Hampton Court

Hampton Court has grown from humble beginnings in the 11th century to one of the finest palaces in the world. Thomas Wolsey, Chief Minister of King Henry VIII, took over Hampton Court Palace in 1514. Also Wolsey was attempting to create a Renaissance cardinal’s palace, the architecture is an excellent and rare example of a thirty-year era when English architecture was in a harmonious transition from domestic Tudor, strongly influenced by perpendicular Gothic, to the Italian Renaissance classical style.

The essence of Wolsey — the plain English churchman who nevertheless made his sovereign the arbiter of Europe and who built and furnished Hampton Court to show foreign embassies that Henry VIII’s chief minister knew how to live as graciously as any cardinal in Rome.
Sir John Summerson – Architecture in Britain

In 1528, knowing that his enemies and the King were engineering his downfall, he passed the palace to the King as a gift. A gesture proven to be useless as Wolsey died the following year.

In 1604, the palace was the site of King James’ meeting with representatives of the English Puritans, known as the Hampton Court Conference; while agreement with the Puritans was not reached, the meeting led to James’s commissioning of the King James Version of the Bible.

King Charles II and his successor James II, visited Hampton Court, but did not prefer to reside there as, by current French court standards, Hampton Court appeared old-fashioned. It was in 1689, shortly after Louis XIV’s court had moved permanently to Versailles, that the palace’s antiquated state was addressed in order to emulate Versailles’ repetitive Baroque form. However, Hampton Court, unlike Versailles, is given an extra dimension by the contrast between the pink brick and the pale Portland stone quoins, frames and banding.

After the reign of George II, no monarch ever resided at Hampton Court. In 1838, during the reign of Queen Victoria, the restoration was completed and the palace opened to the public.

Sunrise at Felixtowe

Felixstowe is a seaside town on the coast of Suffolk, England. The town gives its name to the nearby Port of Felixstowe, which is the largest container port in the United Kingdom.

I took the picture below after watching the sunrise at the North Sea together with my wife and some dear friends. As you may see, contre-jour photography can produce interesting outputs, revealing some of the many potential backlit opportunities.

St. Paul’s Cathedral of London

London’s St. Paul Cathedral is built of Portland stone in a late Renaissance style that is England’s sober Baroque. Its impressive dome was inspired by St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It rises 365 feet (108 m) to the cross at its summit, making it a famous London landmark.

I took the picture bellow after the Millennium Bridge was open to public from the southern edge of the bridge (next to Tate Modern). I consider the view one of the most accurate form of perception over the modern ages, a culture of steel and glass overshadowing its spiritual background.

The London Eye

The London Eye (also known as the Millennium Wheel) is the biggest Ferris wheel in Europe, and has become the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3 million people a year.

The London Eye is located at the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in London, United Kingdom, between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The site is adjacent to that of the former Dome of Discovery, which was built for the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Night Scenery at Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge is one of London’s symbols and it takes its name from its location rather from its design: it is close to the Tower of London, which gives it its name.

Tower Bridge is still a busy and vital crossing of the Thames: it is crossed by over 40,000 people every day. The bascules are raised around 1000 times a year. River traffic is now much reduced, but it still takes priority over road traffic. Today, 24 hours’ notice is required before opening the bridge.

As you may see from the photographs bellow, the XIX century style architecture is now combined with modern buildings and it is one of the most powerful tourist attractions in London. Its present colour dates from 1977 when it was painted red, white and blue for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Before this, it was painted a chocolate brown colour.

Hyde Park and its Serpentine Lake

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, England and one of the Royal Parks of London. The first coherent landscaping was undertaken for Queen Caroline and it was completed in 1733.

I took the photographs bellow on Hyde Park’s Serpentine, transformed into a lake from a merely irregular course of water in 1739. The Serpentine is divided from the Long Water by a bridge designed by George Rennie (1826).

Canary Wharf – from fruit trade to finance

Canary Wharf is built on the site of the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs. From 1802 to 1980, the area was one of the busiest docks in the world, capable of berthing 600 vessels. Canary Wharf takes its name from No. 32 berth of the West Wood Quay of the Import Dock. This was built in 1936 for the Mediterranean and Canary Island fruit trade and so, the quay and warehouse were given the name Canary Wharf. However, today the warf has a whole different appearance.

In December 1995 an international consortium, backed by the former owners of Olympia & York and other investors, formed the Canary Wharf Group, listed on the London Stock Exchange and later rose to become one of the UK’s largest property companies.

Rivalling London’s traditional financial centre, The Square Mile, Canary Wharf contains the UK’s three tallest buildings: One Canada Square (sometimes known as the Canary Wharf Tower) at 800 ft (244 m); followed by 8 Canada Square and the Citigroup Centre, both at 654 ft (199.5 m).

London’s Barbican

The Centre had a long development period, only opening long after the surrounding Barbican Estate housing complex had been built. It is situated in an area which was badly bombed during World War II. In September 2001, arts minister Tessa Blackstone announced in that the Barbican complex was to be a Grade II listed building. It has been designated a site of special architectural interest for its scale, its cohesion and the ambition of the project. I took this photo of Barbican Center from its main focal point: the lake and its neighbouring terrace.