Old haunts in Lisboa...Gulbenkian again

A most interesting afternoon at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. There is a special exhibition of Almada Negreiros work which I particularly wanted to see and there was still  time to wander around the private collection of Calouste Gulbenkian which I have done many time before but always a delight.
One of the unique features of the museum are the huge glass panels covered with a fine gauze protection giving diffused views of the verdant gardens surrounding the building, quite stunning as a backdrop to the exhibits.

The collection has around 6,000 objects, around 3,000 are on display. Gulbenkian's motto was "only the best" and he certainly searched for the very best examples of art and antiques from the Egyptian dynasties to early 20th century art with some obvious favourite subjects. Every object is gorgeous in its own way and always displayed beautifully.

In the entrance to the museum is a simply superb example of art deco sculpture, Spring: Homage to Jean Goujon  by Janniot, it has become an emblem of the wide range of Gulbenkian's interests. It was the stand out exhibit at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris, 1925, which launched a decorative style and artistic movement that would quickly spread throughout the world, Art Deco.  The group consists of three women, Diana the hunter, two nymphs, a faun, various birds. Just fabulous.

Apparently Gulbenkian's favourite sculpture in his collection was the Houdon Diana which he acquired amongst a huge purchase from the Hermitage Museum sale in the early 1930s .This was originally from the collection of Catherine II acquired in 1784.

From the 15th century there is the serene Ghirlandaio Portrait of a young woman wearing a coral necklace.

From the 17th C. two Rembrandts, Pallas Athena and Portrait of an old man, also once owned by Catherine II from the Hermitage collection. 

There are few English artists but a glowing Turner, Quillebeuf, Mouth of the Seine, a Gainsborough, Portrait of Mrs Lowndes-Stone.

The ceramic gallery has a feast of Iznik tile panels from the 16th century and other treasures of Ottoman art.

THE FOUNDATION

In his last will Calouste Gulbenkian bequeathed his personal art collection to Portugal.  

In 1956, one year after his death, the Gulbenkian Foundation was created which according to his will, supports the arts, science, education and social welfare. 

The foundation is headquartered in a modern complex set in a lush garden opened in 1969.  It has a library, open air auditorium and two museums: the Gulbenkian Museum and the Modern Art Centre, which opened in 1983.
Most of the  three thousand pieces of art on display at the Gulbenkian Museum were collected by Gulbenkian himself, and reflect his own impeccable and all encompassing taste in  tapestry, carpets, ceramics, jewelry , glassware, paintings, sculpture and furniture.
The first set of rooms are devoted to Egyptian art, Classical art and objects from the Middle and Far East. Greek Vases, Roman jewelry, Assyrian bas-reliefs, Persian tapestries, Chinese porcelain and Japanese paintings.  
Highlights include Egyptian scarabs and sculptures including a delightful bronze of a cat with her kittens, 664-525 BC, she is lying on a sarcophagus designed to store the mummified remains of cats. Cats were commonly portrayed in Egyptian art, especially during the Saite period, which was characterised by numerous images of animals. Cats were devoted to the cult of Bastet, the goddess of fertility and protector of the home, they usually had their ears pierced so that gold earrings could be worn.

The second set of rooms contain European art, with an emphasis on French decorative arts.
Of note are the medieval illuminated books, a collection of 16th and 17th century paintings from Flemish and Italian artists ,English and French artists from the 18th and 19th century, a collection of eighteenth-century French furniture, all ormolou and glowing marquetry  of which Gulbenkian was particularly fond.
A whole room is dedicated to the Art Nouveau jewelry of René Lalique, I loved the bronze serpent looking glass.

THE MAN

Calouste Gulbenkian was born in the Ottoman empire in 1869.
His father Sarkis Gulbenkian was an Armenian oil importer/exporter already heavily involved in the oil industry and owner of several oil fields in the Caucasus, mainly in Bakú. Calouste was sent to London at 18 to study  petroleum engineering at King's College, he graduated and proceeded onto a brilliant career. With his multi cultural background and linguistic abilities he played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development and is credited with being the first person to exploit Iraqi oil.

In 1928 he obtained the nickname 'Mr. 5%' after he sold his company to four of the largest oil companies in the world in return for five percent of the stocks. Armed with a huge fortune he was able to expand his personal collection of art over the next decades.
He spent much of his life in London and Paris, but during the Second World War he settled in Lisbon, Portugal remained officially neutral during the war, where he lived until his death in 1955.
Throughout his life Gulbenkian collected more than six thousand pieces of art. During the last twenty years he spent much time deciding where his collection would be displayed. He initially planned to hand it over to the National Gallery in London and later discussions were initiated with the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
No agreement could be reached. After his death in 1955 and the directives of his will the collection was brought to Portugal in 1960, the museum opened in 1969.

Gulbenkian is honored with an impressive statue on the lawns of the garden, it shows him seated in front of a giant falcon, it is based on the photograph of him seated in front of the Horus statue at the Edfu temple in Egypt 1934.

Path to pool

Botija and walk to Villaviejas, a Celtic -Iberian archaeological site

Coming back from Trujillo we took a route near La Cumbre. There is a road with an extensive project to provide nest boxes on every telephone post, many of them were occupied by the beautiful European Roller, my first sighting of this bird, astounded by the gorgeous plumage.
Arriving in Botija we wanted to do a new walk, a continuation  from the mill buildings on the River Tamuja, along the river bank to Villaviejas, the remains of a Celtic Iberian village of the Vettone tribe, circa 200 -50 B.C.
Before the walk we strolled around the village, on first sight nothing special but there were many points of interest.

The Church of Santa Maria Magalena is a simple rustic structure from the XV1 century but it has charm and gives some great  perspectives from the surrounding olive groves.

The village is built from the surrounding stone, slate. On the more humble buildings it is left exposed, unplastered. The wonderful craftmanship of laying the stone is exposed, intricate and fascinating.

Paths between slate walls lead out of the village into the surrounding olive groves and pastures. On the edge of the village is a fascinating ruin, an old fabrica de aceites, not sure if this means an almazara, olive oil mill or not, needs further investigation. A little world of its own, behind the 3 metre surrounding walls were a courtyard, lots of barns and a secret garden.

The walk to the molinos is one of our favourites and is described here.

http://finca-al-manzil.blogspot.com.es/search?q=a+walk+through+the+dehesa

http://finca-al-manzil.blogspot.com.es/2016/05/another-walk-to-botija-molinos.html

Today we started off on new territory beyond the molinos on the path to Villaviejas.

We walked for 25 minutes on a footpath which wound along the meandering Tamuja sometimes leaving the riverbank where the rocks were too steep.

It is not really obvious when arriving at the site of Villaviejas, it is on a bend of the river, on the opposite bank and relatively high above a natural slate embankment, a good defensive position.

It is easy to cross the river at this time of the year, plenty of exposed rocks to use as stepping stones.

The Vettones were a pre-roman Celtic Iberic tribe covering an area between Salamanca, Alcantara and Toledo with Villaviejas being the most southerly settlement. They were active for about 400 years before the Romans  gradually making more established and populous settlements. With the coming of the romans the remote rural settlements survived for a time but were gradually absorbed into the roman organization of their new colony Lusitania with Merida as the capital.
For very detailed and interesting information about the Vettones  and their mode of life, read on here-

https://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_5/alvarez_sanchis_6_5.html

VIJAYANAGAR

In popular folklore, the foundation of the great city of Vijayanagar in 1336 – 1342 was supposed to be when two brothers of the Sangama family were out hunting and saw a hare being pursued by a hound, the hare suddenly turned and ferociously pursued the hound, a guru interpreted this to be extremely propitious and so a new city was founded on the banks of the Tungabhadra, an excellent strategic point from which to hold back the incursions of the Islamic invasion coming from the North.
It was the start of a Hindu empire which was to become rich beyond dreams, famous throughout the known world as a trading centre. The bazaars swarmed with foreign merchants and buyers of cloth, spices and horses. Four dynasties of rulers invested in art and architecture, for over 200 years the city became a treasure house with successive investments in building stunning temples and palaces. It reached its prime during the rule of Raya Krishna Deva between 1509 and 1522 when international trading flourished and reached great heights due to progressive trading practices. 

Sri Krishna Deva Raya, ascended the throne in 1509, in the same year Albuquerque was appointed the Governor in command of the Portuguese settlements on the west coast.
Krishna deva Raya, congratulated Albuquerque on his success in Goa and also gave permission to the Portugese to build a fort at Bhatkal, which was one of the critical trading posts. It was more of a strategic tie up, the Portuguese had fine Arab, Persian horses, which he needed in his campaign against the Bahmanis, as well as artillery. Another important fact was that friendly relations with Portuguese gave Vijayanagara access to Bhatkal, which helped in trade. During this time, Duarte Barbosa, a cousin of Ferdinand Magellan, visited Vijayanagara and gave his own accounts of the capital. Bhatkal became the chief port for Vijayanagara, they exported iron, spices and drugs, importing horses and pearls. Another benefit of his alliance with the Portuguese was their assistance in improving the water supply to Vijayanagara through a network of aqueducts and canals. During this era, the Vijayanagara empire extended to most of southern India from coast to coast. But in 1565 the Islamic forces could no longer be held back, there was a six month siege which resulted in the dramatic fall and partial destruction of the city, it was pillaged and left abandoned. Gradually the temples, palaces and bazaars became swathed in rampant jungle. For several centuries it lay forgotten until some explorations to find the lost city were started by the British colonial powers. It was Colin Mackenzie who discovered the ruins of Hampi in 1800.
Publications about Hampi encouraged a renewal of interest; Robert Sewell’s (1845-1925), seminal work aptly titled as A Forgotten Empire Vijayanagar. In 1917 A.H. Longhurst’s Hampi Ruins Described and Illustrated became the first travel guide for the visitors to Hampi.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Site was conferred to Hampi in 1986.

HAZARA RAM TEMPLE 

An amazing pictorial record of the Ramayana is represented by thousands of intricate stone carvings at the Hazara Ram Temple which was built as the private temple of the royal family in the 14th century.

Domingo Paes, a Portuguese horse trader, who visited Hampi in the 16th century wrote

"The size of this city I do not write here, because it cannot all be seen from any one spot, but I climbed a hill (most likely the Matunga Hill) whence I could see a great part of it. I could not see it all because it lies between several ranges of hills. What I saw from thence seemed to me as large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight; there are many groves of trees within it, in the gardens of the houses, and many conduits of water which flow into the midst of it, and in places there are lakes and the king has close to his palace a palm-grove and other rich-bearing fruit-trees.Below the Moorish quarter is a little river, and on this side are many orchards and gardens with many fruit-trees, for the most part mangoes and areca-palms and jack-trees, and also many lime and orange trees, growing so closely one to another that it appears like a thick forest; and there are also white grapes. All the water which is in the city comes from the two tanks of which I have spoken, outside the first enclosing wall."

Virupaksha Temple and Hemakuta Hill
We approached Virupaksha Temple by Hemakuta Hill, a fabulous walk through the most ancient temples and then the whole spectacle of Virupaksha spread out below.
We walked across ancient lingam symbols carved into the rock.
The origin of Hampi as a sacred place revolves around the myths associated with this temple. Functioning since the 7th century, Virupaksha temple is the oldest and the principal temple in Hampi.
Located on the south bank of the river Tungabadra, it's an important pilgrimage centre for the worshipers of lord Shiva.
Originally, a few separate humble shrines housing the image of Lord Shiva and Pampa devi. Over centuries the temple gradually expanded into a sprawling complex with many sub-shrines, pillared halls, gopuras and a large temple kitchen. The main entrance is from Hampi Bazaar, a long pillared area which became hippy heaven in the 60s and 70s, the original simple stone structure becoming a sprawling sub-cultural mess of camping and food outlets. In one day in the 90s the new illegal building was raised to the ground leaving only the Spartan stone structure we see today.





https://youtu.be/55ixXkHPU8I  Here's the link to a small video of the view and surroundings


 

The east facing gopura leads to the first courtyard of the temple complex. The pastel painted 9 storied tower with a pair of cow horn like projections on top is the most prominent landmark in Hampi. Only the lower two tiers of the tower are made of decorated stone work, the progressively diminishing superstructure is made of brick and mortar. The lower tiers are covered in erotic figures connected with fertility rites, quite explicit but in a jolly sort of way.



The first courtyard houses a 100 pillared hall. A narrow passage gives access to the kitchen where a water channel system connected to the river is built into the floor.
We left our shoes at the entrance to the inner courtyard, well worth the 1 rupee to safeguard my faithful Birkenstocks.

First of all we met Lakshmi, the temple elephant, a gentle and ever patient being, quietly enjoying the endless attention.



Then we met the monkeys which are Langurs, quite stunning, impossibly elegant posers.















All around this open area are pillared cloisters with a series of sub shrines.

The most striking feature of this court is the central pillared hall known as the Ranga Mandapa added to the temple complex in 1510 by Krishadeva Raya.
It has 5 aisles and 38 pillars, it is used for temple rituals including marriage ceremonies.
The highlights include rows of pillars shaped with rampant mythical creatures, Yalis, standing on water creatures,Makara or Crocodiles, warriors ride the fearsome creatures.






Behind the main sanctum a flight of steps leads to the rear exit of the temple complex. Just before the exit on the right side you would find a dark chamber with a slit on the wall. The sunray pass through this slit forms an inverted shadow of the main tower on the wall, a kind of pinhole camera effect created with stonework.

The residential area of the temple priests is interesting with various gurus ensconced in their niches, available for a quick puja.





After the astounding impact of the temple we took some refreshment at a home made soda stall complete, thick green bottles with marbles in the neck, very colonial.



 

The Queen's Bath was in all probability a royal pleasure complex for the king and his wives. There is a many domed veranda surrounding the pool, each dome unique, projecting balconies decorated with lotus buds around small windows give a view of the pool, sadly now empty but originally fed by aqueduct. Perhaps the Portuguese helped this piece of engineering.
The pool is now open to the sky but there is evidence that once there was a canopy supported by pillars in the water which was filled with fragrant flowers, there are lovely steps which would have given a slow and luxurious entry into the delights of the pool. 


The end of a wonderful day, we made our way back to the ferry and entered the tranquillity of Anegundi, after the more spectacular sights of Hampi we looked forward to exploring our immediate surroundings in the village, in some ways no less impressive.
.