'The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the corners of the streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps, the antennae of the lightning rods, the poles of the flags, every segment marked in turn with scratches, indentations, scrolls.'

Words by Italo Calvino, from Invisible cities; photograph by Murray Hedwig, Facade with windows, 1977, from the Christchurch Art Gallery collection.