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26-749: The Rietberg Museum is situated in the Rieterpark in Zürich, and consists of several historic buildings: the Wesendonck Villa, the Remise (or "Depot"), the Rieter Park-Villa, and the Schönberg Villa. In 2007 a new building known as "Smaragd" was opened, designed by Alfred Grazioli and Adolf Krischanitz . The addition of this largely subterranean building more than doubled the museum's exhibition space. The museum

52-854: A Category 2 hurricane , resulting in 110 deaths (including 88 in France alone) and more than €15 billion in damage, becoming the costliest European windstorm ever recorded. Lothar moved at 100 km/h along an axis from Brittany (about 4 am) to Lorraine (about 9 am) to Alsace (11 am) with a front 150 km wide. It was the second of a series of devastating European windstorms which made landfall in December ;1999, occurring around three weeks after Cyclone Anatol , which caused severe damage in Denmark and nearby parts of Sweden and Germany . The day after Lothar moved over western Europe, another intense European windstorm, Cyclone Martin , caused severe damage to

78-579: A day the storm tore across France, Belgium and Germany, only finally beginning to weaken as it crossed Poland. The storm's compact internal pressure gradients generated winds which were comparable to those of a Category 2 hurricane. The Paris region was strongly affected by the storm during the early morning. The Palace of Versailles and its monumental park were considerably damaged (over 10,000 trees were lost within two hours, including valuable specimens planted by Napoleon and Marie Antoinette ). Other cultural heritage, forests and public gardens throughout

104-571: A polar front across the Atlantic. Meanwhile, a high-pressure system covered Central and Eastern Europe. A very deep and sizable depression moved across Britain on the night of 24–25 December (analysed to have possibly reached a low of 938 mb between Scotland and Norway), this set up a large area of westerly flow into Europe which brought Lothar. This highly unstable situation inevitably meant low predictability, and saw an unusually straight and strong jet stream (similar circumstances were also noted

130-574: Is a park in central Zurich , Switzerland . Richard Wagner lived at Villa Wesendonck in Reiterpark from 1849 to 1858 where he worked on Tristan . In the 19th century it was bought by the German merchant Otto Wesendonck in an independent municipality near Zurich. Through the well-known architect Leonhard Zeugheer , he established the Villa Wesendonck and hired the gardener Theodor Froebel to design

156-455: Is located near Zürich Enge railway station , and can also be reached by tram line #7 and bus line #33. In the early 1940s, the city of Zürich purchased the Rieterpark and the Wesendonck Villa. In 1949, the villa was selected, by referendum, to be rebuilt into a museum for the art collection of Baron von der Heydt which he had donated to the city in 1945. This was carried out in 1951-52 under

182-509: Is observed in Category 2 hurricanes. Exceptionally strong winds were recorded in an area 150 km south of the depression's center. Before Lothar dissipated, a new disturbance formed near where Lothar had formed. This storm, called Martin , followed a path 200 km south of Lothar and reached its recorded minimum pressure of 964 hPa. Its winds were at maximum intensity as it approached the French coast on

208-559: The Rieter family. Through a popular decision in 1949, the Villa Wesendonck was renovated and became a museum for non-European culture. Baron Eduard von der Heydt of the City of Zurich, donated and led to the establishment of the Rietberg Museum in 1952. This was extended in 2007. The park has a notable pond and fountain and is used for classical concerts and theater. On 26 December 1999 parts of

234-449: The architect Alfred Gradmann. The Rietberg Museum was opened on 24 May 1952. Johannes Itten , the Swiss expressionist painter, was director of the museum until 1956. In 1976, the city acquired the Schönberg Villa, which had been threatened with demolition, and opened it in 1978 as an extension of the museum. Today, the villa is also home to an extensive non-lending library administrated by

260-666: The area were as severely affected by the hurricane-force winds. In Paris , more than 60% of buildings suffered roof damage; in other settlements across northern France, the total approached 80%. Public life was disrupted due to power outages and blocked infrastructure. Besides buildings and infrastructure , forests , such as the Black Forest in Germany , suffered major damage resulting in substantial economic loss. Lothar and Martin together left 3.4 million customers in France without electricity, and forced Électricité de France to acquire all

286-574: The arrival of the later Cyclone Martin . The identification of this secondary area and its frontal systems contrasts with the analysis of the German Weather Service which suggested that solely a 'trough line' crossed Germany. Recorded winds during Lothar, according to the meteorological services of the countries mentioned: During Cyclone Lothar, wind speeds reached around 150 km/h (93 mph) in low-lying areas and more than 250 km/h (160 mph) on some mountains. In less than half

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312-525: The available portable power generators in Europe, with some even being brought in from Canada. These storms brought down a quarter of France's high-tension transmission lines and 300 high-voltage transmission pylons were toppled, including 100 during Cyclone Lothar. It was one of the greatest energy disruptions ever experienced by a modern developed country. Insurers and authorities in the affected countries reported that 110 victims total were identified: Lothar

338-500: The day before the arrival of the Great Storm of 1987 ). Lothar moved rapidly, pushed by a strong jet stream on the morning of December 26, at a speed close to 130 km/h. It reached a central pressure of 985 hPa about 300 km south of Ireland. As it approached the northwest coast of France, the storm slowed to 97 km/h before beginning a rapid intensification phase. The central pressure dropped by 32 hPa in 8 hours, falling to 960 hPa during

364-475: The dramatic development of this storm exceeded the capabilities of operational numerical weather prediction models. MeteoSwiss found the storm Lothar extremely difficult to predict, as even the large forecast models of international weather services initially overlooked the small disturbance above the Atlantic Ocean which formed the storm. Consequently, the power and extent of the storm was only recognized in

390-483: The early morning of 26 December, which resulted in shorter warning times in Switzerland. In a number of places, officials failed to realize the importance of the warnings, so they were not passed on to the public as they should have been. It is presumed that this occurred because of the holidays. The German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst) was criticised for not issuing a storm warning for Lothar in contrast to

416-503: The evening of December 27, comparable to those of Lothar: 190 km/h on the coasts and 158 km/h inland. Storm Martin then struck France and central Europe from 26 to 28 December 1999. At the end of January 2000 two additional damaging storms crossed Denmark and the northern part of Germany. After the problems of the great storm of 1987 , European meteorological services greatly improved their numerical weather prediction models, and Météo-France predicted Lothar. However, cyclone Lothar

442-516: The extensive park and gardens. As a great patron of the arts, the Wesendoncks granted the house to Richard Wagner in 1849. Wagner had an affair there with Mathilde Wesendonck and finished in 1858 when he fled from Zurich. In 1871, the Wesendoncks eventually sold the mansion to the industrialist Rieter family along with the park grounds. After the death of Adolf Rieter Rotpletz in 1882, he left it to his son Fritz Rieter. Alfred Friedrich Bluntschli

468-550: The museum's Asian and African artworks, as well as occasional short monographs . The museum's publishing activity has increased since 1985, in connection with the large special exhibitions that it has organised since then, and it now publishes around five new titles per year. Since 1991, the museum also publishes Artibus Asiae , a biannual scholarly journal on the arts and archaeology of Asia. 47°21′32″N 8°31′49″E  /  47.3589°N 8.5304°E  / 47.3589; 8.5304 Rieterpark The Rieterpark

494-444: The museum. The Rietberg Museum is operated by the presidential department of the city of Zürich. In 2007, it employed around one hundred people. About half of the funding comes from the city, while the other half is raised through revenue, sponsors, and donations. Additions to the collection come mostly from donations. The museum established an in-house press shortly after its founding in 1952. Initially, it published catalogues of

520-521: The park were severely damaged by Cyclone Lothar . 47°21′28″N 8°31′50″E  /  47.3579°N 8.5305°E  / 47.3579; 8.5305 Lothar (storm) Cyclone Lothar is regarded as the worst European windstorm recorded during the 20th century. Crossing France , Belgium , Luxembourg and Germany between 25 December and 27 December 1999, Cyclone Lothar's average winds reached up to 115 km/h inland (Orly), but with gusts exceeding 150 km/h, almost equivalent to

546-571: The south of Lothar's track. A series of severe winter storms crossed the North Atlantic and Western Europe in December 1999. In early December, Denmark was hit by Cyclone Anatol which caused severe damage there and in neighboring areas. A second storm then crossed Europe on 12 December. Starting on December 20, 1999, the Iceland depression strengthened and created a strong temperature contrast along

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572-416: The storm hit France, Météo-France issued a warning of a strong storm with the correct path, but two hours before the storm hit Paris, inland windspeeds were still predicted to be between 90 and 130 km/h (56 and 81 mph), rather than the 125–175 km/h (78–109 mph) range actually experienced. After the storm, forecasters wondered if additional coastal data could have improved predictions or if

598-459: The storm's passage over Paris, which corresponds to the definition of a meteorological bomb . Its deepening intensified on land due to strong interaction with the high-altitude jet stream, which was close to 400 km/h at 9,000 m altitude. Lothar was extremely intense and only 300 km in diameter, much smaller than the typical diameter for a mid-latitude depression. Its rapid intensification generated an internal pressure gradient comparable to what

624-565: The weather services of other countries and private German services, apparently due to a software bug . A case study of the Manual of Synoptic Satellite Meteorology featured by the Austrian Meteorological Institute ( ZAMG ) identified an area of secondary cyclogenesis which brought gusts in excess of 90 km/h to Northern France, Belgium and Southwestern Germany. The system formed in the wake of Lothar, and crossed Europe before

650-467: Was hired to develop part of the property. In 1912, the German Emperor William II stayed several days at the villa as a guest. In 1887 Fritz Rieter further extended the property, with farm buildings and an orangery created by Adolf Brunner. In 1945, after a referendum on the matter, the city of Zurich bought a 68,000 m2 large area of Rieterpark and Villa Wesendonck for 2.9 million francs from

676-614: Was not well predicted, with one meteorologist later claiming that forecasts could be split into those that were poor and those that were very poor. According to some forecasts, the storm was predicted to pass through the United Kingdom, while others failed to predict significant intensification at all. The strong jet stream that was the chief cause of the instability was well predicted by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 9 days earlier. Approximately 24 hours before

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