#yellow stucco column

[revolverthemes]

Patio - Outdoor Kitchen Inspiration for a huge mediterranean backyard stone patio kitchen remodel with a gazebo

[whencyclopedia]

Tulum

Tulum, on the east coast of the Yucatan peninsula in southern Mexico, was an important Mesoamerican centre which displayed both Maya and Toltec influence. Tulum was a major trading and religious centre between the 11th and 16th centuries CE and, dramatically situated near the sea, it is one of the most evocative ancient sites in Mexico.

First settled in the 6th century CE, Tulum prospered, especially so under Mayapán influence from c. 1200 CE, and was an important centre trading in such typical barter goods of the period as cotton, foodstuffs, copper bells, axes, and cacao beans. Protected by the jungle of Quintana Roo, the site survived the general Maya collapse and was largely left untouched by the Spanish.

The ceremonial complex of Tulum, built on a 12 metre high limestone cliff, was surrounded on three sides by fortification walls, while the fourth side faces the Caribbean Sea. Indeed, the very name Tulum is a colonial one and means 'wall'. The original local name may have been Zama meaning 'dawn' in reference to the site's position facing east across the sea.

Residential buildings were built outside the sacred walled area which was reserved for the rulers of Tulum. The largest structure is the Castillo (Castle) which is in fact a temple pyramid displaying architectural influences from the Toltec civilization, such as over-door niches and serpent-columns. In addition, the stucco sculpture which decorates the building recalls those at Mayapán. The halls of the Castillo, and also Structure 25, are also notable for their well-preserved examples of beam-and-mortar roofs.

The Temple of the Frescoes is a squat square building which has undergone several modifications over the centuries. In the Classic period there seems only to have been a vaulted shrine, but this was later surrounded by a larger structure which had a four-column facade. Later still, the second storey was added. Stucco faces on the exterior suggest the building was dedicated to the god Itzamnaaj.

The earliest wall paintings, which give the building its name, date to the 11th or 12th centuries CE, but some are certainly later, perhaps post conquest. They depict figures performing various actions such as a woman grinding corn on a stone (metate), the goddess Chak Chel carrying two images of the god Chahk, and the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca with his black eye band and turquoise mask. The latter strongly suggests contact with central Mexican centres. Most figures are strikingly painted in blue on a black background, and panels are divided by twisted snake-like borders, perhaps representing umbilical cords and therefore a genealogical connection between the figures. Frescoes appear on both the outer and inner walls of several other buildings at Tulum but always using only three colours – red, blue, and yellow – with outlines painted in black and accompanied by Maya glyphs.

Other structures at Tulum include the dramatically sited Temple of the Winds which was built in honour of the wind god and helped guide sailors through the reef, a palace building in a poor state of preservation, various platforms, and the Temple of the Descending God. This latter building and the presence on several other structures of stucco figures of winged gods descending suggest the site was specifically in honour of this strange deity also known as the 'diving god' and perhaps connected to the planet Venus and the associated Maya god Xux Ek.

Continue reading...

[avasghost]

foreign birds: update #2

wake up new foreign birds update just dropped

so yeah. 13k in and nothing has gone extremely wrong yet which is good! it's all going pretty good. so here's excerpts for chapter 7-10.

if you missed it, you can find the wip intro here and the first update here. and also the playlist here because i have good music taste.

so ! the story is progressing nicely and the four timelines are working out really well. i finally introduced gabriel (in the college timeline) and he's becoming one of my favourite characters ever (based on the 1 singular scene with him i've written so far, in a chapter i'm going to include in the next update bc i don't want this update to be that long). this book is probably going to be relatively short with the projected word count being 50-60k words, so at this rate i might finish it for camp in april next year? but idk. i'll probably be sad if i finish this book any time soon so i won't be rushing it.

excerpts & taglist below the cut!

CHAPTER 7

in chapter 7, we jump back to the third timeline, which follows martin going to college and the development of his relationship with gabriel, who's already dead in the fictive present.

in this chapter martin leaves his hometown finally and drives for a while and then has dinner in a little diner where he aspires to not be like the people in his hometown.

When I left my hometown for college, I didn’t check its fleeting image in the rear-view, didn’t even feel it slink away around me and disappear into fields and hills. All I felt was the relief of separation, the green unfurling like a new country.

and here's the end of the chapter:

I ate the burger and paid and left. The sky had deepened, and the stars glittered in small clusters above my head. It didn’t feel too different from back home, where Jasmine and I would lie on our trampoline and count them, scanning the sky carefully for all the tiny lights. I kept driving. The roads grew smoother and buildings grew taller and more industrial. Cars crawled like ants, headlights a searing yellow. The traffic lights tossed green and red beams across the highway. The stars disappeared.

CHAPTER 8

in the main timeline (martin back in his hometown after death of gabriel) martin goes to a laundromat and meets rainey for the first time in three years! oh the tension

here he is the night before being sad bc thats just what he does:

I spent two nights in the motel room alone. The telephone on the wall didn’t ring and no ones’ knuckles thrummed on the door. If they did, I probably wouldn’t have answered anyway,sprawled on the paisley duvet cover in a silvery sheen of smoke. I kept my pack of cigarettes under the edge of my pillow, and smoked into the empty hours of the night as the silence outside the window festered and the room grew shadows and slowly faded from sight. I kept the side-lamp on, and sometimes I leaned into the rind of yellow light that ringed the bedside table. As smoke flumed between my teeth I’d shut my eyes and it would become a halo, the circle of light, the only thing that made me visible.

martin sees rainey in the laundromat after not seeing her for like three years, and she leaves and he follows her outside. they talk awkwardly and then rainey asks why he came back. he avoids the question. (she's the "you" pov)

“So are you back for good?” I approached slowly, then leaned against the wall a few feet from you, warmed by the sun baking on the stucco. “Doubt it. I always hated this place.” “Same.” A cloud of smoke. A cough. “This town is a shithole. I never left, though. Got a pretty good gig writing magazine columns. Pretty decent pay. What were you majoring in again?” I didn’t mention her thieving, decided it wasn’t important. “Photography. Not much of a career to come out of that, though.” “Did you drop out?” “It’s complicated.” Gabriel’s face, swimming. Gabriel’s body crumpled on the ground, blocked out. I blocked it out. “Why did you come back here, then?” “That’s also complicated.” “There’s really nothing left here. Most people our age moved away ages ago and now the only people left are people like Greta and a few little kids.”

later, martin is sitting in his motel room watching the news and gabriel shows up as a missing person.

I sat in my motel room that evening and waiting for the News to clip through the frenzy of static that rang in the back of my head even after the static stopped and a woman with a pearl necklace and too-white teeth began speaking, her voice hollowed by the grain of the audio recording. I pressed the back of my head against the wooden headboard and tugged at the button on the sleeve of my shirt. Her words slipped together, words about the forecast, how it was supposed to be partly sunny tomorrow and rain all night. But then, my stomach dropped. Gabriel’s face flashed on screen, Gabriel with his curly black hair and amber skin, Gabriel with his dimples and subtle smile, Gabriel with his gold earring and colourful silk shirt, mostly unbuttoned so you could see his crystal necklace crooked to his chest. I sleeved a grease of sweat from my forehead as the news reporter’s voice rang in my ears, words still hazy but some sticking out like the sting of metal—student's body found off campus, likely an accident, still searching for answers, will be missed, prayers for his family, so sorry for their loss. And then his face was gone. As suddenly as it had appeared, I could no longer picture his features in my head. He was so close and yet already so far gone.

CHAPTER 9

i skipped this chapter for now but it's in the childhood timeline. moving on.

CHAPTER 10

martin goes to the only nightclub nearby where he doesn't expect to recognize anyone.

i wrote basically this entire chapter in my math class in a notebook which is cool. it's been kind of the best time to get writing done lately (but don't worry its only when i'm done my work i'm not failing i swear)

he's a little disorientated because last time he went to a nightclub it was with gabriel. then he sees someone in the crowd, who he recognizes as rita, a girl he went to school with. i've seriously got to stop describing halos all the time but i can't

The woman, Rita Ellis, was a year younger than I was but graduated a year before me. Skittish and friendly, she’d usually nooked herself behind the pages of the mass-market fantasy novels they sold in grocery store lineups and only spoke when spoken to. Tartan skirts and hair in two braids, she usually sat with her parents in front of my family in mass and I used to watch the light scintillating through the stained-glass windows amber through her hair, give her a soft halo that turned her blond head bright yellow. Today she was haloed by the red and blue lights that scattered above her head, and her hair ran long and wavy across her shoulders.

and then, shortly after

Her voice rang above the noise and I stared at the space behind her ear, where a man with black curls and a gold earring laughed at some unheard joke. Gabriel’s face almost replaced his as he turned towards me, then vanished into bright fractures again.

she asks the usual questions about why he's back and he says he missed it. she says she stayed because her mom had cancer and is still here because of her dad.

then she asks him to dance, and they talk for a while and she tells him she missed him a lot. she asks him to come over to her place but he doesn't bc he wishes he was here with gabriel instead but he's dead so. making due ig. then he gets sad about gabriel not being there and leaves suddenly.

“Sorry. I have to go.” “Her smile slunk back into itself and she slid her hands down my arms before pulling them away. “Of course. It was nice seeing you again, Martin.” “And you. I’ll see you around.” I lost sight of her in the crowd as I made my way toward the exit, with its neon sign stamping red letters in my eyes, a lure. Bodies shuffled against me and sour breath ghosted my face and sweat braised my forehead when finally I shouldered open the door and stepped into the husky chill of night.

soon after

Images swirled in my head, images and faces blending together—Rita’s breath, Gabriel’s eyes, your red hair. The lights and the colours that continued to splotch inside my eyelids and quiver across the pavement in front of me, the yellow moon, all the dark-windowed houses and dead shop signs.

he gets back to his motel and decides to look through a stack of photos he has in his suitcase that he took, most of which are of gabriel.

the end:

I shuffled through the deck of polaroids until the clock above the bed read 2:44 and the stack began to repeat itself, Gabriel Gabriel Gabriel, his face reappearing so many times throughout the stack that it began etching itself in my head again, the familiar curls, his bright eyes, his floral scent and long fingers. The lump pitted in my throat began to grow and I decided not to turn on the news, not to scour every headline for his face, like I so wanted to. It wouldn’t do me any good. It wouldn’t bring him back. I shoved the polaroids into the drawer of the side-table next to the Gideon bible with shiny golden letters, and shut the drawer.

and those are all the excerpts i have today! until the next update,

-- ava

taglist (i just have one for everything, ask to be added/removed): @flip-phones @chewingthescenery @ghostsofmemories @dallonwrites @wildswrites @annlillyjose @letsgetsquiggly @strangerays @mel-writes-with-her-dragons @teaandtypewriters @kahaaniyaa @coffeeandcalligraphy @47crayons @writing-is-a-martial-art @pepperdee @oceancold @unorganisedbookshelf @musingsbycaitlin @sunstone-iolite @femmeniism @raywritesstories @rodentwrites @cheerfulmelancholies @these-starrynights

[sparkylilacs]

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Kid! Chapter 13

Over the next month nothing happened and everything changed. The Smiths were given custody of a little one month old baby and since we had always insisted we wanted to stay together Beni was sent to the Garcias with me. I secretly wished the Smiths choked on all the stinky diapers. Harper the toddler’s mom got off probation and he left to live with her. Poor Sadie and Sally cried at the homecoming party we threw him. All I felt was envy and relief, for once someone was reuniting with their parent. One day a car wreck orphaned a trio of siblings which the Garcias immediately said they would take in. Making things much more full. Wanda who had been there temporarily the longest was relocated to, get this, the Tiptons. The nice old couple where I dropped the stucco piece on the husband's head. I'm sure they'd prefer Wanda's quieter ways.At the end of the school year, Hey and I had little time to talk, but when I thanked him on the way to the last day he nodded like he understood. He probably did since the only thing on the news was the Sandman hijacking the GMA performance even though we never discussed it ourselves. They even found old footage of him on the America's Star contest. It was really cringey and obvious why he was kicked off in the first tryout. At lunch once Hey randomly suggested," Next year, you should try out for the school paper. If that folder you made is anything to go by I think you'd be a great investigative reporter. I was considering joining too, writing a hobby column on my robotics. We could work together. It might be fun,"."You know maybe I will," I said back, then quickly changed the subject.With school out for the summer Beni and I had to go back to the foster center for a meeting to discuss any day camps or such (The ones they always try and have for the system kids. Usually cheap affairs, but bonus: free food) we'd want to sign up for. There I was sitting with the scratchy chair digging into my back again. Bored almost into a stupor when I hear a voice. It's muffled by the hallways but I get up to follow it anyway. "I'm going to get a drink," I say to Beni who doesn't look up from his phone and grunts acknowledgment. As I get closer I catch pieces of conversation, "And I realize you mean to be sincere. I'm not doubting you’re being honest. It's just not how things work around here. We have procedures,".

I don't recognize the first voice, but when I hear the second one say, "I understand. But I have their birth certificates right here can't we start with that and go from there?". I rush blindly down the hall crushing the tall man in a fierce hug. "You came back," I ask awed, my face half buried in his chest, “Why did you change your mind?”."You know," he says, pulling me back to look at me with the same yellow flecked blue eyes as mine, "Somebody told me once that just because things don't work out doesn't mean you quit trying. And sometimes you realize you need to get back up and try again,". I can hardly feel my face, I'm overstimulated with emotion, but I know my smile is a mile long.

Epilogue

And that's the story of how I discovered my dad was Spider-Man, ended up in foster care, grew into my own spider abilities, and got out of foster care to live in the apartment above my dad's camera and old photo restoration shop which he bought with money from selling the land Aunt May's house was on. I think they built a Quasarbucks there.I glance back over what I wrote on the laptop where I'm writing my story down to email Hey as he requested. Deleting the last line as irrelevant I can hear dad yelling at Beni's phone game upstairs. Things were a bit shaky at first but over half a year, and quite a few hours of gaming later, those two really get along. They're both pretty similar actually, super smart yet willing to waste time on pointless games they can never seem to master. I'm down in the shop manning the front desk. Next to the register is my old sock monkey, Stinky. Apparently dad salvaged him and some other more important things (Like our birth certificates. Which did help alot with the reinstatement process) from the wreckage of the house. I like working the register, it's the quietest place to write and hardly anybody shops here. Dad says it helps to not be very busy so nobody notices how often it's closed while he fights crime. Smiling at the screen I think everything has worked out so well, no loose ends untied. Just as the thought crosses my mind the door jangles to announce a customer. I look up to see a slim figure walk in with bright red curls.

The End?

[thefadinguyo]

Mr. Stephens also found at Mayapan, which city, as we have seen, was built by Ku Kulcan, the great ruler and demi-god of Chichen-itza, a dome-shaped edifice of much the same character with that here described. It is the principal structure here, and stands on a mound thirty feet high. The walls are ten feet high to the top of the lower cornice, and fourteen more to the upper one. It has a single entrance towards the west. The outer wall is five feet thick, within which is a corridor three feet wide, surrounding a solid cylindrical mass of stone, nine feet in thickness. The walls have four or five coats of stucco and were covered with remains of paintings, in which red, yellow, blue and white were distinctly visible. On the south-west of the building was a double row of columns, eight feet apart, though probably from the remains around, there had been more, and by clearing away the trees others might be found. They were two feet and a half in diameter. We are not informed upon the point but presumably the columns were arranged, in respect to the structure, in the same manner as those accompanying the dagobas of Ceylon, or the mounds of Chichen-itza.

[inky-duchess]

Fantasy Guide to Architecture

This post has been waiting on the back burner for weeks and during this time of quarantine, I have decided to tackle it. This is probably the longest post I have ever done. I is very tired and hope that I have covered everything from Ancient times to the 19th Century, that will help you guys with your worldbuilding.

Materials

What you build with can be determined by the project you intend, the terrain you build on and the availability of the material. It is one characteristic that we writers can take some some liberties with.

Granite: Granite is an stone formed of Igneous activity near a fissure of the earth or a volcano. Granites come in a wide range of colour, most commonly white, pink, or grey depending on the minerals present. Granite is hard and a durable material to build with. It can be built with without being smoothed but it looks bitchin' and shiny all polished up.

Marble: Probably everyone's go to materials for building grand palaces and temples. Marble is formed when great pressure is placed on limestone. Marble can be easily damaged over time by rain as the calcium in the rock dissolves with the chemicals found in rain. Marble comes in blue, white, green, black, white, red, gray and yellow. Marble is an expensive material to build with, highly sought after for the most important buildings. Marble is easy to carve and shape and polishes to a high gleam. Marble is found at converging plate boundaries.

Obsidian: Obsidian is probably one of the most popular stones mentioned in fantasy works. Obsidian is an igneous rock formed of lava cooling quickly on the earth's surfaces. Obsidian is a very brittle and shiny stone, easy to polish but not quite a good building material but a decorative one.

Limestone: Limestone is made of fragments of marine fossils. Limestone is one of the oldest building materials. Limestone is an easy material to shape but it is easily eroded by rain which leads most limestone monuments looking weathered.

Concrete: Concrete has been around since the Romans. Concrete is formed when aggregate (crushed limstone, gravel or granite mixed with fine dust and sand) is mixed with water. Concrete can be poured into the desired shape making it a cheap and easy building material.

Brick: Brick was one of history's most expensive materials because they took so long to make. Bricks were formed of clay, soil, sand, and lime or concrete and joined together with mortar. The facade of Hampton Court Palace is all of red brick, a statement of wealth in the times.

Glass: Glass is formed of sand heated until it hardens. Glass is an expensive material and for many years, glass could not be found in most buildings as having glass made was very expensive.

Plaster: Plaster is made from gypsum and lime mixed with water. It was used for decoration purposes and to seal walls. A little known fact, children. Castle walls were likely painted with plaster or white render on the interior.

Wattle and Daub: Wattle and daub is a building material formed of woven sticks cemented with a mixture of mud, one of the most common and popular materials throughout time.

Building terms

Arcade: An arcade is a row of arches, supported by columns.

Arch: An arch is a curved feature built to support weight often used for a window or doorway.

Mosaic: Mosaics are a design element that involves using pieces of coloured glass and fitted them together upon the floor or wall to form images.

Frescos: A design element of painting images upon wet plaster.

Buttress: A structure built to reinforce and support a wall.

Column: A column is a pillar of stone or wood built to support a ceiling. We will see more of columns later on.

Eave: Eaves are the edges of overhanging roofs built to allow eater to run off.

Vaulted Ceiling: The vaulted ceilings is a self-supporting arched ceiling, than spans over a chamber or a corridor.

Colonnade: A colonnade is a row of columns joined the entablature.

Entablature: a succession of bands laying atop the tops of columns.

Bay Window: The Bay Window is a window projecting outward from a building.

Courtyard/ Atrium/ Court: The courtyard is an open area surrounded by buildings on all sides

Dome: The dome resembles a hollow half of a sphere set atop walls as a ceiling.

Façade: the exterior side of a building

Gable: The gable is a triangular part of a roof when two intersecting roof slabs meet in the middle.

Hyphen: The hyphen is a smaller building connecting between two larger structures.

Now, let's look at some historical building styles and their characteristics of each Architectural movement.

Classical Style

The classical style of Architecture cannot be grouped into just one period. We have five: Doric (Greek), Ionic (Greek), Corinthian (Greek), Tuscan (Roman) and Composite (Mixed).

Doric: Doric is the oldest of the orders and some argue it is the simplest. The columns of this style are set close together, without bases and carved with concave curves called flutes. The capitals (the top of the column) are plain often built with a curve at the base called an echinus and are topped by a square at the apex called an abacus. The entablature is marked by frieze of vertical channels/triglyphs. In between the channels would be detail of carved marble. The Parthenon in Athens is your best example of Doric architecture.

Ionic: The Ionic style was used for smaller buildings and the interiors. The columns had twin volutes, scroll-like designs on its capital. Between these scrolls, there was a carved curve known as an egg and in this style the entablature is much narrower and the frieze is thick with carvings. The example of Ionic Architecture is the Temple to Athena Nike at the Athens Acropolis.

Corinthian: The Corinthian style has some similarities with the Ionic order, the bases, entablature and columns almost the same but the capital is more ornate its base, column, and entablature, but its capital is far more ornate, commonly carved with depictions of acanthus leaves. The style was more slender than the others on this list, used less for bearing weight but more for decoration. Corinthian style can be found along the top levels of the Colosseum in Rome.

Tuscan: The Tuscan order shares much with the Doric order, but the columns are un-fluted and smooth. The entablature is far simpler, formed without triglyphs or guttae. The columns are capped with round capitals.

Composite: This style is mixed. It features the volutes of the Ionic order and the capitals of the Corinthian order. The volutes are larger in these columns and often more ornate. The column's capital is rather plain. for the capital, with no consistent differences to that above or below the capital.

Islamic Architecture

Islamic architecture is the blanket term for the architectural styles of the buildings most associated with the eponymous faith. The style covers early Islamic times to the present day. Islamic Architecture has some influences from Mesopotamian, Roman, Byzantine, China and the Mongols.

Paradise garden: As gardens are an important symbol in Islam, they are very popular in most Islamic-style buildings. The paradise gardens are commonly symmetrical and often enclosed within walls. The most common style of garden is split into four rectangular with a pond or water feature at the very heart. Paradise gardens commonly have canals, fountains, ponds, pools and fruit trees as the presence of water and scent is essential to a paradise garden.

Sehan: The Sehan is a traditional courtyard. When built at a residence or any place not considered to be a religious site, the sehan is a private courtyard. The sehan will be full of flowering plants, water features snd likely surrounded by walls. The space offers shade, water and protection from summer heat. It was also an area where women might cast off their hijabs as the sehan was considered a private area and the hijab was not required. A sehan is also the term for a courtyard of a mosque. These courtyards would be surrounded by buildings on all sides, yet have no ceiling, leaving it open to the air. Sehans will feature a cleansing pool at the centre, set under a howz, a pavilion to protect the water. The courtyard is used for rituals but also a place of rest and gathering.

Hypostyle Hall: The Hypostyle is a hall, open to the sky and supported by columns leading to a reception hall off the main hall to the right.

Muqarnas : Muqarnas is a type of ornamentation within a dome or a half domed, sometimes called a "honeycomb", or "stalactite" vaulted ceiling. This would be cast from stone, wood, brick or stucco, used to ornament the inside of a dome or cupola. Muqarnas are used to create transitions between spaces, offering a buffer between the spaces.

African Architecture

African Architecture is a very mixed bag and more structurally different and impressive than Hollywood would have you believe. Far beyond the common depictions of primitive buildings, the African nations were among the giants of their time in architecture, no style quite the same as the last but just as breathtaking.

Somali architecture: The Somali were probably had one of Africa's most diverse and impressive architectural styles. Somali Architecture relies heavy on masonry, carving stone to shape the numerous forts, temples, mosques, royal residences, aqueducts and towers. Islamic architecture was the main inspiration for some of the details of the buildings. The Somali used sun-dried bricks, limestone and many other materials to form their impressive buildings, for example the burial monuments called taalo

Ashanti Architecture: The Ashanti style can be found in present day Ghana. The style incorporates walls of plaster formed of mud and designed with bright paint and buildings with a courtyard at the heart, not unlike another examples on this post. The Ashanti also formed their buildings of the favourite method of wattle and daub.

Afrikaner Architecture: This is probably one of the oddest architectural styles to see. Inspired by Dutch settlers (squatters), the buildings of the colony (planters/squatters) of South Africa took on a distinctive Dutch look but with an Afrikaner twist to it making it seem both familiar and strange at the same time.

Rwandan Architecture: The Rwandans commonly built of hardened clay with thatched roofs of dried grass or reeds. Mats of woven reeds carpeted the floors of royal abodes. These residences folded about a large public area known as a karubanda and were often so large that they became almost like a maze, connecting different chambers/huts of all kinds of uses be they residential or for other purposes.

Aksumite Architecture: The Aksumite was an Empire in modern day Ethiopia. The Aksumites created buildings from stone, hewn into place. One only has to look at the example of Bete Medhane Alem to see how imposing it was.

Yoruba Architecture: Yoruba Architecture was made by earth cured until it hardened enough to form into walls, or they used wattle and daub, roofed by timbers slats coated in woven grass or leaves. Each unit divided up parts of the buildings from facilities to residences, all with multiple entrances, connected together.

Igbo Architecture: The Igbo style follows some patterns of the Yoruba architecture, excepting that there are no connected walls and the spacing is not so equal. The closer a unit was to the centre, the more important inhabitants were.

Hausa architecture: Hausa Architecture was formed of monolithic walls coated in plaster. The ceilings and roof of the buildings were in the shape of small domes and early vaulted ceilings of stripped timber and laterite. Hausa Architecture features a single entrance into the building and circular walls.

Nubian Architecture: Nubia, in modern day Ethiopia, was home to the Nubians who were one of the world's most impressive architects at the beginning of the architecture world and probably would be more talked about if it weren't for the Egyptians building monuments only up the road. The Nubians were famous for building the speos, tall tower-like spires carved of stone. The Nubians used a variety of materials and skills to build, for example wattle and daub and mudbrick. The Kingdom of Kush, the people who took over the Nubian Empire was a fan of Egyptian works even if they didn't like them very much. The Kushites began building pyramid-like structures such at the sight of Gebel Barkal

Egyptian Architecture: The Egyptians were the winners of most impressive buildings for s good while. Due to the fact that Egypt was short on wood, Ancient Egyptians returned to building with limestone, granite, mudbrick, sandstone which were commonly painted with bright murals of the gods along with some helpful directions to Anubis's crib. The Egyptians are of course famous for their pyramids but lets not just sit on that bandwagon. Egyptian Architecture sported all kinds of features such as columns, piers, obelisks and carving buildings out of cliff faces as we see at Karnak. The Egyptians are cool because they mapped out their buildings in such a way to adhere to astrological movements meaning on special days if the calendar the temple or monuments were in the right place always. The Egyptians also only build residences on the east bank of the Nile River, for the opposite bank was meant for the dead. The columns of Egyptian where thicker, more bulbous and often had capitals shaped like bundles of papyrus reeds.

Chinese Architecture

Chinese Architecture is probably one of the most recognisable styles in the world. The grandness of Chinese Architecture is imposing and beautiful, as classical today as it was hundreds of years ago.

The Presence of Wood: As China is in an area where earthquakes are common, most of the buildings are were build of wood as it was easy to come across and important as the Ancient Chinese wanted a connection to nature in their homes.

Overhanging Roofs: The most famous feature of the Chinese Architectural style are the tiled roofs, set with wide eaves and upturned corners. The roofs were always tiled with ceramic to protect wood from rotting. The eaves often overhung from the building providing shade.

Symmetrical Layouts: Chinese Architecture is symmetrical. Almost every feature is in perfect balance with its other half.

Fengshui: Fengshui are philosophical principles of how to layout buildings and towns according to harmony lain out in Taoism. This ensured that the occupants in the home where kept in health, happiness, wealth and luck.

One-story: As China is troubled by earthquakes and wood is not a great material for building multi-storied buildings, most Chinese buildings only rise a single floor. Richer families might afford a second floor but the single stories compounds were the norm.

Orientation: The Ancient Chinese believed that the North Star marked out Heaven. So when building their homes and palaces, the northern section was the most important part of the house and housed the heads of the household.

Courtyards: The courtyard was the most important area for the family within the home. The courtyard or siheyuan are often built open to the sky, surrounded by verandas on each side.

Japanese Architecture

Japanese Architecture is famous for its delicacy, smooth beauty and simplistic opulence. Japanese Architecture has been one of the world's most recognisable styles, spanning thousands of years.

Wood as a Common Material: As with the Chinese, the most popular material used by the Japanese is wood. Stone and other materials were not often used because of the presence of earthquakes. Unlike Chinese Architecture, the Japanese did not paint the wood, instead leaving it bare so show the grain.

Screens and sliding doors: The shoji and fusuma are the screens and sliding doors are used in Japanese buildings to divide chambers within the house. The screens were made of light wood and thin parchment, allowing light through the house. The screens and sliding doors were heavier when they where used to shutter off outside features.

Tatami: Tatami mats are used within Japanese households to blanket the floors. They were made of rice straw and rush straw, laid down to cushion the floor.

Verandas: It is a common feature in older Japanese buildings to see a veranda along the outside of the house. Sometimes called an engawa, it acted as an outdoor corridor, often used for resting in.

Genkan: The Genkan was a sunken space between the front door and the rest of the house. This area is meant to separate the home from the outside and is where shoes are discarded before entering.

Nature: As both the Shinto and Buddhist beliefs are great influences upon architecture, there is a strong presence of nature with the architecture. Wood is used for this reason and natural light is prevalent with in the home. The orientation is meant to reflect the best view of the world.

Indian Architecture

India is an architectural goldmine. There are dozens of styles of architecture in the country, some spanning back thousands of years, influenced by other cultures making a heady stew of different styles all as beautiful and striking as the last.

Mughal Architecture: The Mughal architecture blends influences from Islamic, Persian along with native Indian. It was popular between the 16th century -18th century when India was ruled by Mughal Emperors. The Taj Mahal is the best example of this.

Indo-Saracenic Revival Architecture: Indo Saracenic Revival mixes classical Indian architecture, Indo-Islamic architecture, neo-classical and Gothic revival of the 1800s.

Cave Architecture: The cave architecture is probably one of the oldest and most impressive styles of Indian architecture. In third century BC, monks carved temples and buildings into the rock of caves.

Rock-Cut Architecture: The Rock-cut is similar to the cave style, only that the rock cut is carved from a single hunk of natural rock, shaped into buildings and sprawling temples, all carved and set with statues.

Vesara Architecture: Vesara style prevalent in medieval period in India. It is a mixture of the Dravida and the Nagara styles. The tiers of the Vesara style are shorter than the other styles.

Dravidian Architecture: The Dravidian is the southern temple architectural style. The Kovils are an example of prime Dravidian architecture. These monuments are of carved stone, set up in a step like towers like with statues of deities and other important figures adorning them.

Kalinga Architecture: The Kalinga style is the dominant style in the eastern Indian provinces. The Kalinga style is famous for architectural stipulations, iconography and connotations and heavy depictions of legends and myths.

Sikh Architecture: Sikh architecture is probably the most intricate and popular of the styles here. Sikh architecture is famous for its soft lines and details.

Romanesque (6th -11th century/12th)

Romanesque Architecture is a span between the end of Roman Empire to the Gothic style. Taking inspiration from the Roman and Byzantine Empires, the Romanesque period incorporates many of the styles.

Rounded arches: It is here that we see the last of the rounded arches famous in the classical Roman style until the Renaissance. The rounded arches are very popular in this period especially in churches and cathedrals. The rounded arches were often set alongside each other in continuous rows with columns in between.

Details: The most common details are carved floral and foliage symbols with the stonework of the Romanesque buildings. Cable mouldings or twisted rope-like carvings would have framed doorways.

Pillars: The Romanesque columns is commonly plainer than the classical columns, with ornate captials and plain bases. Most columns from this time are rather thick and plain.

Barrel Vaults: A barrel vaulted ceiling is formed when a curved ceiling or a pair of curves (in a pointed ceiling). The ceiling looks rather like half a tunnel, completely smooth and free of ribs, stone channels to strengthen the weight of the ceiling.

Arcading: An arcade is a row of arches in a continual row, supported by columns in a colonnade. Exterior arcades acted as a sheltered passage whilst inside arcades or blind arcades, are set against the wall the arches bricked, the columns and arches protruding from the wall.

Gothic Architecture (12th Century - 16th Century)

The Gothic Architectural style is probably one of the beautiful of the styles on this list and one of most recognisable. The Gothic style is a dramatic, opposing sight and one of the easiest to describe.

Pointed arch: The Gothic style incorporates pointed arches, in the windows and doorways. The arches were likely inspired by pre-Islamic architecture in the east.

Ribbed vault: The ribbed vault of the Gothic age was constructed of pointed arches. The trick with the ribbed vaulted ceiling, is that the pointed arches and channels to bear the weight of the ceiling.

Buttresses: The flying buttress is designed to support the walls. They are similar to arches and are connected to counter-supports fixed outside the walls.

Stained-Glass Window: This is probably one of the most recognisable and beautiful of the Gothic features. They can be set in round rose windows or in the pointed arches.

Renaissance Architecture (15th Century- 17th Century)

Renaissance architecture was inspired by Ancient Roman and Greek Architecture. Renaissance Architecture is Classical on steroids but has its own flare. The Renaissance was a time for colour and grandeur.

Columns and pilasters: Roman and Greek columns were probably the greatest remix of the Renaissance period. The architecture of this period incorporated the five orders of columns are used: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite. The columns were used to hold up a structure, support ceilings and adorn facades. Pilasters were columns within a chamber, lining the walls for pure decoration purposes.

Arches: Arches are rounded in this period, having a more natural semi-circular shape at its apex. Arches were a favourite feature of the style, used in windows, arcades or atop columns.

Cupola: Is a small dome-like tower atop a bigger dome or a rooftop meant to allow light and air into the chamber beneath.

Vaulted Ceiling/Barrel Vault: Renaissance vaulted ceilings do not have ribs. Instead they are semi-circular in shape, resting upon a square plain rather than the Gothic preference of rectangular. The barrel vault held by its own weight and would likely be coated in plaster and painted.

Domes: The dome is the architectural feature of the Renaissance. The ceiling curves inwards as it rises, forming a bowl like shape over the chamber below. The dome's revival can be attributed to Brunelleschi and the Herculean feat of placing a dome on the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. The idea was later copied by Bramante who built St. Peter's Basilica.

Frescos: To decorate the insides of Renaissance buildings, frescos (the art of applying wet paint to plaster as it dries) were used to coat the walls and ceilings of the buildings. The finest frescos belong to Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

Baroque (1625–1750)

Baroque incorporates some key features of Renaissance architecture, such as those nice columns and domes we saw earlier on. But Baroque takes that to the next level. Everything is higher, bigger, shinier, brighter and more opulent. Some key features of Baroque palaces and buildings would be:

Domes: These domes were a common feature, left over from the Renaissance period. Why throw out a perfectly good bubble roof, I ask you? But Baroque domes were of course, grander. Their interiors were were nearly always painted or gilded, so it drew the eye upwards which is basically the entire trick with Baroque buildings. Domes were not always round in this building style and Eastern European buildings in Poland and Ukraine for example sport pear-shaped domes.

Solomonic columns: Though the idea of columns have been about for years but the solomonic columns but their own twist on it. These columns spiral from beginning to end, often in a s-curved pattern.

Quadratura: Quadratura was the practice of painting the ceilings and walls of a Baroque building with trompe-l'oeil. Most real life versions of this depict angels and gods in the nude. Again this is to draw the eye up.

Mirrors: Mirrors came into popularity during this period as they were a cool way to create depth and light in a chamber. When windows faced the mirrors on the wall, it creates natural light and generally looks bitchin'. Your famous example is the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.

Grand stairways: The grand sweeping staircases became popular in this era, often acting as the centre piece in a hall. The Baroque staircase would be large and opulent, meant for ceremonies and to smoother guests in grandeur.

Cartouche: The cartouche is a design that is created to add some 3D effect to the wall, usually oval in shape with a convex surface and edged with scrollwork. It is used commonly to outline mirrors on the wall or crest doorways just to give a little extra opulence.

Neoclassical (1750s-19th century)

The Neoclassical Period involved grand buildings inspired by the Greek orders, the most popular being the Doric. The main features of Neoclassical architecture involve the simple geometric lines, columns, smooth walls, detailing and flat planed surfaces. The bas-reliefs of the Neoclassical style are smoother and set within tablets, panels and friezes. St. Petersburg is famous for the Neoclassical styles brought in under the reign of Catherine the Great.

Greek Revival (late 18th and early 19th century)

As travel to other nations became easier in this time period, they became to get really into the Ancient Greek aesthetic. During this architectural movement they brought back the gabled roof, the columns and the entablature. The Greek Revival was more prevalent in the US after the Civil War and in Northern Europe.

Hope this helps somewhat @marril96

[junghelioseok]

untitled. | jjk

↳ aka, i’m in my feelings about a 23yo again but what else is new.

◇ jungkook x reader ◇ smut | fluff | established relationship ◇ 1.0k [1/1]

notes: i wrote this on my phone as soon as i woke up this morning and it was littered with typos and unformatted as all shit so i’m gonna need u to reblog this one please thanks!!!

warnings: domestic soft lazy sex, cockwarming, jungoo is a big softie and so am i 🥺

“Good morning, baby.”

It starts slow, just as it always does. A whispered greeting and the lazy slide of a hand along the curve of your waist, trailing from your hip all the way to the swell of your cheek where he settles to pull your mouth against his.

“You’re so pretty,” he breathes against your lips, and you know he believes it with the entirety of his big, mushy heart. You couldn’t feel (and look, for that matter) more like a bedraggled rat in the morning, with your eyes crusty and your cheek stippled by a wrinkle in the pillowcase. But Jungkook strokes your cheeks with his thumbs and plants kisses on both of your eyelids, and you sigh, curling into his familiar, comforting warmth.

Ever so slowly, his kisses move southward. Jungkook trails them down and across your lips, before descending to the column of your throat and the soft spot on your clavicle. Against your thigh, his cock stiffens, and you sigh out his name when he maneuvers you atop him and settles your legs on either side of his strong thighs.

“Wanna be inside you,” he breathes, and that’s all it takes. A little lube from the bottle in the nightstand and he’s breaching your walls, the stretch just as familiar and warm as everything else about him.

“Love you,” you murmur as he rolls his hips gently, his eyes crinkling into a boyish, toothy grin as he buries himself deeper.

“Love you more,” he murmurs back, and you keen out his name when his fingers curl around your hips to keep you against him as he ruts up into your slickening cunt. It’s slow and lazy and intimate, and it’s made even more so when he spills into you and remains there, your name escaping his lips in a raspy groan as he falls limp on your shared mattress.

“I should get up and pee,” you tell him softly, when he makes no move to let you out of his ironclad grip. “Jungkook, I really—“

“You know, I started looking at rings last year.”

Jungkook says this softly, casually, as if remarking on the weather. The sky is blue, there’s a 10% chance of snow in the afternoon, and oh, I’ve been thinking about marrying you for three hundred and sixty-five days now. You want eggs for breakfast?

“Jewelry stores, online boutiques—it took months. Ring shopping is no joke. There are so many options, and cuts, and styles...” He sighs. “I didn’t know where to start.”

You’re staring at him now. There’s a crick in your neck from the way it’s uncomfortably craned, but you don’t look away. “Jungkook—“ you breathe, and you don’t know what else to say after that. Your boyfriend—soon to be fiancé?—is gazing thoughtfully up at the white stucco ceiling, the beginnings of stubble dusting his jaw like a shadow.

“But six months ago, I finally found it. The perfect ring. I’ve been keeping it in my sock drawer—“ he chuckles, “—since you never go in there and I do all the laundry, anyways.”

“Jungkook.” Your voice is stronger this time, but still hazy with disbelief and breathy with awe. Your heart feels like it’s about to pound straight through the prison of your ribcage and out into the open air, free as an uncaged bird.

He doesn’t hear you—or even if he does, he doesn’t stop. “I started carrying it around with me three months ago,” he murmurs dreamily, still addressing the ceiling with a flush beginning to creep up his cheeks. “I almost did it last month, y’know, when we were at the diner. You were wearing that yellow sweater, and you had whipped cream on your nose. And I just had this thought, like, wow, that’s my wife. I’m gonna marry her.”

“Jeon Jungkook, you are not proposing to me when your flaccid dick is inside my pussy,” you finally say when he starts reaching for the drawer of his nightstand, and Jungkook blinks, coming out of his daze at last.

“I’m not?”

You don’t know whether to laugh or groan, so you do both, the two combining into a weird little huff of air that sends a wispy tendril of his hair across his forehead. “No, you’re not,” you murmur, brushing it away and tucking it behind his ear. “It’s a little stupid, but I always imagined that we’d be outside somewhere. I mean, I’d say yes to you anytime and anywhere, and you could be wearing a garbage bag for all I care, but...” You shrug, the motion made awkward by the fact that you’re still on top of him with your legs on either side of his naked thighs, and the fact that his dick is still very much inside you. “I figured you’d be on one knee, at least. You were on both last night, so I know you don’t have any health—“

Jungkook presses two fingers to your lips to shut you up, a crinkly eyed grin creasing his face. “You want me on my knees, baby? Because I can do that. I’ll do all that and more.”

(And he does. First in the shower, after he finally releases you from his embrace, and then again when you make your way to the kitchen, breakfast all but forgotten as you grip the counter so tightly your knuckles turn white.)

(There’s a third time, too—hours later and right as you step out of the house and into the fresh snow that’s fallen sometime during the night. He’s grinning a grin so wide that you fear his cheeks might fall off, so you drop down beside him and cup them between your palms, kissing him in between all the yeses and I love yous.)

(He’s right. The ring really is perfect.)

[bright-eyes-strawberry-lies]

The Weather In PJO (brought to you by gods and demigods)

*alternating colors for ease of reading

**page numbers look weird because they're copied/pasted from ebooks

“Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I’d ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We’d had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn’t have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.” - TLT pg 33

“One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.” - TLT pg 65

“Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery. [...] Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten.” - TLT pg 156

“There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.” - TLT pg 176

“I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn’t dreamed that.” - TLT pg 491

“It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.

I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me.” - TLT pg 520

“BOOOOOM!

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.” - TLT pg 629

“The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert.” - TLT pg 988

“In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighborhoods all over the city. There had been an earthquake, all right, and it was Hades’s fault.” - TLT pg 1191

“I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned.” - SOM pg 10

“After a few more minutes, the dark splotches ahead of us came into focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea-an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.” - SOM pg 598

“A storm raged that night, but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did. Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. We were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside our magical borders.” - SOM pg 1045

“Sleet and snow pounded the highway. Annabeth, Thalia, and I hadn’t seen each other in months, but between the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do, we were too nervous to talk much.” - TTC pg 11

“Old spirits are protecting the bad boat.”

“The Princess Andromeda?” I said. “Luke’s boat?”

“Yes. They make it hard to find. Protect it from Daddy’s storms. Otherwise he would smash it.” - TTC pg 210

“Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. “What’s going on up there? A storm?”

Zoë didn’t answer. I got the feeling she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn’t like it.” - TTC pg 751

“I will do my best to destroy his boat with storms, but he is making alliances with my enemies, the older spirits of the ocean. They will fight to protect him.” - TTC pg 886

“We were standing at the dining pavilion, just where we’d last spoken before I went on the quest. The wind was bitter cold, even with the camp’s magical weather protection. Snow fell lightly against the marble steps. I figured outside the camp borders, there must be a blizzard happening.”- TTC pg 915

“The wind whipped cold off the bay. In the south, San Francisco gleamed all white and beautiful, but in the north, over Mount Tamalpais, huge storm clouds swirled. The whole sky seemed like a black top spinning from the mountain where Atlas was imprisoned, and where the Titan palace of Mount Othrys was rising anew. It was hard to believe the tourists couldn’t see the supernatural storm brewing, but they didn’t give any hint that anything was wrong.

“It’s even worse,” Annabeth said, gazing to the north. “The storms have been bad all year, but that—” - BOTL pg 359

“I had no choice. I called to the sea. I reached inside myself and remembered the waves and the currents, the endless power of the ocean. And I let it loose in one horrible scream.

Afterward, I could never describe what happened. An explosion, a tidal wave, a whirlwind of power simultaneously catching me up and blasting me downward into the lava. Fire and water collided, superheated steam, and I shot upward from the heart of the volcano in a huge explosion, just one piece of flotsam thrown free by a million pounds of pressure. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was flying, flying so high Zeus would never have forgiven me, and then beginning to fall, smoke and fire and water streaming from me. I was a comet hurtling toward the earth.” - BOTL pg 618/619

“Mrs. O’Leary howled. I patted her head, trying to comfort her as best I could. The earth rumbled—an earthquake that could probably be felt in every major city across the country—as the ancient Labyrinth collapsed. Somewhere, I hoped, the remains of the Titan’s strike force had been buried.” - BOTL pg 1005

“I remembered what Tyson had told me at the beginning of the summer. “The old sea gods?”

“Indeed. The battle came first to me, Percy. In fact, I cannot stay long. Even now the ocean is at war with itself. It is all I can do to keep hurricanes and typhoons from destroying your surface world, the fighting is so intense.” - BOTL pg 1066

“Then the entire sea grew dark in front of us, like an inky storm was rolling in. Thunder crackled, which should've been impossible underwater. A huge icy presence was approaching. I sensed a wave of fear roll through the armies below us.” - TLO pg 153

“I saw a bank of storm clouds rolling across the Midwest plains. Lightning flickered. Lines of tornadoes destroyed everything in their path— ripping up houses and trailers, tossing cars around like Matchbox toys. “Monumental floods," an announcer was saying. "Five states declared disaster areas as the freak storm system sweeps east, continuing its path of destruction." The cameras zoomed in on a column of storm bearing down on some Midwest city. I couldn't tell which one. Inside the storm I could see the giant—just small glimpses of his true form: a smoky arm, a dark clawed hand the size of a city block. His angry roar rolled across the plains like a nuclear blast.” - TLO pg 216-218

“Over the city, a thunderstorm boiled—a wall of absolute black with lightning streaking across the sky. A few blocks away, swarms of emergency vehicles gathered with their lights flashing. A column of dust rose from a mound of rubble, which I realized was a collapsed skyscraper. [...] Wind whipped her hair. The temperature was dropping rapidly, like ten degrees just since I'd been standing there.” - TLO pg 468-470

“She faltered as a mighty groan cut through the sky. A blast of lightning hit the center of the darkness. The entire city shook. The air glowed, and every hair on my body stood up. The blast was so powerful I knew it could only be one thing: Zeus's master bolt. It should have vaporized its target, but the dark cloud only staggered backward. A smoky fist appeared out of the clouds. It smashed another tower, and the whole thing collapsed like children's blocks.

The reporter screamed. People ran through the streets. Emergency lights flashed.” - TLO pg 470-471

“Listen to me!" I said. "Kronos's army is invading Manhattan.'"

"Don't you think we know that?" East asked. "I can feel his boats right now. They're almost across."

"Yep," Hudson agreed. "I got some filthy monsters crossing my waters too."

"So stop them," I said. "Drown them. Sink their boats."

"Why should we?" Hudson grumbled. "So they invade Olympus. What do we care?"

"Because I can pay you.” - TLO pg 654

“Water sprayed his face, stinging his eyes. The wind picked up, and Hyperion staggered backward.

"Percy!" Grover called in amazement. "How are you doing that?"

Doing what? I thought.

Then I looked down, and I realized I was standing in the middle of my own personal hurricane. Clouds of water vapor swirled around me, winds so powerful they buffeted Hyperion and flattened the grass in a twenty-yard radius. Enemy warriors threw javelins at me, but the storm knocked them aside.

"Sweet," I muttered. "But a little more!"

Lightning flickered around me. The clouds darkened and the rain swirled faster. I closed in on Hyperion and blew him off his feet.” - TLO pg 903-904

[bm-ancient-art]

Shabty of Hori, ca. 1292-1075 B.C.E., Brooklyn Museum: Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Wooden ushabti, stuccoed and painted, of the officer of the Estate of Amon, Hori. Mummiform; hands hidden; no tools or sack. Wears a black wig the ends of which are striped red and dark yellow. The face is red with details of eyes in black and white. Also wears a broad collar, in alternate bands of red and yellow. Single column of inscription on the lower body, in black against yellow ground, with a red border. Condition: Intact. Paint is somewhat faded and has chipped from wig. Size: 7 3/8 x 1 11/16 x 1 5/16 in. (18.8 x 4.3 x 3.3 cm) Medium: Wood, pigment

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/116846

[misslisterkeepsajournal]

1831 Thursday 13 October

7 10/.. 12 40/..

Great deal of rain in the night but apparently fair at 7 10/.. and, now at 8, at which hour Fahrenheit 64°. - out at 8 1/2 - Went into the bookseller's shop opposite - bought Chichester guide - they did not burn the bp. [bishop] last night in effigy - the police interfered and prevented the burning - but all the people seem reformers, moderate or radical - then sauntered down to the Cathedral stopping as I went to admire the beautiful gothic market place a little below the hotel (The Swan) -

A verger went all round the cathedral with me and to the top of the tower (about 248 steps) from which springs the steeple, within the latter is a sort of scaffollding by which to secure four ladders, of 40 feet long each, hung, as it were, in air one above another and by which the workmen ascend, and, when at the top, if anything is to be done outside (which has happened without accident 4 or 6 times in the time of this verger, a singing boy in the cathedral 40 years ago) they make a hole in the stone work, and put up a scaffolding on the outside of the steeple - too hazy to see Chichester steeple, or the Portsmouth or the Isle of Wight - but good bird's eye view of the town - not large - merely high Street good and another goodish street or 2 the west Sussex and East Hampshire infirmary is a large handsome looking plain building stone or stuccoed - a small part of boulevard or old rampart left, shaded by 2 rows of fine large elms, the only town walk the inhabitants have - the corporation sold all the rest long ago by bit and bit and it is all built upon - Both inside and outside of the cathedral exceedingly plain - round Saxon arches - no ornament - the interior has been lately cleaned and scraped, so that, the white and yellow wash being gone, the natural colour of the stone is left with great advantage - saw no painted glass -

View of Chichester Cathedral in 1833 by Joseph Francis Gilbert [Image Source]

Walked all thro' the cloisters (3 sides of a square remarkably neat and well kept - roof not underdrawn - of the sweet or chesnut eatable wood that, as is the rest of the cathedral, which spiders have an aversion to, and therefore not a spider's web to be seen - thro' the cloisters, and entered by the South transept door - on one side (right) paintings of all the bps. [bishops] - on the other all the Kings from William the conqueror down to Henry 8 when they were done - this transept screened off by the tomb of St. Richard once famous for the miracles done at his shrine in this cathedral - the transepts communicate with the side aisles of the nave and choir which last takes in the part under the tower roofed in the same height as the rest of the choir - instead of tabernacle work, plain gothicized sort of wainscot of deal painted darkish brown with gild gothic mouldings - looks much better than might be fancied from the description - beyond the choir the Sanctum Sanctorum, a presbytery - handsome and spacious - 2 fine columns of darkish porphyry like Sussex marble (from near Horsham) with 4 smaller columns clustering round them - from the east end of presbytery descend by a few steps into the fine large well-aired vault of the duke of Richmond made in 1750 the 1st. duke buried in westminster abbey till taken up and brought here - 20 coffins there - the broad brickwork bench on which they stand is on arches to prevent damp and there are open windows on each side that the place is as sweet as any other part of the church -

Above the duke's vault is what was the Lady's chapel to which one ascends by a few steps - now the library - in a line with the choir, but much lower - small library - the chapter holds its meetings there - some old brass plates (like small bread and butter plates) a chalice etc. and inscription of William the conqueror's time taken from the tomb of the 2nd bishop - (translated by the reverend Thomas Valentine prebendary of Selsea - the organ is of the time of Charles 2nd - the choir screen very plain gothic of time Henry 6 - 3 pointed arches the middle one much the narrowest - no transept aisles - double aisles on each side nave and choir - fine specimen of quite plain old Saxon - church consecrated 12 September 1199 - believes there is an error about this date in the guide book - several errors - records not consulted that ought and might have been - the belfry tower not mentioned save in a note of errata - a large good loking looking square gothic tower, a little distance from the church built for the bells because of the injury they might do the steeple, as said the verger guide -

The choir at Chichester Cathedral [Image Source]

In returning, sauntered along High street in spite of its raining a little bought sponge, and a pair of strong leather shoes at a venture - back at 11 50/60 and from then to 1 25/.. breakfast and read the Times - sad rioting work at Derby - and the mob burnt down the duke of Newcastle's Nottingham castle, to the ground on Monday - Very comfortable at Chichester - the Swan a very good Inn-

Off at 1 35/.. - Goodwood (3 miles from Chichester) plantations (duke of Richmond) stretch along the range of down (down) at a little distance north of the town - the duke getting rich - a good economist - has bought a great many farms lately in this neighbourhood - at 1 3/4 pass road (left) to Goodwood and in 5 mins. [minutes] more get a peep of the house - oblong - south part a pediment in the middle and a round topped little round tower at each corner - flattish all around after leaving the Goodwood downs, and not very interesting drive till alight at the Norfolk arms Arundel at 3 10/.. - wait for my 2 servants -

At 3 55/.. at the castle - stands high, on a chalk hill - the low rich ground (some of it let at 6 guins. [guineas] an acre belongs great part to the duke great to the corporation) about it, supposed to have been covered by the sea at the time the castle was first built by the Romans - (no date of the castle) - In proof of the retiring of the sea, anchors and other marine implements have been found on digging - at present this low land forms quite a basin round particularly in front south of the castle - the river Arun running along it with remarkable windings - but if it was not for these windings - these great détours - the tide comes up so strongly that it would force the water, so back as to make it overflow this low land - the Arun runs to the sea and to the Thames - and navigable all the way, sometimes by canal-cuts - the man who shewed the house said Arundel was originally perhaps Arundale -

Arundel Castle c1880 [Image Source]

Magnificent castle - the old ruins fine - particularly the great old ivy covered round Keep Tower where we afterwards saw the 7 large horned american owls - but the present house built on the old site, partly keeping up the old walls (4, and, in places, 5 yards thick) by the late duke, who spent above 30 years and £600,000 in doing it, unfinished as he died and left it - on entering the court, the building forms nearly 3 sides of a square - or a centre and wings - centre 4 stories high - entrance (rather projecting) with its large windows above and on each side of it, 4 tiers of 2 three light windows = 8 - on entering (right) baronial hall and unfinished chapels - (left) library and unfinished saloon - baronial hall tho' not quite finished very fine - magnificent oak plain gothic groined roof - capital model for the hall at Shibden? - chapel a heap of brick and rubbish within not seeable - ditto the saloon -

But the mahogany lined, beautifully gothic wrought library tower which cost above £30,000 - far the most beautiful library I ever beheld anywhere - from the baronial hall, we saw dining room breakfast room fine drawing room etc. (the centre divided by fine long gallery) but I skip all to get to the library - 130 feet long - gallery round mid-height the room and all the windows above the gallery - the galleries finished at the top like aisles, and the middle part finished likewise at the top and partly for a gallery, library, museum! 3 arcades and a sort of transept. then 3 arcades more at the other end - 6 windows on each side, and one transept window on each side = 14 windows - two beautiful white marble chimney pieces on the same side (north east side) that were bought by the late duke at the sale of the duke of Bedford's house in Bloomsbury square pulled down about 38 years ago - of the 1st. chimney piece the 2 large supporting figures are whole lengths of Socrates and Plato, with a square medallion of Archimedes and his attributes in the centre of the architrave - one of the figures of the other chimney piece is said to be Æsculapius - library walls 4 yards thick - the library windows outside seem large churchlike windows - the lower 1/2 of them lights the library - the upper lights rooms above -

The library at Arundel Castle [Photo by Des Morris]

The castle and its fortifications stands on 5 1/2 acres of ground - the man thought the baronial hall must be 45 feet high - and the drawing room 25 feet high - he recommended me to see Bignall - the fine old Roman mosaic pavement discovered there - 7 miles from here - on the Petworth road - turn off 4 miles from here at the public house at the foot of Bury hill - 1 5/.. hour in the castle - 20 mins. [minutes] at the old round keep tower and 10 mins. [minutes] looking round about the castle - there is a narrow way and parapet wall all round the front towards the town and the south -

Home at 5 35/.. washed hands had hair done etc. - dinner at 6 in 3/4 hour - then till 8 40/.. wrote all the above of today - very glad to have come round to see this castle - the present duke does nothing at it - leaves all unfinished or not just as the late duke left - the present one has lately bought a large estate here of a Mr. Walker - I look everywhere for models for Shibden - I must be contented to do as little at it as possible - my ideas are too apt to grow too large - from 8 3/4 to 11 1/2 at my travelling account and to my great joy brought it down to tonight - oh! that my private account, cashbook and all the rest were equally well done! - but what I have done is better than nothing - I must work at the rest for a day or 2 in London - a little rain while out this morning at Chichester and a little also as I came here but afterwards (from 3 p.m.) fair - Fahrenheit 65°. now at 11 1/2 - Came to my room at 11 40/.. -  

Reference: SH:7/ML/E/14/0134 - SH:7/ML/E/14/0135

[bananaairplane]

Boat Daze

I’m sitting on deck, watching a catamaran’s slow progress across the protected bay where we are anchored and out into the sea. It turns left and continue gliding, silently, wakelessly, almost imperceptibly. A sound of rattling comes up from the galley as someone pokes through the clean dishes, then the clatter of silverware and the thud of its drawer, which must be lifted heavily by its pull hole before drawing it out— a locking mechanism like all the drawers and cabinets on board. Now there is the steady, deliberate sound of chopping. The wind whistles through the rigging and over the canvas top of the cockpit, and the bilge gurgles once. The waves make a swishing noise as the wind ruffles them, in addition to the occasional slapping they make against the hull. I had intended to swim before coffee but woke up hungry and was put off by the sound of the wind. The water looks wet and chilly, and I am dry, warmed by the early rays of the sun. I hear the rustling and tearing of an onion being peeled. With any luck those were potatoes being sliced earlier. I look across the cockpit to check if any shade has developed. The heat of the sun is beginning to build to a prickle in my hands and forearms. I smell the faint edge of the onion wafting up through the open hatch over the galley, just behind my head. A soft grind and then chop of a knife blade moving through a dense, fibrous matter— distinct from the staccato chops of earlier. That must have been bell pepper, and this is the potato. The blade of the knife rings along its flat edge as it is laid on the counter. We are at an anchorage in Eleuthera, an island in the eastern part of the Bahamas, waiting for the wind to slow down and swing around so we can sail north to Abaco.

This has been our rhythm for the week or so since we sailed over from Florida: Anchor someplace for a night or two, and then sail or motor to the next island, the next anchorage. We cleared into the Bahamas at a marina in Grand Bahama, and then, after anchoring for two nights in a little waterway, sailed all day down to the Berry Islands. The crossing took us out in the middle of the water with no land visible on either side. The sea was dead calm and reflected the blue of the sky perfectly, so that it almost melted at the horizon line instead of making a clean line. The captain stopped the engine in the afternoon and we leapt off the side of the boat into the silky water. When you are cruising you are always headed somewhere and yet overall, in the larger sense, you are not going anywhere. It is the purity of voyage without destination. Only passage. Everything is blue and white— the sea, the sky with a few fluffy clouds lying down low, the white fiberglass of the boat, and the blue vinyl cushions in the cockpit, the canvas sail cover and bimini over the cockpit. It makes the yellow life ring on the aft stand out, and the red stripes on the flag flying off the back of the mainsail rigging, and the dishrags, red, hanging on the side rail on wooden clothespins. Two of us are on deck and the third is in the kitchen tidying. She appears with an old sponge to show us how cutting off the corner once designates it for the counters, and as it gets dirtier and more corners are cut off, it will be for the floor and then finally for the head. Some tinny, cheerful rock blares on a little speaker over the hum of the diesel engine.

I put on my suit when I woke up the next morning and jumped into the clear, shallow water off the boat, seeing our anchorage in daylight for the first time. A current ran through the little bay where we anchored, rippling the water. It was saltier than the day before, when we swam off the boat in the open ocean and it was calm, still and dark. Even though I could see the bottom from the edge of the boat this time, I felt the residual fear of the unknown that rises up when I look into the sea. Annie said yesterday, if you see any sharks, get out. Here it’s so shallow it seems unlikely there would be any. But I stay close to the boat all the same because of the unfamiliar currents, doing laps back and forth. I swim until the salt begins to burn my mouth. There are islands all around— pieces of Great Stirrup and Little Stirrup Cays. They are pleasure islands for cruise ship lines, and an enormous red tower rises up off Little Stirrup, a water slide, and nearby a large red orb— a planetarium? The water slide dwarfs the white column of a lighthouse on the other island. Otherwise the land is empty and scrubby. As we lift anchor and get underway, the line of sandy beach runs along under green shrubs and stands of low trees. Large houses with columned porches are dotted along the coastline. It feels more domestic than Grand Bahama, with its abandoned buildings and the unlikely architecture of vacation destinations— hotels in various stages of decrepitude and showy grandiosity: Ziggurat stairs of balconies, rounded swoops of white stucco, and hulking blocks of rooms with running balconies, each door marked by a glowing light fixture. The faded grandeur, the dingy pompousness of it still has more dignity than the sinister cruise ship pleasure island, which glows at night with rows of bright white lights like an industrial installation.

After Grand Bahama and the Berrys, things have felt less touristy. We don’t see anymore cruise ships or big hotels. Plenty of charter boats, but also fishing trawlers. Beach bars, with rickety wooden superstructures and brown cans of Barritt’s Ginger Beer, are populated by locals as much as boaters and vacationers— not that there are many of those this year. Regular life, whatever that is, already felt quite distant— we all left it last March with the first lockdown of the pandemic. Out here, though, it’s just a memory. Time feels suspended. The bustle of West Palm Beach feels insurmountably distant, as though the Gulf Stream were a vortex to a new dimension. Coming back to it will feel like tumbling out of the wardrobe from Narnia.

[classyyouthcreation]

Moroccan Furniture & Home Decor

Moroccan home decor allure, charm, grace, seductiveness should be enough adjectives to describe the coastal style of countries occupying the northern & southern side of the Mediterranean Sea where this decorating style originates. Moorish influence, the demands of it's climate, available materials and maturity over time have set the tone for this design and decoration that has spread outward from the region. With bright colors you could get easily with a Moroccan-themed room.

As a much loved regional decorating theme, especially in south of Spain and north of Africa for the tradition it represents, moroccan style will always have an important place. Beyond, it is being altered by the popularity of other decoration themes having shared similarities. Mediterranean will remain an influence for sure as several themes merge into a new form. Already, in America, it's purity has been lost in a blur of influences and mutations. But, that is all pure speculation. What authentic Moroccan decoration means today is cause enough for enjoyment.

Wall Texture

Walls are predominately textured. It is what gives that pre-requisite aged appearance. An over-all application of neutral sand paint supplies a good base. It's easier than working with tinted sand paint at a later stage. There are prepared burnished Venetian plaster paints on the market that provide lots of texture. These can be used when working with color accents.

Include plaster moldings, cornices and columns when ever you can. Oh the color The sea and the sky and the warmth of the earth. Lavender and creamy yellow make a whimsical appearance in this mixture. Blue is always making an appearance. You will no doubt be using lots of accessories -brightly colorful to muted earthy and aged metallic- in your creation. You can see these colors samples on our armoires, doors, ceilings....

That's not a warning to exercise caution and agonized pre-meditation in your selection of wall paint. Most walls will exhibit atoned or maybe even a wash effect by mixing some degree of white into all your color choices. By applying some of these same paints at full strength, boldness can be added to appropriate spaces later as your overall project begins to take shape.

Color Accents

Incorporate brilliant mosaic tile designs into rich orange/red terra cotta or brick tiled floors. You can choose to continue the motif by applying the mosaics to the wall in the place of base mold, inlay them around door frames and be sure to make use of mosaic tiles for the kitchen or bathroom back splash. Select a foyer, hall or alcove to try a troweled on red or lavender burnished plaster paint application for a dramatic affect.

Furniture and accessories

Furniture may be elegantly crafted from fine hardwoods or simple rustic designs of common woods. Either way, pieces are low and heavy set and often include accents of tile, iron or marble. Lots of furniture on the market carries a Mediterranean tag but that is as close as it comes to having the authentic scale and quality of the real thing.

Glass, iron and terra cotta have been decorating basics for centuries. The appeal of these works that you'll want to use in abundance is in knowing the materials used, the production techniques required and workmanship employed are time honored traditions that can't be changed. It can still be captured!

Hang wall tapestry from mounted wrought iron architectural pieces. Wrought iron grills can also be wall mounted to create the illusion of a window, above doorways to accentuate an entrance or to each side of a camel bone mirror to add interest and old world charm. Go back to some of those base paints to color in bulkheads or selected short walls.

Pottery has important application. Either in natural terra cotta or colorfully finished, over sized pots and vases in classic shapes add drama, form and color. Continue enhancing the allure with iron and wood wine racks in the dinning room. Add tapestry runners on side tables and top the one on the dinning table with a cast iron candle holder for quite, romantic dinners. Burnished brass urns, an indoor faux stone water fountain, and of course a thick relief, plastered fireplace hearth are "musts" if you can work them in. The most difficult task you face is knowing when to stop.

Some Final Meditarranean moroccan Inspiration

What you want to accomplish is a point of interest, a touch that impresses, a subtle surprise at every turn. If there is one decorating theme with the abundance of choice and style to make that happen this is it.

As you sit to work your plan be carried away to lunch at an estate winery near the Mediterranean coast. It is to be in a small, almost enclosed courtyard hidden behind an aged sunflower yellow stucco wall. From the stone pathway you can only catch short glimpses of the setting through grilled windows as you approach the heavy, weathered wooden door way. The door is adorned with cast iron florets and above is a slope of clay roofing tiles. Lying seductively behind is the romance of your own finished home.

[mostly-history]

Resurrection of Christ Cathedral (Tutayev, Yaroslavl Oblast):

South-west view, with the bell tower and Holy Gate on the right.

South view, showing the bell tower and Holy Gate.

South-east view, showing St. Nicholas Chapel.

West view.

South view, showing St. Nicholas Chapel.

South view, with decorative details of St. Nicholas Chapel.

Ceiling frescoes from the Book of Genesis in the north gallery.

Frescoes in the west gallery (vault and piers).

Tutayev was originally two settlements located opposite each other on either side of the Volga.  On the right bank was Borisoglebsk, and on the left bank was Romanov.

The name “Borisoglebsk” comes from a local wooden church dedicated to Princes Boris and Gleb, who were martyred during a Kievan dynastic struggle in the early 1000s, and later canonized.  In the 1400s, the settlement was referred to as the Borisoglebsk Fishing Quarter.  The settlement became formally known as Borisoglebsk in 1777, as part of Catherine the Great's administrative reforms of the Russian provinces.  In 1822, the two settlements were united as Romanov-Borisoglebsk.  The final name change to Tutayev was in 1918, to honour a Red Army soldier killed during the fighting against the Bolsheviks in nearby Yaroslavl.

Borisoglebsk was sacked in the early 1600s during the Time of Troubles, but in the second half of the century it prospered from trade on the Volga.  Later in the century was the Schism of the Old Believers, who had a large presence in the region.  It is likely that the official church wanted to make a statement that proclaimed the glory of official Orthodoxy, and that was part of the reason for the cathedral's construction.

In 1652, a brick church was built on the site of the wooden Church of Sts. Boris and Gleb.  It was dedicated to the Hodegetria Icon (the Smolensk Icon of the Virgin).  However, this church suffered a partial collapse in 1670.

After the collapse, a much larger shrine was rebuilt, dedicated to the Resurrection.  Walls from the earlier church were used for much of the ground level, and so was the altar dedicated to the Hodegetria Icon.  The lower level was used for worship during the rebuilding period.  Its secondary altars were dedicated to John the Baptist (in the north) and St. Charalambos of Magnesia.

Construction was finished in 1678.  The lower level was used for winter services, as it was easier to heat.  The upper level (known as a summer church) contained the main altar, dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ, and a secondary altar dedicated to Sts. Boris and Gleb, in remembrance of the earlier wooden church.

The basic structure of the cathedral has a square plan, rising in a pattern formed by large windows separated by groups of attached ornamental columns, which are painted white on a yellow stuccoed surface.  Beneath the roof cornice, there are semicircular gables filled with paintings showing scenes from the life of Christ.  These gables can best be seen in the fourth photo, although the details are not visible.

The metal roof has five onion domes (the central one being the highest), which are made up of metal shingles painted dark green. Each dome supports a tall gilded cross.  The “drums”, or elevated cylinders, that support the cupolas echo the decorative pattern of the stuccoed walls beneath them.  As is common in Yaroslavl architecture, the height of the cupolas, drums and crosses equals the height of the main structure they rest upon.

On the north, south and west façades are shirinki (recessed decorative squares) between the arcaded gallery windows.  Many of them contain ceramic tiles.  At the east end of the north gallery is a chapel dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul, and at the east end of the south gallery the chapel is dedicated to St. Nicholas.

On the west and south sides, the elevated galleries are connected via stairways to elaborately decorated porches.  The ground level has large arches that emphasize the masonry support for the upper part of the structure.

The south side of the cathedral compound has a Holy Gate facing the main square, and a bell tower with a distinctive “tent” tower, built at the end of the 1600s.

The parish continued to exist during the Soviet era, even though many of its clergy were killed or died in exile during the 1930s.  The cathedral survived mostly intact.  Locals and pilgrims claim that it has miraculous healing powers.

[merrybandofmurderers]

[ID: nine square images of equal size.

image one - a fire at night. the ground and logs are in deep shadow, with the fire burning brightly.

image two - a pair of raised white hands, the backs of the hands pressed together. they are smeared with charcoal. the background is white.

image three - the interior of a light brown stone building. there are square columns and lit up alcove. the walls have geometric paintings in orange, yellow, and green.

image four - a short staircase made of gray stones. light streams down onto the steps. the walls are yellow-orange stucco. potted plants sit on the steps.

image five - green boa constrictors coiled around each other.

image six - bright yellow-orange marigolds with green stems and leaves.

image seven - a white woman seen from the waist down; her legs are muscular. she is wearing dark leather arm guards, boots, and gladiator skirt. a knife is strapped to her waist. she is holding a gold chakram in her left hand. the background is a light brown stone wall.

image eight - an orange drink in a short round glass with an orange slice stuck on the glass rim. the glass sits on a wooden table with a white background.

image nine - an intricately designed black and gold dagger laying across a black and gold sheath. the background is black. /END ID]

“You could build the Inquisition into a force that could deliver us… or destroy us.”

Madrigal Cadash

for @goldencadash

[nedanejad-blog]

State Library

Locates at 328 Swanston street, State Library opened to public at 1856 and people could get access to all books free except for medicine books for which they needed permission. Known as Melbourne Public Library originally, this library has gone through lots of design and construction developments. This building is neo-classical icon, which was designed by Josep Reeds initially.

The old building was part of current building which is in Swanston and consisted of Queen’s Reading room today known as Ian Potter Queen’s Hall and the Palmer hall which is now readings bookstore but used to host contemporary sculptures initially. (Image1)

The facade is made from Tasmanian freestone and Hobart bluestone and is completed by portico with eight fluted ionic columns that were designed after venola’s style and were finished at 1870.

South Wing then was added to building at 1864 as part of development of the Queen’s Hall. Then in 1912, the doomed octagonal shape, called Library Reading Room was added to the building. Doom development was a great transaction from19th century design to 20th century design for State Library. In 1913, a grand white marble staircase replaced the old wooden stairs in Queen's Hall to link foyer to the Domed Reading Room. (Image 2)

Queen’s Hall reading room is 240 foot long, 30 feet high and 50 feet wide. The hall is arcade shape with barrel-vaulted ceiling and is surrounded by ionic fluted columns along both sides of the hall to support Gallery around. The columns then join to main walls by cross walls creating 26 open bays to accommodate book readers. (Image 3)

Ceiling skylights were the source of light in Queen’s Hall but there were also artificial light of suspended gasolier. Upon the completion Queens’ Hall extension, Barrett Johnston took a picture of the this magnificent Hall. (Image 4)

N G Peeples designed domed Library Reading Room or La Trobe Reading Room at 1908 and its construction was finished at 1912. The cone head with 38.75 meter in diameter used to be the largest reinfected concrete dome in the world for a while. (Image5)

La Trobe Reading Room is looking at the façade and replaced Rotunda and Great Hall of the Exhibition Buildings. The drum is from cement stucco in yellow gold render with skylights in the doom which were cover with copper at 1959. (Image6)

Reference List

“Domed Building”, State Library of Victoria, revised at 9/1/2012, Accessed at 1/4/2018, http://www.architecture.com.au/docs/default-source/vic-notable-buildings/domed-building-state-library-of-victoria.pdf?sfvrsn=0 https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/slvhistory/architecture

Lewis,M, “Building the Dome: an illustrated account”, State Library of Victoria, Accessed at 1/4/2018, https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/La-Trobe-Journal-92-Miles-Lewis.pdf

Galbally, A, “Redmond Barry and Angelo-Irish Australian”, 1995, Melbourne University Press,Carlton, 3953, Accessed at 1/4/2018 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=YrM9Z1fjZUAC&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=barrel+vault+ceiling+queen’s+hall+victoria+library&source=bl&ots=XPbh871lCD&sig=7MmqaBzk0EPGrK6FS67p83K-M4Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwim5c313pfaAhWDI5QKHURQD8gQ6AEwLnoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=barrel%20vault%20ceiling%20queen’s%20hall%20victoria%20library&f=false

“The history of our building”, State Library of Victoria, Accessed at 1/4/2018, https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/history-our-building

Image 1: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Accessed at 1/4/2018, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-26/melbourne-public-library-1870/7203092

Image 2: Viva Gibb, “Marble staircase”, State Library of Victoria, 1985, Accessed at 1/4/2018, http://exhibitions.slv.vic.gov.au/dome100/static-image/marble-staircase-slv

Image 3: Urban Melbourne, Accessed at 1/4/2018, https://urban.melbourne/forum/state-library-of-victoria

Image 4: The Collector’s Marvellous Melbourne, Accessed at 1/4/2018 http://www.thecollectormm.com.au/private/Library2.jpg

Image 5: Urban Melbourne, Accessed at 1/4/2018, https://urban.melbourne/culture/2013/05/21/state-library-victoria-cultural-icon

Image 6: Urban Melbourne, Accessed at 1/4/2018, https://urban.melbourne/forum/state-library-of-victoria

[paulriedelposts]

Theatiner Kirche (Church) in Munich

Visiting Munich has many privileges itself. Restaurants, bars, sports buildings, carnivals, breweries, and other facilities are available to see in town. But, what we are going to focus on now are churches in Munich. It is well known for my side that I am an atheist. Regardless, I always liked visiting churches everywhere I go. In my humble opinion, churches in Munich has a very big significance in German history. They always provide some special feeling since you cross your first step into it. No matter if you are a believer or not, we are all the same in the end. And because of that, I will always be very pleased to visit these places, especially across Munich.

Theatiner Kirche's founders and style

The Theatiner Church is located in southern Germany in Munich. Certainly, it is one of the most famous among the churches in Munich. The construction from this Catholic church was from 1663 to 1690, almost full three decades. In the year of 1662, a long-awaited heir to the Bavarian crown, Prince Max Emanuel is born. And for the honor of that, the church’s founders Henriette Adelaide of Savoy and Ferdinand Maria founded it. This church is also known as the Dominican Priory of St. Cajetan because it is administered nowadays by the Dominican Friars. The one whose idea came to realization is the Italian architect Agostino Barelli. Barelli was a Baroque-style architect. This church gained his style too. As I know, he gained inspiration from Sant’Andrea Della Valle in Rome. Theatiner Church has 71 meters high dome and two 66 meters high towers which weren’t originally planned. They were added on later by Enrico Zuccalli, the successor of the architect Barelli. This building is almost 16 meters wide and 72 meters long. So, I'm sure you'll be astonished seeing it. Do you know why this church has so big significance in Munich? It is because after its construction the colors of it became a worldwide known symbol for the city. Its Mediterranean appearance and yellow coloring have a big impact and influence on Southern German Baroque architecture. That influence never stopped its presence. When you see this church for the first time, these colors will not leave your head and thoughts for a long time. That’s how astonishing it is. And that’s why this church is so special.

History of the Theatiner Church

A lot of places worthy of visiting Munich has a huge background and long history. That is also the case with the churches in Munich too. Throughout history, this church gained a good reputation. That reputation was going only uphill, but that unfortunately changed in the late 18th century. During that period, an increasing decline of religious discipline and the monastery finances became visible. Because of that, the monastery had to finish closed by the Elector Max IV Joseph, later King Max I Joseph. The official date of closing is on the 26th of October 1801, before the secularization. For those who don’t know perhaps what it is, secularization is a process of converting something from religious to secular possession or use. Also, in some places, it can occur as disassociation or separation from religious or spiritual concerns. Nevertheless, the Theatiner Church remained Collegiate Church and the convent attracted the remaining 3 electoral departments. Justice, Finance and Spiritual Affairs. Before the dissolution of the monastery, in 1799, one of the departments moved into the Theatiner monastery. It was the Department of Foreign Affairs of course. Like many other facilities in Munich, this church also went unfortunate during World War II. Particularly in the final years of the war, the church was the target from bombs. They destroyed the west wing. Also, the altarpiece of the foundation of the church was wiped out. But I assume that some ‘paranormal force’ looked up this church and it shined once more. Its restoration from 1946 finished nearly 10 years later. Since then, the Dominicans have ministered at St. Cajetan. From 2001 until now, a massive rebuild has been in progress in which the Theatiner Church will get a new sanctuary design.

Interior of the church and its tombs

One of the first impressions you will possibly get from this church is from its appearance. When I looked it for the first time, I just stood in awe. The 71 meters high cupola gives a grandiose feeling of space. It is also richly decorated with stucco and this is something that really can take the breath away. The dark wood of the pulpit has 1681 contrasts with the white and grey tones that dominate elsewhere. And that contrast is something I like the most when it is about this church. It is truly fascinating how it is all embedded. I can’t forget the amount of excitement I have every time I remember it. A whole interior of the church is in white stucco. That provides a very bright appearance and sets it apart from most of the other Munich churches. The ones who are responsible for creating the statues and stucco decorations are German sculptor Wolfgang Leutner and Italian Nicolo Petri. Around the great black altar inside, from Andreas Faistenberger, are numerous paintings. Carlo Cignani, George Desmarees, Caspar de Crayer, and Joachim Sandrart are all the names you could find up there. When it comes to tombs at this church, many people are inside Theatiner Kirche. The first ones I got on my mind are the members of the Wittelsbach family. There is a small chapel which contains the remains of King Maximilian II and his wife. Also, there is a crypt where their son, the prince, laid his remains. Charles VII the Holy Roman Emperor is another person who remains laying here. The sepulture from the exiled King Otto of Greece about who I was writing is also here.

My vision of churches in Munich and religion

As I already mentioned, I am an atheist. But that is not much important indeed. What I would like to achieve is just understanding and mutual respect about everything in life. So, religion is the same. I know how religion is important in every person’s life. Many find their peace and inspiration to move on in it. I really don’t have anything against it. I am aware of how big influence can it provide in people’s lives and I am always trying to understand it in the best possible way. Hopefully, I can get that from you too. Because I think that no matter what your religion status is, what’s the most important is how people behave. And, what is in their heart. All the Christians, Orthodox or Catholic, share the same religion. Others are Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. Some are atheists like me or gnostic perhaps, but all that is every person’s private choice. Nobody can’t take that from us and I am glad it is like that. What I deeply want from you, my readers is to understand other’s feelings and choices they make. Regardless of their religious determination. Because everyone deserves a chance to show his qualities and eventually become your friend or maybe a partner. No matter if they are a part of other religions or are not religious at all. I would like to achieve that mutual respect in every part of this world, not only in Munich. Unfortunately, probably I will not be able to travel that long. In the end, we are all humans and we will end up the same. Whether we are believers or not, hetero or homosexuals, rich or poor. So, if anyone can learn about this from me, my heart will be fulfilled with joy and peace.

Short guide around the Theatiner Church

As I have some personal experiences from visiting churches in Munich, I will try to provide you a short one for this too. What will you find here is a delightful Rococo style exterior with creamy yellow colors. The facade is two-tiered, flanked by two towers with clock faces and rich ornamentation. The church interior is a high Baroque style. The nave's design is Corinthian-style columns and more stucco ornamentation. The delicately carved Baroque style pulpit is worth a look-see as are the side chapels. You can allow yourself 10-20 minutes for visiting Theatiner Church. For nice photos of the church facade, you should walk across Odeonplatz, standing in front of Residenz. From here, you should be able to cover the entire church in your camera lens.

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