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The Cultural Tutor
A beautiful education.
7 short lessons every Friday:
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Tweet Stats
Analysed 4,379 tweets, tweets from the last 26 weeks.
Tweets Day of Week (UTC)
Tweets Hour of Day (UTC)
Key:
Tweets
Retweets
Quotes
Replies
Tweets Day and Hour Heatmap (UTC)
| Top Applications | Count | % |
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4,379 | 100.0% |
| Top Tweet Types | Count | % |
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| Reply | 4,205 | 96.0% |
| Tweet | 173 | 4.0% |
| Quote | 52 | 1.2% |
| Top Content Types | Count | % |
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| Photo | 3,694 | 84.4% |
| URL | 91 | 2.1% |
| Video | 32 | 0.7% |
| GIF | 13 | 0.3% |
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38 | 100.0% |
| Most Quoted Users | Count | % |
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52 | 100.0% |
| Most Replied to Users | Count | % |
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4,204 | 100.0% |
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1 | 0.0% |
| Top Hashtags | Count | % |
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| #1 | 2 | 0.0% |
| Top Words | Count | % |
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| century | 334 | 7.6% |
| architecture | 261 | 6.0% |
| called | 191 | 4.4% |
| history | 184 | 4.2% |
| perhaps | 158 | 3.6% |
| painting | 156 | 3.6% |
| used | 152 | 3.5% |
| renaissance | 134 | 3.1% |
| became | 131 | 3.0% |
| any | 130 | 3.0% |
| because | 124 | 2.8% |
| before | 123 | 2.8% |
| ancient | 121 | 2.8% |
| building | 118 | 2.7% |
| buildings | 118 | 2.7% |
| centuries | 114 | 2.6% |
| paintings | 112 | 2.6% |
| portrait | 106 | 2.4% |
| medieval | 101 | 2.3% |
| early | 101 | 2.3% |
| gothic | 99 | 2.3% |
| every | 97 | 2.2% |
| during | 97 | 2.2% |
| course | 95 | 2.2% |
| designed | 90 | 2.1% |
| being | 89 | 2.0% |
| created | 89 | 2.0% |
| religious | 85 | 1.9% |
| painted | 84 | 1.9% |
| artistic | 82 | 1.9% |
| important | 82 | 1.9% |
| classical | 79 | 1.8% |
| become | 78 | 1.8% |
| example | 77 | 1.8% |
| based | 71 | 1.6% |
| hence | 71 | 1.6% |
| painters | 71 | 1.6% |
| colours | 69 | 1.6% |
| since | 68 | 1.6% |
| architectural | 66 | 1.5% |
| including | 66 | 1.5% |
| inspired | 64 | 1.5% |
| political | 64 | 1.5% |
| middle | 64 | 1.5% |
| greek | 62 | 1.4% |
| cities | 62 | 1.4% |
| actually | 60 | 1.4% |
| simply | 59 | 1.3% |
| seems | 59 | 1.3% |
| indeed | 59 | 1.3% |
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Tweets
All of this explains why, even if politicians and high society didn't like him, the people of Bavaria loved Ludwig. He was known for taking walks around the country, talking to farmers or fishermen, and his great building projects seemed to be for them as much as for him. pic.twitter.com/jCeZhFAHDe
And the huge sums Ludwig spent on his palaces - all from his personal fortune, never from public funds - were used to employ local labourers, craftsmen, and other workers, and brought money into what were otherwise rural and fairly impoverished communities. pic.twitter.com/KPjx6qDMeP
It's hard to say. Ludwig had seen the great architecture of other nations and wanted to give his native Bavaria a similar cultural heritage to be proud of. And that he certainly did; Neuschwanstein, even if it isn't "real", is one of the most visited castles in the world. pic.twitter.com/UxTZdly2h8
So what do we make of Ludwig? His life was, in some ways, rather tragic. And as for his fantastical building projects, do they deserve to be praised or mocked? Admired for their ambition or criticised for their extravagance and inauthenticity? pic.twitter.com/JDsDEi1XZC
The original plans for Neuschwanstein were simplified and its exterior completed by 1892; the rest, including many of the rooms, were never finished. And, alongside the Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee, it was opened to the public almost immediately after Ludwig's death. pic.twitter.com/oeC7dIkVz8
Two days later Ludwig drowned while taking an evening walk with the psychologist Bernhard von Gudden near Berg Castle, where he had been taken. The circumstances of his death are shrouded in mystery. Officially it was suicide; many, even at the time, suspected murder. pic.twitter.com/qGBbHkG9g1
Ultimately Ludwig's disinterest in politics and his huge personal expenses, which had left him deeply in debt, precipitated his end. Ludwig's ministers had him declared insane, after which he was arrested at Neuschwanstein and deposed, to be replaced as king by his uncle.
Toward the end of his reign Ludwig withdrew completely from any royal or political engagements. He became something of a recluse, dedicating all his time and money to these architectural fantasies; he even had plans for Byzantine and Chinese palaces that never came to fruition.
And then there's the Linderhof Palace, again inspired by 18th century French architecture rather than by Medieval fantasy. Its grounds include a "Grotto of Venus" with technicolour lighting and a group of follies inspired by Moorish architecture. pic.twitter.com/WapcgXMO9b
Nor was Neuschwanstein Ludwig's only fantastical project. He also built the Herrenchiemsee Palace on an island in the middle of Bavaria's largest lake. This one was inspired by the Palace of Versailles and even has its very own hall of mirrors. pic.twitter.com/YdLk1MZgTr
And it wasn't without precedent; there was a fashion in Europe for building neo-Medieval castles. Ludwig himself had visited some of them, such as Hohenzollern, Lichtenstein (which was inspired by a novel), and the Château de Pierrefonds. pic.twitter.com/4flg3kEya3
Perhaps those critics were right. And yet for over a century Ludwig's architectural fantasy has been delighting people around the world. People often describe Neuschwanstein as a "fairytale castle" - that's *exactly* what it was always supposed to be. pic.twitter.com/Pt1cGeqC13
Of course, Ludwig had Neuschwanstein installed with running water, flushing toilets, elevators, telephone lines, and all the other conveniences of modern life - this was going to be his home. Critics at the time called it artificial, sentimental, ostentatious, and inauthentic. pic.twitter.com/TiQ4f11Cge
Parts of it were even directly modelled on the operas of Wagner and the stage directions he had written. Like the Hall of the Holy Grail, a neo-Byzantine spectacle based on a hall of the same name in Wagner's Parsifal. pic.twitter.com/CtnSztGhsJ
Hence why the rooms of the castle are decorated with paintings depicting scenes from German legend as told by Wagner: Parsifal in the Singers’ Hall, Tannhäuser in the study, and Lohengrin in the parlour. This was Ludwig's love letter to Medieval Romance. pic.twitter.com/5xbMjhH1pI
And so Neuschwanstein was both Ludwig's testament to Wagner, the greatest composer of the age, and a way of realising the Romantic Medieval fantasies which had filled his head since he was a child. pic.twitter.com/KnBL1HrkXa
When he was king Ludwig became Wagner's primary artistic patron, supporting his work and even helping him to build his own opera house - without Ludwig there would probably be no Wagner to speak of. In a letter to Wagner Ludwig explained his ambitions for Neuschwanstein: pic.twitter.com/IZ5QY6silA
Ludwig had first seen the operas of Richard Wagner when he was a teenager. Parsifal, Lohengrin, Tannhauser - these operas told stories from the myths of Medieval Germany: knights and maidens, castles and wizards, great quests and romances. Ludwig fell in love with them. pic.twitter.com/LmDg6laPIJ
It was near this castle, nestled in the leafy mountains of southern Bavaria, that Ludwig built Neuschwanstein, which he wanted to be an even more fantastical and faithful vision of Medieval Romance than Hohenschwangau. But where did he get all these fanciful ideas? pic.twitter.com/nkUW1Wl2Fe
What interested Ludwig was art, literature, architecture, poetry, and music; it had been that way since he was young, growing up as a lonely child in Hohenschwangau, itself a neo-Gothic castle built by his father, King Maximilian. In his solitude he turned to art. pic.twitter.com/4pNiJH6QDD
Why did Ludwig build Neuschwanstein? Well, Ludwig was an eccentric king. He came to the throne in 1864 and took no interest in politics. He left the business of running the state to his cabinet of ministers and spent all his time on the things he truly cared about. pic.twitter.com/vuWNLXdMrD
Neuschwanstein Castle was started in 1869 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria (and never finished). So it isn't a Medieval castle at all, but a 19th century facsimile; not a defensive fortification but a residential palace for a king. No knights ever lived here. pic.twitter.com/XCAOY5Fcgf
Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany is one of the world's most famous and beautiful castles.
But it isn't a real castle: it has central heating, hot water, flushing toilets, telephones, and elevators.
Because Neuschwanstein is actually the world's biggest work of fan fiction... pic.twitter.com/8DcmKCyliW
But it isn't a real castle: it has central heating, hot water, flushing toilets, telephones, and elevators.
Because Neuschwanstein is actually the world's biggest work of fan fiction... pic.twitter.com/8DcmKCyliW
Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany is one of the world's most famous and beautiful castles.
But it isn't a real castle: it has central heating, hot water, flushing toilets, telephones, and elevators.
Because Neuschwanstein is actually the world's biggest work of fan fiction...
But it isn't a real castle: it has central heating, hot water, flushing toilets, telephones, and elevators.
Because Neuschwanstein is actually the world's biggest work of fan fiction...
Morning on a Heath near St Hippolyte by Christian Ernst Bernhard (1848) pic.twitter.com/5LH0lJXFSm
Athens at Sunrise by Carl Agricola (1829) pic.twitter.com/6TML5OzfxL
Morning Peal, Old German City in the Morning Light by Carl Gustav Carus (1840) pic.twitter.com/6ZCcbbiFof
Istanbul at Dawn by Félix Ziem (1880) pic.twitter.com/E3js6ivWMf
Enclosed Field with Rising Sun by Vincent van Gogh (1889) pic.twitter.com/fIMKHQn7LI
Sunrise by Theodore Clement Steele (1886) pic.twitter.com/ZAMuem8zwa
Norham Castle, Sunrise by JMW Turner (1845) pic.twitter.com/7ojR93Tg3j
The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba by Claude Lorrain (1648) pic.twitter.com/k4CxoSS77X
The River of Light by Frederic Edwin Church (1877) pic.twitter.com/JVuzECXZkS
Early Sunday Morning by Edward Hopper (1930) pic.twitter.com/wlMdCubWvf
Brief thread of some beautiful paintings of the sunrise:
Sunrise at Futamigaura by Utagawa Kunisada (1832) pic.twitter.com/9i4O0xlTda
Sunrise at Futamigaura by Utagawa Kunisada (1832) pic.twitter.com/9i4O0xlTda
Brief thread of some beautiful paintings of the sunrise:
Sunrise at Futamigaura by Utagawa Kunisada (1832)
Sunrise at Futamigaura by Utagawa Kunisada (1832)
Modern architecture is, perhaps, more realistic than Art Deco. It accepts the necessities of building for a vast and ever-growing population in a globalised world, and that the decadence of the 20s simply isn't possible. Of course, that's only one potential view on the matter. pic.twitter.com/01nlLcLpyW
And in the 1950s an entirely new architecture would conquer the world. It, too, originated in Europe, where architects like Adolf Loos and the Bauhaus reacted to the same problems as Art Nouveau and Art Deco with an even more radical approach. pic.twitter.com/PLjHQTKj0k
And yet... Art Deco didn't long survive. By the end of the 1930s it had morphed into the so-called "Streamline Moderne", a much more austere design philosophy which scaled back all that decadence and vitality. Perhaps Art Deco was too lavish to be sustainable. pic.twitter.com/M9nzL0bFJO
That was the context in which many of the great Art Deco skyscrapers were built: the Empire State, the Chrysler, the American Radiator Building, the Rockefeller Center... It wasn't just in New York, though. Art Deco has many fine examples all across the US. pic.twitter.com/5iW7T2P8er
For Art Deco seems to work best at scale, and what greater scale could there be in the 1920s and 1930s than New York? Nowhere was the potential of Art Deco realised and achieved more wholly and powerfully than here. pic.twitter.com/Ld6GbFk5Qe
Perhaps this is why Art Deco, though it originated in Europe and has fine examples there, reached its pinnacle in America. It didn't have the same architectural baggage as Europe, and the rapid growth of its metropolises presented a unique opportunity to build the future. pic.twitter.com/uLkNs5XmeM
And this futurism was deeply optimistic. You can sense a sort of aspirational beauty, a faith in the fundamental goodness of progress. We might disagree, but the future, American Art Deco seems to say, will be bright. Even with its elevators... pic.twitter.com/8SB5URwom4
And so Art Deco is best understood as an answer to the question of what a modern city should look like. The skyscraper was the future, and so was Art Deco. It fearlessly embraced that reality as a chance for buildings to be taller, grander, and more beautiful than ever. pic.twitter.com/ByugD2Iz4x
Technology and modernisation were, even then, unstoppable forces. And so the rise of the skyscraper and the modern city were inevitable. Architecture had to reconcile itself with that new reality, and nowhere was it more apparent than in the United States of America.
It was Louis Sullivan in the late 19th century who first figured out how these new buildings might be designed, with their unusual proportions and size. He emphasised verticality, realising that "loftiness" was a skyscraper's defining quality; everything must move upwards. pic.twitter.com/cEa4eedNQf
So the skyscraper presented an architectural problem. It was clearly going to be an important, era-defining form of building. But nothing like it had been built before and, by definition, it required the use of modern construction methods and materials. How should it look? pic.twitter.com/tm3mXFf2LS
And so what makes Art Deco peculiarly suited to America was, perhaps, the skyscraper. The skyscraper was born in America, after all, and was self-evidently the most modern of buildings. There had been libraries and universities and legislatures before - but never skyscrapers. pic.twitter.com/zO3ww40AIb
It is this fusion of the old and the new, of traditional materials shaped in new ways, of familiar ideas reapplied in a new context, that gave Art Deco its incredibly futuristic aesthetic. Strange, that even a century later, Art Deco still looks like the future. pic.twitter.com/mxmfgquV0J
Art Deco also used new materials - reinforced concrete, stainless steel, even plastic. And it was comfortable with modern construction methods and the realities of an industrial world. Rather than the gentleness of Art Nouveau, Art Deco was big, bold, and primed for scale. pic.twitter.com/2SP2F9tTlh
