history

Italian Luxury Label Tod's to Restore Rome's Colosseum

Diego Della Valle, President of Italian luxury label Tod's, and Italy's Ministry of Culture have announced that the Tod's Group will finance a complete restoration of Rome's historic Colosseum with a monetary commitment of 25 million euros, or about $34 million. Mr. Della Valle (above left), Rome's Mayor Gianni Alemanno (right), Culture Undersecretary Francesco Giro and the Government Commissioner for central Rome's archaeological area held a press conference at the Colosseum's arena to announce the project.

Completed in 80 AD under the emperor Titus, the Colosseum is capable of seating 50,000 spectators and was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts and executions. The project will proceed in eight phases dedicated to the cleanup and restoration of the architectural icon. "We believe that because the Tod's Group is a strong global representative of 'Made in Italy', it is both an honour and our duty to contribute to the support of our country's image and credibility, as well as its cultural heritage," Della Valle declares.

Tags: architecture, Colosseum, Diego Della Valle, history, Italy, Rome, Tods

Rare 1790 Census Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

This year's census was a massive undertaking but things were a little simpler at the time of the first census back in 1790. A rare copy of the 1790 census conducted under the direction of Thomas Jefferson will highlight the bi-coastal Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts Auction on October 4. Simulcast to New York, the Los Angeles based sale is comprised of fine and rare first-edition books, maps, manuscripts, and ephemera.

The census being sold is one of the rare copies signed by Jefferson on the final page. It has been handed down through the family of Gideon Granger, Postmaster General during Jefferson's administration, and is believed to be his copy. It is annotated with all sorts of calculations. This rare piece of American history is estimated to sell for $80,000 to $120,000.

The sale also includes historical photographs and maps and atlases including John Melish's Map of the United States with the Contiguous British and Spanish Possessions (1816) which is estimated at $50,000 to $70,000. Other items include a signed 1922, first edition, first printing of F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, The Beautiful and Damned; an original 4-panel daily strip of Charles Schulz's Peanuts and a single page printed and typed report detailing a blood test taken from Mohandas Gandhi ten days before his assassination, indicating that, although he is generally healthy, his white blood cell count is high. A New York preview is scheduled for September 23-25 and the Los Angeles preview will be held October 1-3.

Tags: bonhams, census, documents, historic, historic documents, historical, history, thomas jefferson

Convicted Criminal Landmarks Become World Heritage Sites

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Crimes and Misdemeanors

Crime buffs, take note: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has just announced that several key landmarks in Tasmania, Australia have been added to the list of World Heritage Sites -- all of them key to Australia's convict history.

New sites include The Cascades Female Factory, in Hobart, where female convicts did laundry and needlework, The Port Arthur Historic Site, which was the Australia's most notorious prison, as well as sites relating to convict-related coal mining, farming and more.

Immerse in historic crime and punishment by booking the Tassie Convict Stop Over package, run by tour operator Goway. It's three days and includes an overnight in the historic Henry Jones Art Hotel.

Tags: convicts, history, tasmania

A Shanghai Art Deco Landmark Reopens

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

When I visited Shanghai last year, its most famous Art Deco landmark, the Peace Hotel on the Bund, was covered in shrouds for renovation. It had been that way since 2007, but now the covers are off as the hotel has just reopened as the Fairmont Peace Hotel, .

The hotel originally opened in 1929, in one of Shanghai's heydays. The hotel was the first high-rise in the city, and had the city's first electric elevator. The art-deco style cage elevator was one of many details that made the hotel special; and it was known as the place to stay in Shanghai prior to the Communist revolution. The renovation apparently retained many of the key features of the hotel -- the Jazz Bar, the Peace Hall, with its wooden dance floor; as well as many touches from the 1930s, but it's also got the full complement of modern amenities in-room, from Blu-Ray DVD players to Illy Espresso machines.

Gallery: Fairmont Peace Hotel Reopens

Tags: 1930s, art deco, history, Shanghai

Why Chocolate for Valentine's Day?

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Valentine's Day has many rumored beginnings with one of the most romantic (and believable) being that the holiday is named after Saint Valentine, a priest who lived in 3rd century Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decreed that marriage was outlawed because single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, Valentine defied the law and married young lovers in secret, until the day he was discovered, sentenced to death, and thrown into prison. There he met and fell in love with the jailer's blind daughter and because of their love her vision was restored. Then, as a final act of love before he was sent to his death Valentine wrote her a love note and signed it "From your Valentine."

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Tags: chocolate, history, luxist-awards, main-pedia, romance, sweets-pedia, valentine, valentines day, ValentinesDay

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Five Fab Finds and a History Lesson: Lace Edition

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel

The most beautiful, intricate, and valuable lace is always handmade, created with painstaking care and based on the methods started by women centuries ago. With its beginnings traced back to the darning of tattered fabric hems, lacemaking really gained traction in Europe in the 1500s when weaving it out of cotton, silk, or flax became a prestigious and sought-after skill of high class women as they strove to make themselves and their outfits more beautiful and extravagant. Depending on the method used (by hand, with needles, or by some other variation of technique) it was not uncommon for a single inch of lace to take a skilled woman 2 hours to complete. No wonder it was so expensive!

Today lace is available in every size, color, and pattern imaginable (as demonstrated in our gallery below) but I still love the set of old, yellowing doilies my grandmother gave me the most.

Gallery: 5 Fab Finds: Lace

Christian Louboutin Candy Lace & Patent Spike Pump

Aurélie Bidermann 18-karat gold lace ring

Red Valentino Lace-detailed jersey T-shirt

Tags: 5 fab finds, 5FabFinds, fashion, five fab finds, FiveFabFinds, history, history lesson, HistoryLesson, lace, lacey

Ancient Rome & America - Upcoming Exhibition

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is hosting an exhibition comparing the lost world of ancient Rome to modern America -- they're not so different as one might think.

"The profound and pervasive legacy of ancient Rome is deeply embedded in the western culture of today; the lasting effects of Roman domination can be found almost anywhere," said Linda Carioni of Contemporanea Progetti. "They can be seen in our judiciary and monetary systems, in our art and architectural patrimony, in the modern Romance languages, in our alphabet of 26 letters, as well as the calendar of Julius Caesar."

History buffs and pop culture fans alike will be fascinated by the comparisons of our nation to the much-romanticized empire, including artifacts such as:

"Two eagles depicting this classic symbol shared by ancient Rome and America. The American eagle is carved from gilt wood. It was made in 1804 by Samuel McIntire, an important early American architect. Of the Roman eagle, only the bronze head remains. It likely originated from the top of a Roman army military standard."
"Roman busts of Scipio Africanus, Julius Caesar, and Cicero. American busts of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, each portrayed in togas."
"Gladiator/Football helmets. Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Harold Carmichael's helmet will be on display with a gladiator helmet and four original pieces from the gladiator barracks of an amphitheater in Pompeii – a 'greave' (shin guard), two spearheads, and a dagger."
"Excavated remnants from Pompeii, including silverware, a preserved piece of a wall fresco, and the cast of a man who did not escape the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius."
"Slave collars from ancient Rome and the United States. Both ancient Rome and America prior to 1865 were slave societies. Made in the early 1800s, the slave collar from the US is a rare artifact that can be tied to one man's quest for freedom. Ben, a slave who worked on a farm in Pennsylvania, tried to escape three times, and after the third time, his owner had an iron collar made for him."
"A selection of classical works belonging to the Founding Fathers that helped shape their political thought during the early years of the American republic. John Adams' personal copy of Plutarch's Lives, John Dickenson's personal copy of the works of Roman historian Tacitus, and John Quincy Adams' personal copy of Cicero's De Oratore."
"Two letters from August 1776 exchanged between John and Abigail Adams. In them, Abigail signs her name 'Portia' after the wife of the Roman Senator Brutus. The letters are filled with classical references and ideas of republican virtue."

If you're looking for something to boost your patriotism and encourage deeper thinking about our nation in these troubled times, this multi-million dollar exhibition might be exactly what you need. Perhaps we can learn from the Romans how to create a better future. A video at the end of exhibit regarding the fall of the Roman Empire leaves visitors to "ponder the lessons" of ancient Rome.

The Ancient Rome & America exhibition will be on display from February 19 to August 1, 2010. Visit constitutioncenter.org for more information. Check out Kimpton Hotels' brand new Hotel Palomar for accommodations, and click through the gallery to preview some of the artifacts (images courtesy of The National Constitution Center).

Gallery: Luxist Preview - Artifacts from the Ancient Rome & America Exhibition

Head of an eagle from a Roman military standard

Football helmet worn by Harold Carmichael

Ceremonial Military Helmet in the Shape of Dionysus

Tags: Ancient Rome, AncientRome, art, artifacts, History, Philadelphia

The History of Chocolate

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Chocolate is one of the most popular foods in the world yet it has a very elusive history -- so many enjoy it but have no idea how, when, or where it first came to be.

Origins in the Amazon
The cacao tree is thought to have originated in the Amazon about 4000 years ago. The word chocolate can be traced back 2000+ years all the way to the Aztec word "xocoatl," which meant "bitter water" and referred to an unsweetened drink the Aztecs brewed from cacao beans. There's also evidence of an ancient alcoholic brew made by fermenting the fleshy fruit that surrounds the cacao beans in old pottery remnants from Honduras.

Magical and Divine
Cacao beans were also considered by the Mayans and the Aztecs to be divine and magical, with legends attributing the origins of the tree and beans to various Gods in the heavens. Cacao beans were considered valuable and often used as currency for the ancient tribes, in addition to being incorporated into many sacred rituals.

Over to Europe
When Europeans discovered the Americas they didn't like the bitter chocolate drink at first, but when they tried sweetening it (with honey or cane juice) it was another story and the new beverage quickly became popular and spread throughout Spain. Throughout the 17th century chocolate continued to gain popularity as a drink for the rich and affluent all over Europe, credited with nutritional, medicinal, and aphrodisiac qualities.

The first chocolate bar
In the early 1800s 'dutch cocoa' was born when a chemist learned how to make powdered chocolate by removing some of the natural fat, then pulverizing what was left and treating it with alkaline salts to remove the bitterness. Several years later a man named Joseph Fry took dutch cocoa and added melted cacao butter, thus inventing the first modern chocolate bar.

And the rest is history
Cadbury was the first company to market chocolate candies in 1868, followed quickly by Nestle who came out with milk chocolate just a few years later.

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Tags: chocolate, history, luxist-awards, main-pedia, sweets-pedia

First Class: Legendary Ocean Liner Voyages Around the World

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing, Books

I sometimes think that the ideas we all have about the "romance" of leisure travel date back to the days when travel wasn't quite so widespread, when it was the exclusive province of the elite. Say, the late 19th or early 20th century. When we're suffused with this nostalgia, we don't think very often of the fact that we would most likely not be elites ourselves, and even if we were, we'd have far less time lord it over everyone since life expectancy was just shy of 50 -- because in all romantic fantasies, the heroes are always wealthy, beautiful and very lucky.

While I'm not sure it's worth trading a few decades of life expectancy for it, it still seems a real shame that it's no longer possible to book first class passage on those amazing ocean vessels that could take you almost anywhere worth going. The era, the experience and the lifestyle is vividly described in a lavishly illustrated new book, First Class: Legendary Ocean Liner Voyages Around the World, published by Vendome Press. It's a book that makes a terrific holiday gift for anyone who loves boats, cruises, history, and it comes in a slipcase meant to resemble a steamer trunk.

Author Gérard Piouffre provides the historical context needed to understand the era of the ocean liner, which stretches from the time steam ships took over from boats that travel under sail and ends in the late 1950s, when air travel surpassed travel by water. The construction of these ships would take a workforce of 10,000 to 15,000, in order to create settings that were almost embarrassingly ostentatious, meant to resemble floating palaces or châteaus. That, of course, was in first class, but second class wasn't too terrible -- less luxurious, but still including "immense drawing rooms, libraries, smoking rooms," write Piouffre. It was meant to resemble an "impressively appointed country house." (Of third class, he says, the look was more dormitory.)

Beyond interior décor, First Class paints a picture of life aboard ship, reproducing menus, activities schedules and impromptu amusements. (On the long and boring trip from San Francisco to Hawaii, a game was organized in which two passengers were blindfolded and armed with rubber truncheons. Liability laws sure have changed.)

The book is organized into the old sea routes -- there's the transatlantic and transpacific crossings, the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, the South Atlantic and the Caribbean, Routes of Ice and Gold (Alaska, and Iceland/Norway) for instance. Between the photos, drawings, ephemera and quotes from everyone from ordinary passengers to luminaries like Mark Twain, you feel like you're following right along in a great ship's wake. The most hypnotic chapter to me was the one that dealt with the route that went through the Suez Canal to the Far East, starting perhaps in Marseille, and calling on Alexandria, Mumbai, Calcutta, Rangoon, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Shanghai and ultimately Yokohama, Japan. Really, I can't think of a voyage, in any time, that sounds more romantic than that.

Gallery: Images from First Class: Legendary Ocean Liner Voyages Around the World

First Class Passengers on Royal Mail Steam Packet's Orca, 1925

Barber Shop Aboard Messageries Maritime's Champoillion

Messageries Maritimes' Felix Roussel, Renown for its Music Room

Braving the Promenade During a Cold Part of the Trip to Honolulu

Tags: boats, books, cruise, gifts, history

Celebrating the Fall of the Berlin Wall

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Berlin Wall Memorial, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin Germany

It's been 20 years since the fall of The Berlin Wall, and the city's been celebrating all year, with special events, exhibits and hotel packages. I was in Berlin a few months ago, and even then, the energy around the anniversary was palpable -- strolling the sites defined by where the wall once stood, bristling with energy, it's hard to imagine the city divided. Potsdamer Platz, for example, was a barren urban wasteland and is now home to a moving temporary exhibit. And of course there are plenty of museum exhibits and memorials. (A list of special exhibitions here.)

Since we're now entering the anniversary of the season of unrest that led to the wall's euphoric end, on November 9th, 1989, this is the time to go relive one of the last century's landmark historic events, in a city with uniquely troubled modern history. The Westin Grand Berlin is offering a package that includes the opportunity to take hammer and chisel to a portion of the wall that the hotel has artfully (if a bit jarringly) placed right in front of its portico. This cushy hotel is convenient to the Brandenburg Gate and to other Wall memorials.

Gallery: Fall of the Berlin Wall, 20th Anniversary

A Piece of the Wall at Berlin's Westin Grand

Break Off Your Own Piece of the Berlin Wall at the Westin

The Brandenburg Gate, Once Sealed Behind the Berlin Wall

Tags: berlin, berlin wall, BerlinWall, history, hoteldeals, westin, westinhotels

Five Fab Finds and a History Lesson: Zipper Edition

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel

The zipper was first invented, in a rudimentary form called the "Clasp Locker", in the late 1800s by a man named Whitcomb Judson. Many years later, in the early 1900s, it was perfected into the creation we know today by Swedish immigrant Gideon Sundback and was used mostly to fasten boots. The term "zipper" stuck after B.F. Goodrich used it in a name for a pair of boots showcasing the device (because of the "zip!" sound), and then zippers slowly but surely worked their way into the fashion world as a closure technique that's quick, easy, durable, and effective -- particularly In 1937 when in the "Battle of the Fly" the zipper beat out the button as the favored way to close men's trousers.

Today zippers are everywhere, in every house and on most people in some form or another at any given time. And today fashion designers not only commonly use zippers in their collections but often the zipper is the focal point, there as much for looks as function. See the gallery below for some of our favorite examples.

Gallery: Five Fab Finds: Zippers

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Tags: 5 fab finds, 5FabFinds, apparel, fashion, five fab finds, FiveFabFinds, history, history lesson, HistoryLesson, zipper, zippers

Four Reasons to Toast July 4th with Rum

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spirits

Photo of rum barrels stored at St. Nicholas Abbey, Barbados

Beer might be the iconic way to celebrate American Independence Day, but maybe this year, times call for something a bit stronger.

Like, how about rum? The rum category is second only to vodka in the United States, according to Tommy Bahama, makers of ultra-premium rum. So while it's not exactly fair to make a bad pun about rum being the spirit of America, you'd be far from unpatriotic if you incorporated it into your July 4th plans.

Four reasons to toast with rum this Independence Day:

As a spirit, rum was first distilled in the Caribbean -- most likely Barbados -- but it quickly became popular of the northern colonies in the New World. It turns out that the country's founding fathers -- among them Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin, were no different than most manly men of their time -- they knocked back a few pints of the beverage distilled from sugar cane .
Rum wasn't just for Revolutionary War types. From John F. Kennedy who reportedly sipped it over dinner while watching the 1960 election returns, to Ernest Hemingway, who was a big fan of the daiquiri. (Although not for Papa would be the gussied up drinkable-dessert-Slurpees of today -- in Havana, he favored the daiquiri at El Floridita, which he liked to be made with two shots of rum, lime juice, ice, no sugar, and sometimes a touch of grapefruit juice and a few drops of maraschino liqueur, writes Wayne Curtis.)
Like most facets of American history, rum's history is complicated. The sugar cane that was used to create the molasses which became rum was produced by Caribbean slaves who existed under brutal conditions, writes Jan Rogozinksi in a Brief History of the Caribbean. Raise a glass in tribute, and in remembrance of a time when independence was not as widespread as it is today.
Rum innovation continues strong today. The finalists for the annual drink of this year's upcoming Tale of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans were all variations on the julep - the original American cocktail. But while a julep is typically made with bourbon, the winning cocktail was the Creole Julep -- made with rum. It was created by Maksym Pazuniak, bartender at Rambla and Cure. Here's the recipe:

2 1/4 oz. Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum

1/2 oz. Clement Creole Shrubb

1/4 oz. Captain Morgan 100 Rum

2 dashes Fee Bros. Peach bitters

2 dashes Angostura bitters

8-10 mint leaves

1 Demerara Sugar Cube

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Tags: america, history, independenceday, rum

Breguet Timepiece Exhibit June 25 - September 7 At The Louvre Museum In Paris

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Events

This is something you should certainly see if you are in, or going to be in Paris at the right time. Breguet watches will be having a special exhibition at the splendid Louvre museum in Paris, France from June 25 until September 7, 2009. The special exhibit is will be known as the "Apogee of Watch Making" a pretty lofty title, for what is essentially a history of Breguet, but what a history it is! Abraham-Louis Breguet is often known as the father of modern watch making. A lot of what he developed in his lifespan in the latter half of the 18th century (up to 1823) is still used in many of today's luxury wrist watches, even though he never made a wrist watch during his life (just clocks and pocket watches). The exhibit will showcase historical pocket watches and clocks, watch making tools, art, and historical documents and watch-related patents. Breguet watches were, and are today extremely inventive and also beautiful. They are probably the "favorite-child brand" of Nicolas Hayek, leader of the Swatch Group that has Breguet under its brand umbrella. The exhibit of course was helped by a generous contribution from Breguet to the Louvre.

The exhibit will require a separate entrance fee and will be open regular hours, and until 10pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. For more information please visit www.louvre.fr or call 01 40 20 53 17 (France number).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2009, breguet, exhibition, history, louvre, museum, paris, timepiece, watches

Boston's Plans For A New History Museum

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Boston's relatively new Greenway area may get a dramatic modern new museum and shopping complex. The $120 million Boston Museum would be a five-story glass and terra cotta building in the Haymarket area near Faneuil Hall. The bottom floor would be a food market and the top four floors be a museum of Massachusetts history with a gift shop, cafe, theater, and classroom and community space. The market would operate alongside the Haymarket pushcart vendors which set up shop on weekends in the area and would offer the vendors a little shelter in the form of large awnings. The building was designed by Cambridge Seven Associates and will have a curved glass facade facing the Greenway while the other side will be terra cotta to blend in a bit with the traditional brick buildings in the area.

The nonprofit group behind the Boston Museum sees it as an educational institution both to help children learn about local history and to bring tourists to the area. The Boston Globe reports that the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority owns the property and is seeking proposals from developers. If approved construction of the museum and market building Could be completed in 2014.

It's a lovely building but I wonder if it represents a shift from the more experiential way of learning about Boston history by walking the Freedom Trail.

Tags: boston, city planning, CityPlanning, greenway, history, museum

J. Peterman English Pub Signs

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Art

Whether you're looking for the perfect final touch for your home bar or simply love antiques and English history, these pub signs available from J. Peterman are truly unique specimens. Each authentic and hand-painted and many still in their original wood or metal frames, the collection includes subject matter going back to the time of Queen Victoria. Some signs represent subject matter commonly used by pubs over the years (such as the swan in this sign) while others are more unique, like the Wilton Arms sign shown here that honors the coat of arms belonging to the local lord. Prices vary from $495-$1895.

Gallery: J. Peterman English Pub Signs