by Jon Lackman | 14 April 2006 | Architecture, Books
Two new books afford a comparison of the architectural tastes of two very different rulers. Hans-Joachim Giersberg recounts how Frederick the Great’s 18th-century Schloss Sanssouci (photos here and here) tried to integrate nature and culture under the theme of Wine, with a marble hall opening right out onto the vineyard, against the architect’s advice. Two hundred years later, the rather un-Dionysian Leipzig Opera House (1954-1960) played a key role in the Eastern Bloc monumental style that developed under Stalin, argues a new book by Birk Engmann. Reviewer Jürgen Tietz concurs, though he takes issue with Engmann’s broader categorization of 20th-century monumental architecture.
