3 ms·

There are lot's of city centres in Europe in France, Italy, Belgium etc. where entire neighborhoods survived, and they look great.

azulster 3y ago
new york city's brownstones are considered beautiful and iconic now, but when they were built they were described as cheap eye-sores and a blight upon the beautiful city. i imagine a similar trend must exist for most of the European cities. people's aesthetic usually rejects the new, but recognizes the beauty once it is seen as old and classic
- wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
  The reason they were thought of ugly at the timewas because the brown house houses were relatively monotone, one type of building compared to richer streets where every house was different & build by the vision of the owner. See every house on the Amsterdam on the Canals: https://www.tripsavvy.com/thmb/Mkr3pQQInOjO4a3UJUP2EzBpywU=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-479502363-5813918a5f9b581c0b71eb4c.jpg https://www.tripsavvy.com/thmb/Mkr3pQQInOjO4a3UJUP2EzBpywU=/... The same complaint was made when the "pijp" was build, al buildings are the same. It was originally meant for poor people, now one of the hotspots: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Revolutiebouw.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Revoluti... But stil the brownstone building have way more ornaments, arches & other details intended to make it pretty then any modern flat. I have a real hard time believing we will every think of the grey Paris banlieus as pretty: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/05/15/business/GHETTO-1/GHETTO-1-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/05/15/business/GHETTO-1...
brabel 3y ago
I think the ultimate city if you like old European architecture is probably Prague. It's a big city and most of it is amazing. You're totally right that France/Italy/Belgium all have amazing towns to visit. But in case someone is looking for a random tip elsewhere: Český Krumlov (https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD_Krumlov https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD_Krumlov), which is in today Czechia (handy in case you happen to visit Prague), but used to have a large German population before WWII. It looks wonderful, perhaps the most perfect Medieval town I've seen.
- wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
  Yeah Prague is awesome; although same as Amsterdam, and other bigger cities the chaos of the cities at times is a distraction. Cesky looks lovely, France also has amazing places. I do think this is the most perfect Medieval town though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Saint-Michel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Saint-Michel

azulster 3y ago

new york city's brownstones are considered beautiful and iconic now, but when they were built they were described as cheap eye-sores and a blight upon the beautiful city. i imagine a similar trend must exist for most of the European cities. people's aesthetic usually rejects the new, but recognizes the beauty once it is seen as old and classic

wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
The reason they were thought of ugly at the timewas because the brown house houses were relatively monotone, one type of building compared to richer streets where every house was different & build by the vision of the owner. See every house on the Amsterdam on the Canals: https://www.tripsavvy.com/thmb/Mkr3pQQInOjO4a3UJUP2EzBpywU=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-479502363-5813918a5f9b581c0b71eb4c.jpg https://www.tripsavvy.com/thmb/Mkr3pQQInOjO4a3UJUP2EzBpywU=/... The same complaint was made when the "pijp" was build, al buildings are the same. It was originally meant for poor people, now one of the hotspots: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Revolutiebouw.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Revoluti... But stil the brownstone building have way more ornaments, arches & other details intended to make it pretty then any modern flat. I have a real hard time believing we will every think of the grey Paris banlieus as pretty: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/05/15/business/GHETTO-1/GHETTO-1-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/05/15/business/GHETTO-1...

brabel 3y ago

I think the ultimate city if you like old European architecture is probably Prague. It's a big city and most of it is amazing. You're totally right that France/Italy/Belgium all have amazing towns to visit. But in case someone is looking for a random tip elsewhere: Český Krumlov (https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD_Krumlov https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD_Krumlov), which is in today Czechia (handy in case you happen to visit Prague), but used to have a large German population before WWII. It looks wonderful, perhaps the most perfect Medieval town I've seen.

wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
Yeah Prague is awesome; although same as Amsterdam, and other bigger cities the chaos of the cities at times is a distraction. Cesky looks lovely, France also has amazing places. I do think this is the most perfect Medieval town though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Saint-Michel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Saint-Michel