Spring in the city: colourful verges

The classic roadside verge from the 1930s onwards was laid to grass that was mown repeatedly to produce a vegetation similar to a garden lawn. Since the 1990s ecological management of roadside verges especially outside but also inside of the city masked spending cuts to maintenance but produced often very attractive flowering grasslands, meadows and plant borders. These displays with a more natural look and many colourful flowers are now seen as representative whereas before the tight green carpets of grass along the roads were seen as the epitome of neatness.

In some places grass has been kept and in spring these grass verges burst out into bloom as they have been planted with many colourful bulbs, mainly crocus and daffodil, but also Scilla, Chionodoxa, Muscari, Hyacinthoides and Colchicum.

As the first leaves are slowly appearing on the trees, the daffodils in shades of yellow, cream and white are blooming en masse, leaving no room for any other conclusion than that spring is here!

Conscious capital beautification: axial intervention in Brussels

The largest city of Brabant became the new capital of Belgium in 1830 after the split of the post-Napoleonic United Netherlands. Brussels was a certain choice as an important historic city centrally located within the Dutch speaking part of the young Belgian State but importantly with a strong ruling class of francophones. As the largest city within the historic Duchy of Brabant, Brussels was a large fortified city, although it had plenty of space within its defences at the time it became the new capital of Belgium. This old city was characterised by the often winding streets and alleys. The new king Leopold I (a German Prince by birth) ordained the beautification of his new capital and in 1831 work started on dismantling the walls and earthworks. The former glacis was transformed into an ample boulevard for carriages lined with 4 rows of trees. The area within is henceforth known as the Pentagon (Vijfhoek in Dutch).

Modelled on Paris, new roads were cut through the medieval clutter of streets and buildings from about 1850 onwards. The old city already boasted an axial intervention dating back to 1777 when the Rue Royal was laid out along the edge of the park of the Brussels Residence. The park was also remodelled and replanted. Across from the residence a Government building for the Brabant Council is erected between 1779-1783. Across from the new Warande Park (a warande is a small hunting park for pheasants, fallow deer and other small animals) the Dutch King William I has a new palace erected in 1820 not far from the site of the former palace of Koudenberg that had been destroyed by fire in 1731. After the independence of Belgium the old Council building is appropriated as the new parliament building known as the Palace of the Nation located on what is henceforth known as Law Street. The new King of the Belgians moved into the purpose-built palace that was expanded in 1877 to double its original size.

The first axial interventions beyond the Warande Park are located outside of the grand ring of boulevards. In 1837 work starts on the Leopold Quarter, a grid based high-status suburb directly east of the old city that is modelled on German examples in Dusseldorf, Berlin and Munich. The gridlines tie in with the layout of the Warande Park. In 1847 the Avenue Louise was built linking the city with the Forest of Cambre. In 1853 the Avenue along the Warande Park is extended beyond the Ring of Boulevards towards a new church. Along this extension the so-called Column of Congress is erected in 1859. Also within the old city, a large part of the Marollen Neighbourhood is demolished from 1860 onwards to create space for the enormous Palace of Justice on Gallow Hill. The building and the axis linking it to the Place Royal are completed between 1867 and 1883. Between 1868 an 1871 the Zenne river was culverted within the Pentagon and a new boulevard was built over it: the Boulevard Anspach that cuts through the medieval streets of the oldest urban core of Brussels.

The oldest axial interventions within the old city centre around the Warande Park (a) To the north of this formal park the parliament building (1) is located, opposite the royal palace (3). The first formal axis starts at the Place Royal (2) with the classicist complex of the Constitutional Court and the Church of St Jacob on the Mount.The Rue Royal continues from the park along the Column (4) and the Botanique, a botanical garden (5) to end at the church of St Mary (6).Directly east of the Warande Park lies the Leopold Quarter (b) with a (former) station building (c) at the end of the lowest street.

Behind the Leopold Quarter a large eponymous park was built between 1851 and 1854. Further north a high-class neighbourhood, inspired by London's Garden Squares, was built north of the Leopold Quarter between 1856 and 1872. Like the Leopold Quarter the axis lead from nothing to nowhere and are therefore not really axes but rather formal street plans that tie into the pre-existing pattern of streets and rural lanes.

Most axial intervention in Brussels are based on the 1862 plan of Victor Besme for the beatification of the capital city. The crown prince was very taken by his ideas. Thus in 1864 a plan for the creation of the Avenue Leopold II is passed by the city council. The idea was to expand the city across the Koekelberg Plateau west of the city. The axis that runs off the northern Boulevard is the central axis of this so-called Leopold II Quarter. Several imposing buildings were planned at the cusp of this axis: a Royal Villa (1864), a Palace of Industry (1866) and a National Pantheon (1879). None of these where built, instead the large Art Deco Church of the Sacred Heart was built in the elevated park from 1905 onwards.

To commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Belgian Independence in 1880, Leopold II orders the creation of a large Jubilee Park along a new formal avenue that was an extension of the important Law Street (Rue de la Loi) that runs between the parliament and the Warande Park. The terrain had been used for the manoeuvres of the City Guards. As part of the jubilation festivities a National Exhibition was staged in the new park with two large exhibition buildings designed by Gédeon Bordiau. Due to the enormous success of this exhibition, the park is enlarged and hosts the World Exhibitions of 1888 and 1897. It is with the 1888 International Contest for Sciences and Industry that the park becomes known as Jubilee Park. IN 1905 a large Triumphal Arch is built linking the two exhibition buildings. The structure with 3 arches is crowned by a statue of Brabantia in a quadriga and spans the central axis. As the point de vue of a secondary axis the large Mosque was built in a corner of the park in 1879.

The axial interventions after Besme are a continuation of earlier interventions that are seldom formalised with a beginning or end. One of the most contested axial intervention connects the Place Royal (a) with the Palace of Justice (2) via the Rue de la Régance (1) a formal street. The Avenue Louise (b) is both a beautiful street with trees as well as an improvement of traffic structure. The Leopold Park (c) is located on an extended formal street off the Leopold Quarter. North of this the extended Rue de la Loi (d) forms the central axis of the formal Jubilee Park with the exhibition halls (3) and the mosque (4).The Quartier des Squares (e) centres on the Square Ambiorix. Within the oldest parts of the city the Boulevard Anspach (f) lies over the covered Zenne river. It connects to the Boulevard Emile Jacqmain that leads to the Boulevard Albert II (h). Around the Gare du Midi a formal street - Boulevard du Stalingrad (g) - forms the centre of the Quartier Rouppe. The Grand Ensemble on the Koekelberg was inspired by Mont Martre. The central axis of Avenue Leopold II (i) is a continuation of the northern Boulevard d'Anvers and culminates in the large church in the Elizabeth Park (5). With the starlike formal streets that radiate out from this central point du vue this ensemble is known as Leopold II Quarter (j).

The area between the Leopoldpark and the Jubilee Park was developed as the centre of the European Union after WW2 and has changed dramatically with the addition of large office buildings that are places rather haphazardly within the older urban fabric.

Springtime: Giant Crocuses

Besides the dainty varieties of Crocus that are mainly grown in gardens, in parks and on country estates, there are several varieties of Crocus vernus that are polyploid and therefore much bigger than most of the species and multiflowered hybrids. Besides stature the fact that these Giant Crocuses only bear one flower per corm sets them apart. The 15 cm tall blooms come in shades of purple, violet,, lilac and white, often with differently coloured reverses or stripes. All have a distinctly darker flower stalk.

Crocus vernus is often grown as a mix of colours in public gardens and on grassy verges.

Road works: keeping the city running

The main characteristic of any city, great or small, is that there is always building work going on somewhere. Cities are after all forever changing and always developing. This is most evident in the buildings that are built and demolished. Less visible but equally important is the infrastructure that keeps the city running. Only think of the ubiquitous roads and pavements and of course sewers. Only when this infrastructure becomes blocked do we notice it's vital importance!

On stable ground it is advisable to lay the stones in sand instead of concrete, this reduces cracking, allows water to drain away much better and can be easily repaired in case of sinkage or damage.

Beautiful Streets: bridging the Isar in Munich

After the first Bavarian king Maximilian (Max) I had started a classicist inspired project to improve his capital city of Munich by adding the eponymous Maxvorstadt between 1805 and 1810, his son Louis I (Ludwig in German) completed his vision by building the so-called Splendid Streets, avenues lined with trees and large buildings aligned on monuments placed at important junctions within the urban landscape.

His son Maximilian II ruled as king of Bavaria from 1848 until his death in 1864. He tried his best to maintain the independence of Bavaria within the German Confederation and paid patronage to the arts and science. He was however completely dependent upon the Austrian Empire the strongest and most populous country within the German Confederation. Max II resided in the Munich Residence, which had been enlarged and unified with new classicist facades by his father Ludwig, and the pleasure palace of Nymphenburg a few miles west of the city. The new king had to make his mark on the city after his very visibly influential father and grandfather before him.

So, shortly after his ascension to the throne Max II commissions the sheep paddocks east of the river Isar to be converted into a "memorable urban jewel crowning the glorious capital city of Munich". His grand scheme however proves difficult to realise as the low-lying grasslands are susceptible to seasonal flooding, the higher banks are stony and infertile and land has to be acquired within the old city to be able to link both banks of the Isar. The work finally starts in 1856 to build the terraces designed by Carl von Effner, the Senior Court Gardener between Haidhausen and Bogenhausen later known as the Maximiliansanlage or Max Gardens. Before this work had started in 1850 with the laying out of the Maximilianstrasse, a royal avenue, intended to beautify the city. This Beautiful Street starts at a large public square next to the Residence in front of the State Theatre and runs in a straight line to a bridge across the Isar to culminate in a roundel with at its centre the Maximilianeum (1857-74) originally a school for the gifted, now the State Parliament of Bavaria.Many of the buildings along this axis were designed or supervised by Friedrich Bürklein who worked in an eclectic style mixing elements from gothic and classicist architecture. The Gasteig Gardens directly south of the Maximilianeum were an integral part of the whole design.

The central axis of the Maximiliansanlage is formed by the Maximiliansstrasse linking the Maximilianeum (8) and the Max-Josef-Platz (1)  in front of the Bayerisch National Theater (2) across the Isar via the Maximiliansbrücke (7). At the start of the Beautiful Street Stadtpaläste (3) where built as an urban residence for landed gentry. The section that cut through the hitherto semirural area of Lehel was laid out with a central public garden with the Maxmonument (6) that started formally at the Maximiliansbauten (4) and ended at the Maximilianeum. Along the street the Völkerkundemuseum (5) was built. The waterlevel in the Isar is regulated by the Pumping House or Maxwerk (9) that sits on the Auer Mühlbach.

These Gasteig Gardens have since been merged into the Maximilian Gardens the 30 hectare park on the eastern bank of the Isar directly adjacent to the old city. At the heart of this landscape park stands the Prince Regent Terrace with a grotto and dolphin fountain that was commissioned by and named after Luitpold of Bavaria who was Regent for his nephews the incapable Louis II and Otto, both sons of Max II. Luitpold had revived a plan from 1852 for a northern Beautiful Street parallel to the Maximilianstrasse. First building work started on the focal point across the Isar (constructed between 1888 and 1894). In 1891 a new street was laid out between this viewing platform with fountain and the Prinz Carl Palais. In remembrance of the 25 years of peace after the Franco-German war of 1870/71 a monument was commissioned to be built atop the Prince Regent's Terrace in the shape of a small temple  underneath a column topped by an edifice of the Angel of Peace (Friedensengel). In 1996 the first stone was laid with the festive reveal on July 16 1899. This monument dwarfed the original viewing terraces and is still the point de vue of the Prinzregentenstrasse. In contrast to the axial interventions of his predecessors Luitpold's Beautiful Street, eponymously named Prinzregentstrasse, was not to be linked with official buildings, institutions and the like, but was designed as the focus of a fashionable residential area for the elite, much like Hausmann's axial interventions in Paris (carried out between 1853 an 1870).

The second Beautiful Street completed the axial intervention bridging the Isar and thus completing the intended Maximiliansanlage (B). The northern Beautiful Street runs close to the Englisher Garten (A) and the Hirschanger (A*), with the Prinz Carl Palais (1) functioning as a spatial anchor point between this public park, the new street and the Hofgarten (C) of the Munich Residence. The new axis  of the Prinzregentstrasse runs across the Prinzregentenbrücke (2) towards the Prinzregententerasse (3) with the Friedensengel (4). Contrary to its original plan the street is imbedded in many imitations: Bayerisch Nationalmuseum (5), Statsministerium (6), Haus der Kunst (7), Statskanzlei (8) and Innenministerium Bayern (9). The Deutches Museum (D)  was added in 1925 as a separate non-axial intervention on an island in the Isar.

Besides these royal axial interventions, the new additions to Munich were commissioned and built by private developers. These suburbs all have a Paris-inspired layout with a contorted grid of streets bisected by streets radiating from a square or public garden as the focus of the new quarter. Plots in these suburbs were sold to individuals for building large urban villa's on them or to investors who would have fancy mansion blocks and terraces built. These suburbs are known as: Isarvorstadt (E), Auvorstadt (F) and Ludwigvorstadt (G).