Jugendstil as total work of art - discover Bad Nauheim's handicraft and industrial heritage!
Living history! Bad Nauheim celebrates its cultural heritage during the Jugendstil Festival in the largest connected construction of Jugendstil in Europe. Jugendstil lovers will enjoy themselves strolling through the handcraft market where more than 60 selected restorer and artists expose the large hand-made repertoire from that time. It is a pleasure to take a look over the conservator´s shoulder and admire all the examples of stucco-, ceramic-, mosaic-, glass-, wood-, sewing- and jewel works. Moreover many events such as music performances, fashion shows, exhibitions and guided tours will take place during the whole festival.

Based around the innovative jewellery designs of members of the Darmstadt Artists´ Colony-Peter Behrens, Rudolf Bosselt, Paul Bürck, Hans Christiansen, Johann Vincenz Cissarz, Ludwig Habich, Patriz Huber and Joseph Maria Olbrich-a unique exhibition on European jewellery history from around 1900 will once more take place in autumn 2011. It will be held in the exhibition rooms of the Museum Künstlerkolonie (Darmstadt Artists´ Colony), housed in impressive Jugendstil-era buildings. Highly valued pieces of jewellery by René Lalique, Georges Fouquet, Jan Eisenloeffel and Fabergé present a detailed overview of the outstanding creativity these artists expressed through the Jugendstil.

As well as including the Museum Künstlerkolonie´s finest jewellery, the exhibition displays a selection of particularly exquisite objects from the outstanding Jugendstil jewellery collection in the Hessisches Landesmuseum. This museum´s inventory is based on the collection of the Dutch court jeweller Karel A. Citroen (b. 1922). On display are works by the famous Parisian jewellers, goldsmiths and enamellers René Lalique and Georges Fouquet as well as André-Fernand Thesmar and Lucien Gaillard. Lalique sparked a revolution in the field of jewellery design while inspiring Viennese jewellery production at the turn of the century, which neverthless developed in a different direction. Josef Hoffmann´s stricter designs are a statement that the artistic composition and handworked quality of a piece of jewellery is more important than its value in raw materials.

It is difficult to believe that a piece of architecture that was acclaimed in its period, barely more than a century ago, and built with a masterly savoir faire out of the finest quality materials, should be revealed to be so fragile. Its history could become the plot of a modern fable.

This exhibition, which the Maison Autrique is dedicating to Victor Horta, proposes following or retracing the key moments of a piece of architecture which has long since disappeared. This initiative is another push in the movement to recover Art Nouveau history, a movement that has been of the highest importance in the Brussels region for several years.

"Victor Horta - A Lost World", open to the public until 31 December 2011, fulfils expectations: the pieces, works and films presented are simply extraordinary. The exhibition is structured around three themes: projects which were never undertaken (such as the Congo Pavilion), those that destiny has done away with (l´Innovation department store, for example) and those which humans have destroyed (the Maison du Peuple is the most iconic example).

These vanished projects come alive again at the Maison Autrique in different ways: Horta´s plans and sketches, impressive remains (which you can even touch), reconstructions and some period film pieces. The whole forms a highly coherent, varied exhibition.

The Centre Pompidou presents "Edvard Munch, l'oeil moderne" [Edvard Munch, the modern eye], a collection never-seen-before in France of around eighty paintings, thirty artworks done on paper, fifty photographs and a film. Showing the work of the famous Norwegian painter (1853-1944) in a different light, this exhibition shows how much the artist's curiosity for all of the forms of representation of his era fuelled his inspiration and his work. His experience of photography, cinema, his readings of the illustrated press and even his work for the theatre profoundly influenced his work, the brilliant modernity of which the exhibition reveals.

The Historical Conclave of the Hospital de Sant Pau is hosting a new exhibition covering some of the most important historical moments of the construction of the Modernista complex. It also focuses on the restoration project which is currently underway. You can visit the exhibition by following the guided routes of "Sant Pau en obres" (Saint Paul Under Construction) which are offered every morning from Monday to Sunday.

The collection of snapshots comprise a selection of historical photographs and diverse reproductions of the original plans which Domènech i Montaner drew up by hand in the early 20th century. In this way, visitors can get an idea of the vast number of studies and trials the architect produced when designing the buildings in the Conclave while appreciating the ornamental elements that have made Sant Pau a world reference in Modernisme.

These photos illustrate the evolution the Conclave has undergone over the years and how the city´s physiognomy has also changed, especially the neighbourhoods of Guinardó and Sagrada Família.

The last part of the exhibition centres on the evolution of the renovation project. Among other aspects, it shows the changes that two of the pavilions have experienced, those that have now been fully renovated: Santa Apol·lònia (St Apollonia) and Sant Jordi (St George).You can also get a close-up view of life-size reproductions of Sant Pau´s most significant decorative elements: rosettes, dosserets, pinnacles and glazed-tile roofs. Furthermore, several information panels explain the laborious tasks being undertaken by artisans at work on Sant Pau to restore all these stone and pottery pieces, along with the windows and mosaics.

The Sant Pau International Project

The renovation work enables the recovery of Sant Pau´s heritage and artistic value. It opens the site to the city, preparing it to become a knowledge centre of reference worldwide, where diverse international, national and local institutions can work jointly to provide an answer to the challenges of the 20th century. Education, health and sustainability will be the main spheres of action, with a geographic space as its preferential area of reference: the Mediterranean.

The project to rehabilitate the Historical Conclave of Sant Pau has a budget of 105 million euros, financed mainly by contributions from the Operating Programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for Catalonia 2007-2013, the Spanish government, the Government of Catalonia, local administrations and the Fundació Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.

Extension of the guided visit routes

The photo exhibition forms part of the "Sant Pau en obres" guided visits, included in the Barcelona Modernisme Route which the Institut del Paisatge Urbà (Urban Landscape Institute) at the Barcelona City Council is organising.

These guided visits start at the Sant Jordi Pavilion, which is now fully restored. Since late July, visitors have also been able to stroll through one section of the kilometre of tunnels where the new exhibition is installed.

Thanks to the opening of this new tourist route, visitors also take a short stroll down the Conclave´s central avenue, where they can check on the progress of the renovation work on the Central Pavilion (former operating theatres) and the Administration Pavilion, the most important building in Domènech i Montaner´s architectural conclave.

The guided visit finalises with a look at the Conclave church, the Portal de Santa Marta, the exterior of the Convent and the Sant Rafael Pavilion, in which visitors can appreciate its original interior space.

For further information about opening times and prices: www.rutadelmodernisme.com