Fifteenth anniversary of this weblog

a sculpture by Fernand Châtelain,
courtesy of Marcello 13 (Flickr)

Bonjour aux promeneurs, Hello walkers,

Today, November 11, 2023 this weblog exists fifteen years. Up till now it includes 635 reviews of art environments in Europe made by non-professional artists.

As in previous years here are some data about numbers and origin of visitors of this blog and about most viewed art environments.

Number of visitors

On November 10th, 2022 the all time number of visitors was 1,141.432. 

On November 10th, 2023 it was 1,252.316,  so there is an increase of 110.884 visitors, or on the average 305 visitors a day. 

Over the period 2021-2022 the average was 521, and the year before it was 257. The average number of visitors over 2021/22 may have been an outlier, around 300 visitors per day being the usual number.

All time page views by country

As in previous years here is the all time rank of countries as regards page-views (4000 >, as on November 10)

        Netherlands 221000

        United States 181000

        Ireland 139000

        United Kingdom 107000

        France 76000

        Italy 61000

        Germany 38000

        Russia 36000

        Australia 23000

        Spain 16000

        Poland 12000

        Singapore 12000

        Canada 8000

        Hungary 8000

        Japan 7000

        Austria 4000

        Belgium 4000

        Greece 4000

        Indonesia 4000

        Other 136000

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This overview shows that apart from Australia, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia, most visitors come from the countries in North America and in Western and Eastern Europe, which is pretty much the target group this weblog wants to reach.   

Most viewed sites all time

        1.  Robert Garcet, Belgium, Eben-Ezer Tower, 6647

        2   Bill and Elisabeth Charge, England UK, Watford shell garden, 6612

        3.  Joseph Ferdinand Cheval, France, Palais Idéal, 6598
        4.  John and Jo Mew, Braylsham Castle, England UK, 6005

        5.  Polina Rayko, Ukraine, Decorated House, 5708      

        6.  Sidney Dowdeswell, England UK. Mosaic and shell garden, 5172

        7.  Jose Maria Garrido, Spain,  El Museo del Mar, 5162

        8.  Oreste Fernando Nannetti, Italy, Wall inscriptions, 4875

        9.  Roy McCormack, England UK, Beach flint sculpture garden,, 4846
      10.  Robert Tatin, France, Maison des champs, 4840
      

Bill and Elisabeth Charge, Watford shell garden, who have been in first place in recent years, are now in second place

 Chomo, France, Préludian art, has left the top ten, to be replaced by John and Jo Mew, who in the 1990s singlehandedly constructed Braylsham Castle and Sidney Dowdeswell, who in 1921 began transforming the garden of his house into a mosaic and shell garden.

   

The art environment by Polina Rayko (1928-2004) from Ukraine whose decorated house was located in the war zone near Kherson, increased in the number of visitors. In the context of Russia's war with Ukraine, in early June 2023 a dam on the Dnieper River was blown up, causing a tidal wave that destroyed all the decorations on the walls of Polina's house.

Next an overview of places 11 to 20:

     11. Bodan Litnianski, France, Garden of shells,, 4770

     12. Chomo, France, Préludian art, 4669

     13. Karl Junker, Germany, Junker's House,  4634
     14. José Garcia Martin, Canaries, Spain, Sculpture garden, 4599

     15. Gustav Nagel, Germany, Paradise Garden, 4536
     16. Abbé Fouré, France, Sculpted rocks, 4468
     17  Joseph Pujiula i Vila, Spain, Labyrinth, 4452

     18. Stephen Wright, England UK, House of dreams museum, 4224

     19, Francisco González Grajera, Spain, Decorated house, 4097
     20. Julius Klingebiel, Germany, Decorated room, 4086
     

Raymond Isidore, France, Maison Picassiette, 4046 and Erich Bödeker, Germany, Sculpture garden, 3922, have left the top twenty.

Considering the countries that appear in the top twenty, we see that mainly those from Western Europe are represented (England UK, France, Spain, Germany. Belgium and Italy).

As in the overview November 2021-November 2022 Ukraine is represented again with Polina Rayko's decorated house.

The difference between Western and Eastern Europe in terms of visits to sites partly has to do with the fact that I only after a number of years started to systematically focus on Eastern Europe, but it is also related to the lesser awareness of the phenomenon of art environments in those countries.

So to get an impression of what's going on in these areas, here is is an overview of the most visited sites in Eastern Europe and Russia:

Russia 

These are the most visited sites in Russia (>1500 views) 

      1. Alexander Emelyanov, Decorated garden, 2889

      2. Sergey Kirillov, Decorated house, 2296

      3. Alexander Ladogina, Church, 2151

      4. Lyudmila Kneller, Mosaic decorations, 2031

      5. Yuri Antonov, Museum the Temple of Homer, 2023

      6. Yevgeny Malakhin (artist name Bukashkin), Paint the garbage, 1914

      7. Alexander Alekseeva, The old park in Kabardinka, 1785

      8. Petr Zhurilenko, Sculpture garden, 1769

      9. Ivan Pisarenko, Replicas of Kremlin classics, 1571

    10. Egor Utrobin, Sculpture garden, 1567

   

The ranking is almost the same as a year ago, except that Yuri Antonov is a newcomer. The article about his indoor art environment was published in June 2022 and already reached a high position this past year.

East European countries

And here are data about the East-European countries Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine (number of visitors >1500)

Czech Republic

     1. František Rint, Ossuary, 3322

     2. Vàclav Levý, Rock sculptures, 2985

     3. Anežka Kašpárková and Marie Jagošová, Decorated chapel, 2239

     4. Vojtech Kopic, Sculpted rocks, 1801

     5. Frantiska Blechová, Fairytale garden, 1577

Frantiska Blechová has joined the overview of most visited sites in Ukraine

 Slovakia

     1. Decorated village of Čičmany, 1884

     2. Martin Sabaka, Replicas of famous buildings, 1704

The overview of Slovakia (with five art environments in the weblog) is unchanged

Hungary

     1. János Csere, Bugaszeg estate, 1778

     2. Zoltán Alekszi, Replicas of Hungarian castles. 1712

     3. István Taródi, Tarodi Castle, 1500

This is the first time that visits to sites in Hungary have been included in this overview. All three sites listed are dedicated to singular architecture.

Poland

    1. Bogdan Ziętek, Interior with sculptures, 2734

    2. Felicja Curylowa, Decorated house, (Zalipie), 2131

    3. Boguslawa Iwanowskiego, Sculpture garden, 1882

    4. Krystyna and Eugeniusz Msciwojewscy, Garden with wooden sculptures, 1570

    5. Henryk Sawko, Stone park, 1561

    6. Danuta Szudzińska, House with frescoes, 1503

The number of art environments in Poland with more than 1,500 visitors has been expanded with the fresco-decorated house of Danuta Szudzińska, who passed away in 2021.

Ukraine

    1. Polina Rayko, Decorated house, 5708

    2. Nicholas Golovan, Decorated house, 2330

    3. Stanislav Sartsevich, Sculpture garden, 2248

    4. Vladimir Chaika, Decorated stairwell, 1740

The overview of Ukraine has not changed compared to last year, but the number of visitors to the article about Polina Rayko's site has increased so much that it is already listed in the overview of most visited sites.

So much for looking back at what happened in 2022/23 in this weblog in terms of most visited sites out of the 600+ reviews it includes. 

This quantitative perspective is just one of the ways to approach the creations discussed in this weblog. Perhaps a different, more substantive approach can be developed in the future. For the time being, there are still discoveries of creations that are worth a description in the framework as developed in this weblog.