Gezicht op een landschap met bergen en daken before 1920

Donald Mennie captured this landscape, blending mountains and rooftops, in a photograph during the early 20th century. The roofs, clustered and tiered, are dominant symbols of shelter and community. Consider the 'tempietto,' a small temple, an architectural motif of harmony and order since the Renaissance. Here, the roofs evoke a similar yearning for structure, but also an earthy, grounded existence nestled in the natural world. Note that the photograph is vertically inverted. We can see the landscape in its essence, as it perhaps exists in the collective memory, almost dream-like. We see buildings from different eras; they are echoes of a continuous human attempt to mark territory. This collective memory and subconscious desire engages us with a deep-seated emotional resonance. Just as ancient ruins elicit feelings of nostalgia and reflection, these roofs symbolize the continuity of human endeavor. These symbols, these archetypes, appear and reappear. They evolve and yet, they remain fundamentally linked to our shared past.