Tag: History
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Ransdorp
Ransdorp A thousand years ago there were already people living in this low lying Waterland near the Zuyder Zee. Because of regular flooding a long dike was made in the 13th century around the whole Waterland area to protect the fields and villages. Early 16th century the village of Ransdorp started the construction of its…
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Twins of an era
Twins of an era Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990) was a street photographer. Wherever he was, in Amsterdam, Paris or Tokyo, he roamed the streets with his camera for days on end and took pictures of … people. Looking at his pictures at an exhibition of his work in 2017, the atmosphere of the 50s,…
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Tashilhunpo Thanka
Tashilhunpo Thanka Tashilhunpo in Shigatse is the largest monastery in Tibet and the seat of the Panchen Lamas. The complex comprises various monuments with golden roofs and a large number of chapels filled with statues and adorned with murals, thangkas and other treasures. For 362 days a year, this monastic town does not look exactly…
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Shekar Monastery
Shekar Monastery It may be in the middle of nowhere, but like most of the erstwhile 1000 monasteries in Tibet, this one too could not escape the destructive fury of the Cultural Revolution. Partly rebuilt, it has again become a centre of study and worship, nourished by the “White Crystal” (Shekar) inside. Photo of the…
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Timeless Tibet
Timeless Tibet A child coming down the village road. It could be 200 years ago but then Daguerre’s invention wasn’t there yet to deliver proof. It could be today from a smartphone sent instantly to your screen. It was, in fact, June 1996 captured by my camera on Kodak film. Photo of the week: Shekar,…
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Foot Bath Temple
Foot Bath Temple Robert James Waller and his ode to the beauty of Indian women: Orange saris and green saris, red and blue, and gold adorning their bodies, bracelets on their arms and combs in their hair. The women were graceful and seemed almost to float above the ground. Even as they wade through the…
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Worn down worshippers
Worn down worshippers Thousands, if not millions of feet must have stepped on the threshold of this place of worship, wearing down bit by bit the reliefs of worshippers sculpted on its surface. Touching signs of the passage of time. Photo of the week: Entrance of Vitthala temple complex, Hampi, Karnataka, India 2014
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Massive arcades
Massive arcades Such is the abundance of granite rock at Hampi that massive projects could easily be envisaged. Like constructing two lengthy arcades for the entranceway to a temple complex. Hundreds of massive pillars, heavy but simple, for a massive project indeed. In contrast, inside the complex, reliefs of love and tenderness that clearly betray…
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Stonecutters’ paradise
Stonecutters’ paradise Elegant camels, mounted horsemen. and of course, as always, the graceful women … it’s as if we can appreciate these scenes from daily life even more when depicted in stone. Maybe it is because we can feel the pleasure the sculptors of Hampi must have had in cutting these reliefs. The non-sculptured walls…
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Café Kafka
Café Kafka Several cafés in Prague where Kafka liked to come a century ago with his friend Max Brod do not exist anymore. Instead we now find cafés named after him. If Brod had followed Kafka’s wish and had destroyed his friend’s unpublished manuscripts after his untimely death in 1924, the world would not have…
καιρός remembered 