When I walk in old cities I always am aware of the doors and entrances. They are so different and so much worked than now. Today doors are often out of glass, simple wood with one color – mainly white – or maybe also out of iron. These doors are more like ”stay outside, this is a private area”. They stop the person in front of it and and mostly they don’t make feel comfortable.
Well, old entrances and doors are normally made of wood. They have colors that matches with the rest of the house or even the whole street. Some have great details on the front and they are big and heavy.
Sometimes they are so old and miserable that it makes one feel sad looking at them. It’s like to say ”here a world is gone”. But I am always courios what is behind the door. Especially when it’s an old one. In many cases there are big entrance halls hidden behind a huge heavy door, with a huge staircase or maybe leading into a garden or patio.
When I walked in the old part of Schwerin I didn’t open doors but I found it for example interesting that there was a typical entrance to a farm yard. A farm in the middle of a town? But it looked exactly like that.
There were passages and entrances leading to other streets, giving sometimes place to a small idilliac placeas well. A little bit like passing through a passage to another world, more peaceful and calm.
Other old brick houses had also modern doors made of glass. That makes me curious too because it let me see inside. This time it’s like ”come and have a look” invitation. And very often the surprise is big as it has a beautiful sunny patio or a flight of stairs.
I think I am on the way to become a door lover. There is even a Roman god of doors: Janus. He is the god of beginning and transition. Which is really perfect with doors. They are the same: a beginning and a transition into a new area. I think they should be inviting on one hand and on the other giving the feeling of protection.
In my home there are all doors wide open. As I lived for a long time with animals and for them it is difficult to open doors I never closed them. So they could walk everywhere and see where their human is and go where they loved more to stay (mainly with me). Closed doors make me mainly feel closed in instead of protected. At least they don’t have to be locked.
Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern/Germany:
