Stop by the Baltimore Farmers’ Market for our new Looking Up Downtown tour

Did you know that there are hundreds of lions peering down on unsuspecting pedestrians on Calvert Street, that a piece of the Berlin Wall is now embedded in a downtown church, and that an unexploded bomb from the War of 1812 is perched along the sidewalk on Redwood Street? There are even a pair of 15th century squirrels gathering nuts on a doorway that is an exact copy of a door at the Basilica di Sant’ Andrea in Mantua, Italy by 15th Century Renaissance father Leon Alberti.

Whether its every day for work or occasionally for jury duty, most of us walk the streets of downtown Baltimore without realizing the wealth of grotesques, carvings, and statuary that abounds throughout the core of downtown. With help from Baltimore historians Fred Shoken, Wayne Schaumburg, and Matthew Mosca, we’ve put together a tour to explore the architecture, serious and whimsical, and the wonderful history in our city center. From noble lions and hellish fiends, from neo-Egyptian sphinxes and squirrels of Renaissance Italy, we bet you’ll be as amazed as we were to learn about the veritable menagerie of wildlife downtown.

Please join us this Sunday as we host the first in our new Looking Up Downtown tour series. If you can’t join us this Sunday, we’ll be offering the tour on the first and third Sunday of each month from August through November. So grab your shopping bag for the Farmers’ Market and your walking shoes for the tour and get ready to be surprised at how much is going on downtown above our very heads.

Looking Up Downtown Walking Tour

Sunday, July 29, 9:30 am – 10:30 am
Baltimore Farmers’ Market – Meet at the southeast corner of the market (Gay Street and Saratoga Street)
Tours ongoing every first and third Sunday from August through September.
$5 for adults. Children under 16 are free!
RSVP online today!

Help document Baltimore public art with Wiki ♥ Monuments

Join Baltimore Heritage and the Walters Art Museum for Wiki ♥ Monuments – a local photo scavenger hunt where we ask you to take photos of outdoor public artworks across the city and share them on Wikipedia. From historic landmarks like the Washington Monument to the more modest civic sculpture of the 1970s, public artwork is an important part of our Baltimore’s cultural heritage. Unfortunately, many artworks often seem invisible to people driving or walking by. Many artworks are overlooked both in the world at large and on Wikipedia. Taking and sharing photographs is a great first step to documenting public artworks in Baltimore and raising awareness about their importance for our city. In addition, by adding these photos to Wikipedia, Baltimore’s sculptures and monuments can be more visible and accessible to people across the world.

Pulaski Monument, 2007. Courtesy Chuck Szmurlo/Wikipedia.

How can you participate in Wiki ♥ Monuments?

All you need is a digital camera and the list of public artworks – available (along with a map) from the Walters Art Museum. The full list includes over 250 artworks from across the city identified in the Save Outdoor Sculpture! Database maintained by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. Here are a few helpful guidelines.

  • While most of these artworks should be easy to find, a few may have been moved or destroyed so a little searching may be required.
  • You can take as few (or as many) photos as you like but taking photos of each artwork from different angles and vantage points is a good idea.
  • You may want to take a reference photo, including a index card with the name and date of the piece. This will help you to later provide complete and accurate information when uploading the image.
  • You can then upload them yourself on the Walters Art Museum website or join us on August 11 for an “Upload Party” at the museum.

We’ll be adding a bit of competition by awarding points for each photograph and extra points for photos taken outside of the neighborhoods around the Walters Art Museum in Mt. Vernon. Questions? Get in touch with Eli Pousson at pousson@baltimoreheritage.org.

Updated publication provides comprehensive take on Baltimore City designated landmarks

Baltimore’s Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation has just published the first update to the official Baltimore City Designated Landmarks List since 2003. This report features summaries and photos for each of the 164 Baltimore City landmarks and public interior landmarks – from the designation of Baltimore City Hall back in January 1971 through Old Dunbar High School designated this past spring.

The new publication features cross-referenced, easy-to-use overview maps and index as well as information about the benefits, protections, and review procedures for Baltimore City Landmarks. Download a copy online today!