A thread of 21st century architectural revivals that will restore your faith in humanity: 🧵
1. Frauenkirche, Dresden, Germany
Dresden's German Baroque gem was destroyed by Allied bombings in 1945. Using the original bricks (left in rubble since the war), it was rebuilt as close to the original as possible. It reopened in 2005.
2. Kossuth Square, Budapest, Hungary
Budapest is erasing the brutalist blight from its communist past. This building at Kossuth Square has been restored according to its original plans from the 1920s. There are many such examples around the city.
Classical education is more important now than ever.
12 great works of literature that every young man must read, and why (thread) 🧵
1. The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri (c.1321)
What happens when you’ve lost yourself and wandered from the straight and true? You must travel through hell and purgatory to emerge in paradise.
Dante was the greatest poet of all time. Read him to discover the inner workings of your own soul.
2. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (1844)
As Edmond Dantès said: “Life is a storm, my young friend. You bask in the sunlight one moment, get shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.”
Reminder that the US built some of the greatest train stations ever seen.
These are the most beautiful (thread) 🧵
1. Union Station, Washington, D.C. (1907)
One of the first great union stations, a triumph of Beaux-Arts architecture with no expense spared. The coffered ceiling is laced with gold leaf, and rows of marble centurions keep watch over the main hall.
2. Birmingham Terminal Station, AL (1909)
As the motorcar flourished, many of the great stations fell into disuse and were demolished. Birmingham's great Byzantine / Beaux-Arts station was razed in 1969 to make way for a new highway.
I often post wonders from the distant past. What about the churches we still build today?
These will surprise you (all built in the last 20 years)... 🧵
1. Many of today's great new churches are Eastern Orthodox. Georgia's Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi became one of the world's largest churches by interior measure in 2004.
2. And the Serbs just finished this, the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade - an Orthodox titan to rival the Hagia Sophia.