One thing I love about Europe, especially coming from the US, is that nothing there is purely utilitarian (or at least wasn’t before the Soviets came along). Even the art isn’t just there to look pretty–I was caught off-guard the first time I saw people holding empty water bottles up to the public fountains, not comprehending that their primary purpose was not actually decorative.
But even the smallest, most basic things have a touch of artistry. I found my eye caught more than once by a storm drain, stamped with the seal of whatever city I was in.
Prague
Florence
Ljubljana
If Los Angeles had storm drains like this, I’m not sure anyone would even notice. But then, the city doesn’t have the money for it anyway.
The Restless Romantic 
Exactly – I love the mixture of usefulness and beauty in Europe. When things became mass-produced, we lost this somewhere.
I had no idea Florence and Prague had such lovely storm drains. I’ll make a point of looking next time I visit. Glad you noticed for me. 😉
Part of the reason is to stop them being stolen – like marking the edges of coins to stop them being trimmed. Once the design is made I don’t think it costs much more to make them like this. It also shows that people walk the streets, so notice such things.
Bucharest, Romania has some heraldic-rich manhole covers:
I love it that you are travelling around with your eyes open. So many people fail to even notice beautiful things around them.
Unusual observation! Pity about your last comment though. Bit condescending maybe?
You’re so right – a friend once told me that her family used to produce drain covers in England and now that I live here, every time I step on one, I say a quiet hello to her (and her artistic ancestors).
Congratulations on being FP’d
Wendy
In all my time traveling throughout Europe (esp. Eastern Europe) I never looked at what I was seeing from this perspective–well done.
In the U.S., there are some (very few) areas that have storm drains like this. I only notice because when you see one, it is so out of character that it’s worth taking note of! This post, however, makes me want to travel more. I’ve never been to Europe before, and this just adds to the reasoning for why I need to go. Art in the place of utilitarian facet.
I noticed these on my travels in Spain too! Everywhere I go, I take a picture of the storm drains because they usually have a detailed city emblem and the name of the place on them. I didn’t know they were similar all over Europe too.
I absolutely love this, and I completely agree. Although I think it’s not just a Europe thing as much as it is an OLD thing. 🙂 It’s sad to think that over time we have improved our ability to build new things but not necessarily those things themselves, at least as far as aesthetics goes.
Considering most cities have a % for arts policy, paying for a new design wouldn’t change the overall budget. Molds had to be replaces at some point, so why not make new ones with a City Crest and, phase them in as they do now, with new construction and replacements.
Amazingly despite the detail and beauty of so many London intracacies we are definately guilty of being swept away with the necessity of getting from A to B far too quickly to notice the history and craftsmanship of many things that make up our city. London history is not light reading but so revealing, even the colours of stone work tell a story – and I was in my 20s before I realised the Thames River used to freeze so hard they would have markets on it!
This article is wonderful, it makes me want to go and explore more of Europe!
wooww!! it seems they took the time to be artful with their drains,lovely.. 🙂
Those are really beautiful! I lived in Europe for several years and certainly miss the Old World beauty. Nice post, congratulations on being FP!
Lovely photos. I would never have thought to look down when walking around some of those beautiful places, and I’d be missing out. Congrats on being freshly pressed too! =)
Simply beautiful. Congrats on the Freshly Pressed.
Reblogged this on Heil World Wars.
Lovely!
GREAT place.. & greatly written
Very interesting.
Interesting post! 🙂 Nice!