Saturday, February 7, 2009

Winged woman, Mikeze and Jakeze

On the left is the top part of the fountain seen on Monday, February 2: a winged female figure symbolizing Trieste’s prosperity. Standing on Karst rocks, the statue is surrounded by packages, bales of cotton and rope. It symbolizes a city welcoming traders from the world over.

On the right is the tower of the town hall of Trieste. As a distinctive feature of the town hall facade designed in 1873, the architect included in the middle of the large horizontal development a tower which stands out with its truncated pyramid roof. The tower houses the town clock and two molten zinc statues resembling pages and locally known as Micheze and Jacheze, Michele and Giacomo in Italian (probably from the Slovene Mihec and Jakec).

6 comments:

abc said...

Trieste is beautiful. And you know how to represent it so well. Composition, light, sharpness; all present in this one. Thanks Rob!

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

Great composition. The Victorian architecture transcends national cultural identity. If someone were shown a photo of just the tower, I don't think they could identify it as being Italian. It looks like it could be the tower of an elaborate City Hall or County Courthouse in the American Midwest.

When I think of an Italian town hall, I imagine it would have a tower like the Palazzo Publico in Siena.

But, then, the monument to Victor Emmanuel in Rome does not look Italian to me either. Maybe I am a victim of expecting the stereotypical, and you have helped showcase the diversity of architecture in Italy.

VP said...

Ah that's my son and me, but I don't know any winged lady. I do not really like B&W, but there are exceptions and this is surely one!

amatamari© said...

Bello, bello, bello.

E Mikeze e Jakeze
sona le ore
sona le ore
de questa città...

:-)

Guy D said...

Great shot as always!!!

Have a great weekend.
Guy
Regina In Pictures

chrome3d said...

It has so much of everything and you bring out all the details so lovingly.