Architectural surprise...

Whilst in Germany last weekend, my friends took me to the small city of Herford, where a contemporary art gallery has recently opened. It's a fairly small, pleasant city, but seemingly unspectacular....until you see MARTa, the new gallery.

It was designed by Frank Gehry (who, amongst other things, also designed the Guggenheim in Bilbao) and is breathtaking. I was especially amazed at the way in which such elaborate and smooth curves had been created with bricks. What I enjoyed most was coming across this building in such an unexpected place. If I visit major cities and have some knowledge of their famous architecture, I can be somewhat prepared for what I might see. But this building was a bolt from the blue, we'd just been to the supermarket for groceries and my friend mentioned a short detour on the way home to see a local art gallery. Understatement, indeed.