The Pirogov Outdoor Museum is a unique tourist attraction that transports you to another time and merges you with its landscapes and its people. Located on the south of Kiev, this Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine expands along 1.5-square-kilometres full of cabins, mills, ponds, sunflower fields and hundred pieces of Ukrainian folklore. The easiest way to get to this idyllic place is to take a public bus or taxi, in half an hour you will go from the city center to a totally natural environment.

Pirogovo is a perfect place to spend the day with family or friends, prepare comfortable shoes and get ready to get lost among old schools, more than two centuries old wooden churches, handicrafts markets and native people predisposed to show the best of this settlement.

By Fran Arnaiz

Picture by Nick Shaforostoff

So you feel like visiting Kiev, do you? Book your flights here!

Words: Ilanka Verhoeven

Believe it or not, there are far more reasons to visit Amsterdam these days than its infamous coffee shops or its red-light district. Along the harbor and in the city’s South Axis area, futuristic buildings have been going up – a modern counterpart to the city’s canal houses. Amsterdam touches the heart of anyone who is passionate about architecture, from historic to modern buildings. To explore them, just act like a local: hop on a bike and go.

1. The Eye Film Institute

All tourists arriving by train in Amsterdam are immediately treated to a view of the beautiful futuristic building across the IJ harbor. The free commuter ferries leaving Central station are mostly packed with locals who are familiar with the new creative center of Amsterdam. Designed by the Vienna-based firm Delugan Meissl Associated Architects, the Eye Film Institute opened in April 2012 in North Amsterdam, a district which was considered to be a no man’s land at the time. The Eye institute offers the visitor a large choice of attractions. The building houses four modern film auditoriums, an exhibition space and a freely accessible basement where movies and clips from the Eye collection can be viewed. The café-restaurant completes the Eye’s headquarters. The terrace offers a great view over the water. Enough reasons to cross the waters and be entranced by the architecture of the Eye Film Institute.

2. Jan Schaefer Bridge

The futuristic steel bridge named after the politician Jan Schaefer is located on the IJ harbor and connects the Piet Heinkade with Java Island. Designed by Ton Venhoeven, the shape of the bridge generates a multiplicity of experiences. An intricate web of connections divides the bridge into separate flows of traffic. Whether you are on foot, by car or on a bike the bridge is accessible to everyone. The bridge provides an interesting combination of modern and historic architecture since it passes under the old ‘De Zwijger’ warehouse. The monumental warehouse built in 1933 in the business- expressionistic style, was renovated in 2006 and now serves for cultural institutions and events.

3. Museum het Schip

Designed by the prodigy born of the Amsterdam School movement Michel de Klerk, Het Schip is located in the district of Spaarndammerbuurt. One of the few of de Klerk’s designs actually built, the building was designed in 1919 and since 2001 it’s the museum of the Amsterdam School. The highly unusual and unique monument to expressionist architecture is a great site for anyone interested in learning more about Amsterdam’s history. Next to the building there is also a collection of street furniture in the style of the Amsterdam School.

4. Zuidas

Zuidas is best known as a leading international business centre. Home to international companies, the Zuidas area seems to have been created by and for lovers of modern architecture. The skyscrapers of renowned architects such as Toyo Ito provide a spectacular view over Amsterdam. One thing is certain: The Rock building at the Zuidas evokes strong reactions, both positive and negative. The work of Erick van Egeraat distinguishes itself from others by facades with leaning panes of glass, aluminum, stone or concrete with hardly any 90 degrees corners. The playful base of 24 floors, consisting of transparent parts and a robust concrete top is characteristic of Deconstructivism, a1990s movement. Aside from the Rock there are many other buildings worth the visit, among them Ito and Viñoly.

5. Theatre Tuschinski

Rising above the neighbourhood of the Rembrandtplein are the two towers of the Art Deco façade Theatre Tuschinski. Built in 1921, the Theatre was erected based on the designs of architect H.L. De Jong, with interior decor by Pieter den Besten and Jaap Gidding. The exterior is a crossover between the Dutch Amsterdam School style, art nouveau and art deco. Despite the renovation works between 1998 and 2002 the theatre holds on to its original style. Today, the Tuschinski Theater belongs to the big distributor Pathé, which gives you a good excuse to see the latest movies while enjoying its art deco interiors.

So you feel like visiting Amsterdam, do you? Book your flights here! 

If you are desperate to get away from the sweltering heat, take a look at these destinations and get ready to use a blanket at night.

The Bauhaus School – from the German bau (construction) and haus (house) – was probably one of the most important and revolutionary driving forces in the 20th century in the fields of art, design and architecture. In the short space of merely 20 years, a team of inquiring artists and architects, influenced by the social movements of the time, managed to overturn the prevailing way of conceiving art and architecture and their relationship to society. Their achievements include laying the foundations for industrial design, graphic design and modern architecture. What’s more, they even put forward and saw implemented an alternative educational model which was ahead of its time. A host of figures succumbed to such innovation and each contributed their grain of sand, including Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy, Marcel Breuer and Lyonel Feininger.

A good way of taking stock of that brilliant past, which we are now so indebted to, is by visiting two cities where the movement was based –Weimar and Dessau.

Weimar – The First Steps

Weimar was the first of three centres of Bauhaus activity. No wonder, then, that this city had already been the hub of the German Enlightenment and a meeting place for intellectuals. The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius, who took his first tentative steps in the Haus Hohe Pappeln, a school of arts and crafts designed by a pioneer of modernity, Henry van de Velde.

The only building in the Bauhaus style still standing in Weimar is the Haus am Horn, built in 1923 and designed by Georg Muche, a painter and lecturer at the Bauhaus. The building was designated World Heritage of the 20th Century in 1996.

Located in the Theaterplatz is the Weimar Bauhaus Museum, a moderately sized venue devoted to the Bauhaus. A much more spacious centre is due to be inaugurated in 2018.

Dessau – The Boom

In 1925, Walter Gropius was forced to close the school in Weimar for political reasons, but he received the necessary support to move it to Dessau. Fortunately, in the case of Dessau, there are lots of buildings that have survived to the present, including the school itself, regarded as a masterpiece of European rationalism. When preparing the groundwork for your tour of the various Bauhaus landmarks in the city, we recommend you browse this website to check the times and to book your tickets, as not all the areas are admission free.

Bauhaus Building (Bauhausgebäude).The work of Walter Gropius, this is the most emblematic of the Bauhaus constructions. Built in 1925 and 1926, it is made up of various interconnecting volumes, each with a different function. Building work involved the use of industrial techniques and a striking feature of the design is the glazed frontage.

Masters’ Houses (Meisterhäuser).Located near the school, this ensemble of four residential buildings was home to the masters: Gropius, Moholy-Nagy/Feninger, Muche/Schelemer and Kandinsky/Klee. Their interiors are open to the public, except for that of Gropius, which was destroyed during the war.

Törten Estate. The work of Walter Gropius, this ensemble of 300 houses was built in 1920 in the south of Dessau. Commissioned by the City Council, it is a prototype of a housing estate and was intended to act as a model for social housing.

Kornhaus. More playful in design, this restaurant and pub overlooking the river Elbe was designed by Carl Fieger, a draughtsman in Gropius’ practice.

Berlin was the last of the Bauhaus centres, where it was located from 1932 to 1934. However, the rise of National Socialism would put an end to this brilliant core of creativity and innovation, driving it to other countries, but the mark it left has survived until the present.

From Leipzig it is an easy train ride to both Weimar and Dessau, where you can steep yourself in the Bauhaus. Check out your flight here!

Text by Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS