For the first weekend of my semester in Luxembourg, I traveled with friends to the Netherlands to celebrate my 21st birthday. We got to see so many beautiful sites in the cities of Maastrict and Amsterdam while taking in all the culture there has to offer. Even though it was the first stop, this beautiful country won't be dropping out of my top 5 places that I have travelled to for a long time. In Maastrict, we got to explore the city a bit before heading out on a boat cruise down the Maas River so we could visit the ancient mine caves know as the St. Pietersburg Caves. Art is all around you and there was no shortage inside these mines. Traveling only by flashlight, we were guided through the endless tunnels where drawings, carvings, and other artifacts were found.
To the left, I found an illustration of Jesus Christ painted onto the walls of the mines. The original artist used charcoal to ensure that the design would not come off the walls and that it would be dark enough to see against the tan-colored walls made of limestone. I believe the use of charcoal was a good choice on the part of the artist because the lack of color lets the eye focus on the intricacy of the details within the portrait. My eyes immediately focused on the halos around the figure heads as well as the robes they are wearing, also pointing towards a renaissance-like influence. I felt moved by this piece because of how long ago it was drawn onto the wall. This mine has been around for hundreds of years and it has still managed to stay intact way down underground. It just blows my mind that the temperature, a steady 10 degrees celsius, has no effect on the artwork. I wonder if it has to do with the material of the medium used.
To the right, my guided tour through the mines brought my group to a stove/oven deep within caves. It used to be used for miners to make themselves food while they were working to collect limestone for the buildings in the city of Maastricht and beyond. It is made of bricks, stones, and metal that would help control the warm temperatures of the oven. Once again, I am astounded by the ability for these structures to stay pretty intact after so many years. I can't remember what the date was for this particular piece of architecture but many of the paintings and other signatures throughout included dates going back to the 1800s. It makes you really think about the concept of time and preservation. That individuals were able to create these beautiful pieces of art without the help of all the tools we have today is almost incomprehensible.
After visiting Maastricht, we headed to Amsterdam for the rest of the weekend. I was fortunate enough to take river cruise tour through the canals of Amsterdam where we went under a number of bridges like the one pictured to the left. Made of concrete and stone, these bridges, a simple every day piece of architecture, are the backbone of this city. They connect all the blocks together of a city built essentially all on top of a body of water. Without them, Amsterdam would not exist. Its so interesting for me to ponder that such a sensical structure has such a profound impact on millions of people. Each bridge has a different story to tell and houses hundreds of different bikes locked to the railings. This particular bridge, paired with the beautiful blue sky, reached out to me in ways that I can't really explain. It may be the simplicity of it, or the deeper meaning of its ability to connect.
One of the last pieces of art that I encountered over the weekend was at the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam. A self-guided tour through the building taught me the history of Heineken and how to brew the famous brand of beer. It was really interesting to see the different machines they used to use but I fell in love with this wall of Heineken bottles. Hundreds of bottles hung from the walls all in perfect lines. Each bottle is symmetrical and all of them create a perfect rectangle with smooth lines. It would be interesting to shine lights from different angles and see how that changes the look of the wall, possibly adding another dimension to the decor. It was intriguing to see an everyday drink container used as a decorative choice. I find the simplicity of this wall clever and something I would think about using for a future decoration project.
