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Travel Bug Dog Tag Velez-Blanco

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Owner:
Dani+Iris Send Message to Owner Message this owner
Released:
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Origin:
Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
Recently Spotted:
In Las Fuentes de Vélez-Blanco

This is not collectible.

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Current Goal

I want to virtually reunite the Vélez Blanco castle and its interior by visiting the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and bring back those memories to the Vélez Blanco castle.

The current goal is Vélez Blanco in Spain.
Drop this TB in a cache near the castle.

About This Item

Veléz Blanco

Vélez-Blanco is a municipality of the Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Nestling at the foot of a rocky outcrop, is the small whitewashed village of Vélez Blanco, 6km north of its neighbour, Velez Rubio.

On top of the hill is a stunning Renaissance castle, an extension of the original Moorish alcazaba, which was built by the Marquises of Vélez Blanco in the early 16th century.

These days, it is something of a trompe l'oeil, with an empty shell behind the battlements. This gutting began in 1904 when the contents of the castle were sold by its owners, the Dukes of Medina-Sidonia, to a French dealer in antiquities. Many of them became the property of Emile Peyre who in turn bequeathed part of his collection to the American millionaire George Blumenthal. He then bequeathed it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1941. The collection included the Patio de Honor and friezes made of pinewood reliefs decorating the reception halls in the castle.

The Vélez Blanco Patio is one of the most important architectural ensembles of the early Spanish Renaissance - a fabulous courtyard carved in white marble by Italian craftsmen. The patio from Vélez Blanco has been recognized by scholars around the world as one of the jewels of early Renaissance Spain. It has been reconstructed inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The six large relief friezes, unparalleled in their classical subject matter and exceptional vigor, were once part of the decoration of the reception halls of the castle. They are boldly carved with classical and mythological scenes representing the Triumph of Julius Caesar and the Labors of Hercules. These 16th-century reliefs were finally rediscovered at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Dani+Iris visited this castle and Los Vélez area in May 2009 and were struck by this sad story. This travelbug represents the coat of arms of Vélez Blanco and wants to keep the memories alive!

Gallery Images related to Velez-Blanco

View All 11 Gallery Images

Tracking History (35348.2mi) View Map

Dropped Off 11/1/2009 h3p placed it in In Situ : Les têtes Grand-Est, France - 19.5 miles  Visit Log
Retrieve It from a Cache 9/27/2009 h3p retrieved it from Le 'delta' de l'ILL Grand-Est, France   Visit Log

Sorti de sa cache...

Dropped Off 9/26/2009 sTeamTraen placed it in Le 'delta' de l'ILL Grand-Est, France - 230.98 miles  Visit Log
Retrieve It from a Cache 9/22/2009 sTeamTraen retrieved it from Carpool E40 - 19a Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium   Visit Log

Off to France... already in the right country for the first part of the journey!

Dropped Off 8/31/2009 ON9CC placed it in Carpool E40 - 19a Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium - 30.88 miles  Visit Log
Retrieve It from a Cache 7/11/2009 ON9CC retrieved it from TB & GC Hotel Afrit 24 Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium   Visit Log

Grabbed it today from a TB/GC near Brussels ... will be taking it with me on a cruise in the Mediteranean Sea this month and hope I can drop it somewhere interesting.

Dropped Off 7/4/2009 Dani+Iris placed it in TB & GC Hotel Afrit 24 Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium   Visit Log
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