. Led by Richard Bassett, historian specialising in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and author of ‘For God and Kaiser’.
The Iron Curtain, 19 September–3 October 2016. See page 88.
Trieste, gardens at Miramar Castle, watercolour by Mima Nixon, publ. 1916.
Itinerary Day 1: Trieste. Fly at c. 9.00am from London Heathrow to Venice (British Airways). Drive to Trieste, where all six nights are spent. Afternoon walk through the quarters of the Borgo Teresiano where the great Empress Maria Theresa established the foundations of Austria’s greatest seaport, ending on the Molo Audace from where in the 19th and 20th centuries several Habsburgs sailed to violent deaths in faraway lands. Day 2: Trieste. The morning in Trieste is spent climbing the cathedral hill through the old Venetian town and visiting the grave of the nineteenth-century scholar of Neo-classicism, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who is buried in a picturesque lapidarium beyond the former English church. In the afternoon visit the Miramar castle, the dream of the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, whose last moments alive were devoted to planning the atmospheric gardens of the castle’s park. Day 3: Ljubljana. The capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana is a city formed in the Imperial Austrian tradition, but following the collapse of the Habsburg empire it was vigorously reconstructed by the architect Jože Plečnik. See the fine baroque churches which are the city’s older glories, Neo-Renaissance government buildings, and the enchantingly picturesque riverside with its incomparable nexus of Plečnik’s bridges. Walk in the Tivoli park where Marshal Radetzky had his summer residence. Day 4: Hrastovlje, Opatija, Rijeka. A trip across the limestone carso of Istria, taking in the beautiful mediaeval church of Hrastovlje before reaching Opatija (Abbazia), the jewel of the old Austrian Riviera with its fin-de-siècle hotels, rocky promenade and views across the Quarnero. The nearby former Hungarian port of Fiume, now called Rijeka, offers a glimpse of more Habsburg
architecture as well as the site of the mad poetaviator D’Annunzio’s greatest adventure. Day 5: Trieste. In the Museo Revoltella the importance of the City’s trade with the orient is underlined by a special section devoted to the opening of the Suez Canal, an event with profound consequences for the development of the city. Free afternoon. Day 6: Istrian Peninsula. Return to Istria to visit the formerly Venetian coastal towns of Poreč and Piran, the latter with a fine Venetian campanile and view across the lagoons towards Venice. The Istrian coastal towns were established first as fishing villages before, in early mediaeval times, Venice developed them into centres of civilization which have contributed such composers as Tartini and other notable figures. Day 7. Fly from Venice to London Heathrow, arriving c. 2.50pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,180 or £1,990 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,480 or £2,290 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Savoia Excelsior Palace, Trieste (starhotels.com): majestic 4-star hotel overlooking the Bay of Trieste, set in a historic building with 19th-century architecture. How strenuous? The tour involves quite a lot of walking, some of which is uphill and some of which is in the town centres, where vehicular access is restricted. Streets are often cobbled, and the tour should not be attempted by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stairclimbing. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 78 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Habsburg Empire vanished barely a hundred years ago but nowhere is its legacy more apparent than in the once great seaport of Trieste, its hinterland and the adjoining coastline. The region was once progressive and prosperous and an international melting pot, but in the twentieth century it was riven by borders, often contested. The result was that the territory became peripheral and dropped from mainstream tourist itineraries – despite the hoard of extraordinarily handsome cities and settlements, sensationally interesting history and outstanding natural beauty. This tour evokes the memory of a multinational and multi-confessional empire. Under Vienna’s tutelage, Trieste became not only the third largest city of the Austrian Empire but also one of the greatest ports of the world. Through it came most of central Europe’s coffee, fruit and colonial wares. A multi-national plutocracy took advantage of light regulation and low taxation to establish fortunes in Trieste which have survived well into our times. To the east of Trieste, the Adriatic coast was developed to accommodate the wishes of a newly prosperous imperial middle-class who sought refuge from metropolitan life; the coastline rejoiced in the name Imperial and Royal Riviera. The thermal springs and bathing facilities of Opatija (Abbazia) along the Quarnero peninsula were one such attraction. With its turn-of-thecentury villas and hotels the town still exudes the atmosphere of Edwardian elegance. Inland from these charming resorts lies the Slovene capital Ljubljana. Here the architectural heritage is stamped by imperial Austrian tradition but also by the unique stylistic vocabulary of the greatest of all Slovene architects, Jože Plečnik, a pupil of Otto Wagner in Vienna but a man determined to express the culture of the newly emerging southern Slavs in a vivid and original language. The result is one of the most enchanting of European capitals, if one of the smallest. The tour also explores the relatively unknown interior of nearby Istria. Here crumbling villages marked by limestone churches punctuate a karst landscape which, ravaged in winter by the fierce north-easterly bora wind, remains one of the wildest and least known in Europe.
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Ar t History of Venice
Painting, sculpture & architecture in the world’s most beautiful city italy
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 12.30pm (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Venice. Cross the lagoon by motoscafo (water taxi) to the hotel. Day 2. The morning walk includes S. Zaccaria and S. Giovanni in Bragora, two churches with outstanding Renaissance altarpieces by Vivarini, Bellini and Cima. The Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni has a wonderful cycle of painting by Carpaccio. In the afternoon cross the bacino to Palladio’s beautiful island church of S. Giorgio Maggiore and then to the tranquil Giudecca to see his best church, Il Redentore. Day 3. Cross the Grand Canal to the San Polo district, location of the great Franciscan church of Sta. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari which has outstanding artworks including Titian’s Assumption, and the Scuola Grande di S. Rocco, with dramatic paintings by Tintoretto. In the afternoon see the incomparably beautiful Doge’s Palace with pink Gothic revetment and rich Renaissance interiors. Day 4. Cross the lagoon to the island of Torcello, once the rival of Venice but now scarcely inhabited. Virtually all that remains of the city is the magnificent Veneto-Byzantine cathedral with its 12th-century mosaics. Continue to the pretty glass-making island of Murano.
Venice, Bacino, late-18th-century copper engraving.
14–20 November 2016 (md 945) 7 days • £2,490 Lecturer: Dr Susan Steer Wide-ranging survey of art and architecture with an emphasis on the Renaissance. Led by Dr Susan Steer, resident of Venice whose MA and doctorate both focussed on the city. Includes a private, after-hours visit to the Basilica di San Marco to see the transcendental splendour of the Byzantine mosaics.
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For the world’s most beautiful city, Venice had an inauspicious start. The site was once merely a collection of mudbanks, and the first settlers came as refugees fleeing the barbarian destroyers of the Roman Empire. They sought to escape to terrain so inhospitable that no foe would follow. The success of the community which arose on the site would have been beyond the wildest imaginings of the first Venetians. By the end of the Middle Ages Venice had become the leading maritime power in the Mediterranean and possibly the wealthiest city in Europe. The shallow waters of the lagoon had indeed kept her safe from malign incursions and she kept her independence until the end of the eighteenth century. ‘Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee, and was the safeguard of the West, Venice, eldest child of liberty.’
Trade with the East was the source of that wealth and power, and the eastern connection has left its indelible stamp upon Venetian art and architecture. Western styles are here tempered by a richness of effect and delicacy of pattern which is redolent of oriental opulence. It is above all by its colour that Venetian painting is distinguished. And whether sonorous or poetic, from Bellini through Titian to Tiepolo, there remain echoes of the transcendental splendour of the Byzantine mosaics of St Mark’s. That Venice survives so comprehensively from the days of its greatness, so little ruffled by modern intrusions, would suffice to make it the goal of everyone who is curious about the man-made world. Thoroughfares being water and cars nonexistent, the imagination traverses the centuries with ease. And while picturesque qualities are all-pervasive – shimmering Istrian limestone, crumbling stucco, variegated brickwork, mournful vistas with exquisitely sculpted details – there are not half-a-dozen cities in the world which surpass Venice for the sheer number of major works of architecture, sculpture and painting.
Florence & Venice, 2–9 November 2016 with Dr Michael Douglas-Scott. See page 123.
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Day 5. Morning visit to the vast Gothic church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo and the early Renaissance Sta. Maria dei Miracoli with its multicoloured stone veneer. Cross the Grand Canal to Dorsoduro, to visit the church of S. Sebastiano with decoration by Veronese. In the evening, an after-hours private visit to the 11th-century Basilica di S. Marco. Day 6. Free morning. Spend the afternoon in the Accademia, Venice’s major art gallery, where all the Venetian painters are well represented. Day 7. The Ca’ Rezzonico is a magnificent palace on the Grand Canal, now a museum of 18th-century art. Travel by motoscafo to Venice airport. Fly to Gatwick, arriving c. 6.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,490 or £2,370 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,070 or £2,950 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Splendid, Venice (starhotels.com): 4-star hotel, half-way between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge. Rooms overlook side canals or a courtyard, and are decorated in a light, contemporary style. Good restaurant. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? The nature of Venice means that the city is mainly traversed on foot. Although part of her charm, there is a lot of walking including up and down bridges. Standing around in museums and churches is also unavoidable. Group size: between 8 and 18 participants. Combine this tour with Venetian Palaces, 22–26 November (see opposite).
Venetian Palaces
The greatest & best-preserved palaces of La Serenissima
22–26 November 2016 (md 950) 5 days • £2,340 Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott Explores many of the finest and best-preserved palaces, once homes to the wealthiest nobles and merchants in Venice. Access to many by special arrangement, including some which are still in private hands. Also a private after-hours visit to St Mark’s Basilica. Led by Dr Michael Douglas-Scott, specialist in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. Stay in a 4-star hotel on the Grand Canal.
finest stucco decoration in Venice (by special arrangement). Travel by motoscafo to Venice airport. Fly to Gatwick, arriving c. 6.20pm.
Itinerary
Accommodation. Hotel Palazzo Sant’Angelo (palazzosantangelo.com): 4-star hotel in an excellent location on the Grand Canal near Campo Sant’Angelo and the Rialto Bridge. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
This tour is dependent on the kindness of individuals and organizations, some of whom are reluctant to make arrangements far in advance, so the order of visits outlined may change and there may be substitutions for some palaces mentioned. Day 1. Fly at c. 12.35pm (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Venice. Cross the lagoon by motoscafo (water taxi) and travel up the Grand Canal to the doors of the hotel. Take an introductory walk in Piazza San Marco.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,340 or £2,230 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,650 or £2,540 without flights. Included meals: 3 dinners with wine.
How strenuous? The nature of Venice means that the city is more often than not traversed on foot. Although part of her charm, there is a lot of walking along the flat and up and down bridges, and standing around in museums and palaces. Fitness is essential for this tour. Group size: between 8 and 18 participants.
Day 2. Visit the Palazzo Ducale, supremely beautiful with its 14th-century pink and white revetment outside, late Renaissance gilded halls and paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese inside. See the palazzi on the Grand Canal from the viewpoint of a gondola. The former Casino Venier (by special arrangement) is a uniquely Venetian establishment that was part private members’ bar, part literary salon, part brothel. There is an afterhours private visit to the Basilica di San Marco, an 11th-century Byzantine-style church enriched over the centuries with mosaics, sculpture and various precious objects. Day 3. Designed by Longhena (c. 1667) and Giorgio Massari (c. 1751), the Ca’ Rezzonico is perhaps the most magnificent of Grand Canal palaces, and contains frescoes by Tiepolo; it is now a museum of 18th-century art. Visit the grand ballroom of late 17th-century Palazzo Zenobio, one of the most richly decorated Baroque halls in Venice (by special arrangement). In the afternoon visit the Palazzo Corner Spinelli, a 16th-century palace on the Grand Canal that now houses the Rubelli fabrics archive (by special arrangement). Visit the Palazzo Grimani at Santa Maria Formosa, the purpose-built site of the family collection of antiquities, which were later bequeathed to the Venetian Republic.
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Just as Venice possesses but a single piazza among dozens of campi, it has only one building correctly called a ‘palazzo’. The singularity is important: the Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale), like the Piazza San Marco, was the locus of the Serenissima’s public identity and seat of her republican government. Unlike her rivals in Florence and Milan she had no ruling dynasties to dictate polity, by contrast developing a deep aversion to individual aggrandizement and over-concentrated power. While the person and Palazzo of the Doge embodied their municipal identity, it was in their private houses that Venice’s mercantile oligarchs expressed their own family wealth and status. These case (in Venetian parlance ca’) were built throughout the city. In the absence of primogeniture, many branches sprung from the two hundred-odd noble families, leading to several edifices of the same name – an obstacle for would-be visitors. These houses were unlike any other domestic buildings elsewhere in the world: erected over wooden piles driven into the mud flats of the lagoon, they remained remarkably uniform over the centuries in their basic design, combining the functions of mercantile emporium (ground level) and magnificent residence (upper floors). They were however built in a fantastic variety of styles, Veneto-Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo. Sometimes there is a touch of Islamic decoration. As new families bought their way into the aristocracy during the long period of the Republic’s economic and political decline, they had their residences refurbished in Rococo splendour by master artists such as Giambattista Tiepolo. Many of these palaces have survived the virtual extinction of the Venetian aristocracy and retain their original, if faded, glory. Palaces for nobles will be considered in conjunction with those for the non-noble cittadino (wealthy merchant) class and the housing projects for ordinary Venetian popolani, which rise cheek by jowl in the dense urban fabric. Some of the places visited are familiar and readily accessible to the public. Others are opened only by special arrangement with the owners,
whether a charitable organization, branch of local government, or descendants of the original occupants. Some of these cannot be confirmed until nearer the time. A private, after-hours visit to the Basilica di San Marco, the mosaic interior illuminated for your benefit, is a highlight of this tour. As is an opportunity to see up close ‘the most beautiful street in the world’, the Grand Canal, from that most Venetian of vantage points, a gondola.
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15–19 March 2016 (mc 598) 5 days • £2,340 Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott
Day 4. With its elegant tracery and abundant ornamentation, the Ca’ d’Oro, also on the Grand Canal, is the most gorgeous of Venetian Gothic palaces; it now houses the Galleria Franchetti. The 13th-century Fondaco dei Turchi is a unique survival from the era; now it is the natural history museum. In the afternoon visit two privatelyowned palaces (by special arrangement): the 16thcentury Palazzo Corner Gheltoff Alverà remains the residence of the Countess Alverà and the marble-faced renaissance Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo-Polignac on the Grand Canal is still owned by the descendents of the early-20th-century patron of music, the Princesse de Polignac. Day 5. Visit the privately-owned 17th-century Palazzo Albrizzi which has some of the
Wood engraving c. 1880. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Cour ts of Nor thern Italy Princely art of the Renaissance italy
Dr Michael Douglas-Scott Associate Lecturer in History of Art at Birkbeck College, specialising in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. He studied at the Courtauld and lived in Rome for several years. He has written articles for Arte Veneta, Burlington Magazine and the Journal of the Warburg & Courtauld Institutes. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Professor Fabrizio Nevola Chair and Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at the University of Exeter. His research focuses on the urban and architectural history of early modern Italy and he has published widely including Siena: Constructing the Renaissance City. He obtained his PhD at the Courtauld. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Itinerary Day 1: Mantua. Fly at c. 8.30am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Bologna. Drive to Mantua where the first four nights are spent. After a late lunch, visit the Ducal Palace, a vast rambling complex, the aggregate of 300 years of extravagant patronage by the Gonzaga dynasty (Mantegna’s frescoes in the Camera degli Sposi, Pisanello frescoes, Rubens altarpiece).
Parma, theatre in the ducal palace, lithograph 1822.
8–15 May 2016 (mc 663) 8 days • £2,260 Lecturer: Professor Fabrizio Nevola 4–11 September 2016 (md 832) 8 days • £2,260 Lecturer: Professor Fabrizio Nevola
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2–9 October 2016 (md 881) 8 days • £2,260 Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott Northern Italy’s independent city states: Mantua, Ferrara, Parma, Ravenna and Urbino. Some of the greatest Renaissance art and architecture, commissioned by the powerful ruling dynasties: Gonzaga, Este, Sforza, Farnese, Montefeltro and others. Led by Dr Michael Douglas-Scott, specialist in 16th-century Italian art and architecture, and Professor Fabrizio Nevola, specialist in the urban and architectural history of Early Modern Italy. Highlights include the most glorious concentration of Byzantine mosaics and important work by Alberti, Mantegna, Piero della Francesca and Correggio.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Italy gradually fragmented into numerous little territories. The city states became fiercely independent and were governed with some degree of democracy. But a debilitating violence all too often ensued as the leading families fought with fellow citizens for dominance of the city council and the offices of state. A common outcome from the thirteenth century onwards was the imposition of autocratic rule by a single prince, and the suspension of democratic structures: but such tyranny was not infrequently welcomed with relief and gratitude by a war-weary citizenry. Their rule may have been tyrannical, and warfare their principal occupation, but the Montefeltro, Malatesta, d’Este and Gonzaga dynasties brought into being through their patronage some of the finest buildings and works of art of the Renaissance. Many of the leading artists in fifteenth- and sixteenth- century Italy worked in the service of princely courts. As for court art of earlier epochs, little survives, though a glimpse of the oriental splendour of the Byzantine court of Emperor Justinian can be had in the mosaic depiction of him, his wife and their retinue in the church of San Vitale in Ravenna. It is not until the fifteenth century, in Mantegna’s Camera degli Sposi at Mantua, that we are again allowed an unhindered gaze into court life.
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Day 2: Mantua, Sabbioneta. In the morning visit Alberti’s highly influential Early Renaissance church of Sant’Andrea, the Romanesque Rotonda of S. Lorenzo and Giulio Romano’s uncharacteristically restrained cathedral. In the afternoon, drive to Sabbioneta, an ideal Renaissance city on an almost miniature scale, built for Vespasiano Gonzaga in the 1550s; visit the ducal palace, theatre, and one of the world’s first picture galleries. Day 3: Parma, Fontanellato. Parma is a beautiful city; the vast Palazzo della Pilotta houses an art gallery (Correggio, Parmigianino) and an important Renaissance theatre (first proscenium arch). Visit the splendid Romanesque cathedral with illusionistic frescoes of a tumultuous heavenly host by Correggio. Also by Correggio, a sophisticated set of allegorical lunettes in grisaille surrounding a celebration of Diana as the goddess of chastity and the hunt in the Camera di S. Paolo. In the afternoon, visit the moated 13th-century castle in Fontanellato with frescoes by Parmigianino. Day 4: Mantua. After a free morning, an afternoon walk takes in the exteriors of Alberti’s centrally planned church of S. Sebastiano, and the houses that court artists Mantegna and Giulio Romano built for themselves. Also visit Palazzo Te, the Gonzaga summer residence and the major
The Printing Revolution
Renaissance print culture in Rome & Venice
Day 5: Ferrara was the centre of the city-state ruled by the d’Este dynasty, whose court was one of the most lavish and cultured in Renaissance Italy. Pass the Castello Estense, a moated 15th-century stronghold, and the cathedral. The Palazzo Schifanoia is an Este retreat with elaborate astrological frescoes. First of three nights in Ravenna. This day is subject to change as the Palazzo Schifanoia may be closed for restoration from the beginning of 2016. Day 6: Ravenna, Classe. The last capital of the western Roman Empire and subsequently capital of Ostrogothic and Byzantine Italy, Ravenna possesses the world’s most glorious concentration of Early Christian and Byzantine mosaics. Visit the Basilica of S. Apollinare Nuovo with its mosaic Procession of Martyrs. Drive to Classe, Ravenna’s port, which was once one of the largest in the Roman world; virtually all that is left is the great Basilica di S. Apollinare. In the evening, there is a private visit to the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, lined with 5th-century mosaics, and the splendid centrally planned church of S. Vitale with 6th-century mosaics of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora. Day 7: Urbino. Drive into the hills to Urbino, the beautiful little city of the Montefeltro dynasty. See the exquisite Gothic frescoes in the Oratorio di S. Giovanni. In the afternoon, visit the Palazzo Ducale, a masterpiece of architecture which grew over 30 years into the perfect Renaissance secular environment. See the beautiful studiolo of Federico of Montefeltro and excellent picture collection here (Piero, Raphael, Titian). Day 8: Cesena, Rimini. The Biblioteca Malatestiana in Cesena is a perfectly preserved Renaissance library established by Malatesta Novello, and contains over 300 valuable manuscripts. In Rimini visit the outstanding Tempio Malatestiano, designed by Leon Battista Alberti for the tyrant Sigismondo Malatesta, which contains superb decoration by Agostino di Duccio and fine sculptural detail. Fly from Bologna, arriving at London Heathrow c. 8.00pm.
Practicalities
Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Casa Poli, Mantua (hotelcasapoli.it): 4-star hotel close to the historic centre. Hotel Bisanzio, Ravenna (bisanziohotel. com): a bland modern façade hides a small and welcoming but relatively basic 4-star hotel. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? A lot of walking, much of it on steep and roughly paved streets. Coaches are not allowed into historic centres. Many of the historical buildings visited are sprawling and vast. Some days involve a lot of driving; average distance by coach per day: 88 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Details available in early 2016 Contact us to register your interest A new and original tour for 2017. The arrival and impact of printing in Renaissance Italy: manuscripts, printed books and the visual arts 1450–1600. Special displays of manuscripts and books and privileged access to spaces not usually seen by the public. Accompanied by two expert lecturers, a British Library curator and an art historian specialising in the Italian Renaissance. No more than 18 participants. This tour explores the culture of Renaissance Rome and Venice from a new and unusual perspective – the history of printing. The arrival of printing in Rome in the 1460s, followed by the exponential growth of publishing in Venice, had far-reaching and profound consequences. It was nothing less than an information revolution. Beginning in Rome and at the first site of printing in Italy, the Benedictine monastery at Subiaco, the tour introduces the new technology and what this entailed for the way books were made, bought, collected and read. It shows how the transition from manuscript to print took place, and presents the leading personalities involved in the advancement of printing – cardinals, aristocrats, scholars, printers and booksellers. Many of the great collections of manuscript codices and printed books which were built at the time survive intact today in splendidly decorated libraries. Foremost among them was the Pope’s own library, the ‘Biblioteca Apostolica’, buried within the great Vatican complex. The story continues in Venice, which in the sixteenth century became the European centre of the publishing and bookselling trades. The monumental libraries here, places of architectural beauty themselves, house some of the greatest collections of illustrated books and manuscripts. The focus of this tour leads not only an understanding of the role of printing in Renaissance culture but also to an enhanced appreciation of the art of the period, and an understanding of the place of the book in early modern history.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 12.45pm (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Rome Fiumicino. Evening lecture and first of four nights in Rome. Day 2: Subiaco. Drive to the Roman countryside to visit the Benedictine monasteries at Subiaco, the first site of printing in Italy. In the library of Sta. Scolastica there are copies of the first books printed there, including Lactantius’ De divinis institutionibus, printed in 1465.
Venice Campanile, by R. Barratt, publ. 1907.
Day 3: Rome. A morning in the Vatican, visiting the Pope’s own library, the ‘Biblioteca Apostolica’ (by special arrangement) and the Vatican Museums. In the afternoon, an out-of-hours visit to Raphael’s frescoes in Villa La Farnesina, where there was once a printing press. The Palazzo Farnese, now a French embassy, is the most magnificent Renaissance palace in Rome. Day 4: Rome. The Biblioteca Casanatense belonged to the Dominicans, who were in charge of attempts to control printing by means of the Index of Prohibited Books. The Biblioteca Angelica was the first public library in Europe. In the afternoon there is a printing demonstration at the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica in the Palazzo Poli, which abuts the Trevi fountain. Day 5: Rome, Venice. Travel from Rome to Venice by first class rail (c. 4 hours). After settling into the hotel, visit the beautiful Biblioteca Marciana in the Piazzetta. Begun in 1536 by Sansovino and finished by Scamozzi in 1591, among its collections are many sculptures, Fra Mauro’s 1459 world map and important manuscripts and books. Day 6: Venice. Andrea Palladio’s monastery of S. Giorgio Maggiore has a library, now part of the Fondazione Cini, which has one of the greatest collections of 16th-century illustrated books, broadsheets and pamphlets. The small monastic library attached to the church of S. Francesco della Vigna is the repository for all Franciscan libraries in northern Italy and houses the only copy of the first printed edition of the Koran (1537). The Museo Correr, the museum of the history of Venice, has a library containing many fine manuscripts and incunabula.
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Price –per person. Two sharing: £2,260 or £2,080 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,490 or £2,310 without flights.
March 2017 Lecturers: Stephen Parkin & Dr Michael Douglas-Scott
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monument of Italian Mannerism, designed and with lavish frescoes by Giulio Romano.
Day 7. Fly from Venice, arriving at London Heathrow at c. 2.00pm. Full details for this tour will be available in early 2016 – please contact us to register your interest. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Dark Age Brilliance Late Antique & Pre-Romanesque italy
9–16 October 2016 (md 893) 8 days • £2,210 Lecturer: John McNeill A journey through north-east Italy to Croatia, via Ravenna, Torcello and Cividale. Private evening visit to San Vitale, Ravenna’s finest church, and the adjacent Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, to see the magnificent mosaics. Includes some of the finest art and architecture of the Early Middle Ages to be found anywhere. Led by architectural historian John McNeill. Byzantine heritage of unique range and richness, with exceptional mosaics. Cividale, engraving c. 1906
effect of this marginal status has been to spare her Early Christian buildings and leave a Byzantine heritage of unique range and richness. Given the intensity with which Ravenna developed between 402, when Honorius chose it as his capital, and 751, when the last of the Exarchs returned to Constantinople, it makes a fitting introduction to Early Christian and early mediaeval culture in north-eastern Italy. Arising from the need to cater for the spiritual requirements of newly emancipated Christianity, the clarity and humanism of the classical tradition were superseded by images and decoration designed to instil a kind of sacred dread, and to intimate the glories of the world to come. Mosaic was the key element in creating church interiors of awesome splendour and intense spirituality. Early Christian forms were endorsed throughout the whole of the Adriatic seaboard, and the second half of the tour embraces Aquileia, Grado, Poreč (Parenzo) in Croatia and Concordia Sagittaria. The theme is rounded off with the astonishing little eighth-century church in Cividale in the foothills of the Julian Alps which preserves the earliest monumental sculpture of the Middle Ages.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 3.00pm (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Bologna. Drive to Ravenna for the first of three nights.
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It is now commonplace to believe, contrary to the assumptions of centuries, that the Dark Ages which succeeded the glories of the Roman Empire were not so dark, and that the later history of the Empire was not so glorious. A concomitant reappraisal has led to the acceptance of Early Christian and Byzantine art not as a regression to primitivism – an aspect of the decline and fall – but as one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of Western art. But it remains true that in the territories of the Western Empire from the fifth to the ninth century there was little in the way of monumental building or large-scale artistic production. Only in a few dispersed pockets was the flame of ambitious artistic and intellectual endeavour kept alive. A string of such pockets gathered around the northern end of the Adriatic and northeast Italy, the last redoubt of the Empire in the West. Born of an Umbrian past and raised in Imperial retreat, Ravenna remains anchored in the Adriatic marshes, humbled by the rise of her great neighbours, Bologna and Venice, and unhindered by later political commerce. The
to historians as the site of the earliest Longobard settlement in northern Italy, and most celebrated by art historians for the astonishing quality and quantity of the 8th-century work which has survived here. See the superb ‘Tempietto’ of Sta. Maria in Valle, Longobardic work in the cathedral museum and spectacular early mediaeval collections in the archaeological museum. The afternoon is free in Cividale. Day 6: Poreč (Croatia). Drive south, cross Slovenia and enter the part of Croatia formerly known as Istria. The sole object of the excursion is to visit Poreč (Parenzo), a longish journey justified by the existence of an unusually complete 6th-century cathedral complex: basilican church, baptistery and bishop’s palace. The church proper was built above an earlier basilica c. 540 by Bishop Euphrasius, whose complete episcopal throne is set within an apse which, for once, has retained its full complement of furnishings and fittings. Day 7: Aquileia, Grado. Aquileia was a major Roman city whose influential cathedral was complete by 319. Sections of walls and mosaic pavements were preserved within the present 11th-century cathedral, a rather wonderful survival. The Longobard sack of 568 resulted in the removal of the see to the more defensible position on the coast at Grado, whose two great 6th-century churches, Sta. Maria della Grazie and the cathedral, also have outstanding floor mosaics.
Day 2: Ravenna. Begin with an exploration of the 5th-century forms at the cathedral and Orthodox Baptistery, and the superlative 6th-century ivory throne of Maximian in the Museo Arcivescovile. In the afternoon study Arian Ravenna at the Arian Baptistery and Theodoric’s great Palatine church of S. Apollinare Nuovo. Investigate the 5th-century basilica design which provided Theodoric’s court with its most immediate models, and Galla Placidia’s splendid ex-voto basilica of S. Giovanni Evangelista.
Day 8: Torcello. Drive to the Adriatic and take a water taxi to the island of Torcello in the Venetian lagoon, a major city while Venice was little more than a fishing village. Visit the largely 11th-century cathedral of Sta. Maria Assunta and adjacent Greek-cross reliquary church of Sta. Fosca. Continue to Venice Airport and fly to London Gatwick, arriving at c. 7.00pm.
Day 3: Ravenna, Classe. In the morning see the outstanding National Museum, with excellent Byzantine ivory carvings. Travel by coach to Theodoric’s superb Mausoleum and to the ancient port of Classe for the great 6th-century basilica of S. Apollinare. Private evening visit to the church of S. Vitale, the greatest 6th-century building of the West; the invention with which form, colour, space and narrative meaning are combined is breathtaking. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is the earliest Christian structure in Europe to retain its mosaic decoration in its entirety.
Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,210 or £1,880 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,380 or £2,050 without flights.
Day 4: Pomposa, Concordia Sagittaria. Drive north to the Po delta. Pomposa is an important 8th-century Benedictine abbey, richly extended by Abbot Guido’s magnificent 11th-century porch and campanile. Lunch in Chioggia. The Roman road station at Concordia Sagittaria, whose modest mediaeval cathedral was built alongside a 4th-century basilica and martyrium, is splendidly revealed through archaeological excavation. Stay four nights in Cividale. Day 5: Cividale. Although founded as Forum Julii in the 1st century bc, Cividale is best known
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Practicalities
Included meals: 1 lunch and 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Palazzo Bezzi, Ravenna (palazzobezzi.it): new 4-star superior hotel, located on the edge of the historic centre of town. Hotel Roma, Cividale (hotelroma-cividale.it): simple, functional, friendly 3-star hotel in the town centre. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking in town centres, where coach access is restricted, and a lot of standing in museums and churches. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 76 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Gastronomic Piedmont, 1–7 October (page 104); A Festival of Music in Florence, 16–22 October (page 122); Sicily, 17–29 October (page 140).
Ravenna & Urbino
Byzantine capital, Renaissance court
28 September–2 October 2016 (md 877) 5 days • £1,490 Lecturer: Dr Luca Leoncini A study in contrasts: one a city with origins as a major Roman seaport, the other an enchanting little Renaissance settlement high in the hills. In Ravenna, some of the greatest buildings of late antiquity with the finest Byzantine mosaics. In Urbino the Ducal Palace, the greatest secular building of the Early Renaissance. Private evening visit to San Vitale, Ravenna’s finest church, and the adjacent Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, to see the magnificent mosaics. Why combine them? Both are somewhat out of the way, yet near to each other. First run almost thirty years ago and still a firm favourite.
Day 3: Ravenna. The Cathedral Museum houses fine objects, including an ivory throne. Visit the Cooperativa Mosaicista, a laboratory for the restoration of mosaics (subject to confirmation) and the Mausoleum of Theodoric. Free afternoon. Day 4: Urbino. The Palazzo Ducale grew during 30 years of Montefeltro patronage into the perfect Early Renaissance secular environment, of the highest importance for both architecture and architectural sculpture. The palace contains works by Piero della Francesca, Raphael and Titian. There are exquisite International Gothic frescoes by Salimbeni in the Oratory of St John. Day 5: Classe, Rimini. Drive to Classe, Ravenna’s port, which was one of the largest in the Roman Empire. Virtually all that is left is the great basilica of S. Apollinare. Continue to Rimini and visit the Tempio Malatestiano, church and mausoleum of the Renaissance tyrant Sigismondo Malatesta (designed by Alberti, fresco by Piero della Francesca, sculpture by Agostino Duccio). Drive on to Bologna airport for a late-afternoon flight arriving at Heathrow at c. 8.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,490 or £1,290 without flights. Single occupancy: £1,650 or £1,450 without flights. Included meals: 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Palazzo Bezzi, Ravenna (palazzobezzi.it): a new 4-star superior hotel, located on the edge of the historic centre of town. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is inevitably quite a lot of walking and standing in museums in this tour. Some of the walking is uphill or over cobbles. The coach cannot be used within the town centres. Average distance by coach per day: 65 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with, in April: Sicily, 4–16 April (page 140); Palladian Villas, 12–17 April (page 111); Pompeii & Herculaneum, 25–30 April (page 137). In September: The Heart of Italy, 19–26 September (page 130); Malta, 3–9 October (page 146).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
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Ravenna was once one of the most important cities in the western world. The last capital of the Roman Empire in the West, she subsequently became capital of the Gothic kingdoms of Italy and of Byzantine Italy. Then history passed her by. Marooned in obscurity, some of the greatest buildings and decorative schemes of the late antique and early mediaeval era were allowed to survive unmolested until the modern age recognised in them not the onset of decadence and the barbarity of the Dark Ages but an art of the highest aesthetic and spiritual power. The Early Christian and Byzantine mosaics at Ravenna are the finest in the world. Urbino, by contrast, is a compact hilltop stronghold with a very different history and an influence on Renaissance culture out of all proportion to her size. The Ducal Palace, built by the Montefeltro dynasty over several decades, is perhaps the finest secular building of its period. Piero della Francesca, Raphael and Baldassare Castiglione were among those who passed through its exquisite halls. The justification for joining in one short tour these two centres of diverse artistic traditions is simple. They are places to which every art lover wants to go but which are relatively inaccessible from the main art-historical centres of Italy, yet are close to each other. For many years this has been one of our most popular tours.
splendid centrally planned church of S. Vitale with 6th-century mosaics of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora.
Itinerary Day 1: Ravenna. Fly at c. 3.00pm (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Bologna. Drive to Ravenna, where all four nights are spent. Day 2: Ravenna. In the morning see the outstanding National Museum, with excellent Byzantine ivory carvings. The Orthodox baptistry has superlative Early Christian mosaics and S. Apollinare Nuovo has a mosaic procession of martyrs marching along the nave. In the evening, there is a private visit to the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, lined with 5th-century mosaics, and the
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20–24 April 2016 (mc 643) 5 days • £1,490 Lecturer: Dr Luca Leoncini
Ravenna, Sant’Apollinare Nuova, wood cut by Giulio Ricci c. 1930. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Gastronomic Emilia-Romagna Food & art along the Via Emilia italy
16–22 April 2016 (mc 635) 7 days • £2,940 Lecturers: Marc Millon & Dr R. T. Cobianchi One of the world’s most famous food-producing regions. A food-lover’s paradise: source of the best ham, cheese, vinegar, fresh pasta. See how they are made and meet their producers. Lunch in Modena at the Osteria Francescana, the second-best restaurant in the world, with three Michelin stars. Two lecturers: art historian Dr R. T. Cobianchi and gastronomic specialist, Marc Millon, author of The Food Lover’s Companion to Italy. Emilia-Romagna, shaped like a wedge of its renowned Parmesan cheese, is rich in every way – artistically, culturally, economically and, by no means least, gastronomically. To journey along the Via Emilia, the long, straight Roman road from Milan to the Adriatic coast, is to immerse oneself in a gloriously hedonistic garden of Eden that is the source of some of the greatest foods in the world. The lovely cities of Parma and Bologna are the ideal bases from which to explore some of the masterpieces of Italian gastronomy, including the two jewels in the region’s crown; sweet
Prosciutto di Parma, air-cured by dry mountain winds that sweep down from the Apennines, and Parmigiano-Reggiano, the king of cheeses. Here, within their strictly defined areas of origin, you have a rare opportunity to see the production of these protected foods and to taste them in the company of the producers themselves. We also visit a family-run acetaia to discover the mysterious art of producing traditional balsamic vinegar, the rich, complex condiment that must be aged for a minimum of twelve years. Vast oceans of inferior imitations may be found on tables all around the world, but the real thing, aged in batteries of wood, unctuous and thick, is known as ‘black gold’, an incredibly concentrated elixir that is part of the region’s great gastronomic patrimony. The trademark of Bologna is its hand-made egg pasta, which appears in many guises from filled tortellini to rich, luscious lasagne. A visit to Bologna’s food market with its vast array of fresh pasta, mortadella and salami, breads, cakes and ice cream explains why this city is known as la grassa (the fat one). Wine, too, is an important feature throughout. We discover expressions of the grape that may not be as exalted as the region’s foods but which are perfect accompaniments, made from ancient grapes such as Malvasia, Trebbiano and Sangiovese. We also discover the real Lambrusco, foaming wildly, raspingly dry and rich in acidity. Although the main focus of this tour is gastronomy, both Parma and Bologna have a
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Parma, woodcut c. 1550. book online at www.martinrandall.com
wealth of artistic treasures and time is allowed to explore these in the expert company of an art historian. Feeding the body, feeding the mind: this is the gastronomy of Emilia-Romagna.
Itinerary Day 1: Parma. Fly at c. 10.30am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Milan. Drive to Parma and in the late afternoon see the astonishingly vital and illusionistic frescoes by Correggio, Parma’s finest painter, in the cathedral and the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista. The first four nights are spent in Parma. Day 2: Parma, Polesine Parmense. Parma is of great importance in particular for its High Renaissance school of painting. See the good art collection in the Palazzo della Pilotta, and also the exquisite Camera di S. Paolo. At the 13thcentury Corte Pallavicina in Polesine Parmense discover the rare and prestigious culatello di Zibello, made from the rump of a specially bred pig and cured for over a year in cellars to a nearunbelievable intensity of flavour and sweetness. Lunch is in the family-run restaurant here. In the afternoon visit the nearby Villa Verdi, which the composer built for himself. Dinner is at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Parma. Day 3: Parma and surroundings. ParmigianoReggiano has been made in the area around Parma using the same methods for over 700 years. Watch the process at a modern caseificio,
Florence
Cradle of the Renaissance Tomb of Lorenzo de Medici, by Michelangelo, in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, engraving 1888.
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with tasting. Then visit a family-run acetaia to see the hand production of traditional balsamic vinegar and to have a rustic lunch. In the evening, the lecturer leads a wine tasting in the hotel. Day 4: Torrechiara, Langhirano. In the morning visit the 15th-century castle in Torrechiara. Continue to a producer of Prosciutto di Parma and see the age-old process of curing and drying, before tasting it later with wines and lunch at a good winery. Day 5: Modena. In Modena visit the cathedral, among the finest Romanesque buildings in the region, and also the market. Lunch is at the Osteria Francescana, the 2nd best restaurant in the world, with three Michelin stars. Continue to Bologna for a visit to the vast Gothic church of S. Petronio, with sculpture by Jacopo della Quercia. The last two nights of this tour are spent in Bologna. Day 6: Bologna, Dozza, Imola. The famous food market in Bologna sprawls through a maze of streets where shops and stalls display an overwhelming array of fresh pasta, artisanal mortadella, hams and salamis, cheeses, fresh fruit and vegetables, and an irresistible variety of bread and pastries. Taste these products in some of the city’s historic food shops. See also the enchanting early mediaeval church complex of S. Stefano. In the evening drive to Dozza for a tasting of wines from Romagna, before continuing to Imola for dinner at another of the finest restaurants in Italy (two Michelin stars). Day 7: Forlimpopoli. Forlimpopoli is the birthplace of Pellegrino Artusi, the author of the original Italian national cookbook. A demonstration of fresh pasta-making is followed by lunch. To see pasta being made by hand is to witness a near miraculous transformation of the simplest ingredients, flour and eggs, into the most ingenious collection of shapes and forms. Fly from Bologna, arriving Heathrow at c. 8.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,940 or £2,640 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,230 or £2,930 without flights. Included meals: 3 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine.
How strenuous? There is a lot of walking and standing on this tour, and it would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulties with this or with stair-climbing. Coaches cannot enter some of the historic centres. Some days involve a lot of driving; average distance per day: 65 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Gardens of the Riviera, 6–12 April (page 81); Pompeii & Herculaneum, 25–30 April (page 137).
The world’s best location for an art-history tour: here were laid the foundations of the next 500 years of western art. The lecturer is Dr Antonia Whitley, art historian specialising in the Italian Renaissance. Still retains an astonishingly dense concentration of great works of art. The Renaissance is centre stage, but mediaeval and other periods also feature prominently. Avoids the crowds of busier months, and a smaller group than usual, 8–18 participants. A first visit to Florence can be an overwhelming experience, and it seems that no amount of revisiting can exhaust her riches, or stem the growth of affection and awe which the city inspires in regular visitors. For hundreds of years the city nurtured an unceasing succession of great artists. No other place can rival Florence for the quantity of first-rate, locally produced works of art, many still in the sites for which they were created or in museums a few hundred yards away. Giotto, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo – these are some of the artists and architects whose works will be studied on the tour, fully justifying Florence’s epithet as the cradle of the Renaissance. Florence is, moreover, one of the loveliest cities in the world, ringed by the foothills of the Apennines and sliced in two by the River Arno. Narrow alleys lead between the expansive piazze and supremely graceful Renaissance arcades
abound, while the massive scale of the buildings impressively demonstrates the wealth once generated by its precocious economy. It is now a substantial, vibrant city, yet the past is omnipresent, and, from sections of the mediaeval city walls, one can still look out over olive groves. Though the number of visitors to Florence has swelled hugely in recent years, it is still possible during winter, and with careful planning, to explore the city and enjoy its art in relative tranquillity.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.15am (British Airways) from London City to Florence. In the late afternoon visit the Piazza della Signoria, civic centre of Florence with masterpieces of public sculpture. Day 2. Brunelleschi’s Foundling Hospital, begun in 1419, was the first building to embody stylistic elements indisputably identifiable as Renaissance. See Michelangelo’s David, the ‘Slaves’ in the Accademia and the frescoes and panels of pious simplicity by Fra Angelico in the Friary of S. Marco. In the afternoon see the Byzantine mosaics and Renaissance sculpture in the cathedral baptistry, and the cathedral museum (many parts of the museum are closed for restoration at the time of publication). Day 3. In the morning visit Santa Maria Novella, the Dominican church with many works of art (Masaccio’s Trinità, Ghirlandaio’s frescoed sanctuary). See Renaissance statuary at the church-cum-granary of Orsanmichele. The afternoon is devoted to the Uffizi which has masterpieces by every major Florentine painter as well as international Old Masters. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Accommodation. Hotel Stendhal, Parma (hotelstendhal.it): quiet 4-star hotel, the best located in the historic centre, run by Mercure hotels. Hotel Corona d’Oro, Bologna (hco.it): elegant 4-star hotel in the heart of Bologna. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
15–21 February 2016 (mc 575) 7 days • £2,280 Lecturer: Dr Antonia Whitley
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Florence continued
“Each day was varied and of course Florence enabled the whole tour to be done on foot which was enjoyable.”
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Dr Antonia Whitley Art historian and lecturer specialising in the Italian Renaissance. She obtained her PhD from the Warburg Institute on Sienese society in the 15th century and has published on related topics. She has lectured for the National Gallery, organises adult education study sessions and has led many tours in Italy. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. Day 7. In the morning visit the Palazzo Vecchio, fortified civic centre of the republic, which has several rooms designed by Vasari and contains works by Michelangelo, Donatello and Bronzino. There is some free time, and a second, selective visit to the Uffizi. Fly from Florence Airport, arriving at London City at c. 9.00pm. Florence, Piazza Santa Croce, watercolour by Frank Fox, publ. 1913.
Day 4. A Medici morning includes S. Lorenzo, the family parish church designed by Brunelleschi, their burial chapel in the contiguous New Sacristy with Michelangelo’s enigmatic sculptural ensemble, and the chapel in the Palazzo MediciRiccardi which has exquisite frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli. Visit Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library, whose architectural components would herald the onset of Mannerism. Free afternoon. Day 5. Visit the Bargello, housing Florence’s finest sculpture collection with works by Donatello, Verrocchio, Michelangelo and others. Walk to the vast Franciscan church of Santa Croce, favoured burial place for leading Florentines and abundantly furnished with sculpted tombs, altarpieces and frescoes. Lunch is at a restaurant
on the Piazzale Michelangelo before a visit to S. Miniato al Monte, the Romanesque abbey church with panoramic views of the city. Day 6. In Santa Trìnita there are fine frescoes by Ghirlandaio. See the Masaccio/Masolino fresco cycle in the Brancacci Chapel, a highly influential work of art which influenced all subsequent generations of Renaissance artists. Visit Santo Spirito, Brunelleschi’s last great church, with many 15th-century altarpieces, and the Boboli Gardens, at the top of which is an 18th-century ballroom and garden overlooking olive groves. In the afternoon visit the redoubtable Palazzo Pitti, which houses several museums including the Galleria Palatina, outstanding particularly for High Renaissance and Baroque paintings.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,280 or £2,100 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,520 or £2,340 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Santa Maria Novella (hotelsantamarianovella.it): delightful, recently renovated 4-star hotel in a very central location. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking in the town centre where the ground is sometimes uneven and pavements are narrow. Fitness is essential. Group size: between 8 and 18 participants. Combine this tour with Connoisseur’s Rome, 23–28 February (page 134).
A Festival of Music in Florence MAINLAND EUROPE
November 2016 (md 909) Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com
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Universally known as the crucible of change in the field of the visual arts, the ‘cradle of the Renaissance’ was also a highly important centre for the development of music from the end of the Middle Ages until the Age of Baroque, and the heart of much of our tradition of Western music.
Angel by Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1455/65–1526).
Florence has a fascinating musical history, from the thirteenth century where civic music was used as a symbol of the city’s cultural achievements, and carnival was celebrated twice a year with processions, singing and revelry. During the following century, the Trecento, it was one of the main centres of Italian Ars Nova and home of Francesco Landini, one of the most prolific and revered composers of that century. And it was here in the sixteenth century that the Florentine
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Camerata was established – an association of musicians, scholars and intellectuals who met in the salon of Count Giovanni de’ Bardi to discuss and experiment with settings of Greek drama, as well as other topics such as poetry and the sciences, from which the art form of opera was born. Throughout these periods and beyond, the city’s huge cultural and political prestige attracted musicians of the first rank from all over Europe. The musicians that we have selected are of the highest calibre, and leading specialists in their genre, both Italian and British. All the concerts are private, access being exclusive to those who purchase a package which includes hotel accommodation, coach travel, lectures, many meals and other services. There will also be a pre-festival tour, Florence. At the time of printing, provisional dates are 10–16 October 2016. Please contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com.
Florence & Venice
The finest & best-known art & architecture in the Western world
Wide-ranging survey with Renaissance emphasis. Includes a private, after-hours visit to the Basilica di San Marco to see the transcendental splendour of the Byzantine mosaics. Led by Dr Michael Douglas-Scott, specialist in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. Off-peak dates, smaller group than usual (maximum 18 participants).
Itinerary Day 1: Florence. Fly at c. 11.15am (British Airways) from London City to Florence. The Dominican church of Sta. Maria Novella has many works of art (Masaccio’s Trinità, Ghirlandaio’s frescoed sanctuary). First of four nights in Florence.
Day 3: Florence. A Medici morning includes S. Lorenzo, the family parish church designed by Brunelleschi, their burial chapel in the contiguous New Sacristy with Michelangelo’s largest sculptural ensemble, and Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library. The afternoon is devoted to the Uffizi, Italy’s most important art gallery, which has masterpieces by every major Florentine painter as well as international Old Masters.
4-star hotel, centrally-located. Westin Europa & Regina, Venice (westineuropareginavenice.com): elegant, historic 5-star hotel on the Grand Canal, opposite the Salute. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? The nature of both cities means that they are more often than not traversed on foot. Although part of their charm, there is a lot of walking along the flat (and up and down bridges in Venice); standing around in museums and churches is also unavoidable. Group size: between 8 and 18 participants. Combine this tour with Gastonomic Sicily, 24–31 October (page 143); Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur, 25–31 October (page 80).
Day 4: Florence. Walk to the vast Franciscan church of Sta. Croce, favoured burial place for leading Florentines and abundantly furnished with sculpted tombs, altarpieces and frescoes, via the church-cum-granary of Orsanmichele, adorned with important Renaissance statuary. Some free time. Day 5: Florence, Venice. See Michelangelo’s David and the ‘Slaves’ in the Accademia. Travel by rail to Venice (first class) for the first of three nights there. Take an introductory walk in the Piazza S. Marco and visit the incomparably beautiful Doge’s Palace with pink Gothic revetment and rich Renaissance interiors. Day 6: Venice. The Accademia is Venice’s major art gallery, where all the Venetian painters are represented. In the afternoon cross the bacino to Palladio’s beautiful island church of S. Giorgio Maggiore and then to the tranquil Giudecca to see his best church, Il Redentore. In the evening there is a private after-hours visit to the Basilica of S. Marco, an 11th-century Byzantine church enriched over the centuries with mosaics, sculpture and precious objects. Day 7: Venice. Visit the vast gothic church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo and the early Renaissance Sta. Maria dei Miracoli with its multicoloured stone veneer. In the afternoon cross the Grand Canal to the San Polo district, location of the great Franciscan church of Sta. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari which has outstanding artworks including Titian’s Assumption, and the Scuola Grande di S. Rocco, with dramatic paintings by Tintoretto.
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To achieve a proper appreciation of Italian art and civilization, there can be no better way than immersion in the incomparable cities of Venice and Florence. There are similarities between the two city-states: the simultaneity of their periods of greatness (with consequent rivalry); the extraordinary wealth generated by pioneering commercial and manufacturing enterprise; republican and democratic political systems; and, above all, the brilliance of their material culture, both bequeathing a corpus of painting, sculpture and architecture of incomparable quantity, quality and influence. And there are differences. Florence, an inland city, is largely built of local rough-hewn pietra forte, a tough brown stone, with columns and arches of pietra serena, grey and severe. Venice, the greatest maritime power of its time, imported coloured marbles and white limestone from around the Mediterranean and brick from its hinterland. Florentine art is tough, linear and monumental, while in Venice primacy is given to colour, gorgeous and evanescent. Venice’s lagoon location and its myriad canals is beyond different, it is unique. Florence was, of course, the cradle of the Renaissance. Giotto, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo are some of the great names studied on this tour. Today Florence is a vibrant, contemporary city, but the past is omnipresent: from the mediaeval city walls and distant vistas of olive groves to the narrow alleyways, expansive piazzas and imposing palazzi, all reminders of the vast banking wealth which drove its artistic preeminence. Trade with the East was the source of Venice’s wealth, and the eastern connection has left its indelible stamp, with western styles tempered by a richness of effect and delicacy of pattern redolent of oriental opulence. Seeing the highlights of these two cities in succession, with enough time in each to enable some depth of experience, provides one of the great aesthetic journeys the world has to offer.
Day 2: Florence. Visit the Bargello, a mediaeval palazzo housing Florence’s finest sculpture collection with works by Donatello, Verrocchio and Michelangelo. The cluster of cathedral buildings occupies the afternoon; the baptistry with its Byzantine mosaics and Renaissance sculpture, the polychromatic marble Duomo itself, capped by Brunelleschi’s massive dome, and the excellent collections in the cathedral museum (at the time of print the cathedral museum is almost entirely closed for restoration but is due to reopen in 2015).
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2–9 November 2016 (md 933) 8 days • £2,840 Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott
Day 8: Venice. Some free time. Cross the lagoon by motoscafo (water taxi) to the airport. Fly from Venice to London Gatwick, arriving c. 5.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,840 or £2,660 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,260 or £3,080 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Santa Maria Novella, Florence (hotelsantamarianovella.it): delightful
Florence, Uffizi and Palazzo Vecchio, aquatint c. 1830. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Art, architecture & streetscape in smaller towns & cities italy
1–10 September 2016 (md 829) 10 days • £2,630 Lecturer: Dr Flavio Boggi Ten-day immersion in a region which is of exceptional artistic and architectural richness. Major centres include Pisa, Lucca and Siena, but many smaller places are included. Led by Dr Flavio Boggi, an art historian specialising in mediaeval and renaissance Italian art, who has published widely on the artistic culture of Tuscany. Were Florence to tumble into the Arno and disappear for ever, Tuscany would continue to be one of Europe’s most alluring destinations for the culture-seeking traveller. Such is the profusion of great art and architecture in the surrounding region.
The Renaissance is brilliantly represented, with major works by leading quattrocento artists – Masaccio, Donatello, Ghiberti, Filippo Lippi, Michelozzo, Gozzoli, Ghirlandaio and others. But in terms of quantity, spectacularity and variety, the Middle Ages predominate – unsurprisingly, as the term encompasses many hundreds of years of creative ferment. Buildings of magnificence and beauty and astonishing immensity abound, while in the field of painting Siennese artists such as Duccio and the Lorenzetti brothers have no equals. Sculpture is particularly important here, with the Pisani family creating some of the greatest works of the Gothic era. The region is also famous for its landscape, which is among the most beautiful in Europe. Richly textured, consistently undulating, subtly various though invariably punctuated by the black-green uprights of cypress trees, the greygreen bobbles of olive trees and the gold-green striations of vineyards.
Present-day Tuscany is more or less the territory put together by Duke Cosimo I, who achieved absolute power in 1537 and ruled for the next 37 years. Under him and his successors the territory became one of the most significant of the second-tier states in Europe, though despite relentless canvassing of pope and emperor Cosimo failed to be awarded the status of king and had to make do with the title of Grand Duke. There are two bases for this tour, both utterly lovely and characteristic. Lucca is a small valleyfloor city of Roman origin hemmed in by hills, girded by red-brick ramparts and consisting of a succession of enchanting streets and squares. San Gimignano is a little country town which has one of the most extraordinary streetscapes – and certainly the most bizarre skyline – of any comparable place in Europe.
Itinerary Day 1: San Piero a Grado. Fly at c. 8.50am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Pisa. Isolated on the coastal plain, the Romanesque basilica of San Piero a Grado has one of the finest sets of mediaeval frescoes to be found anywhere. Continue to Lucca. Within the perfectly preserved circuit of Renaissance ramparts lies one of the loveliest stretches of urban scene in Italy. First of four nights in Lucca. Day 2: Lucca. The morning walk takes in enchanting streets and major buildings, including the Romanesque cathedral of S. Martino, home of the extraordinarily beautiful Gothic tomb of Ilaria del Carretto. Walk out to the Villa Guinigi, a rare survival of a 14thcentury villa, now a museum housing a choice collection of mediaeval paintings. Day 3: Pistoia, Collodi. The exceptionally attractive town of Pistoia has important art and architecture including an octagonal baptistry, a Renaissance hospital with a ceramic frieze by the della Robbia workshop and a pulpit crowded with expressive figures carved by Giovanni Pisano. In the cathedral there is a unique silver altarpiece which took 150 years to complete. Villa Garzoni at Collodi has one of the finest surviving examples of 17th-century gardens, with terraces excavated out of a steep hillside.
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Day 4: Pisa. In the Middle Ages Pisa was one of the most powerful maritime city-states in the Mediterranean, the rival of Venice and Genoa, deriving great wealth from its trade with the Levant. The ‘Campo dei Miracoli’ is a magnificent ensemble of cathedral, burial ground, campanile (‘Leaning Tower’) and baptistery, all of gleaming white marble.
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Day 5: Volterra. A wonderful drive through Tuscan hills leads to Volterra, a rugged mediaeval hilltop town with an art gallery and a Romanesque cathedral, which again has fine Renaissance sculpture. Continue to San Gimignano, which with its fourteen 13th-century, hundred-foot tower houses is an amazing sight. First of five nights in San Gimignano. Siena, cathedral, lithograph c. 1850. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 6: San Gimignano. Visit the collegiate church which contains two great cycles of trecento
Siena & San Gimignano Hilltop towns of Tuscany
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frescoes depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments. The town hall also has 14th-century frescoes and houses a small art gallery. Study the development of the city in the streets, alleys and squares, and walk along a stretch of the walls. Day 7: Siena. The largest of the hilltop towns of Tuscany, Siena is distinguished by architecture and art of exquisite elegance. The scallop-shaped piazza is one of the most beautiful urban spaces in the world; Duccio’s Maestà, housed in the cathedral museum, is the finest of all mediaeval altarpieces. The cathedral is an imposing construction of white and green marble with mediaeval and Renaissance artworks of the highest quality. Day 8: Certaldo, Monteriggioni. The point of visiting these little towns is not to see great art, though there are fascinating buildings and pictures, but to relish the picturesque delights of ancient, and still thriving, hilltop communities. Certaldo, birthplace of the 14th-century writer Boccaccio, has a redoubtable little governor’s palace and a small art gallery; Monteriggioni has an exceptionally intact circuit of walls and towers. Day 9: Montepulciano, Pienza. Montepulciano is distinguished among hill towns for its number of grand buildings of the 16th century, including the cathedral, though excellent works of art inside survive from its predecessor. The Tempio di S. Biagio (Antonio da Sangallo, 1518) is a major work of the High Renaissance. Pienza provides wonderful views of inimitable rolling countryside; its centre – piazza, palace, town hall, cathedral – was built in the 1460s in accordance with Renaissance principles at the behest of a local boy who made good: Pope Pius II. Day 10: Prato. Prato built its wealth on clothworking. The cathedral has outstanding Renaissance sculpture and painting, notably Donatello’s pulpit with dancing putti and frescoes by Filippo Lippi. Visit also the 13th-century Hohenstaufen castle and the Museo di Palazzo Pretorio, recently reopened after restoration, housing works by Filippo and Filippini Lippi among others. Continue to Pisa for the flight to Heathrow, arriving c. 9.00pm.
Practicalities
Included meals: 6 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Ilaria, Lucca (hotelilaria.com): excellently situated 4-star, within the city walls. Hotel Leon Bianco, San Gimignano (leonbianco.com): 3-star hotel in the central square. Rooms vary in size and outlook. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? A lot of walking, much of it on steep ground and roughly paved streets, as well as standing around in churches and galleries. Average distance by coach per day: 52 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Pompeii & Herculaneum, 12–17 September (page 137).
12–16 October 2016 (md 900) 5 days • £1,530 Lecturer: Dr Antonia Whitley Based in one of the most extraordinary of Italian hill towns, San Gimignano. Visits to nearby places – Volterra, San Miniato and Siena (two visits). Led by art historian Dr Antonia Whitley, whose PhD is on Sienese society in the 15th century. Beautiful landscape, wonderful streetscape, outstanding mediaeval and Renaissance painting, great buildings. Towards the end of an autumn afternoon, when the last of the day trippers have departed and the shutters have clattered down on the souvenir shops, an ineffable timelessness descends. While dusk begins to obscure the hills and darken the streets, the inhabitants get on with their lives – shopping, socialising, doing business – amidst the most extraordinary streetscape in Europe. The ordinary within the quite extraordinary – that is the charm of Italy. San Gimignano is not a museum but a living country town. It is also so improbable a phenomenon, with fourteen thirteenth-century hundred-foot stone tower houses, that a day trip does not always suffice to eradicate incredulity, let alone allow the visitor to feel the austere magic of the place. Scarcely changed in appearance for six hundred years, and looking like a balding porcupine in a searingly beautiful Tuscan landscape, the town provides a microcosm of life and art in mediaeval Italy. The towers and circuit of walls were built not only in response to hostilities with neighbouring city-states but also to the incessant conflict between the swaggering, belligerent nobility and the emergent merchants and tradesmen. Nevertheless, the little city flourished. A nodal point on the main north-south road to Rome, hospices and friaries swelled to serve pilgrims, officials and traders. Wealth, pride and piety conspired to attract some of the best
artistic talent to embellish the churches. But San Gimignano never recovered from the double blow of the Black Death of 1348 and submission to Florence shortly after. Extending the theme of hilltop towns, visits are made to two of the greatest: Volterra, rugged and dour, and Siena, the largest and the most beautiful of them all. Spilling across three converging hilltops, Siena contains perhaps the most extensive spread of mediaeval townscape in Europe. Culturally the city reached its peak in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. There is plenty of excellent Renaissance art here, but it is mediaeval painting for which the city is best known. Duccio, Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers were among a host of brilliant artists who created the distinctive Sienese style: exquisite delicacy of design, detail and colour, and images which are godly yet humane, numinous yet naturalistic. This tour provides opportunity for a concentrated study of Siena, not only its art and architecture but also its history. Mediaeval sculpture and painting is its main subject matter because of its exceptional quality and quantity, but Renaissance and Mannerist painters such as Pinturicchio, Sodoma and Beccafumi are also surveyed. There is also good representation of Florentine masters from Ghiberti to Michelangelo.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.30am (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Pisa. All four nights are spent in San Gimignano. Day 2: San Gimignano. In San Gimignano visit the Romanesque collegiate church containing two great cycles of trecento frescoes depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments. The town hall also has 14th-century frescoes and houses a small art gallery. Among the Renaissance works of art seen today are frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli and an altarpiece by Pollaiuolo in the church of S. Agostino. Study the development of the city in the streets, alleys and squares, and walk along a stretch of the walls. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,630 or £2,500 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,970 or £2,840 without flights.
San Gimignano, from Some Tuscan Cities, 1924.
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Siena & San Gimignano continued
Tuscan Gardens
The pick of Tuscan gardens & villas italy
Day 3: Siena is the largest of hilltop towns in Tuscany (it is in fact a hilltop city), distinguished by red brick and architectural and artistic design of an exquisite elegance. The cathedral museum contains Duccio’s Maestà, the finest of all mediaeval altarpieces. The 14th-century Palazzo Pubblico has frescoes by Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers. Visit also the cathedral, an imposing Romanesque and Gothic construction of white and green marble with outstanding Renaissance sculpture and painting including Pinturicchio’s brilliant frescoes in the Piccolomini Library and the font by Ghiberti, Donatello and Jacopo della Quercia. Day 4: Volterra, Siena. A wonderful morning drive through Tuscan hills to the episcopal seat of Volterra (which in the early Middle Ages claimed suzerainty over San Gimignano), a rugged mediaeval hilltop town. Visit the art gallery and the Romanesque cathedral, which has fine Renaissance sculpture. Return to Siena to visit the hospital of Sta. Maria della Scala, with its exceptional collection of Renaissance frescoes. Day 5: San Miniato. San Miniato’s strategic location on both the Via Francigena and the main route between Pisa and Florence meant that it was one of the most important imperial centres in Tuscany in the 12th and 13th centuries. See the church of S. Domenico, before the drive to Pisa for the flight to Gatwick, arriving c. 7.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,530 or £1,400 without flights. Single occupancy: £1,690 or £1,560 without flights. Included meals: 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Leon Bianco, San Gimignano (leonbianco.com): 3-star hotel in the central square. Single rooms have double beds. How strenuous? A lot of walking, some of it on uneven ground and often uphill. Coaches are not allowed inside the walls of the towns visited. Average distance by coach per day: 51 miles Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Sicily, 17–29 October (page 140).
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Incontri in Terra di Siena July 2016 Details available in January 2016 Contact us to register your interest A summer music festival based in southern Tuscany at Villa La Foce, directed by Iris Origo’s grandson, Antonio, an internationally-acclaimed cellist. Concerts take place at La Foce itself, in the nearby mediaeval castle, and in beautiful neighbouring towns such as Pienza, Città della Pieve and San Quirico d’Orcia.
rich. Their patronage, and the genius of English garden designer Cecil Pincent, gave rise to the Anglo-American Renaissance Revival which incorporated traditional forms and ingredients into innovative and enchanting designs. The famously distinctive Tuscan landscape, with its terraced hillsides, complex textures and subtle variety of greens – olives, cypress trees, vines, oak and pasture – not only provides a constant backdrop to these gardens but, in many cases, played a role in the designer’s scheme. The tilting topography necessitated the terraces from which the surrounding countryside and the valley settlements can be viewed. The Renaissance revival of Classical learning quickened the development of the villa as a place of retreat and as a resort for intellectual and horticultural pastimes. Allied to this was the transformation of the mediaeval, antagonistic attitude towards nature towards one of joy in the sight of nearby farmland and distant vistas.
Villa Petraia, watercolour by M. Nixon, publ. 1916.
25–30 April 2016 (mc 654) 6 days • £2,290 Lecturer: Dr Katie Campbell Some of Europe’s finest historic gardens, Renaissance to twentieth-century. Selected for historical importance, horticultural interest and visual impact. A constant backdrop of supremely beautiful Tuscan landscapes. Most visits are by special arrangement. As for lovers of art, so also for lovers of gardens: the allure of Tuscany is irresistible, consisting of a dense concentration of historically important and magically beautiful examples which are ensconced in landscapes and urban settings of exceptional attractiveness. Some of the world’s earliest surviving gardens are here; a couple on this tour date to the fifteenth century. There’s a clutch of immensely influential gardens of the sixteenth century, creations of the ruling Medici dynasty, and fine examples from the next couple of centuries are also present. Most of the planting has periodically been renewed of course, but modern curatorship and conservation practices have brought these historic gardens closer to their original appearance than they have been for a very long time. Some of the most attractive gardens in the region do not pretend to be historicist recreations, however, but are twentieth-century variations on the ‘Italian’ style. Some have French or English ingredients, some elements are entirely original, but nevertheless they remain quintessentially Tuscan. A prime mover here was the ex-pat community in and around Florence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was numerous, generally inclined towards matters aesthetic and not infrequently very
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Itinerary Day 1: Fiesole. Fly at c. 9.00am from London Heathrow to Pisa (British Airways). Drive to Fiesole and enter the enchanting world of AngloAmerican gardens of the early 20th century at Villa Le Balze. Designed by Pinsent and Scott for the American philosopher Charles Augustus Strong (with Rockefeller money), this comprises a sequence of terraces, enclosed within walls or open to a spectacular view of Florence in the valley below. Day 2: Castello, Petraia, Gamberaia. The Villa Medicea at Castello, created from 1537 for Grand Duke Cosimo I by Tribolo and Buontalenti, is important historically – the least altered of major 16th-century gardens – and fascinating horticulturally. Petraia was made for another Medici from 1576 and later remodelled. Villa Gamberaia near Settignano is one of the loveliest gardens in Italy; it achieved its present form during the ownership of a Romanian princess from 1896 and an American heiress after 1924. Day 3: Pratolino, La Pietra. The once celebrated Medici garden at Pratolino was largely lost to English-style landscaping in 1819, but the colossal sculpture Appennino by Giambologna survives. The largest of the Anglo-American gardens, La Pietra was created by Arthur Acton (father of Harold); 57 acres, ‘rooms’, vistas, a green theatre, 180 statues and much else. The afternoon is free; Fiesole is a very attractive hill-top town with Romanesque cathedral and Roman theatre; alternatively, the centre of Florence is half an hour by bus. Day 4: Villa Medici, Poggio Torselli. Though altered subsequently, the broad terraces around the villa in Fiesole built for Giovanni de Medici in the 1450s are of huge importance for the primacy attached to leisure and for embracing magnificent views. Villa Poggio Torselli has undergone a recent award-winning restoration; a magnificent avenue, a grand 17th-century house and an unexpected burst of floral and citrus abundance, surrounded by Chianti countryside. Continue south to Pienza for the first of two nights.
Day 6: Villa Capponi, Villa Torrigiani. Drive back to the north of Tuscany to Villa Capponi, terraces along the Pian dei Giullari hillside provide spectacular views of Florence, this time from the south. There was a garden here in the 16th century but it owes its appearance to a succession of British and American owners from 1882 onwards. The final visit is to the Baroque garden at Villa Torrigiani, the most attractive of the group of 17th-century villas around Lucca. Fly from Pisa to Heathrow, arriving c. 9.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,290 or £2,180 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,550 or £2,440 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 4 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Villa Fiesole, Fiesole (villafiesole.it): excellently located 4-star hotel with beautiful views of Florence. Relais Il Chiostro, Pienza (relaisilchiostrodipienza.com): comfortable 4-star hotel, formerly a friary dating to the 15th century and excellently situated off the main square of the town.
Dr Katie Campbell Writer, garden historian and lecturer. She has taught at Birkbeck, Buckingham and Bristol Universities. Her books include British Gardens in Time (to accompany the BBC TV series), Icons of 20th-century Landscape Design and Paradise of Exiles: The Anglo-American Gardens of Florence.
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Day 5: La Foce, Cetinale. La Foce was a social and agricultural project as much as a villa and garden, but here Pinsent designed for the redoubtable Iris Origo one of the last, and some say the greatest, of the Anglo-Florentine gardens. Villa Cetinale, built for Cardinal Chigi in the 17th century and re-created in the 1970s by Lord Lampton, includes sacred elements such as a (real) hermitage at the top of the hill and a scala santa as well as fruit trees and roses.
See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
How strenuous? There is a fair amount of walking, and a good level of fitness is essential. Some gardens are very large, many are on sloping ground and the coach will often not be able to set down at the entrance to the sites. Average distance by coach per day: 40 miles.
Combine this tour with Lucca, 18–24 April (page 128).
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
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Pratolino, colossal statue Appenino by Giambologna, wood engraving from The Magazine of Art, Vol. VI, 1883. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Lucca
Sculpture & architecture in northern Tuscany italy
18–24 April 2016 (mc 636) 7 days • £2,180 Lecturer: Dr Antonia Whitley A leisurely exploration of one of the most beautiful and engaging of Tuscan cities. Exceptional ramparts enclosing a city rich in sculpture, painting, and Romanesque architecture. Led by art historian Dr Antonia Whitley, specialist in the Italian Renaissance. Excursions to Prato, Pistoia, Pisa and Barga. Work by renowned masters, including Filippo Lippi, Donatello and Jacopo della Quercia. Nowhere in Tuscany can claim to be undiscovered. Some places are more undiscovered than others, however, and for no good reason Lucca is one of the most underrated of ancient Tuscan cities. Many know of its exceptional attractions, but few allow themselves the opportunity of getting to know it properly. Only by staying for several nights, and by allowing time to absorb, observe and reflect can real familiarity develop – not only with its historic fabric and works of art but also with the rhythm of life of its current inhabitants. For Lucca is not a museum but an agreeable and vital lived-in city. To the approaching visitor, Lucca immediately announces its distinctiveness and its historical importance, while at the same time secreting the true extent and glory of its built heritage. The perfectly preserved circumvallation of pink brick, ringed by the green sward of the grass glacis, is one of the most complete and formidable set of ramparts in Italy.
Unlike many Tuscan cities, Lucca sits on the valley floor. This feature and the traces of the grid-like street pattern – albeit given a mediaeval inflection – betray its Roman origin. Within the walls, the city is a compelling masonry document of the Middle Ages. There is a superb collection of Romanesque churches with the distinctive feature of tiers of arcades applied to the façades. There is good sculpture, too, including the exquisite tomb of Ilaria del Carretto, and some quite exceptional (and exceptionally early) panel paintings. Looming over the dense net of narrow streets are the imposing palazzi of the mercantile elite, including some grand ones from the age of Baroque. The Romanesque theme of the tour is continued on the excursions to the nearby cities of Prato, Pistoia and Pisa, where the style has its greatest manifestation in Tuscany in the ensemble of cathedral, baptistery and campanile (the now not-quite-so-leaning tower) at Pisa. Likewise, mediaeval sculpture features prominently in all these places.
The Renaissance is represented by some of the best loved works of the Florentine masters – by Filippo Lippi and Donatello at Prato cathedral, for example, and by the della Robbia workshop in Pistoia. There are also visits to small towns and to a country villa of the eighteenth century.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.50am (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Pisa and drive to Lucca. On the way visit the Romanesque basilica of S. Piero a Grado. Day 2: Lucca. Visit S. Michele in Foro and the cathedral of S. Martino, Romanesque churches with important sculptures (tomb of Ilaria del Carretto) and paintings, and the Villa Guinigi, a rare survival of a 14th-century suburban villa and now a museum with outstanding mediaeval panel paintings. In the afternoon drive to the Villa Torrigiani which has a 19th-century landscaped garden with a sunken garden from the 1750s. Return to Lucca to visit Torre Guinigi.
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Lucca, cathedral of S. Martino, engraving c. 1800. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Torre del Lago
Puccini operas: Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Turandot The tour is based in Lucca, which is only fifteen miles from Torre del Lago. Within the remarkably complete and beautiful circuit of Renaissance ramparts, Lucca consists of a dense network of streets and squares with innumerable fine palaces and churches, outstanding among which are the Romanesque churches with distinctively Lucchese façades of superimposed arcades.
Day 4: Barga, Lucca. Drive up through forested hills to Barga, a delightful little town with a fine Romanesque cathedral at its summit. The afternoon in Lucca is free. Day 5: Pistoia. The exceptionally attractive town of Pistoia has important art and architecture. Buildings include the octagonal baptistry and the cathedral, both at one end of the main square, and the Renaissance hospital, Ospedale del Ceppo. Sculpture includes the pulpit in Sant’Andrea carved by Giovanni Pisano, one of the finest Gothic sculptures south of the Alps, and a unique silver altarpiece in the cathedral, the product of 150 years’ workmanship.
Itinerary
Giacomo Puccini c. 1900.
9–13 August 2016 (mc 795) 5 days • £1,790 – flights not included Lecturer: Simon Rees Includes 1st sector tickets to three operas, performed on three successive evenings in the open-air theatre near Puccini’s home.
Day 7: Lucca. Visit the Romanesque church of S. Frediano, one of the finest in Lucca, with façade mosaics and chapel tombs sculpted by Jacopo della Quercia. The flight from Pisa arrives into London Gatwick at c. 7.10pm.
Near the hamlet of Torre del Lago on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli, only a couple of miles inland from the Tuscan coast, Giacomo Puccini built himself a villa. Here he wrote most of his operas, and in later life sought refuge between the rigorous demands of the worldwide tours which fame and success had thrust upon him. Here also is the open-air theatre where, since 1955, there has been an (almost) annual festival to celebrate the local boy who brought to a culmination the most Italian of the arts, lyric theatre. In 2008 the festival celebrated the 150th anniversary of Puccini’s birth in Lucca with the inauguration of a larger and more impressive theatre on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli. Other places associated with the composer are scattered through the hills and valleys of the hinterland including his birthplace in Lucca, the village of his ancestors and childhood holidays, churches where he worked as an organist, bars he frequented. Though Rome, China, Paris and Japan provide the settings of his best-known operas, it is salutary and strangely enlightening to sense the creative process in the context of turnof-the-century Tuscany. Puccini was the last Italian opera composer whose works continue to be regularly performed in opera houses throughout the world; his death marked the end of three hundred years of Italian hegemony in this branch of artistic creation. Moreover, his works are perhaps the best loved in the whole operatic repertoire. An occasional critic may still cavil, but Puccini’s music-dramas continue to exercise their glorious power by going straight for the heart, and the tear ducts.
Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,180 or £1,970 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,400 or £2,190 without flights. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine, water. Accommodation. Hotel Ilaria, Lucca (hotelilaria.com): excellently situated 4-star, within the city walls, with friendly staff. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking, much of it on roughly paved streets. There is a lot of standing in churches and galleries. The tour is not suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking and stair climbing. Average distance by coach per day: 39 miles Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Sicily, 4–16 April (page 140); Palladian Villas, 12–17 April (page 111); Pompeii & Herculaneum, 25–30 April (page 137); Tuscan Gardens, 25–30 April (page 126).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Based in Lucca with visits to a selection of art and architecture and to places associated with the composer. Led by Simon Rees, dramaturg for Welsh National Opera from 1989 to 2012, who gives talks on all of the operas.
Day 1. Leave from Pisa airport following the arrival of the flight from London Gatwick (British Airways), currently c. 2.45pm (flights are not included – see Practicalities). Drive the short distance to Lucca where all four nights are spent. Day 2: Lucca, Torre del Lago. Morning lecture. Visit the Romanesque church of San Michele in Foro on the site of the Roman forum, San Paolino, where Puccini played the organ, and the house where Puccini was born, including many of his precious instruments and possessions. Set off in the late afternoon for Torre del Lago and visit Puccini’s villa, which retains virtually all the original décor and many mementoes. Some free time. Evening opera: Madame Butterfly (Puccini). Day 3: Lucca, Torre del Lago. Morning lecture and visits to the cathedral of San Martino, housing an early representation of the crucified Christ and a dazzling effigy of Ilaria del Carretto. Some free time. Evening opera: Tosca (Puccini). Day 4: Celle, Torre del Lago. Morning lecture. Drive to the tiny hamlet of Celle where Puccini spent much of his childhood. Evening opera: Turandot (Puccini). Day 5: Lucca. The morning is free in Lucca. Drive to Pisa Airport in time for the flight to London Gatwick, currently departing c. 7.40pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,790. Single occupancy: £1,950. Flights are not included. Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Music: tickets (1st sector) for 3 performances are included costing c. £310. Flights are not included in the price as space for groups on the flights mentioned in the Itinerary had sold out by the time the festival programme was released. We can book these for you, quoting the fare at the time, or you can book them independently. Alternatively Ryanair also offer flights to Pisa from Stansted; we can book these but you may need to make your own way between the airport and the hotel and vice versa.
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Day 6: Pisa. In the High Middle Ages Pisa was one of the most powerful maritime city-states in the Mediterranean, the rival of Venice and Genoa, deriving great wealth from its trade with the Levant. The ‘Campo dei Miracoli’ is a magnificent Romanesque ensemble of cathedral, monumental burial ground, campanile (‘Leaning Tower’) and baptistery, all of gleaming white marble. Among the major artworks here are the pulpit by Nicola Pisano (1260) and the 14thcentury Triumph of Death fresco.
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Day 3: Prato. Drive inland to Prato, a city that built its wealth on cloth-working. The mediaeval cathedral has outstanding Renaissance sculpture and painting, notably Donatello’s pulpit with dancing putti and the Filippo Lippi frescoes. Visit also the Museo di Palazzo Pretorio, recently reopened after a long period of restoration, housing works by both Lippis, among others.
Accommodation. Hotel Ilaria, Lucca (hotelilaria.com): excellently situated 4-star, within the city walls, with friendly staff. How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking, much of it on roughly paved streets, and some late nights (all three operas start at 9.15pm). Average distance by coach per day: c. 35 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Hear t of Italy
Umbria’s finest art & architecture Low-relief sculpture from the façade of Orvieto cathedral, wood engraving c.1880.
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19–26 September 2016 (md 846) 8 days • £2,320 Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott An excellent survey of the art and architecture of Umbria, heartland of the Renaissance. Based throughout in the hilltop town of Spello, amidst ageless undulating countryside. Led by Dr Michael Douglas-Scott, specialist in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. Perugia, Spoleto, Assisi and significant smaller towns away from the main tourist centres.
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Also known as the ‘green heart of Italy’, Umbria contains a vast and varied array of what visitors most love about central Italy: ancient streetscapes crammed onto hilltops, exquisitely undulating countryside of olive, cypress and vine, and an abundance of wonderful art. Rarely can the spirit of the Middle Ages be so potently felt as in the hill towns of central Italy. That such small communities could have built each dwelling so massively, raised churches and public buildings of such magnificence and created works of art of such monumentality inspires awe bordering on disbelief among today’s visitors. This is also the heartland of the Renaissance, and several of the leading artists of the era were natives who worked here before being inveigled to the great metropolises of Florence and Rome. Many of the most important and beautiful of Italy’s incomparable patrimony of paintings and frescoes are included on this tour. The great Giottesque cycle at Assisi stands at the beginning of the modern era of art, and the Last Judgement frescoes by Signorelli in Orvieto are
on the cusp of the High Renaissance. While in the field of architecture Romanesque and Gothic predominate, there are many major Renaissance buildings, including the centrally planned church at Todi. The man-made environment melds with the natural in a picturesque union of intense beauty. It is a landscape of rumpled hills, sometimes rugged and forested, sometimes tamed in the struggle to cultivate, always speckled with ancient farmsteads, fortified villages and isolated churches. Even from the central piazze of many of these towns there are views of countryside which seems scarcely to have changed for centuries.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 10.45am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Rome Fiumicino. Drive to Spello, a small, quiet town and base for this tour. Day 2: Assisi. Drive to Assisi and spend much of the morning at S. Francesco, mother church of the Franciscan Order. Here is one of the greatest assemblages of mediaeval fresco painting, including the controversial cycle of the Life of St Francis. In the afternoon, walk through the austere mediaeval streets and visit the church of Sta. Chiara and the Romanesque cathedral. Day 3: Todi, Spello. Visit Sta. Maria della Consolazione in Todi, a centrally planned Renaissance church influenced by Bramante. Walk through the town, seeing the cathedral and the church of S. Fortunato, with richly decorated central doorway and frescoes by Masolino. Return in the afternoon to the hilltop town of Spello, which has fine Roman remains and richly coloured Renaissance frescoes by Pinturicchio in the church of Sta. Maria Maggiore.
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Day 4: Perugia, capital of Umbria, is one of the largest and loveliest of Italian hill towns and has both major works of art and architecture and the authentic, age-old liveliness of a prosperous market town. Morning visits include the Palazzo dei Priori, the mediaeval town hall now housing the National Gallery of Umbria, and a merchants’ hall. An afternoon walk includes an impressive Etruscan city gateway, the mediaeval walls and the richly carved façade of the Renaissance church of S. Bernardino. Day 5: Foligno, Montefalco. Known to the Romans as Fulginium, Foligno lies on the banks of the river Topino. It offers a range of exceptional attractions and yet is little known to tourists. See the restored palace of the Trinci family, lords of Foligno, and home to extensive frescoes now known to be the work of the greatest Italian master of International Gothic, Gentile da Fabriano. Continue to Montefalco, a delightful hilltop community with magnificent views of the valley below and hills around. In the deconsecrated church of S. Francesco are frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli. Return to Spello for some free time. Day 6: Spoleto. A morning walk in Spoleto includes the Roman theatre and Casa Romana, and finishes at the cathedral square. One of the most imposing in Italy, it slopes like an auditorium towards the cathedral façade with its mosaics and rose windows; inside there are frescoes by Pinturicchio and Filippo Lippi. In the afternoon see the Rocca Albornoziana, the 14thcentury fortress built at the command of Cardinal Albornoz to secure the city for the papacy. The museum within has an outstanding collection of mediaeval art. Day 7: Orvieto. Spend the day in this entrancing hilltop town, with its glistening marble Gothic cathedral. Among its treasures are the low relief sculptures by Maitani and the apocalyptic Last Judgement frescoes by Signorelli (1505). Visit also the cathedral museum, richly endowed with art, sculpture and religious artefacts. Day 8. Drive to Rome for the late-afternoon flight arriving at London Heathrow at c. 7.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,320 or £2,130 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,480 or £2,290 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel La Bastiglia, Spello (labastiglia.com): well-appointed 4-star hotel with wonderful views from the terrace. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Many visits take place in hill towns, with steep, uneven inclines. Agility and sure-footedness are particularly essential. A lot of coach travel; average distance per day: 72 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Pompeii & Herculaneum, 12–17 September (page 137); Ravenna & Urbino, 28 September–2 October (page 119).
Footpaths of Umbria
Walks, art & wine between Arezzo & Assisi also includes The Resurrection, dubbed by Aldous Huxley ‘the best picture’, remarkably still in the building for which it was painted.
26 September–3 October 2016 (md 874) 8 days • £2,490 Lecturer: Dr Antonia Whitley
Itinerary
Six walks of between 3 and 6 km between Arezzo and Assisi through the inimitable Umbrian countryside. Enjoy the art of Piero della Francesca, Luca Signorelli and Giotto. Visit isolated hermitages, churches and cathedrals associated with St Francis. Led by Dr Antonia Whitley, art historian and lecturer specialising in the Italian Renaissance.
Day 8. Drive to Rome with a break in the journey en route. Fly to Heathrow, arriving c. 8.20pm.
Day 1: Monterchi. Fly at c. 8.45am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Bologna and drive to Monterchi. Piero della Francesca’s beautiful Madonna del Parto has its own museum in the village. Spend the first of four nights in Città di Castello.
Practicalities
Day 2: Montecasale, Sansepolcro. St Francis passed through the Convent of Montecasale in 1213 on his journey to the Adriatic and Jerusalem, and a small community of friars have continued to provide pilgrim accommodation since then. Walk 6 km to Montecasale, a high-level walk on paths, tracks and exposed ground, and through woodland. Lunch in Sansepolcro, followed by afternoon visits including Piero della Francesca’s Resurrection and other works in the museum.
Accommodation. Hotel Tiferno, Città di Castello (hoteltiferno.it): central, 4-star hotel, renovated respecting the original architecture. Hotel La Bastiglia, Spello (labastiglia.com): a new, well-appointed 4-star hotel at the apex of Spello, with wonderful views from the terrace. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
Day 3: Arezzo, Monterchi. Drive to Arezzo to see Piero della Francesca’s great fresco cycle, The Legend of the True Cross, painted for the Franciscan order and executed over a twentyyear period. Picnic lunch in Citerna, before a 5.5 km afternoon walk to Monterchi on gently undulating farm tracks and country roads. Day 4: Le Celle, Cortona. Begin the morning’s walk from the immaculately kept Eremo Le Celle, which Francis visited in 1226. Starting gently downhill from the Eremo, this walk (5 km) begins on woodland tracks outside Cortona before joining a cobbled Roman path that leads uphill to the town centre. Cortona is highly attractive and has a good art gallery, notable for paintings by Fra Angelico and Signorelli.
Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,490 or £2,300 witout flights. Single occupancy: £2,660 or £2,470 without flights. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine.
How strenuous? This tour should only be considered by those who are used to regular country walking, with some uphill content. There are 6 moderate to strenuous walks of between 3 and 6 km. Strong knees and ankles are essential, as are a pair of well-worn hiking boots with good ankle support. If you are used to them you may find walking poles useful. Walks have been carefully selected but steep paths are unavoidable (both uphill and downhill) and terrain can be loose underfoot, particularly in wet weather. Average distance by coach per day: c. 60 miles. Group size: between 10 and 18 participants.
Day 5: Collepino, Spello. Drive to Collepino, a restored mediaeval borgo with views of Monte Subasio and, on a fine day, the Monti Sibillini. Walk 6 km downhill and on a level track to Spello, through olive groves running alongside the Roman aqueduct built to supply the ‘splendissima colonia Julia’. Time to enjoy Spello’s harmonious architecture and the richly coloured Renaissance frescoes by Pinturicchio in the church of Sta. Maria Maggiore. First of three nights in Spello.
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Umbria brings together art and architecture of the highest importance, unspoilt countryside of breath-taking beauty and pockets of rare tranquillity. Land-locked, and located more or less in the centre of the peninsula, the region is crisscrossed by ancient paths, used for millennia by myriad travellers, traders, pilgrims and preachers. Two itinerant denizens in particular are encountered time and again on this tour, St Francis of Assisi and Piero della Francesca. Stimulated by the movement of people, goods and ideas along the Via Flaminia, the main route from Rome to Ravenna, the economic and artistic life of Umbria began to flourish in the Middle Ages. Ideas absorbed from Byzantium were encountered and transformed by stylistic novelties from Rome, Florence and Siena. In the early thirteenth century, the son of a rich cloth merchant in Assisi, one Francis, came to prominence in the region; he shunned the material excess and increasing secularization around him and embraced humility, simplicity and harmony with nature as an alternative Christian approach. Perambulating throughout Umbria and central Italy he preached with fervour, touched the hearts of thousands and attracted devoted disciples. Out of this movement the Franciscan Order grew. Building work on the Basilica di San Francesco began two years after Francis’s death in Assisi in 1226; the fresco cycles here are some of the most art historically important in Italy. Cimabue, Giotto, Cavallini, Pietro Lorenzetti and Simone Martini are all thought to have been involved in the work and, despite varying degrees of restoration and preservation, they constitute one of the great achievements of western civilization. The early Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca is also associated with the region. Born c. 1412 in Sansepolcro, which lies just over the border in Tuscany, like all artists of his time he led a peripatetic existence, travelling wherever work took him. In many ways, he stands like a lone star, one who did not leave an obvious trail in terms of followers, but one so bright as still to shine today. Appropriately, this tour begins in Arezzo with the quiet power and subtle beauty of The Legend of the True Cross. Our Piero trail
Drive to Bevagna, the Roman Mevania, home to one of Italy’s most harmonious squares.
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9–16 May 2016 (mc 668) 8 days • £2,490 Lecturer: Dr Antonia Whitley
Day 6: Assisi. 6 km walk on strada bianca (rough farm tracks), minor roads and woodland paths to Assisi. The path mainly descends, although the last section is uphill through the Bosco Francescano. The walk ends through the city gate which leads directly to the Basilica. Here we see one of the greatest assemblages of mediaeval fresco painting, including the cycle of the Life of St Francis which some attribute to Giotto. There is time to walk through the austere mediaeval streets and visit the church of Sta. Chiara. Day 7: Bevagna, Montefalco. Known as the ‘Balcony of Umbria’, Montefalco’s mediaeval church houses 15th-century frescoes of the Florentine and Umbrian school; the town is also known for its inky and full-bodied Sagrantino wines. Walk (3 km) around Montefalco to Montepennino on lanes and country roads.
Assisi, Church of St Francis, watercolour by Frank Fox c. 1900. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Duchy of Urbino The Renaissance in the Marches italy
4–10 June 2016 (mc 703) 7 days • £2,390 Lecturer: Dr Thomas-Leo True Trawls through the little-visited hills and valleys of the Marches, and along its coast. Some world-class items, but for the most part the pleasures of this tour arise from the lesser treasures in remote and unspoilt communities in a kaleidoscope of breathtaking scenery. Led by Dr Thomas-Leo True, an art historian specialising in Renaissance and Baroque architecture of the Papal States, and past resident of the Marches. By inheritance lord of a marginal patch of mountainous territory, by profession a mercenary soldier, by scale of expenditure the most important Maecenas of his day: Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, was one of the most fascinating and influential characters of Renaissance Italy. His palace at Urbino is the finest Early Renaissance courtly residence in existence, a sequence of interiors of serene beauty. He was
also the paymaster for many other buildings, civil and military, throughout the duchy. Even more important for the subsequent history of civilization than the architecture was what took place within these buildings, for his court attracted humanists, artists and young noblemen from all over Italy and beyond. Two examples: Raphael spent his first twelve years here (his father was court painter), and for centuries the manners and demeanour in the upper echelons of European society were under the influence of Urbino court life as described by Baldassare Castiglione in The Courtier. The Duchy of Urbino is located in the north of Le Marche, the Italian Marches, the name deriving from its tenth-century status as the borderlands between the Ottonian empire to the north and the papal lands to the south. Remoteness from the centre led to the emergence of local warlords, territorial fragmentation and de facto independence. The Buonconte dynasty had controlled Montefeltro for two hundred years before Federico II succeeded in 1444 at the age of 22. During his 38-year tenure he expanded his domains at the expense of his Malatesta and Sforza neighbours, but the source of his fortune was his generalship of the armies of the great
powers of Italy, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of Naples, switching sides without scruple, and accepting tribute from lesser powers just to stay away. He was made a duke by the pope in 1474. His son Guidobaldo and his Delle Rovere successors continued artistic patronage though on a much reduced scale. Stagnation set in after the duchy reverted to the Church in 1631. One recurrent feature of this tour is military architecture, castles and city walls of huge variety and sometimes extraordinary beauty. There are also many fine paintings, in galleries and original settings.
Itinerary Day 1: San Leo. Fly at c. 8.30am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Bologna. Drive along the Via Emilia and turn into the hills marking the northern border of the Duchy of Urbino and constituting the Montefeltro heart lands, guarded by the famously impregnable castle of San Leo. Introductory walk in this tiny mountain town, which has a marvellously unspoilt Romanesque church and, atop a limestone cliff, one of the most dramatically sited castles in all Europe. Overnight San Leo. Day 2: Sassocorvaro, Urbino. Mountain drives lead to the castle of Sassocorvaro and another staggeringly beautiful hill road climbs to Urbino, Duke Federico’s principal residence and one of Italy’s loveliest hilltop towns. An afternoon walk takes in the outstanding International Gothic frescoes by the Salimbeni brothers, cathedral and Diocesan Museum. First of five nights in Urbino. Day 3: Mondavio, Senigallia, Fano. See two of the most extraordinary and beautiful examples of Renaissance fortifications: the multifaceted brick castle at Mondavio and, in the coastal town of Senigallia, the sedate quadrangular fort and palace within. Also in Senigallia are a Neoclassical market place and arcaded waterfront. In Fano see an altarpiece by Perugino.
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Day 4: Sant’Angelo in Vado, Mercatello sul Metauro, Urbania. Drop down to the Metauro river and follow the valley to the foothills of the Apennines. The small towns of Mercatello sul Metauro and Sant’Angelo in Vado retain well preserved mediaeval and Renaissance centres and paintings from the 13th to 17th centuries. Urbania is a charming town with a fortified palace built for Federico and modified for the last Duke of Urbino, whose tomb is in the town.
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Day 5: Urbino. Unravel the building history and examine the interior of the finest Renaissance palace in Italy, built over half a century from the 1450s for the dukes of Urbino, with the loveliest of all arcaded courtyards, serene halls of state, beautifully carved ornament and exquisite study. The art collection includes paintings by Piero della Francesca, Raphael and Titian.
Urbino, early-20th-century etching. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 6: Gubbio is one of the most beautiful hill towns in Umbria, with a hillside piazza overlooking the lower town, mediaeval palaces and the Ducal Palace, best-preserved of Federico da Montefeltro’s residences outside Urbino.
Essential Rome
The complete spectrum of art, architecture & antiquities italy
Day 7: Pesaro. A prosperous port and centre of ceramic production, Pesaro was won successively by the Malatesta, Sforza and Delle Rovere dynasties before returning to papal rule in 1631. The art gallery contains Bellini’s great Coronation of the Virgin, perhaps his masterpiece. Fly from Bologna, arriving London Heathrow at c. 8.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,390 or £2,080 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,630 or £2,320 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch, 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Castello, San Leo (hotelristorantecastellosanleo.com): a small 2-star hotel, simple but adequately comfortable, the lack of luxury more than compensated for by its location in the heart of this beautiful hill village. Hotel San Domenico, Urbino (viphotels.it): a 4-star hotel converted from a monastery building and the best to be found right in the centre of the city, opposite the ducal palace. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is a lot of walking, much of it uphill and on rough-hewn cobbles. There is also quite a lot of driving along minor hill roads. Average distance by coach per day: 63 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Dr Thomas-Leo True Art historian specialising in Renaissance and Baroque architecture and Assistant Director of the British School in Rome. He obtained his PhD at Cambridge University and studied at the British School in Rome, where he was Rome Scholar. He has lived in Le Marche and is writing a book on the Marchigian Cardinals of Pope Sixtus V. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
August 2016 Details available in January 2016 Contact us to register your interest
Trasimeno Music Festival July 2016 Details available in January 2016 Contact us to register your interest
1–7 November 2016 (md 932) 7 days • £2,770 Lecturer: Dr Thomas-Leo True Major buildings, monuments and works of art, a representative selection of all periods from Ancient Rome onwards. Led by Dr Thomas-Leo True, who specialises in Renaissance and Baroque architecture in Rome. Private visit to the Sistine Chapel, shared with participants travelling on Connoisseur’s Rome (see overleaf). Rome presents three major challenges to the cultural traveller. First, it is big. Items of major importance – many of which on their own would make any town in the world worth visiting – are generously strewn through an area that is approximately four miles in diameter. The second problem is that there are hundreds of such places in the city. The third is that these items are from such a wide span of time, well over two millennia, for much of which Rome was the pre-eminent city in its sphere – as capital of the Roman Republic and Empire, as centre of western Christianity, a role regained with consequent splendour with the triumph of the Catholic Reformation and finally, from 1871, as capital of a united Italy. Over the years MRT has devised many tours to Rome, but apart from at Christmas hitherto they have all attempted only a single episode or theme – Ancient, Mediaeval, Baroque; Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Raphael, music. This is our only tour that selects from the whole range of Rome’s heritage. The key has been generally to give preference to geography over chronology, proximity over
theme. Meandering walks explore a particular district, picking out the most significant buildings and works of art, enjoying alluring vistas as they arise, glimpsing minor treasures – whatever period they belong to. It is fair to say that the itinerary includes most of the most important places and works of art in Rome. There is a lot of walking, though regular use is made of minibuses and taxis (rarely of cumbersome coaches, which are highly restricted in the city centre). Not every place seen is mentioned in the description below, and the order may differ. There is, incidentally, almost no overlap with the items on Connoisseurs’ Rome except for the private visit to the Sistine Chapel.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.00am (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Rome. The tour starts with the glorious Byzantine mosaics in the churches of Sta. Maria Maggiore and Sta. Prassede. Day 2. Among today’s highlights are the Pantheon, the best preserved of Roman monuments (whose span was only twice exceeded in the next 1,750 years); the lively and wonderfully adorned Piazza Navona, which retains the shape of the Roman hippodrome on which it was built; and the 5th-century church of Sta. Sabina, as perfect an Early Christian basilica as survives anywhere. See also S. Ivo, a masterpiece of Baroque architecture with a cupola designed by Borromini, and two Roman temples, of Vesta and Fortuna Virile. Day 3. The Basilica of St Peter in the Vatican was the outcome of the greatest architects of several generations – Bramante, Raphael, Sangallo, Michelangelo – and contains major sculpture. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Opera in Macerata & Pesaro
The Pantheon, wood engraving c. 1890.
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Essential Rome continued
Connoisseur’s Rome
With private visits including the Sistine Chapel italy
Originally Emperor Hadrian’s mausoleum, Castel S. Angelo became a fortress in the Middle Ages and a residence in the Renaissance. After some free time, return to the Vatican in the evening for a private visit to see Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in peace, together with Raphael’s frescoes in the adjacent Stanze. Day 4. The morning includes the superb sculpture of the Altar of Peace (Ara Pacis) erected by Augustus, paintings by Pinturicchio and Caravaggio in Sta. Maria del Popolo, and a walk in the Pincio Gardens (good views across Rome) to the Spanish Steps. The Palazzo Barberini is a great palace which became Rome’s National Gallery, with paintings by most of the Italian Old Masters. The Galleria Borghese is Rome’s finest collection of painting and sculpture. Day 5. Drive in the morning to three contrasting churches largely or partly dating to the early Middle Ages: the 6th-century circular Mausoleum of Sta. Costanza, the historically complex but exceptionally beautiful basilica of S. Clemente, and St John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome. The afternoon is free.
23–28 February 2016 (mc 578) 6 days • £2,740 Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott 1–6 November 2016 (md 931) 6 days • £2,740 Lecturer: Dr Kevin Childs Artistic riches which are difficult to access or are rarely open to the public, including an out-ofhours visit to the Sistine Chapel. Highlights of the Renaissance and Baroque. Led by Dr Michael Douglas-Scott and Dr Kevin Childs, both specialists in Renaissance Italian art. As appealing for those new to the city as for frequent visitors.
Many of Rome’s artistic riches are not easily accessible to the visitor. The emphasis of this tour is on places which are difficult of access or are rarely open to the public – on treasures which lie beyond normally impenetrable portals. Privileged access also takes the form of visits to places outside their normal opening hours. Instead of sharing the Sistine Chapel with hundreds of others, around forty Martin Randall Travel clients, from two tours which do not otherwise meet, will have the place to themselves for a couple of hours. The two tours overlap so that the high cost of private admission to the Vatican museums is spread between the two. What we manage to include varies each time we run the tour. Though it is likely that most of the places mentioned in the itinerary given below will be visited, arrangements depend on the generosity of owners and institutions and
Day 6. The day is largely devoted to Ancient Rome, beginning with the Colosseum, largest of all amphitheatres, completed ad 80. The Forum has evocative remains of the key temples and civic buildings at the heart of the Roman Empire. The present appearance of the Capitol, first centre of ancient Rome, was designed by Michelangelo, and the surrounding palazzi are museums with outstanding ancient sculpture and a collection of paintings. Day 7. Before departing for the airport, visit two churches to see paintings by Caravaggio, S. Agostino (Loreto Madonna) and S. Luigi dei Francesi (St Matthew series). Return to London Gatwick at c. 5.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,770 or £2,550 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,280 or £3,060 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine.
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Accommodation. Residenza di Ripetta (residenzadiripettahotelrome.com): recently renovated 4-star hotel in a former 17th-century convent just south of Piazza del Popolo. Spacious rooms. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Unavoidably, a lot of walking. The historic area is vast, and vehicular access is increasingly restricted. Minibuses are used on some occasions but otherwise the city is traversed on foot. The tour should not be attempted by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Fitness is essential. Average distance by coach per day: 9 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel, wood engraving c. 1880.
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“It was truly wonderful to have a private visit to the Vatican Museum and have the Sistine Chapel to ourselves. A fantastic experience and privilege.” italy
are occasionally subject to cancellation, but our network of contacts and know-how would enable us to arrange alternatives. Some better-known and generally accessible places are included in the itinerary as well, so the tour should appeal both to those who are unfamiliar with the city as well as to those who have been many times before.
Itinerary This gives a fair picture of the tour, but there may be substitutes for some places mentioned and the order of visits will probably differ. Day 1. Fly at c. 12.45pm (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Rome Fiumicino. Day 2. See Bernini’s oval church of S. Andrea, and in the attached monastery the rooms of St Stanislav Kostka with sculpture by Pierre Legros. The ceiling fresco by Guido Reni in the Casino dell’Aurora in the garden of the Palazzo Pallavicini Rospigliosi is one of the greatest works of 17th-century classicism. In the afternoon visit the Sancta Sanctorum, adjacent to St John Lateran, part of the mediaeval papal residence and decorated with Cosmati mosaics dating to 1278. Michelangelo’s unfinished tomb of Pope Julius is in the church of S. Pietro in Vincoli. Day 3. In the morning visit the stunning collection of sculpture and painting in the Villa Borghese. Continue to the Villa Ludovisi, which houses Caravaggio’s early ceiling painting Jupiter, Neptune & Pluto. In the evening there is a private visit to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel and the adjacent Stanze. With Michelangelo’s ceiling fresco, his Last Judgement on the end wall and the quattrocento wall frescoes, together with Raphael’s frescoes in the Stanze, this is the most precious assemblage of painting in the western world. Day 4. By special arrangement, visit the 16thcentury Villa Medici, now the seat of the French Academy. The Villa Madama (now used for diplomatic receptions), designed by Raphael and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger for Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici, is one of the most important, as well as most beautiful, of Italian Renaissance villas. The delightful Villa La Farnesina has frescoes by Raphael.
Day 6. Some free time. Fly from Rome Fiumicino, arriving at London Heathrow at c. 7.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,740 or £2,560 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,070 or £2,890 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Bernini Bristol (berninibristol.com): 5-star hotel excellently located on the Piazza Barberini. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Unavoidably, a lot of walking. The historic area is vast, and vehicular access is increasingly restricted. Minibuses are used on some occasions but otherwise the city is traversed on foot. The tour should not be attempted by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Fitness is essential. Average distance by coach per day: 9 miles Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with, in February: Florence, 15–21 February (page 121). In November: Sicily, 7–19 November (page 140).
Dr Michael Douglas-Scott Associate Lecturer in History of Art at Birkbeck College, specialising in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. He studied at the Courtauld and lived in Rome for several years. He has written articles for Arte Veneta, Burlington Magazine and the Journal of the Warburg & Courtauld Institutes.
Dr Kevin Childs Writer and lecturer on culture and the arts with a focus on the Italian Renaissance. He obtained his PhD from the Courtauld and has been a Fellow of the Dutch Institute in Florence and the British School in Rome. He blogs for The Huffington Post and has published in The New Statesman. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Baths of Caracalla Opera Festival
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Day 5. The Palazzo della Cancelleria, begun in 1485 by Cardinal Raffaele Riario, is a masterpiece of Early Renaissance secular architecture and has frescoes by Vasari of the life of Pope Paul III. The Palazzo Colonna is an agglomeration of building and decoration of many centuries, and has a collection which includes works by Bronzino, Titian, Veronese and Guercino. The 17th-century Great Hall is surely one of the most magnificent secular rooms in Europe. Palazzo Doria Pamphilj holds a famous picture collection (Caravaggio, Velasquez), and S. Ignazio has an illusionistic ceiling painting by Andrea del Pozzo.
Gardens of the Villa Borghese, watercolour by Alberto Pisa, publ. 1905.
July or August 2016 Details available in February 2016 Contact us to register your interest Every summer the performers of the Rome Opera House decamp to the Baths of Caracalla, a spectacular and atmospheric open-air setting for opera. The three operas are likely to be Aida, The Barber of Seville and Madame Butterfly.
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Right: ceiling from a bath house at Caracalla, engraving c. 1800. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
The Etruscans Italy before Rome italy
26 September–2 October 2016 (md 873) 7 days • £2,020 Lecturer: Dr Nigel Spivey Visits some of the most important and bestpreserved Etruscan sites in Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria. Explores a remote part of Italy’s history, and areas of Italy’s heartland which few tourists reach. Led by Dr Nigel Spivey, Senior Lecturer in Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. ‘The mysterious Etruscans’: for several centuries they flourished in the area between Rome and Florence, creating a federation of twelve cities and living in notorious splendour. Then, as the little village of Rome expanded into an empirebuilding Republic, the Etruscans succumbed, and were almost obliterated from history. Only since the nineteenth century has the extent of Etruscan civilization been brought to light, and the Etruscans restored as ‘true ancestors’ of modern Italy. Our route is an exploration of the best archaeological sites and museums in northern Lazio, southern Tuscany and along the Tyrrhenian coast. By burying their dead with care and extravagance in cemeteries laid out with urban grandeur, the Etruscans left many clues as to their existence. We follow their trail, which leads to tombs cut from cliffs and rocks amid rich agricultural land, museums in mediaeval castles and a ‘city of the dead’ shaped
in volcanic stone. Brightly-painted scenes of feasting and dancing have been revealed on subterranean walls. This is a landscape riddled with tombs (about half a million of them), but the atmosphere is far from morbid. The tour offers an opportunity to visit a series of fascinating places on an itinerary that would challenge the independent traveller, journeying through beautiful countryside via some of the most charming and under-visited towns in Lazio and Tuscany. Dr Nigel Spivey has excavated at the sites of Cerveteri and Tuscania, both visited by the group, and studied Etruscology at Rome, Cambridge and Pisa for a dissertation on Etruscan vases.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 10.45am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Rome Fiumicino. Drive to near Viterbo, where the first five nights are spent. Day 2: Tarquinia. The unesco site of the Necropoli dei Monterozzi, part of a once-thriving Etruscan city, has outstanding examples of painted tombs depicting everyday life and scenes of the journey to the next world. The charming but rarely visited town of Tarquinia has possibly the best Etruscan museum in Italy, housed in the splendid 15th-century Palazzo Vitelleschi. Its extensive collection of pottery, jewellery and carved sarcophagi is testament to the prosperity attained by Tarquinia over the course of the 7th and 6th centuries bc. In the afternoon visit Castel D’Asso, which has examples of cube tombs dating from the 4th century bc.
Day 3: Tuscania. Prosperous and powerful in Etruscan times, Tuscania is now a pretty hill town. Visit an underground funerary complex in the surrounding countryside, then see articles found here and in other tombs in the area in the archaeological museum in Tuscania. In the afternoon visit the Etruscan museum in Viterbo. Day 4: Sovana. In the archaeological park at Sovana walk along one of the Etruscan roads, flanked by towering walls of tufaceous rock, and see several noteworthy tombs, including the Tomba della Sirena, decorated with a sculpture of the mythological Scylla. Continue to picturesque Pitigliano for lunch. Day 5: Orvieto. Drive inland to Orvieto, a major centre of Etruscan civilization until destroyed by the Romans in 264 bc. The inscriptions above the tomb doorways in the necropolis are some of the most important in Etruria for deciphering Etruscan writings. Much of the pottery found here is displayed in two archaeological museums. Day 6: Cerveteri, Rome. In the morning drive down the coast to the unesco site at Cerveteri, a city of necropoleis ranging from the hut-like to the sumptuous, based on the homes of the city’s wealthy inhabitants. Continue to Rome to the Villa Giulia; home to many treasures found in Etruscan tombs, including the Sarcophagus of the Spouses. Overnight Rome. Day 7: Rome. Some free time. Fly from Rome Fiumicino, arriving at Heathrow at c. 5.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,020 or £1,810 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,180 or £1,970 without flights. Included meals: 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Alla Corte delle Terme, near Viterbo (allacortedelleterme.it): charming 4-star in the countryside outside of Viterbo, all rooms are suites. Hotel Bernini Bristol, Rome (berninibristol.com): luxurious 5-star hotel at the bottom of the Via Veneto, on Piazza Barberini. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
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How strenuous? Unavoidably there is a lot of walking on this tour, much of it over uneven ground. It is not suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking and stairclimbing, as fitness and sure-footedness are essential. Coaches cannot always park near the sites, many of which are vast. Average distance by coach per day: 65 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Malta, 3–9 October (page 146).
Paintings from Cerveteri, wood engraving from Cities & Cemeteries of Etruria, 1878.
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What else is included in the price? See page 6. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Pompeii & Herculaneum Antiquities of the Bay of Naples
italy
25–30 April 2016 (mc 646) 6 days • £2,140 Lecturer: Dr Mark Grahame 12–17 September 2016 (md 833) 6 days • £1,920 – flights not included Lecturer: Dr Mark Grahame 24–30 October 2016 (md 923) 7 days • £2,130 – flights not included Lecturer: Henry Hurst One of the most exciting tours possible dealing with Roman archaeology. A unique insight into everyday life in the Roman Empire. Two principal sites, both buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in ad 79 and preserved with unparalleled completeness. Led by experts on the ancient world. Important early Greek settlements, including Paestum, Cumae and Pozzuoli. In October 2016 only: an extra day to spend more time exploring the vast site of Pompeii.
Airways flight from London Gatwick currently arriving at c. 6.45pm. Drive to the hotel in the hamlet of Seiano, above Vico Equense. Day 2: Paestum. Paestum was a major Greek settlement and is one of the most interesting archaeological sites in Italy. Three outstanding Greek Doric temples stand in a remarkable state of preservation. Visit also the excellent museum which contains a very rare ancient Greek painted tomb and fascinating sculptured panels (metopes) of the 6th century bc. Day 3: Cumae, Baia, Pozzuoli. Spend the day around the Bay of Naples at some little-visited but exciting sites. Cumae was the first Greek settlement on mainland Italy, and material from here and other sites visited during the tour can be seen in the archaeological museum of the Phlegraean fields in the spectacularly-situated castle at Baia. The port of Pozzuoli has a wellpreserved amphitheatre and market. Day 4: Pompeii. Since its first exploration during the 18th century, ancient Pompeii has been one of the world’s most famous archaeological excavations. The fascination of the site lies not only in the major public buildings such as the theatre, temples and the forum but also in the numerous domestic dwellings, from cramped apartments to luxurious houses with their mosaic pavements and gaudily frescoed walls.
Itinerary
Day 5: Herculaneum, Oplontis. At Herculaneum, engulfed by mud rather than ash, timber and other fragile artefacts that normally do not survive have been preserved by the unique burial conditions. Less than a quarter of this town has been excavated, and in the part preserved the emphasis is on private dwellings and their decoration. Visit the lavish villa at Torre Annunziata (ancient Oplontis), which may have been the home of Poppaea, wife of Nero, with its rich wall paintings, a replanted garden and a swimming pool.
Day 1. In April, fly at c. 3.00pm from London Gatwick to Naples (British Airways). In September and October (flights are not included – see ‘Practicalities’), a coach departs Naples Airport following the arrival of the British
(October 2016 only) Day 6: Pompeii. Return to the archaeological site for further exploration, including visits to some lesser-visited parts. The afternoon is free; an opportunity to visit Sorrento or the island of Capri.
Final day: Naples. Naples Archaeological Museum has one of the finest collections in the world, and is principal repository for both the small finds and the best-preserved mosaics and frescoes. In April, fly from Naples to London Gatwick, arriving c. 9.00pm. In September and October drive to the airport in time for the flight to Gatwick, currently departing c. 7.15pm.
Practicalities Price, April – per person. Two sharing: £2,140 or £1,920 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,380 or £2,160 without flights. Price, September – per person. Two sharing: £1,920. Single occupancy: £2,160. Flights are not included. Price, October – per person. Two sharing: £2,130. Single occupancy: £2,420. Flights are not included. In September and October flights are not included in the cost of the tour. The only direct flights between London and Naples are with British Airways, who will not sell seats for groups yet on this route, and Easyjet who do not accept group bookings. We can book flights on your behalf, quoting the fare at the time, or you can make the bookings yourself. A transfer will be provided to link with the British Airways flights mentioned in the Itinerary; if you plan to arrive or depart at other times you would need to make your own way between the airport and the hotel. Included meals: 2 picnic lunches and 3 dinners with wine (4 dinners in October). Accommodation. Grand Hotel Angiolieri (grandhotelangiolieri.it): modern 5-star hotel on the hill-top above Vico Equense. Rooms with a sea view are available on request and for a supplement. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? A lot of walking, some of it over rough ground. There is a lot of standing in museums and on archaeological sites. The day(s) spent in Pompeii can be tiring. Average distance by coach per day: 70 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Campania’s favourable climate, fertile soils and natural harbours were attractive to the Greeks looking to trade and for places to settle. They founded their earliest colony at Cumae and others soon followed with Naples and Paestum (Posidonia) among them. The prosperity enjoyed by the Greek colonies is best seen at Paestum where three of the most complete Doric temples anywhere still stand. After falling under Roman dominion, Campania continued to prosper with wealth generated by agriculture and trade. Towns like Pompeii and Herculaneum thrived and wealthy Romans seeking to escape from the summer heat of Rome built villas along its coast. Campania became an imperial playground with the emperor among the most famous and notorious of all villa owners on the Bay of Naples. However, life on the Bay of Naples was struck by tragedy when Mount Vesuvius erupted in ad 79 and buried Pompeii and Herculaneum with volcanic ash. Paradoxically, this sudden obliteration preserved the towns with a level of completeness which has no parallel with any other archaeological site in the world. Excavation has revealed them almost in their entirety, providing a unique insight into everyday life in the Roman Empire. Even the smallest and most fragile objects of daily use have survived, along with wall paintings, floor mosaics, precious jewellery and household utensils. The immediacy and vividness with which the imagination is able to grasp a past civilization is startling and unique.
Pompeii, House of the Faun, watercolour by Frank Fox, publ. c. 1910.
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Naples: Ar t, Antiquities & Opera With a performance at the Teatro San Carlo italy
15–21 March 2016 (mc 597) 7 days • £2,330 Lecturer: Dr Luca Leoncini Selects the best of the art, architecture and antiquities in Naples. Performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff at the glorious Teatro San Carlo. Led by Dr Luca Leoncini, who specialises in 15thto 17th-century Italian painting. Excursions to Amalfi, Ravello and the palaces and gardens at Caserta. Naples is one of those rare places whose very name kindles a kaleidoscope of conflicting images. A highlight of the eighteenth-century Grand Tour, it is now all but ignored by mainstream tourism. Royal capital of the largest of the Italian kingdoms, in the twentieth century it became a byword for poverty and decline. Once it basked in a reputation for supreme beauty – ‘see Naples and die’; now it enjoys notoriety as a pit of urban ills – chaos, congestion, corruption and Camorra. Until recently there was some truth in all of these images of modern Naples. But the city has changed – not entirely, but it is one of the most heartening examples of inner-city regeneration of the last decade or so. Traffic is still appalling, but much of the historic centre is now pedestrianised. A burst of prosperity has transformed the ancient shopping and artisan districts. Restoration of buildings and works of art has further increased the beauty of the city, and more churches and museums are more often open and accessible.
Its museums display some of the finest art and antiquities to be found in Italy, and major architectural and archaeological sites are located nearby. The Teatro San Carlo is one of the most important in operatic history, with many premières to its credit. One of the oldest and largest in Europe, it was built in 1737, restored after a fire in 1818, and emerged just a few years ago in all its glory from major refurbishment. In striking contrast to the urban chaos of Naples, the Amalfi Coast is the most stunningly picturesque stretch of coastline in Italy. For a while during the Middle Ages, Amalfi rivalled Venice and Pisa as a maritime power intent on dominating trade in the Mediterranean, and its art and architecture are predominantly mediaeval in flavour. Both Ravello and Amalfi are delightful little towns, their cathedrals among the most impressive in the region. Naples is a city of the south. In many ways it has more in common with Seville or Cairo than with Florence or Milan. It is a city of swaggering palaces and stupendous churches, of cacophonous street life and infectious vitality. Exciting, exhausting, energising.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 2.30pm from London Gatwick to Naples (British Airways). Day 2: Naples. Walk through the teeming old city centre including the Cappella San Severo, a masterpiece of Baroque art and craft with multicoloured marbles and virtuoso sculptures, and Santa Chiara, an austere Gothic church with a Rococo tile-encrusted cloister. The afternoon is spent at the National Archeological Museum, one
of the world’s greatest collections of Greek and Roman antiquities. Many items come from the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum. Day 3: Naples. Among the treasures seen on the second walk in the centre of Naples is the cathedral of San Gennaro which has an interior of astounding richness and major paintings by Domenichino and Lanfranco. Also seen are two works by Caravaggio, his Martyrdom of St Ursula in a bank and his Seven Acts of Mercy in the chapel for which it was commissioned. Evening performance at the Teatro San Carlo, the oldest major working theatre in Europe and renowned for its acoustic despite its 3000-seat capacity. Falstaff (Verdi), Pinchas Steinberg (conductor), Luca Ronconi (director). Day 4: Caserta. A few miles outside Naples, the royal palace at Caserta, begun 1751, is Italy’s most magnificent and accomplished emulation of Versailles. An awesome absolutist statement, the apartments are superbly decorated and furnished and it is set within parkland and gardens equally magnificent in scale. Lunch is at a private villa. Day 5: Amalfi, Ravello. Amalfi is one of the loveliest coastal resorts in Italy, its churches, towers and arcaded houses rising above a small harbour and backed by high rugged cliffs. The Saracenic-Norman cathedral has a delightful cloister. Ravello sits in a beautiful position in the hills above Amalfi and has a fine Romanesque cathedral. Visit the Villa Rufolo, a wonderful 13th-century palace with a cloister of Saracenic influence and an evocative garden. Day 6: Naples. High on a hill which provides stunning views over the city and the Bay of Naples, the monastery of San Martino has a church of extraordinary lavishness of art and decoration and a museum of fine and decorative arts. The afternoon is free. Day 7: Naples. Drive into the hilly suburbs to visit the palace of Capodimonte, originally a giant hunting lodge. Here is located one of Italy’s greatest art galleries, with a magnificent range of art from the Middle Ages onwards. Fly from Naples to London Gatwick, arriving at c. 9.00pm.
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Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,330 or £2,160 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,640 or £2,470 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Excelsior, Naples (eurostarsexcelsior.com): 4-star hotel on the waterfront c. 15 minutes walk from the Royal Palace, with views of Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri. Rooms are all of a good size. Sea views are available on request for a supplement. How strenuous? A large swathe of central Naples is inaccessible to traffic. Pavements are often uneven, some roads are steep, traffic can be unpredictable. Fitness and sure-footedness are essential. Average coach travel per day: 26 miles.
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Naples, wood engraving c. 1880. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Normans in the South
Castles & cathedrals in Puglia, Basilicata & Campania
An architectural tour of one of the most sophisticated kingdoms in mediaeval Europe. Splendid Norman legacy of Romanesque, with churches of unprecedented size and grandeur. Led by John McNeill, a mediaevalist who has become an expert on the region. Later architecture of equal magnificence, in particular an elaborate flowering of Baroque. Attractive, well-preserved town centres and a dramatic landscape of raw limestone.
Day 1. Fly at c. 10.50am (Alitalia) from London City to Brindisi, via Rome, and drive on to Lecce where the first three nights are spent. Day 2: Squinzano, Gallipoli, Otranto. Explore the Salentine Peninsula, the southernmost tip of the heel of Italy. Visit the Abbey of Sta. Maria di Cerrate, a 12th-century Romanesque complex. Gallipoli was the centre of Byzantine Italy until conquered by the Normans in 1071; the old town is on an off-shore island. Otranto, captured by Normans in 1068, has a cathedral with outstanding 12th-century floor mosaics.
Day 6: Castel del Monte, Barletta. Castel del Monte, situated on an isolated peak, is Frederick II’s extraordinarily sophisticated hunting lodge and one of the most intriguing secular buildings of the Middle Ages. The castle at Barletta houses a bust of Frederick II. Day 7: Canosa, Melfi, Venosa. Canosa di Puglia has an 11th-century cathedral. Continue to the hilltop town of Melfi in Basilicata, which was for a while the main centre of Norman power in Italy. The impressive but unfinished Abbazia della SS. Trinità at Venosa was built from the 12th century over an early Christian church. Return to Puglia for the final night in Trani.
Day 3: Lecce is distinguished by an elaborate style of Baroque and Rococo decoration wrought in the soft, honey-coloured tufa of the region, an outstanding example being the church of Sta. Croce. See also the Norman church of SS. Niccolò e Cataldo, founded by Tancred. Some free time. Day 4: Brindisi, Bitonto. Possessing the safest natural harbour on the Adriatic, the provincial capital of Brindisi has been of intermittent strategic importance for over 24 centuries. Visit S. Benedetto, with its Romanesque bell tower. Bitonto has one of the finest of Romanesque cathedrals with good sculpture and an Early Christian lower church. Continue to Trani where the next four nights are spent. Day 5: Bari, Trani. Bari, capital of Puglia, has an extensive and unspoilt mediaeval quarter beside the sea. The Basilica of S. Nicola, begun in 1087, is not only the first but also the greatest of Puglian Romanesque churches; the episcopal throne here is remarkable. Also visit the cathedral (1170) and later mediaeval Angevin castle. Back in Trani, visit the magically beautiful Romanesque cathedral on the waterfront.
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The Norman conquest of southern Italy was one of the most remarkable episodes in mediaeval history. Whereas England was subjugated by a sizeable and highly organised Norman army, the ‘Kingdom in the Sun’ was won by small bands of soldiers of fortune. They trickled in during the eleventh century when the tangled political situation and incessant feuding made the area ripe for exploitation by ambitious knights in search of adventure and personal gain. By the end of the century they had expelled the Byzantines from the mainland and the Saracens from Sicily, and by 1127 all Sicily and southern Italy was ruled by one Norman king. This cosmopolitan kingdom was one of the best administered and most culturally sophisticated in Europe. As in England, in the wake of conquest there arose splendid new churches of unprecedented size and grandeur. A mixture of French, Lombard, Byzantine, Saracenic and ancient Roman elements, south Italian Romanesque is one of the most distinct and beautiful of the variants of this truly international style. Prosperity and creativity continued after the extinction of the Norman dynasty in 1194 by the Hohenstaufen from Germany. In the first half of the thirteenth century the region was dominated by the extraordinary Emperor Frederick II, ‘Stupor Mundi’, ‘Wonder of the World’. He was as courageous and ambitious in artistic and intellectual spheres as he was in administration, diplomacy and war. Much later there was another artistic outburst, appropriately international but characteristically idiosyncratic: a highly elaborate version of Baroque architecture and decoration. The heel and spur of boot-shaped Italy, Puglia is remote from the better-known parts of the peninsula, and its raw limestone landscape wholly different from the silky richness of central and northern Italy. The last day of the tour is spent across the Apennines in Campania. This region presents another face of Italy, distinctly southern but with an equally cosmopolitan and pan-Mediterranean cultural history.
Itinerary
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15–23 March 2016 (mc 599) 9 days • £2,590 Lecturer: John McNeill
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Trani, cathedral, from The Shores of the Adriatic: the Italian Side, 1906. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Normans in the South continued
Sicily
Centre of Mediterranean civilizations italy
Day 8: Benevento, Salerno. Cross the Apennines to Campania. Benevento was a strategic Roman colonia, Lombard Duchy and Norman from 1081. The Arch of Trajan is one of the finest surviving Roman triumphal arches. Sta. Sofia has a magnificent 12th-century cloister. The seaport of Salerno has an 11th-century cathedral with a fine sculpted portal and a 12th-century ivory altarpiece. Overnight in Seiano. Day 9: Sant’Angelo in Formis. The Basilica of S. Angelo in Formis has outstanding 11th-century frescoes. Fly from Rome to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 7.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,590 or £2,320 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,890 or £2,620 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Patria Palace Hotel, Lecce (patriapalacelecce.com): stylish 5-star hotel in an excellent location near the church of Sta. Croce in the historic centre. Hotel San Paolo al Convento, Trani (hotelsanpaoloalconventotrani. it): charming 4-star hotel converted from a 15th-century convent, although service and maintenance are not always up to North European standards. Grand Hotel Angiolieri, Seiano (grandhotelangiolieri.it): modern 5-star hotel in the village of Seiano, close to the town of Vico Equense. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking on uneven pavement in archaeological sites as well as in the town centres where vehicular access is restricted. It should not be attempted by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Fitness is essential. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 99 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Palermo Revealed, 8–13 March (page 142); Toledo & La Mancha, 7–13 March (page 171).
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Mar tina Franca August 2016 Details available in January 2016 Contact us to register your interest
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Palermo, Palatine Chapel, by F. Fox, publ. c. 1910.
4–16 April 2016 (mc 627) 13 days • £4,320 Lecturer: Dr Philippa Joseph 19 September–1 October 2016 (md 845) 13 days • £4,320 Lecturer: Dr Ffiona Gilmore Eaves 17–29 October 2016 (md 914) 13 days • £4,320 Lecturer: Professor Roger Wilson 7–19 November 2016 (md 939) 13 days • £4,240 Lecturer: Christopher Newall Covers all the island, showcasing the main sights and many lesser-known ones. The whole gamut – Ancient Greek, Roman, mediaeval (particularly Norman), Renaissance, Baroque and nineteenth-century. A full tour but carefully paced. Hotel changes kept to a minimum – only three hotels during the entire tour. Combine the September departure of this tour with Malta, 3–9 October 2016. By virtue of both size and location, Sicily is the pre-eminent island in the Mediterranean. It is the largest, and it is also close to the sea’s centre, a stepping stone between Europe and Africa and a refuge between the Levant and the Atlantic. The result is that throughout history Sicily has been viewed as a fortuitous landfall by migrating peoples and a prized possession by ambitious adventurers and expansionist princes. And as the Mediterranean has been catalyst and disseminator of a greater variety of civilizations than any other of the world’s seas, the island has acquired an exceptionally rich encrustation of art, architecture and archaeological remains.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
For the Phoenicians, Sicily was an irresistible objective in the extension of their trading empire in the central Mediterranean, and from the eighth century bc exchanges of population took place between bases in the western and northern part of the island and Carthage. From about the same period Greeks from various points of origin in the Hellenic world established themselves in the east of the island and along the south coast. Competition for territory and trading rights between Phoenicians and Greeks, as well as cultural and commercial exchanges, took place for centuries until finally the Romans drove the Phoenicians off the island in the course of the Punic Wars in the late third century bc. The remnants of remarkable Doric temples, as well as military fortifications, built by the Greek colonists survive in Selinunte, Agrigento and Syracuse, including in the two last places buildings which are extraordinarily intact. Great wealth accrued under Roman rule when the island was clothed in fields of corn, and endless oak forests and abundant fauna provided sport for grandees and emperors. One of them has bequeathed to us on the floor of his luxurious villa the most splendid Roman mosaics to have survived. Overrun by Germanic barbarians in the fifth century, Sicily was wrested back for the twilight of classical civilization by the Byzantines, but at the cost of military campaigns which devastated the island. Byzantine rule was in turn supplanted from the ninth century by Muslim Arabs, and a period of prosperity and advanced civilization ensued. Two hundred years later Arab rule was swept aside by conquering Normans, who, by succumbing to the luxuriant sophistication of their predecessors, distanced themselves as far as is imaginable from their rugged northern roots. The unique artistic blend of this golden age survives in the Romanesque churches with details of Norman, Saracenic, Levantine and classical origin. Byzantine mosaicists were much employed. The wealth and power of Sicily began to wane again from the later Middle Ages as a succession of German, French and Spanish dynasties exploited the island with colonial disregard for long-term interests, but pockets of wealth and creativity remained as Gothic and Renaissance masterpieces demonstrate. Artistically, however, a final flourish was reached in the Age of Baroque which saw the erection of churches and palaces as splendid and exuberant as anywhere in Europe. The raw beauty of the landscape changes continually across the island. The Sicilians can be as welcoming as Italians anywhere, but the island continues to retain its enigmas, and differences with the mainland sometimes seem profound.
Itinerary Day 1: Palermo. In April, September and October: fly at c. 2.45pm from London Gatwick to Catania (British Airways), and drive across the island to Palermo. In November: fly at c. 7.30am from London Heathrow, via Milan or Rome, to Palermo (Alitalia). The largest and by far the most interesting city on the island, Palermo has been capital of Sicily from the period of Saracenic
“So many unexpected treasures – that’s what makes a Martin Randall holiday so special.”
Day 2: Palermo. Morning walk through the old centre includes a visit to several oratories and outstanding Norman buildings including La Martorana with fine mosaics. Drinks at a private palace, by special arrangement. In the afternoon see the collection of pictures in the 15th-century Palazzo Abatellis. Day 3: Monreale, Cefalù. Monreale dominates a verdant valley southwest of Palermo, and its cathedral is one of the finest Norman churches with the largest scheme of mosaic decoration to survive from the Middle Ages. Cefalù, a charming coastal town, has a massive Norman cathedral with outstanding mosaics and an art gallery with a painting by Antonello da Messina. Day 4: Segesta, Selinunte. With its magnificently sited temple and theatre, Segesta is one of the most evocative of Greek sites. Selinunte, founded c. 650 bc, is a vast archaeological site, renowned for its picturesque temples and acropolis. Day 5: Agrigento. A full day in Agrigento to see the ‘Valley of the Temples’, one of the finest of all ancient Greek sites with the virtually complete Temple of Concord, other ruins and a good museum. Day 6: Palermo. S. Giovanni degli Eremiti is a Norman church with five cupolas and a charming garden. The cathedral, a building of many periods, has grand royal and imperial tombs. Free afternoon. Private visit to the Palatine Chapel, in the 12th-century Palace of the Normans. Day 7: Palermo, Piazza Armerina. In Palermo visit Castello della Zisa, an Arab-Norman Palace. Drive through the interior of Sicily. At Piazza Armerina are the remains of one of the most sumptuous villas of the late-Roman Empire, whose floor mosaics comprise the most vital and colourful manifestation of Roman figurative art in Europe. Continue across the island for the first of four nights in Taormina.
Day 11: Syracuse. Founded as a Greek colony in 733 bc, Syracuse became the most important city of Magna Græcia. Afternoon walk on the island of Ortygia, the picturesque and densely built original centre of Syracuse, and see the Caravaggio painting in the church of Sta. Lucia alla Badia. First of two nights in Syracuse. Day 12: Noto, Syracuse. Rebuilt after an earthquake in 1693, Noto is one of the loveliest and most homogenous Baroque towns in Italy. Visit the 5th-century bc Greek theatre in Syracuse, the largest of its type to survive, as well as the stone quarries and the Roman amphitheatre. There is also time to visit the excellent museum of antiquities in Syracuse. Day 13: Syracuse. In April, September and October: fly from Catania, arriving at London Gatwick at c. 11.00pm. In November: fly via Milan or Rome, arriving at London Heathrow at c. 7.15pm.
Practicalities Price in April, September & October – per person. Two sharing: £4,320 or £4,110 without flights. Single occupancy: £4,880 or £4,670 without flights. Price in November – per person. Two sharing: £4,240 or £4,030 without flights. Single occupancy: £4,760 or £4,550 without flights. Included meals: 5 lunches (including one picnic) and 7 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa, Palermo (piazzaborsa.it): centrally located 4-star hotel housed in an assortment of historical buildings. Hotel Villa Belvedere, Taormina (villabelvedere.it): charming 4-star familyrun hotel in the old town, with its own garden
(rooms vary in size and outlook). Des Etrangers Hotel, Syracuse (in April, September & October only) (desetrangers.com): elegant 5-star hotel on the island of Ortygia. All rooms have sea views. Antico Hotel Roma 1880, Syracuse (in November) (hotelromasiracusa.it): somewhat basic but friendly 4-star hotel, excellently situated in the middle of the island of Ortygia. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? This tour involves a lot of walking, some of it over rough ground at archaeological sites and cobbled or uneven paving in town centres. Fitness and sure-footedness are essential. There are some long coach journeys. Average distance by coach per day: 73 miles. Flights. We opt to travel to and from Sicily via Milan or Rome with Alitalia in November because the only direct flights to the island in this period are with low-cost airlines, with whom it is not possible for us to make a group booking. British Airways only flies directly from London Gatwick to Catania from April to October (and these flights are also subject to confirmation). Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with, in April: Gardens of Northern Portugal, 18–23 April (page 155); Lucca, 18–24 April (page 128); Granada & Córdoba, 18–25 April (page 176); Ravenna & Urbino, 20–24 April (page 119). In September: Pompeii & Herculaneum, 12–17 September (page 137); Courts of Northern Italy, 2–9 October (page 116); Malta, 3–9 October (page 146); The Western Balkans, 3–16 October (page 55). In October: The Western Balkans, 3–16 October (page 55); Dark Age Brilliance, 9–16 October (page 118); Walking in Madeira, 31 October–5 November (page 153). In November: Connoisseur’s Rome, 1–6 November (page 134); Venetian Palaces, 22–26 November (page 115).
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Day 8: Taormina. Visit the famed Roman theatre, with spectacular views over the sea to Calabria and inland to Mount Etna, an active volcano. The rest of the day free: one of the earliest and still one of the most attractive of Mediterranean resorts, Taormina has an area of secluded beaches joined by cable car to the delightful hilltop town. Day 9: Messina, Reggio di Calabria. Drive north to Messina to see the art gallery with paintings by Caravaggio and Antonello da Messina. Cross by ferry to Reggio di Calabria on the mainland of Italy, and see the Riace Bronzes – over-life-size male nudes associated with Phidias and Polyclitus, among the finest Greek sculpture to survive. Day 10: Catania. Catania, along the coast from Taormina, has a fine Baroque centre. Here there are special visits to a private palazzo and a Byzantine chapel, where there is a light lunch. See also the cathedral and the Roman Theatre, where Alkibiades addressed the men of Catania to incite them to win the cause of Athens.
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occupation in the 9th century. It reached a peak under the Normans and again during the Age of Baroque. First of six nights in Palermo.
Selinunte, steel engraving c. 1820 after a drawing by J. Woods. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Palermo Revealed
Art, archaeology & architecture in & around Sicily’s most fascinating city italy
8–13 March 2016 (mc 592) 6 days • £2,140 Lecturer: Dr Philippa Joseph A captivating city, richly encrusted with the art and architecture of many periods. Exclusive visits: dinner at one private palazzo and drinks at another, and see the outstanding Palatine Chapel in Palermo in the evening, outside public opening hours. Excursions to several other towns and sites in western Sicily, including the spectacular mosaics at Monreale and the monumental Norman cathedral in Cefalù. Led by Dr Philippa Joseph, whose current research examines late mediaeval and early modern society in Sicily. Sicily’s heritage of art, architecture and archaeological remains is exceptionally rich and varied, and Palermo is by far the most interesting of the island’s cities. Staying here for all six days, the tour also has excursions to some of the best of the island’s patrimony outside the city. In the ninth century ad, when Byzantine rule was supplanted by that of Muslim Arabs, Palermo became the leading city on the island and famous
throughout Europe for the beauty of its hillside position, its tradition of craftsmanship and its enlightened administration. In the eleventh century Arab rule was swept aside by conquering Normans. By succumbing to the luxuriant sophistication of their predecessors they distanced themselves as far as is imaginable from their rugged northern roots. From a Palermo-based cosmopolitan court they ruled with efficiency and tolerance an affluent and cultured nation. The unique artistic blend of this golden age survives in Romanesque churches with details of Norman, Saracenic, Levantine and classical origin. Byzantine mosaicists were extensively employed, and more wall and vault mosaics survive here than in all of Byzantium. The tour includes not only the Norman buildings in Palermo but also the cathedrals at Cefalù and Monreale. The prosperity and power of Sicily began to wane from the later Middle Ages, but pockets of wealth and creativity remained, as Gothic and Renaissance creations demonstrate. Artistically, however, a final flourish was reached in the Age of Baroque when churches and palaces were erected in Palermo and throughout the island which are as splendid and exuberant as anywhere in Europe. Always a seething, vibrant city, enlightened local government has made Palermo cleaner, safer, and altogether more enjoyable than even a few years ago.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.00am (Alitalia) from London City Airport to Palermo, via Milan. Overnight Palermo where all five nights are spent. Day 2: Palermo. A morning walk through the old centre includes a visit to several oratories. Visit the Chiesa del Gesù, an extraordinary example of Palermitan Baroque with a profusion of marble inlay, stucco and sculpture. The afternoon is spent at the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia (Palazzo Abatellis), which has an excellent collection of 15th-century pictures, and at La Martorana and S. Cataldo, two outstanding Norman buildings. Dinner in a private palace.
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Day 3: Cefalù, a charming coastal town, has a massive Norman cathedral with outstanding mosaics and an art gallery with a painting by Antonello da Messina. In the evening, there is a visit and reception by special arrangement to an otherwise inaccessible palazzo, with astonishing Rococo interiors and many original furnishings (used in Visconti’s The Leopard).
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Day 4: Monreale, Palermo. Monreale dominates a verdant valley southwest of Palermo, and its cathedral is one of the finest Norman churches with the largest scheme of mosaic direction to survive from the Middle Ages. In the afternoon visit the Castello della Zisa, an ArabNorman palace.
Palermo, cloisters of S. Giovanni degli Eremiti, watercolour by W.W. Collins, publ. 1911.
Day 5: Palermo. Visit the 12th-century Palace of the Normans, containing the Hall of King Roger which has outstanding mosaics (sometimes subject to last-minute closure). S. Giovanni degli Eremiti is a Norman church with five cupolas
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Dr Philippa Joseph For 20 years, Philippa published journals and books for learned societies in the humanities. She is now an independent lecturer and researcher, and reviews editor for History Today. Her research looks at societies in Andalucía and Sicily where Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures flourished, each building on a Classical past. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. and a charming garden. The cathedral, a building of many periods, has grand royal and imperial tombs. Free afternoon. Return to the Palace of the Normans for a private visit to the Palatine Chapel. Day 6. Fly from Palermo to London Heathrow, via Milan, arriving c. 6.00pm. Please note that this tour departs from London City Airport and returns to London Heathrow.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,140 or £1,950 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,370 or £2,180 without flights. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa, Palermo (piazzaborsa.it): a centrally located 4-star hotel housed in an assortment of historical buildings. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. Flights. We fly indirect via Milan with Alitalia as there is no airline other than Ryanair (with whom we cannot make group bookings) that offers direct flights between London and Palermo in March. If you wish to book with Ryanair independently, there are flights on Monday 7th March from London Stansted to Palermo (the night before the tour starts), and on Sunday 13th March from Palermo to London Stansted. Please contact us for more information, or if you would like a quote for an extra hotel night before the tour and transfers to and from the airport. How strenuous? This tour would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulties with walking (of which there is a lot) or stair-climbing. Average distance by coach per day: 24 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Venetian Palaces, 15–19 March (page 115); Normans in the South, 15–23 March (page 139).
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Gastronomic Sicily
Food & wine in the west of Italy’s most fascinating island italy
24–31 October 2016 (md 924) 8 days • £2,930 Lecturer: Marc Millon Colourful Palermo street markets, authentic salt flats near Trapani, historic cellars in Marsala. Learn about making wine, olive oil and artisan foods from the craftsmen and women who carry on these age-old traditions. Spectrum of culinary experiences from street food in Palermo to dinner in a palazzo. Emphasis on authentic traditional methods rather than haute cuisine. Led by Marc Millon, wine, food and travel writer, author of The Food Lover’s Companion to Italy.
Itinerary Day 1: Palermo. Fly at c. 9.00am from London City to Palermo, via Milan (Alitalia). Palermo is the largest and most interesting city on the island: capital of Sicily from the period of Saracenic occupation in the 9th century, it reached a peak under the Normans and again during the Age of Baroque. First of four nights in Palermo.
Segesta, engraving c. 1840.
Day 2: Palermo. A morning walk to the city’s best market, sampling authentic street food. See also key cultural sites such as the cathedral, a building of many periods, and the church of S. Cataldo. In the afternoon see outstanding mosaics at the 12th-century Palace of the Normans, including the Palatine Chapel. Dinner at a private palazzo. Day 3: Monreale, Mondello. Monreale dominates a verdant valley southwest of Palermo, and its cathedral is one of the finest Norman churches with the largest scheme of mosaic decoration to survive from the Middle Ages. Lunch is at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Mondello, a charming seaside town known for its Art Nouveau villas, once the seat of the Palermitano high bourgeoisie and aristocracy. Day 4: Segesta. With its magnificently sited temple and theatre, Segesta is one of the most evocative of Greek sites. Stop for lunch and a wine-tasting at a superb winery nearby before returning to Palermo. Day 5: Erice. Depart Palermo for Erice, a mediaeval town perched on top of a high hill, which boasts spectacular views on a fine day of the coast and surrounding area. Demonstration and tasting of traditional pastries here, before continuing on to the charming port town of Marsala where the next three nights are spent. Day 6: Marsala, Mazara del Vallo, Samperi. Take a morning tour of Marsala including a visit to the archaeological museum, most of which is taken up by an extremely well-preserved Punic warship. Visit Il Museo del Satiro Danzante in Mazara del Vallo after a couscous cooking demonstration and lunch. In the afternoon visit the De Bartoli wine estate, famous for the revival and revaluation of traditional Marsala wine made by age-old traditional methods. Day 7: Mozia. Drive north of Marsala to see the saltpans that have been in use since Phoenician times, and take a boat across the lagoon to visit the ancient ruins of Mozia. Visit the small Whitaker Museum which houses the 5th-century bc Auriga (charioteer), one of the most exquisite
of surviving Greek sculptures. The afternoon is free in Marsala. Private dinner, visit and tasting at the cellars of a historic Marsala producer. Day 8. Fly from Palermo to London City Airport, via Milan, arriving at c. 7.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,930 or £2,710 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,190 or £2,970 without flights. Included meals: 4 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa, Palermo (piazzaborsa.it): centrally located 4-star hotel housed in an assortment of historical buildings. Hotel Carmine, Marsala (hotelcarmine.it): small and charming 3-star hotel, with occasionally erratic service. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. Flights. We fly to and from Sicily via Milan because the only direct flights to Palermo are with low-cost airlines, with whom it is not possible for us to make a group booking. If you wish to fly direct, we suggest you choose our ‘no flights’ option and book independently with Easyjet or Ryanair, both of whom fly directly to Palermo (although Easyjet’s flights only run until around the end of October). Please contact us if you require advice or further information about this. How strenuous? There is a lot of walking, some of it over rough ground and cobbled or uneven paving. Fitness and sure-footedness are essential. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 47 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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If Sicily’s history is a layer-cake of the different cultures that have colonised the island through the centuries, its food is no less complex. Citrus fruits and ices were brought there by the Arabs before the Middle Ages. Winemaking was introduced by the Phoenicians, and during the Roman era wheat turned the inland hillsides to gold. The magnificent landscape remains a key source of agricultural richness for the island: Trapani is today Europe’s most productive grapegrowing province. What Sicily offers more than any other Italian region is an unrivalled cornucopia of sun-ripened vegetables and fruits, many grown on volcanic soils for added intensity of flavour. The Sicilians cook these products in myriad, colourful ways: sweet and sour, hot and spicy, fresh and nutritious – Sicilian food is arguably more exciting than its northern counterparts. It is also a mix of old and new cultures. Pasta is handmade in unique shapes to accommodate vegetables, capers, herbs and the varied seafood that make up the healthy Sicilian diet. Dessert lovers will be rewarded with some of the most delicious sweetmeats Italy has to offer: from the hollow cannolo filled with fresh ewe’s milk ricotta to elaborately decorated cassata cakes. As the tour travels across the Western part of the island we visit small producers of artisan foods, winemakers, home cooks and chefs alike, and do not ignore cultural sites that determine its key historical importance. Sample street food from market stalls in Palermo, the freshest seafood in the Mediterranean, and homeprepared dinners whose hospitable cooks will share their secrets with us. Walk in vineyards and olive groves, and around some of the finest archaeological sites on this ever-fascinating island. In Marsala, we’ll be the guests of one of Italy’s pioneer winemakers, who were responsible for relaunching the great wines of the south.
Combine this tour with Connoisseur’s Rome, 1–6 November (page 134); Essential Rome, 1–7 November (page 133); Florence & Venice, 2–9 November (page 123).
What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Walking in Eastern Sicily Crater & coast: in the footsteps of history italy
Itinerary
Syracuse, the Greek theatre, steel engraving c. 1890.
Day 1. Leave from Catania airport following the arrival of the flight from London Gatwick (British Airways), currently c. 6.45pm (flights are not included – see ‘Practicalities’). Drive to Syracuse in time for a late light supper. First of three nights on the island of Ortygia. Day 2: Vendicari Nature Reserve, Syracuse. Drive south to the salt lagoons and nature reserve at Vendicari for a level walk along the sandy paths, c. 5 km. Visit the Villa Romana del Tellaro, where a small but superb set of Roman mosaics depicting scenes of hunting has been beautifully restored at this former masseria. Return to Syracuse to see some of the highlights of sculpture and ceramics from Sicily’s Greek colonies in the excellent Archaeological Museum. Day 3: Syracuse, Noto. Visit the 5th-century bc Greek theatre, stone quarries and Roman amphitheatre at Syracuse. There is a short walk (c. 3 km) exploring the Greek ruins at Palazzolo Acreide. Visit Noto, one of the loveliest and most harmonious Baroque towns.
11–18 April 2016 (mc 630) 8 days • £2,340 – flights not included Lecturer: Christopher Newall Six walks of between 3 and 8 km through immensely varied scenery, from the lava fields of Etna to salt lake flats along the coast. Much of archaeological interest, as well as visits to Syracuse, the greatest of western Greek cities, and to the Baroque city of Noto. Led by art historian Christopher Newall.
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Sicily, the Mediterranean’s largest island, is well chronicled in history and literature as one of the most fascinating destinations in Europe. Her archaeological and historical sites delight visitors, but fortunately few of them explore the hugely varied landscapes on foot. Locals rarely indulge in country walking, and shepherds met on mountain paths are aghast that people choose to walk for a holiday. Yet walking can provide the key to understanding and appreciating this intoxicating island. We have included walks that are relatively unknown and countryside that is not easily accessible, but keeping in mind the principles of travelling less and seeing more, we hope to have designed an itinerary giving a fuller flavour of what Sicily can really offer. Mount Etna, peaking as Europe’s highest active volcano at nearly 11,000 feet, and sitting within a designated regional park covering 224 square miles, demands attention but also respect. Volcanologists venture perilously close to the crater’s lip in the name of research, but for hikers there are remarkably varied and interesting paths to explore on the northern flank. The distinctive climate and volcanic soils nurture a plethora of wild flowers, with orchids flourishing in both spring and late
autumn. On the lower slopes, areas that were once covered with holm oak are now cultivated for citrus fruits and for wine, intensely flavoured reds and whites that are garnering approval throughout Italy and beyond. Above these, at 6,500 feet, Europe’s southernmost beech trees are thriving, as are birch, considered an endemic species. Another thousand feet and the thorny shrub known locally as spino santo (Astragalus siculus) covers the ground, and mountain flowers such as senecio, violets and cerastium flourish. Twenty miles inland from Syracuse is the ten-square-mile Pantalica Nature Reserve, set on a plateau with gorges plunging through the limestone to the Anapo and Calcinara river valleys. It contains what is thought to be Europe’s most extensive open-air necropolis, where the earliest rock tombs can be dated to the thirteenth century bc. Later civilizations have also left their mark; the faint frescoed walls in an almost-hidden cave church have lasted remarkably well in this somewhat harsh environment. A coastal walk alongside the salt-water lagoons of the Vendicari Nature Reserve provides another category of experience. The pantani are a haven for birds, and with luck flamingos can be spotted in all seasons. Mediaeval watchtowers, an old tonnaro (tuna cannery) and a fishery punctuate this landscape, highlighting the importance of sea-faring trade in this part of Sicily. Fifteenth-century merchants in Noto shipped carob, grain and almonds from the port of Vendicari, and until the 1940s tuna was caught and tinned here. These walks have been chosen to make the most of the protected parks in Sicily, thus helping efforts to restore, waymark and maintain the paths in this remarkably unspoilt land on the edge of Europe.
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Day 4: Pantalica Nature Reserve. Today’s walk of c. 8 km takes place in Pantalica, where a series of paths within this spectacular reserve follow the Anapo river bed and former railway lines, or meander high along the plateaux; water levels in the river and local conditions determine the exact length of the walk. There is a challenging downhill section which requires sure-footedness. Drive north to Taormina, where the next four nights are spent. Day 5: Taormina, Castello Saraceno. A moderate circular walk of 5 km starts from the hotel on a paved path, and continues uphill to near the Castello Saraceno on steps. Perched on the hilltop at 400m above sea level, and thought to be the site of the lower part of Tauromenion’s Acropolis, the apex of the walk offers spectacular views of the town and Ionic coast. Visit Taormina’s GreekRoman theatre and the small Roman Odeon. Day 6: Mount Etna, Piano Provenzana. Lessvisited and less-well known than the southern slopes, Etna’s northern flank nonetheless provides plenty of interest and atmosphere. A moderate circular walk (c. 5 km) on the lava fields from the great eruptions of 2002 with a local volcanologist allows time to appreciate what was known as Mongibello, mountain of mountains. Lunch at a rustic restaurant, before returning to Taormina. Day 7: Forza d’Agrò. An unspoilt village with panoramic views of the Peloritani mountains and Etna, Forza d’Agrò is the starting point for a 8 km countryside walk, reaching 547m above sea level. It follows shepherds’ tracks through olive groves and terraces; some terrain is very uneven on this path and requires sure-footedness. Return to Taormina for a tasting of some Sicilian wines. Day 8: Catania. Free morning in Taormina. Drive along the coast to Catania, with a fine Baroque centre. Visit the cathedral, Roman theatre and a private palazzo. Drive to Catania Airport in time for the flight to London Gatwick, currently departing c. 7.45pm.
Verdi in Riga
Rigoletto, La Traviata, Macbeth, Aida Art historian, lecturer and writer. A specialist in 19th-century British art he also has a deep interest in southern Italy, its architecture, politics and social history. He studied at the Courtauld and has curated various exhibitions including John Ruskin: Artist & Observer at the National Gallery of Canada and Scottish National Portrait Gallery. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,340. Single occupancy: £2,730. Flights are not included in the cost of the tour as the only direct flights in this period are with British Airways, who have refused to sell seats for groups in this period on this route. We can book flights on your behalf, quoting the fare at the time of booking, or you can make the bookings yourself. Various low-cost airlines also offer direct flights, but it is not possible for us to make a group booking with them. We can book these individually on your behalf but you would need to make your own way between the airport and the hotel and vice versa. Included meals: 3 lunches (2 of which are picnics) and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Des Etrangers Hotel, Syracuse (desetrangers.com): elegant 5-star hotel on the island of Ortygia. All rooms have sea views. Hotel Villa Belvedere, Taormina (villabelvedere.it): 4-star, charming, family-run hotel in the old town, with its own garden (rooms vary in size and outlook). Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
31 May–5 June 2016 (mc 699) 6 days • £2,070 (including tickets to 4 performances) Lecturer: Simon Rees A rare opportunity to hear four of Verdi’s opera in quick succession. Inaugurated in 1998, Riga’s annual festival has won international acclaim. Restored and transformed, this great Hanseatic city has become one of Europe’s most desired destinations. Riga has been a major Baltic port since its foundation in the thirteenth century. It was successively a citadel of the Teutonic Knights, a leading member of the Hanseatic League and the largest city in the Swedish empire before being absorbed into the Russian empire in the eighteenth century. The Latvians have always been a distinct people with their own language and culture, but only in the twentieth century – between the Wars, and since 1991 – did the country emerge as an independent state. It became a member of the EU in 2004. During the half century when Latvia was part of the Soviet Union, Riga receded in western consciousness and its identity slipped into obscurity, a crass distortion of its historical past. Richard Wagner did not think it demeaning to accept the appointment of conductor at the opera house here in 1837 (he left two years later to escape his debtors). The current building, dating from the 1880s, is among the grandest in Central Europe.
The Latvian National Opera, under the dynamic and entrepreneurial leadership of Andrejs Zagars, is one of the most open-minded and ambitious companies in East-Central Europe. Its annual festival, started in 1998, presents a selection of the season’s repertoire and an imported production. The strengths of the company are musical, with a superb orchestra and some excellent singers. Direction and design are more variable but can be of very high standards. Following Prague and Kraków, restored and transformed, Riga has become the latest favourite destination in New Europe. Situated on the broad River Daugava, the old city is an extensive area of narrow mediaeval streets, Hanseatic warehouses, Gothic and Baroque churches and civic buildings, with few ruptures to the historic fabric from the War or the Soviet era. Beyond the walls are parks and boulevards and salubrious districts with some remarkable Art Nouveau.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 10.15am (Air Baltic) from London Gatwick to Riga. Day 2. Morning visits to the Gothic church of St Peter with its distinctive tall spire, and to Mentzendorff House, formally a restored merchant’s house, now a museum devoted to life in Riga in the 18th and 19th centuries. Free afternoon. Evening opera: Rigoletto. Martins Ozolins (music director and conductor), Normunds Vaicis (conductor), Margo Zālīte (stage director); soloists to be confirmed, including Samsons Izjumovs, Armands Siliņš (Rigoletto), Inga Šļubovska, Julija Vasiljeva, Olga Pudova (Gilda),
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How strenuous? This tour should only be considered by those who are used to country walking with some uphill content. Strong knees and ankles are essential. Walks have been carefully selected but some steep rises are unavoidable and terrain can be loose underfoot, particularly in wet weather. One walk has a challenging downhill section requiring surefootedness and good balance. The walk on Etna involves walking at an altitude of c. 1,800 metres above sea level for c. 5 km. There are six walks of between 3 and 8 km. Average distance by coach per day: 34 miles. Group size: between 10 and 18 participants. Combine this tour with Gardens & Villas of the Italian Lakes, 21–27 April (page 106); Ravenna & Urbino, 20–24 April (page 119).
LATVIA, LITHUANIA The Baltic Countries, 24 July–6 August 2016 with Neil Taylor: see page 63.
italy, latvia, lithuania
Christopher Newall
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Scene from Aida, wood engraving 1855. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Verdi in Riga continued
Malta
World heritage Malta, from Neolithic to now latvia, malta, montenegro
Rame Lahaj, Raimonds Bramanis, Dmytro Popov (Duke of Mantua), Romāns Poļisadovs, Krišjānis Norvelis (Sparafucile), Kristīne Zadovska, Irma Pavāre (Maddalena). Day 3. Morning visit to the fascinating outdoor Latvian Ethnographical Museum. Afternoon tour of the Opera House followed by some free time. Evening opera: La Traviata. Atvars Lakstīgala, Normunds Vaicis (conductors), Andrejs Žagars (stage director); soloists include Sonora Vaice, Dana Bramane (Violetta Valéry), Murat Karahan, Rafal Bartminski, Raimonds Bramanis (Alfredo Germont), Samsons Izjumovs (Giorgio Germont), Kristīne Zadovska, Ilona Bagele (Flora). Day 4. Drive south to visit Rundale, one of the most splendid palaces in the Russian Empire, built from 1736 by Rastrelli for a favourite of Empress Anna. Return to Riga mid-afternoon. Evening opera: Macbeth. Martins Ozolins (music director and conductor),Viesturs Meikšāns (stage director); soloists to be confirmed. Day 5. Morning walk along the grand boulevards with classical, historicist and Art Nouveau buildings. Visit the Art Nouveau museum, housed in a turn-of-the-century apartment. Free afternoon with an opportunity to visit the Russian Orthodox cathedral. Evening opera: Aida. Martins Ozolins (conductor), Mara Kimele (director); soloists include Liene Kinča, Yulianna Bawarska (Aida), George Oniani, Efe Kislali (Radames), Samsons Izjumovs (Amonasro), Liubov Sokolova, Kristīne Zadovska, Andžella Goba (Amneris), Krišjānis Norvelis, Romāns Poļisadovs (Ramfis), Rihards Mačanovskis (Pharaon). Day 6. Free morning. Suggestions include the market, formerly Europe’s largest, occupying five 1930s Zeppelin hangars. Afternoon flight from Riga, arriving at London Gatwick at c. 5.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,070 or £1,890 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,250 or £2,070 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Music: 4 tickets are included, costing c. £210.
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Accommodation. Radisson Blu Ridzene (radissonblu.com): 5-star hotel though more akin to a 4-star, well-located with views over the park. How strenuous? There is some walking over rough paving in the town centre. Average distance by coach per day: 20 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Gardens & Palaces of Berlin & Potsdam, 24–29 May (page 84).
Montenegro The Western Balkans, 9–22 May 2016 & 3–16 October 2016 with David Gowan: see page 55.
Valletta, the marina, steel engraving c. 1850.
3–9 October 2016 (md 883) 7 days • £2,290 Lecturer: Juliet Rix
Led by award winning journalist Juliet Rix, author of the definitive guide to Malta (Bradt Guide: Malta & Gozo) and expert on the area.
from Jerusalem and then Rhodes, this order of maritime warrior monks arrived in Malta in 1530 and ruled until 1798. After nearly losing the country to the Ottoman Turks in The Great Siege of 1565, the Knights built a near-impregnable new city on a rocky peninsula between two harbours: Malta’s delightful diminutive capital, Valletta. Despite the ravages of the Second World War, Valletta remains fundamentally the Knights’ city although one area has just received a very twenty–first century makeover. Badly bombed and minimally restored, the City Gate area has been redesigned by the architect of the Pompidou Centre and the London Shard, Renzo Piano.
Visit the rural and picturesque Gozo Island, with stunning natural features.
Itinerary
A wonderful exploration of this fascinating, diverse island. A visit to some of the world’s earliest stone temples, amongst a concentration of other astonishing major historic sites.
Malta has an extraordinary 7000-year history beginning with the arrival of a littleknown people from Sicily who became the creators of Malta’s unique Neolithic temples. Older than the Great Pyramids and the famous standing stones at Stonehenge, Malta’s temples were built between 3600 and 2500 bc – they are megalithic architecture constructed a millennium before Mycenae. All the temples are unesco World Heritage Sites, as is the unique Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, the extraordinary triple-layered tomb complex cut from solid rock where the ‘Temple People’ buried their dead. And this is just the start of the story. Malta, with its perfect natural harbours, was desired by every trading or invading nation in the Mediterranean from the Phoenicians and Romans to both sides in the Second World War. Each occupier has left its mark from RomanByzantine catacombs to British red letter boxes. The Knights of St John Hospitaller, commonly referred to as ‘The Knights of Malta’ have, of course, left the greatest impression. Ousted
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Day 1: Valletta. Fly at c. 11.00am from London Heathrow to Malta. Drive to Valletta, a peninsula flanked by natural harbours and once the most strongly fortified city in Christendom. Survey its massive fortifications and view the Grand Harbour from the ramparts. Day 2: Hagar Qim, Mnajdra, Ghar Lapsi. Drive through attractive countryside to the prehistoric temples overlooking the sea, Hagar Qim and Mnajdra. In the afternoon, see the ancient trackworks, Clapham Junction cart ruts. Day 3: Valletta. The morning is spent in the National Museum of Archaeology, home of the unique ‘Fat Ladies of Malta’ and other original carvings from the Neolithic Temples. Visit the charming Manoel Theatre, a rare survival of the early 18th century and the Co-Cathedral of St John, one of the most interesting of Baroque buildings, which has lavish carved wall decoration, ceiling paintings by Mattia Preti, magnificently carved tombs and two paintings by Caravaggio. Finally, a private visit of the Casa Rocca Piccola, providing unique historical
Ar t in the Netherlands Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh
Day 4: Paola, Valletta. In Paola, the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum is a unesco World Heritage Site and the only prehistoric underground temple in the world. The Tarxien Temple site is the most complex in Malta and would have been the most decorative. The afternoon is free in Valletta.
8–14 May 2016 (mc 672) 7 days • £2,570 Lecturer: Dr Sophie Oosterwijk 2–8 October 2016 (md 884) 7 days • £2,570 Lecturer: Dr Guus Sluiter
Day 5: Gozo. Cross by ferry to the island of Gozo to see the temple of Ggantija, amongst the oldest of Malta’s prehistoric monuments. The chief town is Victoria, which has a citadel, cathedral, museum and Sicilo-Norman houses. Fungus Rock, Gharb and Ramla Bay are all of geological, historical and mythical interest respectively.
A study of Dutch art, following the re-opening of the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art.
Day 6: Mdina, Rabat, Mosta. Mdina, Malta’s ancient capital, is an unspoilt citadel of great beauty, centre of the indigenous aristocracy, with mediaeval walls, grand palazzos and Baroque cathedral. Spreading below is the town of Rabat, with Early Christian catacombs. Afternoon drive to Mosta with the third largest dome in Europe.
Also architecture and design from mediaeval to modern, and several highly picturesque historic town centres.
Day 7: Vittoriosa. Cross the Grand Harbour by boat, to see churches, forts, and the World War II museum in Vittoriosa. Fly to London Heathrow arriving at 7.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,290 or £2,110 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,610 or £2,430 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 3 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Phoenicia, Valletta (phoeniciamalta.com): deluxe 5-star in Valletta, furnished with style and character. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking, some of it over rough ground at sites. Valletta is also relatively hilly. Average coach miles per day: 15.
Features artists of the seventeenth-century Golden Age (Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer), Van Gogh and other major figures.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, one of the world’s great museums, closed for major refurbishment for over ten years, reopening in 2013 and finally allowing us to offer comprehensive art history tours to the Netherlands once again. The Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art have also recently re-opened, to great acclaim. The seventeenth century was the Golden Age in the history and art history of the northern Netherlands. (Much of this activity was concentrated in Holland, though that was but one of seven provinces which constituted the United Provinces, now the Kingdom of the Netherlands.) This was the time of Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer and innumerable other great masters. The Dutch School is of universal appeal, with its mix of realism, painterliness and potency, though it is best appreciated in the excellent art galleries of their native country – and against the background of the well preserved and wonderfully picturesque towns and cities. With
their canals, cobbled alleys and gabled mansions, many have changed little in three hundred years. There is also focus on Vincent Van Gogh, the bulk of whose output is in the Netherlands. Painters of the Hague School of the nineteenth century have a presence, as do pioneers of modernism in painting and architecture, the architects Van der Velde and Gerrit Rietveld for example, and the abstract painter Piet Mondriaan. More recent art and architecture also features. The base for the tour is a five-star hotel in Utrecht, whose central location means relatively short journeys to all places visited.
malta, the netherlands
evidence into the customs and traditions of the Maltese nobility over the last 400 years.
Itinerary Day 1: Haarlem. Fly at midday (British Airways) from London Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam Schiphol. Haarlem was the chief artistic centre in the northern Netherlands in the 16th century and home of the first of the great masters of the Golden Age, Frans Hals, whose finest works are in the excellent museum here. Drive to Utrecht, where all six nights are spent. Day 2: Amsterdam. With its rings of canals lined with merchants’ mansions, Amsterdam is one of the loveliest capitals in the world. Our visit to the brilliantly refurbished Rijksmuseum concentrates on the major works in its unrivalled collection of 17th-century paintings, Rembrandt’s Night Watch and four Vermeers among them. The house where Rembrandt lived and worked for nearly 20 years is well restored and has a display of prints. Also newly extended, the Van Gogh Museum houses the biggest holding (over 200) of the artist’s works, largely from his brother Theo’s collection. Day 3: The Hague. The Mauritshuis at Den Haag contains a superb collection of paintings including masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer. Exhibited in the Gemeentemuseum are
Group size: between 10 and 20 participants. Combine this tour with Sicily, 19 September–1 October (page 140); The Etruscans, 26 October–2 November (page 136).
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Valletta Baroque Festival 19–26 January 2016 (mc 560) This tour is currently full Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com Baroque music in one of the most complete and compact of Baroque cities. World-class musicians include La Serenissima, Mahan Esfahani and Collegium Vocale Gent. Guided tours of Malta’s principal archaeological and architectural treasures.
Vermeer, ‘The Music Maker’ (detail), wood engraving c. 1880. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Ar t in the Netherlands continued
Rijksmuseum & Mauritshuis Art in Amsterdam, Haarlem & The Hague
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19th-century Hague School paintings, the realist milieu from which Van Gogh emerged, and works by the pioneer abstractionist Mondriaan. Visit the illusionistic Mesdag panorama and the centre of the city, seat of the court and parliament. Day 4: Otterlo. Located in gardens and surrounded by an extensive heath, the KröllerMüller Museum has the second great collection of works by Van Gogh as well as an eclectic holding of paintings, furniture and sculpture. A leisurely visit here allows time to explore the 75-acre park with its outdoor sculptures. Day 5: Gouda, Utrecht. Gouda is an exceptionally pretty town with an elaborate town hall of c. 1450 and a large Gothic church, Sint-Janskerk, with 16th-century stained glass, the finest of its era. Utrecht is one of the best-preserved historic cities in the Netherlands, with canals flanked by unbroken stretches of Golden Age houses. The excellent art museum has a major collection of paintings of the 17th-century Utrecht School. See also the Rietveld House (1924), a landmark of 20th-century architecture. Day 6: Amsterdam. Return to Amsterdam. The Museum Willet-Holthuysen is a canalside patrician’s house furnished as in the 18th cent., while the Hermitage Museum has an excellent exhibition on group portraits of the Golden Age until the end of 2016. There is free time in the afternoon for revisiting the Rijksmuseum (there is much to see other than the Golden Age paintings), the Van Gogh Museum, or the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art. Day 7: Rotterdam. Rotterdam is a thriving city and a centre of contemporary architecture. The Boijmans van Beuningen Museum is the second largest art gallery in the Netherlands and has many important Dutch paintings and good decorative arts. Fly from Schiphol and return to Heathrow at c. 4.30pm.
5–8 June 2016 (mc 709) 4 days • £1,790 Lecturer: Dr Sophie Oosterwijk 19–22 June 2016 (mc 721) 4 days • £1,790 Lecturer: Dr Guus Sluiter Painting of the Dutch Golden Age – Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer and contemporaries – as well as art of other eras.
We sometimes change the visits on this itinerary to take advantage of temporary exhibitions.
Plenty of time for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam which reopened in 2013 as Europe’s best-displayed national gallery.
Practicalities
The Mauritshuis in The Hague also reopened in 2014 after complete refurbishment and ‘looks set to become northern Europe’s most alluring small museum’ (Financial Times).
Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,570 or £2,420 without flights. Single occupancy: 2,950 or £2,800 without flights.
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Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. The Grand Hotel Karel V, Utrecht (karelv.nl): 5-star hotel converted from a 19th-century hospital in a quiet location within the city walls. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking and standing around, and the tour would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Average distance by coach per day: 70 miles. Group size: between 10 and 20 participants.
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Amsterdam, late-18th-century copper engraving.
Combine this tour with, in May: Occupation in the Channel Islands, 15–19 May (page 16). In October: Gastronomic Piedmont, 1–7 October (page 104).
Combine the 19–22 June departure with The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016 (see page 69). The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is one of the world’s great museums, but it was largely closed for ten years until 2013. Planned extension and refurbishment hit a number of unexpected snags, but the new Rijksmuseum has been greeted with universal praise. Much extra space has been quarried from within the footprint of the 1885 building, and while some of the original decoration has been revealed and restored, the latest museum technology has been adopted and the artworks are beautifully lit. Paintings, sculpture, drawings, tapestries, ceramics, gold and silver – the whole gamut of fine and decorative arts are on display, often in meaningful juxtaposition.
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Though the gallery has the finest collection by far of the Dutch Golden Age (the seventeenth century, the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer), it has much else besides, and significant international collections as well. There are two visits to the museum, and Amsterdam’s other main galleries and historic buildings are included as well as city centre walks through the enchanting streetscape and beside the canals. To enlarge upon the theme, two key galleries in other towns are visited. The Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, housed in the almshouse where the eponymous artist spent his last years, provides a perfect introduction to Golden Age art, while the paintings in the Mauritshuis, also benefitting from brilliant re-display, form one of the richest small collections anywhere.
Itinerary We sometimes change the visits on this itinerary to take advantage of temporary exhibitions. Day 1. Fly at c. 12.00 midday (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Amsterdam. Haarlem was the chief artistic centre in the northern Netherlands in the 16th century and home of the first of the great masters of the Golden Age, Frans Hals, whose finest works are in the excellent small museum here. Drive to Amsterdam, where all three nights are spent. Day 2. With its concentric rings of canals and 17th-century merchants’ mansions, Amsterdam is one of the loveliest capitals in the world. Our first visit to the brilliantly refurbished Rijksmuseum concentrates on Rembrandt, Vermeer and their contemporaries. In the afternoon walk to the Museum Willet-Holthuysen, a patrician’s house and garden furnished as in the 18th century, and to the house where Rembrandt lived and worked
Historic Dutch Organs
Three centuries of outstanding instruments
Day 3. The Hermitage has an excellent exhibition, The Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age, until the end of 2016. The Royal Palace, formerly the town hall, was decorated by the leading Dutch painters of the 17th century (subject to closure for royal functions). Return to the Rijksmuseum for a second visit. There is some free time to visit two other major art museums nearby which have also recently been refurbished and extended, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum of modern and contemporary art. Day 4. Opened in June 2014 after long closure for refurbishment, the Mauritshuis at The Hague houses a superb collection of paintings including masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer. The Gemeentemuseum has 19th-century Hague School paintings, the realist milieu from which Van Gogh emerged, and works by the pioneer abstractionist Mondriaan. Fly from Amsterdam and return to London Heathrow at c. 6.00pm. Those combining the 19–22 June departure with The Seine Music Festival can opt to take the train from Amsterdam to Paris on 22nd June, and spend one extra night in Paris before the start of the festival on 23rd June (see prices below). Contact us for full details of the festival or visit www.martinrandall.com.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,790 or £1,630 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,080 or £1,920 without flights. Included meals: 3 dinners with wine. Supplement for combining the 19–22 June departure with The Seine Music Festival: £250 per person for two sharing; £370 for single occupancy (of a double room). This includes 1st class rail travel Amsterdam to Paris, transfer from the train station, and a night in a Paris hotel.
4–9 July 2016 (mc 745) 6 days • £2,310 Lecturers: James Johnstone & Dr Sophie Oosterwijk Private recitals and demonstrations on fifteen outstanding historic instruments of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Performances and explanations by James Johnstone in collaboration with local organists; co-lecturer Dr Sophie Oosterwijk is an expert on the Middle Ages, Netherlandish and Dutch art. Most of the organs are in magnificent Gothic churches in highly attractive towns and villages. Perhaps something is lost in translation, but ‘Land of Organs’ is not the most alluring of epithets. It’s what the Dutch (or a fairly specific segment of the Dutch population) call their own country. The fact is that there is probably a greater density of top quality historic organs here than anywhere else. Moreover, in the last few decades the Dutch have probably been world leaders in the restoration of historic instruments, as well as in the building of new ones. The consequence is that there is an impressive number of sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth-century instruments which are in good working order and whose sound is probably very close to the original. This tour is an organ-lover’s paradise. Fifteen instruments (give or take: a chamber organ might be added, a funeral might take away another) are seen, heard and explained. A leading specialist in performance on early instruments, James Johnstone, who studied in the Netherlands, leads the tour, and a number of Dutch organists contribute too. We hear the styles and capabilities of three hundred years of musical enterprise and ambition, and are exposed to various regional and personal styles of organ building.
The instruments are located in mediaeval churches which are mostly voluminous, often architecturally very fine and are all distinctly Dutch in a way that is familiar from the paintings of Saenredam and De Witte. The characteristic chasteness of decoration, however, ceases with the glorious burst of sculpture and architectonic joinery of the organ cases covering the west wall. The cities, towns and villages in which the churches are located are, at the least, charming, and often much more. Dating in large part from a period of greatest prosperity, with characteristic gabled brick buildings alongside the ubiquitous canals, their descent into backwater status until relatively recently preserved them wonderfully. The absence of unsightly industrial or high-rise suburbs is striking. Countryside is properly rural, despite a high population density, and intensely alluring despite the lack of elevation.
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for nearly 20 years. Walk back to the hotel through some of Amsterdam’s most attractive streets.
Itinerary Day 1: Leiden. Fly at midday from London Heathrow to Amsterdam (British Airways). Drive to Leiden, one of the best preserved and most appealing old cities in Holland (birthplace of Rembrandt). The vast Gothic Pieterskerk has a Hagerbeer organ of 1643, enormous for its date and fulsome in sound. Continue to Haarlem where the first two nights are spent. Day 2: Alkmaar, Haarlem. Morning excursion to Alkmaar in North Holland. The Grote Kerk Sint Laurens has two important organs. That of 1511 is one of the oldest functioning organs in the world, the other is another by Hagerbeer (1637). In Haarlem, hear the instrument in the small, architecturally classical Nieuwe Kerk. The church
Alkmaar, Market Place, engraving c. 1880.
Accommodation. Hotel Estheréa, Amsterdam (estherea.nl): centrally located 4-star hotel in a historic building with colourful, comfortable rooms. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
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How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking and standing in museums, and the tour would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking. Average distance by coach per day: 23 miles. Group size: between 10 and 20 participants. Combine the 5–8 June tour with Turner & the Sea, 12–17 June (page 36). 19–22 June: The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June (page 69); The Suffolk Festival, 13–16 June (page 21).
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What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Historic Dutch Organs continued
Norway: Ar t, Architecture, Landscape
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of St Bavo is one of the grandest in the country and retains many pre-Reformation furnishings. For a while the organ by Christian Müller (1738) was the world’s largest, and it remains one of the most sought-after historic instruments. Day 3: Oosthuizen, Edam, Harlingen. The organ in the church in the village of Oosthuizen is an exceptional survival from the beginning of the 16th century. The former port of nearby Edam, stunted by the silting of the Zuiderzee, is a delightful town with an outsize church in which there is a 1663 organ by Barent Smidt (known as ‘Father Smith’ when he emigrated to England). Cross the 1930s causeway between North Holland and Friesland to hear the organ in the Grote Kerk at Harlingen, built by great Dutch master A. A. Hinsz in 1781. First of two nights in Groningen. Day 4: Leens, Uithuizen, Groningen. Towards the north coast of the province of Groningen there are two fine organs. Leens is but a village but has a fully-vaulted Romanesque church with a well-preserved organ by Hinsz (1734). The slightly larger community of Uithuizen has an organ of 1700 by Arp Schnitger from Hamburg, one of the most influential and productive of organ builders. Free afternoon in Groningen. Public evening recital (subject to confirmation of the summer recital series) in the Martinikerk on a magnificent Schnitger instrument of 1692, modified by his son Frans Casper and the young Hinsz 40 years later. Day 5: Kampen, Zutphen. Kampen is a delightful little town beside the River Ijssel. The very fine, and very large, Gothic Bovenkerk has an outstanding organ by Hinsz of 1743. Have lunch in nearby Zwolle, historic and attractive. Zutphen has one of the loveliest and best preserved old city centres in the country. The Gothic church of St Walburga has one of the three remaining chained libraries in Europe and a organ by Heinrich Bader of 1639, famous for its brilliant sound and one of the largest of its time. Overnight Utrecht. Day 6: Amsterdam. Travel to the capital where the Nieuwe Kerk houses two organs, one 16thand one 17th-century, and hear the Müller organ in the Waalse Kerk. Fly from Amsterdam, arriving London Heathrow c. 7.30pm.
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Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,310 or £2,130 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,600 or £2,420 without flights. Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Amrâth Grand Hotel Frans Hals, Haarlem (amrathhotels.nl/franshals): modern comfortable 4-star hotel, 200m from St Bavo. Prinsenhof Hotel, Groningen (prinsenhofgroningen.nl): 4-star hotel close to the main church housed in a sequence of historic buildings. Excellent restaurant. Hotel Karel V, Utrecht (karelv.nl): 5-star hotel converted from a 19thcentury hospital in a quiet location. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? Unavoidably, there is quite a lot of walking; coaches cannot get close to many of the churches. Average coach miles per day: 59. Group size: between 18 and 32 participants.
Norwegian landscape, after an early-20th-century painting.
20–28 June 2016 (mc 724) 9 days • £3,870 Lecturer: Dr Frank Høifødt A tour which ties together the drama of the landscape with the architecture, art and design. A great tradition of Norwegian modernism with buildings by Sverre Fehn, Arne Korsmo, Snøhetta and Lund & Slaatto. Wide range of museums and galleries from the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo to the glacier museum in Mundal; Fine Arts in Bergen and the Hedmark in Hamar. Journeys of immense beauty by rail and boat are a major part of the tour. Special arrangements include visits to private villas, a ferry chartered for our group and a talk by the curator of the National Museum of Architecture. For most of the twentieth century, the legend of Scandinavian art, design and architecture grew and grew; an austerely simple yet humane design effortlessly in harmony with nature. Yet somehow Norway was never part of this. Facing the North Atlantic it seemed distant, more attuned to the brilliant melancholy of
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Grieg, Ibsen and Munch. But that is only a part of the story, and this tour combines landscape, art and design to give a fuller sense of Norway’s extraordinary beauty and creativity. In the folds of the fjords there have always been some of the most remarkable wooden buildings and towns – and boats – in Europe, while already in the 1930s Arne Korsmo’s beautiful villas above Oslofjord showed a particular Norwegian modernism. In the last two generations, bolstered by the extraordinary, well-invested wealth of their oil reserves, the Norwegians have set about designing a society to match the beauty of their setting, and place them at the forefront of contemporary design. We begin in Oslo, which in the last few years has become one of Europe’s most civilized and elegant cities, now crowned by Snøhetta’s astonishing Opera House. Its sheltered location and wide bourgeois streets could not contrast more than with the drama of Bergen and its dense wooden Hansa Bryggen where we end. However, both cities host great collections of paintings that show the fine eye and great skill with which Norwegians have observed their milieu. As with everywhere else in Norway, water dominates. In fact the story of Norwegian design really begins with our visit to the Viking longboats and continues at the Urnes stave church which overlooks the bucolic
Day 3: Hamar, Oslo. Drive north to the ancient city of Hamar, beautifully sited on the shores of Lake Mjøsa. Here is Fehn’s greatest work, the Hedmark Museum and Bishop’s Palace (1967–79). See also the adjacent ruins of Hamar Cathedral, now housed in a ‘crystal palace’ by Lund & Slaatto (1998). Back in Oslo, visit the chthonic church of St Hallvard with its inverted dome and rugged brickwork – an earlier work by Lund & Slaatto. Day 4: Oslo. Residential Oslo is represented today with visits (by special arrangement) to two exquisite modernist villas by Arne Korsmo: the Villa Stenersen (1938) and the Villa Dammann (Korsmo with Sverre Aasland, 1932). High above the city the Holmenkollen ski jump is a new landmark (JDS, 2010) with magnificent views. Return to the centre for some free time. Suggestions include taking the ferry to Bygdøy, home to Kon-Tiki, or visiting the Åkerhus (fortress) and Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art.
Itinerary Day 1: Oslo. Fly at c. 10.15am from London Heathrow to Oslo (British Airways). Lateafternoon walk through the city (Royal Palace, University, Parliament) to the new waterfront developments by Niels Torp and others. The latest addition here is Renzo Piano’s contemporary art gallery. First of four nights in Oslo. Day 2: Oslo. Begin with the National Gallery, a small but fine collection of Norwegian art including a room dedicated to Edvard Munch. Walk to two buildings by Sverre Fehn: Gyldendal
Day 6: Mundal, Urnes. Mundal is a pretty village tucked between glacier, mountain and water. Here, sitting as if a terminal moraine, is Fehn’s glacier museum (1991), a complex building responding to the dramatic landscape. Drive to the village of Solvorn, from where we embark to Urnes. Walk up to the stave church, among the oldest and most celebrated in Norway, with carvings dating to the 12th century. Its beautiful orchard setting is on a promontory above Lustrafjord (a branch of the Sognefjord) with views north and south. Day 7: Mundal to Bergen. The morning is free to visit Mundal’s church and Hay-on-Wye-style bookstalls, or to walk or cycle round the fjord. Lunch in the hotel before boarding the ferry to Balestrand (1 hour 30 minutes) connecting then to the boat along Sognefjord to the Atlantic and Bergen, a route taken by many a British tourist in the 19th century (c. 3 hours 45 minutes). Arrive at the hotel in Bergen c. 9.00pm. Day 8: Bergen. A lively port of immense charm flanked by wooded hills. Walk along the boardwalks of the Bryggen, the colourful mediaeval merchants’ quarter and home to the Hanseatic Museum. Ride the funicular train up Mount Fløyen for spectacular views. Continue to the heart of the modern city, including the
Art historian, lecturer and writer. He is a former director of the Vigeland Museum and is Associate Professor at the University of Oslo. He is an expert on the life and works of Edvard Munch and was for years a curator at the Munch Museum in Oslo. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. museum quarter laid out from the 1920s around a lake. The Fine Arts Museum is superb for modern and Norwegian art. Day 9: Bergen. Free morning. Suggestions include the fish market, the Bryggen Museum or the Decorative Arts Museum. In the afternoon depart for Troldhaugen, the idyllic summer home of Edvard Grieg. See his villa and waterside studio, and also his tomb. Private recital in the concert hall here (to be confirmed). Continue to Bergen airport and fly to London Heathrow arriving at c. 9.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,870 or £3,750 without flights. Single occupancy: £4,390 or £4,270 without flights. Included meals: 3 lunches, 6 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Continental, Oslo (hotelcontinental.no): family-run 5-star in the heart of the city, a short walk from the National Gallery. Hotel Mundal (hotelmundal.no): small, historic hotel on the waterfront; charming, eccentric and reminiscent of a private home; rooms vary in size. Clarion Hotel, Bergen (choicehotels.com): attractive 4-star hotel on the waterfront in the Bryggen; bedrooms are smartly furnished with rich colour schemes. How strenuous? This is a long tour with a lot of travelling, by coach, boat and train. You need to be fit and able to lift and wheel your own luggage. Walking is often on uneven ground and uphill. Average distance by coach per day: 32 miles. Group size: between 12 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Turner & the Sea, 12–17 June (page 36); Great French Gardens, 29 June–8 July (page 68); Vienna’s Masterpieces, 1–5 July (page 52); Budapest, 1–5 July (page 103).
Bergen Music Festival May 2016 Details available in February 2016 Contact us to register your interest Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Sognefjord two hundred miles inland. We travel there from Oslo on one of the most beautiful train journeys imaginable, and then sail across the fjord to the beguiling timber Hotel Mundal. We leave for Bergen again by boat, following the fjord to the Atlantic. It is in the tiny town of Mundal, lying in the shadow of Norway’s largest glacier, that Sverre Fehn built his ‘Bremuseum’ (glacier museum). Fehn, who died in 2009, produced an architecture of intelligence and poetry that has made him the subject of veneration unmatched since Alvar Aalto. His Hedmark museum in Hamar, one of the most significant interpretations of an historic site in Europe, is simply extraordinary.
Day 5: Oslo to Mundal. Spend the day travelling into the Western Fjords – a journey of considerable drama and beauty. Train at c. 8.30am train from Oslo, disembarking at Myrdal, a remote junction high above the Raundal Valley (journey time: c. 4 hours 45 minutes). Here join the famed Flåm railway, a spectacular fiftyminute descent to the shores of the Aurlandsfjord. The final leg is by boat (private charter) from Flåm to Mundal at the very end of Fjaerlandfjord. Walk to our hotel, a handsome villa built 1891 by Peter Blix. Two nights in Mundal.
Dr Frank Høifødt
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publishing house (2007) and the National Museum of Architecture (2008). Talk here by the senior curator. Continue by coach to Snøhetta’s glacial waterfront opera house (2008). End on Bygdøy – museum island – at the magnificent Viking Ship Museum.
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Kraków & Silesia
Art, architecture & history in southern Poland poland
2–9 September 2016 (md 837) 8 days • £2,530 Lecturer: Sebastian Wormell Wrocław and Kraków, two of the most impressive and fascinating historic cities in Central Europe. Passed between Bohemia, Prussia and Poland, the multi-layered region of Silesia is of outstanding interest, historically and architecturally. Wrocław and Silesia are surprisingly little visited. Led by Polish expert and arhitectural historian Sebastian Wormell. Kraków is one of the treasures of Europe, an unspoilt cityscape of the highest architectural importance. Famed for its royal castle, university, great churches and art collections, it was for centuries Poland’s capital, at a time when the country was one of the major kingdoms of Europe. After the dismemberment of Poland at the end of the eighteenth century, the city was subsumed within the Austrian Habsburg Empire and reduced to provincial impotence. Its independent spirit and intellectual life continued undimmed, however. After the revival of Poland as an independent nation in 1918, and during the tribulations it sustained during much of the twentieth century, Kraków acquired the status of cultural capital, and its literary and artistic life continues to thrive. Miraculously, it largely escaped wartime destruction, but its fabric suffered neglect under Communism. In recent years it has
undergone another transformation, restored, cleaned, and once again prosperous. Cafés, shops, restaurants and enterprises of all sorts now fill the historic centre, and it has become a popular city-break destination. Wrocław is the capital of Silesia, in the early modern period one of the wealthiest regions of Central Europe. Prosperity has returned to Wrocław (it has the fastest growing economy of any Polish city), but otherwise contrasts outweigh similarities with Kraków. The mediaeval origins of Silesia were Polish, but under Bohemian, Austrian and Prussian rule, and as an integral part of a united Germany until 1945, German culture came to dominate (Wrocław was known as Breslau). When Silesia was added to Poland after World War II the German-speaking population was replaced by Polish settlers – many of them displaced from territory lost in the east. There ensued ambivalence about its status: much was made of Wrocław’s Polish origins, but a veil was drawn over its later history. It is only since the end of Communism that Wrocław has really come to terms with its multilayered past and the glories of its artistic heritage, now painstakingly restored: the imposing Gothic churches, magnificent Baroque sculpture and pioneering modernist architecture. The impressive old town centre is one of the grandest in Central Europe – evidence of the city’s status as a great metropolis in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was to remain an important place of cultural interchange between the German west and the Slavic east, and between the Protestant north and the Catholic south.
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Krakow, University, lithograph c. 1820. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Itinerary Day 1: London to Kraków. Fly at c. 11.45am from London Heathrow to Kraków (British Airways). Settle in the hotel before an introductory lecture and dinner. First of three nights in Kraków. Day 2: Kraków. The heart of the old town, the enormous mediaeval market square (the largest in Europe) has fine façades of many styles. At its centre is the arcaded Cloth Hall, still a covered market below and with a gallery of magnificent 19th-century Polish art above. The soaring Gothic church of St Mary contains the greatest of all late mediaeval German sculpted altarpieces, by Veit Stoss. The 15th-century university complex includes cloister, Collegium Maius and St Anne’s Church, a major work of Polish Baroque. Visit the City History Museum. Overnight Kraków. Day 3: Kraków. Wawel Castle was rebuilt by Italian designers in the 16th century to become one of the earliest and greatest of Renaissance palaces north of the Alps, with arcaded courtyard and splendid interiors. Works of art include an excellent tapestry collection and Leonardo’s Lady with an Ermine. The cathedral is also situated on Wawel Hill; essentially a Gothic structure, it is a Polish pantheon, with tombs of 41 monarchs and national heroes. In the afternoon an architectural walk includes a number of churches, picturesque streets and other buildings. Overnight Kraków. Day 4: Kraków, Wrocław. Adjacent to Kraków but across a branch of the Vistula, Kazimierz was an independent town until the 19th century. Here the Jewish population was concentrated,
Walking in Madeira Garden of the Atlantic
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but there are fine churches as well as synagogues and the former ghetto. It is a place of beauty as well as poignancy. After lunch drive west to the Silesia and Wrocław. The Racławice Panorama, an enormous cycloramic painting (120m x 15m) commemorating the centenary of the defeat of the Russian army in 1794 during the Kościuszko Insurrection. First of four nights in Wrocław. Day 5: Wrocław. Slav by origin, for centuries Wrocław was predominently German (Breslau). The main square is dominated by the elaborate Gothic town hall and lined by a colourful assortment of Renaissance and Baroque mansions. In the academic quarter, and inside the 171m-long Collegium Maximum, the Aula Leopoldina is an ornate Baroque hall with illusionistic ceiling frescoes. Cross the Piaskowy Bridge to Cathedral Island. Among the highlights of the National Museum are Matejko’s Vows of King Jan Kazimierz Waza and an important collection of mediaeval sculpture. Overnight Wrocław. Day 6: Kzreszów, Świdnica. The magnificent Baroque abbey at Krzeszów, with imposing interiors, sculpture and paintings, is remarkably well preserved. Polish nuns expelled from Ukraine settled here after the War. The huge ‘Peace Church’ at Świdnica is an extraordinary building, constructed of timber and brilliantly exploiting the tight constraints of the terms under which Lutherans were permitted to build three churches in Catholic Silesia after the 1648 Treaty of Munster. Overnight Wrocław.
Mid-19th-century steel engraving.
31 October–5 November 2016 (md 929) 6 days • £2,440 Lecturer: Dr Gerald Luckhurst Four moderate walks of a maximum of four miles through Madeira’s magnificent landscapes: coastal, woodland and mountainous.
Day 8: Wrocław to London. Drive to Kraków and fly to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 5.30pm.
Sitting in the sub-tropical Atlantic, closer to Morocco than to Portugal, Madeira is a startling island, rising high and steep from the ocean. Consisting overwhelmingly of basalt rock, which started spewing from the earth’s core around 130 million years ago, the land of Madeira itself is probably two-and-a-half-million years old. The volcanic nature of this island produces not only steep gorges radiating from the rugged central mountains – the highest of which, Pico Ruivo, stands at 1,861 metres above sea level – but also accounts for the spectacular coastal scenery. This tour explores both settings. A hugely varied number of plants and flowers enjoy this dynamic combination of fertile soil and warm temperatures. Bananas and vines, two of Madeira’s major exports, flourish on the coastal plains, while lush deciduous vegetation covers the higher mountain slopes. As is standard on remote islands, there has been considerable speciation, and more than seven hundred plant species are indigenous to Madeira. Of particular interest are the laurisilva woodlands, the large house leeks, woody sow-thistles and marguerites, the beautiful shrubby Echium species and the curious
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,530 or £2,360 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,840 or £2,670 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine. Music: it might be possible to attend an opera or concert performance. Details will be sent to participants nearer the time. Accommodation. Hotel Pod Roza, Krakow (podroza.hotel.com): 4-star hotel housed in a Renaissance palace just off the main square. Art Hotel, Wroclaw (arthotel.pl): comfortable 4-star hotel in the old town. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking, much of it on roughly paved streets. There are long drives on four of the days. Average distance by coach per day: 109 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
A focus on both Madeira’s formal gardens and its natural flora and wildlife. The lecturer is Dr Gerald Luckhurst, landscape architect and author on Madeira’s gardens. Stay in Madeira’s most famous hotel.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 12.45pm from London Gatwick to Funchal (Monarch Airlines). Introductory lecture and dinner. First of five nights in Funchal. Day 2. Morning walk (level, easy walk along the levada; narrow in places ending with a descent onto the road, c. 5 km) along the Levada dos Tornos. Starting in the hills above Funchal, walk to the Blandy family estate at Palheiro for lunch and a guided visit. The extensive sub-tropical gardens, first acquired by John Blandy in 1885, have been continually developed by the family. Some free time to enjoy the camellias, centennial trees, the rose garden and myriad other flowers and climbers. Private evening visit to the Blandy Wine Lodge with a Madeira wine tasting. Day 3. A guided tour of Funchal’s centre focusing on its city gardens and historic monuments. The Mercado dos Lavadores (farmers’ market) is a brilliantly vibrant showcase of the island’s Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Day 7: Lubiąż, Ząbkowicki. A second excursion into the Silesia countryside. Overlooking the river Oder, the Cistercian abbey of Lubiąż is one of the largest monastic complexes in the world, and a masterpiece of Silesian Baroque. It was badly damaged in the War but much has been restored. Kamieniec Ząbkowicki, a huge neo-Gothic country residence, was the last major project by the Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1838). Overnight Wrocław.
Dragon tree. By exploring the terrain on foot we examine these species and their setting in greater and more rewarding detail. Aside from the ecological and horticultural aspects of this tour, there is also the opportunity to study the history of the island’s greatest export, Madeira wine. Although established as a Portuguese colony since Prince Henry the Navigator’s expedition landed in the early fifteenth century, it was during the period of Spanish ownership that a commercial treaty was established with the British in 1660. This marked the beginning of the wine trade, which has been significant ever since. We have organised a private tasting and visit to a winery that has been operating on the island for over two hundred years.
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Walking in Madeira continued
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Dr Gerald Luckhurst Landscape architect and garden historian involved in both historic restoration and contemporary garden design. He is an expert on subtropical and Mediterranean garden flora and his books include The Gardens of Madeira & Sintra: A Landscape with Villas. His doctoral thesis is focussed on the gardens of Monserrate in Sintra, near Lisbon. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
“Highly professional in conception and execution. One of the best features of the tour was the quality of the other participants.” produce. Visit the Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, with its whitewashed walls and mudéjar-inspired ceiling, and the Jesuit collegiate church. Drive to Madeira’s easternmost peninsular, Ponta do São Lourenço, for an afternoon walk (c. 6 km, with steep ascents and descents on stepped paths; the length of the walk is subject to weather conditions) in a rugged, almost lunar landscape, home to fossils, cacti and the odd flash of desert flowers. Day 4. A morning visit to the Boa Vista orchid gardens which houses the rarest and most unusual collection of orchids on the island. The Jardim Botánico located in the Quinta of Bom
Sucesso is home to over 100 species of indigenous plants, as well as tropical and sub-tropical fruit trees and coffee trees, sugar cane and popular medicinal plants. Visit one of the island’s newest gardens, located on Ponta da Cruz, the southernmost point of Madeira. This is the warmest and sunniest spot on the island which makes for an extraordinarily colourful garden. The rest of the day is free. Day 5. In the cool hills above Funchal is the unesco Biosphere site at Ribeiro Frio, where a botanical garden and trout hatchery sit among quiet glades. Walk along the path to Balcões and back (3 km), with views of the craggy valleys below, followed by a picnic lunch. Afternoon walk (moderate, 5.6 km, a stoney path with some steep sections) to Madeira’s highest peak, Pico Ruivo, with wonderful 360° views stretching to the horizon, and a dramatic vista down to the small town of Curral das Freiras. Day 6. Drive to Funchal airport for the flight to London Gatwick, via Lisbon, arriving at c. 3.40pm (TAP Airlines). Although we have chosen the walks on this itinerary with due care and consideration, Madeira is subject to high winds which may mean they are changed or modified at short notice. We follow the advice of local walking guides.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,440 or £2,180 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,880 or £2,620 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 3 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Reid’s Palace Hotel, Funchal (belmond.com): arguably the best hotel on the island, this famous 5-star luxury hotel is set in subtropical gardens overlooking the Atlantic. Rooms are elegant in décor with sea or garden views. There are three excellent restaurants to choose from. Service here is second to none. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
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How strenuous? Walking is an integral part of this tour and if you cannot complete a 3-mile country walk with ascents and descents, do not consider booking. There are four walks of between 2 and 4 miles. These walks can be rated as easy to moderate though strong knees and ankles are essential, as are a pair of well-worn hiking boots with good ankle support. Walks have been carefully selected but some steep rises and falls are unavoidable and terrain can be loose under foot, particularly in wet weather. This tour is not suitable for people who suffer from vertigo. Please contact us if you would like to discuss the walks in further detail. Average distance by coach per day: 39 miles. Group size: between 10 and 18 participants. Combine this tour with Pompeii & Herculaneum, 24–30 October (page 137); Sicily, 17–29 October or 7–19 November (page 140); Gastronomic Valencia, 7–14 November (page 172).
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Madeiran countryside, wood engraving c. 1880. book online at www.martinrandall.com
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Gardens of Nor thern Por tugal Porto & the Minho Valley
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18–23 April 2016 (mc 637) 6 days • £1,660 Lecturer: Dr Gerald Luckhurst Historic gardens in the beautiful setting of the Minho and Douro Valleys. Includes visits to gardens not normally open to the public. The lecturer is Dr Gerald Luckhurst, landscape architect and garden historian based in Lisbon. Four nights in the delightful mediaeval town of Guimarães, one night in Porto.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.50am (TAP Portugal) from London Gatwick to Porto. Drive to Guimarães for the first of four nights. Day 2: Vila Real, Celorico de Basto. The Palácio de Mateus at Vila Real, designed by the painterarchitect Nicolau Nasoni and made familiar by the rosé wine label, is a fine 18th-century manor
Porto, aquatint c. 1830.
house, well furnished and with gardens including a box tree avenue and impressive broderie parterre. Continue in the afternoon to Casa do Campo, not open to the general public, with impressive 19th-century camellia topiary. Day 3: Guimarães, Ponte de Lima. Morning visits in Guimarães. The imposing castle was originally constructed in the 10th century to defend the town from the Moors and Vikings, while the Burgundian ducal palace houses an extensive collection of portraits, tapestries and porcelain. In the afternoon drive north to the 17th-cent. Paço de Calheiros, whose 19th-cent. garden enjoys spectacular views of the Lima valley. Day 4: Braga. Drive north to Braga, Portugal’s religious centre with a magisterial archbishop’s palace. Climb the lavishly Baroque penitential staircase of Bom Jesus do Monte (c. 600 steps), adorned with religious figures and surrounded by camellia and box topiary. The 18th-cent. gardens of the Casa dos Biscainhos are decorated with granite, rococo-style statues and fountains and elaborate parterres inspired by Arabic design. There is time also to see the principally Romanesque cathedral with two splendid Baroque organs. Day 5: Penafiel, Porto. Drive to the Quinta da Aveleda, home to the largest producer of vinho verde in Portugal, whose woodland gardens are famous for their follies, camellias and azaleas. Lunch here overlooking the vineyards. Continue to Porto where the 19th-cent. romantic gardens of the Quinta de Vilar d’Allen are home to a rare collection of plants and trees imported from all continents. Overnight in Porto. Day 6: Porto. Morning walk in Porto’s old town, dense with historic architecture. The cathedral is basically 13th-century with later embellishments,
many by Nasoni. The Clerigos Church with its wonderful Baroque tower is also by Nasoni, the church of the Misericordia has good Flemish paintings and São Francisco has an amazingly rich carved and gilded interior. In great contrast, Jacques Gréber’s modernist garden at the Fundação de Serralves compliments the clean lines of the pink Art Deco house, built in 1935, and features a water staircase. Elsewhere are a wisteria pergola and remains of the pre-existing 19th-cent. garden. Fly from Porto, returning to Gatwick at c. 9.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,660 or £1,510 without flights. Single occupancy: £1,840 or £1,690 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel da Oliveira, Guimarães (hoteldaoliveira.com): boutique hotel in the historic centre. Décor is contemporary and it has a good restaurant. Pousada do Porto Palácio do Freixo (pousadas.pt): 4-star hotel. Public areas are located in the 18th-century palace, while rooms are in a modern extension. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? A lot of walking and standing. Paths in gardens are often uneven; surefootedness is essential. Coach access is often difficult. The ascent of Bom Jesus do Monte involves c. 600 steps; we walk up and take a funicular back down. There is daily coach travel; average distance per day 55 miles.
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The northern provinces of Portugal are lush and green with an intensely cultivated landscape of exceptional beauty. The mild Atlantic climate provides exceptional growing conditions for camellias, rhododendrons and azaleas which reach enormous proportions and afford impressive displays amidst the oak and chestnut woods that fill the valleys of the Minho and Douro. The countryside is made up of small farms and vegetable gardens with vines everywhere. Two of Portugal’s most famous wines are produced here: the light and spritely vinho verde is grown from vines trained on tall trellises, whilst the port wine is grown on mountain terraces. This is an ancient landscape, inhabited since before the Bronze Age, and in the eleventh century the birthplace of Portugal. The cities of Braga, Guimarães and Ponte de Lima all have castles, city walls and elaborate churches. Their mediaeval centres are filled with narrow streets and immaculately cared for public gardens that are a joy to explore. There is a great civic pride in these towns and the people are exceptionally welcoming. The food is renowned throughout Portugal. The country houses of the region had their origin as small fortified manors, known as solares, but as Portugal grew rich from overseas discoveries they were transformed into Baroque paços and quintas, their gardens filled with plants from Africa and Asia. At first the style of gardening was strongly influenced by Italy, but in the nineteenth century, with the exuberant growth of exotic vegetation brought back by adventurers from Brazil, a romantic atmosphere prevailed and the gardens were filled with naturalistic pools with winding paths, archaeological follies and model farms. In the twentieth century the elite of Porto looked to Paris for their inspiration and the Art Deco was taken as the model. The gardens of Serralves are a rare example of an intact Modernist layout impeccably conserved.
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Palladian Villas, 12–17 April (page 111); Sicily, 4–16 April (page 140); Pompeii & Herculaneum, 25–30 April (page 137). Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Hear t of Por tugal History, architecture, landscapes portugal
5–13 September 2016 (md 824) 9 days • £2,390 Lecturer: Adam Hopkins Central Portugal, cradle of a tiny nation which struggled mightily for independence. Rich in Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Some beautiful scenery, hilltop castles and charming towns with numerous examples of decorative tiles. Led by Adam Hopkins, journalist and author, specialist in Portuguese history and culture. Portugal’s status as an agreeable member of the European minor league, now struggling financially, runs contrary to her huge place in world history and impressive mediaeval antecedents. The nascent country’s advance against the Moors in the Iberian far west and then its courageous self-defence against the might of a neighbouring Castile revealed a nation that would be perpetually in arms, and perpetually in thrall to the Christian cause, however interpreted. Sea discovery and empire, with its ensuing riches, gold and slave trade, followed logically. The groundwork for all of this is visible to the eye in central Portugal. Here, our concern is with the land stretching onwards from the Douro to the Tagus, hilly and tightly bunched by the western seaboard then
stretching out into the broad and exhilarating sweeps of the Alentejo in the east; wheat and cork oak country of deep rusticity. The first king of an independent Portugal pushed down through this land and endowed it in glorious style. It was King Afonso Henriques himself, in celebration of the capture from the Moors of Santarém, a key town on the Tagus, in 1147, who brought in the Cistercians to build the sensational ‘pure’ Gothic abbey of Alcobaça. On August 14 1385, with the aid of English archers, João I, first king of the new House of Avis, defeated the Castilians so heavily in central Portugal that this particular threat was over for a while. Close to the battlefield, João established another thrilling monastery, Batalha, or Battle – a cry of triumph. Here João is buried with Philippa of Lancaster, his wife. She bore him five sons, all also buried here. This extraordinary brood were to carry Portugal to the threshold of the modern. One of them was Prince Henry the Navigator whose ambitions set in motion the exploration of the African coast and led in turn, less than a century later, to Vasco da Gama’s arrival in India. Imperial wealth flowed into Portugal at the start of the sixteenth century. Under the royal beneficiary, Manuel the Fortunate, there developed the hyper-decorative style now known as ‘Manueline’ Gothic architecture. Batalha abbey is fourteenth/fifteenth-century ‘pure’ Gothic, massively decorated with sixteenth-century
Manueline pinnacles and every imaginable foible stone could be worked into. All so far, symbolically speaking, is concentrated here. There came, of course, in 1580, the evil hour in which Castile finally did accomplish a takeover of Portugal. Two generations later it was yet another new dynasty, the House of Braganza, which won back independence. The Braganza family palace is in the Alentejo and we visit it on this trip. We go to Coimbra, too, where a later Braganza, recipient of gold and diamonds from Brazil, constructed the gilded library of the ancient University in the early eighteenth century, a second age of imperial splendour. Other delights include the Templar headquarters at Tomar (Romanesque with later additions of extraordinary maritime-inspired effusion), the extremely decorative World Heritage city of Évora, charming villages and hilltop castles in the remotest of remote country – looking out over that traditional enemy, Castile. The heart of Portugal: today a republic, a democracy, a member of the EU, a deeply historic country struggling to be modern.
Itinerary Day 1: Buçaco. Fly at c. 11.00am from London Gatwick to Porto (TAP Portugal). Drive south into the Buçaco forest. Our hotel was built as a wild neo-Manueline Gothic fantasy at the turn of the 20th century; a retreat for the Portuguese royal family. First of two nights in Buçaco. Day 2: Coimbra. Capital of Portugal from 1139 to 1385, Coimbra’s reputation outweighs its beauty though monuments are rich. The church of Santa Clara a Nova is the burial place of Sta Isabel, 14th-century Queen of Portugal. Cross the River Mondego to the Old Town for the densely historic church of Santa Cruz with fine azulejos (decorative tiles), the Old University with 18th-century gilded library and the impressive Romanesque cathedral.
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Day 3: Alcobaça, Batalha, Tomar. Drive south to two extraordinary monasteries of the greatest beauty and historical significance. Alcobaça, founded in 1153, is a building of breathtaking Gothic purity. Nearby Batalha, built by order of King João I, mixes French Gothic and Manueline in an intoxicating display. The drive east becomes increasingly rural. First of two nights in the small town of Tomar.
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Day 4: Tomar. Crowning a hill above the town, the military-religious complex of the Convento de Cristo is one of Portugal’s most important and beautiful sites. The octagonal Templar church survives, Romanesque, with fine Manueline extension; the west window, utterly exuberant, is regarded as the chief Manueline masterwork. Free time in the grid-built mediaeval town.
Évora, Temple of Diana, wood engraving c. 1880. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 5: Castelo de Vide, Marvão, Évora. Drive eastwards into the wonderfully rural Alentejo which borders Spain: mountainous in the north, wide and sweeping in the south. Visit two delightful hill villages dominated by mediaeval castles: Castelo de Vide and Marvão. Continue to Évora, regional capital of the greatest charm, for the first of four nights.
St Petersburg Pictures & palaces
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Day 6: Évora, Arraiolos. A morning walk in Évora includes Portugal’s best preserved Roman temple, 2nd or 3rd century ad; the cathedral, battlemented, mainly Gothic on a Romanesque plan; 16th-century Jesuit university and the ‘royal’ church of São Francisco. Optional afternoon in Arraiolos, a charming village with castle and lavender-coloured trim on many houses. Here carpets have been stitched since the 17th century. Day 7: Vila Viçosa, Olivença. The Braganza family’s main palace is in the marble-quarrying town of Vila Viçosa. It preserves the memory of King Dom Carlos who left home one February morning in 1908 only to be assassinated in Lisbon that afternoon. Cross the Spanish border to lunch in Olivença (Olivenza), a delightful Portuguese town with Manueline monuments, which fell into Spanish hands after the War of the Oranges in 1801. Day 8: Évora, Elvas. In Évora begin at the church of São João Evangelista, once serving the monastery where we are staying, with some of the finest azulejos in Portugal. The city museum houses the 13 famous Flemish paintings of the Life of the Virgin. Afternoon in Elvas, border town of great individuality within a huge and critically important fortress. Visit the cathedral, castle and English cemetery dating from the Peninsular War, beautiful and moving. Day 9. Drive to Lisbon Airport for the flight arriving London Gatwick at c. 3.20pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,390 or £2,220 without flights, or with a suite in Évora: £2,480 or £2,310 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,720 or £2,550 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 6 dinners, with wine.
How strenuous? There are steep streets, cobbles and steps, and coach access is difficult; good mobility and sure-footedness are essential. There is daily coach travel; average distance per day 87 miles: Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
6–12 May 2016 (mc 662) 7 days • £2,790 Lecturer: Dr Alexey Makhrov New departure: 2–8 September 2016 (md 853) 7 days • £2,790 Lecturer: Dr Alexey Makhrov St Petersburg is perhaps the grandest city in Europe, and one of the most beautiful. Magnificent architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries, especially the palaces of the Romanovs, nobility and merchants. Outstanding art collections, the Hermitage being the largest art museum in the world. Led by Dr Alexey Makhrov, a Russian Art Historian and graduate of the St Petersburg Academy of Arts. Founded by Peter the Great in 1703, the city of St Petersburg was intended to demonstrate to the world not only that Russia was a European rather than an Asian nation, but also that it was an immensely powerful one. This ‘window on the West’ became the capital of the Russian Empire until the government moved back to Moscow in 1918.
Peter’s wish was amply fulfilled: with the assistance of Dutch, Italian and French architects – Russians were to take over later in the century once they had mastered the mysteries of Western art and architecture – St Petersburg was laid out as the grandest city in Europe, with buildings on a monumental scale. The palaces of the imperial family and of the fabulously wealthy magnates vied with each other, and with the military establishments and government institutions to dominate the river front, the broad avenues and the vast squares. Although one of the newest of Europe’s great cities, St Petersburg is the one least affected by twentieth-century building. Despite the wellpublicised economic and political troubles Russia has undergone in recent years, there has been a surge of cleaning and restoration which has accentuated the beauty of the city. As impressive as the architecture of St Petersburg are the contents of the museums and art galleries. The Hermitage is one of the world’s greatest art museums, with an immensely rich collection of paintings, sculpture, antiquities and decorative arts filling the enormous Winter Palace of the Romanovs. The Russian Museum comes as a revelation to most visitors, for apart from icons (and there is a wonderful collection) the great achievements of Russian painters, particularly during the nineteenth century, are scarcely known outside the country. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Accommodation. Bussaco Palace Hotel, Buçaco (almeidahotels.com): grandiose hotel in a former royal hunting lodge with gardens; rooms vary; rated as 5-star though more like a 4-star. Hotel dos Templários, Tomar (hoteldostemplarios. com): 4-star hotel a few minutes walk from the mediaeval town; rooms are unremarkable but are well-equipped; indoor and outdoor pools. Pousada dos Loios, Évora (pousadas.pt): small 4-star hotel (pousada) installed in a 15th-cent. monastery and retaining much of the original building; excellent location, attractively furnished but rooms are small. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
St Petersburg, Nevsky Prospekt towards the Admirality, lithograph by André Durand c. 1840.
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St Petersburg continued
“We came away from St Petersburg hungry to learn more about Russian life and culture – the mark of a successful trip.”
Itinerary
and pavilions. At Tsarskoye Selo, formerly Pushkin, the main building is the out sized Rococo Catherine Palace by Rastrelli, its richly ornamented interiors painstakingly restored after war damage. At Pavlovsk, also well restored, the graceful Neo-Classical Great Palace with encircling wings was in part built by Scotsman Charles Cameron.
Day 1. Fly at c. 9.15am from London Heathrow to St Petersburg (British Airways; c. 3 hours 15 minutes). There is time to settle in before a short walk in the vicinity of hotel and dinner. Day 2. Explore the north bank of the Neva and Vasilyevsky Island which, as the original intended site of the city, has some of St Petersburg’s earliest buildings including the Twelve Colleges and the Peter-Paul Fortress. Visit the Menshikov Palace, an early 18th-century residence with impressive Petrine decoration. Drive via the Kazan Cathedral with colonnaded forecourt to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, an extensive Baroque layout and cemetery with graves of many famous Russians. Day 3. Walk to the remarkable Neo-Classical buildings of the Synod, Senate and Admiralty. The first visit to the Hermitage, one of the world’s greatest art collections, housed in Rastrelli’s Winter Palace and contiguous buildings; walk around to understand the layout and to see the magnificent interiors. An afternoon by coach taking in the sumptuous Marble Palace (exterior), designed by Rinaldi in Baroque and Neo-Classical style and the wonderful group of Smolny Convent and Cathedral, also by Rastrelli. Day 4. A full-day excursion to two of the summer palaces about 20 miles from St Petersburg, both set in extensive landscaped parks with lakes
Day 5. The Russian Museum, in the imposing Mikhailovsky Palace, has Russian painting from mediaeval icons to the vast canvases of the Romantics and Realists of the 19th century. An afternoon excursion to Peterhof (by hydrofoil, weather permitting), the magnificent palace on the Gulf of Finland with cascades and fountains. Day 6. Drive through the city. The Baroque Cathedral of St Nicholas, with its gilded domes, is a memorial to Russian navy sailors who perished at sea. Visit the late 19th-century Yusupov Palace, one of the finest in the city and scene of Rasputin’s murder. A second visit to the Hermitage to concentrate on specific aspects of the collections and to pursue individual passions. Day 7. Some free time for independent exploration: perhaps the Hermitage again, or places not yet visited such as the Dostoyevsky Museum, Academy of Arts, or Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. Alternatively an optional visit to the world’s largest collection of Fabergé works, displayed in the Shuvalov Palace. Fly to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 5.30pm.
Dr Alexey Makhrov Russian art historian and lecturer. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Arts and obtained his PhD from the University of St Andrews followed by postdoctoral work as a Research Fellow at Exeter. He now lives in Switzerland where he teaches courses on Russian art. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,790 or £2,450 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,090 or £2,750 without flights. Included meals: 5 dinners with wine. Music: details of opera and ballet performances will be sent to participants about one month before the tour and tickets can be requested. Visas: Required for most foreign nationals, and not included in the price of the tour as you must procure it yourself. We will advise all participants on the procedure, but please contact us if you require information in advance of a booking. Accommodation. Hotel Angleterre (angleterrehotel.com): an excellently located 5-star hotel in the city centre, within easy walking distance of the Hermitage. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is a fair amount of standing in galleries and walking on this tour. Traffic congestion means coach journeys can be long and frustrating. Average coach travel per day: 13 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Serbia The Western Balkans, departures in May & October with David Gowan: see page 55. MAINLAND EUROPE
slovakia The Danube Festival of Song, 5–12 July 2016. See page 52. The Iron Curtain, 19 September–3 October 2016 with Neil Taylor. See page 88. Slovenia The Imperial Riviera, 12–18 September 2016 with Richard Bassett: see page 113.
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Entrance to the Hermitage, wood engraving from The Illustrated London News, 1866. book online at www.martinrandall.com
The Iron Curtain, 19 September–3 October 2016. See page 88.
Cave Ar t in Spain Atapuerca to Altamira
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6–12 September 2016 (md 828) 7 days • £2,270 Lecturer: Dr Paul Bahn Some of the most important prehistoric caves in Europe including Altamira II, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo. An area of outstanding natural beauty with charming villages. Led by Britain’s leading specialist in prehistoric art, Dr Paul Bahn.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.15am from London Heathrow to Madrid (Iberia Airlines). Continue by coach to Burgos. The Museum of Human Evolution is one of the biggest and most important in the world devoted to this theme, and contains a magnificent display of the major finds from the sites at Atapuerca. Overnight in Burgos. Day 2: Burgos. Atapuerca is one of the richest and most important groups of archaeological sites in the world, and yet despite the amazing quantity of discoveries so far, the surface has barely been scratched, and work will continue for decades or even centuries to come. Already Atapuerca has
Burgos, copper engraving c. 1700.
yielded the oldest evidence for human occupation in Europe, with early tools and evidence for cannibalism, as well as the world’s earliest evidence for some kind of funerary ritual, and a massive quantity of well-preserved bones of our distant ancestors. Burgos Cathedral is one of the most beautiful in Spain, combining French and German Gothic styles, and has remarkable vaults and 16th-century choir stalls. Drive to Santillana del Mar for the first of three nights. Day 3: El Castillo, El Pendo. The decorated caves of El Castillo and Las Monedas are close to each other but very different. El Castillo was decorated in many periods of the Ice Age over thousands of years, and contains the oldest known cave art at present, while Las Monedas was decorated by one person at the end of the Ice Age. Both contain masterpieces. At El Pendo the art on the back wall of the vast entrance chamber was only discovered recently. Careful cleaning of the surface revealed a whole series of beautiful animal figures. Day 4: Covalanas, Altamira. The cave of Covalanas is often voted people’s favourite, because unlike the others it is entirely pristine, with no installations of any kind, so that one visits with a hand-held lamp. It is so narrow that one’s face is literally inches from these beautiful dotted-outline figures from about 20,000 years ago. Only seven people may enter at one time. The extremely accurate facsimile of the cave of Altamira is as astonishing as the original, and enables one to have a detailed look at the many facets of this highly complex decorated ceiling. Day 5: Pindal, Tito Bustillo. Pindal contains two of the very few depictions of mammoths in northern Spain, as well as some other very fine and fascinating figures, while the cave’s spectacular coastal setting always makes it a popular site. The cave of Tito Bustillo requires a long walk past impressive stalagmites and stalactites to reach the complex decorated panel,
one of the finest in all of cave art, which features the striking use of a very rare purple pigment. Day 6: Candamo, Teverga. The visitor centre at Candamo contains a facsimile of the cave itself and other shelters of the region. The Park at Teverga is a recent development which provides a final overview of the phenomenon of Ice Age cave art, including facsimiles of panels from a variety of caves in Spain and France. Day 7: Oviedo. Some free time in Oviedo to visit the Gothic cathedral, with fine altarpiece and tombs of the Early Asturian kings, and the remarkable Camara Santa, the original preRomanesque church of King Alfonso II the Chaste (791–842). Take an early afternoon flight from Asturias airport, via Madrid, arriving at London Heathrow at c.6.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,270 or £2,060 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,490 or £2,280 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel NH Palacio de Burgos (nh-hotels.com): smart 4-star hotel in a converted palace; comfortable and richly furnished. Parador de Santillana Gil Blas, Santillana del Mar (parador.es): 4-star Parador, traditionally furnished. Hotel Meliá de la Reconquista, Oviedo (melia.com): 5-star hotel in a converted 17th-century hospice; recently renovated.
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Visiting the Ice Age decorated caves of Europe may be a pilgrimage, in homage to the region’s artists of 30,000–10,000 years ago, or it may simply be curiosity. But while one’s interest may have been triggered by books, television or lectures, there is simply no substitute for seeing the sites themselves, some of humankind’s greatest artistic achievements in their unusual, evocative and original settings. In addition, the caves of northern Spain are in regions of outstanding beauty, famed for their seafood and cuisine. Three nights are spent in Santillana del Mar, a well-preserved medieval village close to Altamira, one of the most famous and historic decorated caves, located in a striking landscape. Other caves such as Covalanas and Pindal are in settings with breathtaking views. Whatever your motivation or interest, a visit to an Ice Age cave is a tremendous privilege. After more than a century of research we still only know about 400 such sites in Eurasia, and only a small fraction of these are open to the public because of difficulties of access or conservation concerns. As such, they constitute a very limited and finite resource, and yet visitors can approach these original masterpieces extremely closely, an experience unparalleled in major art galleries. Unlike a visit to the Louvre or the Prado, in entering a cave you are seeing the images where they were created, you are standing just where the artists did. In many cases the journey to the cave entrance and the route through the chambers give your experience a sense of immediacy, purity and vividness. Entering a world far removed from one of commerce, art-dealers and critics enhances a feeling of connection with the artists. There is nothing like a stalactite dripping on your head to remind you that you are in a pristine and natural setting.
How strenuous? A lot of walking is involved to reach the caves, often over rough ground or up steep gradients. Inside the caves the ground is slippery underfoot; sure-footedness is essential. Average distance by coach per day: 99 miles. Group size: between 10 and 18 participants. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Road to Santiago
The pilgrimage route through northern Spain spain Pamplona, etching by Francis Dodd, 1928.
2–14 September 2016 (md 821) 13 days • £3,560 Lecturer: John McNeill One of the great historic journeys of the world. Includes all the major sites and deviates to many lesser-known ones. An architectural pilgrimage by coach – not a spiritual one on foot – for lovers of Romanesque and Gothic. Led by architectural historian John McNeill.
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‘By land it is the greatest journey an Englishman may go.’ So wrote Andrew Boorde, physician and former bishop of Chichester in his 1542 First Book of the Introduction of Knowledge. The road to Santiago has rarely been without plaudits, from Godescalc, bishop of Le Puy in 950, to Paula Gerson, scholar and sceptic in 1993. What was claimed to be the tomb of St James was discovered in 813 in the wilds of Galicia and soon began to attract pilgrims. Roads and bridges were built along the approaches which soon coalesced into a standard route. Hospices and monasteries were founded and secondary shrines became established. Variously described as the Camino Francés, the Milky Way and the Road Beneath the Stars, the route exerted a pull which was pre-Christian, but the discovery of an Apostolic tomb and the renewal of the infrastructure conspired to make Santiago the most celebrated of all mediaeval journeys – a byword for Chaucer’s pilgrims, a destination to vie with Jerusalem and Rome. The funds poured into such an enterprise were immense, resulting in an incomparable range of mediaeval – particularly Romanesque – and Renaissance monuments. With cathedrals such as Burgos, León and Santiago, monasteries of the calibre of San Millán de la Cogolla, Silos and Leyre, the paintings of Jaca and Miraflores, the metalwork of San Isidoro, the textiles of Las Huelgas, the road to Santiago does not want for masterpieces.
But equally impressive is the landscape, a memorial backdrop through which all must pass – the limestone cliffs and tumbling watercourses of Aragón and Navarra, the forests of chestnut, oak and acacia of the Rioja, the vast wheat fields of Castile and the green, slate-divided fields of Galicia. We have two itineraries in 2016: The Road to Santiago – travelling by coach – and Walking to Santiago (see overleaf). They are markedly different in focus; the former is very much an architectural tour, and the latter a walking tour. But both are journeys in which you are conscious always of participating in a thousand-year-old flow of humankind which constitutes one of the most powerfully felt shared experiences in the spiritual and aesthetic history of Europe.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 4.00pm (British Airways), London Heathrow to Bilbao. Drive to Argómaniz (80 km), arriving c. 9.15pm. Overnight Argómaniz. Day 2: Pamplona, Roncesvalles. The day is spent in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Reflecting its proximity to France, Pamplona cathedral has a cloister which constitutes perhaps the finest achievement of High Gothic in Spain. Roncesvalles Pass was scene of the famed rearguard action of Charlemagne’s paladin Roland, and has a renowned pilgrims’ church and hospice. Drive through the spectacular gorge of the Urrobi river. First of two nights in Sos del Rey Católico. Day 3: Sos del Rey Católico, Sangüesa, Leyre, Jaca. Stroll through the picturesque town of Sos to the church of San Esteban. Sta María la Real in the little town of Sangüesa has superb architectural sculpture, including some by a craftsman from Burgundy. The monastery of San Salvador de Leyre maintains Gregorian offices in a fascinating church with a good crypt and western portal. Jaca, below the Somport pass, has a Romanesque cathedral with a magnificent collection of mediaeval wall paintings.
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Day 4: Eunate, Puente la Reina, Estella. At Eunate a mysterious round chapel with encircling arcade rises from the midst of a cornfield. Puente la Reina is the point where pilgrim roads from France converged, and is equipped with hospices, churches and an amazing bridge. Estella, once a largely Frenchspeaking, new town with an important collection of churches including the magnificent San Miguel. Overnight Sto Domingo de la Calzada. Day 5: Nájera, Sto Domingo de la Calzada, Burgos. See the Royal tombs at Santa María la Real in Nájera. Sto Domingo cathedral has Renaissance and Baroque accretions, and a cockerel still crows over the shrine of the saint. Arrive at Burgos, which grew up at the foot of the fortress of the Kings of Castile. The magnificent cathedral is crowned by a multitude of pinnacles and open-work spires and combines French and German styles; remarkable vaults, 16th-cent. choir stalls and a wealth of sculpture. First of two nights in Burgos. Day 6: Burgos, Quintanilla de las Viñas, Sto Domingo de Silos. Free morning in Burgos. In the afternoon drive to the Visigothic chapel at Quintanilla de las Viñas. Sto Domingo de Silos is the largest and finest Romanesque monastery in Spain, and has an epoch-making 12th-cent. cloister with magnificent sculpture. Day 7: Burgos, San Miguel de la Escalada. The Carthusian monastery and royal mausoleum of Miraflores has superb 15th-cent. sculpture by Gil de Siloé. Just outside Burgos is the Early Gothic convent of Las Huelgas Reales, a place of royal burial. Pressing westwards, we stop at San Miguel de la Escalada, an elegant Mozarabic gem. First of two nights in León. Day 8: León. Former capital of the ancient kingdom of León, the city has many outstanding mediaeval buildings. The royal pantheon of San Isidoro is one of the first, and finest, Romanesque buildings in Spain, with important sculptures. The cathedral is truly superb: Rayonnant Gothic, with impressive stained glass. The monastery of
Walking to Santiago
on foot for selected sections of the pilgrims’ way
Day 9: Lena, Orbigo, Villafranca del Bierzo. Drive through the Puerto de Pájares (mountain pass) to Sta Cristina de Lena, an exquisite 9thcent. church. Return to the camino via the valley of the Luna. Puente de Orbigo is a 13th-cent. bridge which carried pilgrims over the River Orbigo. Villafranca del Bierzo was an ancient haunt of hermits and anchorites and subsequently studded with churches and hospices. Overnight Villafranca del Bierzo. Day 10: Villafranca to Santiago. Three churches punctuate the final stretch of the journey: O Cebreiro, site of a great Eucharistic miracle, Portomarín, a Templar foundation guarding the bridge over the Miño and Vilar de Donas, decayed and evocative knights’ church. Finally: Santiago de Compostela, goal of the pilgrimage. Three nights in Santiago. Day 11: Santiago de Compostela. The morning is dedicated to the great pilgrimage church, the shrine of St James, one of the most impressive of all Romanesque churches; also outstanding treasuries. Explore the university quarter and the narrow picturesque streets and visit Sta María del Sar, where walls splayed and buttressed support a charming Romanesque church against its cloister. Day 12: Santiago de Compostela. Free day. Day 13: Santiago de Compostela. Drive around midday to La Coruña. The flight (Vueling) arrives in London Heathrow at c. 4.00pm.
Practicalities
7–18 June 2016 (mc 704) 12 days • £3,420 – flights not included Leaders: Adam Hopkins & Gaby Macphedran The last great pilgrimage route in Christendom which still attracts walkers; scenically wonderful with much fine architecture. Selected sections from the Pyrenees through northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela. Walking in comfort: good hotels; luggage transferred separately. The lecturer is Adam Hopkins, journalist and author, specialist in Spanish history and culture. Still one of the most splendid walking routes in Europe, the Camino de Santiago runs almost 500 miles across northern Spain to the supposed tomb of St James, Sant Iago. Normally, the journey takes a month on foot. We are setting out to walk the highlights in twelve days, taking in the most historically charged and beautiful sections. For earlier pilgrims, the lure was a reduction of the soul’s time in Purgatory; now the motives are more usually historical and cultural, and sometimes also deeply personal. Religious commitment is less in evidence. But for many who undertake the magnificent walk there is also a spiritual dimension. Asceticism is not a necessary ingredient. Instead of staying in bunk beds in pilgrim hostels we repose in hotels, ranging from workaday to some of Spain’s finest. Instead of carrying huge
packs with all our necessities, we carry only our own day sacks while the luggage moves by road. Our vehicles intersect with walkers every two or three hours, allowing respite to anyone who needs to ride. We eat well, often picnicking in deep country, and try some of the fine wines grown along the route. But as with all pilgrimages this is a linear walk, involving a new hotel each night except on two rest days. We are like pilgrims rather than tourists, visiting monuments along the route and what time and tiredness allow at the end of the day’s walking. There will be commentary by the lecturer and introductions to the major buildings. But the experience of walking the camino is what is essentially on offer, along a route which has for centuries compelled the imagination.
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San Marcos (our hotel) has a splendidly exuberant Plateresque façade.
Itinerary Day 1: Biarritz to Roncesvalles. Leave from Biarritz Airport following the arrival of the flight from London Stansted (Ryanair, currently 2.05pm) (flights not included – see ‘Practicalities’). Drive to Roncesvalles for the night. Day 2: Roncesvalles to Lintzoaín/Erro, total walk 14.7 km. Weather permitting, we start at the summit of the pass and drop down on foot to Roncesvalles, traditional starting point of the pilgrimage in Spain. It has a fine collegiate church preserving memories of Sancho the Strong of Navarre. From here, walk downward through rustic, gentle sub-Pyrenean landscape and stately stone-built villages. After a picnic lunch, drive to Haro. Overnight Haro.
Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,560 or £3,360 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,970 or £3,770 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 9 dinners, with wine.
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Accommodation. Parador de Argómaniz (parador.es): 4-star hotel; simple rooms. Parador de Sos del Rey Católico (parador.es): 4-star parador with views of surrounding countryside. Parador de Sto Domingo de la Calzada (parador. es): 4-star parador in the heart of town. NH Palacio de Burgos (nh-hotels.com): 4-star hotel in the centre of town. Parador de León (parador. es): 5-star parador in grandiose Plateresque pilgrim hostel. Parador de Villafranca del Bierzo (parador.es): 4-star parador in a contemporary building. Parador de Santiago de Compostela (parador.es): 5-star parador, for centuries the abode of the grander pilgrims. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? We stress that this is a long tour with a lot of coach travel, seven hotels and a lot of walking, often on uneven ground. The tour would not be suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking and stair climbing. Average distance by coach per day: 85 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Classical Greece, 17–26 September (page 99).
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Burgos, cathedral, Constable Chapel, engraving c. 1850. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Walking to Santiago continued
“This was a truly wonderful holiday. A very well devised tour and the walk on the cathedral roof on the last day was a great way to finish off the trip.”
Day 3: Nájera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, total walk 21 km. Drive to Nájera, another of the burial places of the royal house of Navarre. Climb through red sandstone with vines in rocky corners, through varied irrigated crops and out into rolling wheat country with mountains lying north and south - this is a good day for striding out. Lunch is in a village café. Afternoon walkers continue to Santo Domingo de la Calzada where there is time to visit the cathedral. Spend one night here.
Day 6: Castrojeriz to Boadilla del Camino, total walk 18.9 km. After an uphill start continuing over high ground, the walk then descends to a river and lush irrigated land. It then climbs again more gently and drops to the dovecote country of Boadilla where the plains of León begin. Picnic lunch here before driving to León with its fine Gothic cathedral and Spain’s finest stained glass. The Parador of S. Marcos, our hotel, is one of the major historic buildings of the pilgrim route. Overnight León.
Day 4: Villafranca Montes de Oca to Agés, total walk 15.8 km. Begin with an hour’s walk uphill into mildly mountainous country, passing a disturbing monument to victims of Civil War assassination. Cross a plateau and continue through pine and oak forest to a beautiful valley enclosing the monastery of San Juan de Ortega (fine Gothic church). Picnic in the woods. Afternoon walkers continue to the village of Agés. Drive to Burgos for the first of two nights.
Day 7: Puente de Orbigo to Astorga, total walk 16.4 km. About one hour into the walk, we make a modest ascent and suddenly the plains are over. There are two or three small climbs this morning through remote-feeling countryside and wheat fields ending in shady corners under small oaks. We picnic with views down to the cathedral of Astorga. Stalwarts continue the walk into town. Here, the bishop’s palace was designed by Gaudí and there is a charming town hall. Overnight Astorga.
Day 5: Burgos, rest day. Rest, nurse feet and loiter in this Castilian city rich in memories of El Cid and mediaeval pilgrimage, Wellington and Franco. There is time to see the magnificent cathedral, the charterhouse of Miraflores (superb sculpture by Gil de Siloé), and the monastery of Las Huelgas (fine architecture and images relevant to the camino). Overnight Burgos.
Day 8: Astorga to Rabanal del Camino, total walk 20.6 km. Walk out through Astorga’s old town. An hour and a half brings us to wellpreserved Castrillo de Polvazares, former centre of the interesting Maragatos tribe, obscure in its origins but throughout history Northern Spain’s muleteers. A mix of path and lane leads slowly upwards with views opening into the Mountains of León. After a picnic lunch continue walking to Rabanal del Camino. Drive from here to Villafranca del Bierzo for the night. Day 9: Triacastela to Sarriá, total walk 18.5 km. Drive to Triacastela via O Cebreiro, first port of call in Galicia for pilgrims, with Celtic buildings and ancient church. The walk starts low and climbs through Galician-green valley and into country of tiny hamlets where cows chew the cud in dark mediaeval sheds. Sunken tracks, ferns and ivy abound and there is later a fine upland feel. After a picnic lunch we begin a slow descent to Sarriá. Overnight Sarriá.
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Day 10. Phase 1: Sarriá to Ferreiros. Phase 2: Monte del Gozo to Santiago de Compostela. Total walk 18.2 km. Walk 13.2 km from Sarriá to Ferreiros and take a picnic lunch before driving on to Monte del Gozo. Here pilgrims once fell to their knees at the first view of the cathedral spires of Santiago (harder to see now through eucalyptus). Walk a further 5 km through suburbs into increasingly ancient city centre and right into the Parador, another important and beautiful historic building. First of two nights in Santiago de Compostela. Day 11: Santiago. The cathedral is a Romanesque masterpiece with a magnificent carved portal. Guided tour of the cathedral roof and those who wish may attend Pilgrim’s mass at midday. The rest of the day is free. Day 12. Drive to Santiago Airport in time for the flight to London Gatwick (Easyjet, currently departing at 10.15am).
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Santiago de Compostela, cathedral, drawing by Muirhead Bone, publ. 1938.
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
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Adam Hopkins Journalist and author, now living in a mountain village in Spain. He studied at King’s College, Cambridge, and has contributed extensively to national newspapers in Britain on Spanish culture and travel. Among his many books: Spanish Journeys: A Portrait of Spain. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,420. Single occupancy: £3,770. Included meals: 8 lunches (7 are picnics) and 8 dinners, with wine. Flights are not included in the price as the most convenient are with Ryanair and Easyjet and we cannot make a booking without knowing the passenger name. We can book flights on your behalf, quoting the fare at the time of booking, or you can make the bookings yourself. Suggested flight details are provided with your Confirmation of Booking, but please contact us if you require details sooner. Accommodation. Hotel Roncesvalles (hotelroncesvalles.com): 3-star hotel in an 18th-cent. building. Hotel Los Agustinos, Haro (hotellosagustinos.com): 4-star in a converted convent. Parador de Sto Domingo la Calzada (parador.es): 4-star parador, former mediaeval pilgrim hospital. NH Palacio de la Merced, Burgos (nh-hotels.com): 4-star hotel in a converted palace. Parador de León (parador. es): 5-star parador in grandiose Plateresque pilgrim hostel. Hotel Spa Ciudad de Astorga (hotelciudaddeastorga.com): modern 3-star hotel in the centre. Parador de Villafranca del Bierzo (parador.es): 4-star parador in a contemporary building. Hotel Alfonso IX, Sarriá (alfonsoix. com): modern hotel near the river. Parador de Santiago de Compostela (parador.es): 5-star parador in the former pilgrims’ hospital. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? We cover up to 82 miles of the full 500-mile route with an average of 10–12 miles of walking per day. Participants should be used to walking cross-country, uphill and down, and be able to walk pleasurably for several hours at a time. Fitness is essential. Please do not book this tour in order to get fit. Safety and comfort are our main concern and there are opportunities to retire but the vehicles are intended as back-up rather than an alternative means of transport. Group size: between 7 and 14 participants. Combine this tour with Walking to Derbyshire Houses, 19–24 June (page 24); Norway: Art, Architecture, Landscape, 20–28 June (page 150).
The Pyrenees
Catalonia, Rousillon & the Comte de Foix spain
3–12 May 2016 (mc 660) 10 days • £2,940 Lecturer: John McNeill A thorough survey of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Delves deep into the Pyrenees but also takes in low-lying and coastal Catalonia. Led by architectural historian John McNeill. Scenically and architecturally stunning.
Itinerary Day 1: Terrassa, Vic. Fly at c. 11.15am from London Heathrow to Barcelona. Drive to Terrassa, a stunning and largely early medieval precinct arranged around three churches. Continue to Vic for the night. Day 2: Ripoll, San Juan de Las Abadesas, Arles-sur-Tech, Collioure. Oliba’s astonishing monastery of Sta Maria at Ripoll has one of the greatest libraries of early mediaeval Europe. San Juan de las Abadesas is a Romanesque church
The monastery at Poblet, early-19th-century engraving.
founded in 887 by Count Wilfred the Hairy as a Benedictine nunnery. Cross into France to Arlessur-Tech, famed for its tranquil cloister and 12thcent. sculpture. Continue to the pretty seaside town of Collioure for the first of four nights. Day 3: Serrabonne, St Martin de Canigou, St Michel de Cuxa. Drive in the morning into the foothills of the Canigou Massif. Serrabonne abbey church has a magnificent 12th-century carved choral tribune in pink marble. The extraordinary Benedictine monastery of St Martin du Canigou is pinned against a steep spur of Mont Canigou. St Michel de Cuxa, important early mediaeval foundation, was gloriously refurbished by Abbot Oliba during the early 11th cent. Overnight Collioure. Day 4: Girona, St Pedro de Roda. Back into Spain to visit Girona. The Gothic Cathedral, perhaps the
finest in Catalonia, houses important illuminated manuscripts and tapestries in the chapterhouse. The early Romanesque abbey of San Pedro de Roda has wonderful views of the coast. Day 5: St Martin de Fenollar, Elne. The Romanesque chapel at Fenollar has tiny spaces that carry the most complete cycle of mediaeval wall paintings to have survived in French Catalonia. See also the fortified cathedral at Elne and fine Pyrenean marble sculpture at St Genis des Fontaines. Free time in Collioure. Day 6: Montségur, Foix. Drive in the morning beneath the northern flank of the Pyrenees to Montségur, the great Cathar redoubt and scene of the virtual obliteration of the Albigensian cause. There is an arresting three-towered feudal castle at Foix and a spacious late mediaeval preaching church at St Volusien. Overnight St Girons. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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During the Middle Ages the Pyrenees supported two very distinct ways of life: the fundamentally urban civilisation of the coastal reaches, mercantile in ambition and Mediterranean in outlook, and that unsung, tireless village culture which flourished in the high places and valleys inland. Here in the remote mountains a rural and essentially feudal Christianity emerged, consecrated in innumerable small Romanesque churches and largely immune to news from elsewhere. The mediator was monasticism, introduced uncertainly at first but becoming in fact a vehicle of political will under the mighty Oliba of Cerdagne. Oliba’s early foundations, at Ripoll, Cuxa and Canigou, embody this ambition and are among the seminal essays of Romanesque architecture in Europe. They found a reflection in the parish churches of the High Pyrenees and, moderated by the vernacular of Catalonia, resulted in some of the most serene and beautiful buildings of twelfth-century Europe. Even more remarkably, these churches were largely spared the calamities of the post–Renaissance period, leaving their glorious marble sculpture intact and preserving, albeit often in museums, the finest of their paintings. These early achievements were enhanced by the arrival of the Cistercians, invited by Count Ramón Berenguer to fill the void left by the expulsion of the Moors from south– western Catalonia, and their monasteries at Poblet and Santes Creus remain even more complete than Fontenay or Fossanova. Neither were the cities neglected: ever more responsive to distant developments, Girona, Barcelona and Lérida were provided with cathedrals of the first rank. Shortly after came that extraordinary flowering of late mediaeval mercantile culture which transformed the previously neglected market towns of the north, St-Girons, Foix and St-Bertrand-de-Comminges.
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Bilbao to Bayonne
Food, art & architecture in the Basque lands spain
Day 7: St Lizier, St Bertrand de Comminges, Arties, Vielha. The Cathedral of St Lizier has a Romanesque cloister and a 14th-cent. brick tower. St Bertrand de Comminges is aisleless and majestic and perhaps the most accomplished late mediaeval building in the High Pyrenees. Drive via the secluded Aran Valley to Arties. Walk over the bridge to the 12th-cent. Sta Maria with a fine sculpted north door and baptismal font. Overnight in nearby Vielha. Day 8: Vielha, Taull, Val de Boí. See remote Romanesque churches of the high mountains. Vielha is abundant with Romanesque sculpture. Taull has a superb pair of 12th-cent. churches: San Climent, with columnar nave and slender bell-tower and Sta Maria has a bell-tower to outdo even that of its great neighbour. San Joan de Boí has a small and beautifully proportioned singleapsed church. First of two nights in Lérida. Day 9: Lérida, Poblet, Santes Creus. Lérida Cathedral is a sprawling complex of Gothic architecture, painting and sculpture. Poblet has a breathtaking Cistercian church containing tombs of the mediaeval monarchs of Aragón and a magnificent group of conventual buildings. Santes Creus has a slightly later Cistercian abbey with a superbly sculpted cloister and chapter house. Day 10: Barcelona. Drive to Barcelona and visit the Museum of Catalan Art; a superb collection of mediaeval painting and sculpture from many of the churches visited on the tour. The flight from Barcelona arrives at Heathrow at c. 5.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,940 or £2,750 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,220 or £3,030 without flights. Room upgrade: supplement for a superior room in Collioure £175 (price per room, both double and single occupancy). Included meals: 1 lunch and 7 dinners, with wine
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Accommodation. Parador de Vic (parador.es): excellent 4-star parador. Relais des trois Mas, Collioure (relaisdestroismas.com): comfortable 4-star overlooking the bay. Superior doubles have a balcony or terrace; superior singles are larger. Hotel Eychenne, St Girons (hoteleychenne.com): splendid 3-star French coaching house with good restaurant. Parador de Vielha (parador.es): a 4-star parador in the Arán Valley. NH Pirineos, Lérida (nh-hoteles.es): centrally located 4-star hotel, member of a reliable Spanish chain. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? A full tour with a lot of driving, at times on minor roads, and walking, some of it over steep terrain. There are many hotel changes. Average distance by coach per day: 96 miles. Group size: between 12 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Pilgrimage & Heresy, 16–25 May (page 78).
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Bilbao, wood engraving from The Graphic, 1873.
24–31 October 2016 (md 922) 8 days • £3,140 Lecturer: Gijs van Hensbergen Long, lazy lunches including two in restaurants with three Michelin stars. Excellent wines of La Rioja-Alavesa. Architecture by Gehry, Calatrava, Moneo, and varied landscapes of coast, plain and mountain. Led by Gijs van Hensbergen, art historian and author of books on Spanish art and food. Three bases: Bilbao, Laguardia and Vera de Bidasoa in the Spanish Pyrenees. Straddling the Pyrenees and divided between France and Spain, the Basque Country has wonderful and varied scenery, a magnificent range of art and architecture and a culinary tradition which ranks with the best in the world. It is a land of abundance in many things, though there is one striking exception: tourists are in short supply. The landscape reaches from the Atlantic coast, indented with natural harbours and the fishing communities from which the wealth of the region has derived since ancient times, to the hills and mountains majestically clothed with broadleaf forests. Both the highlands and the fertile rolling lowlands provide the raw ingredients which supplement the seafood and inspire gastronomic greatness. The best of Basque cooking mixes a strong sense of tradition with startling innovation. From the all-male dining clubs, where friends cook for each other, to the indoor markets spilling over with smoked idiazabal cheeses and gleaming fresh fish, from the rustic cider clubs to the chic new bars vying for the ‘tapas of the year’ prize, Basques remain obsessed with the quality and provenance of their food. Juan-Marie Arzak is the most famous restaurateur in Spain. As godfather to New Basque Cuisine, he has inspired an entire generation of chefs including Martín Berasategui, Pedro Subijana and Hilario Arbelaitz. Together they share no fewer than ten Michelin stars. Today Juan-Marie cooks alongside his daughter,
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Elena, voted best Female Chef in the World in 2012; their restaurant ranks in the world’s top ten. From Bilbao we drive a loop through the Rioja Alavesa, the northern rim of the most prestigious wine-making area in Spain and up to the Pyrenees. Between visits to restaurants, wineries and specialist food shops, we linger in mediaeval villages, Gothic churches and Baroque interiors. There is here some fine contemporary architecture by Gehry, Calatrava and Moneo, while nestling in the upland valleys and clamped to hillsides is a doughty vernacular of remarkable distinctiveness and beauty. San Sebastian, arguably the most gastronomic city in the world, has a swathe of flamboyant turn-of-the-century buildings and has been named European Capital of Culture in 2016.
Itinerary Day 1: Bilbao. Fly at c. 8.30am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Bilbao, Calatrava’s spectacular airport. In the afternoon, visit the Fine Arts Museum. Overnight Bilbao. Day 2: Bilbao, Laguardia. The morning is spent studying Gehry’s extraordinary titaniumclad Guggenheim Museum. Lunch is at the restaurant here run by innovative chef Josean Alija who learned his trade at El Bulli. Leave city and industry behind and drive south through increasingly attractive countryside to the undulating plains of the wine-growing region of La Rioja-Alavesa and the mediaeval village of Laguardia. Introductory tasting in the hotel cellar. First of two nights in Laguardia. Day 3: Laguardia, Granja de Remelluri. Laguardia is the most picturesque of Riojan villages, perched on a hillock within a circuit of fortified walls. Walk the ramparts and see the outstanding 14th-century portal of Sta Maria de los Reyes. Morning tasting at Bodega El Fabulista, where 32,000 litres of wine are produced annually by treading the grapes. Lunch and vineyard walk at the bodegas of Nuestra Señora de Remelluri, installed in 14th-century monastic buildings. Day 4: Marqués de Riscal, Lasarte-Oria, Vera de Bidasoa. The Ysios winery below Laguardia is a magnificent building by Calatrava. The bodegas of Marqués de Riscal are among the most venerable
Castile & León
Ancient kingdoms in the heart of Spain
Day 5: France: Ainhoa, Espelette, Bayonne. Cross into the French Pyrenees to the spick and span villages of Ainhoa and Espelette with their red and white timbered houses sporting clusters of red peppers, a local speciality. Sample ewe’s milk cheese with cherry compote. Encircled by formidable Vauban ramparts and straddling the River Nive, Bayonne is a colourful town with Gothic cathedral, arcaded streets, riverside markets and famed for fish, ham and chocolate. Day 6: San Sebastian. This is the gastronomic capital of Spain, sweeping elegantly around one of the finest beaches on the northern coast. Behind the ancient fisherman’s quarter is the compact grid of the old town with a wonderfully harmonious arcaded square at the centre and traffic-free streets lined with bars. A tapas trawl is followed by lunch in a private dining club, a rare privilege (subject to confirmation). Some free time to see the elaborate historicist architecture of the 19th-century extension and Moneo’s arts centre.
9–18 May 2016 (mc 669) 10 days • £2,690 Lecturer: Adam Hopkins Led by Adam Hopkins, journalist and author, specialist in Spanish history and culture. Spain’s most beautiful cities: Salamanca, Segovia and Ávila. Architectural magnificence throughout including the cathedrals of Burgos and León. Much fine sculpture as well. Walled villages, grand monasteries, hilltop castles and a backdrop of vast, undulating landscape. Includes the 16th-century Palace of El Escorial. Good food: suckling pig, slow-roast lamb and kid; good wine of the Ribera de Duero. Since their fusion under one crown in the eleventh century, the ancient kingdoms of Castile and León have been responsible for some of the most emblematic periods of Spanish history. These former rival territories established themselves as the heart of Spain and exerted great
influence over language, religion and culture far across the mediaeval map. Innumerable castles were built here (hence ‘Castile’) for this was the principal battleground of the Reconquista, the five-hundred-year war of attrition against the Moors which reclaimed Spain for Christendom. The region occupies much of the Meseta, the vast and austere plateau in the centre of the Iberian peninsula. Here are many of Spain’s finest cities, buildings and works of art. Lovers of Romanesque will feel particularly satisfied for there are many excellent examples of the style. Great Gothic churches are another magnificent feature, the cathedrals at León, Burgos, Segovia and Salamanca among them. French, German and English influences are to be found, though the end result is always unmistakably Spanish. Another striking aspect of the tour is the wealth of brilliant sculpture, especially of the late-mediaeval and Renaissance periods. Castles, of course, abound, and some of the defensive curtain of frontier cities such as Ávila are remarkably well preserved. As well as the prominent cities, we include a number of lesser-known places, all strikingly attractive, many with outstanding buildings or works of art, all barely visited by tourists.
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in the region. The visit includes tasting and the cellars of their Gehry-designed hotel (subject to confirmation). Lunch at Martín Berasategui’s 3 Michelin-star restaurant in Lasarte-Oria. Vera de Bidasoa nestles in the Pyrenean foothills close to the French border. First of four nights in Vera.
Day 7: Hondarribia, San Sebastian. Hondarribia is a superbly preserved fortified town on an outcrop overlooking the sea with narrow streets, balconied palaces, a 14th-century castle and a Gothic church. Return to San Sebastian for lunch at the most famous restaurant in Spain, Arzak. Despite its 3 Michelin stars and status as the 8th best restaurant in the world, it remains very much a family business. Day 8. Drive to Bilbao for the flight arriving London Heathrow at c. 2.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,140 or £2,990 without flights, or with a suite in Vera de Bidasoa: £3,190 or £3,040 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,380 or £3,230 without flights. Included meals: 6 lunches and 4 dinners (3 of which are light) with wine, water and coffee; all wine and food tastings; all.
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Accommodation. Silken Gran Domine, Bilbao (hoteles-silken.com): 5-star hotel opposite the Guggenheim; contemporary in style. Hotel Villa de Laguardia (hotelvilladelaguardia.com): 4-star hotel on the outskirts of the town; comfortable rooms and attractive public areas. Hotel Churrut, Vera de Bidasoa (hotelchurrut.com): small 3-star hotel installed in an 18th-century military building; family-owned with spacious rooms. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? Evening meals tend to begin at 9.00pm and some late nights are inevitable. There is a fair amount of walking, some of it uphill or on roughly paved streets. Daily coach travel; average distance per day: 60 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Art in Madrid, 19–23 October (page 170).
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Segovia, lithograph 1838. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Castile & León continued
“This was an exceptionally good holiday with a fine lecturer and a harmonious mix of fellow travellers.”
Itinerary
Spain, with important sculptures. The cathedral is truly superb Rayonnant Gothic with impressive stained glass. The afternoon is free to visit the archaeological or contemporary art museums.
Day 1: Ávila, Salamanca. Fly at c. 9.15am from London Heathrow to Madrid (Iberia Airlines). Drive to Ávila: a fortress town built during the Reconquista, it retains its circuit of 11th-century walls complete with battlements and 88 turrets. The 12th-century Basilica of San Vicente has fine sculpture. First of two nights in Salamanca. Day 2: Salamanca. Distinguished by the honeycoloured hue of its stone, Salamanca is one of the most attractive cities in Spain and home to its most prestigious university. See the magnificent 16th-century Gothic ‘New Cathedral’ and austere Romanesque ‘Old Cathedral’, the 18th-century Plaza Mayor and superb, elaborate Plateresque sculpture on the façades of the university and church of San Esteban. The University has 15th- and 16th-century quadrangles, arcaded courtyards and original lecture halls. The Convento de las Dueñas has a Plateresque portal and an irregular, two-tiered cloister. Day 3: Zamora, León. On the Roman road that connected Astorga to Mérida, Zamora rose to importance during the Reconquista as a bastion on the Duero front. Much of its Romanesque architecture survives, including the cathedral of Byzantine influence. Drive to León, former capital of the ancient kingdom and visit the monastery of San Marcos (our hotel) with an exuberant Plateresque façade, magnificent lateGothic church, Renaissance chapels and fine choir-stalls. First of two nights in León. Day 4: León. A morning walk to some of the outstanding mediaeval buildings of the city. The royal pantheon of San Isidoro is one of the first, and finest, Romanesque buildings in
Day 5: San Miguel de Escalada, Lerma, Santo Domingo de Silos. The beautiful, remote church at San Miguel de Escalada displays a fusion of Visigothic and Islamic building traditions. The village of Lerma has a wealth of buildings from the early 17th century including an arcaded main square with ducal palace and the Collegiate church of San Pedro. Drive in the late afternoon to Santo Domingo de Silos, which has the finest Romanesque monastery in Spain, outstanding for the sculpture of the 12th-century cloister. First of two nights in Lerma. Day 6: Burgos, Quintanilla de las Viñas, Covarrubias. Drive to Burgos, the early capital of Castile, whose cathedral combines French and German Gothic styles and has remarkable vaults and 16th-century choir stalls. On the outskirts is the convent of Las Huelgas Reales with its important early Gothic church. Visit the Visigothic chapel at Quintanilla de las Viñas. Covarrubias is an attractive walled village with a mediaeval Colegiata containing fine tombs. Day 7: El Burgo de Osma, San Esteban de Gormaz, Segovia. El Burgo de Osma is a walled town with arcaded streets and one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in Spain. At San Esteban de Gormaz see the 12th-century churches of San Miguel and Del Rivero with exterior galleries. Built on a steep-sided hill, Segovia is one of the loveliest cities in Spain and architecturally one of the most richly endowed. First of three nights in Segovia.
Day 9: Segovia, La Granja. Free morning; suggestions include the contemporary art museum of Esteban Vicente and the Museum of Segovia. Drive to La Granja de San Ildefonso, the palace constructed for Philip V in the early 18th century, with magnificent formal gardens. Day 10: El Escorial. This vast retreat-cum-palacecum-monastery-cum-pantheon was built from 1563 to 1584 for Philip II, successfully embodying his instructions for ‘nobility without arrogance, majesty without ostentation, severity in the whole’. Fly from Madrid, arriving at London Heathrow at c. 6.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,690 or £2,510 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,950 or £2,770 without flights. Included meals: 7 dinners with wine. Accommodation. NH Palacio de Castellanos, Salamanca (nh-hotels.com): attractive 4-star hotel in a converted palace, close to the Cathedrals and other key sites. Parador de León (parador.es): 5-star parador in grandiose Plateresque building; public areas are impressive. Parador de Lerma (parador.es): 4-star parador in the Ducal Palace. Palacio San Facundo, Segovia (hotelpalaciosanfacundo.com): centrally located 4-star hotel in a converted 16th century casa-palacio. Rooms vary in size but all are wellequipped. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? This is a long tour with a lot of walking in town centres, some of it on cobbled streets and uphill. It should not be undertaken by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stairclimbing. Average distance by coach per day: 73 miles. Dinners tend to be at 8.30 or 9.00pm in Spain, so you might get to bed later than you would usually.
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Day 8: Segovia. Straddling the town, the remarkable Roman aqueduct is one of the biggest in Europe. See the outstanding Romanesque exteriors of San Martín, San Millán and San Esteban and the circular Templar church of La Vera Cruz. An afternoon walk includes the cathedral, a soaring Gothic structure, and the restored Alcázar (castle), dramatically perched at the prow of the hill.
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Madrid Revisited, 20–27 May (page 169).
La Granja, watercolour by M. Nixon, publ. 1916. book online at www.martinrandall.com
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Barcelona
Mediaeval to Modernista spain
5–9 April 2016 (mc 622) 5 days • £1,810 Lecturer: Gijs van Hensbergen A short and sharp immersion in the art and architecture of the capital of Catalonia. Contrasting the mediaeval treasures of the Gothic quarter with the flamboyant Modernista buildings of Gaudí and his contemporaries. Led by Gaudí biographer, Gijs van Hensbergen. To its inhabitants, Barcelona is not so much Spain’s second city as the capital of Catalonia, a European metropolis rather than a Spanish one. The more independence it wins, the more it flourishes. Barcelona was Iberia’s leading maritime power before the discovery of America. It is not therefore surprising that it possesses one of the most extensive and best-preserved mediaeval quarters in Europe, with some marvellous Gothic churches and palaces. A highlight of the tour will be the museum of Catalonian art which displays the world’s best collection of Romanesque painting. But Barcelona is also a centre of modernity. After centuries of repression exercised by Madrid, the city took the lead in Spanish industrial development, becoming a centre of art and design of European importance and nurturing such modernists as Gaudí, Nonells, Picasso and Miró. There developed around the turn of the century designs which are unique to Barcelona, having more in common with their counterparts in other great capitals than with their Spanish peers. Gaudí’s creations took the possibilities of Art Nouveau to an unparalleled extreme, and he is now one of the most popular and most influential of architects. With the establishment of democracy in the 1970s, the shackles were again removed, and Barcelona became once more a leading world centre of fashion and design and remains to this day one of the most exciting European cities to visit.
Itinerary
Day 2: Mediaeval Barcelona. The Barri Gòtic is a marvellously well-preserved mediaeval quarter. Visit the magnificent and richly adorned cathedral, with a superb Flamboyant cloister. Soaring Santa Maria del Mar is the finest Gothic church in Catalonia. The Museum of the City of Barcelona is housed in the Chapel of St Agatha and Royal Palace with fascinating Roman and Visigothic remains. In the afternoon walk to the Picasso Museum which, installed in neighbouring mansions, ranks second only to Paris for the size and quality of its collection.
Day 3: Modernista Barcelona. Walk to some outstanding modernist buildings and decoration starting with Domènech i Montaner’s sumptuous Palau de la Música Catalana (concert hall). The grid-plan 19th-century Eixample is lined with houses and offices of unusual and disputable beauty such as Gaudí’s Casa Battló, Palau Montaner and La Pedrera with rooftop walk. In the afternoon drive to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí’s extraordinary church, still years from completion, and Park Güell with its fine views of the city. Visit the house Gaudí lived in for 20 years, now a museum. Day 4: Montjuïc. On the Montjuïc hill visit the Miró Foundation, a huge collection of works by the Barcelona artist. The National Museum of Catalan Art, with altarpieces and detached frescoes from all over the region, is one of the finest collections of mediaeval art anywhere. Free afternoon for independent exploration. Day 5: Pedralbes. Drive to Pedralbes via the Gaudí pavilions of the Colònia Güell. The Monestir de Pedralbes is a 14th-century monastery complex with exquisite cloister
arcades and frescoes. End the tour at the crypt of the Colònia Güell, Gaudí’s greatest work. Take the late-afternoon flight to London Heathrow, arriving c. 7.35pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,810 or £1,620 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,050 or £1,860 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Condes de Barcelona (condesdebarcelona.com): 4-star hotel, well placed for buildings by Gaudí. Modern and comfortable. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking in Barcelona, some of it over uneven paving, where vehicular access is restricted. It should not be attempted by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stairclimbing. There is also use of the Metro. Average distance by coach per day: 7 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Day 1. Fly at 11.20am from London Heathrow to Barcelona (British Airways). Explore Las Ramblas and neighbouring streets, squares and churches: Richard Meier’s sleek Museum of Contemporary Art, jewels of the Modernista-Art Nouveau style including La Boquería, the most beautiful market in the world, and the arcaded Plaça Reial.
Barcelona cathedral, lithograph c. 1840.
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Opera in Spain
Wagner & Verdi in Madrid, Valencia & Barcelona spain
3–8 March 2016 (mc 588) 6 days • £2,690 (including tickets to 3 performances) Lecturer: Barry Millington In Madrid at the Teatro Real: Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot directed by Kasper Holten. In Valencia at Calatrava’s stunning Palau de les Arts: David McVicar’s production of Aida. At the Liceu in Barcelona: Wagner’s Götterdämmerung from Robert Carsen’s Ring Cycle. The lecturer is Barry Millington, author of eight books on Wagner and founder/editor of The Wagner Journal. Guided visits in three cities of great and varied art and architecture. Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona are Spain’s greatest cities, each with varied artistic and architectural treasures and world-class opera houses. At the opulent Royal Theatre in Madrid see Wagner’s early opera Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love), which has at last begun to be recognised as an accomplished and hugely enjoyable work. Based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, relocated to Sicily, the opera overflows with lyrical invention in the sparkling French-Italian style. This is a co-production with Covent Garden, directed by the Royal Opera House’s
Itinerary Day 1: Madrid. Fly at c. 10.45am from London Heathrow to Madrid (Iberia Airlines). Drive to the Prado, one of the greatest art galleries in the world, for a guided tour concentrating on its magnificent collection of Spanish art. First of two nights in Madrid. Day 2: Madrid. Lecture on tonight’s performance followed by a guided visit of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, home to works by Goya, Zurbarán, Ribera and Murillo, and a walk through the Habsburg centre of Madrid including the arcaded Plaza Mayor. Free afternoon: we suggest the Royal Palace or the Thyssen Collection. Dinner is before the 8.00pm opera at the Teatro Real: Das Liebesverbot (Wagner, 1813–1883) with Ivor Bolton (conductor), Kasper Holten (director) James Rutherford (Friedrich), Peter Lodahl (Lucio), Bernard Richter (Claudio), Sonja Gornik (Isabella), Maria Miró (Mariana), Martin Winkler (Brighella) and María Hinojosa (Dorella).
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director of opera, Kasper Holten, and strongly cast. It won’t be seen in London until a later season, so this affords an interesting opportunity to see it before anyone else. At Calatrava’s futuristic Palace of the Arts in Valencia, inaugurated in 2005, see Verdi’s late masterpiece Aida, one of his most popular works. In this production David McVicar’s powerful staging focuses on the clash of the individual with a despotic theocracy. The tour culminates at Barcelona’s glittering Liceu theatre with Götterdämmerung (‘Twilight of the Gods’), the climactic opera of Wagner’s monumental Ring cycle, itself an epic drama on a vast scale. From the ecstatic love duet for Siegfried and Brünnhilde in the Prologue to the stirring music of Siegfried’s Funeral March and the cataclysmic Immolation Scene [in which Brünnhilde bids farewell to Siegfried before leaping on his funeral pyre], the opera reaches emotional and psychological depths unsurpassed in the repertoire. Aside from the performances this tour offers the opportunity to see Spanish Masters at the Prado and Habsburg town planning in Madrid, Moorish ceramics and the buildings of Santiago Calatrava in Valencia and Catalan Gothic and the modernists in Barcelona. Guided visits and walks are led by local guides and free time is allowed before each opera. Stay in comfortable hotels and travel by first-class rail between the three cities.
Day 3: Valencia. Take the high-speed train from Madrid to Valencia (duration c. 1 hour 40 minutes). Lecture on tonight’s opera and dinner before the 8.00pm performance at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía: Aida (Verdi, 1813–1901) with Ramón Tebar (conductor), David McVicar (director), Lucrecia García (Aida), Rafael Dávila (Radamés), Marina Prudenskaya (Amneris), Gabriele Viviani (Amonasro), Riccardo Zanellato (Ramfis) and Alexéi Tanovitski (Il Re).
Barcelona, the Liceu, lithograph c. 1850.
Day 4: Valencia. Visits led by a local guide include the Silk Exchange, a fine example of secular 15th-century Gothic, and the cathedral. See also the National Ceramics Museum, housed
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Barry Millington Writer, lecturer and broadcaster specialising in Wagner. He is founder/editor of The Wagner Journal and author of eight books on the composer including The Wagner Compendium and Richard Wagner: The Sorcerer of Bayreuth. He is Chief Critic for the Evening Standard. He has also acted as dramaturgical adviser at opera houses internationally. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
in an exuberantly Churrigueresque palace, with collections which range from Moorish lustre ware to Picasso. The Fine Arts Museum is one of the best in Spain after the Prado, with works by Valencian, Spanish and Flemish masters. Day 5: Barcelona. Morning train to Barcelona (duration: c. 3 hours 30 minutes). Lecture and dinner before the 7.00pm opera at the Liceu: Götterdämmerung (Wagner) with Josep Pons (conductor), Robert Carsen (director), Lance Ryan (Siegfried), Samuel Youn (Gunther), Hans Peter König (Hagen), Oskar Hillebrandt (Alberich), Jacquelyn Wagner (Gutrune & third Norn), Michaela Schuster (Waltraute), Cristina Faus (First Norn) and Pilar Vázquez (second Norn). Day 6: Barcelona. Guided visit of the Palau de la Música Catalana, the highly ornate concert hall designed by Gaudí-contemporary Domènech i Montaner. Visit also the Picasso museum in the Barri Gòtic, a marvellously well-preserved mediaeval quarter. By coach to Barcelona Airport for the flight to Heathrow arriving c. 7.00pm (British Airways).
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,690 or £2,550 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,980 or £2,840 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine. Music: good tickets for 3 performances are included costing c. £350. Accommodation. Hotel Opera, Madrid (hotelopera.com): 4-star hotel located a 5-minute walk from the Teatro Real. Hospes Palau de la Mar, Valencia (hospes.com): boutique hotel in a 19th-century casa-palacio, rated as 5-star, modern and attractive, with restaurant and spa. Hotel Le Méridien, Barcelona (lemeridienbarcelona.es): 5-star hotel on the Ramblas a very short walk from the Liceu; contemporary and stylish; excellent restaurant. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? Most of the visits are on foot. You should also be able to lift your own luggage on and off the train. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Eastern Andalucia: Caliphs to Kings, 11–20 March (page 174).
Madrid Revisited
The new, the established, the lesser-known spain
20–27 May 2016 (mc 685) 8 days • £2,890 Lecturer: Gijs van Hensbergen Covers the well-known and lesser-known museums and a private collection. Comprehensive survey of art and architecture, balanced by gastronomy and literature. Led by Gijs van Hensbergen, art historian and author of books on Spanish art and food. Special access is a feature. A day is spent in Toledo, one of the most architecturally varied cities in Spain.
Madrid, The Prado, wood engraving c. 1880 from The World, its Cities & Peoples.
traditional fiestas illustrated in Goya’s frescoes above his tomb at San Antonio de la Florida, to the sackcloth austerity of the Barefoot Carmelites. Madrid Revisited is an opportunity to examine the city’s varied architectural styles, sample remarkable cuisine and view worldfamous collections of art alongside the littlevisited. It includes privileged access to the Royal Palace and a visit to the Palacio San Bernardino, which houses a private collection of works by Vicente Lopez, Madrazo, Sorolla and Goya.
Day 4. Visit the 18th-century Royal Palace with varied collections of art and furnishings including frescoes by Mengs, Tiepolo and Giaquinto, and areas not normally open to the public. Continue to Palacio San Bernardino, ancestral home of Don Álvaro de Bazán, hero of the battle of Lepanto, for a private viewing of the art collection and lunch. The church of San Antonio de la Florida is filled with joyous, impressionistic frescoes and canvases by Goya, and the artist is buried here. In the evening there is the option to attend a flamenco show.
Itinerary
Day 5: Toledo. Excursion to Toledo, capital of Visigothic, Islamic and (from 1085) Christian Spain and long-term home to El Greco. Start early for a private view of his Burial of Count Orgaz. Visit the Visigothic museum, Mosque of Bab al Mamdoun dating from 999, Synagogue of El Tránsito and Cathedral with its excellent collection of painting. See also the royal mausoleum of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Day 1. Fly at c. 9.15am from London Heathrow to Madrid. Afternoon visit to the National Museum of Archaeology, good on ancient Iberian civilisation and Roman Spain. Day 2. Begin at the home of Lope de Vega, a masterly restoration of the Golden Age, followed by a first visit to the Prado, one of the greatest art galleries in the world, concentrating on the magnificent collection of Spanish art. An afternoon walk takes in the architectural masterpieces of Moneo and Herzog & de Meuron. Dinner is at Club Allard (2-star Michelin), where chef Maria Marte shows her delicate creativity in a listed modernist building. Day 3. The Royal Academy of Fine Arts is home to more works by the Spanish greats. Continue to the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales (Barefoot Carmelites), a complex rich in masterpieces including a series of Rubens tapestries. Break for lunch near the arcaded, balconied Plaza Mayor, centrepiece of Habsburg town planning. The afternoon is dedicated to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, an excellent overview of art and one of the world’s largest private collections until bought by the Spanish state in 1993.
Day 6. The morning is free. In the afternoon return to the Prado; see the Italian and Netherlandish schools, as well as Moneo’s architectural additions. Dinner takes the form of a tapas walk, beginning at the Café Gijón, literary haunt of Lorca et al. Day 7. The day includes the Lazaro Galdiano Museum with works by El Greco, Goya and Murillo, and the newly opened Fundación Carlos de Amberes, which celebrates Spain’s link with the Low Countries. In the afternoon visit Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, an outstanding collection of modern art and home to Picasso’s Guernica. Day 8. Morning visit to the Sorolla Museum, in the charming house of the eponymous Valencian Impressionist. The afternoon flight arrives London Heathrow at c. 5.45pm. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Once a truly Spanish capital, proudly referred to as a town, the Villa de Madrid, or even a pueblo, Madrid attached its identity to the neighbourhood barrio, and still does. But the early twenty-first century saw Madrid seize the cultural initiative with spectacular results. From the hotel, set in the heart of the Barrio de los Literatos – where Lope de Vega and Cervantes created and dissected the Golden Age – a five minute walk in any direction brings you face-to-face with the products of a grand urban rejuvenation. Rafael Moneo, Spain’s most prestigious architect, was at the heart of the plan. He created tropical gardens – stocked with parakeets and turtles – that fill the belle époque Atocha railway station; remodelled the Thyssen collection; and designed a brilliant Prado extension that swallows up an entire sixteenth cloister. The best foreign architects were also called in to help: Richard Rogers, designer of the awardwinning Terminal 4; Jean Nouvel, creator of the spectacular plaza-in-the-sky extension to the Reina Sofia, where Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica is housed; Herzog & de Meuron’s brutalist Caixaforum, sensitively softened by Patrick Blanc’s miraculous sixty-foot vertical garden wall, housing two hundred different species. These are just some of the novelties. As Spain plunged into recession, work ground to a halt but now all eyes are returning to Madrid as Europe’s most contemporary and cosmopolitan city. Exiled workers are bringing back global trends and the city is enjoying renewed investment. New museums and arts centres have opened while existing ones have been revived, meaning the cultural and culinary scenes are once again buzzing with life. However, Madrid never lost the energy and ambition of a frontier town that, sitting at the heart of an empire, boasts many of the world’s greatest masterpieces. Built on a Celto-Iberian Bronze Age encampment, the recently renovated National Museum of Archaeology displays the wealth of influences that have created the city of today: from Phoenician, through Roman, Visigothic, and Arab, to Christian. In the world of art, the genius of Velázquez, El Greco and Goya of course take pride of place, but artists and artistry in Madrid come in many forms. The vast majority of Madrileños still find their identity in shared ritual: from the
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Ar t in Madrid The Great Galleries
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which will surprise and delight. There is a large number of outstanding paintings by Titian and Rubens, for example, and the Prado has by far the largest holding of the bizarre creations of Hieronymus Bosch.
Gijs van Hensbergen Art historian and author specialising in Spain and the USA. His books include Gaudí, In the Kitchens of Castile and Guernica. He studied Art History at the Courtauld and is a Fellow of the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies at the LSE.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.15am (Iberia Airlines) from London Heathrow to Madrid. Start with a first visit to the Prado, among the world’s greatest art galleries, concentrating on the Spanish school. Settle into the hotel before dinner.
See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Day 2. Morning visits include the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, home to works by Goya, Zurbarán, Ribera and Murillo, and the Museum of Decorative Arts, with an 18th-century tiled Valencian kitchen. The afternoon is spent at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, housed in the 18th-century Palacio de Villahermosa until its purchase by the Spanish state in 1993 one of the world’s largest private art collections.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,890 or £2,610 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,310 or £3,030 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches and 4 dinners (including 1 tapas walk), with wine. Accommodation. NH Palacio de Tepa, Madrid (nh-hoteles.com): small, excellently located 5-star hotel. Comfortable with contemporary décor. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? A lot of standing around in museums and a fair amount of walking. Average distance by coach per day: 17 miles (driving is largely confined to the day trip to Toledo). Group size: between 8 and 19 participants. Combine this tour with Castile & León, 9–18 May (page 165); Gastronomic Veneto, 11–18 May (page 108).
2–6 March 2016 (mc 586) 5 days • £1,790 Lecturer: Dr Xavier Bray 19–23 October 2016 (md 917) 5 days • £1,790 Lecturer: Gail Turner
Francisco Goya
Two visits to the Prado plus the ThyssenBornemisza Collection and the Reina Sofía, home to Picasso’s Guernica.
Spring 2017 Lecturer: Dr Xavier Bray Contact us to register your interest
Lesser-known places include the Sorolla Museum, Archaeological Museum and Goya frescoes at San Antonio de la Florida.
In the wake of the current exhibition at the National Gallery, Goya: The Portraits, its curator Xavier Bray will lead a Goya tour in spring 2017, covering Madrid and Zaragoza.
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The Prado, Long Gallery, after a drawing by Joseph Pennell publ. 1903.
La Maja (Duchess of Alba), engraving c. 1890 after the painting by Goya.
The lecturers Gail Turner and Dr Xavier Bray are art historians specialising in Spain. While the Museo del Prado alone might justify a visit to Madrid – and this tour has two sessions there – the city has other excellent collections which reinforce its reputation as one of the great art centres of Europe. This city of Velázquez and Goya has been enormously enhanced over the years by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and the Reina Sofía Museum. Both these and the Prado boast superb facilities and exhibiting spaces thanks to the work of architects Jean Nouvel (Reina Sofía), Manuel Baquero and Francesc Plá (Thyssen) and Rafael Moneo (Prado) converting them into world-class galleries. Our stints at the ‘big three’ are interspersed with less-visited collections. The great Spanish painters – including El Greco, Murillo, Velázquez, Goya and Picasso – are of course magnificently represented on the tour, but the collecting mania of the Habsburgs and Bourbons and their subjects has resulted in a wide range of artistic riches
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Day 3. Begin at the recently renovated Archaeological Museum, good on ancient Iberian civilization and Roman Spain. Continue to the Lázaro Galdiano Museum with works by El Greco, Goya and Murillo. The afternoon is free to allow for temporary exhibitions (details nearer the time) or a visit to the 18th-century Royal Palace. Day 4. Travel by coach to the church of San Antonio de la Florida, with fine Goya frescoes, and then to the Sorolla Museum, in the charming house of the eponymous Impressionist painter. Continue to the arcaded, balconied Plaza Mayor, centrepiece of Habsburg town planning. In the afternoon return to the Prado, this time primarily to see the Italian and Netherlandish schools. Day 5. Walk via Herzog & de Meuron’s Caixaforum (visit dependent on the exhibition at the time) to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, one of the greatest modern art museums and home to Picasso’s Guernica plus works by Miró, Dalí and Tàpies. Fly to Heathrow, arriving at c. 6.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £1,790 or £1,580 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,080 or £1,870 without flights. Included meals: 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. NH Palacio de Tepa, Madrid (nh-hoteles.com): small, excellently located 5-star hotel. Rooms are comfortable with contemporary décor. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? The tour involves a lot of walking and standing around in museums (which can be more tiring than moving around). Participants need to be able to cope with everyday walking and stair-climbing without difficulty. Group size: between 9 and 19 participants. Combine the tour with, in March: Toledo & La Mancha, 7–13 March (page 171). In October: Bilbao to Bayonne, 24–31 October (page 164); Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur, 25–31 October (page 80).
Toledo & La Mancha Land of El Greco
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7–13 March 2016 (mc 587) 7 days • £2,010 Lecturer to be confirmed Toledo is one of the most architecturally varied cities with Moorish, Jewish and Christian monuments. Works of El Greco a major theme, alongside Spanish masters. Also stay in Cuenca: monumental, in a spectacular setting, way off the tourist track. Crammed onto the crown of a river-girt promontory, Toledo displays the masonry residue of a greater mix of peoples and civilizations than perhaps any other city in the world. Capital of Visigothic, Islamic and (from 1085) Christian states, it was a wealthy, sophisticated and tolerant centre which attracted a large and cosmopolitan population. The Jewish community here was one of the most important in Europe. Nowadays the countryside begins at the foot of the mighty circuit of city walls, the current population being a quarter of that in the Middle Ages. It is the combination of major architecture and great works of art with the unspoilt and almost deserted backstreets and byways that make a stay here so rewarding. (Day trippers from Madrid only clog up a limited area, and only for a few hours in the middle of the day.) El Greco (1541–1614) arrived here in about 1575 (from Crete by way of Venice and Rome), shortly after its capital status had been lost to Madrid, and during his forty years here he would have witnessed the wilful impoverishment of the city by the expulsion of the Converso Jews and Moriscos. But there were still innumerable commissions to fulfil, and there remain sufficient of his incandescent and spiritually charged paintings for them to comprise a main theme of the tour. The tour begins in Cuenca which, suspended over a gorge, is topographically even more dramatic than Toledo. Between the cities lies the green, undulating plain of La Mancha, playground of Don Quixote.
Itinerary
Day 2: Cuenca. The old town sits high on a narrow ridge bound by rivers, the castle ramparts at the top affording spectacular views. The predominantly Gothic cathedral has Plateresque portals and carved wooden ceilings. One museum has two works by El Greco, another has Roman remains and the Museum of Abstract Art, housed in a 15th-century building overhanging the gorge, has an important collection of Saura, Tàpies, Chillida and others.
Day 3: Segobriga, Aranjuez, Toledo. The Roman city of Segobriga reached its peak in the 1st century ad and was abandoned during the Islamic conquest of Spain. Ruins of the theatre, forum and baths remain in a pleasingly remote setting. See also Aranjuez with its 18thcentury royal landscaped park and elaborately decorated little palaces. Continue to Toledo; four nights here.
Tavera, now a museum containing El Greco’s final work, Baptism of Christ. Free afternoon in Toledo.
Day 4: Toledo. San Roman is a 13th-century Mudéjar church with Romanesque paintings and a Visigothic Museu. The Cristo de la Luz mosque dates from 999 and is one of the earliest surviving examples of Moorish architecture in Spain. See also Toledo’s two main synagogues, El Tránsito and Santa María la Blanca. Founded by the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabella as their mausoleum, the monastery of San Juan de los Reyes has outstanding Late Gothic decoration.
Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,010 or £1,870 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,290 or £2,150 without flights.
Day 5: Toledo: El Greco. Visit the church of Santo Tomé with El Greco’s Burial of Count Orgaz, his greatest work (private view). See more of his work and his burial place at the convent of Sto Domingo. The Gothic cathedral is Spain’s largest and the most richly endowed with paintings (El Greco, Velázquez, Titian) and also has furnishings and sculpture of the highest quality. El Greco’s house and museum contains his finest series of apostles and View of Toledo. End at the 13th-century bridge of Alcántara. Day 6: Toledo. Further works by El Greco and excellent Spanish ceramics are in the Museum of Santa Cruz, a fine Plateresque building. Beyond the city gates is the 16th-century Hospital de
Day 7: Illescas. El Greco spent two years in the undistinguished town of Illescas and the Hospital de Caridad contains five of his works. Fly to Heathrow arriving at c. 7.45 pm.
Practicalities
Included meals: 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Parador de Cuenca (parador. es): 4-star hotel in a converted 16th-cent. convent. Hotel Fontecruz, Toledo (fontecruzhoteles.com): 4-star hotel in the Jewish Quarter with smart but small rooms, dinners are in good restaurants. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There is a lot of walking over unevenly paved ground, fitness is essential, average distance by coach per day: 42 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Art in Madrid, 2–6 March (page 170).
What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Day 1: Chinchón, Cuenca. Fly at c. 9.15 am from London Heathrow to Madrid (Iberia Airlines)drive south to Chinchón, which has a delightfully irregular main square with balconied timber houses. Continue across La Mancha to Cuenca through countryside which progresses from gently picturesque to dramatic. First of two nights in Cuenca.
Cuenca, steel engraving c. 1850.
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Valencia, Gate of Cuarte, after a drawing by Samuel Read, publ. 1875.
Day 3: Valencia. Visit the Museum of Fine Arts, one of the best in Spain, with works by Valencian, Spanish and Flemish masters; and the National Ceramics Museum, housed in its exuberantly Churrigueresque palace. Paella originates from La Albufera, a freshwater lagoon nearby on the Gulf of Valencia. Taste this authentic rice dish, cooked over a wood fire, before a sunset cruise on a traditional fishing boat. Day 4: Fontanars dels Alforins, Cocentaina. Leave Valencia and drive south, stopping at Fontanars dels Alforins for a wine tasting at the prestigious Casa los Frailes. Continue to Cocentaina, located between the Sierra de Mariola and Serpis river, for lunch at the familyrun L’escalata restaurant (1-star Michelin). Drive to the coast for the first of four nights in Dénia. Day 5: Gandia. Dating from the 14th century and home to the Borgias, the Palacio Ducal de Gandia displays Gothic architecture, with Renaissance and Baroque additions. Gandia is also where the dish fideuà originated, a noodle dish usually cooked with seafood. Return to Dénia in time for the arrival of the fishing boats and exclusive access to the fish auction.
7–14 November 2016 (md 940) 8 days • £3,260 Lecturer: Gijs van Hensbergen From the sea to the mountains of south-east Spain, a conspectus of Valencian cuisine. A myriad of historical influences (Phoenician, Arab, Jewish) as well as current cuttingedge chefs, such as 3-star Michelin chef Quique Dacosta, make this an incredibly rich gastronomic region to explore. Led by Gijs van Hensbergen, art historian and author of books on Spanish art and food. Based in the handsome, vibrant city of Valencia, excellent for its variety of art and architecture, and in the smaller charming seaside town of Dénia.
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From market to plate there is nothing fresher or more vibrant than Valencian cuisine. The legendary huertas – market gardens, orange groves, paddy fields and Mediterranean orchards – are the city’s larder. Valencian markets are some of the most beautiful in the world; the Gothic silk market is a World Heritage Site. The tour includes experiences such as market shopping with a Michelin-starred chef, exclusive backroom access to the fish auction at La Lonja in Dénia, and tasting unctuous goat’s milk cheeses dribbled with thyme honey in the mountains. There is hospitality at great bodegas like Casa los Frailes, source of wines served to visiting heads of state at Madrid’s Palacio Real. There are also low-key everyday experiences – a refreshing horchata, a tiger nut milk pick-youup; an Aqua de Valencia, a fresh orange-based cocktail; and rifling the wine cellar, feasting on organic potatoes and nibbling at a perfectly burnt
brandade at Casa Montaña, arguably the best bar in the world. Valencian cuisine is both ancient and new. Wind-dried octopus prepared to a 3,000-year-old Phoenician recipe is a revelation, as are the sweet luxury of almond biscuits accompanied by an ice cold Moscatel. The Moors held the Levante for 400 years and the phantom flavours live on. We feel the weight of Borgia rule and the Naples connection, and taste history with alioli-steeped fideuà – Europe’s first pasta dish? There are Baroque splendours, shimmering Valencian tiles and the hedonistic sun-drenched canvases of Joaquín Sorolla. There are back streets and museums and hideaway cafés to be explored: the Jewish call, the Almohad Arab walls, the twelfth-century Christian settlement. Dénia’s museum contains artefacts from the Romans and the Iberians, who were pressing wine 5,000 years ago. The final lunch is provided by 3-star Michelin chef Quique Dacosta, a whirlwind of inventive brilliance, theatre and caprice.
Itinerary Day 1: Valencia. Fly at c. 10.45am from London Heathrow to Valencia, via Madrid (Iberia, Air Nostrum). First of three nights in Valencia. Day 2: Valencia. Peruse the produce in the fine modernista-style Mercado Central with a Michelin-starred chef, to learn his zero-kilometre philosophy. Mercado Colón is home to the Ricard Camarena cooking laboratory, where there is a cooking demonstration followed by lunch. Private evening visit to the IVAM (Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno) with its superb collection of cubist sculpture by Julio González, and dinner in the excellent restaurant connected to the gallery, La Sucursal (1 Michelin star).
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 6: Dénia, Parcent. A morning walk takes in the historical centre of Dénia, including the 11th-century Moorish Castle. Ascend into the mountains through orange and almond groves to Parcent for a wine tasting, cooking demonstration and lunch at Bodegas Gutiérrez de la Vega, a family-run business famous for their sweet Moscatel wine. Day 7: Dénia. Free morning. Walk along the impressive coastline of Las Rotas before lunch at Quique Dacosta’s restaurant (3-star Michelin). Dacosta combines local seasonal produce with cutting-edge creativity and technique. Day 8. Drive north to Valencia for the earlyafternoon flight to London Heathrow, via Madrid, arriving at c. 5.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,260 or £3,070 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,560 or £3,370 without flights. Included meals: 6 lunches, 3 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. SH Hotel Inglés, Valencia (inglesboutique.com): 4-star hotel installed in an 18th-century palace; centrally-locaated beside the National Ceramics Museum. Single occupancy rooms have queen-size beds. La Posada del Mar, Dénia (laposadadelmar.com): 4-star hotel located near the historic centre and overlooking the harbour. Single rooms are double for sole use. How strenuous? Coach access is often restricted and there is a fair amount of walking and standing around. Dinners tend to be at 8.30 or 9.00pm in Spain, so you might get to bed later than you usually would. Average distance by coach per day: 40 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Connoisseur’s Rome, 1–6 November (page 134).
Extremadura
Landscape, architecture, rural life
Remote and unspoilt: one of the most consistently beautiful regions in Europe. Monumental cities of the Conquistadors: Trujillo, Cáceres, Plasencia, packed with palaces and churches. Mérida has excellent Roman remains. Monasteries of Guadalupe and Yuste, both in splendid isolation in the hills. Other visits include a livestock farm with tractor ride, opportunity to walk in the hills. The lecturer is Adam Hopkins, journalist and author, specialist in Spanish history and culture.
Itinerary Day 1: Zafra. Fly at c. 1.30pm (TAP Portugal) from London Heathrow to Lisbon. Drive to the small town of Zafra (c. 4 hours, stops are made en route). The towered castle where Hernán Cortés was received by the Count of Feria en route for the conquest of Mexico is now the parador. First of two nights in Zafra. Day 2: Zafra, Jerez de Los Caballeros. In Zafra begin with the two adjacent squares, the Plaza Grande and the (smaller) Plaza Chica and the Collegiate Church (with an altarpiece by Zurbarán). Lunch is in a rural restaurant. The
afternoon is spent in Jerez de los Caballeros, once a Templar town, with famously ornate Baroque church towers. Day 3: Mérida, Guadalupe. The Roman legacy of Mérida includes architecture both grand and domestic: theatre, villas, temples, fortresses. See also Moneo’s outstanding National Museum of Roman Art. The tiny town of Guadalupe is hidden in hills. Columbus prayed here and gave its name to a Caribbean island. First of two nights in Guadalupe. Day 4: Guadalupe. There is the choice of a walk in the Guadalupe mountains, or time to stroll at leisure through the village. In the afternoon see the monastery, with splendid church, Mudéjar cloister and sacristy with Zurbarán’s paintings. The museum contains exceptional vestments. Day 5: Trujillo. Drive down the mountains to Trujillo, a hilltop conquistador town (birthplace of Pizarro). The magnificent, irregular main square is surrounded by conquistador mansions and the grand church of S. Martín. Climb up to the Gothic church of Sta María and the castle with fine views of the surrounding countryside. Continue to Cáceres for the first of three nights. Day 6: Cáceres. The historic town centre is enclosed within almost perfectly preserved Moorish walls and is a myriad of narrow streets and squares lined with Renaissance mansions. Visit the Provincial Museum housed in the 17thcentury Casa de las Valetas, built over an 11thcentury Arabic cistern. Free afternoon.
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Extremadura means ‘beyond the Duero’, a designation coined by the conquering Christians as they bludgeoned their way southwards against the Moors. The Moors were finally defeated; but much of the countryside of Extremadura remains unsubjugated. Together with the adjoining Alentejo in Portugal, this, though tawny as a lion’s pelt in sweltering midsummer, is the largest ‘green’ region in western Europe. Monfragüe in the Tagus gorge has a colony of griffon vultures, the Iberian lynx is still a resident in these parts, hawks and other birds of prey abound. The Sierra de Gata in the north, the Sierra de Guadalupe in the centre and the wild country of the south-west around Jerez de los Caballeros all remain rough and uncultivated. Equally, Extremadura is cattle country, with fighting bulls and the local Retinta breed making the most of some of the gentler lands. In the autumn, when there are acorns to be eaten, the black-foot pig, source of the finest of mountain hams, comes on the scene. The landscape has a mixed array of well-spaced trees, mainly holm oak and cork oak, which together with the wild grasses constitute the habitat known as dehesa. The river valleys, notably the Tiétar and Guadiana, are now well-irrigated and grow fruit and vegetables: apricots, cherries and peppers. From the south comes wine, much improved of late. There is virtually no industry which is not based on agriculture. This tour offers a walk in the Guadalupe mountains, hoping to come close to the spirit of a countryside where many ancient ways survive. However, the history and architecture are as rewarding as the landscape. Before the Visigoths and Moors, this was a major Roman centre, with Mérida – Augusta Emerita – the capital of the western province of Lusitania. It remains the major Roman site in Spain. Above all, this is conquistador country. An astonishing proportion of the leaders of the rough bands which savaged South and Central America, in the names of king and queen and Christianity, came from Extremadura. Trujillo and Cáceres are well-known for the rich monumentality of palaces assembled by conquistadors returning with their ill-gotten gains. The spiritual centre was and remains the shrine of Guadalupe. Here a rich and beautiful Hieronymite monastery grew up, with swirling
Moorish-Gothic tracery and a suite of paintings by Zurbarán. The little mountain town which formed beneath the monastery is balconied and full of geraniums, one element of a varied vernacular architecture which is a particular Extremeñan pleasure. Zafra, in the south, is a white town, intermediate between Andalucía and the stony sobriety of Old Castile. Most curious is Plasencia in the north, where seven roads lead out of the arcaded plaza and two cathedrals stand back to back. The most moving is Yuste, the monastery to which the Emperor Charles V retired, gout-ridden and exhausted. He chose it, he said, because of its climate of continual springtime. In its deep rurality and concentration of human monuments, Extremadura is a far cry from ‘ordinary’ Europe.
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29 March–6 April 2016 (mc 616) 9 days • £2,380 Lecturer: Adam Hopkins
‘A Village in Spain’, etching and drypoint c. 1920 by Isabel Codrington. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Day 7: Arroyo de la Luz, Alcántara, El Vaqueril. The 16th-century church at Arroyo de la Luz has a remarkable altarpiece by Luís de Morales. At Alcántara, the Roman bridge spanning the Tagus dates to ad 106. Finca el Vaqueril is an Extremaduran ranch with Retinta cattle and pata negra pigs. Our visit includes lunch, a tour of the ranch on a tractor-trailer and an optional walk. Day 8: Monfragüe, Plasencia, Yuste, Jarandilla de la Vera. Pause in Monfragüe National Park to see colony of griffon vultures at Salto de Gitano on the Tagus. At Plasencia, start in the arcaded Plaza Mayor and then visit the two cathedrals, Renaissance and Gothic backing into one another, also a fine ethnographic museum of traditional rural life and handicraft. Drive into the hills to the monastery of Yuste to which the Emperor Charles V retired in 1556, building a gent’s des. res. right up against the fabric of the Gothic monastery. Get a moving insight into the last days of the man who once ruled most of Europe and Latin America. Spend the final night in the Parador at nearby Jarandilla de la Vera.
Eastern Andalucía: Caliphs to Kings 11–20 March 2016 (mc 595) 10 days • £2,910 Lecturer: Gijs van Hensbergen A comprehensive study of Eastern Andalucía: time for the key sites of Granada and Córdoba, exploration of the lesser-known, including the small Renaissance town of Úbeda. Visits the Picasso Museum, Carmen Thyssen and recently opened Centre Pompidou in Málaga. Features an olive oil tasting, a private concert, flamenco and an evening visit of the Alhambra. The lecturer, Gijs van Hensbergen, has written extensively on Spanish art and history. The mythic Al-Andalus, ruled by Islam for more than 750 years is one of Europe’s greatest examples of the wonders of multi-cultural life. Far north, in the cold mountains of Christian
Galicia and its Celt neighbours across the seas we still talk of the Dark Ages, while in Córdoba around the first Millennium the Renaissance had already begun, as the Moors and their protected dhimmi subjects, the Christians and Jews, tested out revolutionary new ideas. 600 years before da Vinci’s inspired doodles of his flying machine Ibn Firnas had already flown across the hills above Córdoba’s great mosque, (admittedly, breaking both legs.) In the great city of Córdoba, under the Caliphate, cataract operations were common, mechanical elephants served tea, iced sherbets slaked the thirst, saffron-stained meatballs and the three-course-meal were invented, while the intellect was teased with access to a library that boasted 400,000 books (almost the entire learning of the classical world). Ziryab, Córdoba’s ninth century tastemaker – the Terence Conran of his time – added the 5th and 6th string to the lute to give its harmony ‘soul’ and provide the guitar.
Day 9. Drive to Madrid Airport (c. 4 hours) for the lunchtime flight (Iberia) which arrives at London Heathrow at c. 4.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,380 or £2,160 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,620 or £2,400 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 6 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Parador de Zafra (parador. es): 4-star parador in the 15th-century castle. Parador de Guadalupe (parador.es): 4-star parador in the converted 15th-century pilgrims’ hospital of St John the Baptist. NH Palacio de Oquendo (nh-hotels.com): 4-star hotel in the historic centre of town. Parador de Jarandilla (parador.es): 4-star parador with historic connections to Charles V. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
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How strenuous? There is a lot of walking in town centres, sometimes on uneven ground, and sure-footedness is essential. The optional walk in the Sierra de Guadalupe requires a greater level of fitness. There is also a large amount of coach travel. Dinners tend to be at 8.30 or 9.00pm in Spain, so you might get to bed later than you would usually. Some days involve a lot of driving. Average distance by coach per day: 78 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
What else is included in the price? See page 6. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Granada, Alhambra, wood engraving from Le Tour du Monde, 1864,
“The itinerary was cleverly constructed – a narrative – so that by the end of the journey it all came together.”
Itinerary
Day 2: Málaga. Begin at Picasso’s birthplace, which houses a small collection of his belongings and some ceramics. The Picasso Museum is magnificent, combining Phoenician ruins beneath a fine 16th-century palace and a collection which places emphasis on his earlier works and the women in his life. The recently opened Centre Pompidou holds some 80 works from its Parisian headquarters. There is time also to see the Renaissance Cathedral with a fine Baroque façade. Day 3: Granada. Drive north in the morning to Granada. Walk via the Corral del Carbon, the evocative 14th-century caravanserai and silk market, and visit the Casa de los Tiros, Granada’s wonderful ethnographic museum housed in the 16th palace of a converted Morisco prince. In
Málaga, after a drawing c. 1860.
the late afternoon visit the Cathedral and Royal Chapel, which retains Isabel of Castile’s personal collection of Flemish, Spanish and Italian paintings. First of three nights in Granada. Day 4: Granada. The 13th-century Arab palaces of the Alhambra ride high above the city. They are thought to be the greatest expression of Moorish art in Spain, with exquisite decoration and a succession of intimate courtyards. Adjacent are the 16th-century Palace of Charles V and the Generalife, summer palace of the sultans, with gardens and fountains. The Carmen of the Martyrs garden was built by the Catholic monarchs in memory of the Christians that suffered under the Moorish domination. Evening performance of ‘Zambra’ Flamenco, a gypsy wedding ritual. Day 5: Granada. Morning walk through the Albayzín, the oldest quarter in town, including El Bañuelo (Arab baths) and the elegant, hispano-moresque gardens of the Instituto de Estudios Arabes. Climb up to San Nicolás from where there are fine views of the Alhambra. The Monasterio de San Jerónimo was the first to be built after the Christian conquest and contains a dazzling altar by Gil de Siloé. There is the option to see the Palacios of the Alhambra in a different light with a late evening visit. Day 6: Jaen, Úbeda. Silver deposits first attracted the Romans to settle at Jaen before it was taken by the Moors in 712. Its Renaissance cathedral was built on the site of the Great Mosque and designed by outstanding Renaissance architect, Andrés de Vandelvira. See also the 14th-century church of San Ildefonso and the Museo Provincial with a fine archeological collection. Continue to Úbeda for the first of two nights. Day 7: Úbeda. In Úbeda walk to the handsome Plaza Vázquez de Molina, flanked by elegant palaces including Vandelvira’s Casa de las Cadenas and the present day parador. The church of El Salvador was designed by Diego de Siloé in 1536 while the 14th-cent. Casa Mudéjar houses the archeological museum. Sample some of the famed olive oils of the region at a lunchtime tasting. In the evening visit the 10th-cent. Sinagoga del Agua with a private performance of Sephardic music. Day 8: Córdoba. The capital of Islamic Spain from the middle of the 8th century, it became
the richest city in Europe until its capitulation to the Reconquistadors in 1236. A morning walk includes the narrow streets of the old Jewish quarter and the 14th-century synagogue. La Mezquita (mosque) is one of the most magnificent of Muslim sites, for some the greatest building of mediaeval Europe. It contains within it the 16thcentury cathedral. First of two nights in Córdoba. Day 9: Córdoba. Morning visit to the Archaeological Museum, housed in a Renaissance mansion, with a fine collection of Roman and Arab pieces. The Fine Arts Museum, with Plateresque façade and one delightful ceiling, houses some good Spanish paintings. Visit the Alcázar, mediaeval with earlier architectural remains (and good Roman mosaics). In the afternoon drive out to the excavations of Medina Azahara, with remains of a huge and luxurious 10th-century palace complex. Day 10. Drive back to Málaga via the pretty town of Antequera. The flight arrives at London City Airport at c. 7.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,910 or £2,740 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,340 or £3,170 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 7 dinners (including a tapas walk) with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Molina Lario, Málaga (hotelmolinalario.com): functional, comfortable 4-star hotel in the centre. AC Palacio de Santa Paula, Granada (marriott.com): 5-star hotel in a converted convent, close to the Royal Chapel; rooms are comfortable and contemporary. Parador de Úbeda (parador.es): 4-star parador in a Renaissance palace on the most handsome square in town; comfortable rooms, traditionally furnished. NH Amistad Córdoba (nh-hotels. com): 4-star hotel in a converted 18th-century mansion, a short walk from the mosque. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
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Day 1. Fly at c. 9.45am from London City Airport to Málaga (British Airways). Visit the Carmen Thyssen museum with its fine collection of old masters and 19th-century Spanish painting. The lecturer leads a tapas walk this evening. First of two nights in Málaga.
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‘From Caliphs to Kings,’ visits the World Heritage protected caves of Granada’s Sacromonte to hear the gypsy wedding ritual, the Zambra. In Úbeda, Spain’s most perfect Renaissance city, Sephardic musicians will bring to life the recently discovered 10th century Synagogue with its perfectly preserved mikvah – the ritual bath. From Málaga’s Museo de Picasso, built on 2500-year-old Phoenician remains, and the wonderful Thyssen Museum – that provides a perfect introduction to the 19th romantic traveller’s obsession with Carmen and the ‘bandoleros’ – the journey skirts around the Sierra Nevada to Granada’s legendary Alhambra. Home to the Nasrid Kings, the Alhambra’s stage-set beauty is linked by bridge to the glorious vegetable paradise of the Generalife gardens and the royal hunting grounds. Granada is a secret city where composers like Manuel de Falla and the poet Federico García Lorca evoked its beauty within the secrecy of the ‘carmen,’ orange-scented walled garden. Turn the earth anywhere in Andalucía and ancient cultures come to the fore. The provincial capital of Jaen is built on a rock spur over thousands of acres of olive stands. Hannibal’s elephants crossed this landscape, as too did Caesar’s armies in pursuit of the remnants of Pompey’s battle weary troops. The tour culminates with Córdoba’s Cathedral and Great Mosque that acts as a compendium of some of the greatest carved columns and capitals from Mesopotamia and the classical world. Here we meet the wisdom of the Jewish philosopherdoctor Maimonides, the luxury and unrivalled power of the Caliph Abd er Rahman III and the sheer excess of his successor Al-Hakam at his palace complex of Madinat al-Zahara. Over mint teas and sweet montilla wines, served with deep fried aubergines drizzled with honey in a 14th-century convent, we unpick the mysteries of East Andalucía’s glorious past and its fascinating passage ‘From Caliphs to Kings.’
How strenuous? There is a lot of walking, some of it uphill and some over uneven ground. Average distance by coach per day: 36 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Opera in Spain, 3–8 March (page 168). Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Granada & Córdoba with Úbeda & Baeza spain
from where there are fine views of the Alhambra. In the late afternoon visit the Cathedral and Royal Chapel which retains Isabel of Castile’s personal collection of Flemish, Spanish and Italian paintings. Day 5: Baeza, Úbeda. Drive to Baeza, once a prosperous and important town and now a provincial backwater of quiet charm set among olive groves stretching to the horizon. It has a 16th-century cathedral by outstanding regional architect Andrés de Vandelvira and many grand houses of an alluring light-coloured stone. In Úbeda walk to the handsome Plaza Vázquez de Molina, flanked by elegant palaces including Vandelvira’s Casa de las Cadenas and the present day parador. The church of El Salvador was designed by Diego de Siloé in 1536. Continue to Córdoba for the first of three nights.
Córdoba, La Mezquita, steel engraving c. 1850.
18–25 April 2016 (mc 639) 8 days • £2,420 Lecturer: Adam Hopkins Ample time at the key sites of Moorish Spain: the Alhambra in Granada and the Mosque in Córdoba, with time also for the lesser-known. Visits the Picasso Museum, Carmen Thyssen collection and recently opened Centre Pompidou in Málaga and the small Renaissance towns of Úbeda and Baeza. Led by Adam Hopkins, expert on Spanish history and culture.
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Southern Spain – savage peaks soar over passes that are snow-bound in winter, while plains below are well-watered by spring rivers, hot, harsh and arid in the summer, mellow in late autumn and winter. The cities reveal the magnitude of past achievements through the greatness of the architecture and the brilliant elaboration of decoration. Andalucía was a bountiful Roman province, in Arab times the scene of highly sophisticated Umayyad and Nasrid princedoms and a major province of the most powerful kingdom in (Christian) Europe’s sixteenth century. The artistic riches are immensely varied, though the unique distinguishing mark is the heritage from eight hundred years of rule by Muslims from North Africa and Arabia. Arab Córdoba became the capital of alAndalus and the largest city in Europe, market for all the luxuries of East and West and scene of Europe’s most splendid court until its fall to the Reconquistadors in 1236. The mosque, La Mezquita, was one of the largest anywhere, and arguably the most beautiful; Christian possession in the sixteenth century created within it a totally contrasting cathedral. Granada was the last Islamic princedom in Spain, only falling to the Christians in 1492. The concatenation of palaces and gardens of the Alhambra, with its cascading domes and gilded
decoration like frozen fireworks, is one of Spain’s most enthralling sights. Although millions of tourists pour through Málaga Airport every year en route to the Costa del Sol, comparatively few set foot in the old town. The narrow streets, palm-lined squares and seafront promenades conserve Phoenician, Roman, Moorish, Gothic, Baroque and lateninteenth-century monuments. Birthplace and childhood home of Pablo Picasso, the city boasts a major collection of his works, joined recently by a huge influx of art. The eponymous museum of Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza opened in 2011 and includes some excellent nineteenth-century Spanish art with Andalusian themes, while a Centre Pompidou opened in March 2015.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.45am from London Gatwick Airport to Málaga (British Airways). Arrive in time for an introductory walk and lecture in the hotel. Overnight in Málaga. Day 2: Málaga. Begin at Picasso’s birthplace, which houses a small collection of his belongings. The Picasso Museum is magnificent, both the 16th-century building and the collection, which places emphasis on his earlier works. The Carmen Thyssen museum has a fine collection of old masters and 19th-century Spanish painting while the Centre Pompidou holds some 80 works from its Parisian headquarters. In the afternoon drive north to Granada for the first of three nights. Day 3: Granada. The 13th-century Arab palaces of the Alhambra ride high above the city. They are often reckoned to be the greatest expression of Moorish art in Spain, with exquisite decoration and a succession of intimate courtyards. Adjacent are the 16th-century Palace of Charles V and the Generalife, summer palace of the sultans, with gardens and fountains. Day 4: Granada. Morning walk through the Albaycín, the oldest quarter in town, including El Bañuelo (Arab baths). Climb up to San Nicolás
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 6: Córdoba. From the middle of the 8th century Córdoba was the capital of Islamic Spain and became the richest city in Europe until its capitulation to the Reconquistadors in 1236. La Mezquita (mosque) is one of the most magnificent of Muslim sites, for some the greatest building of mediaeval Europe. It contains within it the 16th-century cathedral. In the afternoon drive out to the excavations of Medina Azahara, with remains of a huge and luxurious 10th-century palace complex. Day 7: Córdoba. Visit the Archaeological Museum, housed in brand new galleries and a Renaissance mansion, with a fine collection of Roman and Arab pieces. Visit the Alcázar, mediaeval with earlier architectural remains (and good Roman mosaics), and the narrow streets of the old Jewish quarter, including the 14th-century synagogue. The Fine Arts Museum (optional), with Plateresque façade and one delightful ceiling, houses some good Spanish paintings, and the Museo Julio Romero de Torres (optional), the former residence of the Cordoban painter, contains a collection of his works. Free afternoon. Day 8. Drive to Málaga airport for the early afternoon flight arriving at Gatwick at c. 4.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,420 or £2,250 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,800 or £2,630 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Molina Lario, Málaga (hotelmolinalario.com): functional 4-star in the centre. AC Palacio de Santa Paula, Granada (marriott.com): comfortable, contemporary hotel in the centre; comparable to a 4-star. NH Amistad, Córdoba (nh-hotels.com): 4-star in an 18th-century mansion, close to the mosque. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There is a lot of walking, some of it uphill and some over uneven ground. Average distance by coach per day: 52 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Sicily, 4–16 April (page 140); Palladian Villas, 12–17 April (page 111).
Essential Andalucía Spain’s southern province
Three nights in each of the major cities: Granada, Córdoba and Seville. The lecturer is Adam Hopkins, journalist and author, specialist in Spanish history and culture. Visits the Picasso Museum, Carmen Thyssen collection and recently opened Centre Pompidou in Málaga and the small Renaissance towns of Úbeda and Baeza. Varied itinerary covering the great Moorish sites, mediaeval, Renaissance and Baroque architecture, fine art collections and gardens. Andalucía is Spain’s most fascinating and varied region. Varied geographically: stretching southwards from the Sierra Morena to the Mediterranean, it encompasses the permanent snow of the Sierra Nevada as well as the sunscorched interior. And varied culturally: here it is possible to see great art and architecture of both Islamic and Christian traditions side by side – even, at Córdoba, one within the other. For Spain is unique in Western Europe in having been conquered by an Islamic power. The Moors first crossed from Africa in ad 711, and in the south of the country they stayed for nearly eight centuries. The Moorish civilization of the cities of Andalucía was one of the most sophisticated of the Middle Ages. There are also tantalising glimpses of the preceding Visigothic kingdom, and remains of the still earlier Roman occupation – the province of Baetica was one of the most highly favoured in the Roman Empire. Later, both Jews and gypsies made their influence felt, but overwhelmingly the dominant contribution to man-made Andalucian heritage has been created by and for unwavering adherents to Catholicism. The Christian religion does not get much more intense than in southern Spain, and its artistic manifestations rarely more spiritually charged.
The unification of Spain which was ensured by the marriage in 1469 of the ‘Catholic Kings’, Ferdinand and Isabella, ushered in the period when Spain became the dominant power in Europe. This also coincided with the discovery of the Americas. The cities of the south, particularly Seville, were the immediate beneficiaries of the subsequent colonisation and inflow of huge quantities of bullion and of boundless opportunities for trade and wealth creation. The result was a boom in building and a cultural renaissance, a Golden Age which lasted into the eighteenth century, long after the economy had cooled and real Spanish power had waned. The poverty and torpor of subsequent centuries allowed much of the beauty of the glory days to survive to the present time, when a revival of prosperity has enabled extensive restoration and proper care of the immense artistic patrimony.
Itinerary Days 1–7 are identical to that of Granada & Córdoba – see the opposite page. Day 8: Ecija, Seville. The many church towers of Ecija are visible from afar across the surrounding plain. Of the numerous Baroque mansions see the Palacio de Peñaflor and Palacio del Marqués de Benameji, and visit the Gothic-Mudéjar church of Santiago. Drive to Seville; three nights here. Day 9: Seville. Walk to the church and hospital of the Caridad, Seville’s most striking 17th-century building, with paintings by Murillo and Valdés Leal. The cathedral is one of the largest Gothic churches anywhere (‘Let us build a cathedral so immense that everyone...
will take us for madmen’). The Capilla Mayor, treasury and sanctuary are of particular interest. Free afternoon.
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26 September–6 October 2016 (md 875) 11 days • £3,190 Lecturer: Adam Hopkins
Day 10: Seville. The Alcázar, the fortified royal palace, is one of Spain’s greatest buildings; built by Moorish architects for Castilian kings, it consists of a sequence of apartments and magnificent reception rooms around courtyards and gardens. Walkthrough the Barrio de Santa Cruz, a maze of whitewashed alleys and flowerfilled patios, to the Casa de Pilatos, the best of the Mudéjar style palaces, with patios and azulejos. Afternoon at the Fine Arts Museum, the best in Spain after the Prado. Day 11. Free day in Seville. Fly from Seville to London Gatwick arriving c. 9.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,190 or £3,010 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,650 or £3,470 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 7 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Molina Lario, Málaga (hotelmolinalario.com): functional 4-star hotel in the centre. AC Palacio de Santa Paula, Granada (marriott.com): comfortable, contemporary hotel in the centre, comparable to a 4-star. NH Amistad, Córdoba (nh-hotels.com): 4-star hotel in an 18th-century mansion, a short walk from the mosque. Hotel Las Casas de la Judería, Seville (casasypalacios.com): charming 4-star hotel in the Barrio Sta Cruz created from several contiguous buildings connected by patios. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? This is a lengthy tour with four hotels, a lot of walking and a fair amount of coach travel. You need to be fit. Walking is often on uneven streets and uphill. Average distance by coach per day: 33 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Dark Age Brilliance, 9–16 October (page 118).
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Seville cathedral, copper engraving c. 1800.
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Gastronomic Andalucía Food, wine, art & architecture spain
22–29 April 2016 (mc 642) 8 days • £2,980 Lecturer: Gijs van Hensbergen
through the flower-filled Barrio de Santa Cruz. First of four nights in Seville. Day 5: Seville. Begin at the Alcázar, one of Spain’s greatest buildings, built by Moorish architects for Spanish kings, with its courtyards, gardens and magnificent tapestries. The 15th-century cathedral is one of the largest Gothic churches anywhere, with a Late Gothic retable and paintings by Murillo, Zurbarán and Goya. In the afternoon visit the Fine Arts Museum, the finest collection in Spain after the Prado. Dinner is at a renowned Sevillian restaurant.
Journey south from Las Pedroñeras in La Mancha in a sweeping curve through Andalucía: Úbeda, Córdoba, Seville, Jerez, Cádiz, Aracena. Surveys the history of the region with its cuisine: Roman, Jewish, Moorish, Christian; from the simplest cooking to the elaborate and contemporary. Some of Spain’s greatest monuments are here including the mosque at Córdoba and Seville Cathedral, but also good museums, small towns and spectacular countryside. Led by Gijs van Hensbergen, art historian and author of books on Spanish art and food.
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‘Al-Andalus’ (the Andalucía of the Moors) are words which immediately evoke fantasies of displays of sweetmeats, saffron-stained rice and jewels of livid red pomegranate. Exotic flavour combinations are countered by the simplicity of perfectly prepared fish; flaking, moist and ivory white. Sophisticated techniques are often tempered by the deeply felt philosophy that, yes, less can be more. Gastronomic Andalucía is a true feast of the senses: earthy smells are countered by elusive and piquant tastes; sherries, montillas and punchy red caldos of La Mancha wine stand up perfectly to the pickled escabeches of game, the deep-flavoured fish soups, and the marriage of almonds, lemon-steeped olives and air-dried tenderloin of albacore tuna. The backdrop of Gastronomic Andalucía is no less exotic: Úbeda and Baeza, twin cities of Spain’s Renaissance, are surrounded by stands of olive trees that lead the eye out to the horizon and the sierras beyond. Córdoba’s mosque, at the heart of the Caliphate, makes a complete nonsense of the received wisdom about the so-called Dark Ages. Seville’s barrio of the Santa Cruz still offers up phantom vistas of an extraordinary cosmopolitan past. Andalucía, it must be remembered, has a large variety of climates. In the mountains above Seville the hams of the wild Iberian pig dry perfectly into a product that is second to none. Sea breezes around Sanlucar signal the flavour of salt on the tongue. South to Baeza, off the tourist track, we enter the land of olives, and a tasting at the family run Castillo de Canena, where Spain’s former Business Woman of the Year, Rosa Vañó, inducts us into the arcane wonders of olive oil tasting. Córdoba, of course, needs no advertising but a fourteenth-century convent restaurant on the edge of the gypsy quarter is just one way of retiring from the Caliphate’s wealthy past and the powerful midday sun. Perfectly fried aubergines are a foil for the oxtail, fillets of fish with herbs and oil are trapped in a flash, in a film of the lightest batter and laid out on a bed of the speciality, fried lettuce. Oaky Montilla wine is taken standing. Seville, Jerez, Cádiz are worlds on their own. Sherry houses are famous for producing unique tastes. Less known are the almacenistas,
Seville, watercolour by Mortimer Menpes, 1903.
passionate amateurs, whose houses, basements, shops and even living rooms are turned over to storing and nursing their barrels. Cádiz’s legendary restaurant El Faro takes fish frying to a new level with wafer thin pancakes of miniature shrimp and is the best place in Spain to eat line caught bass baked in a salt crust. The tour ends in Seville with Michelin-starred Julio Fernández Quinteiro’s take on Andalusian cuisine at Restaurante Abantal.
Itinerary Day 1: London to La Mancha. Fly at c. 9.15am (Iberia Airlines) from London Heathrow to Madrid. Drive south into La Mancha to the small walled town of Belmonte. In the surrounding countryside visit the vineyards of Pesquera, of Ribera de Duero fame, for a tasting and dinner. Overnight in Belmonte. Day 2: La Mancha to Andalucía. In Belmonte visit the Gothic church of San Bartolomé and the superbly sited 15th-century castle before leaving for lunch in nearby Las Pedroñeras. Here Michelin-starred chef Manuel de la Osa marries bohemian bonhomie with a passion for garlic. Drive through the magnificent pass of Desfiladero de Despeñaperros and enter Andalucía. The handsome town of Úbeda has streets and squares lined with palaces, one of which is our hotel. First of two nights in Úbeda. Day 3: Úbeda. The towns of Úbeda thrived in the 16th century and is richly endowed with Renaissance monuments. Lunch is at the town’s most innovative restaurant, Antique. The Arab Castle of Canena is deep in olive-grove country of the Guadalquivir valley and home to the Vañó family, famed producers; tasting and visit here. Day 4: Córdoba, Seville. Drive west to Córdoba and focus on La Mezquita, one of the largest and most beautiful mosques in the world, and within it the 16th-century cathedral. Walk through the old Jewish quarter, with 14th-century synagogue, to a chilled aperitif and a Moorish lunch. Continue to Seville for an evening tapas walk
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 6: Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz. Drive south to Jerez, at the heart of sherry production. Special arrangements include a tasting at the Lustau bodega and Bodegas Tradición with its own art collection. Continue to the historic port of Cádiz; laid-back and unspoilt, and with a renowned fish restaurant. There is time to visit the city museum with its significant archaeological collection. Day 7: Sierra de Aracena, Jabugo. Drive north to the Sierra de Aracena, the low mountains which form the border with Extremadura. Here we taste the exquisite jamón ibérico. There is an optional walk in the foothills along farm tracks lined with oak, chestnut and olive trees and livestock. Alternatively remain in the town of Aracena. The evening is spent at Restaurante Abantal, whose chef was the first in Seville to win a Michelin star. Day 8: Seville. Free day perhaps to visit the 15thcent. Casa de Pilatos, a mix of Mudéjar, Gothic and Renaissance styles or the church and hospital of the Caridad, Seville’s most striking 17thcentury building, with paintings by Murillo and Valdés Leal. Drive to Seville airport for the flight to London Gatwick (British Airways) arriving at c. 9.45pm. Note this tour departs from London Heathrow and returns to London Gatwick.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,980 or £2,750 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,290 or £3,060 without flights. Included meals: 5 lunches, 5 dinners (including 1 light dinner and a tapas walk), with wine. Accommodation. Hotel Infante Don Juan Manuel, Belmonte (hotelspadonjuanmanuel.es): new 4-star hotel built on the ancient fortress of Belmonte. Parador de Úbeda (parador.es): 4-star parador in a Renaissance palace on the most handsome square in town; comfortable rooms, traditionally furnished. Hotel Las Casas de la Judería, Seville (casasypalacios.com): charming 4-star hotel in the Barrio Sta Cruz created from several contiguous buildings connected by openair patios. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking over uneven ground and up and down hill. Some days involve a lot of driving; average distance per day: 101 miles. Dinners tend to be later in Spain, at 8.30 or 9.00pm. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with The Pyrenees, 3–12 May (page 163).
The Lucerne Festival Walking & music in Switzerland
A summer music festival of the first rank in the loveliest of Swiss cities. Five concerts, including two with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle. This tour includes three walks in the surrounding hills accompanied by a local walking guide: 2–3 hours long, led by an experienced walking guide. Led by musicologist Professor Stephen Walsh, who gives daily talks on the concerts. Ever since its inauguration over seventy years ago, with a concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini in the grounds of the lakeside house where Wagner had stayed, the Lucerne Festival has been regarded as one of the most prestigious music festivals in Europe. The event has been further enhanced by a brilliant venue. The KKL (Kultur- und Kongresszentrum) is a giant glass-and-steel arts complex located right on the lake just a few hundred yards from the old town of Lucerne. Designed by Frenchman Jean Nouvel and completed in 2000, this is modern European architecture at its finest. Its colossal cantilevered roof projects over the water’s edge, bringing the changing moods of the lake right into the building, and water channels separate the various wings. The most advanced acoustical science has been lavished on the beautiful Konzertsaal. And could there be a lovelier city in which to attend a summer music festival? Lucerne occupies one of the most picturesque settings in Switzerland, divided into two parts by its river, bordering on the dramatic shores of the Vierwaldstätter Lake and overlooked by craggy mountains. Its mediaeval prosperity is still visible in the squares, guildhalls and churches that line its riverbanks. The nineteenth century was a heyday for Lucerne as it led the way in attracting tourism to Switzerland.
the Sammlung Rosengart, an extraordinary collection devoted to 20th-century art including many works by Picasso. Concert with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Daniele Gatti (conductor): Weber, Schumann, Bruckner. Day 4. A walk near the Sarner lake in the morning and into the afternoon with a stop for lunch along the way. Return to Lucerne by train mid-afternoon. The rest of the afternoon free in Lucerne; the Bourbaki Panorama, a giant circular mural depicting events of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, is recommended. Evening concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle: Boulez, Mahler. Day 5. Day excursion to Mount Rigi, traversing lake Lucerne by boat and taking the funicular to the start of the walk. Lunch on the mountainside with a majestic 360° panorama of the Swiss plateau before returning to Lucerne. Evening concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle (conductor): Anderson, Dvořák, Brahms. Day 6. Drive to Zurich Airport for the return flight to London Heathrow, arriving c. 2.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,390 or £3,250 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,620 or £3,480 without flights. Included meals: 3 packed lunches and 3 dinners with wine.
Music: tickets (first category) for 5 concerts are included, costing c. £1,000. To be confirmed in March 2016. Accommodation: Romantik Hotel Wilden Mann (wilden-mann.ch): 4-star hotel dating back to the 13th century, in the heart of the historic centre. Double rooms have two single mattresses on one frame, as is the usual style in Switzerland. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? This is a walking tour: it is essential for participants to be in good physical condition and to be used to country walking which includes going up and down hills. You should have appropriate walking footwear. The concert hall is located half a mile from the hotel.
sweden, switzerland
27 August–1 September 2016 (mc 814) 6 days • £3,390 (including ticket to 5 performances) Lecturer: Professor Stephen Walsh
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Sweden
Drottningholm & Confidencen August 2016 Details available in January 2016 Contact us to register your interest
Itinerary MAINLAND EUROPE
Day 1. Fly at c. 9.45am from London Heathrow to Zurich. Drive to Lucerne, a lively, historic city amidst lake and mountain. Early evening dinner followed by concert with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra: Schönberg, Neuwirth. Day 2. A morning walking tour of Lucerne, starting at the oldest road bridge in Europe, the richly decorated Chapel Bridge, and continuing to the Spreuerbrücke, another historic covered bridge notable for its ‘Dance of Death’ roof panels. Visit the Rococo interior of the huge Jesuit Church and the 13th-century Franciscan Church. Free afternoon. Evening concert with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, conducted by Daniele Gatti: Debussy, Dutileux, Stravinsky. Day 3. A morning walk of just under three hours into the forested area near the city. Return to Lucerne for a free afternoon, a chance to visit
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Lucerne, wood engraving c. 1880. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Istanbul
Byzantine & Ottoman metropolis turkey
Jane Taylor Writer, photographer, television producer and longterm resident of Amman. She studied Mediaeval History and Moral Philosophy at the University of St Andrews and her numerous books include Imperial Istanbul, Petra & the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans, Jordan Images from the Air and Beyond the Jordan (with Isabelle Ruben). See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. currently undergoing restoration), masterpiece of the great architect Sinan, with his beautiful small Rüstem Pasha Camii. Brief walk through the Spice Bazaar. Finish with another small Sinan mosque, the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Camii.
Istanbul, the Golden Horn, after a drawing of c. 1890.
27 September–3 October 2016 (md 878) 7 days • £2,620 Lecturer: Jane Taylor An extraordinarily diverse city: Roman remains; Byzantine buildings; glorious mosaics and frescoes; Ottoman mosques and palaces. Includes two visits to the Haghia Sophia, one of which is a private evening opening for our group (subject to confirmation). Stay in the heart of the Sultanahmet area.
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The radical transformations this city underwent are vividly expressed by its changes of name: Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul. The capital successively of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, it is one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities in the world. Initially a modest Greek city, it was chosen by Constantine as the site of the new capital of the Roman Empire and inaugurated in ad 330. The Byzantine Empire continued in direct succession to the Roman, and its capital became one of the largest cities in mediaeval Europe, the guardian of classical culture and a bastion of Orthodox Christianity. The city walls were the most powerful in the western world, and while the Byzantine empire gradually shrank before the onslaughts of Persians, Arabs and Latin Crusaders, it was not finally extinguished until 1453 when Ottoman Turks captured the city. In the century and a half after the Ottoman conquest the city steadily acquired some of the finest Islamic architecture in the world, aided by the example of Haghia Sophia, the architect Sinan and the brilliant tile factories at Iznik. Minarets and mosques now dominate the skyline, but churches, temples, palaces and other pre-Ottoman buildings, whole or fragmentary,
and the arts which decorated them, are to be found in abundance. Istanbul has evolved into a melting-pot of cultures, with a lively streetlife and colourful bazaars. Its international outlook is epitomised by the division between Europe and Asia, now linked by modern bridges crossing the mighty Bosphorus, and a new underwater railway tunnel.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c.11.30am (Turkish Airlines) from London Heathrow to Istanbul. Arrive early evening and drive to the historic quarter of Sultanahmet for the first of six nights. Day 2. A short stroll around the Hippodrome, originally constructed c. ad 200 by Septimius Severus, it was completely rebuilt on a larger scale by Constantine and inaugurated in ad 330. The day is then spent concentrating on the Byzantine monuments. Begin with Haghia Sophia, the 6thcentury church which is the chief monument of Christian Constantinople. Part of the ornamental pavement of the Byzantine Great Palace is displayed in the small Mosaic Museum. The Kariye Museum (church of St Saviour in Chora) possesses the finest assemblage of Byzantine mosaics and frescoes to survive anywhere. Day 3. Yerebatan Saray is a remarkable colonnaded cistern. The Archaeological Museum has an outstanding collection of ancient art and artefacts, Hellenistic and Roman sculpture, and sarcophagi. Visit the mosque complex of Sultan Beyazit II, with fine portals, minarets and courtyards. The excellent Islamic Museum in the Ibrahim Pasha Palace has textiles and various artefacts. Optional walk through the Grand Bazaar and free time. Day 4. Sultan Ahmet Camii (Blue Mosque) is the last of Istanbul’s imperial mosques. Contrast the large and imposing Süleymaniye complex (tombs
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Day 5. Topkapı Palace was the Sultan’s residence and the political centre of the Ottoman Empire. Now used to display the Imperial Treasury, it contains the finest surviving collection of Islamic precious objects and an outstanding collection of Chinese porcelain. Afterwards visit Haghia Eirene, the Church of the Divine Peace, before a free afternoon to explore Istanbul independently. Day 6. Travel by private boat along the Bosphorus, the historic and beautiful strait which divides Europe from Asia, for superb views of Istanbul and the villas and castles of its suburbs. See Beylerbeyi Palace, an imperial summer residence during the late Ottoman Empire. The Sadberk Hanim Museum is a mansion with fine collections spanning the whole period of Anatolian civilizations. Private evening visit of the Haghia Sophia. Day 7. Drive beside the Golden Horn and along the massive Byzantine land walls to the Yediküle Fortress. Fly to Heathrow, arriving c. 3.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,620 or £2,360 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,980 or £2,720 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 5 dinners with wine. Visas: entry visas for Turkey must be secured prior to arrival (this can be done online). We will advise on the process. Accommodation. Hotel Eresin Crown (eresincrown.com.tr): elegant 5-star hotel in the heart of the Sultanahmet, close to the Blue Mosque. It has a roof terrace with views of the Sea of Marmara. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? You will be on your feet a lot, walking and standing around. Istanbul is also quite hilly. This tour is not suitable for anyone with difficulties with walking or negotiating stairs. Average distance by coach per day: 9 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Classical Greece, 17–26 September (page 99).
Ottoman Turkey Bursa, Iznik, Istanbul, Edirne
Stay in Istanbul, capital from 1453, and the earlier Ottoman capitals of Bursa and Edirne. See fine Ottoman buildings, which constitute perhaps a high point of Islamic architecture. Study Iznik ceramics and tiles, as well as textiles and craft work in wood and metal. In the world of Islam the sixteenth century architecture of the Ottoman Empire has few peers. The supreme architect, and the most prolific, was Sinan. With the sixth century church of Haghia Sophia as the inspiration for many of his buildings, the pupil constantly strove to surpass the master in engineering skill and aesthetic refinements. Bursa, the first capital of the embryonic Ottoman Empire, is now a vibrant growing town, in an attractive setting at the base of the Uludağ mountain. The tour appropriately begins here, in order to trace the development of Ottoman art and architecture by seeing its early manifestations first. At nearby Iznik, in the sixteenth century, the era of Süleyman the Magnificent, ceramics achieved a peak of perfection, not only in tableware but also in tiles, using a process which has amazingly been lost to history. Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, was the largest city in the world both in late antiquity and in the Middle Ages. Its fall to the Ottomans in 1453 put their empire on a level with the Persian and Roman empires of the past. It is a deeply fascinating place, with a bewildering history and a mix of opposing cultures, but mosques and minarets still dominate the skyline. Edirne, formerly Adrianopolis, is an astonishing town, a once thriving capital, rich in architectural treasures, now beached on a byway and rarely reached by tourists. The greatest of all Sinan’s mosques is here.
Itinerary
Day 2: Bursa. This first settled capital of the Ottoman Empire after its capture from the Byzantines in 1326 retains the sights of the old centre, but the new town now sprawls onto the plateau beneath. Mosques were built by each Sultan from 1326 to 1451, outstanding being the Yeşil Cami (Green Mosque) and Yeşil Türbe (Green Tomb) with extensive tilework by the Masters of Tabriz. See the mosque and tombs of the Muradiye complex. Situated in the old commercial centre are Ulu Cami (Great Mosque) and the caravanserais whose rents funded the mosques and served the textile trade, famous for its silk velvets. Private shadow puppet
Day 3: Iznik. Drive to Iznik, formerly the flourishing Roman town of Nicæa, capital in the 13th century of the Byzantine emperorsin-exile; now a charming and unspoilt country town within concentric circuits of Roman and Byzantine walls. The museum in the beautiful hospice of Nilüfer Hatun tells the story of ceramic production from the Byzantine period to the great frit wares of the 16th century. Continue northwards and re-cross the Bosphorus. First of four nights in Istanbul. Day 4: Istanbul. Topkapi Sarayi, the palace of the Ottoman Sultans, is arranged around a series of courtyards. Apart from the magnificent Harem (living quarters of the royal family), other buildings house fine collections of Turkish arts and Chinese porcelain. A fine work by the great Ottoman architect Sinan is the Süleymaniye Mosque, the enormous and elegant complex includes medreses, shops and tombs (currently undergoing restoration) overlooking the Golden Horn. Overnight Istanbul. Day 5: Istanbul. Begin with monuments of the Byzantine city around the hippodrome, chief of which is Haghia Sophia, greatest of all Byzantine buildings and the inspiration for many Ottoman mosques. The Kariye Camii (St Saviour in Chora) has some of the finest Byzantine mosaics and wall paintings in the world. Optional visit to the old commercial district and Covered Bazaar.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,060 or £2,900 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,300 or £3,140 without flights. Included meals: 3 lunches, 7 dinners, with wine. Visas: entry visas for Turkey must be secured prior to arrival (this can be done online). We will advise on the process. Accommodation. Hotel Çelik Palas, Bursa (celikpalas.com): recently refurbished modern hotel conveniently located near the city centre. Hotel Eresin Crown, Istanbul (eresincrown. com.tr): well located in the Sultanahmet area, this hotel is locally rated as 5-star, with elegant rooms and a roof terrace. Edirne Karavansary Hotel (edirnekervansarayhotel.com): converted 16th-century caravanserai with a sense of the traditional local hostelry, the best available hotel, fairly basic but adequate. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking within the towns, and paving is uneven. On some days there are several hours of driving. There are three hotel changes. Average distance by coach per day: 66 miles. Group size: between 12 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Central Anatolia, 13–25 April (page 184); Central Macedonia, 8–15 May (page 102).
Day 6: Istanbul. A short walk from the hotel is Yerebatan Saray, a remarkable colonnaded cistern. Continue to a small Sinan mosque, the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Camii and then to the mosque of Rüstem Pasha, also small but brilliantly embellished with tiles. Nearby is the colourful and aromatic spice market. Optional visit to museum of Islamic and Turkish art in the Ibrahim Pasha Sarayi or the old commercial district and Covered Bazaar. Overnight Istanbul. Day 7. The Bosphorus. Travel by private boat along the Bosphorus to Sariyer. Visit the Sadberk Hanim Museum, which combines two exceptional private collections, one ethnographic and the other archaeological. Lunch by the Bosphorus. Overnight in Edirne, near the border with Greece and Bulgaria.
TURKEY
Day 1. Fly at c. 11.50am from London Gatwick to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport (Turkish Airlines). A short ferry ride across the Sea of Marmara and a drive south through mainly agricultural land with peach trees and olive groves to Bursa. First of two nights in Bursa.
performance, popularized during the Ottoman period. Overnight Bursa.
turkey
29 April–7 May 2016 (mc 650) 9 days • £3,060 Lecturer: Sue Rollin
Day 8: Edirne. European capital of the Ottoman Empire until 1453. The Eski Camii (Old Mosque) shows the continuation of one of the traditions established at Bursa. The mosque and hospital complex of Sultan Beyazit II, is delightfully situated on the banks of the Tunca. The Üç Serefeli Mosque was the first Ottoman mosque to have a courtyard, and the first step towards the classical building style of the 16th century, exemplified by the nearby Selimiye, Sinan’s masterpiece. Return to Istanbul for one night. Day 9: Istanbul. Sultan Ahmet Camii (Blue Mosque), despite its fame, marks the beginning of the decline of Ottoman architecture. Drive past the massive Byzantine walls. Fly to London Gatwick, arriving at c. 4.00pm.
Bursa, steel engraving c. 1850. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Insider’s Istanbul
A closer look at a city unrivalled turkey
29 September–6 October 2016 (md 879) 8 days • £3,690 Lecturer: Barnaby Rogerson
as the eastern terminus for the Orient Express. In the evening, a private visit to the Hagia Sophia, a rare opportunity to marvel at one of the city’s most iconic monuments without the crowds.
Exploring in detail sections of the vast historical tapestry that is Istanbul.
Day 5. The Zulfaris Synagogue, built in 1671, is also the Jewish Museum, that recounts the history of the sizeable Jewish community who were welcomed by the Ottomans following persecution in Christian Europe. The rest of the afternoon is free to explore in and around Galata.
Special access to some less-known sites; churches, synagogues, consulates, and private residences. Excellent accommodation situated in the heart of the modern district.
Day 6. Parallel with the Golden Horn, the atmospheric quarters of Balat and Fetih demonstrate the extraordinary examples of tolerance on which Istanbul is built; the Ahrida Synagogue, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, Gul Camii (the Rose Mosque), plus the exteriors of several other ancient places of worship. The afternoon is spent admiring the impressive Byzantine mosaics and frescoes of the Kariye Museum (church of St Saviour in Chora) and Fatih Camii (Church of the Holy Apostles). End the day with a visit to Eyup Sultan Camii, the religious heart of the city.
Dine at some of the finest restaurants in the city.
TURKEY
Istanbul is one the lodestones of our world. Doomed by the priceless gifts of her geography to sit between two continents and watch over a strait that connects two vast inland seas, the city has been a prize that empires have always had to fight for, both to protect themselves and in order to prosper. Serving as the triumphant capital city of two quite distinctive empires (the Byzantine and then the Ottoman), each of whose dominion endured for at least five hundred years, Istanbul is no mere time-encrusted relic, perpetually looking back towards its golden pasts, but a city at the heart of Turkey’s financial rise, locked into a spiral of growth. The city has always been a magnet to travellers, who rightly flock to admire and compare its great monuments. However, the footfall of international tourism has undeniably increased these past fifty years. Where once you might have stumbled upon a lone professor of Byzantine or Norse studies looking for runes on the upper balconies of the Hagia Sophia, you now have to watch your feet less they be trampled by hordes of tour groups freshly unloaded from a dozen cruise ships. This tour is not the B side of the city, but a tighter focus: a deeper, more atmospheric, immersion into the vast store of Istanbul’s architectural history. We base ourselves outside the ‘tourist quarter’ of Sultanahmet, partly to keep a little distance from the crowds, but also to allow ourselves a shortish walk into Old Stamboul, the old Levantine and European quarters of Galata and Pera, where the Great Game was plotted for two centuries. We also explore treasures and tombs on the Yali-dotted Bosphorus shore, certain jewels of the Byzantine renaissance, the palace of the reclusive SultanCaliph Abdul Hamid, nineteenth-century railway stations of Imperial splendour, and two reclusive memorials of the Crimean war, as well as taking time to pause within the surviving spiritual heritage of the great city, whether Sephardic synagogues, the seat of the Orthodox Patriarchate or Embassy chapels overshadowed by history. We stay in the Pera Palace, of course, the palatial rest-house for travellers off the Orient Express, in whose history we delight.
Itinerary
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Day 1. Fly at c. 11.30am (Turkish Airlines) from London Heathrow to Istanbul. Arrive early evening and drive to the Pera quarter of Istanbul for the first of seven nights.
Haghia Sophia, photograph by J. Guérin c. 1910.
Day 2. Pera, the historic European quarter, has been centre of commerce in Istanbul since the early years of Ottoman rule, when merchants and traders from across the Mediterranean and beyond established themselves in the city. Begin by visiting the Pera Museum, home to an impressive collection of artefacts and paintingsr. Continue for a special appointment at the British Consulate that includes the charming chapel of St Helena. In the afternoon a walking tour visits another private chapel, the Union Church of Istanbul, located in the Dutch Consulate with roots in the 17th century. In Pera the small but beautiful Christ Church (Crimea Memorial Church) honours the fallen. Day 3. The excellent and recently refurbished Naval Museum includes the finest collection of wooden ceremonial boats in the world, the Sultan’s barges. Adjacent to the museum is the tomb of the legendary Ottoman admiral Barbarossa, built by Sinan. Board a private boat for an excursion on the Bosphorus including the Sabanci Museum, housed in a beautiful villa with views over the water. This is followed by a private visit to the former residence of the Sultan’s physician and one of the city’s oldest and most authentic yalis. Day 4. The Sale Kosku, a magnificent building designed to receive foreign dignitaries including Kaiser Wilhelm II, is also home to one of the largest Hereke carpets in the world. A short drive away, the city’s contemporary art collection is held at the Istanbul Modern. In the afternoon walk to Sultanahmet, passing the beautifully restored hamam complex of Kilic Ali Pasha, the Galata Bridge, and Sirkeci station, opened 1888
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Day 7. A full day on the Asian side of Istanbul. Tucked away in the shadows of the imperious Selimiye Barracks, the British Crimean War Cemetery was founded as a burial place for British soldiers who died during the Crimean War (1853–56). Some would have been treated by Florence Nightingale, who worked in the barracks’ hospital from 1854–56 and in whose honour a small museum has been maintained, which we visit. The district of Uskudar has some interesting imperial architectural features including the Atik Valide Kulliyesi and Mihrimah Camii. Day 8. Drive beside the Golden Horn and along the massive Byzantine land walls to the Yediküle Fortress. Fly to Heathrow, arriving at c. 3.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,690 or £3,430 without flights. Single occupancy: £4,480 or £4,220 without flights. Included meals: 4 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine. Visas: entry visas for Turkey must be secured prior to arrival (this can be done online). We will advise on the process. Accommodation. Pera Palace (jumeirah.com): part of the luxury Jumeirah group, this iconic hotel has recently undergone major renovation, making it one of the best in the city. Rooms are stylishly furnished and well equipped. It is within walking distance of Istanbul’s modern district. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? You will be on your feet a lot, walking and standing around. Istanbul is also quite hilly. This tour is not suitable for anyone with difficulties with walking or climbing stairs. Average distance by coach per day: 10 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Classical Greece, 17–26 September (page 99).
Classical Turkey
Greeks & Romans in Anatolia
The most prosperous region of the ancient Mediterranean world. The finest collection of Hellenistic and Roman city ruins to be found anywhere. All the major sites and many which are off the beaten track or difficult to get to. Scenically varied and spectacular: coast, mountain and plain.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.25am (Turkish Airlines) from London Heathrow to Izmir, via Istanbul. Dinner in the hotel. First of three nights in Izmir. Day 2: Pergamon. Under the Hellenistic Attalid dynasty, Pergamon became the most powerful city-state in Asia Minor, rivalling Athens and Alexandria as a centre of culture. On a steepsided hill are remains of Attalid palaces, Temple of Dionysus and Altar of Zeus (most of which is now in Berlin), the Greek theatre and remains of the library, Temple of Athena and Attalid palaces. The Asclepieon and ‘Temple of Serapis’ (Red Fort) lie on flat ground below. Day 3: Sardis, Izmir. Drive inland to Sardis, capital of the Kingdom of Lydia, whose last independent ruler was the fabulously wealthy Croesus (560–546 bc), it later became an important Roman city. See the impressive remains of the Temple of Artemis, the reconstructed ‘Marble Court’, gymnasium and the 3rd-century synagogue, the largest in the ancient world. Free time in Izmir, Greek Smyrna. Day 4: Ephesus. Drive south to Ephesus, principal port and commercial centre on the Aegean coast under the Roman Empire and capital of the
province of Asia, with a population of 400,000 in the 2nd-century ad. The most popular pagan pilgrimage destination in the Graeco-Roman world, the city was also key to the development of Christianity. Ruined by the sedimentation of its estuary and finally sacked in the 7th-century, Ephesus has become the most extensively excavated site of the ancient world. Begin with the remains of the Temple of Artemis, before the first visit to the main site which has an abundance of paved streets, public buildings, temples, gymnasia and courtyard houses. Among the more striking buildings are the Library of Celsus and the theatre, originally seating 24,000 and scene of the protest against St Paul described in the Acts of the Apostles. First of three nights in Kusadasi. Day 5: Priene, Didyma, Miletus. A small city of the Dodecapolis in southern Ionia, Priene is magnificently sited above the Maeander plain. Its hillside site ill-suiting it for Roman commerce, the remains date largely from the late Classical and early Hellenistic periods, and it exhibits one of the earliest of grid street layouts. The Temple of Athena Polias at the summit was designed by the architect Pythius. Didyma was a sanctuary with an oracle which, for a time, rivalled that at Delphi. Impressive remains of the colossal Hellenistic Temple of Apollo. Miletus, massive, well-preserved Roman theatre, baths of Faustina, wife of Marcus Aurelius. Day 6: Selçuk, Ephesus. Morning visit of the Temple of Apollo at Claros before returning to Selçuk to see the restored Basilica of St John at the top of Ayasuluk hill, and the Isla Bey mosque
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The Turks were latecomers to Turkey. Greeks had settled on the western fringes over two thousand years before and, as recounted in The Iliad, had been meddling in Anatolian affairs a few centuries earlier still. After the demise of the Mycenaean civilization of Homer’s heroes, large numbers of Hellenes migrated from Greece to Aegean Anatolia and its offshore islands. First, around 1100 bc, Aeolians came to settle in the northern part of this coastal area, then Ionians moved into terrain further down the coast, to be followed at the end of the tenth-century by Dorians who established themselves yet further south. They founded cities all along the Aegean coast and in due course along the river valleys into the heart of Anatolia and along the Mediterranean coast to the south. Most of the peoples the Greeks encountered eventually became Hellenised. No less than the Greeks of Greece proper, Asian Greeks contributed to the ‘Greek miracle’ by supplying philosophers, mathematicians, sculptors, architects and other civilizationbuilders of genius. The canon of classical architecture owes much to the Asian cities – not least the Ionic order, which appears in the gigantic temples of the Ionic coast, prodigies of architecture produced by the confluence of civilisations in the region. The Asian Greek cities succumbed willingly to Alexander. Freed from the Persian threat, they piled up the riches – material and architectural – of the Hellenistic period and became more numerous, more prosperous and more progressive than the western Greeks. They slipped with equal ease into membership of the Roman Empire. Imperial Rome was besotted by the Greek achievement. Greek culture proved more enduring than Roman, and after the fifth-century collapse of the western empire the use of Latin soon languished. Despite the subsequent collapse of trade, the destruction of the Aegean cities by the Sassanids and the invasions of Anatolia by Selçuk and Ottoman Turks, the Greek language and other aspects of Greek culture and Christianity, the new religion of the Greeks, were never entirely extinguished in Asia Minor. The abandoned ancient cities now comprise the most magnificent set of Archaic, Classical and, particularly, Hellenistic and Roman remains. While the proximity of some of the sites to holiday resorts and cruise ports means that they are also among the most visited, others
are still relatively difficult of access and far from the beaten track. And the settings are usually ravishing: whether coastal, mountain or plateau, the landscapes provide a backdrop for this tour of extraordinary beauty.
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11–20 April 2016 (mc 631) 10 days • £3,430 Lecturer: Professor Roger Wilson
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Ephesus (imagined reconstruction), steel engraving c. 1850. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Classical Turkey continued
Central Anatolia
Cappadocia & the civilizations at the heart of Turkey turkey
at the bottom. A second visit to the vast site of Ephesus, or a free afternoon in Kusadasi. Day 7: Aphrodisias. Leave the coast and drive into the interior of Anatolia. One of the most beautiful classical sites in Turkey, Aphrodisias was the centre of a Roman cult of Aphrodite. An important school for the production of high quality and widely exported sculpture, there are many fine examples in the museum. Among the architectural remains are the Temple of Aphrodite and the largest and most complete stadium to have survived from the ancient world. Drive to Antalya for the first of three nights. Day 8: Antalya. Founded by (and named after) Attalus II of Pergamum, Antalya was the principal port in Pamphylia in ancient and Byzantine times. The morning is spent exploring the old town with its restored Ottoman period houses. Free afternoon. Day 9: Perge, Aspendos, Antalya. Colonised by the Greeks after the Trojan War, Perge has substantial Hellenistic and Roman gates and colonnaded streets. While the Roman aqueduct at Aspendos is the best-preserved in Asia Minor, the marvellously complete theatre is the bestpreserved in the whole of the Roman world. Afternoon visit to the one of the country’s finest archaeological museums with exhibits from prehistory to Ottoman. Day 10. Fly from Antalya (via Istanbul) arriving London Heathrow at c. 3.15pm.
13–25 April 2016 (mc 634) 13 days • £4,080 Lecturer: Dr Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Endlessly fascinating journey through an extraordinary variety of landscapes and civilizations in Central Anatolia. From the ancient capital of the Hittites to Turkey’s modern capital, Ankara. Some of the finest examples of Seljuk architecture including the unesco listed complex at Divriği. Turkey is changing rapidly, but many aspects of traditional life continue. At the centre of Anatolia lies a limestone plateau, crumpled and eroded, with mountainous barriers at the rim. A land-bridge between Asia and Europe, this unpromising terrain has perhaps been traversed by a greater variety of peoples and cultures than any comparable part of the world. Diversity is the hallmark of Central Anatolia. There is land blessed with exceptional fertility, emblazoned with a patchwork of greens and golds; and there are vast vistas of inhospitable rolling hills, parched and bereft of topsoil. Forests sprout around turbulent valley streams; elsewhere desolate, dead-flat, arid plains stretch to distant horizons. In Cappadocia the volcanic tufa has been whipped by wind and rain into clusters of billowing cones, cascades of frolicking rock and other bizarre geomorphic contortions.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,430 or £3,140 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,850 or £3,560 without flights. Included meals: 8 lunches, 8 dinners, with wine. Visas: entry visas for Turkey must be secured prior to arrival (this can be done online). We will advise on the process.
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Accommodation. Hilton, Izmir (hilton. co.uk/izmir): large, modern 5-star hotel overlooking the Citadel and old port. Double Tree by Hilton, Kusadasi (doubletree3.hilton. com): modern 4-star hotel. Tuavana Hotel, Antalya (tuvanahotel.com): beautiful converted traditional house, now a boutique hotel within the old city walls. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? The tour covers long distances by coach, and on some days there are several hours of driving. There are two hotel changes. There is a lot of walking over the very rough terrain of partially excavated archaeological sites. Some visits require an uphill walk to reach the site. Agility and stamina are essential. Average distance by coach per day: 80 miles. Group size: 10 to 22 participants. Combine this tour with Gastronomic Andalucía, 22–29 April (page 178).
184
Boghazköy, lithograph c. 1840. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Equally diverse are the civilizations which have made their mark. Here can be found the site of what is generally held to be the world’s oldest town, Çatal Höyük. Vast towns were built by the Hittites–a people strangely little-known in the English-speaking world but, for periods during the second millennium bc, second only to the Egyptians as a power in the lands around the eastern Mediterranean. They were succeeded by Phrygians, the people of King Midas. Greeks and Persians followed, and fought; the brief rule of Alexander and his Macedonians was continued under the Seleucids. Invaded variously by migrants, conquerors, adventurers and traders, Anatolia was progressively part orientalised and part Hellenised, but indigenous characteristics remained. The Pontic kingdom was a native kingdom, which under Mithridates valiantly if cruelly resisted Roman might, but by 50 bc Central Anatolia was under Roman rule as the province of Asia Minor. When five centuries later Europe ceased to be Roman and the eastern half of the empire was ruled from Constantinople (formerly Byzantium), Anatolia found itself to be the home counties of the Roman world, a world which was now Christian. Monks and hermits cut dwellings and churches in the pliable rock of Cappadocia, and Christian communities continued there into the last century. Islam encroached when the Seljuk Turks from the Central Asian steppes rapidly extended their empire and wrested part of Anatolia from the Byzantines after their victory of 1071. Among
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.25am (Turkish Airlines) from London Heathrow to Ankara, via Istanbul. First of three nights in Ankara. Day 2: Ankara. Installed in a 15th-century market hall and recently renovated, the Museum of Anatolian Civilization has a wonderful collection of art and artefacts from many of the sites on the tour. After lunch visit the Atatürk Mausoleum, a revered shrine to the creator of modern Turkey.
Day 3: Gordion, Ankara. Morning drive to Gordion, site of the Phrygian capital where Alexander cut the knot and where Midas is reputedly buried. The afternoon is free to walk up to the massive Byzantine and Seljuk walls of the citadel; here survives a traditional village apparently oblivious to the seething modern city spread over the surrounding hills. Day 4: Boghazköy (Hattusas, Yazilikaya), Alaca Höyük. In remote hill country to the east of Ankara, commanding an immense landscape, lies the site of Hattusas, the Hittite capital of the 2nd millennium bc. Of staggering size (the perimeter wall is 7 km), it retains the main gateways and figurative carvings in a temple of Yazilikaya across a gorge just outside the city. The Bronze Age site (c. 2300 bc) of Alaca Höyük has an imposing Sphinx gateway and has yielded a collection of precious objects of highly accomplished workmanship. Overnight Çorum. Day 5: Amasya, Sivas. Nestling in a deep valley and with old Ottoman houses overhanging the River Yesilirmak, Amasya is one of the loveliest towns in Anatolia. Capital of the Pontic kingdom, there are remains of the hilltop palace and rockcut royal tombs in the cliffs overlooking the town. Continue to Sivas with traditional architecture, Seljuk and Ottoman monuments. First of two nights in Sivas. Day 6: Divriği. A beautiful drive through the Anatolian plains with snow capped mountains to the Great Mosque and Hospital at Divriği. Built in the early 13th cent. the building is famed for its three unique decorated doorways carved with vegetal, geometrical, star and knotted motifs, the quality of which are unrivalled in the region. Largely unknown to visitors to Turkey it is one of unesco’s least visited world heritage sites but one of Turkey’s most splendid. Day 7: Sivas, Kayseri. Sivas, which preceded Konya as the regional Seljuk capital, has some of the finest remaining architecture of the 13th century including a complex of colleges and minarets and an attractive old quarter and Ottoman structures. Drive through mountainous terrain to Kayseri. Overnight Kayseri.
Day 9: Soganli, Eski Gümüs. Drive through a gorge which in addition to geological oddities has tumble-down villages, orchards and small holdings. The Soganli valley has many dwellings and churches cut into the rock, the finest of all remnants of Byzantine Cappadocia is the monastery at Eski Gümüs.
Day 12: Konya, Çatal Höyük. Capital of the 13thcentury Seljuk empire and home of Sufism, Konya remains the religious centre of Turkey. Visit the Mevlana Tekke, monastery of the Whirling Dervishes, with turquoise dome and collection of Islamic art. The Karatay Madrasa, with marvellous Seljuk tiles, now houses a ceramics museum. Excursion to Çatal Höyük, the most important Neolithic site in Turkey and probably the earliest town in the world (c. 6000 bc). Day 13. Free morning in Konya before flying from Konya to Istanbul, and on to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 9.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,080 or £3,740 without flights. Single occupancy: £4,590 or £4,250 without flights. Included meals: 12 lunches (including one picnic) and 12 dinners with wine (where available). Visas: entry visas for Turkey must be secured prior to arrival (this can be done online). We will advise on the process. Accommodation. Divan Çukurhan, Ankara (divan.com.tr): restored 17th centiru caravanserai located opposite to the main entrance of the Ankara Citadel. Anitta, Çorum (anittahotel. com): small 4-star hotel, in a central location and with all facilities. Büyük Hotel, Sivas (sivasbuyukotel.com): large, good-standard hotel close the main square. Hilton, Kayseri (hilton. com.tr). Museum Hotel, Uçhisar (museum-hotel. com): beautiful boutique hotel with views of Cappadocia, one of the best in the region. Hich Hotel, Konya (hichhotel.com): restored Konak building with views of the Mevlana. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? A long and demanding tour with some early starts and days with a lot of coach travel (but roads are good and the coach carries refreshments). Participants should be able to manage everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty. Archaeological sites involve scrambling over rough terrain and surefootedness is essential. Average distance by coach per day: 103 miles.
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Day 8: Kayseri, Cappadocia. Kayseri (formerly Caesarea), was the capital of Roman Cappadocia and includes a Byzantine fortress, Islamic buildings including the Great Mosque with re-used Corinthian columns, and an intriguing ethnographic museum. The archaeological site of Kültepe was a settlement of 1800 bc with a colony of Assyrians. Continue to Cappadocia for the first of three nights in Uçhisar.
Day 11: Ihlara Valley, Sultanhani. Whole morning walking through the deep Ihlara Gorge with abundant flora, fauna and rockcut Byzantine churches including Güzelyurt, birthplace of St Gregory. Drive westwards across a plain to Sultanhani, a splendid 13th-cent. caravanserai, with a cathedral-like five-aisled main hall. Continue to Konya, where the next two nights are spent.
turkey
their legacy is the mosque and hospital in Divriği, a masterpiece of Islamic architecture. The Turkish advance continued under the Ottomans until Byzantium finally fell in 1453. Traditional ways of life continue in central Turkey, seemingly oblivious to the encroachments of the modern world and the thoroughly westernised sectors of society–another instance of diversity. The best finds from sites visited are now in the excellent Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara. More than mere witnesses to lost civilizations, many of the objects are endowed with compelling sculptural force and decorative beauty; the museum is as much a collection of great art as of archaeology. Few journeys in the Old World are as stimulating or as varied as this survey of the Turkish heartlands.
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Lycia & Pamphylia, 28 April–5 May (page 186); Ottoman Turkey, 29 April–7 May (page 181).
Day 10: Goreme. Morning visit of the spectacular Goreme open-air museum. The rest of the afternoon is free to explore the landscape on foot (there are several walking trails).
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Lycia & Pamphylia
Walks, archaeology & seascapes in south-west Turkey turkey
28 April–5 May 2016 (mc 649) 8 days • £2,640 Lecturer: Dr Ffiona Gilmore Eaves Four moderate walks of between 2 and 6.7 kilometres around archaeological sites in Lycia and Pamphylia. Visit the major cities of the powerful Roman and pre-Roman Lycian league: a chance to discover the originality of the distinctive Lycian art and culture. Boat trips to Kaş – ancient Antiphellos – and to see the sunken waterfront ruins on the island of Kekova. Led by Dr Ffiona Gilmore Eaves, archaeologist specialising in the Early Christian period. The cities of Lycia, on or close to the coast in the south-west corner of Turkey, were among the most prosperous in the ancient Mediterranean world, their inhabitants being noted for their independence and their commercial acumen. Thoroughly Hellenized, they were absorbed into the Roman Empire where they were joined by the province of Pamphylia further along the southern coast. Although there has been a rapid rise in tourism to coastal Turkey in recent years, the region still retains its charm and there are some wonderful archaeological sites and abandoned cities, both along the coast and among the mountains of the hinterland. The translucent sea still laps around ancient tombs and reveals traces of houses and harbours below the water. This tour incorporates two walks on the Lycian Way, and two further walks to some of the lesser-known sites in the region, some of which
are only accessible on foot. The walking requires sure-footedness and strong knees, as much is on rough, windy paths and tracks.
Itinerary Day 1: Kalkan. Fly at c.1.30pm from London Gatwick to Dalaman and drive to Kalkan for the first of four nights. Day 2: Patara, Letoon, Xanthos. Walk 2km on level, grassy paths to Xanthos, the premier city in Lycia, impressively situated above the Xanthos river. Former site of the Nereid monument (now in the British Museum), it has fine Roman and Byzantine remains, including a well-preserved theatre. Drive to Letoon, a major religious site in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. After a leisurely lunch, drive to Patara, port of Xanthos, where ancient ruins include a Roman triumphal arch and recently restored bouleuterion. Day 3: Liman Agizi, Kaş. Drive to Kaş and walk 4km to Liman Agizi (level, sandy paths) before returning by boat to Kaş, the site of the ancient city of Antiphellos. Time to explore the Lycian sarcophagi and theatre, and the cobbled streets and small shops of this charming fishing town. Return to Kalkan for some free time. Day 4: Kale, Üçagiz, Kekova. Starting at 473m above sea-level, the day begins with a moderately challenging 6.7km downhill walk on rocky paths with little shade. Just beyond the site of Aperlai, which recent research shows supplied the soughtafter ‘Tyrian purple’ dye, board a motor cruiser to sail towards Kekova. There is a simple lunch on board while passing the Byzantine ruins at Tersane and the ‘sunken city’ along Kekova’s north coast. Cross the estuary and disembark at Kale to visit ancient Simena, a dramatic citadel
with Greek, Roman and Byzantine remains. Continue by boat to Üçagiz (ancient Teimiussa) and return to Kalkan by road. Day 5: Myra, Antalya. ‘Thrice-blessed, myrrhbreathing city of the Lycians’, Myra was one of the greatest cities of ancient Lycia, and it gained fame in the Christian era as an episcopal seat occupied by St Nicholas. Among the sites are very fine rock-cut tombs with richly carved facades and the Early Christian basilica of St Nicholas. Continue to Antalya for the first of three nights. Day 6: Antalya. Founded by Attalus II of Pergamon, Antalya was the principal port in Pamphylia in ancient and Byzantine times. The morning is spent exploring the old town with its restored Ottoman period houses and Roman-era harbour. Spend the afternoon at the Archaeological Museum, which has exhibits from prehistoric to Ottoman times, and an excellent sculpture collection from the Roman cities. Day 7: Termessos, Antalya. One of the most impressive of ancient sites, Termessos is built on a plateau high among rugged mountains. It is scarcely excavated, but with the theatre perched on the edge of a precipice it remains a highly evocative place. Walk c. 5km around the site on some rough and stony paths, followed by a picnic lunch. Return to Antalya for some free time. Day 8. Fly at c. 11.00am from Antalya to London Gatwick via Istanbul, arriving at 4.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,640 or £2,060 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,030 or £2,450 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 4 dinners, with wine. Visas: entry visas for Turkey must be secured prior to arrival (this can be done online). We will advise on the process.
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Accommodation: Likya Residence and Spa, Kalkan (likyakalkan.com): elegant, with spacious rooms, balconies and sea views from all rooms. Located just outside the centre of Kalkan with 2 swimming pools, spa, restaurant, and access by foot to a nearby beach at Yali. Tuvana Hotel, Antalya (tuvanahotel.com): converted traditional house, now a boutique hotel within the old city walls. It has a secluded swimming pool in its gardens, and a restaurant offering fine dining. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? Participants must be used to regular country walking with some uphill content. There are 4 moderate walks of between 2 and 6.7km. Strong knees and ankles are essential, as are a pair of well-worn hiking boots with good ankle support. Walks have been carefully selected but some steep paths are unavoidable (up- and down-hill) and terrain can be loose underfoot. Average distance by coach per day: 48 miles. Group size: between 10 and 18 participants.
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Xanthos, 20th-century etching. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Combine this tour with Footpaths of Umbria, 9–16 May (page 131); Central Macedonia, 8–15 May (page 102).
Persia
Ancient & Islamic Iran
1–15 September 2016 (md 822) 15 days/14 nights • £4,460 Lecturer: Dr Charles Melville
iran
14–28 April 2016 (mc 633) This tour is currently full
Isfahan, Royal Mosque, steel engraving 1889.
Two further departures are planned Contact us to register your interest A selection of the most interesting cities, major buildings and archaeological sites in this vast and varied country. Three full days to explore Isfahan; three full days in Tehran; ample time in Shiraz and Yazd. Suitable either for first-time visitors or for those with some familiarity already.
Day 2: Shiraz. Arrive Shiraz airport at c. 2.30am and drive to hotel where rooms will be ready for a rest before lunch. In the afternoon visit the Eram Gardens and Nasir al-Mulk Mosque. First of four nights in Shiraz. Day 3: Persepolis. Excursion to Persepolis, the spectacular Achaemenid ceremonial city built by Darius I and Xerxes in the 5th and 4th cents. bc. In the afternoon continue to the Achaemenid royal tombs cut into the cliffs at Naqsh-e-Rustam. Overnight Shiraz. Day 4: Firuzabad. Full day excursion beginning with the scenic drive past the large salt lake of Maharlu and the impressive Qalh Dokhtar that is perched on a cliff top. Visit the large Sassanid palaces and the ancient city of Ardashir Khurreh, known as Gur. Overnight Shiraz.
Itinerary
Day 5: Shiraz. Full day visiting the city of gardens and poets including Naranjestan Palace, a 19th-cent. town house and garden of a wealthy patrician and the evocative tombs of Hafez and Sa’di. Finish the day with the Vakil mosque and bazaar. Final night in Shiraz.
Day 1. Fly at c. 11.25am from London Heathrow (Turkish Airlines) to Shiraz (via Istanbul), arriving early the following morning.
Day 6: Pasargadae, Yazd. At Pasargadae, see the ruins of the first Persian capital built by Cyrus the Great, whose tomb is situated in the windswept
upland plain surrounding the city. Arrive Yazd for the first of two nights. Days 7: Yazd. An ancient caravan city on the edge of the desert with unique traditional architecture and some of the earliest fully-tiled monuments in Iran. Islamic monuments include the 14th and 15th-cent. Friday Mosque with its spectacular tiled entrance portal, the highest in the country. The centre of the ancient Zoroastrian religion, Yazd has one of the largest surviving of such communities in Iran. Visit the fire temple and funerary Towers of Silence. Overnight Yazd. Day 8: Maybod, Mohammediye, Na’in, Isfahan. Visit the citadel in the traditional pottery-making centre of Maybod. Stop at Mohammediye to see traditional wool-weaving. In Na’in, the geographical heart of Iran, visit the mosque which retains 10th-cent. features. Drive to Isfahan, where four nights are spent. Days 9, 10 & 11: Isfahan. Three full days in Isfahan to experience the sights of the monumental capital of Safavid Persia (17th and 18th cent.). Opportunity to visit all the main monuments beginning with the great rambling Friday Mosque, a classic work of Persian art and a veritable textbook of Islamic architecture, incorporating most periods and styles. The great Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The successive civilizations of Persia were among the most potent and creative in Asia, and have provided the West with some of our most evocative images – of distant caravanserais and immense vaulted bazaars, of poets and rose gardens, of turquoise domes and priceless carpets. The very names of the cities breathe magic: Shiraz, Persepolis, Isfahan. But the images are no mere symbols of a distant past. Historic Persian ways of life and the monuments which sheltered and articulated them are alive today. The fabulous mosques of Isfahan, the bustle of great bazaars, immense armies of nomads on the move or the magic of classical gardens bring Persia’s civilization vividly to life. But it was virtually hidden from foreigners for some years after the 1979 revolution. Iran underwent cataclysmic upheavals: a national uprising against one of the strongest rulers in the world, a revolution with repercussions that still reverberate to this day, and one of the most destructive wars of the twentieth century. From these trials, triumphs and tragedies the Iranians have emerged much changed, but they are eager to show their country to the traveller once more. Visitors to Iran can see some of the greatest sights in all Asia, such as Shah Abbas’s astonishing royal city of Isfahan, one of the great monumental cities of the world, or the silent ruins of Pasargadae and Persepolis, still much as Alexander’s destructive fury left them thousands of years ago. But equally interesting are the lesser-known splendours of Iran’s immensely rich heritage revealed by exploration of the old desert cities such as Yazd. The friendliness and welcome which visitors receive come as a surprise after three decades of less than agreeable newspaper headlines. Whilst the revolution has brought about great changes, the essentials remain unchanged: the timeless landscapes, the villages, the great cities and the cultural heritage that includes not only outstanding architecture but also the poetry of Hafez, Sa’di, Ferdowsi and Omar Khayyam.
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Persia continued
Israel & Palestine
Archaeology, architecture & art in the Holy Land iran, israel
works of the royal city laid out by Shah Abbas include the tiled bridges and the palace pavilions of Chehel Sutun and Hasht Behesht. Surrounding the vast Imam Square (formerly Royal Square) are the Ali Qapu Pavilion, the Shaikh Lutfollah Mosque with near perfect dome, the monumental entrance to the grand bazaar and the immense tiled bulk of the Imam Mosque (formerly Royal Mosque). Some free time in Isfahan, to shop in the famous bazaars or relax in a teahouse.
29 March–7 April 2016 (mc 618) 10 days • £4,430 Lecturer: Dr Garth Gilmour
Day 12: Natanz, Kashan, Tehran. Drive via Natanz to see the Friday Mosque and the Shrine of Sheikh Abdul-Samad. In Kashan visit Bagh-é Fin, perhaps the most beautiful of classical Persian gardens. First of three nights in Tehran.
Dr Garth Gilmour is a Biblical archaeologist who has lived and worked in Israel.
Day 13: Tehran. Visit the State Jewels Museum. The archaeological section of the National Museum of Iran contains items from many of the places visited on the tour. In the afternoon visit the Carpet Museum and the Abguineh Glass and Ceramics Museum, one of the most impressive in Tehran, not least for its architecture from the Qajar period Overnight Tehran. Day 14: Tehran. In the morning a visit to the Saad Abad Palace complex with its many museums and onto the Niravan palace, the home of the last Shah and the Empress Farah. Visit the Gulistan Palace, a jewel of Qajar-period architecture. The Reza Abbasi Museum houses a fine collection of ceramics, fabrics and decorative arts and a very fine collection of Achaemenid and Sassanian gold and silver. Final night Tehran.
Some of the most significant and evocative archaeological sites in the western hemisphere. Ancient and mediaeval and modern architecture, from Herod to Bauhaus – Judean, Roman, Christian and Islamic.
Enthralling vernacular building in ancient walled towns; varied landscapes, from rocky deserts to verdant valleys. Several days in Jerusalem – surely the most extraordinary city on earth? Ancient Canaan, the bridge between Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria and Mesopotamia; land of the Patriarchs, home to the Philistines, the Jebusites and the tribes of Israel. A land where the kingdom of David triumphantly rose around 1000 bc and where the splendour of Solomon’s Temple was Jerusalem, El-Aqsa Mosque, wood engraving c. 1880.
Day 15. Free morning before taking an early afternoon flight to London Heathrow (via Istanbul), arriving at c. 10.30pm. There may be slight variations to this itinerary depending on the preferences of the lecturer.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,460 or £3,720 without flights. Single occupancy: £5,080 or £4,340 without flights. Included meals: 13 lunches and 13 dinners with soft drinks (alcohol is prohibited Iran).
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Visas: required for most foreign nationals; we will advise on obtaining these. The cost of a tourist visa is currently c. £400 for British citizens. This is not included in the tour price. Accommodation. The best available, and all are graded as 5-star apart from in Yazd which has a 3-star rating. The local star ratings do not necessarily correspond to western categories, standards of maintenance vary. How strenuous? There are early starts and days with a lot of coach travel (but roads are good and the coach carries refreshments). There is a fair amount of walking, some of it over rough ground, and sure-footedness is essential. Average distance by coach per day: 110 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Ottoman Turkey, 29 April–7 May (page 181); Classical Greece, 17–26 September (page 99). book online at www.martinrandall.com
created. Jews, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans and Turks all made their mark; the history of the land is characterised by conquest and exile. Herod the Great (37–4 bc) was one of the greatest builders of the ancient world. Christianity brought a new wave of construction after Emperor Constantine and his mother, St Helena, in the fourth century ad consecrated the sites associated with Jesus. The final monotheistic religion to arrive was Islam when in ad 637 Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem. Another religion, and yet another monumental building, this time the Dome of the Rock. The Crusaders instigated another burst of building activity, planting European Romanesque and Gothic churches and castles tempered by local techniques. Mamluks and Ottomans trampled and rebuilt, and after the First World War, with Jewish immigration accelerating, the British were left to hold the rope until the establishment of Israel in 1948. Jerusalem is the most extraordinary city in the world. Within the walls – and the complete circuit survives, the current edition being sixteenth-century – it is a vibrant, authentic
“The scope and variety of the itinerary made it an extremely interesting and enjoyable tour – one of the best I have ever done with MRT or anyone else. A truly memorable trip.”
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 8.10am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv, and then drive to Jerusalem, reaching the hotel c. 5.30pm. First of three nights in Jerusalem. Day 2: Jerusalem. The buildings in the Old City and around (the walled kernel has shifted over the millennia) comprise an incomparable mix of ages and cultures from the time of King David to the present day, while continuing to be a thriving, living city. The massive stones and underground tunnels of Herod’s Temple Mount are highly impressive survivals from the ancient world. In the afternoon a walk along a section of the ramparts leads to further Roman-era structures in the Ecce Homo Convent and the Bethesda Pools, and to the Crusader church of St Anne. View the seeming panorama of belfries, domes, minarets and city wall from the Mount of Olives.
Day 4: Jerusalem. Mainly Constantinian and Crusader, but confusingly complex, compartmentalised and embellished with later ornamentation, a proper study of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre reveals a deeply fascinating building. Among the items seen during the rest of the day are the Roman colonnaded Cardo, the largely 13th-century Armenian Cathedral, and a 17th-century synagogue. Free time is an alternative, possibly with a visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. In the afternoon drive through Israel to the Dead Sea Valley, the lowest place on earth, to the oasis of Ein Gedi for the first of two nights. Day 5: Masada, Ein Gedi. Rising high above the Judaean desert, Herod’s fortified palace of
Jaffa, watercolour by Donald Maxwell, publ. 1920.
Masada, last redoubt of the Jewish rebellion against Roman occupation, is one of the most impressive archaeological sites in the Levant. Spend a free afternoon in Ein Gedi to enjoy the botanical gardens or a swim in the Dead Sea. Day 6: Qumran, Jericho, Galilee. Re-enter occupied Palestinian Territories. Qumran is the site of the settlement of the Essenes, a Jewish sect, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The palmshaded oasis of Jericho is the world’s most lowlying town and perhaps its oldest continuously inhabited one, the Tell as-Sultan dating back 10,000 years. Nearby, Hisham’s Palace is a remarkably well preserved 8th-century Umayyad palace. Continue north, re-enter Israel and spend the first of two nights in Tiberias. Day 7: Sea of Galilee, Tzefat. Visit the archaeological site of Tell Hazor, and ascend the Galilean highlands to the mediaeval synagogues and cobbled streets of the town of Tzefat. The churches of the Heptapegon (known today as Tabgha) are locations of Jesus’s ministry where pilgrims from all over the world share the sites and view the magnificent mosaics. See the remains of the fishing village of Capernaum, Jesus’s most permanent home and site of a 5thcent. synagogue. Take a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Day 8: Akko, Caesarea. Akko (Acre) was the principal city of the Crusaders, though the vaulted halls surviving from that period lie below an enthralling maze of narrow streets, Ottoman khans and modern souqs. Drive beside the Mount Carmel range to Caesarea, founded by Herod the Great and capital of Judaea for over 600 years. Once the largest city of the eastern Mediterranean, remains include the Herodian theatre, Byzantine residential quarters and a Crusader church. First of two nights Tel Aviv. Day 9: Tel Aviv, Jaffa. Tel Aviv began as an English-style garden city suburb of Jaffa, sprouted a Bauhaus extension (the ‘White City’, a unesco Heritage Site) and grew remorselessly in the later 20th century. The Museum of Art has Impressionists and Post-Impressionists and we visit various other exhibits. Jaffa was a port city from the time of Solomon and remains a charmingly picturesque enclave. Day 10: Jerusalem. Drive back to Jerusalem to visit the excellent Israel Museum. This incorporates, among other collections, the Shrine of the Book which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls
and the outstanding archaeological collection. Fly in the afternoon from Tel Aviv, returning to London Heathrow at c. 8.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,430 or £4,040 without flights. Single occupancy: £5,190 or £4,800 without flights. Included meals: 6 lunches, 7 dinners, with wine. Visas: obtained on arrival at no extra charge for most nationalities. Accommodation. King David, Jerusalem (danhotels.com): 5-star hotel in West Jerusalem within walking distance of the Old City. Ein Gedi (ein-gedi.co.il): renovated kibbutz near the Dead Sea with comfortable cottages set among beautiful botanic gardens. The Scots Hotel, Tiberias (scotshotels.co.il): long-established 5-star hotel by the lake in Tiberias. Intercontinental David, Tel Aviv (intercontinental.com): 5-star hotel with all expected amenities and well-appointed rooms. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking involved in the tour, some of it over rough archaeological sites. Sure-footedness is essential. Average distance by coach per day: 36 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Classical Turkey, 11–20 April (page 183).
Dr Garth Gilmour Biblical archaeologist based at Oxford University. His interests include eastern Mediterranean trade in the Late Bronze Age and the archaeology of religion in ancient Israel. He has excavated at the sites of Ekron and Ashkelon and is currently researching the Palestine Exploration Fund’s excavation in Jerusalem in the 1920s. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Palestine, 17–25 October 2016 with Felicity Cobbing: see page 191. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Day 3: Jerusalem, Bethlehem. The intact 7thcent. Dome of the Rock stands majestically in the vast Haram ash-sharif complex, complete with Umayyad and Mamluk buildings and the El-Aqsa Mosque, all on the site of Solomon’s Temple. Drive through the ‘Separation Wall’ into occupied territory on the West Bank. On the edge of the Judaean Desert, the Herodion is a remarkable fortified palace and tomb complex built by King Herod. The 4th/6th-century Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem is one of the greatest buildings of its era, and probably the oldest church in continuous use for Christian worship.
israel
Middle Eastern city, but one with sharply distinct communities and largely composed of ancient and mediaeval masonry. Nowhere else is the historical interpretation of archaeological remains so crucial to current political debate. Israel and Palestine are extraordinary places where Biblical names on road signs demonstrate the closeness of the distant past and where history, politics and religion are impossible to separate. The tour is led by an archaeologist who uses the remains to illuminate peoples and civilizations of the past. It is not a pilgrimage tour in that buildings and sites are selected for intrinsic aesthetic or historical merit rather than religious association. The tour ranges across two countries, and in none: strictly speaking, the old walled centre of Jerusalem is neither Israel nor Palestine.
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Oman
Peoples, customs & landscapes of Arabia oman
9–19 January 2016 (mc 557) This tour is currently full 5–15 November 2016 (md 935) 11 days/10 nights • £4,740 Lecturer: Professor Dawn Chatty Remarkable landscape, hill forts, traditional souqs, archaeological sites. The toehold of Arabia, with a diverse population reflecting its mercantile past. Accompanied by a social anthropologist long involved in the Middle East. All the hotels are comfortable, some are superb, plus a night in a desert camp.
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Wilfred Thesiger was motivated to cross the Empty Quarter not only by his desire to gain further recognition as a traveller but by the hope that he would find peace and solitude in the remote desert landscapes. He also yearned to gain the friendship of the Bedu who journeyed with him and whom he encountered during his traverse. The possibility of travelling to little-visited locations, relaxing in inspiring surroundings and developing understanding with new peoples is no less possible in Oman in 2015 than it was in 1946. The country provides a diverse range of extraordinary natural beauty: deserts, mountains, wadis, beaches. Visitors also experience the kindness and friendliness of the Omanis. With relatively few, although gradually increasing number of visitors a year, Oman is still not over-developed, unlike some of its neighbouring Gulf states. Evidence of settlement dates back to the fourth millennium bc with early indications of dependence on trade. First copper and then frankincense (southern Oman is one of the few places in the world where the ‘sacred frankincense’ still grows) played a key role in the country’s history. Desire to control the supply of frankincense led to incorporation in the Achaemenid and Sassanian empires until the Persians were forced out in the seventh century.
Omanis readily embraced Islam and submitted to the Umayyad and the Abbasid Caliphate. Trade and naval power continued to expand. Occupied by the Portuguese from 1507 to 1650, Oman flourished again after their departure with an empire reaching into East Africa, particularly Zanzibar, and the Indian Ocean. Treaties agreed with the British to protect communications with India marked the beginning of a special relationship, which continued beyond the formal termination of the protectorate in 1971. Meanwhile, the division of the Omani empire between the sultan of Zanzibar and the sultan of Muscat in 1856 resulted in economic decline for both and internal conflicts in the latter. Successive sultans failed to tackle the problems and Oman stagnated. The coming to power of Sultan Qaboos bin Said in 1970 heralded a new era. Though its oil revenues are relatively small, they have been used wisely to the benefit of the Omani people, for infrastructure, employment and education. Development has been rapid but controlled, guided by a determination to preserve Omani traditions. Our comprehensive itinerary includes the highlights of this vast country: from the inland forts of Nizwa and Jabrin to the little-visited archaeological sites of Al-Balid and Khor Rori, from the mountain scenery in the Western Hajar to the remoteness of the Wahiba Sands, from the bustling capital Muscat to the contrasting landscapes of the southern region of Dhofar. Other features of this tour are the opportunity to camp overnight in the Wahiba Sands, stay by the Indian Ocean and shop in souqs suffused with the scent of frankincense. Oman is opening up to a privileged few.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.05pm from London Heathrow (Oman Air) for the 7-hour overnight flight to Muscat (the only direct flight from London). Day 2: Muscat. Land at c. 8.20am. Hotel rooms are at your disposal for the morning. Greater Muscat is spread out along the coast with a
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dramatic mountain backdrop. Visit the privately owned Bait al Zubair housing the family collection of Omani artefacts. First of two nights in Muscat. Day 3: Barka, Nakhl. By 4-wheel-drive to the traditionally furnished 17th century fortified house Bait Na’aman. Continue onto the impressive Rustaq and Nakhl Forts, the latter perched grandly on the foothills of the Western Hajar Mountains. Overnight Muscat. Day 4: Muscat, Jabrin. With seven minarets, the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is impressively ornate. Leave Muscat by 4-wheel- drive for Nizwa. The most impressive fort in Oman is at Jabrin; sensitively restored, the plasterwork, wood carvings and painted ceilings are magnificent. First of two nights in Nizwa. Day 5: Nizwa area. Visit to the 17th century Nizwa Fort, palace, seat of government and prison. Some free time to explore the fascinating souqs and markets. Bahla is home to a range of craft workers, pottery being particularly noteworthy. Bahla Fort, dates from pre-Islamic times (World Heritage Site, interior closed for restoration). The rarely-visited archaeological site of Al Ayn is a collection of Bronze Age beehive tombs sitting atop a rugged ridge with the Jebel Misht as a backdrop. Overnight Nizwa. Day 6: Nizwa, Wahiba. Drive to Ibra, the once opulent market town which stood on the trade route linking the interior to the coast. Arrive at Wahiba Sands, a sea of high rolling dunes. Watch the sunset and camp overnight in the desert. Day 7: Wahiba, Sur. After a free morning travel by 4-wheel-drive through the spectacular desert scenery. Until the 20th century Sur was famous throughout Arabia as a major trading port with East Africa. See the charming fishing village of Al Aijah, the shipyards still in operation and the displays of traditional dhows at Fath al Khair Park. Overnight Sur. Day 8: Sur, Salalah. 4-wheel-drive to Muscat, via the ancient port of Qalhat, to catch an afternoon flight to Salalah, which despite its size is considered Oman’s second city and capital of the Dhofar region. First of three nights in Salalah.
Palestine
Archaeology & architecture of the West Bank
Day 10: Al Balid. Ancient Zafar, flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries and was visited by Marco Polo. The museum exhibits finds from the ruins of Al Balid and other artefacts from the area. The afternoon is free to relax by the Indian Ocean. Overnight Salalah. Day 11. A mid-morning flight to Muscat connects with the early afternoon flight to London, arriving Heathrow c. 6.00pm.
17–25 October 2016 (md 915) 9 days • £3,460 Lecturer: Felicity Cobbing A pioneering tour which includes the major archaeological sites and the most significant historic buildings on the West Bank. Led by Felicity Cobbing, curator of the Palestine Exploration Fund. There are two nights in East Jerusalem. Provides an insight into a territory much in the news but little visited in recent years.
Palestine is a land of limestone hills with the humped contours of a children’s picture-book. The surface is generally a grey-green impasto of olives and scrub, sometimes beautified with the striations of ancient terraces, farmed intermittently in clefts and nooks, grazed where vegetation is harsh and coarse. Then there are the hills of the Judaean desert, crinkled, barren rock, khaki with a dusting of white. Straggling along crests and down hillsides, Palestinian towns and villages are given visual unity by white limestone cladding – a requirement introduced during the British mandate and still adhered to. They express individualism, enterprise and struggle. By
oman, palestine
Day 9: Khor Rori. Spend the morning at the lush Wadi Darbat before visiting the ruins at Khor Rori. Formerly known as Sumhuraman, the settlement was an important frankincense trading port 2,000 years ago, forwarding this precious commodity to Damascus and Rome. Overnight Salalah.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,740 or £4,050 without flights. Single occupancy: £5,360 or £4,670 without flights. Included meals: 9 lunches (2 picnics) and 9 dinners with wine (where available). Internal flight: the flight from Muscat to Salalah on day 8 is not included in the price if you take our ‘no flights’ option. We can book this on your behalf, quoting the price at the time, or you can choose to book this independently. Visas: required for most foreign nationals. We will arrange for these to be issued on arrival for those travelling with the group from London (and the cost is included in the tour price). Passports must be valid for at least 6 months after the tour ends. Accommodation. Al Bustan, Muscat (ritzcarlton.com): recently-renovated 5-star hotel within an exclusive resort. Nizwa Golden Hotel, Nizwa (goldentulipnizwa.com): comfortable if slightly drab 4-star hotel with a swimming pool. Desert Nights Camp, Wahiba Sands (desertnightscamp.com): luxury camp; individual tents with private facilities. Hotel Plaza, Sur (omanhotels.com/surplaza ): modern 4-star hotel. Hotel Crowne Plaza, Salalah (crowneplaza. com): 5-star hotel, high standards of comfort and service. Single rooms are doubles for sole occupancy throughout.
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How strenuous? This is a busy and active tour and participants need stamina and fitness. There are some long journeys by 4x4 vehicles or coach (average distance per day: 102 miles), two internal flights and 4 changes of accommodation. Walking is often on uneven terrain at archaeological sites, hill forts and in the desert. Group size: between 10 and 18 participants.
Israel & Palestine, 29 March–7 April 2016 with Dr Garth Gilmour: see page 188. Illustration, above left: Muscat, wood engraving from The Graphic, 1883.
Ruins in the Wadi Kelt, wood engraving c. 1880 from Picturesque Palestine, Sinai & Egypt Vol.I. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Felicity Cobbing Executive and Curator of the Palestine Exploration Fund in London. She has excavated in Jordan with the British Museum and travelled throughout the Middle East. Widely published, she is co-author of Beyond the River – Ottoman Transjordan in Original Photographs and Distant Views of the Holy Land. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Bethlehem, steel engraving c. 1850.
contrast, the Israeli settlements crowning many a peak are fortress-like high-density clusters. Recent history and current affairs cannot be ignored in this part of the world but the focus of the tour is archaeology, architecture and more distant history. Scattered across the West Bank are some very remarkable sites and buildings. There are unique remains from the very earliest periods, some fascinating remnants of the Canaanite and Israelite civilisations of the Bronze and Iron Ages, often with biblical associations. The creations of Herod the Great, among the most impressive structures of the ancient world, feature prominently, and there are significant remains from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Crusader and Ottoman eras. A particular feature are the desert monasteries, often in dramatic and inaccessible locations. Tourism is hardly new to Palestine: pilgrimage tours follow well-worn routes, quickly bouncing back after intermittent periods of strife, but other sorts of specialist tours are relatively rare. There has been investment in hotels and infrastructure in recent years, and the people are very welcoming.
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Day 1. Fly at c. 8.50am (British Airways)from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv (Israel) and drive through the Separation Wall to Bethlehem (Palestine). Reach the hotel in time for dinner. The next four nights are spent in Bethlehem. Day 2: Herodion, Solomon’s Pools, Mar Saba. Herodion is an extraordinary fortified palace built by King Herod 24–15 bc on an artificial hill. There are extensive remains of defences, cisterns and baths and superb views. It was supplied with water from ‘Solomon’s Pools’, a series of reservoirs 9 km away, visited next. Return to Bethlehem for lunch and drive into the Judaean desert to visit the Orthodox monastery of Mar Saba, perched in a gorge and with a beautiful chapel (limited access for women). Day 3: Hebron (Al-Khalil), Judaean Desert. The Herodian phase of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron is one of the most impressive buildings
of the ancient world. The interior is Crusader and Mamluk, and is now divided between Muslims and Jews. We visit the Muslim mosque which contains the cenotaphs of the Patriarchs. We also see a 19th-century Russian church here. Hebron is volatile and this visit may be cancelled at short notice. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, not significantly changed since ad 339, is one of the greatest of Early Christian buildings; five aisles and monumental Corinthian colonnades. Day 4: Jerusalem. Spend the day in the Old City of Jerusalem (ruled de facto by Israel but claimed by Palestine). This is the most extraordinary city on Earth, a vibrant Middle-Eastern enclave split between rival communities and composed of mediaeval and ancient masonry. Walk along the city’s impressive ramparts, visit the Church of St Anne, the Armenian Cathedral the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Constantinian and Crusader. Day 5: Bethlehem to Jericho. The palm-shaded oasis of Jericho is a place of superlatives, the world’s most low-lying town and arguably its oldest continuously inhabited one. The lowest strata of Tell as-Sultan, the site of ancient Jericho, are 10,000 years old and there is a unique tower of c. 7000 bc, as well as impressive Bronze Age remains from the third and second millenniums bc. Hisham’s Palace is a remarkably wellpreserved 8th-century Umayyad palace. The Monastery of Temptation is inserted in the high cliff overlooking the site and can now be reached by cable car. First of two nights in Jericho. Day 6: Desert monasteries. The theme of the day is monasticism in the Judaean hills, beginning with the 19th-century Greek Orthodox monastery of St George in Wadi Kelt. Late-morning visit to the community of Jewish zealots at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, and continuing to Christian monasteries in the wadis. According to Muslim tradition, Nabi Musa is the burial place of Moses and has Mamluk, Byzantine and Ottoman parts. Day 7: Sebastia, Nablus, Jerusalem. Amid lovely countryside north-west of Nablus, Sebastia (Samaria) is a fascinating archaeological site with extensive remains spreading over a hill,
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principally Roman and Hellenistic but reaching back much earlier to the time of the Israelite kings, Omri and Ahab. In Nablus, Jacob’s Well is enshrined in a church which was begun by the Crusaders and completed last century. First of two nights in East Jerusalem. Day 8: Jerusalem. Haram ash-Sharif, alias the Temple Mount, Herod’s great retaining wall supporting a platform now adorned with some of the earliest and finest Islamic buildings. The Rockefeller Museum, formerly the Palestinian Archaeological Museum, has finds from some of the sites visited on this tour, including Hisham’s Palace, ancient Jericho, Samaria and Jerusalem. Day 9: Jerusalem. Free morning in Jerusalem. After lunch drive to Tel Aviv airport. The flight arrives at London Heathrow c. 8.25pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,460 or £3,140 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,880 or £3,560 without flights. Included meals: 8 lunches, 7 dinners, with wine. Visas: obtained on arrival. There is no charge for most nationalities. Accommodation. Intercontinental Jacir Palace, Bethlehem (intercontinental.com): 4-star hotel in a flamboyant late-19th-century mansion. Hotel Intercontinental, Jericho: 5-star hotel in a highrise building outside the city centre. American Colony, Jerusalem (americancolony.com): 5-star prestigious hotel in East Jerusalem. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? This is an active, primarily outdoors tour involving quite a lot of walking, some of it over rough ground and uneven paving. Sure-footedness and being comfortable spending much of the day on one’s feet is essential. Average distance by coach per day: c. 41 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Working in partnership with the Palestine Exploration Fund. By booking on this tour, clients will automatically become PEF members, have access to the extensive PEF library and resources as well as benefit from expert advice on the ancient Levant from members of staff.
Ancient & Islamic Tunisia
Carthaginian, Roman & Arabian North Africa
Exceptionally preserved Punic & Roman sites; some of the best in North Africa. Varied and striking landscapes; less-visited sites. Important Islamic sites of Kairouan, Tunis, Sousse and Testour. Outstanding Roman mosaics throughout, both in museums and on archaeological sites. Excellent hotel accommodation in the attractive seaside town of Sidi Bou Said. Some of the most spectacular of ancient Roman sites to be found anywhere are set among the magnificent scenery of Tunisia. The Roman province of Africa, of which Tunisia was the heart, was one of the wealthiest regions of the Empire, its wheat production causing it to be known as the bread basket of Rome and its olive oil being exported in vast quantities. Two conditions for optimum preservation prevailed here: a dry climate, and the abandonment of the cities by non-urban successor civilizations. The consequences are impressive: among the Roman world’s bestpreserved monuments are the amphitheatre at El Djem, the theatre at Dougga and the underground villas of Bulla Regia. Aside from Roman history, Tunisia features some of the best Carthaginian sites to be found in the Mediterranean including the magnificently located settlement of Kerkouane on the fertile Cap Bon peninsula. A memorable feature of the tour are the vigorous, colourful and naturalistic floor mosaics displayed in the impressive Sousse and Bardo museums and in situ on many of the sites. Tunisia’s Islamic heritage will also feature, including the important holy city of Kairouan, the wonderfully busy Medina of Tunis, and other less-visited towns including Testour, a charming agricultural village with Andalusian roots and an exceptional mosque.
Itinerary Day 1: Tunis. Fly from London Heathrow at c. 6pm with Tunisair to Tunis. Drive to the picturesque blue and white village of Sidi Bou Said for the first of three nights. Day 2: Tunis, Carthage. A former palace, the Bardo Museum holds the finest repository of Roman mosaics in the world. The afternoon is spent visiting the principle sites of Carthage, the Phoenician and Roman city considered one of the most important in the Mediterranean.
Day 4: Oudhna, Thuburbo Majus, Zaghouan, Kairouan. Visit the Roman site of Uthina and visit the amphitheatre which provides access to the basement and underground vaulted galleries. An additional feature is the selection of fine mosaics that can be found on-site. Thuburbo Majus is a spectacular Roman site, with a colonnaded forum, fine temples, houses and baths. Observe the remarkable remains of the Zaghouan–Carthage aqueduct, among the bestpreserved anywhere in the Roman world. First of two nights in Kairouan.
museum includes the 4th-century-bc cypruswood sarcophagus ‘Women of Kerkouane’. Day 8: Tunis. The Medina, the vibrant old town, is a maze of narrow alleys crammed with ancient buildings, covered markets and beautiful doorways. In its heart lies the 9th-cent. Great Mosque of 9th-cent. origin, one of the most important Islamic buildings in North Africa. The rest of the day is free. Day 9. Fly from Tunis to London Heathrow with Tunisair, arriving c. 2.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £2,540 or £2,380 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,870 or £2,710 without flights. Included meals: 7 lunches (including 2 picnics) and 6 dinners with wine.
El Djem, wood engraving c. 1880.
Day 5: Kairouan, El Djem. The morning is spent in Kairouan, the fourth-holiest city in Islam, with visits to the Medina and the Great Mosque (8th/9th cent.) and other examples of local traditional architecture. The small town of El Djem has one of the best-preserved, and third largest, amphitheatres of the Roman World. A small but impressive museum is nearby. Day 6: Sousse, Sidi Bou Said. Visit the archaeological museum located within the Kasbah of the old city. The museum contains the second-largest collection of mosaics in the world and includes the impressive Bekalta Baptisinal. A short drive away is the Medina, a traditional produce market. Continue to Sidi Bou Said for some free time and the first of three nights. Day 7: Cap Bon, Kerkouane. Spend a full day on the fertile and picturesque peninsula of Cap Bon, just 150km from Sicily. Kerkouane, the bestpreserved example of a Carthaginian city, lies on the shores of the Mediterranean and includes fine examples of domestic architecture: scatter-pattern floor mosaics, baths and pottery workshops. The
Accommodation. Dar Said, Sidi Bou Said (darsaid.com.tn): boutique hotel perched on the hills of the tranquil town of Sidi Bou Said. Excellent views and fine terrace and restaurant. Hotel la Kasbah, Kairouan (goldenyasmin.com): excellently located in the heart of the old town. Rooms are simple but clean and comfortable. The best available accommodation. In the areas away from the main tourist resorts, standards are not as high as in the more developed coastal towns and the capital. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? This tour covers some long distances, involving a lot of coach travel. There is quite a lot of walking or scrambling over the rough terrain of archaeological sites, many of which are exposed with no protection from the sun or shelter from rain or wind. Average distance by coach per day: 85 miles. Group size: between 12 and 22 participants.
MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA
Travel advice. At the time of printing, the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office advises against all but essential travel to Tunisia. Unless these circumstances change we will not be able to run this tour. Meanwhile we are taking bookings and will make a final decision about whether the tour can go ahead or not in Spring 2016. If not, we will of course refund deposits in full.
Day 3: Dougga, Testour. Full day excursion to the most dramatic of Tunisia’s ancient sites, Dougga. unesco World Heritage listed as the bestpreserved Roman town in North Africa, the site exists today as it did in the 2nd and 3rd centuries bc. Remains include temples, baths, a theatre and a circus. Testour, founded in the 17th century by Andalusian immigrants, has a unique mosque.
tunisia
3–11 October 2016 (md 899) 9 days • £2,540 Lecturer: Professor Roger Wilson
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Essential China
A selection of the most celebrated sights in China china
5–18 April 2016 (mc 620) 14 days/ 12 nights • £5,930 Lecturer: Dr Jamie Greenbaum 18–31 October 2016 (md 916) 14 days/ 12 nights • £5,930 Lecturer: Dr Rose Kerr Planned as an introduction to China featuring many of China’s most fascinating places. Six unesco World Heritage Sites are included. Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai: more time in these three main centres than on most tours, and a selection of small-town and rural sites. Led by Dr James Greenbaum, Beijing-based sinologist and Dr Rose Kerr, leading sinologist and expert in Chinese porcelain. For the average westerner, learning about China’s past is a progressively more astonishing journey, and a humbling one. Much that we regard as constituting the fundamentals of civilization were prevalent in China two or even three millennia ago: skills artistic and technological, laws and governance humane and commonsensical, mastery of the arts of war and the arts of peace, building and engineering projects of staggering magnitude, and the possibility, for some, of a life
devoted to the pursuit of beauty and intellectual refinement. And then there is the fascination of present-day China, likely soon to be the world’s largest economy and destined to have an impact on all of our lives. The most important Chinese capitals have always been in the north. Xi’an is where the imperial story began, and for centuries it was the capital of the great empire in the east, hosting the grandiose designs of the first emperor with his terracotta warriors and later anchoring one end of the Silk Road. Beijing has been the grandest city on the planet for much of the past 800 years since Khubilai Khan made it the capital of his China-centric empire. When the Mongols were finally expelled by the Chinese Ming dynasty, Beijing soon became the most perfectly planned cosmological capital, one that would serve the Ming and Manchurian Qing dynasties for over 500 years. Hangzhou brings us to the lands of rice and fish, where the climate is gentle and the land generous. The Yangtse Valley breadbasket first supported numerous northern governments and later bestowed its cultural riches and leisure activities throughout the entire empire. Marco Polo was enchanted by the grace and charm of Hangzhou, and in the surrounding hills monks developed some of the finest tea plantations in
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Beijing, Summer Palace, steel engraving c. 1840. book online at www.martinrandall.com
China. Hangzhou lives on today as a locus of relaxation and culture with profound cultural resonances for the Chinese. Shanghai, by contrast, is a law unto itself: originally a small fishing village, it began its rise with the foreign settlements that followed the first opium war in the mid-nineteenth century. A capitalist machine, it has also been the home of much political radicalism and was where the Chinese Communist Party came into being. These sometime conflicting and irreconcilable roles give Shanghai a vibrancy and timbre like no other Chinese city.
Itinerary Day 1: London to Beijing. Fly at 4.30pm from London Heathrow to Beijing (British Airways, c. 10 hours). Day 2: Beijing. Arrive in Beijing at c. 9.30am and drive to the hotel for lunch. Visit the Capital Museum, a striking modern building containing a selection of art and artefacts including wonderful ancient Buddhist statues and an exceptionally fine collection of porcelain. First of four nights in Beijing. Day 3: Beijing. The Forbidden City is at once enthralling and imposing; past the formidable walls and moat are vast courtyards punctuated
Day 4: Greater Beijing. The Ming Tombs in countryside outside the city are the final resting place of 13 of the 16 Ming emperors. The tomb of Emperor Yongle (1402–1424) consists of a 7-km Sacred Way flanked by stone animals and courtiers, a succession of courts with ceremonial gateways and a man-made hill concealing the tomb itself. Lunch by the Summer Palace, a peaceful setting popular with the emperors since the Jin, periodically enlarged and embellished; after its destruction in 1860 Empress Dowager Cixi expended vast sums in constructing her pleasure palace here. Overnight Beijing. Day 5: Jinshanling, Beijing. Morning excursion to a particularly spectacular (and relatively little visited) stretch of the Great Wall at Jinshanling. Walk along a section where it climbs and plunges over hilly terrain. Return to Beijing in the afternoon for some free time. Overnight Beijing. Day 6: Beijing, Xi’an. The massive National Museum in Tiananmen Square has superb collections of early Chinese artefacts, Zhou bronzes, painting and the whole range of porcelain from Tang (ad 618–907) to Qing (ended 1911). Fly in the afternoon (Air China) to Xi’an. First of four nights in Xi’an.
Day 8: Xi’an. The Shaanxi History Museum explains the history and culture of the province, the heartland of ancient Chinese civilisation. The Beilin Museum displays a collection of stone stelae, engraved with classic texts and masterpieces of calligraphy, and a fine collection of Buddhist statues. The day ends with a walk through the winding streets of the city’s Muslim Quarter. The Great Mosque, one of the largest in China, was originally built in ad 742 although the present fabric dates from the Qing Dynasty. Overnight Xi’an. Day 9: Luoyang. Day trip by high-speed train to Luoyang to see the Longmen Caves, an
MONGOLIA Jinshanling Beijing
Xi’an
Day 10: Xi’an, Hangzhou. Adjacent to the hotel stands the Great Goose Pagoda, first built in ad 452 for the monk Xuanzang to house the sutra he brought back from his pilgrimage to India. Fly to Hangzhou (Hainan Airlines), capital of the Southern Song Dynasty 1138–1279. First of two nights in Hangzhou. Day 11: Hangzhou. Start the day at the Lingyin Temple, one of China’s largest though now much reduced. Just outside the complex are dozens of Buddhist sculptures carved into the rock face, many dating back to the 10th century. Drive out of the city to Longjing (Dragon Well) Village, source of one of China’s most famous varieties of green tea. The scenic tranquillity of the West Lake has been immortalised by countless poets and painters over the centuries. Overnight Hangzhou. Day 12: Hangzhou to Shanghai. By train to Shanghai (luggage is sent separately by van). For its density, vibrancy and extent, both horizontal and vertical, Shanghai is the city of cities. Despite frenetic building activity, enclaves of low-rise structures remain in the centre, though there is little here that is more than a hundred years old. Visit the Shanghai Museum, outstanding for porcelain, jade, furniture and, in particular, Shang and Zhou bronzes. Overnight Shanghai. Day 13: Shanghai. Walk along the Bund, Shanghai’s iconic riverside stretch of Art Deco and Neoclassical buildings, symbolic of the city’s burgeoning wealth in the 1920s and 1930s. See also the city’s finest traditional garden. The Long Museum showcases an enormous private collection of Chinese art in a variety of media, Northern Song to Qing, Communist era and modern – China is a world leader for contemporary art. Overnight Shanghai.
Luoyang
China Shanghai Hangzhou
c. 400km
Dr Jamie Greenbaum Historian specialising in Ming dynasty cultural history. He is a Visiting Fellow in the School of Culture, History & Language at the Australian National University and lectures at the Renmin University, Beijing. He has published books on the late-Ming literary world and the early 20th-century political figure Qu Qiubai.
Dr Rose Kerr Honorary Associate of the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, having retired as Keeper of the Far Eastern Department at the V&A. She graduated in Chinese studies and spent a year as a student in China during the last year of the Cultural Revolution, 1975–6. In 2014 she became an Honorary Citizen of Jingdezhen. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Day 14: Shanghai to London. Fly at 11.00am from Shanghai to London, arriving at c. 4.30pm (c. 12.5 hours).
lake views). Yangtze Boutique Hotel, Shanghai (theyangtzehotel.com): 4-star, Art Deco hotel ideally situated close to the Shanghai Museum. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
Practicalities
How strenuous? A good level of fitness is essential. Unless you enjoy entirely unimpaired mobility, cope with everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty and are reliably surefooted, this tour is not for you. Uneven ground and irregular paving are standard. There are some long coach journeys during which facilities are limited and may be of poor quality. Average distance by coach per day: 48 miles.
Price – per person. Two sharing: £5,930 or £5,220 without international flights. Single occupancy: £6,740 or £6,030 without international flights. Included meals: 10 lunches, 7 dinners, with wine. Visas are required for most foreign nationals, and not included in the tour price. We will advise participants on the process. Accommodation. Waldorf Astoria, Beijing (waldorfastoria.hilton.com): recently-opened, 5-star luxury hotel in the city centre. Westin Hotel, Xi’an (starwoodhotels.com/westin): modern, comfortable and well-run 4-star hotel in the south of the city. Sofitel West Lake Hotel, Hangzhou (sofitel.com): 4-star hotel, located on the east side of the West Lake (rooms do not have
ASIA
Day 7: Xi’an. Full day excursion east and north of the city. The tomb of the first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, is yet to be excavated but his legacy was secured in 1974 when farmers digging a well discovered his terracotta army of infantry, cavalry and civil servants. There may be 20,000 of them, over 1.5 metres tall; only a relatively small part of the site has been uncovered, but it is nevertheless one of the most spectacular archaeological finds of all time. The pottery warriors at the later tomb of the fourth Han emperor, Liu Qi, display striking attention to detail; some eunuch figures have been found here, providing the earliest known evidence of this phenomenon in China. Overnight Xi’an.
extraordinary collection of statuary carved into the hillside that runs along the western bank of the Yi River. Begun by the Buddhist Northern Wei rulers (ad 386–534) and added to during the later Sui and Tang dynasties. There are over 100,000 statues clustered in 2,000 caves and crevices. Overnight Xi’an.
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with terraced pavilions, palaces and gardens. Marble paving and bridges and finely-carved balustrades mark the imperial way along which lie three ceremonial halls; beyond these are the comparatively closeted living quarters. There is special access (subject to confirmation) to the Shufang Zhai, where banquets and operas were held. Afternoon visits include the 17th-cent. Lama Temple, formerly an imperial residence before its conversion to a Buddhist place of worship, and a Confucian temple founded during the Yuan dynasty. Overnight Beijing.
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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China’s Silk Road Cities
The Northern Route through Shaanxi, Gansu & Xinjiang china
14–27 September 2016 (md 838) 14 days/ 12 nights • £6,040 Lecturer: Dr Jamie Greenbaum Retraces the ancient trading routes from the Chinese heartland to the vast desert region of Xinjiang province. Three days in the ancient imperial capital Xi’an, once the easternmost departure point for the Silk Road and home to the spectacular terracotta warriors. Wonderfully vivid Buddhist paintings at the Mogao Caves, a unesco World Heritage Site. Led by Dr Jamie Greenbaum, Beijing-based sinologist and author. In the second century bc, imperial envoy Zhang Qian was sent on a mission to the West, beyond the outer limits of ancient China, to obtain some of the legendary Ferghana horses for Han emperor Wudi’s cavalry. On the equine front the mission was a failure, but Zhang Qian returned to Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) with stories of the riches he saw and this soon led to the development of trade between China and the alien world beyond its western frontier. Myriad commodities – as well as religious beliefs and cultural attitudes – traversed the land from China, through Central Asia and Persia to the Mediterranean. The formidable Taklamakan Desert, an arid wasteland of shifting sand dunes, posed one of the biggest threats to travellers, who skirted its northern and southern edges, finding respite in the many thriving oasis towns.
The instability brought about by the fall of empires and by the establishment of sea routes saw the decline of these trading corridors and the region disappeared into obscurity until the end of the nineteenth century, when tales of lost cities filled with treasure drew foreign explorers into an international race of rediscovery. Today, evocative ruins, chaotic markets and Buddhist cave paintings remain to be seen, while the museums are filled with the many artefacts and mummified remains unearthed along the route. Despite relentless modernisation cities such as Kashgar retain their ancient charm, while the enormity of these perilous journeys is conveyed by sight of the vast expanses of landscape that make up China’s last great wilderness.
Itinerary Day 1: London to Beijing. Fly at 4.30pm from London Heathrow to Beijing (British Airways, c. 10 hours). Day 2: Beijing. Arrive at Beijing at c. 9.30am and drive to the hotel for lunch. The imposing National Museum in Tianamen Square has superb collections of early Chinese artefacts, Zhou bronzes and the whole range of porcelain from Song to Qing. Overnight Beijing. Day 3: Beijing to Xi’an. Fly at c. 10.30am from Beijing to Xi’an, arriving at 12.30pm. After a late lunch, there is a walk through the winding streets of the city’s Muslim Quarter. The Great Mosque, one of the largest in China, was originally built in ad 742 although the present fabric dates from the Qing Dynasty. First of two nights in Xi’an.
Day 4: Xi’an. The Shaanxi History Museum explains the history and culture of the province, the heartland of ancient Chinese civilisation. There is a special visit to the museum’s collection of Tang-dynasty tomb murals. After lunch, visit the Beilin Museum, which houses a collection of stone stelae, engraved with classic texts and masterpieces of calligraphy, as well as a fine collection of Buddhist statues. Day 5: Xi’an. Full-day excursion east and north of the city. The tomb of the first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, is yet to be excavated but his legacy was secured in 1974 when farmers digging a well discovered his terracotta army of infantry, cavalry and civil servants. There may be 20,000 of them, over 1.5 metres tall; only a relatively small part of the site has been uncovered, but it is nevertheless one of the most spectacular archaeological finds of all time. The pottery warriors at the later tomb of the fourth Han emperor, Liu Qi, display striking attention to detail; some eunuch figures have been found here, providing the earliest known evidence of this phenomenon in China. Day 6: Xi’an to Dunhuang. Fly to Dunhuang at c. 1.30pm, arriving at c. 3.45pm and transfer to the hotel. Dunhuang is a small oasis town with low-rise buildings along wide avenues, flanked to one side by colossal sand dunes. First of two nights in Dunhuang. Day 7: Dunhuang. The Mogao Caves are a highlight of the Silk Road in China and one of the most important sites of early Chinese Buddhist cave paintings. Once a strategic stop-off point for pilgrims travelling to India, it developed in to a major Buddhist centre of art and learning. Despite the controversial carting off of paintings, sculptures and manuscripts by foreign archaeologists in the 19th century, there is still very fine artwork to be seen. The Western Caves, set by an attractive river valley, are fewer in number but also contain exquisite paintings. Day 8: Dunhuang to Turpan. The Dunhuang Museum houses important artefacts unearthed at the Mogao Caves, including rare Tibetan sutras. Travel by train at c. 3.00pm to Turpan (luggage is sent separately), arriving at c. 7.00pm. First of two nights in Turpan.
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Day 9: Turpan. At Gaochang see the extensive ruins of an ancient walled trading city. On the north-east rim of the Taklamakan Desert in a gorge in the Flaming Mountains, lies the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves. The caves once formed part of a Buddhist monastery between 6th and 14th centuries. After lunch drive out to Jiaohe. The most visually rewarding of all the sites around Turpan, this ancient city is located on a high platform above two rivers. Among the ruins, the layout of the city is still clear: the residential district, the palace, the monastery complex. Day 10: Turpan to Kashgar. Transfer to Urumqi (a journey of approx. 3 hours) for a late afternoon flight to Kashgar, arriving at c. 6.15pm. First of three nights in Kashgar.
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Beijing, ‘Gate of Heaven’, drawing by Boudier after a photograph, publ. 1892. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Day 11: Kashgar. The former British Consulate was the home for 26 years of the most famous of British India’s representatives in Kashgar; Sir
Sacred China
City palaces, mountain temples & desert grottoes china, india
George Macartney and his wife hosted some of the most prominent Silk Road travellers, including Sir Aurel Stein and Albert von Le Coq. Nikolai Petrovsky’s former Russian Consulate is nearby. The dilapidated buildings belie their historic significance as erstwhile outposts for two rival powers in the Great Game. After lunch, visit the Id-kah Mosque, the largest in Xinjiang, founded c. 1738 though the current structure dates back only as far as 1838, and suffered much damage during the Cultural Revolution. Day 12: Kashgar. Goods and livestock have been traded at Kashgar’s Sunday market for more than 2000 years. The scene today is still a riot of colour sounds and smells as animals, carts and vehicles traverse this vast site. Though the old city is gradually being razed by local authorities to make way for modern development, it retains much of its ancient charm. Day 13: Kashgar to Beijing. Fly at 10.15am from Kashgar to Beijing, via Urumqi, arriving c. 4.30pm. Spend a night in a hotel near the airport. Day 14: Beijing to London. Fly at 11.15am from Beijing to London, arriving at c. 3.15pm (c. 11 hours).
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £6,040 or £5,300 without international flights. Single occupancy: £6,760 or £6,020 without international flights. Included meals: 10 lunches, 7 dinners, with wine. Visas are required for most foreign nationals, and not included in the tour price. We will advise participants on the process.
How strenuous? A good level of fitness is essential. Unless you enjoy entirely unimpaired mobility, cope with everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty and are reliably surefooted, this tour is not for you. Uneven ground and irregular paving are standard. There are some long coach journeys during which facilities are limited and may be of poor quality. Average distance by coach per day: 50 miles Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
October 2016 Lecturer: Jon Cannon Details available in December 2015 Contact us to register your interest A unique itinerary that takes in many of China’s most remarkable religious sites. Visit the Mogao Caves, the most fascinating repository of Buddhist art in China. Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, the ‘three teachings’ are all represented. Led by writer Jon Cannon, expert in Chinese classic architecture. From ancient temples to sacred mountain tops, China’s religious heritage is unique. Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism have all had a significant presence in the country for a millennium and more. The first three of these – two of which are indigenous to China – comprised the ‘three teachings’ supported by Imperial policy, and historically their influence reached into every aspect of Chinese daily life; the buildings, sculptures and artworks that resulted are astonishing. Indeed, spiritual, artistic and architectural traditions developed by Chinese religious cultures spread throughout east Asia, and in spite of the vicissitudes of recent history remain alive to this day. This tour starts in Beijing, which is still recognisably a sacred city laid out by the emperors on cosmological lines – arguably the most significant example of that phenomenon in the world. Such structures as the Temple
of Heaven (Tiantan), the Lama Temple and the Confucius Temple, all cornerstones of Imperial religious life and ritual, form a fitting introduction to the richness and variety of Chinese religion. Highlights include the holy mountain of Wutaishan, where there is a significant Tibetan presence in the heart of traditional China, and a collection of ancient Buddhist temples packed with modern pilgrims. By contrast the exquisite Foguang Temple (ad 857) stands in a beguilingly peaceful rural setting. Here is one of the oldest wooden structures on the planet, its original sculpture and painted decoration astonishingly intact. At Datong’s Yungang caves and the ancient desert monastery of Dunhuang, by contrast, the cosmopolitan roots of Chinese Buddhism took hold. The spread of this Indian faith across the country in the first centuries of the Common Era transformed China’s religious life and brought to the country its first permanent, stone religious building, the pagoda. There are fine examples of what is effectively an elongated and orientalised Buddhist stupa at Xi’an and Yingxian. The architecture of the pagoda, as well as the great painted and sculpted caves and cliffs of early Chinese Buddhist monasteries, are vivid reminders of this era of dramatic cultural change, their artistic styles still visibly infused with ideas from India, Central Asia and even the Classical West, all on the cusp of becoming something new and distinctively Chinese. Chinese religious culture is at once precociously humanist and testimony to a society in which spirituality infused every aspect of daily life. In the course of this remarkable series of sites, we will come face to face with the exceptional achievements that resulted. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Accommodation. Waldorf Astoria, Beijing (waldorfastoria.hilton.com): recently-opened, 5-star luxury hotel in the city centre. Westin Hotel, Xi’an (starwoodhotels.com/westin): modern, comfortable and well-run 4-star hotel, located in the south of the city. Silk Road Hotel, Dunhuang (dunhuangresort.com): large hotel situated close to the Mingsha Sand Dunes, rated locally as 4-star. Huozhou Hotel, Turpan: centrally located hotel rated locally as 4-star. Chini Bagh Hotel, Kashgar: large and brash but one of the most recently renovated hotels in the city, rated locally as 5 star. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
Chinese temple, copper engraving c. 1745 by J. Wood after after Joan Nieuhof.
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Essential India
Hindu temples, Rajput palaces & Mughal tombs india The Red Fort at Agra, 19th-century watercolour.
26 February–11 March 2016 (mc 580) 15 days • £5,760 Lecturer: Dr Giles Tillotson Includes some of India’s most celebrated sites and also lesser-known but quintessential places. Arrangements for special access a feature. Spends more time at the centres visited than most mainstream tours, and free time is allowed for rest or independent exploration. Varanasi, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and the most sacred in India; the Hindu temples of Khajuraho; Rajput and Mughal forts, palaces and funerary monuments. No fewer than seven unesco World Heritage Sites are visited. Led by Dr Giles Tillotson, a leading expert in Mughal and Rajput history and architecture.
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The rich and fertile riverine plains of northern India have long formed a corridor allowing migrations and invasions to spread across the Subcontinent. The result is an area of fascinating cultural diversity. Like the Ganges and the Yamuna, the sacred rivers of Hindu lore, this tour runs through the modern state of Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. But these geo-political boundaries do not restrict it thematically. Participants are treated to a comprehensive overview of the history of the Subcontinent, from the emergence of Hinduism and Buddhism to the decline of the Mughal Empire, the last Islamic power before the British Raj of the nineteenth century. Located on the banks of the Ganges, Varanasi is India’s most sacred place and claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Founded by Lord Shiva, the city is mentioned in scriptures dating from the early Vedic period, in the second millennium bc. It was known as Kashi, the Luminous, during the life of the
Buddha who visited on several occasions on his way to Sarnath nearby where he preached his first sermon. Pilgrims still flock here to wash away their sins in the holy Ganges. The modern Varanasi is also a place of learning and culture, with the first Hindu university in India. The Chandelas of Khajuraho and the Bundelas of Orchha are two Rajput clans tracing lineage to the Lunar Dynasty from Varanasi, a commonly used device to claim political authority. The eleventh-century Chandelas built intricately carved temples in Khajuraho, today celebrated (and often misunderstood) for their sensual carvings. They are superb examples of the Nagara or northern style of sacred architecture, with its linear succession of halls leading to the sanctum, topped by a Sikhara, or mountain-peak tower. Later Bundela Rajputs built impressive palaces and temple-like cenotaphs in the lush landscape of northern Madhya Pradesh. Their palaces bring together elements borrowed from both the Rajput and Mughal traditions, while their funerary architecture asserts their dynastic authority. The buildings and arts of the Mughals in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are often regarded as the apex of India’s artistic achievements, a prestige due no doubt in no small part to its best-known representative, the Taj Mahal, a creation which hovers somewhere between architecture, jewellery and myth. White marble is typical of the late period, while earlier buildings are of red sandstone – the deserted capital of Akbar at Fatehpur Sikri, and the Red Forts of Agra and Delhi. Delhi is among a rare elite of the world’s cities which have been capital of several successive regimes. With most new ruling powers establishing their headquarters on a site adjacent to its predecessors, the architectural legacy ranges from a monumental thirteenthcentury minaret to the majestic expansiveness of Lutyens’s New Delhi. Empire succeeds empire; eighteen years after the Viceroy took up residence in Government House it was handed over to an independent India.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Itinerary Day 1: London to Delhi. Fly from London Heathrow (British Airways) at about noon and after a 5½ hour time change reach the hotel in New Delhi c. 3.00am. Those not taking our group flights can check in from 2.00pm today. Day 2. Free morning, lunch in the hotel. The beautiful 15th-century tombs of the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties are located in the serene Lodi Gardens, close to the hotel. Humayun’s striking tomb, with its high-arched façades set in a walled garden, is an important example of early Mughal architecture. Overnight Delhi. Day 3: Delhi. Visit the imposing Red Fort, founded in 1639 under Shah Jahan. Exquisite pietra dura work remains intact in the throne pavilion. Together with the fort, the Jami Masjid, India’s largest mosque, dominates Old Delhi with its minarets and domes. Rickshaw through the labyrinthine streets near Chandni Chowk. After lunch, visit New Delhi where Lutyens, Baker and other British architects created a grand city with unique designs. Baker’s Secretariat buildings on the Raisina hill are Classical buildings at first glance but closer attention reveals Mughal motifs. Subject to special permission, it may be possible to visit the manicured gardens and interior of the vast Rashtrapati Bhavan, the former Viceroy’s residence. Overnight Delhi. Day 4: Delhi to Varanasi. Fly from Delhi to Varanasi (Jet Airways) at c. 10.30am. After lunch in the hotel, walk in the old town, visiting hidden shrines and experiencing the busy life along the river. Ends near Dasaswamedha Ghat, named after the ancient ten horse sacrifice which took place here in mythical time. A boat ride along the Ganges ends with the evening river blessing ceremony (Aarti), a ritual going back to the Vedic Age. First of two nights in Varanasi. Day 5: Sarnath, Varanasi. Begin with a boat ride at sunrise, followed by breakfast and a morning walk through the alleys of the old city. Buddha preached his first sermon at Sarnath and the site
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Day 6: Varanasi to Khajuraho. Fly to Khajuraho (Jet Airways) in the morning. After lunch visit the Jain temples in the eastern group. The Parasnath Temple is conspicuous for its absence of erotic depictions. First of three nights in Khajuraho. Day 7: Khajuraho. In the morning, visit the spectacular western group of temples built during the Chandela Rajput dynasty, famous for the beautifully carved erotic scenes. The aweinspiring 11th-cent. Kandariya Mahadev Temple is one of the finest examples of North Indian temple architecture, richly embellished with sensuous sculptures depicting the god’s heavenly abodes. Nearby, the Jagadambi Temple contains excellent carvings of Vishnu. In the afternoon, visit the eastern and southern groups of temples. Day 8: Khajuraho. Free day in Khajuraho. Day 9: Khajuraho to Orchha. Located close to the Betwa River on dramatic rocky terrain, Orchha’s former glory as capital of the Bundela kings is evident in the multi-chambered Jehangir Mahal with lapis lazuli tiles and ornate gateways. The Raj Mahal palace contains some beautiful murals with religious and secular themes. Elegant Royal Chhatris (cenotaphs) line the ghats of the Betwa. Overnight Orchha. Day 10: Orchha. A walk in the old town includes a visit to the high-ceilinged Chaturbhuj Temple; the cross plan represents the four-armed Vishnu. The Lakshmi Temple incorporates fortress elements and its 19th-cent. frescoes depict scenes of the 1857 Mutiny. Afternoon journey from Jhansi to Gwalior by train. First of two nights in Gwalior. Day 11: Gwalior. Athwart a steep-sided hill, the formidable Gwalior Fort is lavishly embellished with cupolas and blue tiles; inside are superb 9thand 11th-cent. temples. The afternoon is at leisure with the option of a visit to a nearby palace.
Day 13: Agra, Fatehpur Sikri. Rise early to visit the Taj Mahal in the first light of day. It was commissioned by Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and completed 1648. Breakfast at the hotel. The magnificent Red Fort was built by Akbar and is the best preserved of the palaces built during his reign. Drive out to Fatehpur Sikri, a new capital built by Akbar (1570) but abandoned after a mere 15 years. The palace complex consists of a series of courtyards and beautifully wrought red sandstone pavilions. Day 14: Sikandra, Delhi. Drive to Delhi via Akbar’s mausoleum at Sikandra, built on his
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Agra, Sikandra Gwailor Orchha Khajuraho
Varanasi, Sarnath
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death in 1605. Set in a traditional char-bagh, it has no central dome unlike other Mughal mausolea. In Delhi, visit the Qutb Minar, site of the first Islamic city of Delhi, established in 1193 on the grounds of a defeated Rajput fort. The towering minaret and its mosque survive as testament to the might of the invaders. Overnight Delhi. Day 15: Delhi. Fly from Delhi in the morning (British Airways), arriving in London Heathrow early afternoon.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £5,760 or £5,090 without international flights. Single occupancy: £6,620 or £5,950 without international flights. Included meals: 11 lunches, 9 dinners, with wine. Visas: most foreign nationals require a tourist visa. The cost of this is not included in the price of the tour because you have to procure it yourself. We will advise all participants on the procedure. Accommodation. Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi (tajhotels.com): 5-star centrally located hotel. Taj Gateway Ganges Hotel, Varanasi (tajhotels.com): comfortable 4-star hotel outside city centre. Lalit Temple View Hotel, Khajuraho (thelalit.com): modern hotel located within walking distance of the main sites. Hotel Amar Mahal, Orchha (amarmahal.com): The most basic of the hotels on the tour, this 3-star equivalent is conveniently located and adequately equipped. Usha Kiran Palace Hotel, Gwalior (tajhotels.com): former palace converted into a charming hotel. ITC Mughal Hotel, Agra (itchotels.in): modern 5-star close to the main sites. The Leela Ambience, Gurgaon (theleela.com): 5-star hotel conveniently close to the airport. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? A good level of fitness is essential. Unless you enjoy entirely unimpaired mobility, cope with everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty and are reliably surefooted, this tour is not for you. A rough indication of the minimum level of fitness required is that you ought to be able to walk briskly at about 3 miles per hour for at least half an hour, and undertake a walk at a more leisurely pace for an hour or two unaided. You may be on your feet
for lengthy stretches of time. Uneven ground and irregular paving are standard. There are three 3-hour long coach journeys where facilities are limited. There are some fairly steep ascents to forts and palaces. Steps to temples and palaces can be steep and slippery. Unruly traffic and the busy streets of Delhi also require vigilance. Average distance by coach per day: 45 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Bengal By River, 12–25 March (page 200).
Dr Giles Tillotson Writer and lecturer on Indian architecture, art and history. His books include Taj Mahal, Jaipur Nama: Tales from the Pink City, and the novel, Return to Bhanupur. He is a Fellow, and the former Director, of the Royal Asiatic Society and was Chair of Art & Archaeology at SOAS. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
india 2016–2017
Essential India 14–18 November 2016 Lecturer: Dr Anna-Maria Misra
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Day 12: Gwalior, Agra. Drive to Agra and in the afternoon visit the Itimad ud Daula (c. 1628), an exquisite garden tomb and the first Mughal building clad in white marble inlaid with pietra dura inlay. A stroll in Mehtab Bagh, a former Mughal garden by the Yamuna river, is rewarded with a view of the Taj Mahal; any anxiety about it failing to live up to it reputation for sublime beauty is misplaced. First of two nights in Agra.
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remains an active Buddhist centre. The Dhamek stupa in the Deer Park marks the spot where the Buddha sat to preach. The museum houses the 3rd-cent. bc lion capital which has become the symbol of modern India since independence.
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“A splendid assortment of places, experiences, people, flavours of India. A fine overview on my first trip.”
27 February–13 March 2017 Lecturer: Dr Giles Tillotson Full details available in December 2015 Contact us to register your interest
What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Bengal by River
Calcutta & a week’s cruise along the Hooghly india
12–25 March 2016 (mc 585) 14 days • £5,130 Lecturer: Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones mbe Four days in Calcutta, Bengal’s capital, and a week visiting places along the River Hooghly on an exclusively chartered cruiser. Bengal, an outpost of the Mughal Empire and the first region to come under the control of the East India Company. Islamic architecture in Murshidabad and Gaur, Hindu temples in Baranagar and Kalna, Georgian and Victorian buildings of the Raj. Sailing along the banks of the Hooghly gives a unique insight into unspoilt village life. Led by Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, an authority on colonial India.
When George V announced in 1911 that the capital of British India was to be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi, there was disbelief and horror in Bengal. It seemed to overturn the natural order of things. Founded by Job Charnock in 1690 on the banks of the mighty Hooghly River, Calcutta (now Kolkata) had been the headquarters of British rule in India ever since. Today the city is home to over fifteen million, but the central district remains largely as it was during the Raj. Buildings of all sorts – political, economic, educational, religious, residential – formed the British city. Their styles, Classical and Gothic, are bizarrely familiar, and their size is startling, often exceeding their equivalents in Britain. A walk through the South Park Street Cemetery shows the high price that many Britons paid for coming to Calcutta in search of wealth. ‘Power on silt!’ wrote Kipling of the city. ‘Death in my hands, but Gold!’
Calcutta, a drawing by Desmond Doig c. 1960.
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West Bengal is the land of lost capitals and fading grandeur. Calcutta was only the latest city whose power was snatched away by changing political events. Hindus, Muslims, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish and French all founded settlements on the dreamy, fertile banks of the Hooghly. For a time Bengal was the richest province in India, not only because everything seemed to grow in its lush soil but from the industry of its people too. Indigo, opium and rice were cash crops, but textiles first attracted European traders in the seventeenth century. Beautiful silk and muslin fabrics were known as ‘woven wind’ because they were so fine. The river was a natural highway. Apart from the Grand Trunk Road of the Mughals, there was no other way to travel. Steeped in history but still very much off the conventional tourist route, this tour adds a new dimension to India for those who already know it, and for those who are yet to encounter it. Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, and Christianity are all practised in Bengal and each faith has built buildings to its gods and goddesses. The town of Kalna is named after a manifestation of the dreaded goddess Kali, the destroyer who lives in cremation grounds and wears a necklace of skulls. By contrast the Jain temples in the village of Baranagar are a peaceful anthem in carved brick to non-violence and harmony. Bengal contains the largest imambaras in India, buildings associated with the Shi’a strand of Islam, not quite mausolea, although burials are frequently found in them, more gathering places for the devout. Serampore, the Danish settlement, is known for its eighteenth-century church. Had the British under Clive not defeated the Nawab Siraj-ud-daula at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the history of India would have been very different. The French, established at Chandernagore and allies of the Nawab, would have seized their opportunity, supported by Francophone rulers elsewhere in India who wanted to counterbalance the pervasive British presence. But it was from their base in Bengal that the British steadily extended their rule through the subcontinent. The cruiser chartered for this tour is fairly new (built in Calcutta in 2006), on board it feels far removed from modern India and quite close to the India of the Raj. By the standards of vessels on European rivers it is not luxurious, but it is comfortable, has great charm and the crew are welcoming and efficient. Lounging on the top deck after a fulfilling day of sightseeing with a gin & tonic (of which a quota is included in the price), watching rural life on the banks as dusk falls, comes pretty close to a perfect Indian experience.
Itinerary Days 1 & 2: London to Calcutta (Kolkata), via Dubai. Fly at c. 1.30pm from London Heathrow to Calcutta via Dubai (Emirates) where there is a 2-hour stop. Those not taking our group flights can check in at the Calcutta hotel from 2.00pm.
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Day 2: Calcutta. Reach the hotel c. 9.00am (time difference from UK is 5½ hours). The rest of the book online at www.martinrandall.com
“The boat was very comfortable and was greatly enhanced by the professional and very helpful crew who couldn’t do enough for you.”
Day 3: Calcutta. The Anglican cathedral of St Paul, completed in 1847 in Gothic style, has many fine memorials and a window by BurneJones, one of his best. Completed in 1921, the Victoria Memorial is the most imposing building in Calcutta. It houses a collection of European paintings and a display on the history of the city. The Indian Museum, built by Granville to house the collection from the Asiatic Society, is India’s most important collection of sculpture. Day 4: Calcutta. This morning’s walk provides a survey of the civic buildings from the late 18th-century. St John’s Church, which dates back to 1784, is loosely modelled on St Martin-in-theFields in London (like hundreds throughout the globe). In the grounds, the mausoleum of Job Charnock, the founder of Calcutta, is the earliest British building in India. Day 5: Calcutta. The Maghen David Synagogue (1884) and the Armenian Church (1707) are reminders of the variety of religions which thrived in Calcutta prior to Independence. The Home of Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet and philosopher who received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913, provides an insight into the Bengali Intellectual Renaissance which in turn led to the Independentist movement. Day 6: Barrackpore, Serampore. Board the RV Sukapha in Calcutta. Sail to the former British garrison town of Barrackpore. Many 19thcent. buildings remain, including the riverside Government House (1813) with its Semaphore Tower, part of a river signalling system, and the elegant neo-Greek Temple of Fame. The gardens of Flagstaff House now serve as repository for colonial statuary removed from Calcutta. The Danish colony of Serampore is across the river. First of seven nights on board the RV Sukapha.
Day 8: Kalna, Nabadwip, Mayapur. At Kalna, visit the series of fine 18th-cent. terracotta temples and the unique Shiva temple with concentric rings comprising 108 double-vaulted shrines. Sail to the pilgrimage centre of Nabadwip, where the river ghats are lined with active temples for a leisurely walk in the bazaar. The skyline of Mayapur on the opposite bank is dominated by a vast new temple. Day 9: Matiari, Plassey. Visit the village of Matiari where brass is worked using traditional methods. After sailing further, there is an excursion to the site of the battle of Plassey, where Robert Clive’s 1757 victory over the Nawab
An authority on colonial India. Among many publications, her Mutiny, The Great Uprising in India: Untold stories, Indian & British won critical praise. She lectures for the Asian Arts course at the V&A. She was awarded the MBE in 2015 for services to the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia and to British Indian Studies. From The Times of India Annual 1935.
of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah was the prelude to consolidation and extension of the East India Company’s power in Bengal and beyond. Moor overnight at Murshidabad. Day 10: Murshidabad. The Mughal Khushbagh is a peaceful walled pleasure-garden containing the Tomb of Siraj-ud-Daulah and family. A magnificent example of Greek Revival architecture, the Hazarduari Palace was built by Duncan McLeod in 1837 as a guest house for the Nawab. The museum holds a respectable collection of European paintings, sculpture and arms. The imposing Katra Mosque (1724) is modelled on the great mosque at Mecca. Visit the Nashipara and Katgola palaces, 18th-cent. homes of rich Jain merchants in classical Georgian style. Day 11: Baranagar. Sail to the village of Baranagar and walk through fields to visit three miniature carved-brick Jain temples. Sail in the afternoon through a stretch of charming waterway that weaves past banks lush with mango groves and mustard crops. Moor overnight at Jangipur. Day 12: Gaur, Farakka. Drive from Jangipur to the quiet city of Gaur, the ancient capital of Bengal. Situated within easy reach of the black basalt Rajmahal hills, Gaur is filled with elegant Muslim ruins. The many mosques, palaces and gateways stand as testament to a prosperous past and gifted stonemasons. Day 13: Disembark Farakka. Calcutta. At Farakka, disembark the RV Sukapha in the morning and transfer to the station to board a train for Calcutta (a journey of c. 4 hours). The rest of the day is at leisure. One night in Calcutta. Day 14: Calcutta. After a 2-hour stopover in Dubai, the flight arrives Heathrow c. 6.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £5,130 or £4,410 without international flights. Single occupancy: £6,020 or £5,300 without international flights.
See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
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Bengal by River 25 March–7 April 2017 Full details available in December 2015 Contact us to register your interest Accommodation. Oberoi Grand, Calcutta (oberoihotels.com): long-established luxury hotel conveniently located in the city centre. RV Sukapha (assambengalnavigation.com): built in 2006, this river cruiser is comfortable and has great charm. Décor is simple and cabins fairly spacious. Service is excellent. Single rooms/cabins are doubles for sole use. Changes to the itinerary: circumstances might arise which prevent us from operating the tour as advertised. On the river, the ebb and flow of the tide and shifting silt levels might necessitate omission of one or more ports of call. We would try and devise a satisfactory alternative. How strenuous? A good level of fitness is essential. Unless you enjoy entirely unimpaired mobility, cope with everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty and are reliably surefooted, this tour is not for you. A rough indication of the minimum level of fitness required is that you ought to be able to walk briskly at about three miles per hour for at least half an hour, and undertake a walk at a more leisurely pace for an hour or two unaided. You may be on your feet for lengthy stretches of time. Uneven ground and irregular paving are standard. Sure-footedness is essential to get on and off the ship; the riverbanks may be slippery. Unruly traffic and the busy streets of Calcutta also require vigilance. There are a few fairly steep ascents to hilltop forts and temples. There is a 4-hour train journey where facilities may be limited.
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Day 7: Chandernagore, Chinsura, Hooghly. In the morning, sail upstream to the former French colony of Chandernagore, established in 1673. Visit the remaining churches and cemeteries as well as Governor Joseph François Dupleix’s House. Sail to Chinsura to visit the 17th-cent. Dutch cemetery before continuing by cyclerickshaw to Hooghly where the 19th-cent. Shi’a Imambara of Hazi Mohammed Mohasin contains fine marble inlay.
Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones mbe
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morning is free. In the afternoon visit South Park Street Cemetery, where tombs of the early British settlers are of a monumental classicism without parallel in Britain. First of four nights in Calcutta.
Group size: between 12 and 18 participants.
Included meals: 11 lunches (including 1 packed lunch) and 12 dinners with wine.
Combine this tour with Essential India, 23 February–11 March (page 198).
Visas: most foreign nationals require a tourist visa. The cost of this is not included in the price of the tour because you have to procure it yourself. We will advise all participants on the procedure.
What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Architecture of the British Raj Evolution of styles in Bombay, Calcutta & Delhi india
23 January–4 February 2016 (mc 565) 13 days • £5,640 Lecturer: Professor Gavin Stamp Visits the major centres of British power, still India’s leading cities – Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Delhi. Extraordinary wealth of European-style architecture from the eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. Little-visited treasures as well as the major ones included, with private visits and special access a feature of the tour. An archetypical case of the MRT policy of travelling less and seeing more, with four days in each of the cities and free time. Led by Professor Gavin Stamp, a specialist in Victorian and Edwardian architecture.
The British Raj in India was an extraordinary and unique phenomenon, both historically and in terms of its physical legacy. It might be said that the Subcontinent became British almost by accident. There was never an official expansionist strategy, and indeed time and again governments in London urged restraint or proscribed further territorial enlargement. When on occasion enthusiasts conceived grand designs they were usually stymied by the doctrine of ‘masterly inactivity’. Extraordinarily, for the first two-anda-half centuries of British presence, India was not ruled directly by the Crown but indirectly by a commercial firm. The Honourable East India Company was founded in 1599, one of several such European enterprises initiated at the time to trade with the East via the recently discovered sea routes. Only in the aftermath of the Mutiny or Uprising of 1857–8 did India come to be ruled from Westminster. British India was initially a trading enterprise, with treaties willingly entered into by local rulers. The cities of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay were originally established by the Company as trading posts. Military means were used intermittently to defend the status quo or for piecemeal consolidation of interests. Most Britons who went to India expected to end their days in Britain. India was a place to seek adventure and to pursue a career, rarely a place to which to emigrate. If the imperial venture had its roots in trade, its fulfilment manifested itself in bureaucracy. At the height of the British Raj, about a thousand Anglo-Indians administered a population of 300 million. The Indian Civil Service was perhaps the most efficient and least corrupt in history. There was no shortage of arrogance and prejudice; but there was also devotion to duty, sense of service, religious tolerance and idealism concerning the benefits of their work.
Calcutta, St Paul’s Cathedral, drawing by Desmond Doig c. 1960.
Independence came almost seventy years ago in 1947, but the physical evidence of the British presence survives. The centres of the major cities established by the East India Company are still astonishingly, perhaps bizarrely British. Calcutta, “city of palaces” with its surviving wealth of stuccoed Classical buildings can be compared with St Petersburg rather than Cheltenham. Bombay, which Robert Byron once described as “that architectural Sodom” can now be seen as the finest Gothic Revival city in the world. And New Delhi, added to the ancient city of Delhi to which the seat of government was moved from Calcutta in 1911, is surely the most successful planned city of the twentieth century and Viceroy’s House one of the finest buildings anywhere. It may be startling to see so many buildings which seem to have been transported bodily from Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol or London – except that, on closer inspection, adaptations to the climate are evident. Some are designed by major British architects – George Gilbert Scott, Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker among them – but most are by less familiar names: some who sent out drawings from Britain but others – like F.W. Stevens, William Emerson, Arthur Shoosmith - who settled in India for years or decades, while, towards the end, there was native Indian architectural talent. Then there is Indo-Saracenic architecture, a Victorian Orientalist hybrid, promoted by the British. A Battle of the Styles raged in Victorian India in parallel with the Gothic-Classical debates back home: whether to impose our own styles as would any conqueror, proclaiming the superiority of British civilisation, or legitimise our role as rulers by appropriating Indian styles? There will be much to debate on this tour.
Itinerary Days 1 & 2: London to Bombay (Mumbai). Fly from London Heathrow at c. 10.00am (British Airways). Those not taking our group flights can check in at the Bombay hotel from 2.00pm.
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Day 2: Bombay. Reach Bombay in the early hours of the morning (time difference from UK is 5½ hours). Nothing is planned before a pre-lunch talk. Our hotel, a domed Edwardian pile which is one of the most famous in India, faces the Gateway of India, an Orientalised triumphal arch marking the spot where King George V and Queen Mary landed in 1911. In the afternoon we walk around the Victorian heart of Bombay, seeing the major public buildings which make it the most complete Gothic Revival city outside England: the Secretariat, the High Court and, above all, the University. Other buildings include Watson’s Hotel, a mid-Victorian structure of prefabricated cast-iron, and the Prince of Wales Museum, an Edwardian building in the IndoSaracenic style which houses, among much else, a collection of both European and Indian paintings. Second of four nights in Bombay. Day 3: Bombay. The Gothic Victoria Terminus railway station was clearly inspired by St Pancras in London. The Gothic Revival Afghan Memorial Church is also a melancholy reminder of the first of Britain’s several disastrous interventions in
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Day 4: Bombay. In the morning we experience a rather older India with a visit by boat to the famous caves on Elephanta Island, with their rock-cut architectural forms and sculptures dating from the 5th to the 8th centuries. In the afternoon we visit by special arrangement the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, the oldest in the city, founded as the Victorian and Albert Museum in 1855. Remainder of the afternoon free. Day 5: Bombay, Calcutta (Kolkata). Visit Mani Bhavan, the house which was used as Gandhi’s political headquarters in Bombay from 1917 until 1934 and from which he launched his campaign of civil disobedience against British rule. Then drive to the airport and fly to Calcutta, where we stay at the Oberoi Grand, a late 19th-cent. building. First of four nights in Calcutta. Day 6: Calcutta. Established in 1690, Calcutta flourished as an East India Company trading post and later as the capital of British India, especially after Clive’s victory over the Nawab of Murshidabad in 1757. Located in the vicinity of Dalhousie Square at the heart of the city are St John’s Church, with the tomb of Job Charnock the city’s founder, Town Hall, Writers’ Building, General Post Office and High Court (Gothic, unlike most of Calcutta). Government House, begun in 1799 by Governor-General Marquess Wellesley, was the grandest of the palaces. The Rabindra Bharati Museum is an 18th-cent. house which was the home of the poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore. Cross the Howrah Bridge, the huge cantilever steel structure over the Hooghly river opened in 1943, to see the Howrah Station, an Edwardian building which is still a vital testament to the importance of the railway in unifying British India.
Day 8: Calcutta. South Park Street Cemetery is a beautiful as well as poignant burial ground in which so many of Calcutta’s early residents lie in or under remarkably magnificent and sophisticated monuments. The Indian Museum was established in 1814 by the Asiatic Society; its present home opened in 1878 and was the work of Walter Granville, architect of the Post Office and the High Court. It contains India’s most important collection of sculpture. Some free time.
huge Jami Masjid (Friday Mosque) with its two noble minarets is one of the very finest Islamic buildings, and the 16th-cent. garden mausoleum of the Emperor Humayun is an outstanding example of earlier Islamic design. Some free time.
Day 10: Delhi. On this first day we shall explore the area north of Old Delhi. It was here that some of the fiercest fighting took place during the 1857 Mutiny; we see the Flagstaff Tower and the Mutiny Memorial. Here also the move of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi was announced at the 1911 Coronation Durbar; visit the temporary Viceregal Lodge, now part of Delhi University, occupied by the Viceroys until the new palace Lutyens designed for them was ready. Located inside the Kashmir Gate of Old Delhi, scene of desperate fighting in 1857, is St James’s or Skinner’s Church, with its unusual centralized plan built by a cavalry officer, Colonel James Skinner, in the 1830s.
Day 12: New Delhi. The day is devoted to New Delhi, established in 1911 and inaugurated 20 years later. The magnificent group of government buildings at the heart of the low-density plan include the Secretariat and Parliament, both by Sir Herbert Baker, and the Viceroy’s House (now residence of the President) in which Sir Edwin Lutyens integrated Mughal, Hindu and Buddhist elements into his monumental Classical concept. Also by Lutyens, Hyderabad House is one of the palaces built for native princes; another such palace, Jaipur House, close to the All India Arch at the end of the long vista from Viceroy’s House, is now the National Gallery of Modern Art. Among the buildings designed by Lutyens’s disciples are the Anglican cathedral by Henry Medd and the Garrison Church by Arthur Shoosmith, an astonishing building which is a 20th-cent. monument of rare distinction.
Day 11: Delhi. This day is devoted to the magnificent Islamic architecture of Delhi. Delhi is a very ancient city but its principal architectural glories date from the 17th century when it was the capital of the Mughal emperors. Shah Jahan began the Red Fort and its palace in 1639 (the British nearly demolished them after 1857) with its open diwans (audience chambers) and the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) of white marble. The
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The Indian Mutiny 25 October–7 November 2016 Lecturer: Patrick Mercer
Mughals & Rajputs Dates to be confirmed
Temples of Tamil Nadu 23 January–5 February 2017
Kingdoms of the Deccan 10–23 February 2017 Lecturer: Asoka Pugal
Indian Summer 13–25 March 2017 Lecturer: Raaja Bhasin
Gastronomic Kerala November 2016 Full details available in December 2015. Contact us to register your interest.
Day 13: Delhi to London. Fly from Delhi in the morning (British Airways), arriving in London Heathrow early afternoon.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £5,640 or £5,190 without all flights. Single occupancy: £6,600 or £6,150 without all flights. Included meals: 9 lunches, 6 dinners, with wine. Visas: most foreign nationals require a tourist visa. The cost of this is not included in the price of the tour because you have to procure it yourself. We will advise all participants on the procedure. Accommodation. Taj Mahal Palace, Bombay (tajhotels.com): centrally located iconic landmark. Oberoi Grand Hotel, Calcutta (oberoihotels. com): luxury hotel located in the city centre, impeccable service. Oberoi Maidens Hotel, Old Delhi (oberoihotels.com): colonial charm and ideally located in the heart of the old city. How strenuous? A good level of fitness is essential. Unless you enjoy entirely unimpaired mobility, cope with everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty and are reliably surefooted, this tour is not for you. A rough indication of the minimum level of fitness required is that you ought to be able to walk briskly at about three miles per hour for at least half an hour, and undertake a walk at a more leisurely pace for an hour or two unaided. You may be on your feet for lengthy stretches of time. Uneven ground and irregular paving are standard. Sure-footedness is essential; uneven ground and irregular paving are standard. Unruly traffic and the busy streets of Bombay, Calcutta and Delhi also require vigilance. Average coach travel per day: 17 miles.
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Day 7: Calcutta. St Paul’s Cathedral, 1839–47, is one of the few Gothic buildings in Calcutta, and contains many good memorials and a superb Burne-Jones window. The huge domed Edwardian Baroque Victoria Memorial, by far the grandest building in Calcutta, was founded by Lord Curzon as a museum of British India and contains a magnificent collection of paintings and sculpture. The Belvedere was the residence of the Lieutenant Governors of Bengal and now houses the National Library.
Day 9: Calcutta. The Maghen David Synagogue of 1884 and the Armenian Church of 1707 survive as reminders of the cosmopolitan nature of the city before Independence. Fly to Delhi at c. 5.30pm (IndiGo). First of four nights in Delhi.
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Afghanistan. St Thomas’s Cathedral, typical of so many Anglican churches in India: a Classical building adapted to the climate and filled with poignant monuments to British merchants, soldiers and administrators who never returned home. The Sassoon Library and the University Library, erected from designs sent out by Sir Gilbert Scott, two of the more remarkable Gothic Revival buildings. Evening free.
Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Ar t in Japan
Art, craft, architecture & design japan
6–19 May 2016 (mc 671) This tour is currently full New departure: 30 October–12 Nov. 2016 (md 928) 14 days • £6,040 Lecturer: Dr Monika Hinkel Many of the finest collections of Japanese art, in museums and in situ in temples and shrines. World Heritage sites at Nikko, Kyoto, Nara and Horyu-ji, and the art island of Naoshima. Outstanding museum buildings by Tadao Ando, I.M. Pei and other leading architects. Also other aspects of Japanese culture, past and present, including gastronomy and gardens. Led by Monika Hinkel, lecturer and curator in the field of Japanese art. Japan has one of the richest and most continuously active art traditions in Asia, perhaps anywhere. Some of the earliest known ceramics have been found here, as is the world’s oldest standing wooden building. But Japanese contemporary art also ranks with the best in the
world and is eagerly imitated and avidly collected. Between those chronological poles is a wealth of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines from all periods, and some impressive military architecture. National, regional and private collections are to be found in great profusion throughout the country; Japan has a long and impressive lineage of art-historical scholarship and connoisseurship. To this in recent times have been added a network of conservation and restoration labs and the latest technology for archaeological investigation. In short, despite the large number of wars and natural disasters that have periodically overwhelmed the country, Japanese arts are to be enjoyed in extraordinary abundance. The great majority of important pieces remain in the country. Throughout history, Japan has tended to make a less emphatic division between art and craft than is the case in Western countries. Of equal rank alongside the ‘fine arts’ of painting and sculpture there are outstanding examples of ceramic, textile and metalwork, as well as uniquely beautiful gardens and a special aesthetic of food and eating. This tour exposes participants to Japan across the ages, sampling excellent works from many periods, genres and styles. As a deeply hierarchical society until modern times, there is
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Japanese woodblock. book online at www.martinrandall.com
‘high’ art and ‘low’ art, from royal and shogunal works to that of the urban populace (the fabled ‘art of the floating world’). Modern Tokyo is part of the experience as well as the ancient capital of Kyoto, as are the yet more ancient city of Nara and the celebrated art colony of Naoshima in the Inland Sea. World Heritage sites figure on the tour, but we also visit less well-known sites such as ceramic studios and mausolea.
Itinerary – Autumn 2016 This itinerary applies to our autumn departure only. For full details of our spring departure (currently full), visit www.martinrandall.com. Day 1: London to Tokyo. Fly at c. 1.00pm (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Tokyo (time in the air c. 11½ hours). Those not taking our flights can check in from 2.00pm today. Day 2: Tokyo. Arrive at Tokyo NaritaAirport at c. 9.30am and drive to the hotel. Rooms will be ready before lunch. There is an afternoon walk in the dynamic and design-conscious Tokyo Midtown. First of four nights in Tokyo. Day 3: Tokyo. The morning is dedicated to the Tokyo National Museum, which occupies several buildings in Ueno Park and houses some of
residence, has a lavish interior containing brilliantly painted fusuma by the Kano school. Day 11: Kyoto to Naoshima. Travel by coach from Kyoto to Uno and from there take the ferry across to Naoshima Island, located in the Inland Sea. Together with the islands of Teshima and Inujima, Naoshima forms part of the ‘Benesse Art Site’. A number of striking galleries by architect Tadao Ando and outdoor installations dot the landscape. First of two nights in Naoshima.
Day 4: Nikko. Full-day excursion to Nikko, an historically important Shinto and Buddhist pilgrimage site in a national park with breathtaking mountain vistas. The 17th-cent. Tosho-gu Shrine complex was established here by the powerful Tokugawa Shoguns (the first shogun of the Edo period, Tokugawa Ieyasu, is enshrined here); set amid towering Japanese cedars and pines, the architecturally extravagant buildings are decorated with elaborate wood-carvings and beautiful paintwork. Day 5: Tokyo. Nezu Kaichiro’s extraordinary and diverse collection of Japanese and other Asian arts is perfectly presented in the eponymous museum, a purpose-built space with a delightful garden. Highlights include world-renowned Chinese bronzes and exquisite utensils related to the tea aesthetic. There is free time for lunch in the sophisticated Omotesando area before an afternoon at leisure. Day 6: Tokyo to Kyoto. High-speed train to Kyoto (luggage by road). Kyoto is considered centre of Japanese culture; today’s city and the surrounding hills are dense with examples of art and architecture of the highest importance. At the foot of the forested Higashiyama mountains the zen temple complex Nanzen-ji is distinguished by its massive gate (Sanmon) and the quarters of the abbacy (Hojo) which contain fine 17th-cent. painted screens (fusuma) by Kano Tan’yu. The Kodai-ji Temple is richly decorated with early 17th-century maki-e, gold and silver set in lacquer. First of five nights in Kyoto.
Day 8: Kyoto environs. A morning excursion to the Miho Museum, designed by I.M Pei and harmoniously integrated into a forested nature reserve. The approach on foot via a tunnel and bridge leads to a glass structure on the crest of a hill and a sequence of luminous interiors incorporating traditional Japanese motifs. Collections include Greco-Roman and Islamic antiquities and important Japanese artworks. After a leisurely lunch in these gorgeous surroundings, return to Kyoto where the rest of the day is free. Day 9: Nara and its environs. A full-day excursion to Nara, first capital of Japan (ad 710– 794). Modelled on the Tang capital of Chang’an
Day 12: Naoshima. Visit the Art House Project, a collection of traditional buildings in the old fishing village of Honmura that have been restored and transformed by artists to house creative contemporary installations. After lunch visit the Benesse House Museum, a vast structure of concrete, glass and natural light. In addition to works by contemporary Japanese artists, the collection includes works by Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Bruce Nauman.
Japanese warrior from Le Tour du Monde 1866
(Xian) in China, Nara was the birthplace of major cultural and religious development. Here Buddhism firmly established itself and prolific production of splendid temples and devotional art ensued, much of which is in situ. Here are some of the oldest wooden structures in the world. The temple of Todai-ji contains an arresting monumental bronze Buddha; the dry-lacquer and bronze statues of the Hokke-do and Kofuku Temple are sublime in their detail. Nearby Horyu-ji is Japan’s earliest Buddhist temple, founded ad 607. Day 10: Kyoto. The large walled temple compound of Daitoku-ji, established in the 14th cent., is an important foundation of Japanese Zen. Its many sub-temples contain dry landscape gardens; one of the finest (and smallest) is in the Daisen-in, a Chinese ink-painting rendered in stone. The Raku Museum holds exhibitions of its eponymous ware, most often in the form of understated tea bowls. Nijo Castle, shogunal
Sea of Japan
Nikko
Japan Naoshima
Tokyo
Kyoto Osaka, Nara c. 200km
Day 13: Naoshima, Osaka. Start the day at the Chichu Art Museum, which houses several Monet paintings as well as sculptures by Walter de Maria in underground spaces lit only by natural light. The eponymous Lee Ufan Museum houses works by this Korean-born artist and is the latest addition to the collection of Benesse museums. Ferry to Uno and transfer to Okayama for the train to Osaka. Overnight Osaka. Day 14: Osaka to London. Fly at c. 11.45am from Osaka Kansai Airport to London, via Helsinki, arriving at Heathrow at c. 6.30pm (Finnair & British Airways, time in the air c. 13 hours).
Practicalities – Autumn 2016 Price – per person. Two sharing: £6,040 or £5,320 without flights. Single occupancy: £7,070 or £6,350 without flights. Included meals: 9 lunches, 6 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Hilton, Tokyo (hilton.com): located in the heart of the modern Shinjuku area. Spacious rooms with touches of Japanese design. Westin Miyako, Kyoto (miyakohotels.ne.jp): 5-star hotel located in the temple district of the eastern hills with an excellent garden. Benesse House Hotel, Naoshima (benesse-artsite.jp): comfortable, modern hotel designed by Tadao Ando (subject to confirmation). Osaka Miyako Marriott (marriot.com): smart hotel opened in 2014 in one of the tallest buildings in Japan with spectacular city views.
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Day 7: Kyoto. Kyoto’s National Museum opened its Heisei Chishinkan wing in 2014, an impressive construction displaying ceramics, painting, sculpture, sumptuous textiles and much else. The Sanjusangen-do is an unusually long hall containing 1001 subtly differentiated 12th/13thcentury gilded statues of Kannon, divinity of Mercy, cumulatively a potent visual effect. The home of potter Kawai Kanjiro (d. 1966), a key figure in the folk art revival of the 1930s, is an intimate space furnished with his work and an intact ‘climbing’ kiln.
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the finest Japanese art in the world. The main gallery (Honkan) traces the development from prehistoric, sculptural earthenware to exquisite paintings and decorative objects of courtly patronage. In the afternoon visit the Edo-period Korakuen Garden, one of the oldest and best preserved in the city.
How strenuous? A good level of fitness is essential. Unless you enjoy entirely unimpaired mobility, cope with everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty and are reliably surefooted, this tour is not for you. A rough indication of the minimum level of fitness required is that you ought to be able to walk briskly at about three miles per hour for at least half an hour, and undertake a walk at a more leisurely pace for an hour or two unaided. The tour involves a lot of standing in museums. Average distance by coach per day: c. 59 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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The Hear t of Japan
Art & crafts, history, religion & traditions japan Wood engraving c. 1880.
9–22 May 2016 (mc 673) 14 days • £6,230 Lecturers: Phillida Purvis mbe & Christopher Purvis cbe 17–30 October 2016 Details available in November 2015 Contact us to register your interest Modern architecture in Tokyo and the contrasting traditional buildings in Shirakawa and Takayama. Stunning Buddhist temples, Imperial villas and gardens in Kyoto, and the legendary, ancient shrine at Izumo. Traditional arts and crafts in Kanazawa.
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An exploration of the Japanese character – in history and today. Led by Phillida Purvis, a former diplomat in Japan and founder of the NGO Links Japan and Christopher Purvis, formerly Chairman of the Japan Society.
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One of the joys of exploring Japan is discovering its many different facets. It is a country of exquisite ancient beauty; but it is also at the cutting edge of modern design and creativity. Its people are said to be homogeneous; but nevertheless colourfully different characters constantly stride out both in history – such as Minamoto no Yorimoto, the founder of the shogunate – and today in the young pink haired punks and Cosplay followers of Tokyo’s Shibuya. Japan is well known for adapting ideas discovered
elsewhere; but it has also always produced art and ideas of wonderful originality. This tour has been designed to take us to the heart of Japan – to explore the many aspects of the country and its people: its stunning natural beauty and heritage, the continuing work of craftspeople, art and architecture both old and new, its history and relations with neighbours, and modern Japan and its position in the world. In the sixth century Buddhism arrived in Japan from China. Kyoto, founded as the new capital in 794, perfectly displays this history through its gardens and Buddhist temples, many of which are to be found on the hillsides around the city. Even when the seat of power moved to Kamakura and later in 1603 to Tokyo, Kyoto remained at the heart of Japan. A visit to an Imperial villa offers a special insight as does an exploration of the work of Kyoto’s traditional craftspeople. The long tradition of craft skills is also found in Kanazawa, which is well known for its Kutani pottery, lacquer and gold leaf. It is one of the few cities where tea houses and geisha are still in evidence. In the mountains not far away is Takayama with its old merchants’ houses, and Shirakawa’s traditional gassho zukuri farmhouses. In 1868 at the Meiji Restoration the emperor moved from Kyoto to Tokyo and Japan opened its doors to foreigners. The tour takes in Matsue where Lafcadio Hearn worked on his studies of so-called ‘strange things’ – Japanese ghost stories and superstitions – in 1890, as well as the medieval Matsue castle. Ancient myths tell of the creation of Japan through the story of the sun goddess Amaterasu. When she threw her brother
book online at www.martinrandall.com
Susanoo out of heaven he came to Izumo, home to the great Shinto shrine, whose origins reach back before the Heian period. Beginning in Tokyo, where there is an abundance of modern architecture, fashion and design, and returning from Osaka airport – an extraordinary engineering feat on reclaimed land in the middle of Osaka Bay – the tour promises to be a remarkable opportunity to engage with many aspects of this multi-layered country, made all the more vivid with the insight of a pair of longstanding Japanophiles.
Itinerary – May 2016 Day 1: London to Tokyo. Fly at c. 1.30pm (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Tokyo (time in the air c. 11½ hours). Those not taking our flights can check in from 2.00pm today. Day 2: Tokyo. The flight arrives at c. 9.00am. Rooms will be ready before lunch. Afternoon walk in the dynamic and design-conscious Tokyo Midtown. First of two nights in Tokyo. Day 3: Tokyo. Nezu Kaichiro’s collection of Japanese arts is well presented in the eponymous museum, which also has a delightful garden. There is time to explore the Omotesando area where architecture meets fashion. By contrast, the Asakusa Kannon Temple in shitamachi (literally ‘downtown’) is surrounded by busy street stalls. Take a local boat on the river back to Hamarikyu gardens close to the hotel. Day 4: Kanazawa. Bullet train to Kanazawa (luggage by road), an attractive city which retains much of its old character. After lunch, visit
Practicalities – May 2016 Price – per person. Two sharing: £6,230 or £5,450 without international flights. Single occupancy: £7,100 or £6,320 without international flights.
Day 5: Kanazawa. In the Nagamachi area there remain many old samurai houses. Visit the Nomura House and a museum of kimono dyed using the Kagayuzen technique. In the afternoon there is a private lacquer maker’s studio visit (by special arrangement). The intriguing Myoryu-ji temple includes hidden tunnels and secret rooms, traps, and a labyrinth of corridors designed as defence for the castle, once standing alongside. Day 6: Kanazawa. Morning walk to include Terajima Kurando’s house, a geisha quarter with its charming latticed wooden houses, a gold leaf museum and the Utatsu Shrine. The rest of the day is free for exploration of the market or the Prefectural Museum to see Kutani pottery for which Kanazawa is famous. Day 7: Shirakawa-go, Takayama. Drive through Japan’s central Alps to visit Shirakawa-go famous for its gassho-zukuri houses with their distinctive thatched roofs and visit the folk museum. In Takayama, a small town with streets lined with heritage wooden merchant houses, visit Takayama Jinya, the seat of the Edo-period government in the region. Overnight in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn (sleeping in futon on tatami mats). Day 8: Takayama, Matsue. An early morning walk along the Miyagawa river to visit the market and nearby temples before driving to Nagoya Airport. Fly to Izumo (Japan Airlines), arriving mid-afternoon. First of two nights at Matsue, beside Lake Shinji, in an onsen hotel. Onsen are natural hot springs and onsen bathing (optional) is a much-loved Japanese form of relaxation.
Included meals: 10 lunches, 8 dinners, with wine.
Watercolour by Ella du Cane publ. 1913
garden and fine 17th-century painted screens by Kano Tan’yu. Nearby is the intimate sub-temple Konchi-in. Day 12: Kyoto. Ryoan-ji’s dry garden is perhaps Kyoto’s most famous stone garden. The large walled temple compound of Daitoku-ji, established in the 14th century, is an important foundation of Japanese Zen Buddhism. Its many sub-temples contain dry landscape gardens; one of the finest (and smallest) is in the Daisen-in. In the afternoon visit two exemplary gardens: the Saiho-ji with its enchanting dappled moss garden and the Katsura Rikyu Imperial Villa. Day 13: Kyoto. Morning excursion to Uji, the location of the last few chapters of The Tale of Genji. The Byodo-in temple was a villa made into a temple by Fujiwara no Yorimichi (of the Heian period power-holding family) in 1052. Its Phoenix Hall appears to spread its wings in front of the lake. Visit traditional crafts studios.
Accommodation. Royal Park Shiodome, Tokyo (rph-the.co.jp/shiodome): 4-star hotel in the redeveloped district of Shiodome with well-appointed but small rooms. Hotel Nikko, Kanazawa (hnkanazawa.jp): centrally located, comfortable business hotel. Tanabe Ryokan (tanabe-ryokan.jp) or Honjin Bekkan, Takayama (honjinhiranoya.co.jp): centrally located traditional ryokans (futon beds on tatami mats) with private bathrooms. Ichibata, Matsue (ichibata.co.jp): an onsen (hot-spring spa) hotel with views over Lake Shinji; bland decor but it is the best option in town with western and traditional rooms. Westin Miyako, Kyoto (miyakohotels.ne.jp): 5-star hotel located in the temple district of the eastern hills with an excellent garden. How strenuous? A good level of fitness is essential. Unless you enjoy entirely unimpaired mobility, cope with everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty and are reliably surefooted, this tour is not for you. A rough indication of the minimum level of fitness required is that you ought to be able to walk briskly at about three miles per hour for at least half an hour, and undertake a walk at a more leisurely pace for an hour or two unaided. You may be on your feet for lengthy stretches of time. Uneven ground and irregular paving are standard. Average distance by coach per day: 38 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
After a drawing by Mortimer Menpes, from World Pictures, publ. 1903.
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Day 9: Izumo, Matsue. Ancient myths about the origin of Japan tell of Izumo and the Izumo Taisha, dating back before the Heian period, as well as the Kamosu and Yaegaki Shrines, are all dedicated to early gods. Matsue Castle (25 miles from Izumo) is one of the few remaining medieval castles. Lafcadio Hearn, a Victorian writer on Japan, lived in Matsue in 1891 and met his wife Koizumi Setsu there. His home gives a flavour of his life.
japan
Day 14: Osaka to London. Drive to Kansai International Airport and fly at c. 10.45am to London, via Helsinki, arriving at Heathrow at c. 6.30pm (Finnair & British Airways, time in the air c. 13 hours)
the Kenrokuen, one of Japan’s finest strolling landscape gardens, and traditional Seisonkaku villa. Nearby the D.T Suzuki Museum, designed by Taniguchi Yoshio, commemorates the ideas of a leading Zen Buddhist philosopher. The circular, glass and steel form of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is striking. First of three nights in Kanazawa.
Day 10: Yasugi, Bizen, Kyoto. The Adachi Museum, created by Adachi Zenko in 1980, has a spectacular landscape garden as well as his collection of paintings by Yokoyama Taikan, a leader of the Nihonga school in the 1930s. Drive south passing Mount Daisen to Bizen, famous for its brownish natural glaze earthenware pottery, to visit a kiln. First of four nights in Kyoto. Day 11: Kyoto. A day in the eastern foothills. From Shugakuin Imperial Villa, with its shakkei (borrowed scenery) landscape to Ginkakuji, the temple of the silver pavilion built by Ashikaga Yoshimasa in the 15th century. In the Zen temple complex Nanzen-ji there is a famous tiger
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Samarkand & Silk Road Cities with Khiva, Bukhara, Tashkent & Shakhrisabz uzbekistan
of Timur’s palace, and to Tashkent, the spacious modern capital with good museums and galleries. Space is not at a premium in this part of the world. Broad tree-lined boulevards encircle the historic town centres and no expanding girdle of high-rise apartments disfigures the approach. Modernity has made relatively unobtrusive inroads: in one of the few nations on earth which has escaped the countryside scourge of ferroconcrete and breeze block, the whitewashed villages and farmsteads with their awnings of vines would hold few surprises for Tolstoy. Nearly all the women are to some extent in traditional dress, brightly coloured anklelength dresses, and so are some of the older men. In the wake of economic liberalisation since independence, streets and courtyards are draped with the dazzling hues of carpets and textiles; the glories of the Silk Road in its heyday are not hard to imagine.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 9.35pm (Uzbekistan Airways) from London Heathrow to Tashkent (7 hours), currently the only direct flight.
Khiva, the Grand Minaret, wood engraving c. 1880.
17–27 May 2016 (mc 683) 11 days/10 nights • £3,340 Lecturer: Professor James Allan 6–16 September 2016 (md 826) 11 days/10 nights • £3,340 Lecturer: Dr Peter Webb 20–30 September 2016 (md 848) 11 days/10 nights • £3,340 Lecturer: Professor Dominic Brookshaw The best of Uzbekistan, and some of the most glorious sights in the Islamic world.
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Led by specialists in Central Asian archaeology and history. Magnificent mosques and madrassas, acres of wonderful wall tiles, intact streetscape, memorable landscapes. Includes places that are remote, difficult to access and remarkably unspoilt.
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Oxiana, Tartary, Turkestan, Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand: names to produce a frisson. They evoke alluring images of shimmering turquoise domes and exquisite glazed wall tiles, of lost libraries and renowned scholars, of the delicious decadence of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, of gardens, poetry and wine, of the fabulous riches of the Silk Road between China and Christendom. Less agreeable images are also induced: of Ghengis Khan and Timur (Tamerlane), the most
far-reaching conquerors in history; of the tyranny and cruelty of the khans, perpetuating the last redoubts of mediaeval misrule; of the Great Game, the nineteenthcentury Cold War between Britain and Russia; of terrain as hostile as the tribesmen and petty tyrants who inhabited its desert and mountain fastnesses; and of a post-Soviet penumbra of Stans of suspect politics and allegiances. The four cities of the subtitle lie now in Uzbekistan, independent since 1991 but an entity which has its origins in late nineteenth-century Russian imperialism, which agglomerated a number of independent khanates, and whose borders were settled in the 1920s. It lies at the very centre of Central Asia. One of only two double land-locked nations in the world, it has a capital which is a thousand miles north of the Indian Ocean (Afghanistan and Pakistan intervene), 1,400 miles east of the Black Sea and 400 miles from Xinjiang, China’s largely Islamic western province. This is as the crow flies; extremes of topography and climate as well as banditry slowed or terminated the progress of many travellers. A slave-trading oasis khanate, Khiva was, and remains, the smallest of the three cities. It is perhaps the most intact and homogenous urban ensemble in the Islamic world, with biscuitcoloured brick and blue and turquoise maiolica. In Bukhara, gorgeously adorned architecture spanning a thousand years still rises above a streetscape of indeterminate age. Samarkand has the largest and most resplendently caparisoned historic buildings of all. There are also visits to Shakhrisabz, which has breathtaking remains
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Days 2 & 3: Tashkent. Arrive at c. 8.25am. Hotel rooms in the centre of Tashkent are at your disposal for the morning. The History Museum of the People of Uzbekistan is within walking distance if you want to venture out before lunch. Afternoon drive around the city centre, a modern city with wide avenues, spacious parks, glistening new government buildings. Among the places seen during the two days are the Hazret Imam complex, a group of mosques and madrassas (seminaries) from the 16th to the 20th centuries; the Timur Museum and park, a homage to the newly elevated national hero with 13th- to 16th-century artefacts and models of some of the buildings seen on the tour; the Fine Arts Museum with collections from pre-Islamic sculpture to 20th-century painting; free time for the Museum of Applied Arts or the Chorsu Bazaar. Fly at c. 3.30pm on Day 3 to Urgench and drive the 30 miles to Khiva. First of two nights here. Day 4: Khiva. No modern intrusions spoil the timeless fabric within a rectangle of crenellated and turreted ramparts. Most of the buildings are 19th-century, but such was Khiva’s isolation and conservatism that to the inexpert eye they could date to any time from the 16th-century. The Friday Mosque, a forest of carved wooden columns some dating to the 10th-century, the Tash Hauli Palace, whose harem quarters constitute the loveliest secular spaces in Central Asia, and the Paklavan Mahmoud Mausoleum where tiled interiors reach a peak of opulence. Day 5: from Khiva to Bukhara. The 280 mile journey starts and finishes in an unspoilt landscape of green fields, plentiful trees and adobe farmsteads while the central section is undulating desert, specked with tufty shrubs which are briefly green in the spring. There are periodic sightings of the meandering Oxus, the mighty river crossed by Alexander the Great in 329 bc. Reach Bukhara in time for a walk before dinner. First of three nights in Bukhara.
“I have always wanted to visit Samarkand and Bukhara and I am pleased to have done so. The buildings are absolutely fantastic. This trip will be long remembered.”
Day 7: Bukhara. The perfectly preserved 10thcentury Samani Mausoleum and the remains of the 12th-century Namaz Goh Mosque display fine terracotta decoration. The Emir’s summer palace, 1911, is a riotous mix of Russian and traditional Bukharan decoration with rose garden, aviary and swimming pool. Free afternoon with the option to visit Chor Bakr, a memorial complex built over the burial place of Abu-Bakr a descendant of the prophet Mohammed. Day 8: Shakhrisabz. A 4-hour drive across a fertile plain where wheat and cotton flourish. Shakhrisabz was transformed by Timur (1336– 1405) whose home town it was. An astounding survival is the most imposing palace portal in the history of architecture, an arch 22 metres wide with a wondrous range of tiled decoration. Further Timurid remnants include a mosque complex with three turquoise domes. Cross a mountain range (broadleaf woods, fissured granite, pasturage) and drop down to the plain of the Zarifsan river, and to Samarkand. First of three nights in Samarkand. Day 9: Samarkand. The Registan, ‘the noblest public square in the world’ (Lord Curzon, 1889), bounded on three sides by magnificent madrassas of the 15th and 17th centuries. The Museum of History, Culture and Art has collections from pre-Islamic as well as Islamic periods. Other places seen are the Gur Emir Mausoleum, burial place of Tamerlane, the adjacent Ak Serai
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Day 6: Bukhara. Genghis Khan ensured in 1220 that with notable exceptions (including the Kalon Minaret, at 48 metres then the tallest in the world) little of Bukhara’s first golden age remains, but of the second, the 15th and 16th centuries, there survives much magnificent architecture, lavishly embellished. Today’s walks take in the vast Kalon Mosque (finished 1514) with a capacity of 10,000, several grand madrassas, the formidable citadel of the Khans and the Zindan, their infamous prison. Take tea in the shade of mulberry trees around a 15th-century pool.
K A Z A K H S TA N
Uzbekistan
K Y R G Y Z S TA N
Khiva
Tashkent
Bukhara
T U R K M E N I S TA N
Samarkand Shahrisabz
TA J I K I S TA N
c. 200 km
Mausoleum and the Shah-i-Zinda, an ensemble of mausolea gorgeously apparelled in many types of glazed tiles. Day 10: Samarkand. Commissioned by Timur, the Bibi Khanum Mosque is an exercise in gigantism and impresses despite partial destruction and over-zealous restoration. The adjacent Bazaar is a traditional produce market. Optional visits to the Afrasiab History Museum which documents pre-Islamic Samarkand and to the remains of the extraordinary observatory built by Ulug Bek in the 15th-century. Free time. Day 11: Tashkent. Drive to Tashkent. The flight arrives at Heathrow at c. 8.00pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £3,340 or £2,790 without all flights. Single occupancy: £3,520 or £2,970 without all flights. Included meals: 10 lunches, 9 dinners with wine. Internal flight: please contact the office if you wish us to arrange the internal flight for you (this is not included in our ‘without flights’ price).
Accommodation. Ramada Tashkent (ramadatashkent.com): centrally located, smart, modern 5-star hotel. Madrassa Mukhammad Hotel, Khiva: converted madrassa, impressively restored, each room a former student’s cell opening onto the courtyard. Omar Khayam Hotel, Bukhara: modern 4-star hotel in the centre of the old city, adequately comfortable and excellently located. Malika Prime, Samarkand: a comfortable 4-star hotel well located. How strenuous? This is a long and demanding tour. You will be on your feet a lot, walking and
Expert in Islamic art and architecture. He read Arabic at Oxford, worked as a field archaeologist in Jerusalem and at Siraf, and spent most of his career in Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, where he also lectured for the Faculty of Oriental Studies. He retired in 2011.
Dr Peter Webb Arabist and historian, specialising in early and mediaeval Islam. He has travelled extensively in the Middle East and Central Asia and has taught at SOAS and the American University of Paris. He is currently a Fellow at the Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin, researching Mamluk Cairo.
Professor Dominic Brookshaw Associate Professor of Persian Literature and Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University. He holds a DPhil in pre-modern Persian poetry and a BA in Arabic with Persian. His latest book is Ruse & Wit: The Humorous in Arabic, Persian & Turkish Narrative. He has travelled widely in the Middle East and south west/central Asia. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
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Visas: British citizens and most other foreign nationals require a tourist visa. This is not included in the price of the tour because you have to obtain it yourself. We will advise on the procedure but you will need to submit your passport to the Consular section of the Uzbekistan Embassy in London prior to departure. Citizens of Australia and New Zealand have their visa issued at Tashkent airport. Other nationalities should check their entry requirements with the relevant authorities.
Professor James Allan
standing around. There are very long coach journeys on three of the days but seven days with minimal driving. The average distance by coach per day is 78 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with, in May: Classical Greece, 7–16 May (page 99). In early September: Classical Greece, 17–26 September (page 99). In late September: The Western Balkans, 3–16 October (page 55). What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Guatemala, Honduras, Belize Lands of the Maya belize, guatemala, honduras
4–17 December 2016 (md 960) 14 days • £4,830 Lecturer: Professor Norman Hammond Magnificent Maya cities including Tikal, Copán and Lamanai with time also for the little visited. Spectacular scenery: jungle, lakeside, volcanic. Led by a leading authority on Maya civilization, Professor Norman Hammond. Ever since explorers revealed the existence of their jungle-clad ruins in the 1840s, the ‘lost’ civilization of the Maya has been a cause of astonishment and speculation. For while Europe was struggling through the ‘Dark Ages’, Maya peoples were enjoying the apogée of their civilization in seemingly the most unlikely of places – the rainforests of Central America. With organisational skills that can only be the product of a highly sophisticated society, the Maya created magnificent cities replete with elegant palaces, mighty temples and broad plazas studded with carved stelae and altars. They were great mathematicians and astronomers who conceived one of the most complex and accurate calendars the world has known. They also devised
an elaborate and beautiful system of hieroglyphic writing, the only fully-developed written language in the pre-Columbian Americas. Maya art was complex and loaded with arcane symbolism, yet to our sensibilities it appears remarkably naturalistic and accessible. All this was achieved by a people still technically in the Stone Age and who, despite many colourful theories to the contrary, developed in complete isolation from the civilizations of the ‘Old World’, of Europe and Asia. Until some forty years ago a powerful mystique had grown up about the Maya. They were thought to have been a peaceable society of independent cities governed by priest-kings who devoted their days to astronomy and divination on behalf of their people. Today, however, this image has been dramatically changed by the continuing discoveries of archaeologists and by one of the great investigative triumphs of the century, the decipherment of Maya writing. Visitors to the great Maya cities can learn of their changing fortunes over almost a thousand years in extraordinary detail. We now know the history of the royal families and can also understand the essentials of Maya religious beliefs and how Maya rulers saw themselves, like
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Glyphs from a Mayan temple, engraving c. 1840. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Egyptian pharaohs, as god-kings on earth whose elaborate rituals of blood-letting and sacrifice sustained the Maya world. In the tenth century ad the heartland of Maya civilization in the tropical forests collapsed. Construction in the great cities ceased, temples and palaces were invaded by the jungle. It now seems that environmental disaster – land clearance under population pressure exacerbated by severe droughts – was a major factor. But this was not quite the end, as new cities emerged in the north of the Yucatán peninsula, which continued in much reduced form until extirpation by Conquistadores and missionaries in the sixteenth century. Today there are some six million speakers of Maya languages, the largest group of native Americans north of Panama. They reveal a distinctive living culture, an intriguing mixture of both ancient beliefs and practices adopted since the Spanish conquest.
Itinerary Day 1: Guatemala City, Antigua Guatemala. Fly at c. 11.15am from London Heathrow to Guatemala City, via Miami (American Airlines)
Day 2: Antigua Guatemala. Though shattered by earthquakes in 1773, much of Antigua’s old fabric survives. See colonial architecture of great charm and impressive Baroque churches, some of which still remain in picturesque ruin, with intruiguing Maya influences. Day 3: Guatemala City, Copán (Honduras). Drive to Guatemala City to visit the Archaeological Museum, a major collection of Maya art and artefacts. Continue to Copán (c. 5 hours) in Honduras for the first of two nights. Day 4: Copán. Despite its location, Copán was the most important Maya city that communicated closely with Tikal in Guatemala and Palenque in Mexico and was famous for its trade of Jade. Highlights include the impressive Hieroglyphic Stairway dating to 763 ad. Day 5: Las Sepulturas, Quirigua, Mariscos. Morning visit to the small site of Las Sepulturas whose residential buildings provide an insight into domestic Maya life. Cross the border back into Guatemala and the site of Quirigua, with magnificent stelae covered in remarkably well preserved glyphs and portraits. Continue to Mariscos on the shores of Lake Izabal for one night. Day 6: Rio Dulce, Dolores, Petén. Morning boat trip down the picturesque Rio Dulce gorge including the Castillo San Felipe, built in 1690 by the French for the Spanish to defend themselves against British pirates. Also a chance to see birds and other wildlife. Drive north to the region of Petén via Dolores, whose small archaeological museum contains an impressive collection of ceramics. First of two nights in Petén. Day 7: Tikal was a thriving metropolis of maybe 100,000 at its height. Its massive pyramidtemples still pierce the forest canopy making it architecturally the grandest of all Maya cities. One of the great powers of the Maya world, its changing fortunes over almost a thousand years can be followed in the hieroglyphs. Progressive clearance and excavation have revealed an intricate pattern of urban planning.
Day 9: Xunantunich, Cahal Pech. The Classic site of Xunantunich was an important ceremonial centre with around 25 buildings. El Castillo, standing at 36 metres high was decorated with an intricate frieze depicting jaguars and abstract patterns, now representated by a replica. The small site of Cahal Pech would have been home to around 10,000 people in around 600 ad. Day 10: Caracol. A bumpy ride by minivan into the jungle (c. 2 hours 30 mins) leads to the secluded site of Caracol, believed to be bigger
Day 13. Drive to Belize City for a flight at c. 1.15pm, via Miami, travelling overnight.
Leading expert on Maya civilization. He is a Senior Fellow at Cambridge University and Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at Boston University. His many books include Ancient Maya Civilization, Nohmul: a Prehistoric Maya Community in Belize and Cuello: an early Maya community in Belize. He is Archaeology Correspondent for The Times.
Day 14. Arrive at London Heathrow at c. 8.45am.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,830 or £4,160 without flights. Single occupancy: £5,520 or £4,850 without flights. Included meals: 10 lunches (including 2 picnics) and 11 dinners with wine.
See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies.
Accommodation. Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, Antigua Guatemala (casasantodomingo. com.gt): beautiful 5-star hotel in a former Dominican monastery. Hotel Marina, Copán (hotelmarinacopan.com): comfortable and attractive 4-star hotel near the ruins. G Boutique Hotel, Mariscos (gguatemala.com): new hotel on the shores of Lake Izabal with spacious rooms. Hotel Villa Maya (villasdeguatemala.com): 4-star lake-side hotel surrounded by jungle. Ka’ana Resort, San Ignacio (kaanabelize.com): 4-star boutique hotel with comfortable rooms and an excellent restaurant. Black Orchid Resort, Burrell Boom (blackorchidresort.com): 3-star, family-run hotel on the banks of the Belize River. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
than Tikal in its entirety. Some splendid buildings have been excavated, including the Ca’ana or ‘Sky Palace’, the tallest structure in Belize at 43 metres.
How strenuous? Though the itinerary has been planned to be less strenuous than most tours to the region, it must be stressed that the tour is nevertheless quite taxing, with some long drives, some early starts and frequent changes of hotel. Many of the archaeological sites are vast and on rough ground. The tour should not be undertaken by anyone who has the slightest problem with everyday walking and stair-climbing, or who is not sure-footed. Average distance by coach per day: 78 miles.
Day 11: Belize City, Altun Ha, Burrell Boom. Drive in the morning to the National Museum in Belize City, formerly the city’s prison. Collections include Maya jade and other pieces as well as colonial artefacts. In the afternoon continue to Altun Ha, a small Classic Maya centre. Flint tools and ceremonial objects have been found in its tombs, together with numerous jades, the largest of which - the Sun God head, weighing almost 4 kg and dating to about 600 ad - is the largest-known Maya jade. First of two nights in the village of Burrell Boom, 30 km north-west of the City.
Group size: between 14 and 22 participants.
Day 12: Lamanai. A boat ride on the glorious New River leads to the city of Lamanai and is a further opportunity to spot birds and possibly crocodiles. Highlights include the 4-metre-high masks of the Mask Temple, jaguar faces on the
Altun Ha
Lamanai Burrell Boom
Petén
Tikal Yaxhá
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
Belize City
San Ignacio Xunantunich Caracol
MEXICO
Dolores
Belize
Rio Dulce Mariscos
Guatemala Las Sepulturas Antigua Guatemala
Quirigua Copán
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Day 8: Yaxhá. In the Petén jungle of the Guatemalan lowlands the huge city of Yaxhá is surrounded by lakes and teeming with wildlife. Its forty stelae and nine pyramids date from the Preclassic and Classic era. Cross the border into Belize to the hotel near San Ignacio for the first of three nights.
Jaguar Temple and a stunning view of the jungle and lagoon from the summit of the High Temple.
Professor Norman Hammond
belize, guatemala, honduras
arriving at c. 7.45pm local time. Drive to the splendid, colonial capital of Guatemala. First of two nights in Antigua.
Honduras
Guatemala City c. 100 km
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Peru
A journey through the Andean heartland peru
11–27 September 2016 (md 834) 17 days • £6,230 Lecturer: Dr David Beresford-Jones A thorough exploration of pre-Columbian civilisations in Peru: Moche, Chimú, Inca. The lecturer, Dr David Beresford-Jones, is a fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. Stay on site at Machu Picchu and visit without the crowds. Sites almost devoid of tourists around Trujillo are also included. Spectacular Andean scenery, and world famous cuisine.
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Of all the world’s vanished civilisations, few evoke as much mystique as the Incas of Peru. Stumbled upon and shattered by a handful of Spanish adventurers in 1538, the Inca Empire was the last great pristine civilisation on earth – a current aside from the mainstream of human history. Tawantinsuyu (the ‘Four Realms Together’), as the Incas called their empire, had been conquered with neither pen nor sword. In many senses ‘Neolithic’, it was administered through the khipu, a record-keeping system of intricate knotted cords, born of the marvellous textile traditions intrinsic to Andean civilisation. And yet its dominion was vast, stretching over a distance greater than from London to Moscow, along the spines of the world’s highest cordilleras outside the Himalayas and home to scores of different ethnic groups. This tour seeks to understand and re-imagine the Inca Empire on a journey through its
Andean heartland of Cuzco, following the sacred Vilcanota river. We take in classic Inca sites where their cyclopean stonework melds into the grandeurs of the Andean landscape to attain a Zen-like architectural aesthetic. The culmination is the most spectacular site of all, Machu Picchu, perched on the very fringes of Amazonia. Yet the Incas were but the final flourish of an Andean cultural trajectory with roots many millennia deeper, a roll-call of cultures perhaps more magnificent still. So our exploration begins by the Pacific, from the excellent public and private museum collections in Lima to the vestiges of Moche and Chimor on Peru’s northern coast. And we end at Lake Titicaca, high on the vast Altiplano tablelands, and whence the Incas themselves claimed their mythical origins. En route we have ample chance to indulge in Peru’s extraordinary cuisine, acclaimed by chefs such as Ferran Adrià as ‘key to the future of gastronomy’. As with the ancient Andean civilisations, that cuisine is founded upon native food crops originating in one of humanity’s precious few ancient hearths of agriculture. It is set amid the world’s richest and densest concentration of ecotones, from desert coast to eternal snows to tropical rainforest, and adjoining one of its richest marine resources. Indeed, it is this that connotes the real importance of the Andes to our wider human story.
with its famous collection of Moche and other pre-Inca ceramics. Continue in the afternoon to the heart of Colonial Lima (once the ‘City of the Kings’) to see the cathedral containing the tomb of Peru’s conquistador, Francisco Pizarro; the Casa Aliaga, an elaborate colonial mansion occupied by the same family since 1535; and the San Francisco Monastery with its Mudéjar church and important Spanish and Colonial art.
Itinerary
Day 5: Trujillo. The Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol the core of the ancient capital of the Moche empire. The former is adorned with superb polychrome reliefs indicative of its importance as a ritual and sacrificial centre. After lunch by the Pacific visit Chan Chan, the world’s largest adobe city and citadel of the Kingdom of Chimor for 500 years before its was destroyed by the Incas in
Day 1. Fly at c. 8.45am from London Heathrow to Lima, via Amsterdam (KLM, c. 15 hours total), arriving in time for a light dinner at the hotel. First of two nights in Lima. Day 2: Lima. After an introductory lecture in the hotel, visit the Larco Herrera Museum
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Day 3: Lima, Trujillo. Morning visit to the Huaca Pucllana, a vast adobe administrative and ceremonial centre of the Lima culture which flourished here at around 400 ad. Continue to the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History with its collections of artefacts from Chavín, Nasca, Moche and Chimú cultures. In the afternoon fly north to Trujillo (LAN Airlines). First of three nights in Trujillo. Day 4: Trujillo. Drive north to El Brujo, a ceremonial centre of the Moche culture (1–700 ad) and the mausoleum of the Lady of Cao, an important priestess of that period. Her tomb is surrounded by painted relief murals, while her mummy still records the vestiges of the tattoos on her hands and legs. Return to Trujillo, a handsome colonial city with a colourful main square. Visit the Casa Urquiaga, a colonial mansion in which the ‘Liberator’ Simón Bolívar stayed after proclaiming Peru’s independence in 1824.
Day 6: the Sacred Valley. Fly to Cuzco, via Lima and on to the Sacred Valley. Here, en route to the Amazon, the Urubamba (or Vilcanota) River twists through stunning mountain scenery and terraced farmland cultivated by the Incas. First of three nights in Urubamba. Day 7: Maras, Moray. Urubamba sits at 2,870m above sea level and so the morning is free to rest and adjust to the altitude. In the afternoon drive to the impressive Maras salt mines, exploited since before Inca times, and on to the marvellous concentric circular agricultural terraces of Moray. Day 8: Pisac, Ollantaytambo. Today the town of Pisac has a vibrant craft and food market, overlooked by terraces and buildings of an Inca royal estate above. Lunch is at an hacienda of one of the valley’s oldest families, with its interesting private collection of art and antiques. Drive to the Inca citadel of Ollantaytambo, one of the last lines of resistance to the Spanish conquest, and site of elaborate water gardens amidst extraordinary cyclopean Inca stonework. Day 9: Machu Picchu. Take the morning train to Machu Picchu, a scenic journey down the valley enjoyed through panoramic windows. Have lunch and settle in to the hotel before entering the site as the crowds disperse and the light fades. Forgotten during the Spanish conquest, the temples and buildings of Machu Picchu are consequently uniquely well-preserved, which, together with its setting high above the river amidst spectacular mountain landscapes, makes the site the most extraordinary archaeological site in South America. Overnight Machu Picchu. Day 10: Machu Picchu, Cuzco. Free morning to return to Machu Picchu, perhaps at first light, before catching an afternoon train to Cuzco (c. 4 hours). First of three nights in Cuzco.
Day 14: Lake Titicaca. The 88,000 acres of reeds growing along the lake’s margins have been used by the Uros people for centuries to build floating islands on which they make their homes, originally to escape conquest from more powerful forces. Visit these as well as the island of Taquile, whose inhabitants still wear colourful traditional costume. Day 15: Silustani, Lima. The spectacular chullpas, towering stone mausoleums in their beautiful location on the shores of Lake Umayo at Silustani were likely built by the Colla people, contemporaries and erstwhile opponents of the Inca. Fly in the early afternoon from Juliaca to Lima for the final night of the tour. Day 16: Lima. The day is free, with the option to return to the Larco Museum. Fly at c. 8.00pm from Lima to London Heathrow, via Amsterdam. Day 17. Arrive at London Heathrow at c. 5.15pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £6,230 or £5,470 without international flights. Single occupancy: £7,130 or £6,370 without international flights. Supplement for deluxe mountain-view room at Machu Picchu: £150 (double) or £125 (single). Included meals: 9 lunches, 12 dinners, with wine. Accommodation. Hilton Lima Miraflores (hiltonhotels.com): comfortable and modern 5-star hotel. Hotel Libertador Trujillo (libertador.com.pe): 4-star colonial-style hotel in the main square. Hotel Tambo del Inka, Urubamba (starwoodhotels.com): 5-star hotel with an excellent restaurant. Sanctuary Lodge, Machu Picchu (belmond.com): 4-star, the only
Dr David Beresford-Jones Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge University. His research interests include the ancient south coast of Peru, the origins of agriculture, Pre-Colombian textiles and the synthesis of archaeology and historical linguistics, particularly in the Andes. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. hotel at the entrance to the site. JW Marriott, Cusco (marriott.com): 5-star hotel in a converted convent, located a few minutes walk from the main square. Hotel Libertador, Puno (libertador. com.pe): 5-star hotel with superb views of Lake Titicaca. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? This is a long tour involving a substantial amount of walking on the rough ground of archaeological sites, uphill and down. A good level of fitness is essential. Much of the tour is spent at high altitude (max. 3,830m above sea level) which can exacerbate fatigue. Additional insurance is required and anyone with heart or respiratory problems should seek advice from their doctor. Average distance by coach per day: 30 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Illustration on opposite page: remains of the Inca fort at Cuzco, lithograph 1854.
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Day 11: Cuzco. The Korikancha, the most sacred precinct and centre of the Inca Empire today beneath the Dominican Monastery, still preserves the finest examples of mortar-less Inca stonework with its trapezoidal doors and windows. See also the Inca Museum, containing some 10,000 artefacts and the Cuzco Cathedral, with its wonderful ‘Cusqueña School’ paintings of the Colonial Period. Visit the massive Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman high above the city with its monumental walls built using stones up to 400 tons in weight and the Inca ceremonial site of Qenko. Day 12: Cuzco. The day is free for independent exploration. Suggestions include the preColumbian art museum, or an optional walk through the city with the lecturer to view the many vestiges of its Inca palaces, fine Colonial churches and bustling markets. Day 13: Cuzco, Puno. Take the train from Cuzco to Puno (c. 10 hours) through spectacular Andean landscapes. Carriages are comfortable and lunch and afternoon tea are served on board. First of two nights in Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca (altitude: 3,830m above sea level).
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1470 ad. Its rich marine iconography reflects the importance of the sea to this civilisation.
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Trujillo, copper engraving c. 1770. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Connoisseur’s New York In-depth & behind the scenes USA
million lives. There is nothing so poignant as the dramatic contrast between the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and Henry Clay Frick’s three ravishing Vermeers, or as revealing of the city’s diversity as a walk through Chelsea, with all the latest ‘hot’ warehouse galleries such as Gagosian and Boone. When the Rockefellers took to art, there was enough money and range of taste within one New York ‘tribe’ to supply a patron for the mediaeval Cloisters, to create a gallery of Oceanic art at the Met, or to provide a founder of the Museum of Modern Art. A private view at MoMA guides us through the world’s ‘exemplary’ collection. Art Deco skyscrapers lead us through vertiginous views to Grand Central’s Oyster Bar. Central Park – a verdant urban paradise – prepares us for a day’s escape to the Hudson Valley with a view of the Rockefellers’ hilltop estate, Kykuit. Perhaps most moving of all is Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan. This autobiography in three dimensions comprises a dozen buildings that skilfully essay the history of twentieth-century architecture from Mies van der Rohe to Frank Gehry.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.30am from London Heathrow to New York, JFK, arriving c. 2.00pm (time in the air: c. 7 hours 10 minutes). Time to settle into the hotel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side before an early dinner. Day 2: Upper West & Upper East. Walk to the New York Historical Society; founded in 1804 it was the city’s first museum and is the logical place to begin the tour. The visit includes the library and paintings of the Hudson River School. Walk across Central Park to the Upper East Side. Here there is a special visit to the Payne Whitney Mansion, now the French Embassy, with opulent interiors and sculpture by Michelangelo (subject to confirmation). On nearby Fifth Avenue is the Frick, the salubrious mansion housing a small but brilliant collection of paintings.
New York, Park Avenue from New York is Like This, 1929.
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Appealing for both the first-time visitor and those with a degree of familiarity. Wide-ranging visits: galleries, museums, libraries, parks and architectural walks. A day spent outside New York at the Rockefeller Estate in the Hudson Valley and Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. Special access is a feature including a visit to MoMA when it is closed to the public. In 1870, at the launch of the Metropolitan Museum, speaker Joseph Choate called for his wealthy audience to do their patriotic duty by turning ‘pork into porcelain’. Little could he know that two generations later it would be transformed into the greatest museum in the world. Prior to the American Civil War (1861–65), the old New
Amsterdam ‘patroons’ and the new merchant élite had bought into the charms of the Hudson River school; seen best, and exclusively, in the archives of the New York Historical Society. After the war collectors moved in on the Barbizon school, pioneered support for the Impressionists, and gradually New York became synonymous with the avant-garde. Connoisseur’s New York recognises that the Empire City has created an entire cultural universe that is best understood when viewed with world experts and with the luxury of the private view. Just prior to the First World War J.P. Morgan shipped his collection back to New York. Taking a year to pack – it had filled the entire basement of the V&A – it finally found its home in his renaissance-style mid-town palace. The curators at the Morgan Library can pull out a Gutenberg Bible, a Folio Shakespeare, a tenth-century hispano-arab Codex or the Très Riches Heures. The Gilded Age, or the age of the Robber Baron, built its regal aspirations to connoisseurship on the blood and sweat of a
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Day 3: the Met. The day is dedicated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Visits to the Greek and Roman galleries and excellent 19th-century galleries are interspersed with free time for independent viewing and exhibitions. Day 4: Lower Manhattan, Lower East. A morning walk in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District before visiting the Tenement Museum to trace the story of the city’s settlers. Day 5: Hudson Valley, New Canaan. The Rockefeller Estate at Kycuit has fine views of the river valley and Catskill Mountains beyond. The tour provides an insight into the tastes and wants of the family. Cross into Connecticut to the recently restored Glass House (Philip Johnson, 1949). The tour here studies the architecture, art and sculpture collections, in its beautiful woodland setting. Day 6: Washington Heights. The Cloisters is set in a tranquil part of north Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River. A branch of the Met and devoted to the Middle Ages, it incorporates arcades from five cloisters and other
Californian Galleries
Outstanding collections on the West Coast usa
Gijs van Hensbergen Art historian and author specialising in Spain and the USA. His books include Gaudí, In the Kitchens of Castile and Guernica. He studied Art History at the Courtauld and is a Fellow of the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies at the LSE. See pages 8–14 for all lecturers’ biographies. salvaged architecture, and is a marvellous home for sculpture, tapestries, stained glass and panel paintings. Continue to the Hispanic Society of America, one of the greatest collections of Spanish art outside Iberia. Day 7: Midtown, MoMA. On foot in Midtown with a local architectural historian, from the UN Headquarters through the city’s scrapers to Grand Central Station, which celebrated its centenary in 2013. An after-hours visit to the Museum of Modern Art, one of the greatest collections of 20th-century art in the world. Day 8: Murray Hill. In Murray Hill is the Pierpont Morgan Library, former office of the financier and home to his immense collection of books, manuscripts and artworks. Completed in 1906 the building was overhauled a century later by Renzo Piano. Some free time before driving to JFK airport for the evening flight to London.
San Francisco and the bay, engraving from The World: Its Cities & Peoples, publ. c. 1890.
7–16 September 2016 (md 876) 9 nights • £4,560 Lecturer: Gijs van Hensbergen Exceptional collections in outstanding buildings. Strong on 20th-century painting and sculpture and American and Asian art.
Day 9. Arrive London Heathrow at c. 7.30am.
Based in Los Angeles and San Francisco with an overnight stay close to Hearst Castle.
Practicalities
Led by art historian Gijs van Hensbergen, an expert on American collections and collectors.
Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,790 or £4,170 without flights. Single occupancy: £5,480 or £4,860 without flights. Included meals: 2 lunches, 5 dinners, with wine. Visa: British citizens can apply for a visa waiver. We will advise on the process. Music: there may be performances in New York. Details will be available nearer the time.
How strenuous? New York is vast, busy and chaotic. You should be prepared to walk for 30 minutes at a time and to stand around in museums. Fitness and stamina are essential. Average distance by coach per day: 4 miles. Group size: between 10 and 20 participants. Combine this tour with Californian Galleries, 7–16 September (see opposite).
Itinerary Day 1: London to Los Angeles. Fly at c. 9.30am from London Heathrow to Los Angeles (British Airways). Our hotel is in Downtown, an area much improved of late and as central a base as is possible in this city. Arrive in time for dinner. First of four nights in Los Angeles. Day 2: Los Angeles. The Getty: Richard Meier’s series of gleaming pavilions strung along the crest of a hill is famously the best-endowed art museum in the world. Collections range from Old Master drawings to French decorative arts, from mediaeval illuminated manuscripts to classical antiquities, with masterpieces of Renaissance and later-European painting. There is time to explore the gardens and terraces, a haven from the chaotic sprawl of LA far below. Overnight Los Angeles. Day 3: Los Angeles. Walk to see two architectural masterpieces Downtown: Rafael Moneo’s cathedral and the Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry. The Museum of Contemporary Art displays American art from the post-World War II period in all its forms. LA County Museum of Art is one of the most broad-ranging collections in the US with a large European section as well as magnificent examples of ancient Asian, Egyptian and pre-Columbian art. The buildings were overhauled by Renzo Piano in 2010. Overnight Los Angeles. Day 4: San Marino, Pasadena. The palatial neoclassical residence of railway baron Henry E. Huntington contains a fine collection of British art, including Gainsborough’s Blue Boy. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Accommodation. The Lucerne, New York (thelucernehotel.com): located on the Upper West Side in an attractive neighbourhood, a short walk from the New York Historical Society, Central Park and numerous restaurants. Traditionally furnished with well-equipped rooms and very comfortable beds (rooms vary in outlook). Good brasserie-style restaurant adjacent. Suites can be requested; contact us for a quote. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
Culture and California have long been thought of as contradictory concepts, with much of the West Coast being characterised by an image of vulgarity and superficiality. Hollywood and hippies did little to ameliorate this, any more than did big beaches pounded by an even bigger ocean. But no longer. JP Getty, Norton Simon, Armand Hammer, Henry Huntington, Los Angeles County: these are among the names which signify to the well-informed that America’s West Coast is one of the greatest treasuries of art in the world. The Getty Center remains the most newsworthy, though the hilltop site has been open for eighteen years. With all the resources with which it is blessed, Richard Meier’s designs, and the vast accumulation of art of the highest quality, this is one of the most sensational modern museum for very many years. Though modern art is a major theme of the tour, there is a sufficiency of Old Masters and historic decorative arts to satisfy those who find twentieth-century art less than accessible. Asian art is also very well represented – only the Pacific lying between it and its place of origin. But even without the contents, the museum buildings themselves – some of them among the most significant architectural creations of recent times – would provide ample beauty to justify the tour. It is a tour to, rather than of, the West Coast. There will be no Disneyland, no Universal
Studios. But outside the galleries there is the fascination of life in the cities, very different from twenty years ago, and amazing contemporary architecture. Between the cities there is the landscape: vast, empty, glistening green, sometimes Mediterranean in feel, sometimes reminiscent of farmland in temperate northern Europe.
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The marvellous gardens are of many different styles and types. The Norton Simon Museum has a wonderful collection of European painting and sculpture, in particular 71 Degas bronzes, beautifully displayed. Overnight Los Angeles. Day 5: Malibu, Santa Barbara, Cambria. In Malibu visit the Getty Villa, now dedicated to Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. Santa Barbara is an elegant town with a distinctly Mediterranean ambience and the Museum of Art has good collections featuring French, British and American schools. Continue north to Cambria for the night. Day 6: Hearst Castle, San Francisco. Atop the Santa Lucia Mountains overlooking the Pacific sits Hearst Castle, home of the eponymous publishing magnate. Here he accumulated an extraordinary wealth of European art, architectural ornament and furnishings. Drive to San Francisco along the Pacific Coast Highway, a spectacular route with the Pacific Ocean pounding the rugged coastal landscape. First of three nights in San Francisco. Day 7: San Francisco. On the other side of the peninsula amid Monterey pines and cypresses sits the pristine colonnaded building of the Palace of the Legion of Honor. Here French art, particularly Rodin sculpture, is prominent. The Golden Gate Park is a centre of cultural and
botanical beauty and is home to the de Young Museum with its collection of American Art from the pre-Columbian era to the present day. Overnight San Francisco. Day 8: San Francisco. Today is free for independent exploration; suggestions include a wine trip into the Napa Valley, a cruise around the Bay and to the Golden Gate Bridge, or a rail ride to Berkeley, a leafy university campus with a contemporary art museum. Overnight San Francisco. Day 9: San Francisco. The Asian Art Museum has been installed in the former public library, a project undertaken by architect Gae Aulenti. The collection is the finest in the USA. Now in a striking new building designed by Mario Botta, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has good temporary exhibitions. It reopens in 2016 following an expansion designed in partnership with Snøhetta. Drive to the airport for the evening flight to London. Day 10. Arrive London Heathrow at c. 1.30pm.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,560 or £3,730 without flights. Single occupancy: £5,250 or £4,420 without flights.
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San Francisco, wood engraving from United States Pictures, 1891. book online at www.martinrandall.com
Included meals: 6 dinners with wine. Visa: British citizens can apply for a visa waiver. We will advise on the process. Accommodation. Omni Hotel, Downtown Los Angeles (omnihotels.com/losangeles): functional hotel which shares a pedestrianised plaza with MOCA; rooms are uniform with inoffensive furnishings. There is a good Asian/US restaurant. The Cliffs Resort, Cambria (cliffsresort.com): quiet country hotel with buildings spread out in pine parkland. Sir Francis Drake hotel, San Francisco (sirfrancisdrake.com): conveniently located on Union Square, it was built as a hotel in 1928. Décor is colourful and quirky; bedrooms are well appointed but can be small. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There will be a lot of standing in museums, a fair amount of walking and getting on and off coaches. The tour is relatively strenuous and there is an 8-hour time difference from the UK. Average distance by coach per day: 66 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants. Combine this tour with Connoisseur’s New York, 20–28 September (page 214).
Frank Lloyd Wright & the Chicago School
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4–15 June 2016 (mc 705) 11 nights • £5,280 Lecturer: Tom Abbott 24 September–5 October 2016 (md 830) 11 nights • £5,280 Lecturer: Tom Abbott Includes Fallingwater, Jacobs, Robie and Taliesin houses, Johnson Wax Building and numerous other works by Frank Lloyd Wright – many of them visited by special arrangement. Four nights in Chicago, with visits to the masterworks of the Chicago School and Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House. Magnificent art collections: Chicago Institute of Art, Carnegie Collection in Pittsburgh and Milwaukee Art Museum. Drive through the countryside of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Illinois. Led by architectural historian Tom Abbott.
the leafy university town of Madison sited on the isthmus between two lakes, and finishing at Mies’s sublime Farnsworth House on the banks of the Fox river.
Itinerary Day 1: Pittsburgh. Fly at c. 10.00am (British Airways) from London Heathrow, via New York J.F.K., to Pittsburgh, arriving c. 4.30pm (total flying time c. 8½ hours). Set between the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers, Pittsburgh is modern, dynamic, sleek, the smoke and steel of the past having been replaced by glass and aluminium. Carnegie, Frick and Mellon, great patrons of the arts, all made their money here before moving to the East Coast. First of three nights in Pittsburgh. Day 2: Fallingwater, Kentuck Knob. Drive out to Fallingwater, quintessential Frank Lloyd Wright (1936). In a spectacular setting amongst the woodland of Bear Run nature reserve, the house seems to grow from, and float above, the water and rocks. You will see not only the waterfall but experience it from inside the house; ‘the most sublime integration of man and nature’ (New York Times). Kentuck Knob (Wright 1953), hexagonal building with panoramic views of the Pennsylvanian countryside, now owned by Lord Palumbo. Overnight Pittsburgh. Day 3: Pittsburgh. Today’s programme includes visits to suburban Pittsburgh to see Richard Meier’s Giovannitti House and Venturi, Scott Brown’s Abrams House (these are likely to be exterior visits). The Carnegie Museum of Art has an extensive and varied collection including the Heinz Architectural department, European and contemporary art. End with a cable car ride up the Duquesne Incline. Overnight Pittsburgh. Day 4: Pittsburgh to Madison. Begin with a walk around Pittsburgh passing H.H. Richardson’s Allegheny Courthouse, the Mellon
bank building and Philip Johnson’s PPG Place. Drive to the airport for the flight to Madison (via Chicago) arriving late afternoon. First of two nights in Madison. Day 5: Spring Green, Madison. Set in the beautiful Wisconsin countryside just outside Spring Green lies Wright’s former home and studio, Taliesin. Here he established the Taliesin Foundation to train architects; Hillside School (1932) exemplifies Wright’s break away from the ‘Victorian box’. The Romeo and Juliet Windmill and several homes and farms designed for members of Wright’s family are also seen from the exterior. In the suburbs visit the recently restored Jacobs House (1936), the purest and most famous example of Wright’s Usonian concept. Overnight Madison. Day 6: Madison, Milwaukee. Walk to the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, a monumental civic building set on the shores of Lake Monona (based on Wright’s 1938 design, it was completed in 1997). Visit the Unitarian Meeting House (1946), distinguished by its soaring copper roof and glass-prowed sanctuary. Drive to the excellent Milwaukee Art Museum to see the Prairie School Archives, with free time for the collection of European and 20th-cent. American art. End the day with a visit to one of Wright’s American System-Built homes (1916). Overnight Milwaukee. Day 7: Wind Point, Racine, Chicago. At Wind Point visit Wingspread: the expansive low-lying building designed for the head of the Johnson Wax Corporation. Continue south to Racine on the shores of Lake Michigan and the Johnson Wax Building built in 1936 with its half acre Great Workroom, unique mushroom columns and innovative use of glass. Drive further south still to Chicago; our hotel is in Burnham & Root’s restored Reliance Building, the first ‘skyscraper’ built in the 1890s. First of four nights in Chicago. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Frank Lloyd Wright (1869–1959), his own greatest admirer, said he had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. Frustratingly, visiting his work makes this seem fair: in an extraordinarily long career Wright created a modern organic architecture infused with the artistic freedom and reverence for nature of his nineteenth-century American inheritance. Wright embraced the Arts and Crafts, Japanese art and architecture, as well as the material advances of steel and concrete cantilevers to ‘break the box’. Interiors merge inside and out, with their fluid plans reverently anchored by their great hearths. Exteriors stress continuity with nature, and brilliantly amplify their location; be it the Wisconsin hills of Taliesin, or the Pennsylvanian gorge of Fallingwater. That Chicago was the centre of Wright’s sphere is no coincidence. Carl Sandburg’s ‘City of Big Shoulders’ is still the continent’s most enjoyably assertive and distinctly ‘American’ city. Following the fire of 1871, it reinvented itself as the first modern metropolis, with the ‘Chicago School’ developing the technical means for, and artistic expression of, a new kind of city, and of course, the skyscraper. Little wonder that it became so natural a home to the New Bauhaus and Mies van der Rohe, through whose elegantly sparse work Chicago’s influence extends to this day. As well as building, Chicago’s citizens collected; and the Chicago Art Institute quickly established itself as one of the great galleries of America; a status shared by the Carnegie collection in Pittsburgh where the tour begins. Beautifully sited on the confluence of two rivers, Pittsburgh epitomises American self-belief and its capacity for self-regeneration, and is unrecognisable from its former ‘rust-belt’ image. Santiago Calatrava’s Milwaukee art museum, spreading out over Lake Michigan, bears equal testament to that city’s revival. In contrast to these urban scenes, the tour meanders through the gently prosperous midwestern countryside of three states, staying in
Fallingwater, photograph courtesy of Western Pensylvania Conservancy.
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East Coast Galleries From Boston to Washington DC
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Day 8: Chicago. The morning walk looks at the outstanding monuments of ‘The Loop’ to which Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Louis Sullivan and Frank Gehry have all contributed. Afternoon at the Chicago Art Institute, extended by Renzo Piano; the architectural courtyard contains several interesting pieces of sculpture and art glass from former Wright and Sullivan buildings. See also a reconstruction of Sullivan’s stock exchange trading room. Free time to enjoy one of the world’s great art galleries. Overnight Chicago. Day 9: Chicago. Drive to the South Side to the Mies van der Rohe-designed Illinois Institute of Technology (1940–56), with additions by Rem Koolhaas. Continue to the Robie House (FLW 1910); epitome of the Prairie Style. The afternoon is free; we suggest an architectural cruise along the Chicago River, or a walk along the Magnificent Mile. Overnight Chicago. Day 10: Oak Park. In Oak Park visit Wright’s Chicago home and studio (1889) for 20 years and the birthplace of the Prairie School of architecture: ‘I loved the prairie by instinct as a great simplicity… I had an idea that the horizontal planes in buildings, those planes parallel to earth, identify themselves with the ground, make the building belong to the ground’. The surrounding residential streets are home to a number of Wright designs and his Unity Temple (1905). Overnight Chicago. Day 11: Chicago, Plano. Drive at midday into the Illinois countryside to Plano. Here, built beside the Fox River is one of Mies van der Rohe’s most significant works, the Farnsworth House (1951). Drive to Chicago O’Hare airport, arriving by 5.30pm (in time for the direct flight to London, departing c. 8.30pm). A number of these buildings are not usually open to the public and it is possible we will not be able to include everything listed.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £5,280 or £4,650 without international flights. Single occupancy: £5,990 or £5,360 without international flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 7 dinners with wine.
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Visa: British citizens can apply for a visa waiver. We will advise on the process. Accommodation. The Renaissance Pittsburgh (renaissancepittsburghpa.com): centrally located, comfortable, spacious rooms and good amenities. Madison Edgewater Hotel (theedgewater. com): on the shores of Lake Mendota with fine views. The Pfister, Milwaukee (thepfisterhotel. com): historic hotel with grand public areas; elegantly furnished. The Burnham, Chicago (burnhamhotel.com): boutique hotel in the landmark Reliance Building; good location close to the Chicago Institute of Art. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? Quite tiring with a lot of walking and standing around. A fair amount of coach travel; average distance per day: 50 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Boston, City Hall, wood engraving c. 1880.
11–24 May 2016 (mc 676) 13 nights • £5,790 Lecturer: Mary Lynn Riley Every major art gallery from New England to Washington DC, providing an astonishingly rich artistic experience. The whole range of western art is covered, classical antiquity to contemporary, and some eastern art; Impressionism and PostImpressionism are very well represented. Includes the Barnes Foundation in its new home in central Philadelphia and the Mellon Center for British Art in New Haven. Centrally located hotels in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington. Led by Mary Lynn Riley, a specialist in 19thand 20th-century art and previously worked at the Smithsonian. Any art lover who has not seen the great galleries of the USA is in for a big surprise. Not only are there so many art museums with so many masterpieces, splendidly displayed in buildings which are often great works of architecture, but usually they are also vital, welcoming institutions where the delight of the visitor is the main priority. This tour includes every major art gallery from New England down to Washington DC. Many of the very good smaller ones are also featured. The whole range of mainstream western art is represented, from antiquity to the present day. If there is a particular emphasis, it is on the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists. The art of the Orient also makes several spectacular appearances, and of course there is a continual current of American art and frequent doses of modern and contemporary production.
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However full and comprehensive the tour may be in terms of works of art, we have not omitted the opportunity to see something of America beyond the museum doors. There will be some general sightseeing, sometimes with a local expert, and free time for independent exploration. Most of the hotels we have selected are within walking distance of the main museums and historic centres.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 11.20am from London Heathrow to Boston (direct, British Airways), arriving at c. 1.45pm (time in the air: c. 7 hours). Visit Trinity Church, opposite the hotel. First of three nights in Boston. Day 2: Boston. Founded in 1630, Boston is an historic city with a long-standing reputation for culture and learning. Now a centre of the high-tech revolution, sleek glass towers co-habit with districts of narrow cobbled streets and brick houses and an important set of monuments from the colonial and revolutionary era. The Museum of Fine Arts has a fabulous collection, particular strengths being the Barbizon School, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. An afternoon walking tour of historic Boston. Overnight Boston. Day 3: Cambridge, Boston. Separated from Boston by the Charles River, Cambridge is the home of Harvard University. Visit the University Art Museums which include the long-established Fogg Museum, outstanding particularly for early Italian paintings and Impressionists, and the Busch-Reisinger Museum of German and Nordic painting. Back in Boston, visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Collection, a sumptuous Renaissance-style mansion crammed with magnificent works of art and furnishings. Overnight Boston.
“The content of the tour was fantastic – intensive, but a joy and would not have wanted to miss any aspect included in this tour.”
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £5,790 or £5,110 without flights. Single occupancy: £6,710 or £6,030 without flights. Included meals: 8 dinners with wine. Visa: British citizens can apply for a visa waiver. We will advise on the process. Music: there may be performances in New York. Details will be available nearer the time. Accommodation. Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston (fairmont.com/copley-plaza-boston/): elegant hotel near Boston Common. The Orchards, Williamstown (orchardshotel.com): small hotel with a courtyard garden, a retreat from the city scene. The Lucerne, New York (thelucernehotel.com): smart boutique hotel close to Central Park. Sheraton Society Hill, Philadelphia (sheratonphiladelphiasocietyhill. com): functional but comfortable hotel near the Independence National Historical Park. Sofitel Lafayette Square, Washington (sofitel. com): modern hotel, well located for the major monuments.
Day 5: Hartford, New Haven. En route to New York visit the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, America’s oldest public art museum, founded in 1842. In New Haven, the Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art, the largest and most comprehensive display of British art outside the United Kingdom. Continue to New York city arriving early evening. First of four nights here. Day 6: New York. Visit the Guggenheim Collection in the famous spiral building (Frank Lloyd Wright) with primarily modern paintings. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) houses some of the greatest paintings of the 20th century in its beautifully enlarged Manhattan home. Overnight New York. Day 7: New York. Walk through Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum, undoubtedly the number one art museum in America, embracing the whole gamut of artistic production from around the world. Magnificent benefactions and inspired curatorship have provided many great works of art and a superb standard of display, particularly the galleries devoted to the Impressionists, Tiepolo, and to English Decorative Arts. See also the Frick Collection, the salubrious Fifth Avenue mansion with a small but brilliant collection of great paintings. Overnight New York.
Day 9: Philadelphia. Drive to Philadelphia. As historically the nation’s most important art school, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has accumulated the finest collection of American art. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the third largest museum in the country, has a wide ranging collection, including a 12th-century cloister, a Robert Adam interior from Berkeley Square and excellent Impressionists. First of two nights in Philadelphia. Day 10: Philadelphia. The Barnes Foundation, one of the world’s largest private collections of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists housed in a new, state of the art gallery in the heart of
Philadelphia’s arts district. Some free time in the city: explore the Independence National Historical Park or visit the Rodin Museum which has the largest collection of his sculpture outside Paris. Overnight Philadelphia. Day 11: Baltimore, Washington. Continue south to the seaport of Baltimore. The Walters Art Gallery is an extraordinary and eclectic collection ranging from ancient Egypt to Art Nouveau, with a Raphael, mediaeval stained glass and historic jewellery among the outstanding items. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland’s largest art museum, houses the Cone Collection, a group of 500 works by Matisse, and an impressive sculpture garden. Drive on to Washington for the first of two nights. Day 12: Washington. A capital conceived and built on a truly grand scale. At its heart lies the Mall, a two-mile-long park with many monuments and museums. Foremost among them is the National Gallery of Art, with a major collection representing the whole spectrum of western painting; the East Wing (architect: I.M. Pei) contains modern works. Other visits include the Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art, and the Freer Gallery, part of the Smithsonian Institution, with a fine Asian collection and Whistler’s Peacock Room. Overnight Washington. Day 13: Washington. A free day for independent visits. Suggestions include the White House, the US Capitol or another of Washington’s many museums: the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (art from southeast Asia) or the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (20th-century painting and sculpture), all branches of the Smithsonian Institution. Drive to Washington Dulles Airport for the flight to London departing at c. 10.30pm.
How strenuous? You should be prepared to walk. Within Washington and New York we reach some of the museums on foot, journeys of up to twenty minutes or more, though taxis can be used. Within the museums, there will be a lot of walking and standing around. Average distance by coach per day: 49 miles. Group size: between 12 and 22 participants.
Mid-West Galleries NEW planned for 2017 Contact us to register your interest
The American Civil War NEW planned for 2017 Contact us to register your interest
Great Houses of the South NEW planned for 2017 Contact us to register your interest
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Day 8: New York. A morning architectural walk with a local lecturer looking at the Art Deco monuments of midtown Manhattan. In the afternoon drive to The Cloisters set in a delightfully tranquil part of north Manhattan overlooking the Hudson river. A branch of the Met, devoted to art of the Middle Ages and incorporating arcades from five cloisters and other salvaged architecture, it is a marvellous home for sculpture, metalwork, tapestries, stained glass, manuscripts and panel paintings. Overnight New York.
usa
Day 4: North Adams, Williamstown. Drive through very attractive New England countryside to the Berkshires in the west of Massachusetts. Housed on a vast 19th-century factory campus in North Adams, MASS MoCA is the largest centre for contemporary art in the USA. Williamstown is a small university town with the Sterling and Francine Clark Institute, a wonderfully rich and varied collection outstanding for Post-Impressionist paintings, beautifully displayed in a mansion and a brand new building designed by Tadao Ando, opened in 2014. Overnight Williamstown.
Day 14. Arrive Heathrow at c. 11.00am. Above: Cambridge, Harvard University, Sever Hall.
What else is included in the price? See page 6. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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New England Modern Building new worlds, 1750–2015 usa
Boston, Trinity Church, wood engraving c. 1880 from United States Pictures.
Day 6: The Berkshires (MA). The Hancock Shaker Village provides exquisite examples of Shaker architecture and design. In the woods outside Lenox, a private visit to the former home and studio of abstract artists George Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen. The house is pure modernism and the art the couple amassed superb. Overnight Stockbridge. Day 7: Litchfield, New Haven (CT). Drive south stopping in the classic New England town of Litchfield. The afternoon walk in New Haven begins at Kahn’s Center for British Art (1977), the white oak and concrete an apposite backdrop to the magnificent collection. Cross the Yale campus to see Michael Hopkins’ Kroon Hall (2009) and the luminous Beinecke Rare Book Library by SOM (1963). First of two nights in New Haven. Day 8: New Canaan (CT). The day is spent in the woodland town of New Canaan where some of the great US architects, ‘the Harvard Five’, experimented in the mid-20th century. Private tour of Philip Johnson’s pristene Glass House (1949) as well as his painting and sculpture galleries. Among the other visits, the home of Eliot Noyes (1954; subject to confirmation) and Landis Gores’ pool pavilion (1960). Overnight New Haven.
13–22 October 2016 (md 901) 9 nights • £4,610 Lecturer: Professor Harry Charrington The making of modern America set against the colour of the New England Fall. Pioneering architecture from the early settlers to the present day with a focus on the extraordinary achievements of the mid-20th century. Among the architects: H.H. Richardson, Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, Philip Johnson, Louis Kahn, Josep Lluís Sert, Le Corbusier, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano. See some of the country’s greatest art collections and public buildings, private houses and neighbourhoods, with a number of visits by special arrangement.
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We stay in Boston, Stockbridge and New Haven, and travel through landscapes varying from the Atlantic coast and Long Island Sound to the great river valleys and the rolling Berkshire Hills. Led by Professor Harry Charrington, an expert on Modernism and Head of Architecture at the University of Westminster.
Itinerary Day 1: London to Boston (MA). Fly at c.11.15am from London Heathrow to Boston (British Airways) (time in the air: c. 6¾ hours). Drive to the hotel. The first visits are to two of America’s defining public buildings: H.H. Richardson’s Trinity Church (1877) and McKim Mead & White’s Boston Public Library (1895). First of four nights in Boston.
Day 2: Concord, Lincoln, Boston (MA). Drive to Walden Pond, heart of the Transcendentalist movement, where Henry Thoreau lived in a cabin on the water’s edge in simple seclusion. Nearby, the pretty town of Concord saw the start of the American War of Independence. Visit the museum, with Thoreau memorabilia. Walter Gropius built his family home (1938) in a meadow outside Lincoln; modest, light, with the original furniture and artwork. Overnight Boston. Day 3: Manchester, Exeter (NH). In the leafy suburbs of Manchester the Zimmermans commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build their Usonian home (1950). See also the Currier Museum of Art, a small but good collection including some American Modern. On the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy is Louis Kahn’s monumental library (1971). The detailing is superb inside and out. Overnight Boston. Day 4: Cambridge (MA). Cross the Charles River to the MIT campus, a powerhouse of science and research, at its heart the sinuous brick form of Aalto’s Baker House dormitory (1947). A walk through Harvard includes Le Corbusier’s Carpenter Center (1963) and the University Art Museums, extensively re-worked by Piano and re-opening in late 2014. Private visit to Josep Lluís Sert’s home (1958); perfectly proportioned, arranged around three courtyards. Overnight Boston. Day 5: Boston, Stockbridge (MA). Spend the morning at Boston’s Fine Arts Museum, a collection of staggering wealth, with its new extension by Foster. An increasingly beautiful drive west into the Berkshires leads to Stockbridge, a small town of verandah-clad villas with our historic hotel at the centre. First of two nights in Stockbridge.
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Day 9: New Haven. The final morning is dedicated to the Yale University Art Gallery (1953), one of the best in the US, the art enhanced by Kahn’s use of concrete. Afternoon drive to New York’s JFK Airport for the flight departing at 7.30pm. Day 10. Arrive London Heathrow at 7.30am. A number of these buildings are not usually open to the public and it is possible we will not be able to include everything listed.
Practicalities Price – per person. Two sharing: £4,610 or £4,000 without flights. Single occupancy: £5,270 or £4,660 without flights. Included meals: 1 lunch and 6 dinners with wine. Visa: British citizens can apply for a visa waiver. We will advise on the process. Accommodation. Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston (fairmont.com): elegant, opulent, opposite Trinity Church. The Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge (redlioninn.com): charming, historic hotel. The Study at Yale, New Haven (studyatyale.com): modern, minimalist bedrooms, excellent location. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout. How strenuous? There is a lot of walking and standing around and getting on and off coaches. With transatlantic flights and three hotels, the tour is tiring. Average distance by coach per day: 68 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
What else is included in the price? See page 6.
The Melbourne Ring
‘One of the best Rings anywhere in a long time’ australia
The ‘Rainbow Bridge’ in Das Rheingold, from Opera Australia’s Ring Cycle in 2013, ©Jeff Busby.
20–29 November 2016 (md 949) 10 days • £5,350 – flights not included (including tickets to 4 performances) Lecturer: Barry Millington ‘The verdict was pretty much unanimous: this was one of the best Rings anywhere in a long time.’ Classical Voice America. The Melbourne Ring returns with conductor Pietari Inkinen and an outstanding cast including Greer Grimsley as Wotan, Lise Lindstrom as Brünnhilde, Bradley Daley as Siegmund and Stefan Vinke as Siegfried. Top category (‘Premium Reserve’) seats to all four performances with special arrangements including an exclusive backstage tour, the opportunity to attend a dress rehearsal and a talk with members of Opera Australia’s creative team and a cast member. Talks on the operas by Barry Millington, editor of The Wagner Journal and chief music critic for London’s Evening Standard. Walks and visits with local guides in and around Melbourne.
The included visits may change once we have the exact timings of the special arrangements from Opera Australia. Day 1: Joining the tour. A transfer from Melbourne airport to the hotel is included. Gather in the hotel at 5.00pm to meet the lecturer and fellow participants before dinner. Day 2. Morning lecture followed by a walk in the city centre. The discovery of goldfields near Melbourne in the 1850s led to a building boom and many fine Victorian buildings remain. Walk through a sequence of arcades to the State Library and Old Melbourne Gaol. Also see the Cathedral of St Paul, a masterpiece of Gothic Revival begun by William Butterfield in 1880. Some free time followed by dinner. 7.00pm opera: Das Rheingold, Pietari Inkinen (conductor), Greer Grimsley (Wotan), Michael Honeyman (Donner), James Egglestone (Froh), Christopher Lincoln Bogg (Loge), Jacqueline Dark (Fricka), Hyeseoung Kwon (Freia), Liane Keegan (Erda), Lorina Gore (Woglinde), Jane Ede (Wellgunde), Dominica Matthews (Flosshilde), Warwick Fyfe (Alberich), Graeme Macfarlane (Mime), Daniel Sumegi (Fasolt), Jud Arthur (Fafner). Day 3. Morning lecture followed by a backstage tour of the Arts Centre. In the afternoon, drive to Como House, a fine example of colonial Melbourne, with beautiful gardens. Continue to St Kilda, with beaches, cafés and historic houses. Day 4. Morning lecture. Walk to Federation Square and visit the National Gallery of Victoria’s Australian art collection, the most comprehensive in the world. Much of the afternoon is free. We suggest the NGV’s international collection and the Botanic Gardens. 5.00pm opera: Die Walküre, Pietari Inkinen (conductor), Greer Grimsley (Wotan), Jacqueline Dark (Fricka), Bradley Daley (Siegmund), Amber Wagner (Sieglinde), Jud Arthur (Hunding), Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde), Anna-Louise Cole (Gerhilde), Olivia Cranwell (Ortlinde), Sian Pendry (Waltraute), Dominica Matthews (Schwertleite), Hyeseoung Kwon (Helmwige), Amanda Atlas (Siegrune), Nicole Youl (Grimgerde), Roxane Hislop (Rossweisse).
Day 5. Much of the day is spent in the vineyardrich Yarra Valley. Discover the winemaking heritage of the region and visit the Domaine Chandon (subject to confirmation). Continue to the Museum of Modern Art at Heide in the former residence of John and Sunday Reed, whose patronage was central to the development of Australian modernism. Day 6. Morning lecture. The day is free until the afternoon opera. Suggestions include the Immigration Museum in the Old Customs House. 5.00pm opera: Siegfried, Pietari Inkinen (conductor), Stefan Vinke (Siegfried), Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde), Liane Keegan (Erda), Graeme Macfarlane (Mime), Greer Grimsley (the Wanderer), Warwick Fyfe (Alberich), Jud Arthur (Fafner), Julie Lea Goodwin (Woodbird). Day 7. A guided walk in the centre includes the Old Treasury, Parliament House and Fitzroy Gardens. The afternoon is free. Dinner is included in one of Melbourne’s many fine restaurants. Day 8. The day is free. We recommend further exploration of the city including a walk in Carlton Gardens, home to the Melbourne Museum and the Royal Exhibition Building. A further option is a sunset tour to Phillip Island to see hundreds of penguins carry out their ritual emergence from the sea to their nests on the beach. Day 9. Morning lecture. Excursion to Rippon Lea, a historic house which well exemplifies the estates built by wealthy merchants in the wake of the gold rush. Some free time. 4.00pm opera: Götterdämmerung, Stefan Vinke (Siegfried), Luke Gabbedy (Gunther), Warwick Fyfe (Alberich), Daniel Sumegi (Hagen), Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde), Taryn Fiebig (Gutrune), Sian Pendry (Waltraute), Lorina Gore (Woglinde), Jane Ede (Wellgunde), Dominica Matthews (Flosshilde), Tania Ferris (First Norn), Jacqueline Dark (Second Norn), Anna-Louise Cole (Third Norn). Day 10. Check out by midday. Transfers from the hotel to Melbourne airport are included.
Practicalities – in brief Price – per person. Two sharing: £5,350. Single occupancy: £6,170. Flights are not included. For the full information, please contact us or visit www.martinrandall.com. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
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Full-scale productions of Wagner’s epic Ring cycle in the southern hemisphere are few and far between, but Opera Australia rose to the challenge magnificently with its staging for the bicentenary of the composer’s birth in 2013. There is now another opportunity to see Neil Armfield’s much-discussed production, back by popular demand and fielding an equally strong cast. Engaging with the environmentalist aspects of the drama, Armfield at the same time presents a wonderfully entertaining stage spectacle, full of theatrical magic, arresting images and resonant symbolism. The Rainbow Bridge in Das Rheingold, for example, is represented by a bevy of colourful Tiller Girls moving gracefully in unison, while the flow of the Rhine is conjured up by the sinuous movements of an army of Victorian extras in modern bathing suits. The production was also praised for capturing the pathos of the cycle’s later stages. The Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen, who previously produced an ‘electrifying’ orchestral sound, according to reviews, returns to the podium. To maximise this Ring experience, we have reserved ‘premium’ seats in the stalls. Our group will be able to attend a dress rehearsal and talks given by the artistic team and members of the cast – and we have arranged a backstage tour. Wagner expert, Barry Millington, is with the tour throughout and gives a series of lectures on the operas. With the performances arranged over eight days, there is plenty of time to see Melbourne. Refined and grand, the city enjoys a rich cultural life with excellent art galleries and museums and some of the best preserved Victorian architecture in the world.
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Booking details 1. Optional booking
2. Definite booking
3. Our confirmation
We recommend that you contact us first to make an optional booking which we will hold for seven days. To confirm it please send the booking form and deposit within this period – the deposit is 10% of your total booking price. Alternatively, you can make a definite booking straight away at www.martinrandall.com
Fill in the booking form and send it to us with the deposit. It is important that you read the Booking Conditions at this stage, and that you sign the booking form. Full payment is required if you are booking within ten weeks of departure.
Upon receipt of the booking form and deposit we shall send you confirmation of your booking. After this your deposit is non-returnable except in the special circumstances mentioned in the Booking Conditions. Further details about the tour may also be sent at this stage, or will follow shortly afterwards.
If you cancel. If you have to cancel your participation on a tour, there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give. Up to 57 days before the tour the deposit only is forfeited. Thereafter a percentage of the total cost of the tour will be due:
an ATOL protected flight inclusive holiday from us you receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong. Most of our flights and flight-inclusive holidays on our website and in our brochure are financially protected by the ATOL scheme. But ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services listed. Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking. If you do not receive an ATOL Certificate then the booking will not be ATOL protected. If you do receive an ATOL Certificate but all the parts of your trip are not listed on it, those parts will not be ATOL protected. In order to be protected under the ATOL scheme you need to be in the UK when you make your booking and/or one of the flights you take must originate or terminate in the UK with the group.
Booking Conditions Please read these You need to sign your assent to these booking conditions on the booking form.
Our promises to you We aim to be fair, reasonable and sympathetic in all our dealings with clients, and to act always with integrity. We will meet all our legal and regulatory responsibilities, often going beyond the minimum obligations. We aim to provide full and accurate information about our holidays. If there are changes, we will tell you promptly. If something does go wrong, we will try to put it right. Our overriding aim is to ensure that every client is satisfied with our services.
All we ask of you That you read the information we send to you.
Specific terms Our contract with you. From the time we receive your signed booking form and initial payment, a contract exists between you and Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Eligibility. We reserve the right to refuse to accept a booking without necessarily giving a reason. You need to have a level of fitness which would not spoil other participants’ enjoyment of the holiday by slowing them down – see ‘Fitness’ on page 15; to this end we ask you to take the tests described there, and by signing the booking form you are stating that you have met these fitness requirements. If during the tour it transpires you are not able to cope adequately, you may be asked to opt out of certain visits, or be invited to leave the tour altogether. This would be at your own expense.
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Insurance. It is a requirement of booking that you have adequate holiday insurance. Cover for medical treatment, repatriation, loss of property and cancellation charges must be included. Insurance can be obtained from most insurance companies, banks, travel agencies and (in the UK) many retail outlets including Post Offices. Experience tells us that free travel insurance offered by some credit card companies is not reliable in the event of a claim. Passports and visas. British citizens must have valid passports for all tours outside the United Kingdom. For most countries the passport needs to be valid for six months beyond the date of the tour. If visas are required we will advise UK citizens about obtaining them. Nationals of other countries should ascertain whether visas are required in their case, and obtain them if they are.
between 56 and 29 days: between 28 and 15 days: between 14 days and 3 days: within 48 hours:
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If you cancel your booking in a double or twin room or cabin but are travelling with a companion who chooses to continue to participate on the tour, the companion will be liable to pay the stipulated single supplement. We take as the day of cancellation that on which we receive written confirmation of cancellation. If we cancel the tour. We might decide to cancel a tour if at any time up to eight weeks before there were insufficient bookings for it to be viable. We would refund everything you had paid to us. We may also cancel a tour if hostilities, civil unrest, natural disaster or other circumstances amounting to force majeure affect the region to which the tour was due to go. Safety and security. If the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel to places visited on a tour, we would cancel the tour or adjust the itinerary to avoid the risky area. In the event of cancellation before the tour commenced we would give you a full refund. We would also treat sympathetically a wish to withdraw from a tour to a troubled region even if the FCO does not advise against travel there. Seatbelts. Our tours and festivals subscribe to the health and safety legislation of the destination. In some parts of the world the law concerning seatbelts differs to the UK. The limits of our liabilities. As principal, we accept responsibility for all ingredients of a tour, except those in which the principle of force majeure prevails. Our obligations and responsibilities are also limited where international conventions apply in respect of air, sea or rail carriers, including the Warsaw Convention and its various updates. If we make changes. Circumstances might arise which prevent us from operating a tour exactly as advertised. We would try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if the change represents a significant loss to the tour we would offer compensation. If you decide to cancel because the alternative we offer is not acceptable we would give a full refund. Financial protection. We provide full financial protection for our package holidays which include international flights, by way of our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence number 3622. When you buy
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We provide full financial protection for our package holidays that do not include a flight, by way of a bond held by ABTA The Travel Association. We will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative). In some cases, where we aren’t able do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with the services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by you under your contract to that alternative ATOL holder. However, you also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable). If we, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the non-provision of the services, including any claim against us (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims maybe re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme. English Law. These conditions form part of your contract with Martin Randall Travel Ltd and are governed by English law. All proceedings shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Booking form TOUR NAME(S)
DATES
TOUR CODE(S)
NAME(S) – as you would like it/them to appear on documents issued to other tour participants.
DATE(S) OF BIRTH
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1
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2
CONTACT DETAILS – for all correspondence
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FELLOW TRAVELLER – if applicable If you have made a booking for someone who does not share your address, please give their details here. We will then send them copies of all tour documents. We will NOT send them a copy of the invoice or anything else relating to financial matters. Name Address Postcode/Zip Country Email Telephone
FURTHER INFORMATION or special requests. Please mention dietary requirements, even if you have told us before.
Booking form PASSPORT DETAILS. Essential for airlines and in case of emergency on tour (not applicable for tours in the UK if you are a UK resident). Title
Surname
Forenames
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Place of birth
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1. 2. Passport number 1. 2.
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PAYMENT & AGREEMENT Please tick payment amount: ☐ EITHER Deposit(s) amounting to 10% of your total booking cost. ☐ OR Full Payment. This is required if you are booking within 10 weeks of departure. TOTAL: £ Please tick payment method: ☐ CHEQUE. I enclose a cheque payable to Martin Randall Travel Ltd – please write the tour code on the back (e.g. md 123). ☐ DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD. I authorise Martin Randall Travel to contact me by telephone to take payment from my Visa credit/Visa debit/Mastercard/AMEX.
Bookings paid for by credit card will have 2% added to cover processing charges. This brings us into line with standard travel industry practice. It does not apply to other forms of payment.
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Tours by date For tours by region and country, see pages 6–7.
January 2016 9–19 Oman (mc 557) Professor Dawn Chatty.................................190 15–17 Music Weekend: The Wihan Quartet (mc 559) Richard Wigmore...........................43 19–26 Valletta Baroque Festival (mc 560) Juliet Rix.........................................................147 23–28 Mozart in Salzburg (mc 564) Richard Wigmore............................................48 23– 4 Architecture of the British Raj (mc 565) Professor Gavin Stamp..................................202 30– 4 Music in Paris (mc 567) Patrick Bade....................................................71
february 2016 15–21 Florence (mc 575) Dr Antonia Whitley......................................121 23–28 Connoisseur’s Rome (mc 578) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................134 24–27 Opera in Nice & Monte Carlo (mc 576) Simon Rees.......................................................82 26–28 Music Weekend: The Chilingirian Quartet (mc 579) Richard Wigmore...........................43 26–11 Essential India (mc 580) Dr Giles Tillotson..........................................198
March 2016
april 2016 3– 9 Genoa & Turin (mc 624) Dr Luca Leoncini...........................................105 4–16 Sicily (mc 627) Dr Philippa Joseph .......................................140 6 The Ever-Changing City Skyline (lc 652) Professor Peter Rees.........................................44
26– 1 28– 5 29– 7
Opera in Vienna (ec 647) Dr Michael Downes........................................50 Lycia & Pamphylia (mc 649) Dr Ffiona Gilmore Eaves..............................186 Ottoman Turkey (mc 650) Sue Rollin.......................................................181
may 2016 1– 6 Opera in Berlin (mc 667) Dr John Allison & Tom Abbott......................83 3–12 The Pyrenees (mc 660) John McNeill..................................................163 6–12 St Petersburg (mc 662) Dr Alexey Makhrov.......................................157 6–19 Art in Japan (mc 671) Professor Timon Screech...............................204 7–16 Classical Greece (mc 666) Professor Antony Spawforth...........................99 8–14 Art in the Netherlands (mc 672) Dr Sophie Oosterwijk....................................147 8–15 Central Macedonia (mc 679) Dr Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones..............................102 8–15 Courts of Northern Italy (mc 663) Professor Fabrizio Nevola.............................116 9–15 Walking Hadrian’s Wall (mc 670) Graeme Stobbs.................................................22 9–16 Footpaths of Umbria (mc 668) Dr Antonia Whitley......................................131 9–18 Castile & León (mc 669) Adam Hopkins...............................................165 9–22 The Western Balkans (mc 665) David Gowan..................................................55 9–22 The Heart of Japan (mc 673) Phillida Purvis mbe & Christopher Purvis cbe............................206 11–18 Gastronomic Veneto (mc 678) Marc Millon...................................................108 11–24 East Coast Galleries (mc 676) Mary Lynn Riley............................................218 12–20 Great Houses of the East (mc 675) Dr Andrew Moore...........................................30 14–20 Prague Spring (mc 688) Professor Jan Smaczny....................................57 15–19 Occupation in the Channel Islands (mc 677) Dr Paul Sanders..............................16 Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
tours by date
2– 6 Art in Madrid (mc 586) Dr Xavier Bray..............................................170 3– 6 Music in Berlin (mc 601) Professor Jan Smaczny & Tom Abbott .........82 3– 8 Opera in Spain (mc 588) Barry Millington...........................................168 7–13 Toledo & La Mancha (mc 587)..................171 8–13 Palermo Revealed (mc 592) Dr Philippa Joseph........................................142 10 Lecture Afternoon at the Tower of London (lc 594).................45 11–20 Eastern Andalucía: Caliphs to Kings (mc 595) Gijs van Hensbergen....................174 12–25 Bengal by River (mc 585) Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones mbe......................200 15–19 Venetian Palaces (mc 598) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................115 15–21 Naples: Art, Antiquities & Opera (mc 597) Dr Luca Leoncini...........................................138 15–23 Normans in the South (mc 599) John McNeill..................................................139 17–23 Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur (mc 600) Monica Bohm-Duchen...................................80 28– 6 Minoan Crete (mc 615) Dr Alan Peatfield...........................................101 29– 6 Extremadura (mc 616) Adam Hopkins...............................................173 29– 7 Israel & Palestine (mc 618) Dr Garth Gilmour.........................................188
5– 9 Barcelona (mc 622) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................167 5–18 Essential China (mc 620) Dr Jamie Greenbaum....................................194 6–12 Gardens of the Riviera (mc 625) Caroline Holmes..............................................81 8–10 Music Weekend: The Aronowitz Ensemble (mc 628)...........................................................43 11–18 Walking in Eastern Sicily (mc 630) Christopher Newall.......................................144 11–20 Classical Turkey (mc 631) Professor Roger Wilson.................................183 12–17 Palladian Villas (mc 632) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................111 13–25 Central Anatolia (mc 634) Dr Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones .............................184 14–28 Persia (mc 633) Professor Hugh Kennedy...............................187 16–22 Gastronomic Emilia-Romagna (mc 635) Marc Millon & Dr R. T. Cobianchi.............120 17–22 A Festival of Impressionism (mc 638) Dr Frances Fowle.............................................72 18–22 Mediaeval Sussex & Hampshire (mc 640) John McNeill....................................................17 18–23 Gardens of Northern Portugal (mc 637) Dr Gerald Luckhurst.....................................155 18–24 Lucca (mc 636) Dr Antonia Whitley......................................128 18–25 Granada & Córdoba (mc 639) Adam Hopkins...............................................176 20–24 Ravenna & Urbino (mc 643) Dr Luca Leoncini...........................................119 20–28 The Cathedrals of England (mc 641) Jon Cannon......................................................18 21–27 Gardens & Villas of the Italian Lakes (mc 645) Steven Desmond...........................106 22–24 UK Symposia: Evelyn Waugh......................43 22–27 The South Downs (mc 644) Janet Sinclair....................................................34 22–29 Gastronomic Andalucía (mc 642) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................178 25–30 Tuscan Gardens (mc 654) Dr Katie Campbell........................................126 25–30 Pompeii & Herculaneum (mc 646) Dr Mark Grahame........................................137
225
Tours by date continued
‘Life’ among the Connoisseurs; or Dick Wildfire & his Friends in the Grand Gallery at the Louvre, aquatint 1822 by George Cruikshank.
16–23 The Duchy of Milan (mc 681) Dr Luca Leoncini...........................................107 16–25 Pilgrimage & Heresy (mc 682) Dr Alexandra Gajewski..................................78 17–27 Samarkand & Silk Road Cities (mc 683) Professor James Allan....................................208 20–23 Wagner in Leipzig (mc 684) Barry Millington.............................................90 20–27 Madrid Revisited (mc 685) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................169 24–29 Gardens & Palaces of Berlin & Potsdam (mc 686) Steven Desmond.............................84 31– 5 Verdi in Riga (mc 699) Simon Rees.....................................................145 Bergen Music Festival.................................151
june 2016
tours by date 226
2– 5 Opera in Copenhagen..................................62 4–10 The Duchy of Urbino (mc 703) Dr Thomas-Leo True....................................132 4–11 Mediaeval Burgundy (mc 702) John McNeill....................................................76 4–11 The Veneto (mc 708) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................110 4–15 Frank Lloyd Wright (mc 705) Tom Abbott....................................................217 5– 8 Rijksmuseum & Mauritshuis (mc 709) Dr Sophie Oosterwijk....................................148 5– 9 Cold War Berlin (mc 706) Patrick Mercer obe.........................................87 7–18 Walking to Santiago (mc 704) Adam Hopkins & Gaby Macphedran..........161 8–13 Tudor England (mc 713) Professor Maurice Howard.............................28 9–13 Mediaeval East Anglia (mc 717) Dr Jana Gajdosova..........................................42 10–13 Flanders Fields (mc 710) Andrew Spooner..............................................54 10–20 The Ring in Berlin (mc 711) Barry Millington & Dr Matthias Vollmer....83 13–16 The Suffolk Festival (mc 714)........21
13–20 Moravia (mc 707) Dr Jarl Kremeier..............................................58 14–20 The Leipzig Bach Festival (mc 716) Professor John Butt obe..................................91 15–23 Northumbria (mc 715) Christopher Newall.........................................20 18–24 The Schubertiade (mc 719) Richard Wigmore............................................49 19–22 Rijksmuseum & Mauritshuis (mc 721) Dr Guus Sluiter.............................................148 19–24 Walking to Derbyshire Houses (mc 720) Dr Paul Atterbury...........................................24 20–23 Versailles (mc 736) Emeritus Professor Antony Spawforth..........70 20–28 The Georgians in Scotland (ec 725) Gail Bent..........................................................46 20–28 Norway: Art, Architecture, Landscape (mc 724) Dr Frank Høifødt..........................150 22–28 Connoisseur’s Vienna (mc 727) Dr Jarl Kremeier..............................................51 23–30 Armenia (mc 734) Ian Colvin........................................................47 23–30 The Seine Music Festival.................69 26– 2 German Romanesque (mc 732) Dr Jeffrey Miller...............................................96 27– 1 ‘Capability’ Brown (mc 733) Professor Charles Watkins..............................32 27– 1 Literature & Walking in the Lake District (mc 739) Dr Charles Nicholl..........................37 28– 2 Berlin: New Architecture (mc 735) Tom Abbott......................................................85 29– 8 Great French Gardens (mc 731) Steven Desmond..............................................68
july 2016 1– 5 Vienna’s Masterpieces (mc 741) Professor David Ekserdjian............................52 1– 5 Budapest (mc 749) Dr József Sisa.................................................103 1– 7 French Gothic (mc 740) Dr Matthew Woodworth................................67
book online at www.martinrandall.com
3– 7 Stonehenge & Prehistoric Wessex (mc 742) Julian Richards................................................35 4– 9 Historic Dutch Organs (mc 745) James Johnstone & Dr Sophie Oosterwijk...149 5–12 The Danube Festival of Song (mc 750).......................................52 7–14 German Gothic (mc 744) Dr Jeffrey Miller...............................................95 11–15 Savonlinna Opera (mc 753) Simon Rees ......................................................65 12–17 Turner & the Sea (mc 712) Dr Sam Willis..................................................36 12–19 Vikings & Bog People (mc 754) Dr David Griffiths...........................................62 15–22 Ryedale Festival.............................................20 15–22 Mediaeval Normandy (mc 757) Dr Cathy Oakes...............................................66 16–19 The Age of Bede (mc 760) Imogen Corrigan.............................................19 21–25 Verona Opera (mc 772) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................112 24– 6 The Baltic Countries (mc 778) Neil Taylor.......................................................63 25– 1 Yorkshire Houses (mc 738) Dr Adam White...............................................23 26–30 The Western Front (mc 777) Major Gordon Corrigan.................................74 26– 1 Opera in Munich & Bregenz (mc 779) Dr David Vickers & Tom Abbott...................98 Incontri in Terra di Siena...........................126 Trasimeno Music Festival..........................133 Baths of Caracalla Opera Festival ............135
august 2016 8–13 The Industrial Revolution (mc 796) Dr Paul Atterbury...........................................40 9–13 Torre del Lago (mc 795) Simon Rees.....................................................129 12–16 Munich’s Masterpieces (mc 802) Patrick Bade....................................................97 15–22 The Victorian Achievement (mc 797) Dr Paul Atterbury...........................................38 16–20 Royal Residences (mc 801) Giles Waterfield...............................................26 16–23 A Festival of Music in Franconia (mc 800)..........................93 16–23 Walking in Franconia...................................93 18–22 Verona Opera (mc 808) Dr R. T. Cobianchi .......................................112 19– 1 Sicily (md 845) Dr Ffiona Gilmore Eaves..............................140 24–29 The Schubertiade (mc 810) Dr Michael Downes........................................49 27– 1 The Lucerne Festival (mc 814) Professor Stephen Walsh...............................179 30– 6 Great Houses of the South West (mc 818) Anthony Lambert............................................29 Shakespeare & his World.............................41 Edinburgh Festival........................................46 Opera in Macerata & Pesaro......................133 Baths of Caracalla Opera Festival ............135 Martina Franca............................................140 Drottningholm & Confidencen................179
Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF, United Kingdom Telephone +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@mar tinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia Telephone 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@mar tinrandall.com.au Canada Telephone (647) 382 1644 Fax (416) 925 2670 canada@mar tinrandall.ca USA Telephone – connects to the London office 1 800 988 6168
5085
This brochure was produced in house. Much of the text was written originally by Martin Randall; all staff were involved in editing and proofing, as were Julia MacRae and Caroline Cuss. Lecturers also contributed. It was designed by Jo Murray.
1–10 The Grand Duchy of Tuscany (md 829) Dr Flavio Boggi.............................................124 1–15 Persia (md 822) Dr Charles Melville.......................................187 2– 5 Poets & The Somme (md 820) Andrew Spooner..............................................73 2– 8 St Petersburg (md 853) Dr Alexey Makhrov.......................................157 2– 9 Kraków & Silesia (md 837) Sebastian Wormell........................................152 2–14 The Road to Santiago (md 821) John McNeill..................................................160 3–10 Franconia (md 823) Dr Jarl Kremeier..............................................94 4–11 Courts of Northern Italy (md 832) Professor Fabrizio Nevola.............................116 5–11 Walking Hadrian’s Wall (md 825) Graeme Stobbs.................................................22 5–12 Bohemia (md 839) Michael Ivory...................................................59 5–13 The Heart of Portugal (md 824) Adam Hopkins...............................................156 6–12 Cave Art in Spain (md 828) Dr Paul Bahn.................................................159 6–16 Samarkand & Silk Road Cities (md 826) Dr Peter Webb...............................................208 7–10 Flemish Painting (md 827) Dr Sophie Oosterwijk......................................53 7–16 Californian Galleries (md 876) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................215 9–14 Wine, Walks & Art in Alsace (md 856) Marc Millon.....................................................75 11–27 Peru (md 834) Dr David Beresford-Jones.............................212 12–17 Pompeii & Herculaneum (md 833) Dr Mark Grahame........................................137 12–18 The Imperial Riviera (md 843) Richard Bassett..............................................113 12–19 Music in the Saxon Hills (md 855) Dr David Vickers & Tom Abbott...................92 13–17 Connoisseur’s London (md 835).................41 13–19 Connoisseur’s Prague (md 841) Michael Ivory...................................................60 14–18 Haydn in Eisenstadt (md 852) Richard Wigmore............................................48 14–27 China’s Silk Road Cities (md 838) Dr Jamie Greenbaum....................................196 17–26 Classical Greece (md 842) Dr Andrew Farrington....................................99 18–22 Arts & Crafts in the Cotswolds (md 844) Janet Sinclair....................................................33 19–25 Walking a Royal River (md 847) Dr Paul Atterbury...........................................25 19–26 The Heart of Italy (md 846) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................130 19– 3 The Iron Curtain (md 849) Neil Taylor.......................................................88 20–30 Samarkand & Silk Road Cities (md 848) Professor Dominic Brookshaw.....................208 20–28 Connoisseur’s New York (md 851) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................214 22–28 Gardens & Villas of the Italian Lakes (md 854) Steven Desmond...........................106
22–30 Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden (md 840) Dr Jarl Kremeier..............................................86 24– 5 Frank Lloyd Wright (md 830) Tom Abbott....................................................217 26– 2 Walking a Royal River (md 871) Dr Paul Atterbury...........................................25 26– 2 The Etruscans (md 873) Dr Nigel Spivey..............................................136 26– 3 Footpaths of Umbria (md 874) Dr Antonia Whitley......................................131 26– 6 Essential Andalucía (md 875) Adam Hopkins...............................................177 27– 3 Istanbul (md 878) Jane Taylor.....................................................180 28– 2 Ravenna & Urbino (md 877) Dr Luca Leoncini...........................................119 28– 6 The Cathedrals of England (md 872) Tim Tatton Brown...........................................18 29– 6 Insider’s Istanbul (md 879) Barnaby Rogerson.........................................182 Paintings in Paris...........................................71
october 2016 1– 7 Gastronomic Piedmont (md 885) Marc Millon...................................................104 2– 8 Art in the Netherlands (md 884) Dr Guus Sluiter.............................................147 2– 9 Courts of Northern Italy (md 881) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................116 3– 9 Malta (md 883) Juliet Rix.........................................................146 3–11 Ancient & Islamic Tunisia (md 899) Professor Roger Wilson ................................193 3–16 The Western Balkans (md 880) David Gowan..................................................55 7– 9 Music Weekend: The Heath Quartet..........43 9–16 Dark Age Brilliance (md 893) John McNeill..................................................118 11–16 Palladian Villas (md 896) Dr Sarah Pearson..........................................111 12–16 Siena & San Gimignano (md 900) Dr Antonia Whitley......................................125 13–22 New England Modern (md 901) Professor Harry Charrington.......................220 17–25 Palestine (md 915) Felicity Cobbing.............................................191 17–29 Sicily (md 914) Professor Roger Wilson.................................140 17–30 The Heart of Japan Phillida Purvis MBE & Christopher Purvis CBE...........................206 18–31 Essential China (md 916) Dr Rose Kerr..................................................194 19–23 Art in Madrid (md 917) Gail Turner....................................................170 21–27 Roman & Mediaeval Provence (md 920) Dr Alexandra Gajewski..................................77 24–30 Pompeii & Herculaneum (md 923) Henry Hurst...................................................137 24–31 Gastronomic Sicily (md 924) Marc Millon...................................................143 24–31 Bilbao to Bayonne (md 922) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................164 25–31 Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur (md 925) Lydia Bauman.................................................80
25– 7 30–12 31– 5
The Indian Mutiny......................................203 Art in Japan (md 928) Dr Monika Hinkel.........................................204 Walking in Madeira (md 929) Dr Gerald Luckhurst.....................................153 History Weekend...........................................43 Opera in Wales...............................................46 Sacred China................................................197
november 2016 1– 6 Connoisseur’s Rome (md 931) Dr Kevin Childs.............................................134 1– 7 Essential Rome (md 932) Dr Thomas-Leo True....................................133 2– 9 Florence & Venice (md 933) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................123 5–15 Oman (md 935) Professor Dawn Chatty.................................190 7–14 Gastronomic Valencia (md 940) Gijs van Hensbergen.....................................172 7–19 Sicily (md 939) Christopher Newall.......................................140 14–18 Essential India Dr Anna-Maria Misra..................................199 14–20 Art History of Venice (md 945) Dr Susan Steer...............................................114 18–20 Music Weekend: The Schubert Ensemble................................43 20–29 The Melbourne Ring Barry Millington...........................................221 22–26 Venetian Palaces (md 950) Dr Michael Douglas-Scott............................115 History Weekend...........................................43 A Festival of Music in Florence (md 909)...........................122 Gastronomic Kerala....................................203
december 2016 4–17 Guatemala, Honduras, Belize (md 960) Professor Norman Hammond......................210 We will run six or seven tours over Christmas and New Year. Full details will be available for most of them in April. Contact us to register your interest.
february 2017 10–23 Kingdoms of the Deccan............................203 23– 5 Temples of Tamil Nadu...............................203 27–13 Essential India Dr Giles Tillotson..........................................199
march 2017 13–25 Indian Summer............................................203 25– 7 Bengal by River............................................201 The Printing Revolution.............................117 Stephen Parkin & Dr Michael Douglas-Scott
TOURS BY DATE
Cover illustration: Venice, vue d’optique, hand-coloured copper engraving c. 1774. This page: design by William Morris, reproduced in Pen Drawings & Pen Draughtsmen by Joseph Pennell, publ. 1889. The vast majority of illustrations in this brochure originate from the MRT collection.
september 2016
april 2017 14–17 Music Weekend: The Vienna Piano Trio..................................43 Francisco Goya (Spring 2017)....................170
227 Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 info@mar tinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com
Telephone 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@mar tinrandall.com.au Canada Telephone (647) 382 1644 Fax (416) 925 2670 canada@mar tinrandall.ca USA Telephone (toll-free, to the London office) 1 800 988 6168
2016: 2nd edition
Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia
5085
M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E l
Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Bar ley Mow Passage London W4 4GF United Kingdom
M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L A RT • A R C H I T E C T U R E • G A S T R ONO M Y • A R C H A E OLO G Y • H I S TOR Y • M U S I C
2016
second edition