#or how late stage capitalism is called late stage bc by definition its doomed to imminent collpase

[thepolyamorouspolymath]

kill yourself now

Aww, look after a decade I got my first hate mail. It's adorable! I think I might have it framed, it's like the kind of hate a 6 year old sends. You know, terrible grammar (no punctuation or capitalization? Really?) laughably simple sentence structure (dude, come on) and a complete lack of originality.

Especially because I so thoughtfully discuss all the things I'm insecure and feel bad about myself for right here on this blog. My brother, I have handed you the keys to the psychological torture kingdom, and you just breezed right past them all to use the stunningly overdone "kill yourself"

...

Or what? I mean, since killing myself ends with death not much to threaten me with if i dont comply and I'm the kind of petty spiteful bitch who will live just to annoy people like you. There's just nowhere to go with this.

But still, anon, while you may have the mind and writing skills of a particularly stunted 6 year old, you were my first random hate mail, so you hold a special place in my Tumblr interactions hall of fame.

Put your ideas for what set this lunatic off in the tags, funniest person wins a prize (it'll be a terrible prize, but still)

[sleepymarmot]

A couple of months ago, after finishing COUNTER/Weight, I spent about a week in a total hangover, relistening to scenes and having feelings. I took some notes, but procrastinated posting them, and then finally got distracted. But, a) I hate leaving things I intended for tumblr unposted, even if they have value only for me, and b) I also hate posting things out of order, and there's a big TM liveblog incoming. So, here's a bunch of really random thoughts about C/w from past me.

The gnosis virus did go nowhere huh. I was hopeful for a minute when one of the finale intros mentioned it, but that was it. What was the purpose of that arc even. [Note from present me: Lol. At least I feel better about this one!]

Oh, and the patch AuDy left never reappeared either. And the idea from the faction game that Aria's images owned by EarthHome/Petrichor transmit Rigour code… That's the flip side of the coin. On the one hand, it's really cool to see the creative process – on the other, it sometimes feels like you're listening to people write a script for the tv show, but only get to see a half of the finished product. It's fascinating to see the universe grow organically and the players to come up with new ideas and get excited about them – but that means numerous retcons, some of them not even presented as such, because the creators forgot what the previous revision was or didn't thought it was important. It's a unique feature of the medium that player choice directs the narrative and it's not bound by railroading – but that means some roads lead nowhere, and some branches dry and fall off.

It's a bit harder to make peace with something that could have easily been developed more within the existing plot of the show. How come there's a player character whose consciousness consists of three different people in various combinations, but nobody seems to be curious how that works? No PC or NPC ever asked “Which one of you is speaking right now?” or something. The final episodes made a lot of things clearer, but it still felt too little, too late. Hard not to be reminded of that gripe about certain two characters sharing one character sheet one of whom was left underdeveloped and half-forgotten… Both are very ambitious concepts that require a double amount of work from the player, so I feel bad complaining they weren't realized to full potential, but…

Speaking of L&D… I still want to know how the hell did that one engineer all by herself design 4 gods, one of which became a basis for technology that was advanced even for the civilizations 80,000 years later? This woman singlehandedly surpassed any technological achievement of humanity before and after. Who Is She

I saw a “Wake me up: before you go go / when september ends / wake me up inside” meme and thought “heh, this sounds relevant, which member of the Chime is which?” and it already made me sad, but then I realized that I'd never actually heard the september song and looked it up and. The lyrics fit so well. What the fuck. It's an old song everyone keeps joking about. Why is it appropriate for a legitimate fanmix. What. I guess the word “September” will never be the same again for me.

I looked up the rules for Firebrands, the game used for the finale. Oh my, challenges for the dance minigame are so overtly romantic when you see them in a list together! Imagine this cast of characters having to answer to “do you place your hand upon my elbow, shoulder, waist, or hip?” lmao. Also I didn't realize “May I?” was part of the rules for “stealing time together”. (And I found out there's a party version of that minigame with bug-themed challenges. I might have dug too deep…) "Tactical skirmish" is a really fascinating concept, I've never seen such a masochistic combat system! Really faces the player with the violence they're inflicting: sure, you can always fight on, but are you ready to live with what you'll have to do? But for it to work fully, you need a lot of non-expendable NPCs on both sides. The one with the most likeable team wins! (Like Mako did.)

I'm relistening to Three Conversations and it's pretty interesting that Ibex has a bunch perfectly lifelike android bodies, right? There is no such technology seen anywhere else. Did Righteousness develop and privatize that? Are they so complex that only a Divine would have enough computing power to successfully mimic organic life? Can Aria convince Righteousness to help her perform on stage without leaving her duties? Also, like with AuDy, I wonder how Ibex & Righteousness' consciousness works. Is it a single mind, spread across every body he has, or even anything Righteousness is running on, having a bunch of different conversations at once if he needs to? Or is the original Ibex just gone, and what's left is a personality imprint hanging on to the connection to his still living body, imitating his former self like the automated recording Cass saw wore his face? In other words, has Ibex completely fused with Righteousness, or assimilated and destroyed by it? Does he not exist anymore as an independent singular being, or does he not exist at all? Most info indicates the former, but there was also “You’re not in there anymore” “No”.

If Orth and Jace are anime fans with their Kingdom Come and Panther, then Ibex is the guy who's way too into dinosaurs or paleontology. It's as if the heads of various confessions were called Triceratops, Stegosaurus etc. and only one of them knows wtf that means, and also he compares his Divine to… Were there scavenging dinosaurs? I'm looking at an article that suggests T. Rex might have been a scavenger, so yeah he would compare Righteousness to a goddamn T. Rex.

Hey what do you think is the most thematically aproppriate part of the Hieron anime for Orth to watch alone at night during the Kingdom game. What's the best thematic parallel for when he turns off the episode and thinks he made a mistake. Do you think that he once, after a long day and a long month and maybe a long year of feeling helpless and doomed, sits down for a distraction but ends up sobbing “How could they let this happen to Mother Glory”

On Joypark, there are definitely statues of Eidolons, ancient and holy, that were repainted and repurposed as Hieron deities. Imagine a giant Greek or Roman style marble statue of Apote – and it’s painted over as Samot, with an anime face and in really bright plain colors like these “reconstructions of original coloring” that actually only use base colors so they look like cheap action figures.

I was reading Austin's top ten games of 2016 list on Waypoint and he gave first place to The Sprawl! Aww!

The Downloads folder in my phone gallery is funny bc it mostly consists of every freely available f@tt map and also that one photo of Tristan Walker (because I tried to redraw it, very unsuccessfully). I go check a map and every time am met by Ibex just. staring at me. It's unsettling

Some of the many options for how Apostolosian gender could have been presented:

Apostolosians prefer to be addressed by the most neutral available human pronoun, represented as "they" in English, because the human languages don't have anything close enough

Apostolosian pronouns are represented in English by a set of real-life common pronouns and neopronouns

There's a list of Apostolosian pronouns and they're just used in English verbatim (Really impractical because the players need a cheat sheet, but the most fair)

Humans apply human genders to Apostolosians. Apostolosians may be offended, may find it convenient, or something else

As Austin said in the post-mortem, the Eidolon system is not gender. It's represented in English by titles/honorifics/etc

Any of the above, and the creators are aware of the difference between personal pronouns, grammatical gender, and social gender

And that’s not even touching the core problem of what the concept of gender in a futuristic, techonologically advanced society would look like. Yes, I'm complaining about this for the third time but I'm just. So tired of native English speakers' takes on gendered language. They could have made Apostolosian gender look like anything and they made it look like that fucking mess... God, I really hope TM is good enough to make me forget and forgive the experience of listening to “he... sorry, they” for 100 hours. [Note from present me: Well… mostly]

Here’s my take on this: eidolons in Apostolosian language are absurdly broad noun classes with associated classifiers (which fits both the idea that they’re gender but not actually, and that each of them is a patron to several unrelated aspects of life) Apostolosian: the word “(Apo)thesa” is used to refer to people who follow the corresponding eidolon, as well as for counting buildings, heavy machinery, military units, specific strategies and tactics, log entries, historical documents and chronicles, history textbooks and monographs, and eras :) Human: what the fuck

Very critical, imaginative worldbuilding in which 80,000+ years into the future humanity somehow has 21st century gender and 21st century capitalism! TBH, I find any sci-fi set in the far future inherently silly – we can’t really imagine the future technogy and its effect on society. But it feels like C/w barely even tried, and to hear it boast about “critical worldbuilding” is kinda strange. I assumed that meant they build the world critically, not that they recreate modern society or some aspect of it and criticize that! It’s just another Star Trek then! And it was already clear right during the setup when they said “We don’t want Star Trek aliens” and immediately created Apostolosians.

I haven't seen a single piece of fanart with Taako and Mako. Come on, does nobody want to see these two next to each other! Especially considering the outfits artists like to put Taako in!

I really don't understand how and why people do fandom activities on Twitter and Discord where the creators also have accounts. It gives me so much secondhand embarrassment. I can barely peek at Twitter posts before running away. Old-fashioned opinion apparently but I strongly believe the main fandom space and the interaction-with-original-creators space should be separate. I need a space where I can voice my opinions, especially negative ones, with complete freedom. I need to be able to say exactly what's on my mind. But I wouldn't want any of the people on the podcast to read something unfiltered like my complaints above. Being in the same space as the source content creators obliges any decent person to be diplomatic and constructive. And the creators, in turn, need a space where they don't come across complete randos yelling at them about something they said in a podcast three years ago. I'm already feeling uncomfortable because hearing to strangers pour their hearts out for hundreds of hours gives me way too much insight on who they are as people. Of course, nothing’s stopping them from lurking on Tumblr or AO3 and even reading this very post, but a platform where they have official accounts is still a different thing! I even feel uncomfortable talking about the podcast creators using their first names so much. To my ear, referring to a total stranger by first name, especially if it's a shortened form, sounds so rude! I'm not their friend, I don't have that right! But, of course, writing something like “Mr Walker” in my liveblogs would have been even weirder, nobody does that...

Is it a common experience to not even think about fanfiction after listening to Hieron, but going straight to AO3 after C/w? I feel like since Hieron is still a work in progress, writing/reading about it is stepping on the GM&players' toes, and C/w is finished so it's like they gave us the keys to the playground, it's the fandom's turn now. This story has so much blanks and they must be filled! In one of the early episodes they joked that something cute they said would encourage people to ship Mako/Cass and I was like "Bold of you to assume they aren't already" and, indeed, I was right and it's the most popular C/w ship on AO3. Too bad I’m so indifferent to it…

It’s a shame we never had a full scene with Ariadne or even learned what they were up to during the finale.

I still don't understand how Ibex went from “evil CEO” to “leader of a proletarian revolution”, these sound like completely opposite concepts to me

I probably have talked about this too much and have pretty much given up on ever getting a clear picture due to all of these reimaginings but… Righteousness and Voice… Ibex takes Righteousness out of Mako but he still has Voice, that was pretty much openly stated, correct? So how does that work? I’m guessing Righteousness is hidden somewhere in Voice’s code. But if so:

Did Maryland know? On the one hand, she’s too competent not to. On the other, why would she ever allow or accept that?

How did Righteousness not get corrupted by Rigour too? Maybe it did, but broke off the connection with the rest of itself to contain the damage? Or maybe, on the contrary, it kept in contact and was sending intel to Ibex the whole time? But in that case he would have provided more help in the finale.

[architectnews]

6 UNESCO Cultural sites virtually rebuilt

6 UNESCO Cultural sites virtually rebuilt, Buildings, Architecture Design

6 UNESCO Cultural sites virtually rebuilt

14 Aug, 2020

Reconstructing 6 UNESCO cultural sites in danger of disappearing forever

See ruined endangered UNESCO sites virtually rebuilt before your very eyes

World heritage sites exist in constant danger of degradation or destruction. From militants to motorists, earthquakes to urbanization, these meaningful landmarks face both human-made and natural threats. UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger draws attention to sites at risk of losing the characteristics that make them special.

By definition, these structures are significant to “all the peoples of the world” – but most of us won’t get to see them in person. The team at Budget Direct decided to bring them to your home instead. These six ruined sites were digitally restored to their former glory:

UNESCO World Heritage Site – Location

1) Hatra Al-Jazīrah – Iraq 2) Leptis Magna District of Khoms – Libya 3) Palmyra Tadmur, Homs Governorate, Syria 4) Portobelo-San Lorenzo Fortifications Province of Colon, District of Cristobal, Panama 5) Nan Madol Temwen Island, Federated States of Micronesia 6) Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls Jerusalem, Israel

Here’s a before and after preview of Iraq’s Hatra (also available in GIF and video format):

Before (now) After (digital reconstruction)

This project is part of a series of campaigns released by the Budget Direct Travel Insurance team exploring how ruined structures would look like had they been preserved. The team decided to bring to life a series of cultural heritage sites that UNESCO has categorised as ‘in danger’ – from the fortified city of Hatra in Iraq to the recently destroyed ruins of Palmyra in Syria.

Methodology Budget Direct started by researching sites on the World Heritage in Danger list, which includes the 53 properties that the World Heritage Committee has deemed “in danger.” They selected sites that were man-made and had some elements remaining. They decided not to include natural sites, or sites for which accurate historical and design information was unavailable. The team worked with architects Jelena Popovic and Keremcan Kirilmaz, and industrial designer Erdem Batirbek to research and illustrate these intricate reconstructions.

Research Notes

1. Hatra

Location: Al-Jazīrah – Iraq (Google maps) Year built: 3rd or 2nd century BC

History: A large fortified city under the influence of the Parthian Empire and capital of the first Arab Kingdom, Hatra withstood invasions by the Romans in A.D. 116 and 198 thanks to its high, thick walls reinforced by towers. Hatra was probably founded in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE, under the Seleucid kingdom. It rose to prominence as the capital of Araba, a small semi autonomous state under Parthian influence. Because of its strategic position along caravan trade routes, the town prospered and became an important religious centre.

Architectural features:

● High, thick walls reinforced by towers.

● It is encircled by inner and outer walls nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) in circumference and supported by more than 160 towers.

● A temenos (temple enclosure) surrounds the principal sacred buildings in the city’s centre.

● The temples cover some 3 acres (1.2 hectares) and are dominated by the Great Temple, an enormous structure with vaults and columns that once rose to 100 feet (30 metres).

● Numerous sculptures and statues have also been discovered in the city.

● Built in a circular plan of military tradition.

● Hellenistic and Roman architecture blend with Eastern decorative features

2. Leptis Magna

Location: District of Khoms – Libya (Google maps) Year built: 7th c. BC

Before & After:

History: Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by other names in antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebdam in the Mediterranean. Leptis Magna was enlarged and embellished by Septimius Severus, who was born there and later became emperor. It was one of the most beautiful cities of the Roman Empire, with its imposing public monuments, harbour, market-place, storehouses, shops and residential districts.

Architectural features:

1. Amphitheater

● Built in AD 56. Old quarry for construction.

● The oval arena measures 57 x 47 m.

● The lower ranks were for the Lepcitanian elite, we still see the stone slabs that were once on the seats. Among these is an altar for Nemesis, the goddess of doom.

● It is likely that there was some sort of (wooden) portico surrounding the amphitheater: these were the cheaper seats.

2. Theater

● Built in the 1st century AD, construction was financed by several rich aristocrats.

● The upper part of the stands was not excavated from the hill, but built from natural stone, concrete, and bricks.

● Five flights of steps enabled the people to enter and leave the building, and divided the stands into six wedge-like segments.

● On the upper edge, a colonnaded walk was erected, which offered shade to the higher seats, where the poorer people sat. The front ranks were occupied by the city’s wealthiest citizens, with a tribunal for the magistrates.

● A small temple was added to the colonnaded walk in 35 or 36, dedicated to the goddess Ceres Augusta.

● Another addition was the semicircular wall surrounding the orchestra. Behind the stage of the theater was a trapezoidal construction that was called Porticus post scaenam by ancient architects. It is a square garden, surrounded by colonnades; in the center was a temple.

3. Hippodrome (Circus)

● 40 m long racecourse, built in the 2nd century AD.

● Measures about 100 x 450 m. Eleven rows of official seats.

● At the spina (the median strip), five water basins with fountains were added, a type of decoration otherwise only known from Rome’s Circus Maximus, fitting the “dolphins” on the corners, which indicated how many laps the charioteers still had to cover.

4. Market

● Initially market was built here in the 9th century AD, but present structures were built in the times of Septimius Severus.

● Consisted of a large square, surrounded by a portico, in which two octagonal buildings were placed, which are known to archaeologists as tholoi.

3. Palmyra

Location: Tadmur, Homs Governorate, Syria (Google maps) Year built: 3rd millennium BC

Before & After:

History: An oasis in the Syrian desert, north-east of Damascus, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world. From the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, married GraecoRoman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences.

Architectural features:

● Enclosed by a massive wall flanked with traditional Roman columns, Bel’s sanctuary plan was primarily Semitic. Similar to the Second Temple, the sanctuary consisted of a large courtyard with the deity’s main shrine off-center against its entrance (a plan preserving elements of the temples of Ebla and Ugarit).

● Palmyra began as a small settlement near the Efqa spring on the southern bank of Wadi al-Qubur. Palmyra’s architecture was influenced by the Greco-Roman style, while preserving local elements (best seen in the Temple of Bel).

● Along the principal 1.1-kilometre-long (0.68 mi) east-west street, named the Grand Colonnade, a double portico is ornamented with three nymphaea.

● It extended from the Temple of Bel in the east, to the Funerary Temple no.86 in the city’s western part. It had a monumental arch in its eastern section, and a tetrapylon stands in the center. The Baths of Diocletian were on the left side of the colonnade.

● Nearby were residences, the Temple of Baalshamin, and the Byzantine churches, which include “Basilica IV”, Palmyra’s largest church. The church is dated to the Justinian age, its columns are estimated to be 7 metres (23 ft) high, and its base measured 27.5 by 47.5 metres (90 by 156 ft).

● The Temple of Nabu and the Roman theater were built on the colonnade’s southern side.

● Behind the theater were a small senate building and the large Agora, with the remains of a triclinium (banquet room) and the Tariff Court. A cross street at the western end of the colonnade leads to the Camp of Diocletian, built by Sosianus Hierocles (the Roman governor of Syria).] Nearby are the Temple of Al-lāt and the Damascus Gate.

● In architecture the Corinthian order marks almost all the monuments, but the influence of Mesopotamia and Iran is also clearly evident.

● Notable structures:

1. Baths of Diocletian

● The complex’s entrance is marked by four massive Egyptian granite columns each 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) in diameter, 12.5 metres (41 ft) high and weigh 20 tonnes.

● Inside, the outline of a bathing pool surrounded by a colonnade of Corinthian columns is still visible in addition to an octagonal room that served as a dressing room containing a drain in its center. Sossianus Hierocles, a governor under Emperor Diocletian, claimed to have built the baths, but the building was probably erected in the late second century and Sossianus Hierocles renovated it.

2. Temple of Bel

● Dedicated in AD 32

● It consisted of a large precinct lined by porticos; it had a rectangular shape and was oriented north-south.

● The exterior wall was 205-metre (673 ft) long with a propylaea, and the cella stood on a podium in the middle of the enclosure.

3. Senate building

● Largely ruined.

● It is a small building that consists of a peristyle courtyard and a chamber that has an apse at one end and rows of seats around it.

4. Roman Theatre at Palmyra

● The second-century CE theatre was built in the center of a semicircular colonnaded piazza which opens up to the South Gate of Palmyra.

● The 82-by-104-metre (269 by 341 ft) piazza was located to the south-west of the main colonnaded street.

● The unfinished cavea is 92 metres (302 ft) in diameter and consists only of an ima cavea, the lowest section of the cavea, directly surrounding the orchestra. The ima cavea is organized into eleven cunei of twelve rows each and faces north-northeast towards the cardo maximus.

● The theatre’s aditus maximi, its main entrances, are 3.5 metres (11 ft) in width, and lead to a stone-paved orchestra with a diameter of 23.5 metres (77 ft). The orchestra is bounded by a circular wall with a diameter of 20.3 metres (67 ft). The proscenium wall is decorated with ten curved and nine rectangular niches placed alternately. The stage measures 45.5 by 10.5 metres (149 by 34 ft) and is accessed by two staircases.

● The scaenae frons had five doors: the main entrance, or valve regia, built into a broad curved niche; two guest doors on either side of the valve regia, or valve hospitalis, built into shallow rectangular niches; and two extra doors, at either end of the stage.

● Emperor Nero is known to have placed his statue in the niche of the regia of the theatre at Palmyra. The columns at the stage are decorated in the Corinthian order.

5. Palmyra Castle, also known as Fakhr-al-Din al-Ma’ani Castle or Tadmur Castle

● The castle is thought to have been built by the Mamluks in the 13th century on a high hill overlooking the historic site of Palmyra.

● The castle lying on raised bedrock was a well defended position for a fortification with thick and high walls, which was also surrounded by a moat that had only one access available through a drawbridge.

4. Portobelo-San Lorenzo fortifications

Location: Province of Colon – District of Cristobal, Panama (Google maps) Year built: 17th and 18th century

Before & After:

History: Magnificent examples of 17th- and 18th-century military architecture, these Panamanian forts on the Caribbean coast form part of the defence system built by the Spanish Crown to protect transatlantic trade.

There are diverse fortification sites around the Bay of Portobelo, denominated San Fernando fortifications: Lower Battery, Upper Battery and Hilltop Stronghold; San Jerónimo Battery Fort; Santiago fortifications: Castle of Santiago de la Gloria, Battery and Hilltop Stronghold; the old Santiago Fortress; ruins of Fort Farnese; the La Trinchera site; the Buenaventura Battery; and the San Cristóbal site. Forty-three kilometers away, at the mouth the Chagres River stands the San Lorenzo Castle (originally “San Lorenzo el Real del Chagre”) with its Upper Battery as a separate structure.

Architectural features:

● The Bay of Portobelo has many fortifications, which replicate European designs of military architecture, built during the colonial period (1596–99). The structures built in the earlier years were in medieval style (Antonelli’s Spanish designs). However, in the 18th century, the structures were built by renovating neo-classical features (of Salas and Hernandez (1753–60)), as seen at the Santiago Fort, San Jeronimo Fort and San Fernando Fort, and the San Lorenzo Fort.

● From 1587 to 1599, the fortifications evolved into a sea-level battery and they were completed in 1601. The plans of the massive fortress were made by the Italian engineer Baptist Antonelli.

● The castle of San Lorenzo was built on top of a high reef, in a position that dominated the entrance of the Chagres River.

● In 1670, buccaneer Henry Morgan ordered an attack that left Fort San Lorenzo in ruins. He invaded Panama City the following year, using San Lorenzo as his base of operations.

● In the 1680s, the Spanish constructed a new fort 80 feet (24 m) above the water. Set on a cliff overlooking the entrance to the harbor, the fort was protected on the landward side by a dry moat with a drawbridge. During this time, the town of Chagres was established under the protection of the fort.

5. Nan Madol

Location: Temwen Island, Federated States of Micronesia (Google maps) Year built: 8th or 9th century

Before & After:

History: Nan Madol is a series of more than 100 islets off the south-east coast of Pohnpei that were constructed with walls of basalt and coral boulders. These islets harbour the remains of stone palaces, temples, tombs and residential domains built between 1200 and 1500 CE. These ruins represent the ceremonial centre of the Saudeleur dynasty, a vibrant period in Pacific Island culture.

The huge scale of the edifices, their technical sophistication and the concentration of megalithic structures bear testimony to complex social and religious practices of the island societies of the period. The site was also inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to threats, notably the siltation of waterways that is contributing to the unchecked growth of mangroves and undermining existing edifices.

Architectural features:

● The site core with its stone walls encloses an area approximately 1.5 km long by 0.5 km wide and it contains nearly 100 artificial islets–stone and coral fill platforms–bordered by tidal canals.

● It spread over 200 acres abutting Pohnpei’s mangrove-covered shore.

● Most of it was built from the 13th to the 17th centuries by the Saudeleurs, descendants of two brothers of unknown provenance who founded a religious community in the sixth century focused on the adoration of the sea. They and their successors brought from the other side of the island columns of black lava rock up to 20 feet long that are naturally pentagonal or hexagonal and straight. They used them in a log cabin formation to build outer walls as well as foundations filled in with lumps of coral to create elevated platforms where traditional thatched structures were used as lodgings.

● Islet of Pahnwi wall has huge, flat-sided stone rises 58 feet and encloses a tomb.

● Nandowas is by far the most elaborate building. It’s the royal mortuary, with two sets of 25-foot-high walls whose gracefully up-swept corners cover an area greater than a football field. One cornerstone is estimated to weigh 50 tons. Eight columns form the basis of a roof of the moss-encrusted tomb that lets in shards of sunlight.

Note: Computer based reconstruction of main islets and features, including selected house structures. The main Pahn Kadira (PKI) islet, the residential complex of the Sau Deleur chiefs, is 115 meters long.

6. Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls

Location: Jerusalem, Israel (Google maps) Year built: 1535

Before & After:

History: The Walls of Jerusalem surround the Old City of Jerusalem (approx. 1 km²). In 1535, when Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Suleiman I ordered the ruined city walls to be rebuilt. The work took some four years, between 1537 and 1541.

The length of the walls is 4,018 meters (2.4966 mi), their average height is 12 meters (39.37 feet) and the average thickness is 2.5 meters (8.2 feet). The walls contain 34 watchtowers and seven main gates open for traffic, with two minor gates reopened by archaeologists.

Architectural features:

● Herod’s Temple was one of the larger construction projects of the 1st century BCE. It was Herod’s plan that the entire mountain be turned into a giant square platform. The Temple Mount was originally intended to be 1600 feet wide by 900 feet broad by 9 stories high, with walls up to 16 feet thick, but had never been finished. To complete it, a trench was dug around the mountain, and huge stone “bricks” were laid.

● The Western Wall, Wailing Wall, or Kotel, known in Islam as the Buraq Wall is an ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a relatively small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall, known also in its entirety as the “Western Wall”. The wall was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple begun by Herod the Great, which resulted in the encasement of the natural, steep hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount, in a huge rectangular structure topped by a flat platform, thus creating more space for the Temple itself, its auxiliary buildings, and crowds of worshippers and visitors.

References Unesco (2020). Hatra. unesco.org Wikipedia. (2020). Hatra. wikipedia.org Wikipedia. (2020). Leptis Magna. wikipedia.org Livius.org. (2020). Lepcis Magna, Amphitheater. livius.org Livius.org. (2020). Lepcis Magna, Theater. livius.org Livius.org. (2020). Lepcis Magna, Circus. livius.org Livius.org. (2020). Lepcis Magna, Macellum. livius.org Unesco (2013). Site of Palmyra. unesco.org Wikipedia. (2020). Palmyra. wikipedia.org Britannica. (2020). Palmyra. britannica.com Wikipedia. (2020). Palmyra Castle. wikipedia.org Unesco (2020). Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo. unesco.org Wikipedia. (2020). Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo. wikipedia.org Wikipedia. (2020). Chagres and Fort San Lorenzo. wikipedia.org Unesco (2020). Nan Madol: Ceremonial Centre of Eastern Micronesia. unesco.org Smithsonianmag (Christopher Pala). Nan Madol: The City Built on Coral Reefs. smithsonianmag.com Discovermagazine (Corey S. Powell). A Space-Age Journey into the Past with Albert Lin. discovermagazine.com Wikipedia. (2020). Walls of Jerusalem. wikipedia.org Wikipedia. (2020). Western Wall. wikipedia.org Wikipedia. (2020). Second Temple. wikipedia.org

About Budget Direct Budget Direct has been offering Simply Smarter insurance since 2000. They have insured over 1.5 million Australians since then. Their policies are underwritten by Auto & General Insurance Company Limited, an Australian insurance company regulated by APRA and a member of the Insurance Council of Australia.

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Architecture – Major Buildings

Kuwait Towers, Kuwait City, Kuwait (architect: Malene Bjørn, 1976) photo © Adrian Welch Kuwait Towers

Oscar Niemeyer’s Permanent International Fairground in Tripoli, Lebanon: photo © UNESCO Beirut Office Getty Foundation 2018 Keeping it Modern Grants

Sidi Harazem Thermal Bath Complex, Sidi Harazem, Morocco (architect: Jean-François Zevaco); Image © Frac Centre-Val de Loire Collection. Sidi Harazem Thermal Bath Complex Building

Comments / photos for the 6 UNESCO Cultural sites virtually rebuilt page welcome

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