From the World Heritage inscription: The joint creation of Lanfranco and Wiligelmo is a masterpiece of human genius in which a dialectical relationship between architecture and sculpture was achieved in Romanesque art. The Modena complex bears exceptional witness to the cultural traditions of the 12th century and is one of the best examples of an …
From the World Heritage inscription for Um er-Rasas (Kastrom Mefa’a): Um er-Rasas (Kastrom Mefa’a) is strongly associated with monasticism and with the spread of monotheism, including Islam, throughout the region. The artistic and technical qualities of the mosaic floor of St Stephen’s church justify describing Um er-Rasas as a masterpiece of human creative genius. It …
From the World Heritage inscription for Quseir Amra: Quseir Amra bears exceptional testimony to the Omayyad civilization which was imbued with a pre-Islamic secular culture whose austere religious environment only left behind insignificant traces in the visual arts. It is the best conserved architectural ensemble, if not the most complete, of all the Omayyad palaces …
I’ve always had a fascination with the Cold War. I wasn’t alive for the majority of it, but when I was a kid Russia (or the USSR as it was called then, children) still had a lot of mystique. I remember vividly sleeping in the Soviet Space exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum of Science …
From the World Heritage inscription: The culturo-historical region of Kotor has exerted considerable influence, over a span of time and within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture and human settlement. Kotor and its neighbors were main bridgeheads of Venice on the southern Adriatic coast. Its art, goldsmithing, and architecture schools had …
One of the more iconic sites in all of Bosnia and Herzegovina—the old bridge in Mostar—is actually not that old. At least, the current incarnation of Stari Most is a lot newer than one might think given the bridge’s long history. Originally built in 1557 under the administration of the Ottoman Empire, it was destroyed …