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Comenius ist ein Bildungsprogramm der Europäischen Union, an dem mindestens drei Schulen aus drei Ländern zwei Jahre lang teilnehmen. Diese Schulen arbeiten gemeinsam an einem selbst gewählten Projekt. Der größte Anteil der Tätigkeiten erfolgt in Arbeitsgemeinschaften, im Unterricht und zu Hause am Computer. Auf zwei Projekttreffen pro Jahr besprechen die koordinierenden Lehrerinnen und Lehrer den weiteren Verlauf der Arbeit. Einige besonders engagierte Schülerinnen und Schüler können mitreisen, ihre Ideen und Erfahrungen einbringen und die bisherigen Arbeitsergebnisse international vorstellen. Die Partnerschulen des Eleonoren-Gymnasiums/Worms befinden sich in Alesund/Norwegen, in Geel/Belgien und in Málaga/Spanien.

Unser Projekt für die Jahre 2009 – 2011 ist Große europäische Persönlichkeiten zur Zeit des Jugendstils.

Ein Comenius-Projekt soll stets zwei Komponenten enthalten: Gemeinsamkeit und Selbstdarstellung. Unsere Gemeinsamkeit ist der Jugendstil, der zu unserem Wormser Schulgebäude gehört, zu dem aber auch unsere Partner aus Spanien, Belgien und Norwegen großartige Zeugnisse beitragen können.

Zur Selbstdarstellung gehören große europäische Persönlichkeiten der Partnerländer aus der Zeit zwischen 1890 und 1914, wobei wir Wormser Französischlehrer natürlich auch die Persönlichkeiten unseres Nachbarlandes bearbeiten lassen. Die Ergebnisse der Recherchen und Präsentationen sind in einem „privaten“ Wiki veröffentlicht, so dass alle teilnehmenden Schülerinnen und Schüler alle Beiträge eigenständig verändern und ergänzen können.

So ist in zwei Jahren der Anfang einer elektronischen Bibliothek entstanden, die den europäischen Schülern das Gefühl einer europäischen Wissensgemeinschaft vermitteln soll, die sie selbst im Unterricht und in Zusammenarbeit mit gleichaltrigen europäischen Partnern gestalten. Durch die Verlinkung der Artikel untereinander wurden inhaltliche und internationale Zusammenhänge verdeutlicht und vernetztes Lernen geübt.

Ausgewählte Schüler der Arbeitsgemeinschaft besuchten die Projekttreffen, auf denen sie ihre europäischen Partner persönlich kennen lernten. So haben wir im November 2009 unsere Partner empfangen, die unter der Leitung von Ulla Bernhard die Motive zu den Kapitellen im Erdgeschoss entworfen haben. Zum Europatag der Schulen 2010 wurde unser Projekt für den Besuch der rheinland-pfälzischen Staatssekretärin Frau Vera Reiß ausgewählt. Schülerinnen und Schüler stellten das Wiki mit der besonderen Methodik und mit inhaltlichen Vorträgen zu europäischen Persönlichkeiten vor. Auch in Alesund, Norwegen, gehörte künstlerische Gestaltung von Jugendstilmotiven zur Projektarbeit in der „Ungdomskole Spelkjavik“, ebenso wie die weitere Gestaltung der Arbeit am Wiki. Mit der Parade zum Nationalfeiertag erlebten unsere Schüler einen unverkrampften Umgang mit Nationalbewusstsein: Alle Schulen der Umgebung trugen ihre Standarten und machten so Werbung für ihre Schulen. Diese Parade führte durch die Innenstadt, die mit ihrem Jugendstilerbe ein Meisterstück der europäischen Baukunst dieser Zeit ist.

Norwegisch und Spanisch verstehen lernten wir mit Dr. Twistel nach der Methode „intelligent guessing“ (Europäischer Sprachenpreis 2009). In Málaga erwarteten uns das Geburtshaus von Pablo Picasso und das große Picasso-Museum. Bei der Projektarbeit entstand ein großes Mosaik im Stil von Gaudí, das nun das Foyer unserer Partnerschule schmückt.

Bei unserem Besuch in Geel führten uns Schüler und eine Fotorallye durch die Jugendstilviertel von Geel, Antwerpen und Brüssel.

Dieses Projekt mit allen Produkten, wie auch diese Broschüre, wurde gefördert durch das Comenius- Programm der Europäischen Union im Rahmen des Programms „lebenslanges Lernen“.

Verena König und Wolfgang Klemm, Koordinatoren des Projekts im August 2011

Table of contents

Introduction: ...... 4

Germany - Worms ...... 7

Our town: Worms ...... 7

Our School: Eleonoren-Gymnasium ...... 10

Visit in Worms – meeting 1 ...... 12

Art Nouveau Workshop in Worms (Comenius meeting in 2009) ...... 15

Norway - Ålesund ...... 18

Our town: Ålesund ...... 18

Our school: Spjelkavik ungdomsskole...... 20

Visit in Ålesund – meeting 2 ...... 22

Spain – Màlaga ...... 27

Our town: Malaga ...... 27

Our school: Virgen del Carmen San Patricio ...... 29

Visit in Málaga – meeting 3...... 30

Belgium ...... 33

Our town: Geel ...... 33

Our school: KOGEKA ...... 37

Visit in Geel – meeting 4 ...... 39

Wiki ...... 45

Germany – Worms ...... 45

Norway - Ålesund ...... 51

Spain – Málaga ...... 60

Belgium - Geel ...... 64

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Introduction

Introduction: Comenius

A teacher and a program Jan Amos Komenskij (living from 1592 to 1670) in the centre of Europe, was a philosopher, a theologian and a teacher. He lived the misery of the Thirty Years War, but started to create a new philosophy, called pansophy, and became one of the most demanded pedagogical reformers of his age, the 17th Century. In 1995, this background led the European Commission to open a European pedagogical project with his name, in order to realise some of his goals: Make the students learn on concrete material, make them learn foreign languages and give them the opportunity to meet each other. Now the Comenius program is a part of the Lifelong Learning Program of the European Community offering to at least three (but also more) schools in three (or more) countries to cooperate for two years on a common project. Teachers and also some students have the chance to meet each other in real, to work together on their project, to create a common result and, of course, to become friends.

The concept of a Comenius project should allow to all partners to present their own identity and to find a common point of interest. Everybody should be proud to show the own glory and everybody should find the place in the community of the partner schools.

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Introduction

This way we conceived our project: Great European Personalities in the Age of Modern Art. The common interest is “Jugendstil”, “modernismo”, “Art Nouveau”, “ungdomsstil“,… – there are so many translations and this shows that it has been a real European cultural phenomenon. Our partner schools are in countries with excellent Modern Art – architecture: Spain – Málaga, Belgium – Geel, Germany – Worms, Norway – Alesund. Only the Norwegian school is situated in a complete Modern Art - town, but to obtain the reconstruction in Art Nouveau, Alesund had to suffer the burning of the wooden houses in the centre in 1904.

Alesund

Geel Worms

Málaga

Our partner schools in Belgium, Norway, Spain and Germany have all their national Jugendstil artists and monuments. But how can we make come together the great European personalities, without only enumerating the own national heroes?

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Introduction

We all want to learn from each other. Why don‟t we create a common library which allows us to present some articles about great artists, scientists, poets, musicians of this time of Modern Art and to make our partners work on these articles? Giving questions to be answered by our partner students, making links to articles written by other schools, completing other articles with information we found or maybe correcting other articles, when we found some language mistakes. Not like teachers (have to) do, but like friends helping each other. Creating this way a European Science Community: ESC.

So we are in the terms of computer and internet, and what Diderot and d’Alembert might have dreamed of some 250 years ago when they published the Encyclopedia, we can it in a small modest interactive way by creating our Wiki http://wiki.my- jugendstil.eu . So even by presenting our own national heroes, we find back to Comenius‟ goal, creating a conscience of European pedagogical cooperation referring to our common European culture.

This European consciousness finds its expression also in publishing the articles in three languages: English, French and German. Students are aware that they must know at least two foreign languages and they understand that one of these is a bridge to a partner of an unknown language. At the end of 19th century, two centuries years after Jan Amos Komenskij, the Latin language was running down as the language of science, literature and culture. In our times, English has taken this place, but also French and Spanish keep an important place in Europe. So, even if the communication language has changed, the Comenius - concept is still alive and more important to Europe than ever.

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Our town GERMANY

Germany - Worms

Our town: Worms

The town of Worms is situated in the south-west of Germany. It is a small town of 70.000 inhabitants which has about two thousand years of history in the country of Rhineland Palatinate. Worms is one hour away from Frankfurt Airport and two hours away from Strasbourg, the town of the European Parliament. Considering the geographic situation, Worms is the centre of Comenius‟ Europe. Since 1996 we had Comenius projects almost every year with partners all over Europe.

Loreley

Situated on the board of the river Rhine, Worms has on its western parts the vineyards on the hills and on the eastern side of the river the large plain with its agricultural areas. Due to the transport capacities of the main river in Western Europe, many big industries have been installed southwards at Ludwigshafen (BASF) or northwards in Bingen (Boehringer). Most important are the legends on the Rhine and, of course, the vine growing on both banks of the river.

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GERMANY Our town

On the photograph on page 7 you see the rock of Lady Loreley, who in former time combed her beautiful blond hair, disturbing the shippers passing the dangerous edge beyond the rock. This danger doesn‟t seem to belong to ancient times of fairy tales because some months ago a big ship capsized exactly in this place.

The Nibelungen legend has its place in the Middle Ages in Worms, where Siegfried (from Xanten near the Netherland border) wanted to conquer Kriemhilde. After some European complications from Iceland down to Hungary, the Burgundy kings or whatever was left of the family, after murder and revenge, went down to France, and we heard later from them in the events about Jeanne d‟Arc.

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Our town GERMANY

These are our three stone monuments:

The cathedral founded by the bishop Burchard I in the year 1000. The Northern portal of the cathedral is playing a crucial role in the fight between Kriemhilde and Brunhilde, the legendary queen coming from Iceland.

The Jewish cemetery reminds of the pre- eminent Jewish life and culture in Germany, especially in both “Schumm”- towns Speyer and Worms.

Last but not least, the “Diet of Worms” in 1521 led to the Reform and the separation of Christian religion into catholic and protestant denominations. This is illustrated by the big Luther monument.

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GERMANY Our school

Our School: Eleonoren-Gymnasium

One of the most interesting Art Nouveau buildings in Worms is our school, the Eleonoren-Gymnasium. It was built as an ensemble with the “Wasserturm” (water tower) and the Luther church. There are also some private buildings nearby the school that are built in this style.

The Water tower The frontside The Luther church of the Eleonoren-Gymnasium

All these buildings were built in 1904-06. They were supposed to be the centre of the newly developing western district of Worms. The facade of the Eleonoren-Gymnasium is a mix of various styles: Gothic, Renaissance and Art Nouveau. The Renaissance influence is from the mint of Worms (“Haus zur Münze”) were the coins of Worms were coined. This building was destroyed in the War of the Palatinate Succession (“Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg”) in 1688- 1697.

On the second floor we find Romanesque columns with Art Nouveau decoration that were coloured by some students. On one column there is for example the Luther rose (“Lutherrose”). On the other columns we see floral structures and ornaments which are typical for Art Nouveau. Another theme are animals, e.g. a ram and a wolf. All these elements have also a local symbolic meaning: The Luther rose refers to the neighbourhood of the protestant Luther church. The chestnuts with their blossom and fruits are a symbol for growing and decaying in human being and learning.

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Our school GERMANY

These trees are also in front of the school.

The chestnut paintings The Luther rose on the Luther rose at the school‟s second floor facade

There is one original window on the first floor. Also the ground floor and the stairrails show us original ornaments of the school. Inside and outside the school we can find squares as ornaments. This geometric figure was a usual characteristic in the Art Nouveau of Vienna. (see also: Squares at the Elo; Workshop Worms, Eleonoren-Gymnasium; Worms)

The owl of wisdom meets Wolf or Bear ?! Ram inside and outside the Nibelungen dragon

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GERMANY Meeting 1

Visit in Worms – meeting 1

Our Comenius partner schools were visiting the Eleonoren-Gymnasium in Worms from Tuesday 3rd until Sunday, 8th November 2009.

As one class of students already had visited Nancy after the summer vacation 2009, this post card was supposed to attract hosting families for our guests.

As the delegations arrived by different planes and choaches, we asked a shuttle service to bring students and teachers to the railway station in Worms. The nasty winter weather vanished rapidly, when the first hugs showed that we “Germans from the North” were not that “terrible” as the Spanish apprehended. As we already had met Vidar from Norway at the “preparatory visit” in January 2009, the Norwegian students were prepared to the kindness of the “Germans from the South”. The Belgians did not seem to have special ideas about the Germans; maybe they imagine having a similar character.

Anyway, the guest students had found their families, everybody was talking in English, they gave a little “good bye” to their teachers and disappeared in their European families.

The teachers found their headquarter in the hotel “Römischer Kaiser” which has a nice restaurant and the attentive hosting family of Uwe Groß.

At the first meeting in school, headmaster Otfried Eger welcomed the European guests in the teachers‟ room and the guest teachers answered in their language, showing how different Europe can be and how well we can come and work together thanks to Comenius.

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Meeting 1 GERMANY

Our teacher of arts, Ulla Bernhard, guided the guests through the school building showing many art nouveau details, especially the capital decorations of the third floor where she had applied the colours lost in a former restoration of the Eleonoren-Gymnasium. Two workshops introduced the students into our Comenius project: Working on a wiki and decorate in the Art Nouveau style the capitals in the entrance hall, the “visit card” of every school.

Students of form 13 showed how they had been working on the wiki, the structure and some examples (Toulouse-Lautrec, Charles Oberthür, Marie Curie, Gabriel Lippmann and others) giving the confidence to the European students that they also would be able working on a wiki like the “big Wikipedia”. http://wiki.my-jugendstil.eu

The most fun brought the creative workshop of designing Art Nouveau motives for the decoration of the capitals in the entrance of our school, guided also by Ulla Bernhard and Eberhard Grillparzer, teacher of Arts as well. Fun for the students

and fun for the teachers.

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GERMANY Meeting 1

The most beautiful concepts should be realised at the visit of the Secretary of culture of Rhineland Palatinate and, Mrs. Vera Reiß, who honored at the “European school day” with her appreciation the excellent results we all already had achieved with our Comenius project.

Ulla Bernhard showed our German Jugendstil at the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt, which is quite different from the French, Belgian and Spanisch Art Nouveau, but comes close to the Jugendstil at the “Apotheke” in Alesund.

Our meeting must have been a good success on the emotional level if we count the tears shed at the good bye. But we should be lucky looking forward to the following meetings in our partner schools.

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Workshop GERMANY

Art Nouveau Workshop in Worms (Comenius meeting in 2009)

During the Comenius meeting in Worms we worked on the Art Nouveau at the Eleonoren-Gymnasium in two groups:

One group designed the new "Art Nouveau" decoration of the capitals on the first floor of our school: New Capitals at the Elo.

The other group coulored the squares inside and outside the school to make them visible. These squares are Art Nouveau ornaments, an influence of the Art Nouveau of Vienna.

See Squares at the Elo and Squares: Art Nouveau in Vienna

New Capitals at the Elo

During the project meeting in Worms in 2009 the Comenius group prepared a "new" Art Nouveau decoration for the capitals at the Elo.

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GERMANY Workshop

Before, the German art teacher Ulla Bernhard showed and explained us the original capitals on the second floor. Then we started to make drafts for the capitals on the first floor. We used gingko leaves as a symbol of friendship and long-living. The drafts were painted on the capitals in May 2010 by Comenius pupils and some other gifted pupils. The European day in May was a good opportunity to present our project work to the school, a member of the ministery of Education and the public.

Gingko - a symbol of friendship and long-

living

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Workshop GERMANY

Squares at the Elo The squares at the Eleonoren-Gymnasium are influenced by Austrian architects, as you can see in Squares: Art Nouveau in Vienna. We made them "visible" in a Workshop during the Comenius project week 2009.

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NORWAY Our town

Norway - Ålesund

Our town: Ålesund

The town of Ålesund lies in the middle west part of Norway, bordering on the Atlantic coast. Travelling to Ålesund you either come by boat (the traditional way), by road or plane, landing at Vigra airport, which is a quite small one, but important to the industry and trade businesses in the region, including, but of course not limited to, fishing and furniture. As the geographical placement suggests, Ålesund has a coastal climate which ensures pleasant weather throughout the year, although the people living here regularly experience the winds and currents provided by the Atlantic Ocean.

Ålesund is known internationally for its many houses constructed in the Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) fashion. Historically the reason for this is quite tragic, as the town experienced a devastating fire in 1904. Most of the houses in the outer (central) region of the town burnt down to the ground, but luckily few died. During reconstruction the town was lucky enough to have architects inspired by the Art Nouveau style which was in fashion throughout Europe. Today the town is a member of the European network for Art Nouveau together with cities like Brüssels, Barcelona, Wien, Riga and Nancy. The town is steadily growing and is expected to have grown from 35 000 inhabitants in 1993 to around 50 000 in 2018. Today approximately 44 000 live here. It is the biggest town between more populated Bergen and Trondheim.

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Our town NORWAY

More than 300 houses were constructed in the Art Nouveau style to help the town recover from the town fire. Already three years after the fire many of the houses were finished. Sadly around 20 % of the houses have deteriorated or have been torn down to give space for modern buildings. There is more awareness now than ever before about taking care of the town's cultural heritage, and advocates of the towns Jugendstil houses work to preserve the unique architecture. The local government is working on a plan for preserving and developing the town, including its Jugendstil architecture, both concerning the inside decoration and the facades.

Although Ålesund is the place most famous for its Jugendstil architecture in Norway, there is evidence of the influence of the style in other cities as well, particularly in Trondheim, Bergen and Oslo, where there is also a section dedicated to the style in The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design.

Spjelkavik is a part of the municipality of Ålesund, where our school is situated. The school lies close to the centre of Spjelkavik and not far from the bustling Moa area, with one of the biggest shopping centres in Norway. Spjelkavik also has some industry, including Br. Sunde, making insulation for both houses and the fishing industry.

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NORWAY Our town

Our school: Spjelkavik ungdomsskole

Spjelkavik ungdomsskole is a public lower secondary school situated in Spjelkavik, a part of the municipality of Ålesund. The school has approximately 450 pupils and 50 teachers, divided into three levels (8th through 10th) with five or six classes on each level. The school has a 35 year history, and is currently in the planning stages

for a total renovation, including new facilities for teachers and students. Work on the new facilities will begin January 2012 and be finished within the next few years. Our school follows the national curriculum, but puts an especially heavy emphasis on being a culture school, as evidenced in our famous Spjelkavik Grand Prix, which will soon celebrate its 20 years anniversary. In this yearly project event hosted every first Thursday of February, pupils work together with teachers and persons from the local community to arrange a music festival, a kind of “miniature Eurovision Song Contest”. All pupils in the school take part in different ways, making costumes, props, lyrics to songs, and rehearsing choreographed moves to be performed on stage in front of excited onlookers.

The current Comenius project we are involved in is something different, but still a field of study we direct our efforts towards building up. Although Norway is not part of the European Union, schools in our country actively seek collaboration in different projects with other schools in Europe, both in Comenius projects such as the current one and in other programs. This Comenius project is the second one for our school, as we have recently ended a project focusing on “Living by the Sea”.

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Our school NORWAY

For this project we were lucky enough to receive an invitation from a school in Worms, Germany. Wolfgang Klemm, the main coordinator at Eleonoren-Gymnasium, was looking for potential partners for a Jugendstil project, and sent out an invitation via the municipality and the mayor of Ålesund. We soon heard of this interesting project, and later on were invited to Worms for a preparatory visit, setting up a project application. We see this project as a very interesting part of cementing the Comenius way of working with international, and particularly European, relations.

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NORWAY Meeting 2

Visit in Ålesund – meeting 2

The project meeting in Ålesund would be the second meeting of the project. We got things starting in Worms, and worked with the students on our separate ends before meeting again in May 2010. Sunday May 16 the German teachers and pupils landed without much trouble on Vigra airport, somewhat smaller than the big airports they are used to south of Norway. The Belgian and Spanish contingents were supposed to arrive a bit later in the evening at Vigra, but because of trouble with fog they had to be rerouted to Årø airport, outside of Molde, the closest town north of Ålesund. After an exciting trip, also by bus and ferry, we met up with the later arrivals at Moa bus station around 02:30 in the night. The pupils met up with their host families, while the teachers were accommodated in hotel Baronen in Spjelkavik, the local hotel close to Spjelkavik lower secondary school.

The big reason why we arranged the meeting in Ålesund at this specific point in time was to give our guests the chance to experience how we celebrate our Constitution Day on May 17. Early in the morning the teachers were picked up at the hotel and driven to the town centre, were we met up with the guest and host pupils. For the first part of the day we wanted the visiting pupils and teachers to join the Norwegians in the national day parade, which is a well established tradition, giving especially children a chance to celebrate our country's independence, liberty and national colours. Among other things we would experience waving of flags, chanting, singing and marching bands. One special attraction is the Norwegian «russ», who celebrate having finished 13 years of school, in their characteristic blue and red outfits. Of course all the others are

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Meeting 2 NORWAY dressed in their finest, including Norwegian national costumes.

After having finished the parade, the pupils joined the host families for celebrations according to the family traditions, while the teachers joined their Norwegian colleagues for lunch at a café in the town centre. Later on the festivities continued at our local school, where there was the possibility of enjoying eating and drinking typical of this national celebration. We think many enjoyed the good cakes on offer, made by parents of our pupils.

On Tuesday May 18 teachers and pupils met in the town centre for a combination of a guided tour of the Jugendstil area in our town, and a visit to the Jugendstil centre, located in one of the most famous houses built after the town fire. The guided tour let us investigate some major examples of Jugendstil architecture and decoration in Ålesund, as witnessed in the following images.

Following the excellent guided tour, we had the chance to visit the Jugendstil centre, where many items typical of Jugendstil are on display. There is of course also the decorations to witness, and, perhaps, the most exciting experience: a chance to enter the Time Machine and travel back in time to see for oneself what happened that fateful night in 1904 when the town was set on fire.

Later in the day we returned to the school to join everyone in one of our school's traditions: the general assembly. This is a gathering of all pupils and teachers, where we give our pupils a chance to express themselves in various ways, while also having a chance to spread information effectively. At this particular meeting, the visiting pupils from Málaga, Worms and Geel were allowed to share their presentations of their schools and cities with our pupils and teachers, which everyone managed admirably and in their own different manners, including both cleverly made films and computer presentations. Later on, one of our Spanish guests, Alejandro, was even persuaded to play the guitar and sing some songs. The entertainment was well appreciated by everyone, and many expressed their liking of the performance, which was only to be expected, having such a nice performer on stage.

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NORWAY Meeting 2

The day continued with a teacher meeting, while pupils were allowed time off. Later in the evening they would get the chance to join in a disco arranged by pupils and parents from the school. From what we heard, this was a well appreciated event,

giving everyone a chance to get to know each other better, and also enjoying themselves with singing and dancing.

Wednesday May 19 was the day for practical work, focusing on workshops of window painting and silk painting. Our German guests had kindly offered to bring along materials for window painting, and included a demonstration of how to manage the painting. Our Norwegian teachers offered an introduction to silk painting. Motives were of course inspired by our guided tour through the town of Ålesund the day before. Many pupils showed off their talents, and many a teacher gave a good effort as well. Later in the day the host pupils invited their guests to join them in the classrooms, to experience typical Norwegian lessons. Perhaps the lessons were not that different from what they are used to in their respective schools and countries?

Thursday May 20 was the last full day of our project meeting in Ålesund. The day was spent mostly on an excursion to some of our best spots for experiencing the local region. We started the trip at school, taking a bus to Fjellstua, a spot where you get the full panorama view from a hill overlooking the town. Many took advantage of the opportunity to both admire the fantastic view, and to take photographs of each other close to the rails guarding from a fall down towards the park below. With some more time we could even have walked down the 400- something steps to town.

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Meeting 2 NORWAY

Instead we continued our tour to a place outside the town and municipality, closer to Vigra airport. The place is called Alnes and has a lighthouse which is a typical destination for tourists and locals alike. Unfortunately the lighthouse was closed at our moment of visiting, but the pupils did not mind this, as they had a chance to walk and play on the beach close by. Many took their photo opportunities here too, and some would have liked to stay longer.

The show had to move on, however, as the pupils had planned a trip to the local aquarium. Before going back to town we stopped by a small chapel, where everyone relaxed for a bit, some exploring the grounds around the chapel, while others relaxed before continuing the journey back into town. Our aquarium is a pride of our town, where you among other things may experience feeding of the fishes by a diver, and also the feeding of penguins. If you wanted, you could also take part in the feeding of some fishes yourself later on.

While the pupils were busy at the aquarium, the teachers had a meeting at the municipality building, where a representative of the local trade board gave a presentation including information about our town's collaboration and relations with towns and companies in Europe. Of course this includes making the business of our local companies known abroad, as well as attracting resourceful persons to Ålesund. Following this meeting we had the last teacher project meeting, starting the planning of the next meeting in Málaga in the autumn of 2010.

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NORWAY Meeting 2

Later in the evening pupils and teachers alike met for a farewell dinner in the local restaurant called Bulduk's, a place known for both good Turkish food and good pizzas. Everyone enjoyed their pizzas and drinks, and of course many had to say their goodbyes to their friends from Belgium, Spain and Germany. Later in the evening some perhaps continued their farewell celebrations. At least the teachers did, as we enjoyed good tapas and seafood at a restaurant in town.

Friday May 21 was a day of departure for most of our guests, as the German pupils and teachers left quite early, while the Belgians waited for some more hours before their departure. Our Spanish guests decided to stay around for another day, and did not leave until Saturday, a decision we hope (and think) they did not regret. At least it gave them a chance to enjoy our town and the hospitality of their host families for one more day.

As your Norwegian hosts we certainly had a great time having all of you from Worms, Málaga and Geel as our guests for this week. We sincerely hope you have taken good moments with you home in your memories, and that you will look back upon what happened in Ålesund with happiness for years to come. You have certainly given us the chance to experience the joy of sharing and taking part in good learning opportunities. We fondly remember the workshops, presentations and language lessons, along with the excursions, meals and conversations. Thank you all for taking part in the meeting.

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Our school SPAIN

Spain – Màlaga

Our town: Malaga

Málaga lies on the Costa del Sol in the South of Spain. With a population of more than 500,000 is the second most populous city in Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. Málaga enjoys a subtropical climate. The most important business sectors in Málaga are Tourism, Construction and Technology Services, but other sectors such as Transportation and Logistics are beginning to expand. The Technology Park of Andalusia (PTA), located in Málaga, has enjoyed significant growth since its inauguration in 1992.

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SPAIN Out town

Málaga's history spans about 2,700 years and is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was founded by the Phoenicians as Malaka about 770 BC, from the 6th century BC in Ancient Carthage, from 218 BC - Roman Republic and later Roman Empire (as latin Malaca), after the fall of the empire of the 800 years under the from 1487 ,((مال قة) domination of Arabs (as Mālaqah under the dominion of the Spaniards. The archaeological remains and monuments from the Phoenician, Roman,

Arabian and Christian eras convert the historic center into an "Open Museum" displaying its rich history of more than 3,000 years.

Unfortunately, there aren‟t many examples of Art Nouveau style in Málaga‟s architecture. We could only point out some details of Art Nouveau in the Town Hall, a remarkable building situated in the park promenade, between the port and old town, home of the Málaga city council. But in the Mediterranean Sea, especially in Catalonia, we find many great examples of Art Nouveau architecture developed not only in residential buildings, but also in institutional, religious, sanitary and welfare, educative, industrial and office buildings. Domènech i Montaner (1849-1923) was essential to define the "Modernisme arquitectonic" (architectonic Art Nouveau) in Catalonia. His article "En busca d'una arquitectura nacional" (In search of a national architecture), published in the review "La Renaixença", reflexes the way to attempt a modern architecture reflexing the national Catalan character. Gaudí, Domènech i Montaner, Puig i Cadafalch, Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia, Rubió i Bellver and a big group of excellent Catalan architects fill Catalonia with lots of marvellous buildings. Using traditional building materials as brick, and new materials (at that time) as iron, the Art Nouveau Catalan architects had developed new technologies (the lofts and balconies of La Pedrera, the lofts of Bellesguard, the Palau de la Música, or later the interior of cellars in Pinell de Brai-examples on how far the constructive technologies in brick or ornamentation in iron must come-).

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Our school SPAIN

Our school: Virgen del Carmen San Patricio Virgen del Carmen San Patricio is a catholic school belonging to the Fundación Diocesana de Enseñanza Santa María de la Victoria. It is located in Abogado Federico Orellana Toledano street in Huelin, a traditional fishermen‟s neighbourhood.

The school gathers students from children to secondary level. It is living and ongoing improvement of its educational methods and also expanding it physically according to its limited space since it is surrounded by other buildings. The chosen area of study, focused on Art Nouveau, has been a fantastic opportunity for us to start working in Comenius projects due to its precise approach (theoretical and practical at the same time) headed by the Worms school group, and this must be the line to follow in the forthcoming years.

The students involved in this project have been chosen from 3rd and 4th degree ESO (from 12 up to 15 years old). It has been an enriching experience for them as for the teachers participating in the Comenius grant -they have learned to work with international groups, to create a wiki and many other works, in short to make real a project that was a challenge for them-.

This is the first Comenius project participated by the school and it is our aim to continue working on it and on other similar projects to benefit our present students and the ones who will come in the future.

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BELGIUM Our town

Visit in Málaga – meeting 3

Malaga visit, 3rd meeting: 24th – 31st October 2010 Our time spent in Malaga was an unforgettable experience for all the Spanish students who hosted for more than a week the foreign students that later became their close friends. Of course, a great time also for us, the teachers, to keep working in a project. The Norwegian team was the earliest one –they arrived on Saturday and enjoyed a warm-up day in La Costa del Sol. The rest of the Comenius partners landed the next day, under a shinny sun. Fortunately, the flights were on time and we brought everybody in our private vehicles to the hotel to have a break until we gathered in the welcome dinner. The students, they were so excited that they found their host families and quickly disappeared. The hotel was located in the centre heading the Mediterranean sea, offering our partners a perfect place to relax during their free time and to recover strength for the next day. On Monday the Comenius team was at 8.30in the morning in Virgen del Carmen San Patricio School, where they were welcomed by the headmaster; Ángeles Jiménez Hornos, and a group of Flamenco dancers formed by our students. After the school visit, we celebrated our first meeting in the teachers’ room . We explained the program to our partners and the forthcoming visits to La Alhambra, the white town of Frigiliana and Nerja, and the visit to the Picasso Museum and the historical centre. We arrived early in the morning to la Alhambra. This is the most visited monument in our country and gave us an example of the way of living of earlier Muslims in Spain. Students and teachers enjoyed the guided tour a lot. The visit to the Picasso Museum was very interesting because of the fresh manners of a young lady who guided our tour making of it an interactive activity for the students. Only teachers enjoyed the visit to Nerja anf Frigiliana, one of the most picturesque towns in the region.

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Meeting 3 SPAIN

The works in school focused on the Wiki and the workshops. After the countries presentation in the IT classroom we continued working in the Wiki project. We created new articles and we also worked with interactive questioners that the students answered by looking for the information in the corpus of articles from the Wiki.

In the creative workshop the students created Art Nouveau panels on a mosaic technique (trencadis) to decorate the walls of the courtyard. We both, students and teachers had a great time during the creative workshop and the preparing videos that our Art teacher, Antonio Zamorano, showed us about Gaudi and his works in Barcelona. After a hard working day we came back to the school to fix al the panels into the wall. The wall was gorgeously decorated in Art Nouveau style. We also worked with Caligrams in an activity prepared by Verena Koenig. Teachers and students let their inspiration fly and we created very accurate poetic drawings.

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BELGIUM Our town

Last Sunday arrived and teachers and students went back having done a good job and having enjoyed at the same time.

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Our town BELGIUM

Belgium

Our town: Geel

Geel is a town with 38,000 inhabitants and 105 nationalities, in the province of Antwerp. It belongs to the Flemish Community in federal Belgium. Until a few decades ago it was a rural community. Because of its location near several canals, railways and the international Motorway E313, Geel has recently also developed a large industrial area. It is also a school centre: nearly 10,000 students and pupils attend secondary, technical and higher education schools. The countryside is never far away. Geel has unique and valuable nature reserves, extensive forests, rippling stretches of water and murmuring brooklets. You can discover valleys, sand dunes and ridges, beautiful parks and greens to play in. It is a modern centre for agriculture and rurality which of its kind is unique. People take pride in Geel being a very lively community. There are events big and small, amusing festivals, ancient traditions, colourful markets, sporting confrontations at an exceptional level, lots of space and possibilities for active and healthy exercise. Also an inexhaustible library, a cultural centre with something to suit all tastes and movie theatres where fiction seems reality. Historical churches and chapels, unexpected monuments, a network of mysterious paths in the city centre, museums as mirrors of a distant past, old cemeteries as valuable heritage. Full of history and an unlimited source of (true) stories. Like Saint Dimpna church and the legend of Saint Dimpna…

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BELGIUM Our town

The legend of Saint Dimpna Geel is known far beyond its boundaries for putting out its psychiatric patients to board in families. This kind of „care‟ means that psychiatric and mentally ill patients stay in a foster family and participate in family life. This is a unique feature in psychiatry, the basis of which lies in the legend of St Dimpna. This legend, written down by Petrus van Kamerijk in about 1250, tells how an Irish princess, Dimpna, died as a martyr in Geel in the year 600. According to this document, Dimpna was the daughter of a heathen king of Ireland. Her mother, the Queen, had become a catholic and raised her daughter in the same belief. After the death of his wife the King was inconsolable and nothing or nobody could make him happy. His courtiers suggested that he remarried a woman who would be as beautiful as his former wife. The messengers who were sent out all came back without results because such a woman was not to be found. They then advised the king to marry... his own daughter, Dimpna. So the king, caught by a devilish lust, asked his daughter in marriage. This proposal gave the deeply religious Dimpna a great shock and she firmly refused. With a few faithful servants, among whom her confessor Gerebernus and the court jester with his wife, she crossed the North Sea and reached shore at the port of Antwerp. Upon fleeing further inland she found herself in Zammel, a hamlet of Geel (near Westerlo), where she settled in a little hut. Her father traced her with the help of an innkeeper from nearby Westerlo (the inn was called „The Kettle‟) who recognised the coins with which Dimpna had previously paid her. The tradition added that the hostess, unaware of her unintentional betrayal, pointed out the direction with a stretched arm, and this was suddenly immobilized. So this is how the king caught up with his daughter. But still Dimpna obstinately refused to accept her father‟s impossible proposal. Mad with

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Our town BELGIUM fury the King fled into a demented rage and beheaded his daughter. Gerebernus was also murdered, and the inhabitants piously buried both martyrs.

The people started to honour them as holy martyrs. Miraculous healings followed and in time the tomb became a place of pilgrimage in honour of Dimpna. This is where the legend ends. The place of pilgrimage had a certain aura in those days. Naturally there were other such holy figures abroad, but Geel‟s fame was wider spread due to the great number of „miraculous healings‟ that occurred „because of the intervention‟ of Dimpna.

Psychiatric Family Care in Geel Dimpna resisting a father who was possessed by the devil, made the medieval people believe that „Saint‟ Dimpna also had power over other persons who were possessed by the devil. In short, after some time Dimpna grew into a „patron of insanity‟. At first the patients were housed in the church. Later on, special buildings were established. The present „Sick Chamber‟ dates from 1687. In those days, methods of admission and treatment demonstrated anything but a human approach in Europe. The treatment always consisted of „exorcism‟-techniques. They used medical prescriptions, and of course Dimpna‟s relics, which were believed to have a „supernatural‟ healing power. A patient in Geel had to confess and communicate (consecrated water) as often as possible. Every three days he had to creep barefoot under St Dimpna‟s reliquary, among other things such as staying within the Sick Chamber for nine days and drinking from the „ablution water‟ (= water to clean the chalice) after the daily mass. The patient was also weighed and had to sacrifice his weight in corn to Dimpna. These were the various penances during a „noveen‟ and they were written down in the Liber Innocenticum. It is very likely that family care developed in the late Middle Ages. Some psychiatric patients were put out by their own relatives with citizens who lived near the St Dimpna Church. Later on family care expanded to the whole territory of Geel. Clergymen were organising these placements until the end of the 18th century. In 1797 the French revolution put an end to this first religious phase of family care in Geel. The priests were driven away, and the church was closed. Until the 19th century the St Dimpna Church was a church for pilgrims rather than a parish church. It was part of the centre parish St Amands till 1874, the year in which the St Dimpna

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BELGIUM Our town

Parish was founded. The families who took in patients were financially paid for by the patients‟ relatives. The year 1850 meant a definite break with the past: family care in Geel was put under the supervision of the State by a national law. The State - in the form of the Ministry of Justice - took family care under its authority as a „State Colony‟. In 1862 the State built an „infirmary‟, a central hospital, developed by the architect Pauly, according to the progressive ideas of Professor Guislain of Ghent. The Geel State Colony soon became renowned throughout the world for its system and it was followed in a lot of places. The number of patients increased rapidly and reached its climax in 1938 with 3,726 patients for a total number of 20,000 inhabitants in Geel. At this moment about a thousand patients still live in Geel. The main reason for this decrease is undoubtedly a financial one (the cost which has to be paid by the patients‟ relatives or by the State). Today, in the context of regional formation, family care in Geel comes under the Ministry of Public Health of the Flemish Community and it received its present title: Public Psychiatric Centre. The cult of St Dimpna has stopped a few decades ago, but since 1975 the 15th of May has been celebrated as „St Dimpna‟s Day‟ and every five years the St Dimpna procession marches through the centre of Geel. The St Dimpna Museum and „Gasthuismuseum‟ (Hospital Museum) opened a section exclusively dealing with family care of insane people.

One final remark: After the Second World War the Geel tourist services launched a new slogan: „Geel, City of Charity‟. It is up to you to find out this week if it deserves this honourable title...

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Our school BELGIUM

Our school: KOGEKA KOGEKA – Catholic Education in Geel and Kasterlee

KOGEKA is a community of six secondary schools in the neighbouring municipalities of Geel and Kasterlee, in the north east of the province of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium. These six institutes offer general, technical and vocational education in a wide range of study fields to pupils aged 12-19. Courses range from Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Languages, Sciences… to Carpentry, Bakery, Agriculture, Construction, Electricity, Mechanics, Hotel, Office, Informatics… All 6 schools together total more than 4000 pupils and almost 700 members of staff. Geel is a regional education centre.

Sint-Aloysiusinstituut/Peperstraatje When you are 12 years old, you are a 1st grade student and then you can start at the Sint-Aloysius institute or Peperstraatje. Both schools total 1100 pupils and 130 teachers. The courses range from general to vocational education. You can stay at this school until you are 14 years old.

Sint-Dimpnacollege After the 1st grade you continue your studies at another KOGEKA school. One possibility is general education. Pupils can choose a number of courses: Mathematics, Latin, Greek, Modern Languages, Sciences, Economics… This school has about 650 pupils and 70 teachers.

Sint-Jozefinstituut Pupils may also choose a technical or vocational education. Then they can go to Sint-Jozefinstituut. This school consists of 5 departments: Mechanics- Electricity, Woodwork-Construction, Catering, Agriculture and Part-time Education. In this school, about 250 teachers educate 1700 pupils.

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BELGIUM Our school

Sint-Maria Instituut This school totals about 530 pupils and 80 teachers. Here, you can study technical and vocational education. The courses offered, range from Trade to Nursing. You can study Shop Management, Sales, Informatics… but also Child Care, Social and Technical Sciences…

Sancta-Maria Instituut in Kasterlee This school is located outside Geel in a neighbouring municipality, Kasterlee. This schools offers general, Technical and Vocational education to about 440 pupils.

KOGEKA AND EUROPE

Since 1992, KOGEKA schools have continuously been involved in European projects of all kinds (Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci). In 2003, KOGEKA organised SPLASH, the Third European Youth Congress for Water, with 400 participants from 28 countries, and coordinated the Socrates Accompanying Measures project „SPLASH. The International Year of Freshwater 2003, Stepping-stone Towards Sustainable Development Education‟.

From 2003 to 2006, KOGEKA schools participated in the Socrates Minerva project „GISAS. GIS Applications for Schools‟, in which the results of water quality assessment were processed in Arcview and visualised on digital maps. The Sint- Dimpnacollege, one of the KOGEKA schools, played a very active role in the project and organised the final meeting in Geel in September 2006.

Meanwhile, projects involving GIS and water quality have been set up in all KOGEKA schools. KOGEKA was the coordinator of the iGuess project, that ran until the first of October 2010. Its aim was to introduce GIS (Global Information Systems) in Education in all subjects. KOGEKA was also part of the ACT4RIVERS Comenius Partnership. Both projects resulted in a 5-day teacher training: the iGUESS course held in Geel and the ACT4RIVERS course held in Rumania.

KOGEKA has a lot of experience in the field of organising projects and workshops and it has a lot of contacts with secondary schools all over Europe.

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Meeting 4 BELGIUM

Visit in Geel – meeting 4 Our Comenius partner schools visited the partner school in Geel from Sunday 8th until Friday, 13th May 2011. After weeks of preparation everyone was ready for our final meeting in Geel. Students were excited, especially those for whom this was their first European experience. And in the teachers room there they were: Germans, Spaniards and Norwegians. After a snack, a drink and a short introduction they returned home.Teachers found their room in a hotel at the marketplace and in the evening they dined together and got to know each other. Monday

We all gathered at school for our first real “Comenius day”. Our headmaster Mrs Peeters welcomed all the foreigners. Lien and Janne made sure we could start our day fresh and cheerful. The physical exercise (?) was followed by presentations of Norway, Belgium and Germany, except for the Spanish contribution, which we had to miss due to technical difficulties. While the teachers discussed the project activities and prepared the wiki activities, pupils could get to know each other during some games which were followed by a Dutch lesson and a little quiz.

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BELGIUM Meeting 4

In the afternoon pupils and teachers took a city tour. This walk through the centre of Geel led us along many Art Nouveau buildings (see example 1).

In the evening the pupils gathered at Karen‟s house for a real campfire and the teachers had a meeting while dining at a restaurant.

Tuesday Brussels is the capital of Art Nouveau and magnificent structures throughout the capital city are recognized as "world heritage" by UNESCO. The brilliant creative works of Victor Horta, Paul Hankar, as well as those of other architects, bring pleasure to thousands of visitors who enter the private world of these opulent houses every year. We simply couldn‟t miss out on this! We started off with a guided tour in the Horta Museum, which was the studio and home of architect Victor Horta. Interesting to see how everything there was made by Horta himself. The teachers took their lunch on top of the Instrumental Music centre, a former art nouveau building, whereas pupils got time for a free lunch. Afterwards the Belgian pupils guided the European group throughout the city. The groups had to find some pictures and solve questions while we passed various famous monuments, like Manneken Pis, the Comic Strip Museum, the Mont des Arts and the former Niquet shop of Hankar. When we arrived back in Geel, pupils gathered in the leonardo for a movie Wednesday Today we took the train to Antwerp. First there was an interesting City Walk in Zurenborg. This is the Art Nouveau "golden triangle", a quarter defined by three streets; Cogels Osylei, Waterloostraat and Transvaalstraat, that was built mainly between 1890 and 1906. The district is situated near the railway

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Meeting 4 BELGIUM station of Berchem. In Belgium the district is sometimes also referred to as the 'COGELS-OSY lei', which is the name of its main street. Several architects worked in the neighbourhood. Among them were Joseph Bascourt, who designed 25 of the houses, Jules Hofman, and Frans Smet-Verhas. What you can see here is absolutely unique in Belgium, or perhaps even in Europe. An incredible mixture of architectural styles. One can find a house in neo-gothic style standing right next to a house in Art Nouveau style. All the houses were built at the time when the neo-styles were very popular all over Belgium. One style, however, was new: the ART NOUVEAU style. In the 1950s and 1960s the entire area was

considered to be out of fashion. People started a request to protect the entire district as a monument. In the 1970s a change came about. The collection of neo-styles got better appreciated again and seen for what it really was: a perfect example of the mentality and taste of a certain epoch, in this case the 'fin de siècle' of the 19th century. It wasn't until 1984 the protection came into effect. In the nineties there was a revival and it attracts mostly young people thanks to its village-like atmosphere. The area became popular for artists, and entrepreneurs. Many houses became listed monuments. Currently more than 170 buildings are protected monuments. With support of public subsidies, many owners succeeded to renovate their properties and Zurenborg became an example of a well functioning urban neighbourhood with a varied mixture of people. It was in this beautiful quarter that we started our visit in the morning, divided into four groups. Each group was given several detailed pictures of the houses that we needed to find, we had to discover at least ten houses which were built in art nouveau style and answer the questions. Because of this assignment we had to look at the houses very carefully. Later that day we took the tram for a free afternoon in the city. Most of us found the shoppingstreet at the Meir very quickly! In the evening pupils organised a birthday party for Alice, a Norwegian girl. Thursday

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BELGIUM Meeting 4

The last day of our European week. Today pupils could experience how Belgian pupils have classes. The German pupils took a German lesson, the Norvegian pupils an English lesson and the Spanish followed lessons along with their host. After this it was time to work on the wikis. In mixted groups we were asked to read the text carefully and to answer the questions; this way we learned from each other Then it was time for the creative workshop. Peter Hoedemaekers, our teacher of art, showed us the tree of life of Gustave Klimt. Inspired by this example we all got a piece of paper (?) and tried to give the tree our own touch. Each group got a theme to think about and search for a few details: freedom, youth, science , teamspirit, education, environment, culture, Europe. Unfortunately we weren‟t able to finish our project within two hours, but the Belgian pupils or teachers will finish it later. In the afternoon pupils had some sport activities planned, while the teachers worked hard at the final report. They considered what actions were to be completed and who had to take care of this. In the evening we met at a pizza restaurant. It was very nice, there was singing and laughing ... and of course we all enjoyed a delicious pizza buffet. After a speech by the participating countries, it was time to go home... or to another party! We said goodbye to each other, feeling exhausted but very satisfied! Friday 13th May Before classes started again, all the guests were on their way, to Norway, Spain or Germany.

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Meeting 4 BELGIUM

Example 1 the first part of the city walk GEEL during the international week of the Comenius project of art nouveau  Find the different photographs  Answer the questions  Locate the numbers on the route-map  Locate the 5 houses where your guide will give you more historical background  Listen to the explanations of the art nouveau houses

1)This house, built in 1800, was the home of the first mayor of Geel. a)What was his name? b b)In which year was he born? c c)In which year was he murdered by Xhenceval?

2) What is the colour of the door of this small chapel built in 1600? Walk in the direction of the Heidebloemstraat.

VILLA HEIDEBLOEM This is one of the art nouveau houses. Listen to the explanation of your guide

YELLOW LEGEND This house is called the Yellow Legend Listen to the story of this house

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BELGIUM Meeting 4

PAIN DECO 3) This building is named 'huis Verluyten'. It used to be 3 buildings, built in 1898, 1899 and 1905. The building style is called 'Jugendstil'. Who was the architect? Listen to the story of this house

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WIKI GERMANY

Wiki

Germany – Worms MAX PLANCK (1858-1909)

1. Family and friends Max Planck was born on 23 April 1858 in Kiel as a child of the professor of law, Wilhelm Planck and his second wife Emma Patzig. His real name was Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck. He had four siblings and two half brothers and sisters, who came from the first marriage of his father. In 1867, his family moved to Munich, where he went to school. He wasn't only interested in physics but also in music, because of this he played piano, organ and cello and also went to singing lessons. This is the reason why he composed songs and wrote an operetta. In 1886 he married Marie Merck, who gave birth to four children who all died before their father. His first son, Karl, was born in 1888 and died in 1916 during the First World War in the near of Verdun. His twins Emma and Grete, who were born in 1889, both died while giving birth to their first child. Grete died in 1917 that was the reason why her widower married her sister Emma, who died in 1919. Their children survived the birth and were called Grete and Emma. His latest and youngest son Erwin was born in 1893 and was executed by Nazis 1945 because of an assault on Hitler the 20 July 1944. But even before his children died, his wife Marie had died in 1909, and only one year later he married Marga von Hoesslin. She gave birth to his fifth child, Hermann. During all this Max Planck was living in a neighbourhood in Berlin, where many other professors were living, too. Continuous guests have been Albert Einstein, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner.

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GERMANY WIKI

2. His career He finished school in 1874 at the age of 16 in Munich and decided not to study music but physics. He started his academic studies in the same year and finished them in 1879, but did his teaching-post exam already in 1878. After he had studied physics he worked mainly theoretically. From 1905 until 1909 he was the president of the German Society of Physics and already three years later he became the amanuensis of the Prussic Academy of Science in class physics-maths. Only one year later, he became vice chancellor of the University of Berlin. From 1915 to 1916 he was again the president of the German Society of Physics and in 1930 he was elected president of the “Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft”, where he made it easier to work again for Jewish scientists. Further he told German scientists not to leave Germany. Before all this, he had admonished Hitler of the consequences of the dismissal of the Jews. Because of this and because of his close friendship with Jewish scientists he was pressurized by the nazis into not running for re-election and was called a “white Jew”. When the consolidation of institutional powers began at the end of 1938, Planck out of protest abandoned his work. In 1945, Planck moved to Göttingen and was elected once more president of the “Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft”; and in July 1946 he was the only German to be invited to the celebration of the 300. birthday of Isaac Newton.

3. His discoveries In May 1899 he discovered a new physical constant that was named after him “Plancksches Wirkungsquantum”. Only one year later he laid down the “Plancksches Strahlungsgesetz”, and founded the quantum theory that made the penetration only ten years later with the interpretation of Einstein. In 1905 he read the three works of Einstein about the theory of relativity, that had been achieved in Germany because of the influence of Planck and to which Planck had contributed by improving and extending the special relativity theory.

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WIKI GERMANY

4. His awards In the year 1915 the order “Pour le Mérite” for science and arts was presented to him and only three years later he was decorated with the Nobel Prize for physics for the foundation of the quantum theory. But he received the Nobel Prize only in 1919 because of the First World War. Nine years later he was decorated with the eagle buckler of the German empire and in 1929 the German society of physics donated the first “Max-Planck-Medaillen” on the occasion of the golden doctor jubilee of Planck. The first who received these were Planck and Einstein. On the fourth of October 1947 Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck died in Göttingen. In 1949 the “Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft” was in the honour of Planck renamed in the “Max-Planck-Gesellschaft”.

Sources: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck, www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/PlanckMax/

300th birthday

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GERMANY WIKI

GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE (1880-1913)

Guillaume Apollinaire, actually Wilhelm Albert Vladimir Apollinaris de Waz-Kostrowitcky, was born the 26 August 1880 in Paris and died 9 November 1913 in Paris. Apollinaire, a French compatriot with Italian-Polish roots, is still one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Guillaume went to a school called Lycée Saint-Charles in Monaco. There he started his first writing attempts and wrote some sad poems that represented his unhappy love. In 1899 he moved to Paris, where he worked as a bank clerk and wrote several poems and small newspapers.

During his life in Paris, Apollinaire became friends with some important people like Pablo Picasso, Pablo (English), Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau and Marc Chagall. Those friendships made the young author think about the relationship between poetry and modern art. In this way he made a big step in the French development. 1913: Apollinaire wrote an essay collection entitled "Les Peintres cubistes" ("The Cubist Painters"), that is one of his greatest works. Great attention was also given to his poetry collection "Alcools" (alcohol), written between 1898 and 1913 (see one of its most famous poem, "Le pont Mirabeau" with a translation in English: http://www.textetc.com/workshop/wt-apollinaire-2.html). These collections are now regarded as his masterpieces, as well as the "Calligrammes"("calligrams") from 1918. They are indicative of Apollinaire's poetry and his increasing penchant for abstraction. In many of his poems, especially in the "Alcools", one can see his love for foreign landscapes and towns. In "Vendémaire", he praises the multicultural influences that make Paris so special. Our Comenius-project took inspiration of the calligrams and created its own poems in the Workshop Calligrams during the meeting in Malaga.

My heart is like a flame upside down

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WIKI GERMANY

Strauss, Richard Georg (English)

Richard Georg Strauss was born in Munich on 11 June 1864 and died on 8 September 1949 in Garmisch. He was a German composer, conductor and theatre director of the late 19th and 20th Century. He became famous by his tone poems and operas. His father Franz Strauss was a bugler at the Munich court orchestra. His mother Josephine came from one of the richest families of Munich.

At the age of six Richard already started to self-compose and a little time later he received composing-instructions from Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer, a famous Munich conductor. With his assistance and guidance the first larger compositions developed. At the age of twelve years he composed his festival march for large orchestra, his Opus 1. 1882 he began studying philosophy and history of art at the University of Munich which he quit shortly after. He started a career as musician and in 1883 his first works were performed by the chief of orchestra Hermann Levi in Munich. Still in the same year Richard went on a concert tour to Dresden, Berlin and other towns. During this journey he met the conductor and director of the court orchestra in Meiningen, Hans von Bülow, who called him in 1885 as a conductor, he even became his successor for short time. Strauss turned to the art ideals of Richard Wagner and practiced his orchestra style to succeed him as a composer of music dramas.

In April 1886 he left Meiningen and traveled to Italy, where he composed the four-movement Orchestra fantasy "From Italy". He began his new work on the first of October 1886 as third conductor at the court theatre in Munich, which he filled in nearly three years. In these three years he composed his first tone poems. His first tone poem was "Macbeth" (1888) and his second was "Don Juan" (1889). In "Death and Transfiguration", his third tone poem, he found his own unmistakable style which made him quickly famous. He also began to compose his first opera, "Guntram", at

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GERMANY WIKI this time. 1887 he became acquainted with Pauline de Ahna, who was his pupil and later his wife. For her he composed many of his songs.

In 1889 he was musical assistant of the festivals of Bayreuth. On the first of October 1889 he began his new work as the Grand Duke´s conductor at the court theatre in Weimar. There he presented works of Richard Wagner and directed the premieres of his own compositions. His fiancée Pauline sang soprano parts in the operas. They got married in 1894 and Strauss accepted the job as court conductor of Munich. At the same time he directed the Berlin Philharmonics. Later on he was the royal Prussian court conductor in Berlin. In these years, he wrote some of his most famous tone poems, among others "Thus spoke Zarathustra" (1896) and "A Hero's Life" (1898). Richard was now well-known as a composer and a conductor all over Europe. In Berlin he was involved in the improvement of the financial conditions of artists and was therefore a joint founder of the cooperative of German tone setters and the GEMA.

1908 he moved into his new house in Garmisch and 1910 he organised the first Strauss week in Munich. In 1919 he took over the direction of the Vienna Court Opera. 1924 he ended this activity and dedicated himself completely to his compositions. On 15 November 1933 Strauss became the president of the Reichsmusikkammer.

In 1935 he was forced to resign from his position by the Gestapo. In 1936 Richard composed the opening music for the Olympic summer games. In his last years he spent most of his time in hospital and cure stays which made him withdraw himself from the public. He died on 8 September 1949 in Garmisch. Shortly before his death he composed his masterful "Four Last Songs". Richard Strauss composed over 250 works and was an eminent musician of the 19th and 20th Century.

Sources: Brockhaus Musik, A-Z und Meilensteine Musik Some music examples: "Morgen" [1] "Die Nacht" [2] "Allerseelen" [3]

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WIKI NORWAY

Norway - Ålesund

Fridtjof Nansen

Fridtjof Nansen was born October 10th 1861, in Aker, Norway, and died May 13th 1930, in Bærum, Norway. He was married in 1889- 1907 to Eva Nansen. Nansen is one of Norway's most known persons internationally. This year 2011 is the official Nansen year in Norway, because it's now 150 years since his birth. Nansen's achievements were national triumphs, and still mean a lot to Norwegians.

Fridtjof Nansen was born right outside Christiania (Oslo), were he grew up in rural surroundings. In his childhood he loved the outdoors, and he was often out on trips to Nordmarka and the Krog woods. Nansen was very interested in nature.

The young scientist After his studies he became a curator at the museum in Bergen, where he primarily worked with the development of the nerve system in inferior vertebrates. His investigation led to a dissertation on the central nerve system in hagfish, which he defended his doctoral degree with on May 28 1888 – four days before he traveled from London to lead the Greenland expedition.

The Greenland expedition The plan was to cross the Greenland icecap on skis from the east to the west coast, the opposite of what others had tried before him. Nansen had been on the east coast of Greenland before: as a student, he went there in 1882 on a tour with the sailing ship Viking. It was after he went on this trip he developed his fascination for the polar. The idea of crossing Greenland occured to him in 1883.

The Greenland Expedition was a great success, both for Norway as a polar nation and Nansen, who became famous in Norway and worldwide. He learned a lot through the expedition, not least because they had to spend the winter with the

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Inuit of western Greenland from the autumn of 1888 to the spring of 1889. Nansen used the time to study the Inuit way of living and culture, which he and polar investigations had use for later.

The Fram Journey Nansen had a clear scientific goal with their expeditions. Before Nansen's expedition to Greenland, there were many who had imagined that the interior of the island was an ice-free area. Nansen showed that the island was covered by a thick ice cap.The Fram journey had a goal to show that the ocean currents could lead a ship across, perhaps as far north that he could reach the north pole. He did not come that far, but Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen went farther north than anyone else before them - to 86° 4‟. However Nansen had proven the theory of the ocean currents over the Arctic ocean, and the Fram journey proved that it was less probable that the North pole was located on a large land area, as many had thought. The Fram expedition's scientific results were published in six volumes, and published 1900-1906.

Diplomat For several years before the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905, Nansen was interested in the political and social aspects related to it. He became increasingly involved in the diplomatic efforts, believing that Norway and Sweden should be treated as equal states in the union. If it should become necessary, Norway had to be prepared to dissolve the union.

In connection with the union dissolving in 1905, Nansen was sent to London by the Prime Minister of the Norwegian Resistance, Christian Michelsen. In this case, Norway got the advantage of his international fame. After his stay in London, he was commissioned to travel to Copenhagen to convince the Danish prince Carl to become the king of Norway. This was the beginning of a close relationship between the new Norwegian royal family and Fridtjof Nansen.

Scientist Fridtjof Nansen was big as a polar explorer, but he was greater as a scientist, Harald Ulrik Sverdrup once said. By that Sverdrup meant that Nansen was talented in

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WIKI NORWAY many fields, especially marine research and zoology, but also other areas such as history, culture, research and politics.

After the Fram expedition Nansen was appointed a professor of zoology at the Royal Frederik's University (which later became the University of Oslo, but he spent increasingly more time on oceanography (marine research), and in 1908 his position at the university turned into a professorship in oceanography. It was actually in marine research he made his greatest scientific work, and Nansen has been described as the founder of the modern deep ocean research.

Acknowledgements Nansen was given a state funeral after his death, a tribute to his importance in Norwegian society. In 1922 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with refugees, including devicing the Nansen passport. After his death the Nansen International Office for Refugees was set up, and the Office was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938 for its work. Many geographical features have been named after him, for example Nansen Island in Antarctica.

External links Polar history (http://www.polarmuseet.no) The city museum in Bergen (http://www.bymuseet.no) An article about Nansen (http://www.daria.no) Store norske leksikon (Norwegian encyclopedia) (http://www.snl.no Retrieved from: http://wiki.my-jugendstil.eu/index.php?title=Nansen,_Fridtjof_(English)

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NORWAY WIKI

Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen ( 16 July 1872 - 18 June 1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions, and led the first Antarctic expedition over the South Pole in year 1910 to 1912. He was the first person to reach both North and South Poles.

Childhood and early life Roald Amundsen was born in Borge, between the towns Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg in Norway. Amundsen was the fourth son in the family. He started to study medicine, but when his parents died he ended his studies and instead starting exploring the polar regions.

The first sailing of the Northwest Passage The summer of 1903, Amundsen sailed from Oslo with a boat called Gjøa. One of the goals was to find the Northwest Passage which the British had looked for for 400 years. First he studied the Inuit life, and in 1906 Gjøa went through the passage.

North Pole expedition becomes a South Pole expedition Amundsen started to get ready for an expedition to the North Pole, but when he found out that both Frederick A. Cook (in 1908) og Robert E. Peary (in 1909) had been there, he in all secret changed his plans. He decided to go to the South Pole, but had a challenger: Scott. Amundsen‟s goal was only to be the first one on the South Pole. December 14 1911 he reached it, five weeks before Scott, who died during the journey.

Maud expedition (North Pole expedition) In 1918 Amundsen finally decided to go to the North Pole. He wanted to explore there. Maud, the boat did not get into the polar ice because it was stuck frozen. After some reparation the expedition continued for another three years. The expedition did not reach its geographic goal, but the findings that were collected and processed have given the Maud expedition the title as one of the most important exploring journeys in the Arctic through all times.

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Air pioneer Amundsen was interested in planes as an aid for his polar exploring. His opinion was that the unknown areas in the Arctic had to be reached by the help of a plane. May 11 1926 the airship Norway started its journey over the Arctic. The airship reached the North Pole after 16 hours, and landed in Alaska May 14. The journey was through the yet unknown part of the Arctic, and Amundsen could determine that there did not exist any bigger land area there. The last big undiscovered piece on the world map was removed.

The search for Nobile

In 1928 an explorer named Nobile, led an expedition with the airship Italy. The ship wrecked north of Svalbard, and one of the world's biggest international polar rescue operations was initiated. Amundsen joined the investigation. June 18 1928 he journeyed with the French plane Latham from the city Tromsø. Three hours later the plane gave its last signals, and it had probably chrashed in the sea, and the six on board the plane (including Roald Amundsen) were killed.

Memorial day and main work The government in Norway decided that December 14, the South Pole day, would be the memorial day for Roald Amundsen. His main works were: The Northwest Passage, The South Pole, The Maud expedition, The Air Pioneer (88 ° north), and My Life as a Polar Explorer.

Monuments and places named after Roald Amundsen Roald Amundsen is far from forgotten. There is a lot of places named after him, and many monuments. Some of them are: The University of Tromsø‟s Polar Resarch Center is called The Amundsen Centre A portrait bust in front of North Pole Hotel in Ny-Ålesund A statue in Tromsø and Tønsberg The glacier Amundsenisen, Svalbard The Amundsen Glacier in Queen Maud Land The Amundsen Crater on the moon

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External links Polar history (http://www.polarhistorie.no/) Roald Amundsen's homepage (http://www.roaldamundsen.no/) A Norwegian newspaper (http://www.aftenposten.no/kul_und/article3997648.ece) Cool Antarctica (http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/roald%20amunds en.htm) Retrieved from "http://wiki.my-jugendstil.eu/index.php?title=Roald_Amundsen

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WIKI NORWAY

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien March 20 1829 and died May 23 1906. Ibsen is one of the most famous writers in Norway. His most famous works are A Doll's House, Peer Gynt and Ghosts. Henrik wrote mostly realistic dramas. In 1864 he won a stipend from the state. He left Norway and traveled to Italy for the money he got. Now he traveled all over Europe, and was in Rome, Münich and Dresden.

Plays A Doll´s House was released in 1878 and is about Nora and Torvald. Nora and Torvald have a seemingly good marriage, but they do not have the understanding and trust in each other. So Nora leaves her husband and their three kids. This text is known all over the world and translated to many languages.

Peer Gynt is a dramatic poem by Henrik Ibsen. Written in 1867, it premiered as a play at the Christiania Theater in Christiania February 24 1876 with music by Edvard Grieg. Peer Gynt is the most famous Norwegian play of all time, and is still played all over the world, both classic national romantic and artistic experimental productions. The story, which partly takes place in a Norwegian farming community in the 1800s, and the description of the main character, big liar Peer Gynt, has helped to shape the image of the traditional Norwegian culture and the Norwegians' view of themselves and the typical Norwegian, whether it is narrow-mindedness or wanderlust.

Ghosts is a play very much alike A Doll's House. It is written in 1881 and it was first staged in 1882.This play was described as shocking and an English critic later described the play as a “dirty deed done public”. Another reaction was "Ugly, nasty, discordant, and downright dull.... A gloomy sort of ghoul, bent on groping for horrors by night, and blinking like a stupid old owl when the warm sunlight of the best of life dances into his wrinkled eyes". The play is about a woman named Mrs. Helene Alving who was a widow, Oswald Alving her son who was a painter, pastor Manders, Jacob Engstrand who was a carpenter and Regina Engestrand who believes she is Jacob Engestrand's daughter, but she is actually Captain Alving's child. She is also Mrs. Alving's maid.

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Jonas Lie

Life Jonas Lauritz Idemil Lie was born November 6 in 1833. Originally, Lie wanted to be a sailor, and he began at the naval school in Fredrikstaværn. Unfortunately, he had to quit because of his poor vision. He then started to study at Heltberg's student factory for people who could not afford any other school. At this school he met Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and they became three of “Norway‟s great four” in Norwegian literary history. The fourth person is Alexander Kielland, but he was from a wealthy family, and could afford an expensive school.

Jonas Lie did not plan to be a writer. In 1858 he was done with his juridical studies, and he moved to Kongsvinger and married his cousin Thomasine. In Kongsvinger, Lie was involved in the timber trade and bet a lot of money in stocks. While working with the timber trade he also wrote a poem collection, which was released in 1866. Short time after this he lost a lot of money in stocks. He moved to Kristiania (Oslo) and decided to write fulltime to pay his debt.

In 1870 Lie was done with his first book, The Visionary. The book was inspired by stories he heard from people working at sea, and his own experiences. It made a huge success and he decided to move to Rome, Italy. There he wrote “The Future” and “Lodsen and his wife”. After living in Rome for twelve years he moved to Paris, and lived there till 1906. From 1906 to 1908 Jonas Lie and his wife, Thomasine, lived in Stavern in Norway. Lie died in 1908.

The Visionary The Visionary was Lies first novel. In this book Jonas Lie explained the life in Nordland for people living south in Norway. He told about the weather, how it looked and about the community life. He also wrote about myths and legends like ghosts, wraiths and psychics. The main person is David Holst, a psychic. He loves the priest‟s daughter, Susanne, but he has to move to Trondenes to study, and their love gets challenged.

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The family at Gilje In The family at Gilje we meet captain Jæger and his wife Ma. They do not have a lot of money, and therefore is it important for them to make their daughters marry rich husbands. Their oldest and beautiful daughter, Inger-Johanna is sent to Kristiania to her aunt. And their other daughter, Thinka has to leave her big love and marry an old widower. This book focuses on women‟s oppression and forced marriage in the beginning of the 1880s.

The Commander’s daughters The Commander’s daughters is about the sisters Cecilie and Marthe. Cecilie is in love with lieutenant Fasting, but her brother and mother force her to give up her big love. The same happens to Marthe, and the misery continues. Again does Lie take up a current topic for the beginning of the 1880s.

Selected bibliography: 1866 Digte (Poems) 1870 Den Fremsynte (The Visionary) 1872 Fortællinger og Skildringer (Tales and descriptions) 1874 Lodsen og Hans Hustru (The Pilot and His Wife) 1875 Faustina Strozzi 1880 Grabows Kat 1883 Livsslaven (The Life Slave) 1883 Familjen Paa Gilje (The Family at Gilje) 1884 En Malstrøm (A Whirlpool) 1885 Otte Fortællinger (Eight Tales) 1886 Kommandørens Døtre (The Commander's Daughters) 1890 Onde Magter (Evil Powers) 1891-92 Trold 1-2 (Trolls) 1893 Niobe 1895 Naar Sol Gaar Ned (When the Sun Sets) 1896 Dyre Rein 1905 Østenfor Sol, Vestenfor Maane og Bagom Babylonens Taarn! (East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Behind the Tower of Babylon) 1908 Eventyr (Fairy Tales) Sources: http://blogg.ellendahl.com/2009/02/02/%c2%abden-fremsynte%c2%bb-1870-av-jonas-lie/ http://www.norsknettskole.no/fag/ressurser/itstud/fuv/atlebolsen/jonas.htm http://www.snl.no/Jonas_Lie/norsk_forfatter http://www.daria.no/skole/?tekst=4536 59

SPAIN WIKI

Spain – Málaga

MANUEL DE FALLA

He was born on 23rd November 1876 in the house of his family of Mina's Plaza number 3 in Cadiz. He was taught his first lessons of hand solfeggio by his mother, interpreter of piano, and his grandfather. In 1893, after attending a concert in Cadiz where Edvard Grieg's works were interpreted, he felt, according to his own words, that his "definitive vocation was the music". When he moved to Madrid in 1896 he attended the Royal Consevatorio of Music and Declamation, where he studied piano. In 1897 he composed a melodia for a work of violonchelo. In 1899 he completed his formal studies at the National School of Music and Declamation and obtained unanimous first prize in piano from the center. In 1900 he composed songs for piano and some vocal and piano. Serenata premiered Vals-Capricho Andalusian and piano at the Ateneo de Madrid. Due to the precarious economic situation of the family, he began teaching piano lessons. He made his first works of zarzuela, including The Jane and Petra touch me or Roque's house.

On September 28th 1939, after the Spanish Civil War and the eve of the Second World War, Manuel de Falla was exiled to Argentina, despite attempts by governments of General Francisco Franco, who offered him a pension if he returned Spain. He lived in exile in Argentina with the help of some sponsors, including the family Cambo, and did it quietly in a house in the mountains, where her sister took care of him since he was sick frequently. Finally, he died on November 14th, 1946 after suffering a cardiac arrest, but could have had his last work.

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WIKI SPAIN

RAMÓN CASAS

Ramón Casas i Carbó was born on 5th January 1866 in Barcelona and died on 29th February 1932 in Barcelona. He was an important artist due to his portraits, caricatures and paintings of the social elite. He was a graphic designer too, and his postcards and posters defined the Catalan modernism. In October 1881, he travelled with his cousin to Paris. He studied in the Academy Carolus Duran and, later, in the Academy Gervex. In the next years, he stayed in Paris, Barcelona, Madrid and Granada. During his convalescence after the tuberculosis, he met artists like Santiago Rusiñol, Eugène Carrière and Ignacio Zuloaga. Casas and Rusiñol travelled through Cataluña and they returned together to Paris where they stayed at the Moulin de la Galette, in Montmartre, with the art critic and painter Miquel Utrillo and the artist Ramon Canudas. Casas, Rusiñol and the sculptor Enric Clarasó made an exposition in the room Parés. His fame spread through Europe, and he settled in Barcelona but he sometimes travelled to Paris. Casas financed a bar, called Els Quatre Gats [1] which was the meeting place of modernist artists. They made art expositions there. While his thriving painting career, Casas started working like a graphic designer, using the art nouveau style that defined modernism. He designed posters for the bar and commercials for the firm Codorniu. In 1904, in Madrid he made some caricatures of artists like Joaquín Sorolla[2] and Agustí Querol [3]. Casas met a young model who painted for the first time in 1906. They got married in 1922. Before the First World War, he travelled through Spain and Europe (Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Paris, Netherlands, Madrid and Galicia) Ramón Casas died in 1932 in Barcelona.

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SPAIN WIKI

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Santiago Ramon y Cajal was a Spanish scientist. He was born in Perilla de Aragón Navarra on 1st May 1852, his parents were Justo Ramón Casasús and Antonia Cajal. He lived his childhood in different places. When he was a young boy, he moved to Larrés. He studied medicine in Zaragoza,when he finished it, he went to the army. There he discovered his own vocation. In 1875 he bought his first microscope. He married Silveria Fañanás García, and he had seven children. The best year for himself was 1888 when he discovered the mechanism that rules the morphology and the process to connect of the nervous cell. His theory was approved in 1889 in the congress of the PLC. German (Berlin). Between 1897 and 1904 he sold his book “Histología del sistema nervioso de hombre y de los vertebrados”. He received the Nobel reward of medicine in 1906. He died on 17th October 1934.

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WIKI SPAIN

Eduardo Ocón

Eduardo Ocón Rivas was a Spanish composer and musician. He was born on 12th January 1833 in Pilar street (Axarquía , Benamocarra) His family wasn't rich; his father's name was Francisco Ocón López, and his mother's name María de los Dolores Rivas Román. He had four brothers. One of his brother was the painter Emilio Ocón y Rivas. He started his musical university education when he was very young in the cathedral of Malaga. There he learned to play the organ and the piano.

When he was 21, he wrote pieces of music like Motete al Santísimo, Motete en Honor de la Inmaculada Concepción de María y Quam Pulchri Sun, and Cantata. When he was 24, he went to Paris, he stayed in Paris for 3 years. There he met two new friends François Joseph Fetis and Charles François Gounod. And he taught singing in schools. In 1870 he came back to Malaga, in the same year he married Ido Borchardt, and he had 3 sons: Eduardo,Ida and Cecilio.

He died on 28th february 1901 for a pulmonary influenza. In his home village, people have a music day celebration

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BELGIUM WIKI

Belgium - Geel Paul Cauchie (1875-1952)

Biography Paul Cauchie is a Belgian painter, decorator and architect. He studied architecture in Antwerp and later in Brussels at l‟Ecole des Arts Decoratifs. He attended lessons in painting, technique of sgraffito and decoration for 7 years. During these years, his artistic talent completely appeared. He made graphic designs, posters, menus, illustrations, publicity drawings... He designed with a very personal style and with quality, as a result of which he got a great reputation in a very short time. He gained several prizes and in 1899 got a grant Cauchie-house: exterior sgraffito with which he travelled to Italy. Even before the completion of his studies, Cauchie had a successful fresco business. He later excelled in the art of the sgraffito, a painting technique, very popular at that time in Belgium. In the end, he became more a decorator than an architect. He built only 4 houses, among which the Cauchie-house in Brussels.

Cauchie-house The construction of the Cauchie-house started in 1905 in the Frankenstraat in Etterbeek. It was built in the style of Art nouveau but there were also influences of Japanese art. In the outside architecture and the furniture you can find inspiration from the work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The façade is 6m broad and covered with sgraffito. Also inside the sgraffito-technique was used, in the living room for example. In the heart of the façade, you can see the text « Par nous, pour nous », what means «By us, for us» and it indicates the fact that this house contains a lot of their own designs. The allegorical personifications of the arts were chosen as subject. The whole house is in ochre, sand-colour, grey or colours that match the materials of the façade. The inside decoration is made by Lina Voet, Paul Cauchies wife – and an artist herself. In the first room on the first floor, all the walls are covered with sgraffito that portray the five senses. Here you can see the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the female figures with long hair. The bottom of 64

GERMANY the walls, under the drawings, is made of a new, almost indestructible material: lincrusta. This is a linen screen, carried with cardboard and drenched in a mixture of wood-dust and linseed oil in which a decorative motif is pressed or “incrusted” afterwards.

This splendid Art nouveau-house almost disappeared. The daughter of Paul Cauchie wanted to have the house demolished to build a block of flats. Thanks to the intervention of Maurice Culot, delegated director of the Archives d‟Architecture Moderne, who submitted a protection application in 1971, this was prevented. Four years later, the building became a protected Cauchie-house: exterior sgraffito monument. In 1979, the building was bought by Guy and Leona Dessicy, two passionate devotees from Art nouveau. They have been restoring the house for 15 years. Every first weekend of the month, the first floor is open for the public. The atelier was adapted to exhibit the most representative art designs by Paul and Lina Cauchie, pictures, documents and paintings.

If you want to know more: http://www.cauchie.be/ a lot of pictures in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVjxA3W96SQ&featur e=related

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Cauchie-house, detail exterior 1 BELGIUM WIKI

Paul Hankar (1859-1901)

Biography

Paul Hankar was a Belgian architect and artist. He was one of the famous modern architects around the turn of the century. He came from a family of stonemasons. He was trained as a decorative sculptor by G. Houtstond among others. He was an apprentice of the architect Henri Beyaert. He also studied for two years at the Brussels Academy together with Victor Horta. He began his career as a sculptor, but also designed furniture and had a

strong reputation especially when it came to iron House Ciamberlani and forging. Paul Hankar worked together with decorator Adolphe Crespin who was one of the pioneers of the poster art. In 1890 he became assistant instructor in architecture at the Academy of Schaarbeek. In 1892 he placed a statue of the poet Jan van Beers in the park of Antwerp. He also worked for the architectural magazine L'Emulation. Hankar found his inspiration in various fields, from the work of Viollet-le Duc, the Arts and Crafts movement, in the Japonisme, … . For the exhibition in Tervuren he was inspired by the Congolese flora and fauna. In his architectural works he played with

House Ciamberlani detail contrasts between materials of different colours and textures and he also used sgraffito. He built several houses, some for other artists, but he also built his own house. His house in the Defacqzstreet in Brussels, is considered the first Art Nouveau house. In 1896 he designed a project "Cité des artistes" in front of the dunes of Westende. This unrealized project later influenced artists of the artists colony in Darmstadt and the "Wiener Shirt Shop Niguet Secession"

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GERMANY

Works

He built and rebuilt several houses especially in Brussels. Several houses are protected. Some examples: House Hankar, House Albert Ciamberlani Home of the painter Rene Janssens, Shirt Shop Niguet Palacio de Chávarri (Bilbao)

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BELGIUM WIKI

Victor Horta (1861-1947)

Biography

Victor Horta, born on the 6th of January 1861 at Gent, was the son of a shoemaker. Already soon came his interest in architecture, a passion encouraged by playing on the construction sites of his uncle who was a building contractor. It was his uncle that boosted him to visit the department of architecture at the “Gentse Academie voor Schone Kunsten”. His parents however desperately wanted him to become director of a cloth factory, so he continued studying at the “Koninklijk Atheneum Gent”. In 1878 Horta moved to Paris to work at the studio of Interior Architect Jules Debuysson. This work stirred up his enthusiasm for architecture even more and put a permanent mark on him. When his father died, Horta returned the 13th of June 1880 to Belgium. Here he married his old friend and they moved to Brussels. He did his internship at Alphonse Balat. There he learned the rules of the profession. He took part in several contests so he could ventilate his creativity. His first achievement was the „Godecharle-prize for architecture‟ in 1884 for his design of a parliament building. In 1885 he received his first assignment: the building of 3 houses at the Twaalfkamerenstraat in Gent. With his design for „the museum of Nature sciences‟ he won the three yearly contest in 1887, organized by the “Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Brussel” for their former students. Thanks to Balat, he received the assignment in 1889 to design a pavilion to shelter the sculpture „De Menselijke Driften‟ by Jef Lambeaux. In 1891 Horta becomes professor at the polytechnic faculty of the University of Brussels. This profession ended with his resignation in 1911. In 1894 Horta becomes chairman of the “Société Centrale d‟Architecture de Belge”. In the period 1893 till 1909 he designed several buildings. This period is also known as his most „fertile period‟. After his divorce in 1906, he remarried two years later with the Swedish Julia Carlsson. In 1912 Horta receives the assignment to reorganize the courses at the “Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Brussel”. Horta becomes director of this Academy in 1913. From 1916 until 1919 Horta stays in the United States. Back in Belgium, he sells his house and studio in the Amerikaansestraat, which would become the Horta Museum in 1969. In 1919 his first blueprints of the „Paleis 68

GERMANY voor Schone Kunsten‟ of Brussels were finished. The building would be officially inaugurated in 1928. Also in 1919 he becomes teacher at the Higher Institute “voor Schone Kunsten” in Antwerp. In 1925 he was appointed as architect for the “Pavilion of Honour” of Belgium on the World Expo of modern decorative art and industrial art in Paris. He also becomes director of the department “Schone Kunsten” of the Royal Academy of Belgium. In 1932 Horta receives the title of Baron. In 1937 he finishes his definite concept of the central station of Brussels. In 1939 he starts with publishing his “Mémoires”. Horta passes away on the 8th of September 1947 in Brussels.

'Famous works' Hotel Tassel: world heritage Hôtel Solvay : world heritage House Autriche Horta museum: world heritage House Van Eetvelde: world heritage

Horta Horta house and museum

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BELGIUM WIKI

Maurice Maeterlinck (1862- 1949)

Biography

Maeterlinck was born in 1862 in Ghent (Flanders, Belgium) in a well to do, French speaking family. He studies law, but soon leaves the bar. Due to his contacts with Emile Verhaeren, Villiers de L‟Isle-Adam and other poets of the symbolic movement, Maeterlinck also becomes a poet, play writer and essayist. Between 1885 and 1919 he has a relationship with the actress and singer Georgette Leblanc. She persuades him to go and live in France. He is a successful author, but he refuses to become member of the „Académie Française‟ because he doesn‟t want to take French citizenship. In 1911 he is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature – the only Belgian writer even! In 1919 he marries another actress, Renée Dahon. In 1932 the Belgian king gives him the rank of a count. During the second World War he lives in the USA. In 1947 he returns to France, where he dies in 1949, in Nice.

His works Maeterlinck wrote very many and very diverse works: poems, plays, essays and scientific studies. Some examples : His first volume of verse is called Les serres chaudes (Hothouses) 1889. In this work Maeterlinck is influenced by the symbolism of poets as Baudelaire, Mallarmé and Rimbaud, but he produces also original elements as the free verse. His first drama La princesse Madeleine (1889) makes him instantly famous due to a very positive review in Le Figaro by Octave Mirbeau. His play Pelléas et Mélisande (1892) is adapted as an opera in 1902 by Claude Debussy. His most popular play is called L‟Oiseau bleu (The Blue Bird 1909). In La grande loi (1933 The great law) he tries to explain the theory of Einstein. His study, La vie des abeilles (1901 The life of the Bee), was very successful. Maeterlinck also translates Novalis, Jan van Ruysbroeck and Shakespeare.

His vision on life, literature and other things The great themes in his work are death and the meaning of life. In his dramas the invisible central figures are love and death. He explores the dark side of man and the invisible powers that control life and death. Later in life he becomes more optimistic. He has a taste for new inventions and theories. For example in 1901 he wants to learn to drive a motorcar. He has also progressive social views and contributes money to movements of strikers. He is an agnostic and develops a distaste for the Catholic Church. In 1914 his whole oeuvre is placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. 70

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Plagiarism? Maeterlinck was accused of committing plagiarism in his La vie des termites (The life of the White Ant 1926). His critics say that he stole the idea of the organic unity of the termitary from the South African scientist Eugène Marais (Die Siel van die Mier). In 2001 the Flemish writer David Van Reybrouck wrote a novel about this affair.

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Henry Clemens van de Velde (1865- 1957)

Biography

Henry Clemens van de Velde was born in Antwerp in 1865, as the son of a well-to-do chemist. As a boy van de Velde wanted to be a composer, but his father was opposed to this idea. Therefore he decided to study painting, first in Antwerp and later in Paris. At the age of thirty he abandoned painting and devoted himself to architecture and decoration. He was influenced by the English arts and crafts movement and the reform movement of Ruskin and Morris, who believed that applied art, and not painting, could change society.

Together with Victor Horta Van de Velde can be considered one of the main founders and representatives of a new style in architecture: Art Nouveau. He endorsed the significance and importance of the curved line: 'La ligne est une force', he wrote, referring to the natural elementary power of the line. His work is characterized by these strong linear patterns and the introduction of new materials in his buildings. Essential in his vision is the idea that architecture and decoration always go together. In 1895 he designed his first house, Villa Bloemenwerf, in Ukkel. Especially the woodwork and the interior design of the house display the characteristics of the new style. Van de Velde designed the house as a complete work of art: he even designed the clothing of the inhabitants. In 1902 van de Velde moved to Germany, where he designed the Kunstgewerbeschule. Later on he was appointed professor there and eventually headmaster. Afterwards, under the lead of Walter Gropius, the school became known as the famous and important Bauhaus. During World War I he lived in Switzerland and the Netherlands, where he designed the Kröller-Muller museum. However, this building was not fully executed the way he designed it. In 1925 he returned to Belgium and became a professor at the university of Ghent, where he designs the „Boekentoren‟ (tower of books, the library of the university). This building shows us that he has developed a more geometrical style with pure lines. In 1947 he moved to Switzerland again, where he wrote his memoires. He lived there until his death in 1957. 72

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James Sidney Edouard Ensor (1860 -1949).

Biography He was a Flemish painter, but a son of British parents.

In 1873 he went to school in the „Onze-Lieve-Vrouwcollege‟ in Ostend. Two years later he signed up for drawing- and painting lessons from Edouard Dubar and Michel Thomas Antonius van Cuyck, both from Ostend.

In 1876 he attended classes at the „Oostendse Academie voor Schone Kunsten‟. Once 17, he went to the „Koninklijke

Academie van Schone Kunsten‟ in Brussels, where he stayed Portret of the painter until 1880. He won the 7th prize for classic drawing, which with masks was not such a great result, so he left Brussels for Ostend again. At his parents‟ place, he converted the attic into his first workshop. From the attic window he had a good perspective, which becomes clear in his paintings.

In 1882 Ensor became a member of the art society “L‟Essor”. the intrige Between 1885 and 1895 he produced his best works. In 1887 he moved to London to study the art of Turner. He was also cofounder of „Les Vingt‟. This is a new art society, where every painter with some reputation will present his paintings.

In 1888 Ensor started drawing “De intrede van Christus in Brussel in 1889”. It would be one of Ensor‟s biggest achievements. After never ending fights „Les Vingt‟ falls apart, loudly objected by Ensor. He wants to stop painting and sell all his works, but does not find a buyer. Because of that he moves on, which appears to be a good move. In 1899 the city of Vienna buys 100 engravings made by Ensor. In 1914 his mother dies and two years later his Aunt Mimi.

During his life he will be famous for painter of weird masks, but also landscapes, still life and extraordinary graphical works belong to his products. James baron

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Ensor dies on November 19th 1949 in the Ostend hospital. He is buried next to t church of Mariakerke, part of Ostend.

Some works:

“De intrede van Christus in Brussel in 1889”, which was not yet finished when presented at the Salon de Vingt. The painting is 2.58m by 4.31m. The canvas was too large to stretch it in his attic workshop, so Ensor had to nail it to the wall while the bottom part was resting on the floor. When he moved in 1917, he could finally stretch the masterpiece. At this moment the piece has hung in many places: Venice, casino of Knokke, Museum voor Schone Kunsten at Ostend and many more.

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We want to say “thank you” to all the German students and teachers:for their intensive collaboration in the project

Computer technics:

Christian Weickert, Eric Horwarth

Working at the wiki and travelling:

Sophia Farnbauer, Fee Strobel, Maren Lohmann, Eric Popple, Josefine Schalk, Celine Reis, Stine Kegel, Dorina Zundel, Anna Kreisel

As painters in the Eleonoren school building:

Astrid Bellefroid, Evgenija Bender, Sonja Kasprick, Judith Lieser, Alena Ranevski, Lydia Schnakenberg, Tatjana Tegel

Working hard in three languages on the wiki:

3 students of form 12 in school year 2009/2010

12 students of form 11 in school year 2010/11

Basic class in physics of form 11 in school year 2010/11

As teachers

Ulla Bernhard, Eberhard Grillparzer, Dr. Wolfgang Twistel

Our Comenius assistant:

Floriane Pollastro

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