European Textile Trainees | TextielMuseum
About the ETT-program:
Eight talented students from six European study programmes are given the opportunity of attending a trainee programme in the Netherlands and Italy. The European academies and universities select master and advanced bachelor students to participate. The point of departure in this exchange programme is working and learning in the various textile sectors. The exchange of knowledge and experimentation and the application of materials and production form the central focus. In addition to this, the trainees are expected to work on their own design project within the options on offer.
The partners in ETT 2012 are:
TextielMuseum
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation
Aalto University, School of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland
National Academy of the Arts Bergen (KHIB), Norway
Hochshule fur Kunst und Design Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, Germany
Sint-Lucas Hogeschool Beeldende Kunst, Ghent, Belgium
Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten (KASK), Ghent, Belgium
Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, Germany
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, United Kingdom
COMO Textile institutes, Servizi Industriali Srl., UICOMO, Como, Italy
Film by Robert Andriessen
Places to see in ( Como - Italy )
Places to see in ( Como - Italy )
Como is a city at the southern tip of Lake Como in northern Italy. It's known for the Gothic Como Cathedral, a scenic funicular railway and a waterfront promenade. The Museo Didattico della Seta traces the history of Como's silk industry, while the Tempio Voltiano museum is dedicated to Italian physicist Alessandro Volta. Just north are the lakeside gardens of the palatial Villa Olmo, as well as other stately villas.
At first glance, Como may seem disappointingly urban and sprawling compared with the smaller and prettier Lake Como resorts. But the town's setting - surrounded by green hills, with the end of the lake opening up as a pretty villa-rimmed basin just yards from the historic centre - is impressive and once you set foot within the square formed by the old town walls, Como's charms become more apparent. The centro storico, old town, is a typical Italian network of pavement cafes, little squares and picturesque lanes, some bustling with shops, others empty and peaceful. Como is definitely much livelier and more 'real' than the tourist-dominated villages around Lake Como.
The most important sight in town is the cathedral, the Duomo. This imposing church was built over a period of several centuries, from 1396-1740, and shows a range of influences, chiefly Renaissance and Gothic. The facade dates from the fifteenth century, while the dome was designed by Filippo Juvarra in the eighteenth century. Alongside the Duomo is the Broletto, Como's thirteenth-century striped-marble town hall.
Within the old town centre is another important church, the Basilica di San Fedele, which dates from the tenth century (though it has been rebuilt). The visitor exploring the town will come across various picturesque sights, including the imposing Porta Vittoria, a tall stone gateway defending the old town walls, narrow arcaded lanes, and tower-houses which are the legacy of the warring Middle Ages.
Como is very proud of its famous sons. Two famous Romans, writers Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, were born here and are commemorated with statues on the Duomo (their renown presumably outweighing the fact that they weren't saints or even Christians). Alessandro Volta, electricity pioneer (after whom the volt was named) is recorded with a piazza and a 'temple', the Tempio Voltiano, containing his equipment. Como is also proud of twentieth-century architect Giuseppe Terragni, who worked during the Fascist era, but died young. Various buildings designed by Terragni can be seen around Como; one of the most striking is his Casa del Fascio, now called Palazzo Terragni (pictured), just over a level crossing from the Duomo. If you are arriving by train at Como Nord Lago station, and don't have time to explore Como, you can see these two important buildings on either side of the tracks as your train is pulling in.
By the lakeside, the narrow lanes of the historic centre give way to open spaces and lake views. Piazza Cavour is a large square lined with souvenir shops and pavement cafes, facing the waterfront and close to the ferry jetties. Various rather faded hotels look over the water and remind the visitor of the grand heyday of lake tourism.
Villa Olmo is one of the grandest buildings on Como's waterfront; a grand-fronted villa dating from the end of the 18th century. Nowadays it houses exhibitions and events. The gardens of the villa are open to the public. Como's football stadium is also on the shore of the lake, and must be one of the most picturesquely-sited in Italy.
Como was an important town in the silk trade, and around the lake you'll still find shops selling high-quality Como silks. There is a museum dedicated to silk, the Museo della Seta, located just outside the centre of town. Other museums in Como include the Pinacoteca Civica, the town's art gallery, an archaeological museum and a museum of the Risorgimento. Note that museums are typically closed on Mondays and for a couple of hours in the middle of the day.
A funicular railway, opened in 1894, runs up the hill from Como to Brunate. The two shuttles depart every 15 to 30 minutes, passing each other at the halfway point. At Brunate you can admire the views, take a stroll or even walk back down to Como. The Funicolare Como website (see links panel) provides timetables and suggests some walks and outings from Brunate.
( Como - Italy ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting Como . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Como - Italy
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The Sforza Castle in Milan - the fortress of the Duke
Explore one of the biggest military buildings in Europe - find out more on
Transcript:
Originally built in the XIV century as a military fortress, it became the Residence of the Duke during the Renaissance, when it was enriched and decorated in order to show the power of the duke well beyond its original military function.
Let's have a look at the majestic fortress as it appears today. The first thing you notice is the impressive central tower. This tower was originally designed by the great Renaissance architect Filarete, but its fate was signed by a lightning which set fire to the explosives amassed in the tower. The tower exploded, and it wasn't rebuilt till the end of the XIX century, when the architect Luca Beltrami based his reconstruction on a surviving Filarete drawing.
As you enter the castle, you'll find yourself in the great central courtyard, surrounded by walls, where you can easily imagine to be in the Renaissance. Go further into the castle through the second gate, and you can buy the tickets to visit the various museums hosted in the Castle. They are definitely worth a visit! I will point out only a few highlights here, but you'll find many more by yourself. The first is the Sala delle Asse, frescoed by Leonardo da Vinci with an intricate decoration of trees and leaves, as if to create a virtual garden. Leonardo put lots of symbols here, like its signature knot. The fresco is currently being restored, and we can't wait to see it in its original splendour. Another great artwork hosted in the Castle is the Pieta' Rondanini by Michelangelo, the last work of the great Renaissance master, an unfinished sculpture which is striking in its modernity, like a Modigliani sculpture.
Don't miss the Sala della Balla, called after a Renaissance ball game which was played here. In this hall you can find twelve amazing giant tapestries designed by the Renaissance artist Bramantino, one for each month of the year, showing the activities that characterize each month. You will love the colours and richness of details of this textile masterworks!
Finally, have a look the furniture museum, on the first floor. It exhibits the evolution of the Milanese furniture design from the Middle age to the contemporary. You will discover how the well known contemporary interior design has ancient roots.
New Mexico Textile Tradition - Colcha Embroidery
The Art of Colcha Embroidery
By New Mexico Historical Films
A film by Sarahmaria Gomez and Alex Fledderjohn of Tu Media, The Art of Colcha Embroidery features the embroidery art form that is unique to New Mexico. Filmed on location at El Rancho de las Golondrinas, New Mexico's living history museum, and featuring Julia Gomez, acclaimed and award-winning colcha embroider. Provided for use of El Rancho de las Golondrinas by the gracious permission of Tu Media.
New Mexico Historical Film Studios create professional video products with music soundtracks usually at no cost for selected nonprofit organizations and government agencies whose focus is the history of New Mexico USA in the Spanish Colonial, Mexican, and U. S. Territorial periods. These eras encompass more than 370 years, from the first Spanish explorer who entered New Mexico in 1540 to New Mexico Statehood in 1912.
New Mexico Historical Films:
Merletto Orvieto Ars Wetana en.
From ancient crafts of textile art.
Copyright © region of Umbria-graphic design and video-editing Pixels-Speaker Design Polimanti Umbertide Sestilio
Visit the Blog Arts and crafts MADE IN ITALY
Kuba Art in Washington, D.C.
The Kuba people from the Democratic Republic of Congo see patterns everywhere and their designs are being featured at Washington's Textile Museum. VOA's Carolyn Turner reports.
Moore's Occidental Cleaning Store
318 Spadina Avenue
Filmmaker Roger McTair speaks about Donald Willard Moore, an activist and community leader whose tailor shop became a hub where West Indian men met in the early 1900's to discuss politics.
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research, direction, writing, production:
Camille Turner + Michael Alstad
editor, videographer:
Barbara Greczny
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How fashion is driving innovation in museums: Dennita Sewell at TEDxEvansChurchill
Dennita Sewell has been Curator of Fashion Design at Phoenix Art Museum since January 2000. She received her MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama and BA in Textile and Apparel Management from the University of Missouri. Prior to Phoenix, Sewell was Collections Manager at The Metropoli- tan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. At Phoenix Art Museum she has organized over 30 exhibitions on topics ranging from motorcycle jackets to contemporary designers drawn from the Museum's comprehensive collec- tion, international fashion houses and private collections. This talk is about the extremely rapid cycles of innovation in Fashion and how it's appeal has grown in the museum viewing community
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
Video produced by the students and faculty of the Digital Video Program at University of Advancing Technology (uat.edu)
Superstudio Exhibit at the Pecci Museum, Prato
An exhibit at the Pecci Museum in Prato showcases the Superstudio Architectural firm from the 1960s and 70s, featuring designs revealing the firm as a pioneer of conceptual architecture.
Tuscan Towns: Prato
Relatively off the tourist track, despite its close proximity to Florence, the city of Prato is a beautiful, medieval remnant with a fascinating textile industry and heritage key to its past economic success.
The London Print Design Fair - March 2017
The most important print design fair in the UK, with about 60 international print studios.
MINIARTEXTIL - a textile experience Palazzo Mocenigo .
MINIARTEXTIL - a textile experience
Palazzo Mocenigo
dal 4 giugno 2011 al 28 agosto 2011
In concomitanza con la 54ª Biennale di Venezia, la Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia ospita a Palazzo Mocenigo - Centro Studi di Storia del Tessuto e del Costume, A TEXTILE EXPERIENCE, A PASSION FOR COLOR. Miniartextil e Ruth Adler Schnee, ovvero due mostre d'arte tessile contemporanea.
Miniartextil. A texile experience, a cura di Luciano Caramel.
Promossa ed organizzata dall'Associazione culturale Arte&Arte di Como, torna nel portego al primo piano di Palazzo Mocenigo per il sesto anno consecutivo, la Fiber art, forma espressiva contemporanea, in cui si utilizzano - in tutte le possibili accezioni e materiali - il filo, la fibra, il tessuto, con un'autonomia del tutto nuova, oggi attualizzata da strutture e iconografie in continua evoluzione.
In mostra 54 minitessili, selezionati tra i 413 progetti finalisti del concorso 2010, che ha visto gli artisti confrontarsi sul tema Un giorno di felicità, liberamente tratto dai racconti del Premio Nobel Isaac Bashevic Singer. I minitessili sono opere che non superano i 20 cm di lato e sono stati individuati da una giuria internazionale composta da: Luciano Caramel, critico d'arte e docente; Anic Zanzi conservatrice della Fondation Toms-Pauli di Losanna (CH) e da Keiko Kawashima, presidente del KICTAC Kyoto International Contemporary Textile Art Center.
Accanto ai minitessili trovano spazio sette installazioni di grandi dimensioni: Tappeti di preghiera, di Gabriella Crisci; Celestial Knights Virgo della lituana Jurate Kazakeviciute, e Pianure Notturn del duo argentino Toba Toba. Suggestive le installazioni degli italiani Raffaele Penna, Il volo, e di Resi Girardello Danae's Oracle. Gli artisti Dario Zeruto e Hèlene Genvrin hanno invece creato il libro-scultura Cascada, costituito da 550 pagine di carta di cotone. Anna Paola Cibin ha realizzato un arazzo di grandi dimensioni dal titolo Il Viaggio, ispirato alle ambientazioni descritte nel Milione da Marco Polo.
L'edizione veneziana della mostra -- che sarà aperta al pubblico dal 4 giugno al 28 agosto 2011 con l'orario e il biglietto del museo (vedi informazioni generali a pag. 3) - conclude il percorso itinerante di Miniartextil 2010, che, dopo essere stata inaugurata a Como lo scorso autunno, è stata poi allestita a Parigi all'Hotel de Ville de Montrouge, in febbraio, e il mese successivo a Milano, alla Myowngallery presso Super Studio Più, in occasione di Milano Moda Donna.
Catalogo italiano/inglese/francese vanillaedizioni, Genova, con intervento critico di Luciano Caramel.
L'artista Marina Majcen (con l'opera: Libertà di movimento) vive e lavora a Venezia usa firmare le sue opere con i propri capelli usati come filato per il merletto ad ago (tecnica di Burano) punto sacola usato liberamente.
Marina Majcen contact marinamajcen.it
The Art of Making a Tapestry
Learn how tapestries were made in the time of Louis XIV and are still made today. Explore the process of tapestry weaving at the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris, where historical techniques dating to the time of Louis XIV are used to make contemporary works of art.
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Video chapters:
Introduction - 0:04
Designing a Tapestry - 1:08
Colorful Threads - 2:17
Preparing a Loom - 4:36
Weaving - 6:15
This video was produced in conjunction with the exhibition Woven Gold: Tapestries of Louis XIV, on view at the Getty Center, December 15, 2016–May 1, 2016.
#decorativearts #tapestry #gettymuseum
Santiago Rusiñol (1861-1931) A collection of paintings 4K
Santiago Rusiñol i Prats (1861-1931) was a Spanish painter, poet, and playwright. He was one of the leaders of the Catalan modernisme movement.
He influenced Pablo Picasso as a modern artist, and also left a number of modernist buildings in Sitges, a town in Catalonia.
Rusiñol was born in Barcelona in 1861, to a family of industrialists in textiles with origins in Manlleu. Despite the fact that he was the heir to the family's lucrative operations, by the time he was a teenager Rusiñol already showed a strong interest in painting and travel.
His training as painter started at Centro de Acuarelistas de Barcelona under the direction of Tomás Moragas. Like so many artists of the day, he travelled to Paris in 1889, living in Montmartre with Ramon Casas and Ignacio Zuloaga. He died 1931 was laid to rest on the Cemetery of Montjuïc.
Much of his work in Paris belonged to the Symbolism painting style. While there, he also attended the Gervex Academy, where he discovered his love for modernism. After returning to Spain, he settled in Sitges, founding a studio/museum named Cau Ferrat. When back in Barcelona, he was a frequent client of the café Els Quatre Gats, noted for its association with modernisme and the young Pablo Picasso. He went to Mallorca with the painter Joaquin Mir Trinxet, where they met the mystic Belgian painter William Degouve de Nuncques in 1899.
He was most known for his plays, and landscape and garden paintings. He died in Aranjuez in 1931 while painting its famous gardens
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Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe
Ferrara is an Italian municipality of 132 395 inhabitants, the capital of the homonymous province in Emilia-Romagna. The metropolitan area of the city has 202 726 inhabitants (year 2014). The city is located in the delta area of the river Po, the historical center is about 6 km south of the main branch of the river, while a southern branch of the delta, Po di Volano, delimits the medieval city with its walls, separating it from the still oldest village of San Giorgio. The modern districts to the north extend today to the Po, including the town of Pontelagoscuro. The territory is entirely flat, with an altitude between 2.4 m and 9 m s. the. m., and area of 405.16 km².
Ferrara is the heir of an important cultural heritage of the Renaissance, when it was the capital of an independent duchy under the rule of Este, and had developed into an artistic and university center of European level, in which they lived personalities such as poets Ludovico Ariosto and Torquato Tasso, the scientists Niccolò Copernico and Paracelso, the artists Andrea Mantegna and Tiziano, the writers Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Pietro Bembo. It is also a city of great urban interest since during the Renaissance there were realized the first major urban planning projects of modern European history, the best known of which is the Addizione Erculea, commissioned in 1484 by the duke Ercole I d'Este to the architect Biagio Rossetti. The new part of the city is called Arianuova, both for its location outside the old axis of the medieval castle, and because connotated until the late nineteenth century by large green areas without buildings, called gardens and gardens, inside the new mighty reddish walls. Thanks to this architectural work Ferrara is considered by scholars to be the first modern city in Europe. UNESCO gives it the title of world heritage of humanity for the first time in 1995 as a city of the Renaissance and subsequently, in 1999, receives further recognition for the delta of the Po and for the delights of Este. Ferrara is also one of the few Italian provincial capitals whose historic center has remained almost completely surrounded by the walls which, in turn, have maintained almost intact their original appearance over the centuries. Ferrara, with Pisa and Ravenna, is also one of the first cities of silence mentioned in the Laudi by Gabriele D'Annunzio. Ferrara is an ancient university (University of Ferrara) and an archiepiscopal center (archdiocese of Ferrara-Comacchio). It hosts important cultural centers: the National Picture Gallery of the Palazzo dei Diamanti, the National Archaeological Museum, the Museum of the Risorgimento and the Resistance, the modern and contemporary art museum Filippo de Pisis, the Cathedral museum, the Giovanni Boldini museum, the museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah and numerous other museums. The contemporary city rests on an economy based on agricultural and industrial production that make it a center of primary importance thanks to the presence of numerous industrial plants present in the area of petrochemical and small and medium-sized enterprises. The most representative sectors are those of the chemical industry, the metalworking industry, electrical engineering and the textile and food industry. In addition, the road and rail networks put it within the commercial circuit both regional and national thanks to the presence of adequate infrastructure such as the highway A13, the freight station of the railway station and the ports of call located in Pontelagoscuro that connect the city to the river Po and to the Adriatic sea. Ferrara is also one of the few Italian sites where geothermal energy is used for the production of hot water and heat that feeds the city's district heating network.
TEXTILES, TRADE AND TASTE
Museums, religious temples and private institutions around the world house very fine and diverse collections of textile objects. In the past decades, their significance as witnesses of old cultures and the daily life of their people have been highlighted by new research methods, which have highly contributed to an increased awareness of their artistic and historical value. Artistic and historical research of textiles has ranged from collating inventories to conducting stylistic, iconographic and archival studies, with the aim of placing these objects in their historical, artistic, technological and socio-cultural contexts. Interdisciplinary collaboration with chemical analysis has been developed as well: characterization of dyes, textile fibres or precious metal threads provides useful data for identifying the geographical origins of raw materials and finished textiles, or to develop improved conservation treatments for their preservation for future generations.
From its origins, the TTT aims at creating a network of researchers working independently, but in cooperation, with one same goal: to encourage the interdisciplinary combination of science, conservation and art history to provide systematic studies on the rich textile heritage, in Portugal and in the world. Moreover, by disseminating research undertaken by its members, as well as work accomplished by its network of contacts, the TTT aspires to create new synergies in the field of textile studies and encourage collaboration among international researchers and institutions.
This video was made to be exposed at the 2018 Textile Society of America Symposium that took place in Vancouver, BC, Canada between 19th and 23rd September 2018.
A Walk Through the Gladiator Museum in Rome
The Gladiator Museum in Rome displaying the costumes of Gladiators from different regions of Europe including the Dacian Gladiator from ancient Dacia (which later became part of Transylvania), and Roman soldier and officer unicorns, and gladiator weapons
Deposito de galeria de arte de Florecia, Italia - museo antiguo - DiFilm (1991)
CONSULTAS PARA ADQUIRIR VIDEOS A: archivodeportivo@yahoo.com.ar - Art gallery storage of Florence, Italy - ancient museum. Art Galerie à Florence dépôt, Italie - ancien musée. Deposit Kunstgalerie in Florenz, Italien - altes Museum.
Fecha: 16/6/91
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The Making of Perspectives on a Flat Surface
'Perspectives on a Flat Surface', 2016
Designed by John Wardle Architects,
Woven by Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce, Jennifer Sharpe, & Cheryl Thornton Size: 2.26 (H) x 3.85(W) m
Materials: Wool, cotton
Commenced: June 2016
John Wardle Architects’ winning design for the Australian Tapestry Workshop’s inaugural Tapestry Design Prize for Architects has been produced for the proposed Phoenix Gallery in Sydney. The design, entitled Perspectives on a Flat Surface, was awarded joint first prize in 2015, along with a design by Kristin Green (director of KGA Architecture) with Michelle Hamer entitled Long Term Parking.
Following the competition last year, John Wardle Architects, on behalf of the Australian Tapestry Workshop, approached arts philanthropist Judith Neilson AM for a donation to help fund the making of the tapestry. The practice is currently designing a new art gallery, performance space and garden for Neilson with Durbach Block Jaggers, artist Janet Laurence and timber craftsman Khai Liew. “We approached Judith thinking that she may wish to donate some money towards it,” said John Wardle. “She decided to fund the whole thing, which is an extraordinary act of generosity.”
The tapestry design plays on the relationship between architectural interior as an enclosure and tapestry as a surface. “We thought, maybe we could combine what we do as architects – space-making and the performance of space – and see if we could project that into a form that could be made into a tapestry,” Wardle said. “The one thing that we deal with that tapestries invariably don’t is perspective.”
The tapestry references Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico (Olympic Theatre) in Vicenza, Italy with its set design by Vincenzo Scamozzi. The sets feature exaggerated perspectives of long streets receding into the horizon. “What we did was we inverted that. We created an imaginary object – a structure that actually projects towards the audience to create new picture planes and a sense of advanced perspective and then rendered the effects of light and view within this imaginary object,” Wardle explained.
The tapestry was designed to be site specific, to be hypothetically hung in the new Australian Pavilion in Venice design by Denton Corker Marshall. “You can see [there’s] a slight bluey-ness about it that suggests the position of the pavilion on the edge of the canal,” Wardle said.
Text by Linda Cheng, published in Architecture AU, 22.06.16.
The design rationale from John Wardle Architects original Tapestry Design Prize for Architects entry is: The Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza designed by Palladio, houses Vincenzo Scamozzi’s trompe l’oeil street scenes. The design is renowned for creating the exaggerated perspective from each of Palladio’s grand portals. Our design refers to our own exchange between Italy and Australia. A series of imagined sets have been created that reverse Scamozzi’s inverted perspectives, forming a series of picture planes drawn toward the audience. Each multiplies shifting perspectives across one wall whilst allowing another to exaggerate the proportions of the space. The partial views and variant transmissions of light within each inverted chamber suggest a place that is ‘elsewhere’. About John Wardle: John Wardle established his architectural practice in Melbourne in 1986. His practice includes working on small domestic dwellings to university buildings, museums and large commercial offices. The architecture of John Wardle Architects (JWA) is closely tailored to its place and highly experiential in nature. In 2001 he completed a Master of Architecture at RMIT University, and he is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia. Wardle has formed strong links with both artists and public art galleries and, as a practicing architect and board member of both the Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art and the Ian Potter Museum of Art, has contributed to important public art programs.
Monza, Monza Brianza, Lombardy, Italy, Europe
Monza About this sound listen is a city and comune on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about 15 kilometres (9 miles) north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. Monza is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, which hosts the Formula One Italian Grand Prix. On 11 June 2004 Monza was designated the capital of the new province of Monza and Brianza. The new administrative arrangement came fully into effect in summer 2009; previously, Monza was a comune within the province of Milan. Monza is the fourth-largest city of Lombardy and is the most important economic, industrial and administrative centre of the Brianza area, supporting a textile industry and a publishing trade. Monza also hosts a Department of the University of Milan Bicocca, a Court of Justice and several offices of regional administration. Monza Park is one of the largest urban parks in Europe. Monza is located in the high plains of Lombardy, between Brianza and Milan, at an altitude of 162 metres (531 feet) above sea level. It is 15 kilometres (9 mi) from the centre of the region's capital, although when considering the cities borders, they are separated by less than 5 km (3 miles). Monza ia about 40 km (25 mi) from Lecco and Como. Monza shares its position with Milan in the same metro area, and is a big part of its new province.
Monza is crossed from north to south by the River Lambro. The river enters Monza from the north, between Via Aliprandi and Via Zanzi streets. This is an artificial fork of the river, created for defensive purposes in the early decades of the 14th century. The fork is known as Lambretto and it rejoins the main course of the Lambro as it exits to the south, leaving Monza through the now demolished ancient circle of medieval walls. Another artificial stream is the Canale Villoresi, which was constructed in the late 19th century. Monza has a typical submediterranean climate of the Po valley, with cool, short winters and warm summers; temperatures are very similar to nearby Milan, averaging 2 °C (36 °F) in January, the coldest month, to about 23 °C (73 °F) in July, the warmest. Precipitation is abundant, with most occurring in fall and the least in winter and summer; despite this, the city and surrounding area usually doesn't suffer drought in any season. In the course of its history Monza withstood thirty-two sieges, but the Porta d'Agrate is all that remains of its original walls and fortifications. Nearby is the nunnery in which the Nun of Monza was enclosed in Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi. Monza is known for its Romanesque-Gothic Cethedral of Saint John (Duomo). There Theodelinda's centrally-planned Greek-cross oraculum (chapel of prayer) from c. 595 (its foundations remaining under the crossing of nave and transept) was enlarged at the close of the 13th century by enclosing the former atrium within the building. The black and-white marble arcaded façade was erected in the mid-14th century by Matteo da Campione. The campanile was erected in 1606 to designs by Pellegrino Tibaldi. In the frescoed Chapel of Theodelinda is the Iron Crown of Lombardy, supposed to contain one of the nails used at the Crucifixion. The treasury also contains the crown, fan and gold comb of Theodelinda, and, as well as Gothic crosses and reliquaries, a golden hen and seven chickens, representing Lombardy and her seven provinces. Though the interior has suffered changes, there is a fine relief by Matteo da Campione representing a royal Lombard coronation, and some 15th century frescoes with scenes from the life of Theodelinda. The Duomo's (Cathedral) Museum collection is home to early medieval treasures from the time of Queen Theodolinda, including the gilt silver Hen with Chicks, the Cross of Agilulf, and the Iron Crown; there are also pieces from the late medieval, modern and contemporary ages. Monza is internationally known for the Autodromo Nazionale Monza motor racing circuit, home to the Italian Grand Prix, and previously to the Alfa Romeo team. The circuit is inside the Parco di Monza, a park that is double the size of New York's Central Park. At the beginning of the century Monza counted 41,200 inhabitants; in 1911 it was among the eight most industrialised centres of Italy. The main activities were related to the processing of cotton, mechanics, hat factories and industries.
Between the two world wars, the city's industrial structure did not undergo substantial changes, while recording significant increases in production volumes.