Toykio. Come play with us
- If shopping is supposed to be an experience rather than simply raiding the rails and shelves, there are only a few places that can live up to your expectations and truly surprise and inspire you. Toykio is one of them. After some successful years as an online shop and a pop-up gallery on Königsallee, the guys from Toykio built their new headquarter in the Japanese district of Düsseldorf, just off Immermannstrasse. With its shiny black ceramic tiles and colourful neon signs, it is a hybrid between toy store, art space and a café where you can find pretty much everything your inner child desires.
- Action figures, robots, Qee bears, labbits, comics along with coffee table books, vinyl records and premium poster prints – every item seems to be hand picked by shop owner Selim Varol. The gallery in the basement features a variety of more or less known artists from urban- and pop-art, lowbrow, surrealism and photography, just as Banksy, JR, Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Ricky Powell, KAWS, and D*Face. And though it is unlikely – if you ever should get tired in Toykio, you can just sit down and enjoy one of the best coffees in town at the very Brooklyn-like pastry bar.
- By Lukas Blasberg from METAL
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National Art Museum
The largest art museum in Rumania was set up in 1948 and includes both Rumanian and European art from the 15th to the 20th centuries. The museum houses the most complete collection of Rumanian art in the country and possibly in the world.
Located in the old Neo-classical Royal Palace surrounded by a large number of historic buildings, such as the Romanian Athenaeum, Kretzulescu Church and the Hotel Hilton Athenee Palace, the museum currently exhibits more than 100,000 pieces divided between two main sections. Its National Gallery houses the works of great Rumanian artists, including Grigorescu, Aman and Andreescu. There is also a hall full of the early sculptures by Brancusi (hard to find anywhere else) that show how he surpassed his master, Rodin, towards a more advanced form of expression. The European Gallery Space, which consists of 15 rooms, houses the jewels of lesser-known art by such great artists as El Greco, Monet, Rembrandt, Renoir, Breughels (father and son), Cezanne and Rubens.
Picture by Sailko
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The Out of the Blue
The Out of the Blue is a space for creators and artists that also serves as a rehearsal, exhibition and concert hall.
Its popular Flea Market, which takes place every last Saturday of the month from 10:00 to 15:00, attracts visitors from all over to buy and rummage through all the second-hand and antique objects on offer. You’ll find vintage clothing, accessories, costume jewellery, music, films, books, furniture and many other curious items. You’re sure to find something that takes your fancy hidden among the goods on sale at the more than 50 stalls that gather for this market.
The Bruncheon & Food Market is held on the second Saturday of every month from 10:00 to 15:00, where you can enjoy a delicious brunch while listening to live music and where you can buy organic fruit and vegetable produce or traditional sweets, among many other things.
36 Dalmeny Street, Edimburgo
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Monreale Cathedral
A forty-minute by bus ride from Palermo takes you to the Cathedral of Monreale. This cathedral was constructed during the reign of William II of Normandy, between 1172 and 1190, and is a living example of the fusion of cultures and religions that existed in Sicily during that period. It boasts a syncretic style as it was built by combining Norman architecture with aspects of Moorish art. It consists of a main nave with two wings and an apse. The most surprising features are the interior walls, as they are covered with more than 6,000 m2 of Byzantine gold mosaics inspired by those in the Palatine Chapel in Palermo. The mosaics recount episodes from the Bible, from the creation to the passion of Christ in chronological order from left to right. An impressive Christ Pantocrator crowns the apse leaving visitors speechless.
Adjacent to the cathedral can be found the cloister and its 228 columns, each one supporting a different ornament, along with a number of Arab-inspired arches.
You can travel to Monreale by bus (number 389), which passes by the Piazza Independencia in Palermo. It costs nothing to get into the cathedral but you can hire an audio-guide for 5 euros. Entry to the cloister costs 6 euros.
Image:Urban
By Isabel Romano from Diario de a bordo
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