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This is an interesting article about an Armenia as a tourist destination. They talk about the rugs from the area and then about three rather new hotels that sound quite nice.
I think my favorite of the hotels mentioned might be Avan Dzoraget, which resembles a castle. The showers build out of flagstone at the Avan […]
Isfahan is an Iranian city that has become known for other things in recent months besides it’s ancient architecture (it has some uranium conversion facilities). However, the architecture and the history of the city are indeed quite impressive.
Here is a picture of Chehel Sotoun, a palace in Isfahan, that was completed 1646. It was built […]
The Arabic word madrassa means school. The word has few implications beyond that of the English word “school.” However, recently in english this word has inaccurately been taken to mean a place of religious indoctrination, especially related to Islam.
During much of history many of these schools have been very important places and a great deal […]
While the statue itself was quite impressive. The story of the creation of the statue is even better. When Alexander the great died at a young age he left no clear successor and a civil war of sorts broke out. Rhodes, an island in the Aegean Sea, sided with the general Ptolemy who was also […]
The temple of Artemis at Ephesus is described as being 377 feet long and 180 feet wide, made almost entirely of marble. It is thought that the temple had 127 ionic columns, each 60 feet tall. The temple was completed around 550BCE.
The temple was used to house a great deal of art from sculpture […]
Another wonder of the ancient world was the statue of Zeus at Olympia. The statue was carved by the well-known ancient Greek sculptor Phidias. It was truly a huge creation at about forty feet tall. The statue depicted a seated Zeus and filled the temple that was built to house it. It filled it so […]
Because saying “Pharos” is fun.
This is one of the seven ancient wonders of the world and is the origin of the term mausoleum. This was a huge building constructed to hold the remains of Mausolus and his wife Artemisia.
Mausolus was the rule of the Persian satrap (like a state or province) of Caria. Caria was on the outskirts of […]
In one of the more modern lists of the seven wonders of the world contains the Taj Mahal in Agra India. This is a truly wonderful building made largely out of white marble. The building was commissioned by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his wife.
This is also a very good example […]