Monday, April 11, 2011

ABC Wednesday: M is for Milan

This is the second of ABC Wednesday that we use M for Milan.  We visited Milan last October right after our photographic tour to Tuscany.  Grace was in the city for conference and I got some time to walk around.  I am showing here of my trip to Castello Sforzesco.


The original castle was constructed in the 14th century.

During the 15th and 16th century, the castle was built up to a huge star fort with 12 bastions.  The external fortification reached 3 km long and covered 25.9 hectares.

The star fort was developed during the age of gunpowder.  The ring-shaped fortification of the Medieval era can no longer effectively defend the city.  It is particularly developed in the Italian peninsula against French invasion.

The Italian engineers who built these fortifications become in high demand during the next three centuries throughout Europe.

After the unification of Italy in the 19th century, the castle was transformed from military use to the civilian use of Milan City.  A restoration was started.

The castle was severely damaged in 1943 by Allied bombardment.  It has been restored again and now the complex consists of several museum.

 It was a very fine Fall afternoon.  I did not go into any of the museums, rather I just walked around the compound and took pictures.

I was practicing what our photo instructor, Dave Hoptman, try to drill into us during our one week with him in Tuscany.  Basically how the vertical line should be vertical and how horizontal line should be horizontal.

 Here is a remnant of the original fortification.

I saw a professional looking photographer climbed on top of a garbage bin to get a better prospective of the central court yard.  So I did the same thing, with some cleaver post-processing in Photoshop, all my vertical lines now are vertical.

To see more entries of ABC Wednesday click here.

9 comments:

DeniseinVA said...

Amazing architecture, so beautiful!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I am not into architecture. I always wonder where they got money to build such awesome buildings.

Su-sieee! Mac said...

You've got a lovely eye for details. All your photos are ones to escape in. Thank you.

Roger Owen Green said...

lovely site, tho sad what the munitions had done to it. you didn't need to visit a MUSEUM; it's its own historic site.

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Inger-M said...

Thank you for that beautiful and interesting tour of Milan, great photos!

Janie said...

Beautiful statues and architecture. Your photos show it well.

fiziskandarz said...

we haven't been to milan before. so thanx a bunch for taking us through ur journey :D i really like the level of detail in the 2nd image. and boy! really love the roses images u had in ur previous entry :D

Leslie: said...

I loved everything about Italy when I was there 5 years ago, but never made it to Milan - must go there next time. Love your photos and your comment at the end about climbing on the bin to get a good shot! lol

Leslie
abcw team

Unknown said...

Truly striking photos, Bradley. I never made it out of the train station in Milan, so thank you!
HelenMac, ABC Wednesday Team

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