Last weekend I travelled to St Petersburg to start research on a new book and I thought I’d share my equestrian shots. I was only in this fascinating, complicated city for two and a half days and did not venture out of the very heart of it but I still found some horse history of …
Category Archives: Carousels
Dutch Stables: Horses in the Heart of Amsterdam
I went to Amsterdam last weekend to see friends I hadn’t seen for far too long, and ended up doing a little unscheduled horsey tourism. I hadn’t planned it, honest! I had no idea that Amsterdam had a nineteenth century riding manège right by its main park, nor that the building was still home to …
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Paper Horses
Thank you to Tony for sending me this link to a New York Times piece on Australian artist Anna-Wili Highfield’s work. She makes three-dimensional paper sculptures of animals – including horses and pegasi – which are featherlight, substantial and full of movement. There’s a fine “race horse” here and a boxed Whistlejacket which I think …
Dizzying Delights
Here’s a short report at The Local about the restoration of the oldest stationary carousel in the world, in Hanau: Commissioned by 1780 by Wilhelm I., Elector of Hesse, as part of the Wilhelmsbad park, the complicated ride has had a turbulent history. “At the very beginning, the carrousel would have been pulled by local …