1. Paris, Basically everything started here. This is the capital of modernism, there's just way too many things in here that I must see.
2. Berlin, mainly because I want to go to the jewish memorial museum. Besides, I want to go to germany again.
3. Russia, You see all those fancy old romanic churchs and buildings everywhere but for some reason in Russia the romanic was very different than any other european country.
4. Argentina, they're just too kewl. I'd say that this is the place that has created the best music/musicians in history, that is, besides london of course.
5. Chile, There's just something about viña del mar that attracts me even if I don't like the sea for that matter.

Actually, Russian architecture was derived not from Rome but from the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire architecture was initially derived from traditional Roman, but evolved differently and traveled in the 11th century to Russia along with the what what became the modern Eastern Orthodox faith. Other things that separate Russia from the other European countries was the Mongol Conquest a few centuries later (I'll note that Kievan Rus, the predecessor to the Russian Empire, which fell to the Mongols was one of the most democratic states at the time). Since then Russia became rather autocratic. For a long time conservatives tried to shield Russia from Western influence to keep it as Russian as possible, which led to backwardness and it just being 'The place with bearded men and bears'.

Before Peter the Great came to power, Russia didn't at all consider itself one of the European countries, and was awfully backward, with everyone having big beards. Technological and scientific progress were very low. He essentially started Russia again being considered a European power and brought many standard European traditions to Russia (he imposed a beard tax - want a beard, pay up). After that, the architectural style became a little bit more Europeanized, but still rather unique. In the Russian Baroque period, two different architectural styles were dominant - Petrine Baroque in St. Petersburg and Naryshkin Baroque in Moscow. Afterwards, a style called Rastrelliesque Baroque was developed because of the contributions of an Italian-born architect. This style is used in many Petersburg palaces, such as the Hermitage Museum.

Catherine imported some architects from Italy to mix in some neo-classical architecture, such as the Alexander Palace - a style I find even more boring then Petrine Baroque, actually. Alexander I liked the Empire style, so that got spread around a bit... The things most memorable are the Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg, which was built during Alexander III's tenure. Very iconic, but rare style.

My personal favorite style for practicality in addition to beauty is actually Stalinist, though I think the man was essentially an insane jackass. Stalinist style is basically Gothic Skyscrapers; an example is the main building of Moscow State University. It was the tallest building in Europe for a while. And damn it if that isn't sexier then NYC skyscrapers. Shiny != Awesome.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jan 11 2009, 4:10 pm by Centreri.

Although you're correct you're also wrong. Romanic is a period in architecture after the byzantine and is not to be confused with roman or classical architecture for that matter.

Also, your link = 404

Vancouver is probably my favorite Canadian city

Oh yeah. Me too, for the same reason. <.<

The Moon.

Petoria

Corbo, I've checked multiple links and none verify that Romanic is a period of architecture. Dictionary.com says 'derived from Rome' - Wikipedia redirects to Romance Languages - Answers.com says derived from Romans or related to Romance languages. I'm pretty damn sure 'Byzantine' wasn't a period of architecture either; it was a style favored by a certain country.

My link works for me, but here's another one:
http://moscowillustrated.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/istock_000003588028xsmall.jpg

Georgia.

Where have you been looking?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanesque_architecture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_architecture

Byzantine, according to that definition, isn't an 'era' of architecture - it's just architecture of the Byzantine empire. And I know what Romanesque was, and again, it wasn't an era. It was a style derived from Rome, and it certainly isn't 'Romanic'. The word 'Romanic' in itself means nothing in this context - if Corbo meant Roman architecture, it's roman, not romanic. If he meant roman-era, it's roman-era architecture. If he wanted the era that uses roman-like architecture not in Europe, it's romanesque. Not romanic. He stated it quite clearly: 'Romanic is a period in architecture after the byzantine'
State or country?

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jan 11 2009, 7:50 pm by Centreri.

Romanic is probably not the right word in english and I wouldn't know how to translate it if that's not it. All these classes are in spanish for me.

EDIT: I looked up into it and it's romanesque. I'm sorry for that

Well, Romanesque architecture wasn't particularly active in Russia. At some point the architecture swerves a bit away from Byzantine to Romanesque, but still, there's little Romanesque architecture.