VALENCIA, Spain. Mercat Central

One of the rear façades of the Mercat Central (Central Market), seen from the confluence of Plaça de la Ciutat de Bruges and Avinguda de l'Oest.

One of the two towers that flank a rear façade of the market, topped with domes on which are weather vanes in the shape of animals. The building, as a whole, is Modernist in style with eclectic elements and iron architecture. Construction began in 1914 and the works, interrupted, were not completed until 1928: in fact, it opened in November of that year. Four architects participated in its design and construction: first, Francesc Guàrdia i Vial (Barcelona 1880 -1940) and Alexandre Soler i March (Barcelona 1873-1949), and later Enric Viedma i Vidal (Valencia 1889-1959) and Àngel Romaní Verdeguer (Vilanova del Grau, Valencia, 1892 - Valencia 1973). The market, which has an area of ​​more than 8,000 square meters, was rehabilitated between 2004 and 2010.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 12.2022.

BARCELONA, Spain. Monument "A Frederic Soler (Pitarra)"

Pla del Teatre.

Monument A Frederic Soler (Pitarra).

The playwright Frederic Soler i Hubert (Barcelona, ​​1839-1895), better known by his pseudonym, Serafí Pitarra or, simply, Pitarra, is considered the founder of Catalan theater. The pedestal, in Modernist style, on which the sculpture, made in 1906 by the artist Agustí Querol (Tortosa 1860 - Madrid 1909), is located, is the work of the architect Pere Falqués (Sant Andreu de Palomar, Barcelona, ​​1850 - Barcelona 1916). The monument was inaugurated on 26 December 1906.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

BARCELONA, Spain. Mural. Street Art

Carrer Nou de Sant Francesc.

Mural on metal doors signed by SiBeriana (Anna Patrusheva).

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

GIRONA, Spain. Balconies of Casa Ribas i Crehuet

Carrer de la Força No. 6.

The Ribas i Crehuet House, in the Noucentista style, with a ground floor and four floors, was built between 1926 and 1928 according to the project of the Catalan architect Rafael Masó i Valentí (Girona, 1880-1935). On the first floor of the building, these two curved balconies with baluster railings stand out, separated by a column on which you can see a plaque with the name of the architect and, below, a floral decoration and the inscription of the date of completion of the work in Roman numerals (MCMXXVIII, i.e. 1928). Below the balconies you can see the top of the basket-handle arch where the main entrance to the house is located. The building was rehabilitated in 2004, and is part of the Architectural Heritage of Catalonia.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

GIRONA, Spain. Casa Miquel Gómez

Casa Miquel (or Miguel) Gómez.
Facade over the Onyar River.

This is a modernist building conceived by the Catalan architect Rafael Masó i Valentí (Girona, 1880-1935), built in 1914. Part of the house had to be demolished in 1916 to be able to build the passage also called Miquel Gómez, which gave access to the bridge over the Onyar River of the same name (Pont de Gómez, also known as Pont de la Princesa or Pont de la Creu Blanca). In the image you can partially see the railing of the bridge.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

GIRONA, Spain. Casa Sarrà

Carrer de Barcelona, 25.

Casa Sarrà.

Casa Sarrà, in a Noucentista architectural style, is the work of the Catalan architect Josep Esteve i Corredor (Girona, 1896 - 1965), who in 1928 planned the renovation and extension of an existing building, owned by Marià Sarrà. On the ground floor, the access openings to the street are semicircular arches with lateral columns. On the first floor there is a tribune and two balconies with stone balustrades, while the balconies on the other two floors have Art Deco style iron railings. The façade has a light-colored coating with three horizontal decorative stripes formed by bricks and sgraffito floral motifs. The building has a height of 70 meters.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

GIRONA, Spain. "Contra l'invasor" sculpture

Jardí de la Infància.

Contra l'invasor.
[Against the invader]

This sculpture is a bronze reproduction of the original, made of plaster in 1891 by the Catalan artist Miquel Blay i Fàbregas (Olot, 1866 - Madrid, 1936), which is kept in the Girona Art Museum. The young man, naked, in an aggressive attitude with a broken spearhead in his hands, represents the heroism of the inhabitants of the city against the invaders of Napoleon's French army, when, with 18,000 men, they besieged Girona for the third time on the 6th May 1809 and they maintained the siege of the city until they had to capitulate, due to disease and hunger, on 12 December of the same year. It is estimated that around 10,000 people died during the siege. Girona remained in French power until 10 March 1814.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

CASTELLÓ DE LA PLANA, Spain. Benches

Parc Ribalta.

Ribalta Park began construction in 1869 according to a project by the architect and urban planner Luis Alfonso Brull and was expanded in 1876. In addition to other artistic elements, the ceramic benches stand out, built between 1927 and 1930 and restored in 2002. They are formed for ceramic tiles of 20 x 20 and 15 x 15 cm.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 11.2023.

CASTELLÓ DE LA PLANA, Spain. Bell tower of the church of Sant Vicent Ferrer

Plaça del Fadrell.

Bell tower of the church of Sant Vicent Ferrer, built during several periods from its foundation, as a temple of a convent, in 1579. During the long process of construction and remodeling of the building, a mixture of styles was produced, but the predominant ones were the Baroque and Neoclassical. The current building is from 1835. The bell tower is older, it was built between 1661 and 1688.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 11.2023.

VALENCIA, Spain. Sculpture "Hercules" in the Jardí de les Herpèrides

Jardí de les Herpèrides
[Garden of the Herperides]

Hercules with the golden apple, bronze sculpture made by the Hungarian sculptor Miklós A. Pálfi.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 12.2022.

BARCELONA, Spain. Decorated door

Passatge dels Escudellers, 5 (Barri Gòtic).

Door of a house built in 1864, designed by the Catalan architect Francesc Batlle.

Photo: Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

BARCELONA, Spain. Modernist decoration

Decoration on the façade of the modernist building on Carrer Comte de Güell No. 7, built in 1919.

Photo: Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 10.2022.

GIRONA, Spain. Sundial of the Casa Adroher (1802)

Casa Adroher.
Carrer de Santa Llúcia, 3.

Sundial
Jo sense sol i tu sense fe no valem res / 1802 - 1975
[I without sun and you without faith are worthless]

The dates are the construction of the baroque building of the Adroher House (1802) and the restoration of the sundial (1975).

Photo: Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

GIRONA, Spain. Knocker

Carrer de la Força.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

GIRONA, Spain. Door and knocker

Carrer de l'Albareda Nº 13.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

BOLSENA, Lazio, Italy. Balcony

Vicolo degli Adami.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 12.2007.

VALENCIA, Spain. Mural (Street Art)

Carrer de la Carda.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 12.2022.

VALENCIA, Spain. Mural de Santa Margarida Borràs

Carrer de la Carda, parking for market vendors.

Mural painted by Akimbo (pseudonym of Marcos Chelo, member of the Okuda creative group), as a tribute to Margarida Borràs, who was a man called Miquel Borràs, who used to dress as a woman and have sexual relations with men. Because of this and the scandal that he entailed at that time, Miquel was sentenced to death as a "pervert and sodomite" and hanged on 17 July 1460.

The mural was commissioned by Akimbo for the Intramurs Urban Art Festival, and inaugurated on 17 May 2017. Due to the rehabilitation of the building, it was destroyed in January 2023, which created great controversy in Valencia.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 12.2022.

BARCELONA, Spain. "The fish", sculpture made by Frank Gehry (1992)

Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas Nº 2. Port Olímpic.

El Peix (The Fish, also known as the Golden Fish), sculpture 56 meters long and 35 meters high made by the Canadian architect, designer and sculptor Frank Owen Goldberg, known as Frank Gehry (b. Toronto, 1929). 

The sculpture was installed next to the Olympic Port of Barcelona in 1992 for the Summer Olympic Games held that year in the city. It is made up of intertwined golden stainless steel strips supported by a metal structure. The interaction with the sun's rays creates the impression of scales, depending on the intensity of the light, and accentuates the organic form of this enormous work, which has become one of the identifying symbols of Barcelona.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 12.2021.

GIRONA, Spain. Bench

Rambla de la Llibertat.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

GIRONA, Spain. Feminist poster

Carrer de Santa Clara.

Vam fer i farem Història.
Jovent Republicà.
[We have made and we will make History. / Republican Youth]

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

LA BISBAL D'EMPORDÀ, Catalunya, Spain. Monument to the sardana

LA BISBAL D'EMPORDÀ
Passeig de Marimon Asprer.

Monument to the sardana, made of corten steel by the Catalan sculptor Marcel Martí (Alvear, Argentina, 1925 - Palafrugell, Catalunya, 2010) and inaugurated in 1988. This monument was erected on the occasion of the centenary of the Orquestra La Principal de la Bisbal (Bisbal Main Orchestra).

La sardana is a Catalan musical genre typical of Catalan culture and danced in circle following a set of steps. The dance was originally from the Empordà region, but started gaining popularity throughout Catalonia from the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The oldest found reference to the word sardana is from 1552.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 03.2024.

EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT, Catalunya, Spain. Sculpture "Nen amb sargantana"

EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT
Plaça de la Vila

Nen amb sargantana ('Boy with lizard'), bronze sculpture by Francisco López Hernández (1932-2017), installed in September 1994.

The sculptor Francisco López Hernández (Madrid, 28 April 1932 - 8 January 2017) belonged to a family of goldsmiths and received his first artistic training from his father. He later studied at the School of Arts and Crafts of Madrid and at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando. In 1956, he traveled to Rome with a scholarship from the Ministry of Education, and also made stays in Paris and Greece. He exhibited for the first time in 1955, and in 1960 he married the visual artist Isabel Quintanilla and they moved to live in Rome between 1960 and 1964, where he worked as a professor at the Spanish Academy. His works are in numerous museums, including the Reina Sofía Art Center in Madrid, the British Museum in London, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, the Juan March Foundation and the Iberdrola Collection.

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 11.2022.

TALLINN, Estonia. Aleksander Nevski Orthodox Cathedral

TALLINN
Aleksander Nevski Orthodox Cathedral. Three of the five domes.

This is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral in central Tallinn, on the Toompea hill. It was built in 1894–1900, when the country was part of the former Russian Empire. It was designed by the Russian architect Mikhail Preobrazhensky (1854-1930) in a typical Russian Revival style, although based on the traditional characteristics of Russian cathedrals. The base of the building is made of Finnish granite. The temple is richly decorated and has eleven bells cast in St. Petersburg, the largest of which weighs about 16 tons, more than the other ten combined. It has three altars and five onion-shaped domes, on which there are gilded iron crosses. The gilding of the domes was carried out in 1898 by the master Piotr Abrosimov. Inside there are three iconostases made of carved and gilded wood with icons painted on copper and zinc plates in the Petersburg workshop of academician Aleksandr Novoskoltsev. The windows are decorated with stained glass, made by Emil Steinke, and there are also paintings and mosaics. The facades are decorated with mosaic panels made in Aleksandr Frolov's workshop in Saint Petersburg. The 58-meter-high building was completely restored at the end of the 20th century, after the restoration of the Republic of Estonia (1991).

Photo © Albert Lázaro-Tinaut, 08.2005.

MONOPOLI, Puglia, Italy. Supporting arches

MONOPOLI
Salita a San Pietro.

Photo © Antonio Fino.