Contributions of the group Be urban

Messerschmidt's Bratislava

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 13:39:27 +0000

m̌ ḫ has posted:

The German sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt created his most famous work in Bratislava (then called Pressburg). In 1777, after a mental breakdown ruined his high-society career in Vienna, he moved into a studio below Bratislava Castle to live and work in isolation. According to records, Messerschmidt believed he was being haunted by evil spirits. To protect himself, he worked in front of a mirror, pinching his ribs and twisting his face into extreme expressions to fight off the demons. He captured these grimaces in a series of sculptures known as the "Character Heads," aiming to create 64 distinct human expressions. Today, experts still debate whether his behavior was caused by a severe mental illness or a painful physical condition like Crohn's disease.

When Messerschmidt died in near obscurity in August 1783, some 69 busts stood in his room. Forty-nine of them were later numbered and exhibited in Vienna as the Charakterköpfe. Because people at the time found the unnerving, grimacing faces too deeply unsettling to look at, they were eventually sold off one by one at an auction in 1889, scattering into private hands. Today, these works are artistic masterpieces worth millions; the Louvre paid $4.8 million for just one in 2005.

The ultimate irony is that the city where these legendary heads were birthed kept almost nothing. There is even no dedicated Messerschmidt museum in Bratislava, and not a single original Character Head remains on permanent public display. However, during a recent renovation of Zuckermandel—the neighbourhood where he spent his final three years — the city named a square after him and placed replicas out for public view.
It is here that the title photo was taken:

I learned much of this in a café named after him in the Bratislava's centre, where the owners keep his memory alive with copies of the heads and a wall recounting his story. Among them is a white bust replicating the only work securely identified as his self-portrait, The Artist as He Imagined Himself Laughing — where the simple cap, worn instead of a formal wig, says everything about the man's defiant character.

Here's another replica from the Café Messerschmidt:

Aside from the café and the square, the Slovak National Gallery and the Bratislava City Gallery display various casts and replicas. The remaining photos were taken inside the Bratislava City Gallery at Mirbach Palace. Featured there is the bronze replica of Character Head No. 49 (Character Study Strong Smell), alongside the bearded Capuchin. Unlike the nearby Character Heads, this Capuchin bust is a true survivor: a lead-tin sculpture made in Bratislava around 1780, it stands today as the only original work by Messerschmidt that the city still owns.

Nobody Told Me

nobody@ipernity.com (Love Song) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 21:18:01 +0000

Love Song has posted:

Big & Rich- Nobody Told Me

Lineup

nobody@ipernity.com (honeyj) — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 18:58:52 +0000

honeyj has posted:

Hey, Captain, you got a minute?
What's happening, Detective?
It's my lineup.
What about it. You got the suspect in there, right?
Yeah. but the victim's having a problem.
She can't ID the guy?
Not that. She says they all did it.
What? Is this the one claimed to have been abducted by a space alien?
That's her. She says we got the whole goddamn flying saucer crew in here.
Jesus. How the hell did we do that?
Good question. All I did was round up the usual suspects. This town can't be full of alien deadbeats, can it?
I'm beginning to wonder. But anyway, the vic now says she wants to go with them.
Where?
Like I know? Wherever flying saucers go. Mars, or whatever.
Unbelievable. I say let her.
Really? What about our suspect?
Does he have anything to say?
Just shit like, 'Take me to your leader.' Makes no sense to me. We had to tie him down, cuz he's got, like, wings or something.
I've heard enough. Cut him loose. Cut 'em all loose.
Really?
I got too many headaches to be worrying about alien abductions and boozed up ETs sleeping in doorways.
What about my report?
What are you gonna say? We arrested a Martian? Chief will have our ass and we'll be laughed out of town!
Let 'em all fly off then?
Who cares?! We'll pretend this never happened.
What never happened?
Ha ha! Exactly.

Under the Moon Of Love

nobody@ipernity.com (Love Song) — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:12:55 +0000

Love Song has posted:

Boney James - I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby

Regards muraux / Wall glances

nobody@ipernity.com (Léopold) — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:36:32 +0000

Léopold has posted:

Vancouver, Colombie Britannique (BC), Canada.

Songdo

nobody@ipernity.com (Shouganai) — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 18:27:14 +0000

Shouganai has posted:

Secrets of Life

nobody@ipernity.com (Love Song) — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 14:26:25 +0000

Love Song has posted:

Glenn Miller - My Sentiment

Totem publicitaire / Advertizing totem

nobody@ipernity.com (Léopold) — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:38:25 +0000

Léopold has posted:

Vancouver, Colombie Britannique (BC), Canada.

Edificio con las Meninas

nobody@ipernity.com (Marije Aguillo) — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 14:53:33 +0000

Marije Aguillo has posted:

El sol se pone y se refleja, en el edificio que está en la confluencia de la calle Ercilla y Rodriguez Arias (Bilbao)

Pour Thierry D... la maison sur le toit...

nobody@ipernity.com (Jocelyne Villoing) — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 07:11:33 +0000

Jocelyne Villoing has posted:

... mais aussi pour tous si cela leur parle !
Photo prise dans la ville de La Rochelle.
Bon week-end mes amis.

Orchards shop

nobody@ipernity.com (James) — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:46 +0000

James has posted:

A family run business that has been in the same family for 161 years now and is still going strong, when you go inside here you can almost feel the history.

Everywhere

nobody@ipernity.com (Siebbi) — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:45:06 +0000

Siebbi has posted:

HFF everyone

Silhouette

nobody@ipernity.com (Siebbi) — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 20:02:50 +0000

Siebbi has posted:

The Iron Canopy (Under the Shadow of the Eiffel Towel)

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 20:21:43 +0000

m̌ ḫ has posted:

Instead of shooting the classic, postcard view from Trocadéro, I tried to capture the geometric power of the Eiffel Tower from a less common perspective. This view transforms the familiar image into an imposing architectural crown.Choosing a high-contrast black-and-white style puts the focus entirely on the texture of the iron latticework against the dramatic flare of the afternoon sun.

If you look closely through the center base arch, you can see the distant silhouette of the Tour Montparnasse perfectly framed in the background.

Fun fact: intestingly, the grand, sweeping arches that frame this shot were actually a late addition. They were added purely for aesthetics to reassure the 1889 public of the tower's stability, rather than for structural support!

Toiture nuageuse remarquable et plus encore...

nobody@ipernity.com (Léopold) — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 09:10:01 +0000

Léopold has posted:

Vancouver, Colombie Britannique (BC), Canada.

Nuages et architecture urbaine

nobody@ipernity.com (Léopold) — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 09:09:52 +0000

Léopold has posted:

Vancouver, Colombie Britannique (BC), Canada.

An Unexpected Londoner in Bratislava

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:29:00 +0000

m̌ ḫ has posted:

I came across this iconic red double-decker bus sitting quietly in a deserted winter parking lot right next to an industrial zone in Bratislava. Seeing one of these out here is incredibly rare — it seems someone likely purchased a wreck of this vintage machine to restore it to its former glory.

This isn't just any ordinary red bus; it's a genuine AEC Routemaster. Originally designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC), these front-engined legends saw production from their first prototypes in 1954 until the final deliveries in 1968.

To capture this moody winter scene, I shot it using a modified large-format lens adapted to my Nikon DSLR. The foreground branches add a nice layer of isolation to this stranded British classic.

Playground and high-rises

nobody@ipernity.com (Petar Bojić) — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:31:08 +0000

Petar Bojić has posted:

I Can't Go For That

nobody@ipernity.com (Love Song) — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 02:01:22 +0000

Love Song has posted:

Around the World in a Day

nobody@ipernity.com (Love Song) — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:27:45 +0000

Love Song has posted:

Eric Clapton -Sinner’s Prayer