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October 24, 2009

Ken’s Diligent Service in Beijing: Day 8

Mmmm, Beijing duck! Admittedly not an expert when it comes to Chinese cuisine, I honestly didn't find it much different from what they serve on Mott Street in NYC. But it was very, very good.

October 22, 2009

Ken’s Diligent Service in Beijing: Day 6

Had a bit of free time today, so ventured out to the Great Wall. I'd actually rate it more as a really-quite-good wall, or maybe a best-wall-I've-seen-in-a-long-while wall, or even an of-all-the-walls-I've-ever-seen-this-one-is-up-there wall, but I'm withholding great for white sharks and northern beans and Santinis.

October 21, 2009

Ken’s Diligent Service in Beijing: Day 5

Guess what? Another meeting this morning. This one was really cool, though (not that the others weren't)—a demonstration from some folks in the Palace Museum's education department of some virtual renderings of buildings in the Forbidden City. After modeling the three main Harmony Halls (Supreme Harmony, Complete Harmony, and Preserving Harmony), their next project was to model our own dear Juanqinzhai, because it has, as the director of the initiative put it, “the most beautiful interiors in all the Forbidden City.”

October 20, 2009

Ken’s Diligent Service in Beijing: Day 4

Fun fact: for some inexplicable reason, people always ask me for directions. I'm not sure why they ask me, but figure it's either because I look essentially harmless, or because they think my height somehow instills in me preternatural wayfinding skills. At any rate, if you were lost in the Forbidden City, who would you ask for directions? Why, the giant pink American, of course, which is exactly what a group of befuddled Brits did this morning. And odder still, I knew the answer.

October 19, 2009

Ken’s Diligent Service in Beijing: Day 3

So cool—spent the entire day in the Forbidden City. Started out by meeting the guys (and gal) working in the restoration studios. They're internationally recognized craftsmen using traditional skills to restore the incredible interiors and furniture of the <a href="/project/juanqinzhai-qianlong-garden">Qianlong Gardens</a>.

October 18, 2009

Ken’s Diligent Service in Beijing: Day 2

On arrival in Beijing, Henry informed me that he'd be having dinner with Nancy Berliner, so I'd be on my own for the evening. Nancy is the curator of Asian art at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and has joined us here because part of WMF's joint project with the Palace Museum involves a touring exhibition of objects and interiors from the Qianlong Garden, which she'll curate.

October 17, 2009

Ken’s Diligent Service in Beijing: Day 1

WMF Art Director and prolific blogger Ken Feisel is in Beijing, along with Executive Vice President Henry Ng, meeting with Palace Museum officials to discuss a new visitor center for the Forbidden City's Qianlong Gardens and our continuing collaboration on the gardens' restoration.

October 16, 2009

Hands-on Experience: Summer in Peru

Patrick Kidd, a graduate student in the University of Pennsylvania's historic preservation program, and two of his classmates, volunteered to spend some time researching and working in Peru's Colca Valley in summer 2009.

October 07, 2009

Watch Announcement Crashes Website

We held a press conference Tuesday, October 6, to announce the sites on the new 2010 Watch. It was a great success—about 45 journalists from a wide range of major news outlets came, from Agence France Press and EFE to the Today Show, from the NY Daily News and the Los Angeles Times to Architectural Record, Conde Nast Traveler, Metropolis, Science, Town & Country, Travel & Leisure, and many more. Ninety-three sites from 47 countries are on the list, including 9 from the U.S.

September 11, 2009

Layers of Time

Today I checked on progress in conserving the rare surviving murals at Santa Maria Antiqua in the Roman Forum. I was received by murals conservator Werner Schmid and architect Giuseppe Morganti, director for monuments conservation for the Forum.

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