Tibidabo, Barcelona

Tibidabo is a 500 meter hill overlooking Barcelona.  With the example of Sacré Coeur in Paris in mind and the encouragement of Pope Leo XIII, the Spanish Roman Catholic Church began construction of the Sagrat Cor (Sacred Heart) church on the summit of Mount Tibidabo in 1902. Three years later its supremacy was challenged by the impudent arrival of the Tibidabo Amusement Park which opened in 1905 (just in time for the global boom in postcard sales). An amusement park can be thrown up in a fraction of the time needed to build a cathedral and the Sagrat Cor was only completed in 1962. Since when the pair have represented the sacred and profane in a relationship of mutual reproach. The park and most of its original rides remain in operation supplemented by the regular introduction of new attractions.  Public access was via a new purpose built funicular railway that began running in 1901. Opposite the funicular station, a Moorish-styled hotel was built.  A superabundance of roller coasters and white knuckle rides suggests that the citizens of Catalunya possess an unusual appetite for dramatic demonstrations of gravitational force.  A suspended monorail (Laderas del Monte) conveys passengers in open capsules around the perimeter of the summit offering spectacular views of the city far below.  More gentle attractions - carousels, a puppet theatre and a Museum of Automata - are available but the emphasis is on vertigo-inducing contemplation of the void.  The postcard industry supplied a wide range of views of the park and recorded an exhaustive survey of the operation of the funicular railway from which this selection is drawn.

 

Monte San Salvatore Funicular

Here’s an attractive vintage brochure for a famous funicular railway in the Swiss city of Lugano. To this day it connects the suburb of Paradiso with the summit of Monte San Salvatore, 912 metres in height. Spectacular panoramic views can be enjoyed from the top. Like most funiculars, this was conceived as a tourist attraction and with careful and regular updating it has flourished and survived into the present. Funiculars retain their antiquarian character better than most other transport methods while continuing to be economically viable. More than 50 funiculars are still in operation in Switzerland launching carloads of visitors high into the Alps. For a previous post on Lugano, please follow this link.

The Leas Cliff Lift Folkestone

The Leas Cliff Lift has been mothballed since the end of January. The operator, a non-profit Community Interest Company lacks the funds to replace the braking system to comply with HSE demands. Shepway District Council divested themselves of all responsibility in 2009 and have no part to play in what, if anything, happens next. The passenger cabins have been locked in a mid-way position and the keys handed over to the legal owner, the Folkestone Estate. It would be a great shame if some way to keep it going cannot be found - it's been in existence since 1885. The sum involved is £67,000, which in the grand scheme of things is minuscule. The last photo is taken from the summit in 2015 when the lift was in full operation. My efforts to ride the lift that day came to naught – when the lift reached the top, the operator exited at great speed, padlocked the cabin and marched away with the air of someone who wouldn’t be back in a hurry.

Funiculì Funiculà

Italian topography with extensive ranges of hills and mountains favoured the development of funicular railways of which some 14 still survive. A selection can be seen on these vintage postcards. The Neapolitan song Funiculì Funiculà was composed in 1880 to commemorate the opening of the Mount Vesuvius cable car service. The refrain travelled at speed around the world convincing many listeners that it was a traditional song in the public domain. It was borrowed on the basis of this misapprehension by Richard Strauss and Rimsky-Korsakov. Strauss was sued by the composer, Luigi Denza and compelled to pay for the privilege. Strangest of all is the arrangement for chamber orchestra written by Arnold Schoenberg in 1921.

Lugano

Since 1886 this funicular railway (Funicolare Lugano-Stazione FFS) has connected the city centre of Lugano with the mainline train station. The insolent manner in which it penetrates the buildings in its path is remarkably uncompromising. There are three other funiculars in the Lugano area and the image below comes from the cover of a pamphlet publicising the Funicolare del Monte Brè that has been offering passengers a spectacular mountain climb since 1912.