Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life. The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent. Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
Like River I usually run with a theme. The roofers have 'nearly' finished. And have left without telling us precisely when they will return. They won't get paid until they finish, so I expect they will pop up again soon.
So this week I am taking you to our National Museum. We went to see an exhibition titled 'So That You Might Know Each Other' with the sub-title Faith and Culture in Islam. It was brought to us by the unlikely partnership of the Vatican and the Sharjah Museums Authority. We thoroughly enjoyed it and I will share some of the wonders. Next week.
Today I am focusing on some of the museum. The National Museum of Australia was built on the site of the old Canberra Community Hospital, where co-incidentally both I and the skinny one were born, and where my father died. As a further co-incidence, the same nurse was in charge of maternity when he and I were born, just over a year apart. (We met twenty years later in another state.)
I think it is a beautiful area, and none of our newer hospitals are in nearly such a picturesque (and healing) locations.
The museum is a bizarre looking building both inside and out. It has some marvellous exhibits though.
We are heading towards the museum's entrance under those sweeping lines...
That is the city centre you can see across the lake.
Looking the other way, towards the Parliamentary Triangle. The white building is the National Library - which also has amazing exhibitions.
Another view of the museum.
Parliament House.
The well stocked gift shop.
More from inside the museum.
I loved this mobile.
The beautifully restored car is (I think) an FX Holden, the first Holden made. The owner was a local woman who drove it for over forty years.
The next photos are of what I consider the 'rear' of the museum, although the entrance is on that side. See what I mean about the building? Not conventional at all. Not precisely pretty either, but certainly not dull.
It is yet another place we don't visit often enough.
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life. The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent. Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
Like River I usually run with a theme. The roofers have 'nearly' finished. And have left without telling us precisely when they will return. They won't get paid until they finish, so I expect they will pop up again soon.
So this week I am taking you to our National Museum. We went to see an exhibition titled 'So That You Might Know Each Other' with the sub-title Faith and Culture in Islam. It was brought to us by the unlikely partnership of the Vatican and the Sharjah Museums Authority. We thoroughly enjoyed it and I will share some of the wonders. Next week.
Today I am focusing on some of the museum. The National Museum of Australia was built on the site of the old Canberra Community Hospital, where co-incidentally both I and the skinny one were born, and where my father died. As a further co-incidence, the same nurse was in charge of maternity when he and I were born, just over a year apart. (We met twenty years later in another state.)
I think it is a beautiful area, and none of our newer hospitals are in nearly such a picturesque (and healing) locations.
The museum is a bizarre looking building both inside and out. It has some marvellous exhibits though.
We are heading towards the museum's entrance under those sweeping lines...
That is the city centre you can see across the lake.
Looking the other way, towards the Parliamentary Triangle. The white building is the National Library - which also has amazing exhibitions.
Another view of the museum.
Parliament House.
The well stocked gift shop.
More from inside the museum.
I loved this mobile.
The beautifully restored car is (I think) an FX Holden, the first Holden made. The owner was a local woman who drove it for over forty years.
The next photos are of what I consider the 'rear' of the museum, although the entrance is on that side. See what I mean about the building? Not conventional at all. Not precisely pretty either, but certainly not dull.
Hi EC - I can quite see what you're saying ... I really need to see to understand the building ... but love that mobile, as too the car and the views ... strange place! Good to see it though - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: I still think its site is a wonderful place for a hospital, but over the years I have warmed to the museum. There is always room for quirky in my world.
DeleteWhat neat architecture in that building! Would be a really cool place to visit to see how it's all laid out!
ReplyDeleteLove that butterfly, too! <3
Sidny: Welcome and thank you. It is a great place to visit and we always notice something which has escaped us on previous visits.
DeleteThanks for the tour! Glad to know you're going to show me more in future. :-)
ReplyDeleteDJan: Of course I will. Possibly more than you want to see.
DeleteVery unique museum.
ReplyDeleteAnd too wild you were born at the same hospital with the same nurse caring for you.
Alex J. Cavanaugh: His family moved very regularly so it was an amazing coincidence. I like the museum. But I am a bit of an exhibition nerd.
DeleteThe museum seems disorienting on the inside and I thought that was a rollercoaster leading into it... :-)
ReplyDelete"The owner was a local woman who drove it for over forty years."
40 years! Can you imagine a car built today lasting that long?
I love the red interior with the white exterior.
Sandi: Blame my photographs. The museum isn't disorienting on the inside. Things built in the past were build to last. And they did. My mother's first fridge lasted nearly 40 years. I can't see that happening now.
DeleteThe fridge/freezer combo I bought the first year we were back in Adelaide lived for thirty and thirty-one years respectively and that includes several house moves.
DeleteRiver: How I wish that we still built things to last.
DeletePretty bizarre architecture on the museum.
ReplyDeleteJamie Ghione: It is, but I like it.
DeleteBetter not let me loose in that gift shop. I could do some serious damage in the book section. As for the architecture I find it quite pleasing actually. There seem to be lots of long, flowing lines - reminds me a bit of a river somehow.
ReplyDeleteDavid Gascoigne: Most of our 'national' buildings have gift shops. Excellent very tempting gift shops. And the books are amazing.
DeleteI hadn't thought of a river in connection with the museum but I can totally see it now you have brought it to my attention.
I also found the river/flow analogy. And I love the pond with stepping stones (rear entrance?) but can just see what the 'Danger!Danger!' brigade would do to it up here!
DeleteLooking forward to the next installment.
dinahmow: That area is usually full of families having a wonderful time. As they should. And I am a tad surprised that the danger/danger brigade haven't squealed.
DeleteThere is hope. Hallelujah!
Deletedinahmow: Yup. Not a lot of it, but I will take it anywhere I can.
DeleteWhat a beauty, for a museum it has been the modern architecture. I love it EC.
ReplyDeleteBob Bushell: Very modern architecture. And I have grown to love it too.
DeleteI like the architectural design of the museum. Pretty cool! : )
ReplyDeleteCaterina: I have learned to enjoy it too.
Delete
ReplyDeleteThe museum certainly has a different look...a potpourri of styles.
The site has personal meaning to you...to you both. I'd not known you were born in Canberra.
Have yourself a wonderful week, EC. I hope the roofers get their butts into gear and finish the job soon...like Monday!!! Cuddles to Jazz. :)
Lee: I was indeed born here, but spend a lot of years elsewhere.
DeleteI hope the roofers get the fundaments in gear too. And feel sure that being paid for the work will motivate them. Poor Jazz won't welcome their return though.
What an awesome building. The architectural design is magnificent. And it's so clean looking. Being from the city I tend to notice things like that. Would love to visit.
ReplyDeletemxtodis123: The whole area is clean. Indeed most of my city is - for which I am grateful.
DeleteAbout twenty years ago the art museum in my home town was able to make an addition that doubled its size. The original building was a century plus old, square and solid. At the time of the expansion the director was a friend of mine. He was a mover and a shaker, so to speak, and the addition was a glass arc over the old building. Striking. Large. Modern. Upsetting to the stodgy old folks, but OK by me. I am struck by how many adventuresome additions I see in such buildings, and wonder how many home town sensibilities were ruffled.
ReplyDeleteJoanne Noragon: The museum's appearance offended (and continues to offend) lots of people. I do mourn that it has replaced the hospital and the hospice, but have grown to love the building. And have been to some wonder exhibitions there.
DeleteWhat an interesting building - I would so like to see it in person. Yet another thing to put on my "Reasons to Visit Canberra" list. It's getting so long that I really should do something about it!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing examples of fresh, original thinking in architecture, almost as much as I love seeing beautiful old buildings. I really like the slanting windows, seen from the inside, and the tree trunk appealed to me particularly.
Great shots, and thank you EC. I am greatly looking forward to seeing photos of the exhibition. Have a good week:)
Alexia: While I have a preference for older buildings I do like the ingenuity and the freshness displayed here. And, as I have said earlier, the exhibitions are wonderful.
DeleteI do hope that you can get to my boring city - and hope to see you.
Looks like a marvelous place--- Love the Holden!
ReplyDeleteBill: It is a lovely reflection of culture and sits proudly in the entrance foyer - and I had to wait quite a while to take a photo before it was free of onlookers (mostly men).
DeleteIt is a fascinating looking structure and I would certainly love to see its exhibits also. I loved your photos and how interesting about your connections to the hospital. Thanks for another great Sunday Selections EC.
ReplyDeleteDenise inVA: When himself and I were born there it was the Canberra Community Hospital. Over the years it became the Royal Canberra. The site is filled with memories for me - but some new ones are replacing them.
DeleteThat is a wild looking building and the views surrounding it are spectacular. You have so much to see and do in your area!
ReplyDeleteRiver Fairchild: We don't get to a fraction of what the city has to offer. And still it is reviled as duller than ditchwater. The revilers loss.
DeleteWhat a brilliant building, weird and bizarre and fascinating both inside and out and worth visiting just to see it.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure it is an FJ Holden, the second model built.
Is the site where the explosive demolition went rather wrong?
Andrew: Thank you for correcting me about the Holden.
DeleteThe hospital implosion - which we were urged to come and see was indeed a disaster. Katie Bender (aged about 11) was killed when a piece of the debris travelled a kilometre across the lake and hit her. There is now a placque in her memory - which can be no consolation to her parents.
I have not seen the museum... it must be a number of years since I have been to Canberra. What a fascinating building. I do like the bold and quirky architecture.
ReplyDeleteCountryMum: The Museum was opened in 2001, so quite a few years. When next you visit some of it will have changed dramatically and some of it will be very much the same.
DeleteThat building is very different.
ReplyDeleteThe car - my late parents had one of those..
Margaret-whiteangel: Very different indeed. And probably unique. I hope your parents enjoyed the car. My father loved his Holden (a much later model).
DeleteI agree the museum does look a bit bizarre, but I think people will remember it for that. The white boxes all lined up remind me of fields of bee hives. I like the painted boat and the pristine Holden.
ReplyDeleteRiver: It is certainly eye-catching. And very easy to find because of that
DeleteThe painted boat appeared at Floriade last year, I was surprised (and pleased) to see it again.
I like to think of architecture that is a little out of the box as having character and interest rather that thinking it is unusual. The ordinary is just that, but a different way of thinking takes things to unexpected places. There is lots of room in my world for the delightfully odd.
ReplyDeleteAnne in the kitchen: And in mine. I will happily make room for quirkiness any day of the week.
DeleteWe had an FJ Holden (a very similar model which was the next after this one) for a wedding car. My brother and dad have had a good few holdens between them but my husband prefers European cars.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in your reference to the site being a healing spot for a hospital. Just once I visited an elderly neighbour in a very old repat hospital. The building was weatherboard and had a verandah all the way along. The air was not air conditioned, there was a pleasant view over the gardens. I thought it was the most wonderful hospital I'd ever seen. Healing is so much more than medications and surgeries
kylie: While it was still a hospital you could look out the windows at the lake, and watch the light change. And, if you were well enough, or you had friends to take you, sitting by the lake for a while was encouraged. Calm, beautiful and definitely healing (for the soul if not the body - and sometimes both). The hospice was nearby as well, where the healing qualities of water were even more important. Healing is definitely more than surgery and medication. Much more.
DeleteOh my goodness is that a coolamatious building! And the Holden -- woo hoo! :) I absolutely love old cars.
ReplyDeleteHope your roofers finish soon. I'm sure Jazz will be happy to have them gone (but would be even more unhappy if rain were to come through the roof and get some kitty paws wet!).
Cheers!
Marty K
Marty K: We are so desperate for rain that I would welcome it even before the roof is finished. Jazz not so much. And now that the roof is very nearly fixed (and the leaks certainly fixed) it may never rain again.
DeleteOld cars, like old buildings usually have a heap more charm and style don't they? With some exceptions (like the National Museum).
I didn't know there was a hospital there. I think they were still building the gardens out the 'back' when I was last there - must be time to visit again
ReplyDeleteAnna: The hospital was there for a very long time - even before the lake filled. I hope you can get up here to visit again soon.
DeleteWow, very quirky and colourful architecture! Really liked the dragonfly. From your photos the city seems to be a space with a low human to tree ratio. So lovely!
ReplyDeleteNilanjana Bose: There are lots and lots of trees here. Which my tree hugging self loves. A whole avenue was recently cut down to make way for light rail and I grieved. And still do.
Deletebizarre but beautiful
ReplyDeleteLinda Starr: And the exhibitions are good too.
DeleteDear EC
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not pretty but it is arresting and I like the architectural details of the windows on the inside. One building that won't be forgotten!
Best wishes
Ellie
Ellie Foster: I really like the windows too. And indeed I have warmed to the whole museum.
DeleteThat is a beautiful facility indeed. I love museums. They put me in another place.
ReplyDeleteRick Watson: This museum is really, really good at connecting with popular and current culture as well as the old.
DeleteThat certainly is a unique and interesting building and one that must be a joy to visit.
ReplyDeleteStarting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe: It is. And we should really get there more often than we do.
DeleteLooks like an amazing place to spend the day (and much more).it's neat y'all were cared for by the same nurse. How cool.
ReplyDeleteMason Canyon: When we found out (while our mothers were still alive) that the same nurse had been at both our births we were blown away.
DeleteLooks like a great place to get lost and explore!
ReplyDeleteMarie Smith: It is.
DeleteWhat an interesting, abstract architectural building. Thanks for the pictures. Hope your roofers return soon.
ReplyDeleteMyrna R.: The roofers are conspicuous by their absence again. Sigh. I believe there is only an hours work to do. Still if they don't return they don't get paid.
DeleteWhat gorgeous architecture in the museum! That one set of windows near the ceiling gives the striking impression of an eye.
ReplyDeleteJohn Wiswell: It does doesn't it? And each time I visit I look up and through that eye.
DeleteWow! Some pretty phenomenal architecture and I adore vintage cars. Thanks again for providing such cool stuff from your world. Hugs...RO
ReplyDeleteRO: I do love the way the blogosphere shrinks the world and makes it accessible to us all. Hugs.
DeleteI LOVE your (very different) museum!!
ReplyDeletefishducky: We do too.
DeleteThoroughly modern and wonderful! I love the use of light
ReplyDeleteCloudia: It is in such a prime location it would be criminal not to use the surroundings - which includes the light.
DeleteVery interesting pictures. The pink boat....made me laugh! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSandy: I would happily go on that boat. Very happily.
DeleteWhat interesting swoopy lines and sharp angles in those buildings! It looks like a very large complex that would require a lot of walking. What beautiful surroundings, too. I am looking forward to your post on the special exhibition.
ReplyDeleteI noticed something in photo 9 that took me the longest time to figure out and I'm still not totally sure I've done so. The little shelter-type structure in the foreground casts a shadow, but the two behind it do not - is it an optical illusion due to a dip in the land?
jenny_o: What an attentive eye you bring to my photos. The two behind it are in a slight dip, but I think the angle had something to do with it too. Think but don't know.
DeleteThere is indeed a HEAP of walking. However the museum is free to enter (as are most of the special exhibitions) so there is no necessity to try and cram it all in.
EC, you wrote on my blog Error about buying photo space from Google. How did you do that? I have no idea how it’s done.
ReplyDeleteMarie Smith: My ongoing subscription is though Google Play. However, when I explore it further I can't find any mention of storing photos. Which is weird.
DeleteThat’s the problem I have EC. I can’t find reference to anything that’s workable. Every suggestion leads to nothing workable. I’ve written Blogger and haven’t received a response and don’t expect to, but who knows? Meanwhile, I am deleting photos rather than storing them on my Ipad. I have them saved on a cloud. So far I’ve been able to post two blogs with lots of the big file photos I always use. Maybe that will work, it has so far. I’ve a way to decrease the file size of my photos if I have to. Thank you for the suggestion!
DeleteMarie Smith: Good luck. I adore your photos and would be very, very disappointed if you had to reduce the number or size.
DeleteIt is certainly intriguing, and i wouldn’t mind seeing it myself someday.
ReplyDeletemessymimi: I hope you can.
DeleteYay! I love field trips! The building's architecture is fascinating. The first pic looks like a roller coaster.
ReplyDeleteHope you got your rain.
Hugs
Sandra Cox: It does indeed look like a roller coaster. No rain. Sigh.
DeleteIt does have an unusual look, but I like it. I enjoy things that are strange and quirky, as long as they aren't creepy.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Janie Junebug: I always have room for the quirky. And rarely get enough of it.
DeleteI have not seen a photo of a Holden and that one is perfect, for such a LONG time. The backdrop behind the gift shop looks a bit like an old ship skeleton. I like the mobile too. A dragon fly maybe?
ReplyDeleteStrayer: Perfect Holdens are rare here too. I am not sure whether the mobile is a dragonfly or a moth - but like it.
DeleteI love architectural creativity, and this is one creative building....fascinating and must be even more so in person.
ReplyDeleteDonna Donabella: It is indeed fascinating. As are the stories displayed within.
DeleteI love this architecture! It's exciting and makes you want to step inside to see what's next. Thanks for sharing all these great photos.
ReplyDeleteCarol Kilgore: The architect has obviously succeeded with you. And would be pleased.
DeleteYou are right. Not a pretty structure, but a fascinating one, for sure. Love that vintage mobile.
ReplyDeletePratistha Khan: Welcome and thank you. Fascinating wears so much better than pretty...
DeleteI may look crooked the rest of the day.
ReplyDeleteAuthor R. Mac Wheeler: Only the rest of the day?
DeleteDear EC, the latest public building I've seen is the African-American Museum in Washington, D. C. I saw it last September. It had been opened only a few weeks and was packed. It's architecture was based on the architect's overall feeling about the black experience in the United States.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I'm wondering what the architect and city leaders wanted for the theme of this building? Is it based on sunlight or Australian animal shapes or what? That always intrigues me. Peace.
Dee: I did a bit of exploring and found this reponse for you
DeleteAs designed by architect Howard Raggatt (design architect and design director for the project), the museum building is based on a theme of knotted ropes, symbolically bringing together the stories of Australians. The architects stated: "We liked to think that the story of Australia was not one, but many tangled together. Not an authorized version but a puzzling confluence; not merely the resolution of difference but its wholehearted embrace."[8] The building is meant to be the centre of a knot, with trailing ropes or strips extending from the building. The most obvious of these extensions forms a large loop before becoming a walkway which extends past the neighbouring AIATSIS building ending in a large curl, as if a huge ribbon has haphazardly unrolled itself along the ground. Known as the "Uluru Axis" because it aligns with the central Australian natural landmark, the ribbon symbolically integrates the site with the Canberra city plan by Walter Burley Griffin and the spiritual heart of indigenous Australia.
The shape of the main entrance hall continues this theme: it is as though the otherwise rectangular building has been built encasing a complex knot which does not quite fit inside the building, and then the knot taken away. The entirely non-symmetrical complex is designed to not look like a museum, with startling colours and angles, unusual spaces and unpredictable projections and textures.'
Dear EC, thank you for all your research and for the time it took to type your reply! I so appreciate that and appreciate learning about what was the theme. Looking at the photographs, I can see the knotted ropes. It makes sense, doesn't it? I like the idea of the "wholehearted embrace" of differences. i wish our president and many in our country could do that. The way we are responding to Hispanic immigrants is despicable and immoral. Peace.
DeleteDee: There is a need for a whole-hearted embrace here too. Our own government's attitude to asylum seekers and refugees hurts my heart.
DeleteDear Sue, I didn't realize that Australia also was going through this time of them vs. us and "we" being better. Here in the US, the president seems to have forgotten the roots of our country and all the good that immigrants bring into our culture. He points to those immigrants who commit crime but in every group there are some who do that--among his cronies and mine too, I suspect! Peace.
DeleteDee: Sadly yes. Politically motivated nastiness. Encouraged by the President of your country.
DeleteSome art causes only confusion. But I love that old time car.
ReplyDeleteBest to you, EC.
Rawknrobyn: Some art causes confusion, but rather a lot of it fills me with joy. Thank you. I hope your week goes wonderfully.
DeleteOh, wow, what a tour! :-) Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
A Cuban in London: It was a pleasure, and I am glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteI totally agree! That building is not conventional at all!
ReplyDeleteThat mobile is very attractive and the vintage car quite special.
Lovely photographs you've shared.
Enjoy the new week and hope your roof work is completed very soon.
All the best Jan
Lowcarb team member ~Jan: No sign of the roofers. Again. I do love living in a city which is full of very different things to see.
DeleteSo much looks new and sparkling you live in a very modern city.
ReplyDeleteMerle..................
Merlesworld: I do. As cities goes just over a hundred years old makes mine a baby.
DeleteA lot of it is new and modern, but I also have a fondness for the old, and would like to see more of it.
Awesome pictures, curious to visit...
ReplyDeleteWeekend-Windup: Thank you. It is a very different part of the city.
DeleteAn amazing museum. Thank you for the tour. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteRasma Raisters: I am glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteI visited this museum when I was in Canberra in 2003, but somehow I can't remember what it looked like so I'm glad of your photos. I met some cousins there and we spent the whole day. They told me about someone being killed by a flying brick when the hospital was being demolished. At lunchtime I remember ordering a Rooburger, just because I could! And it was very tasty too.
ReplyDeleteShammickite: Making the hospital implosion a public spectacle was a disaster. One death and there could have been so many more.
DeleteHimself orders Skippy every chance he gets.
Drifting through life reminds me of the quote "Don't push the river. It flows by itself." Very consistent with the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, and even Bruce Lee (!) who counseled "Be like water."
ReplyDeleteGalen Pearl: It is a lovely (and inspirational) phrase isn't it.
DeleteThat mobile is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHope everything is sparkling in your corner of the world.
Hugs
Sandra Cox: The mobile is lovely isn't it? Still waiting for the roofers. And wrestling with a recalcitrant PC. But fine.
DeleteYou may have covered this and I just didn't see it, but why the hospital as the choice for a museum? Is it because of the awesome architecture or location maybe? So far in my extended family, the only person that I remember passing away in a hospital was my grandmother who was being released and packing to leave the hospital. She had a heart attack and died. I've always said she would have wanted it that way. Anyway, I really like the museum building.
ReplyDeleteT Powell Coltrin: Local Government decided that the cost of restoring the hospital was too dear. So it was demolished and the museum built in its very prime location. My father didn't want to die in hospital and I am sorry he did. And typical of the man, he slipped away less than five minutes after we left his room. Private to the end.
DeleteOh WOW...these photos are absolutely breath-taking!!
ReplyDeleteI have never seen anything quite so unique...thank you so much for this wonderful virtual tour. I have enjoyed it immensely! :))
Have a Great day!
Ygraine: Thank you so much. It is an amazing place isn't it?
DeleteTalk about a bizarre-looking building! Did the architect do drugs....?) I've never seen anything quite like that before. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSusan: If he did drugs, it paid off for him. Which is usually not the case.
DeleteWhat a cool looking building EC! I find it so unique!! I enjoyed the story about the hospital and about you and "him". Big Hugs!
ReplyDeleteMagic Love Crow: Thank you. It was an amazing co-incidence wasn't it? Despite my city being very small at the time our families didn't know each other, and his moved again when he was very small.
DeleteThis is such a neat looking museum. The car is pretty, The best is that you were born at the same hospital, so unique!
ReplyDeleteKim Standard: Thank you. Same hospital, same maternity nurse. Which amazes me.
DeleteThis architecture is like uneven poetry!
ReplyDeleteMy Inner Chick: Or perhaps lots of poems all put together...
DeleteWhat a great place! I love a good museum. I don't visit the museums in Atlanta often enough.
ReplyDeleteLynn: Neither do we. We really need to get back more often.
Delete