or me, the years between 1871 and 1914 represent one of the most fascinating periods in the European history. As far as we know, there was nearly no other period during which so many artists and scientists were contemporaries. Arts and sciences developed with an incomparable speed and intensity. I will set up priorities on the years from about 1890 onwards which not only the French call the Belle Epoque - in the referring part I will talk about the problem to date this period exactly. As a thread, a guiding line through the period, you find a chronological synopsis which shows important historical, cultural and scientific events; far from being completed, more events will be added from time to time.

ctually, when I started to develop these web pages many years ago, I intended to illustrate the numerous facets of that period. This project, however, turned out to be rather difficult because of the manifold legal clauses. On the other hand, many other informative sites cover interesting topics of the Belle Epoque. Therefore, I decided to confine myself principally to presenting the epoch's architecture and its accompanying arts. A certain focus will be upon the Art Nouveau which I appreciate very much.

will be very pleased to receive your comments, suggestions, ideas and corrections. Special thanks go to Dao Gottwald, design noir, for kindly providing the JavaScript programme for image presentation.