The Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is a fortress in the city of Cartagena, Colombia. The castle is located on the Hill of San Lázaro in a strategic location, dominating approaches to the city by land or sea. It was built by the Spanish during the colonial era. Construction began in the year 1536, and it was originally known as the Castillo de San Lázaro, It was expanded in 1657. [...].
The fortification consists of a series of walls, wide at the base and narrow toward the parapet, forming a formidable pattern of bunkers. The batteries and parapets protect one another, so making it practically impossible to take a battery without taking the whole defence system. The castle is striking for its grand entrance and its complex maze of tunnels. It is the most formidable defensive complex of Spanish military architecture. It is 41 meters (135 ft.) above sea level.[3]
The castle is well preserved. When it ceased to be used for military purposes, tropical vegetation covered the battlements and walls, and soil accumulated in the tunnels and trenches.
In 1984, UNESCO listed the castle, with the historic centre of the city of Cartagena, as a World Heritage Site. Since 1990, the castle has served as a location for social and cultural events offered by the Colombian government in honour of foreign delegations at presidential summits, ministerial meetings, the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (1995)[4] and the Summit of the Rio Group (2000),[5] among others.
The castle is open to visitors. Wikipedia
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This series will take you from the parking lot to the entrance of the site and my next post will take you inside the walls.
Takht-e Soleyman is situated in Azerbaijan province, within a mountainous region, some 750 km from Teheran.
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Click to see the inscribed and pending UNESCO Sites in Iran: whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/ir/
The archaeological site of Takht-e Soleyman, in north-western Iran, is situated in a valley set in a volcanic mountain region. The site includes the principal Zoroastrian sanctuary partly rebuilt in the Ilkhanid (Mongol) period (13th century) as well as a temple of the Sasanian period (6th and 7th centuries) dedicated to Anahita. The site has important symbolic significance. The designs of the fire temple, the palace and the general layout have strongly influenced the development of Islamic architecture.
whc.unesco.org/en/list/1077
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Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for the visit.
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It was a very warm but hazy morning when I visited the Naqsh-e Jahan Square. It was fun going for a horse drawn carriage ride around the square. As the morning wore on, the square became busier and busier. Esfahan, Iran.
Click to see the inscribed and pending UNESCO Sites in Iran: whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/ir/
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The Naqsh-e Jahan Square (Persian: میدان نقش جهان Maidān-e Naqsh-e Jahān; trans: "Image of the World Square"), is known as Imam Square (میدان امام), formerly known as Shah Square (میدان شاه), is a square situated at the center of Isfahan city, Iran. Constructed between 1598 and 1629, it is now an important historical site, and one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. It is 160 meters wide by 508 meters long[1] (an area of 89,600 m2). The square is surrounded by buildings from the Safavid era. The Shah Mosque is situated on the south side of this square. On the west side is the Ali Qapu Palace. Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque is situated on the eastern side of this square and the northern side opens into the Isfahan Grand Bazaar. Today, Namaaz-e Jom'eh (the Muslim Friday prayer) is held in the Shah Mosque.
The square is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 20,000 rials banknote.[2]
In 1598, when Shah Abbas decided to move the capital of his Persian empire from the north-western city of Qazvin to the central city of Isfahan, he initiated what would become one of the greatest programmes in Persian history; the complete remaking of the city. By choosing the central city of Isfahan, fertilized by the Zāyande roud ("The life-giving river"), lying as an oasis of intense cultivation in the midst of a vast area of arid landscape, he both distanced his capital from any future assaults by the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, and at the same time gained more control over the Persian Gulf, which had recently become an important trading route for the Dutch and British East India Companies.[3] [...].
The ingenuity of the square, or Maidān, was that, by building it, Shah Abbas would gather the three main components of power in Persia in his own backyard; the power of the clergy, represented by the Masjed-e Shah, the power of the merchants, represented by the Imperial Bazaar, and of course, the power of the Shah himself, residing in the Ali Qapu Palace.
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During the day, much of the square was occupied by the tents and stalls of tradesmen, who paid a weekly rental to the government. There were also entertainers and actors. For the hungry, there were readily available cooked foods or slices of melon, while cups of water were handed out for free by water-carriers paid for by the shop-keepers. At the entrance to the Imperial Bazaar, there were coffee-houses, where people could relax over a cup of fresh coffee and a water-pipe.[7] These shops can still be found today, although the drink in fashion for the past century has been tea, rather than coffee. At dusk, the shop-keepers packed up, and the huzz and buzz of tradesmen and eager shoppers bargaining over the prices of goods would be given over to dervishes, mummers, jugglers, puppet-players, acrobats and prostitutes.[8]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naqsh-e_Jahan_Square
Cheers and thanks for the visit!
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On our way to Shiraz, we stopped in Pasargad to visit the Tomb of Cyrus and other archeological ruins (see images below). Although it was very hot and dry, there were many beautiful wild flowers.
Pasargadae (Persian: پاسارگاد Pāsārgād), the capital of Cyrus the Great (559–530 BC) and also his last resting place, was a city in ancient Persia, and is today an archaeological site and one of Iran's UNESCO World Heritage Sites.[1]
Click to see the inscribed and pending UNESCO Sites in Iran: whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/ir/
[...]. The archaeological site covers 1.6 square kilometres and includes a structure commonly believed to be the mausoleum of Cyrus, the fortress of Toll-e Takht sitting on top of a nearby hill, and the remains of two royal palaces and gardens. Pasargad Persian Garden provide the earliest known example of the Persian chahar bagh, or fourfold garden design (see Persian Gardens).
Tomb of Cyrus the Great
The most important monument in Pasargadae is the tomb of Cyrus the Great. It has six broad steps leading to the sepulchre, the chamber of which measures 3.17 m long by 2.11 m wide by 2.11 m high and has a low and narrow entrance. Though there is no firm evidence identifying the tomb as that of Cyrus, Greek historians tell that Alexander III of Macedon believed it was. When Alexander looted and destroyed Persepolis, he paid a visit to the tomb of Cyrus. Arrian, writing in the second century of the common era, recorded that Alexander commanded Aristobulus, one of his warriors, to enter the monument. Inside he found a golden bed, a table set with drinking vessels, a gold coffin, some ornaments studded with precious stones and an inscription on the tomb. No trace of any such inscription survives, and there is considerable disagreement to the exact wording of the text. Strabo reports that it read:
Passer-by, I am Cyrus, who gave the Persians an empire, and was king of Asia.
Grudge me not therefore this monument.
Another variation, as documented in Persia: The Immortal Kingdom, is:
O man, whoever thou art, from wheresoever thou cometh, for I know you shall come, I am Cyrus, who founded the empire of the Persians.
Grudge me not, therefore, this little earth that covers my body.
The design of Cyrus' tomb is credited to Mesopotamian or Elamite ziggurats, but the cella is usually attributed to Urartu tombs of an earlier period.[3] In particular, the tomb at Pasargadae has almost exactly the same dimensions as the tomb of Alyattes II, father of the Lydian King Croesus; however, some have refused the claim (according to Herodotus, Croesus was spared by Cyrus during the conquest of Lydia, and became a member of Cyrus' court). The main decoration on the tomb is a rosette design over the door within the gable.[4] In general, the art and architecture found at Pasargadae exemplified the Persian synthesis of various traditions, drawing on precedents from Elam, Babylon, Assyria, and ancient Egypt, with the addition of some Anatolian influences.
During the Islamic conquest of Iran, the Arab armies came upon the tomb and planned to destroy it, considering it to be in violation of the tenets of Islam. The caretakers of the grave managed to convince the Arab command that the tomb was not built to honor Cyrus but instead housed the mother of King Solomon, thus sparing it from destruction. As a result, the inscription in the tomb was replaced by a verse of the Qur'an, and the tomb became known as the "tomb of the mother of Solomon". It is still widely known by that name today.[5]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasargadae
Have a wonderful Thursday and thanks for the visit.
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Visited Imam Mosque on a hot and hazy day.
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"In Persia first arises that light which shines itself and illuminates what is around... The principle of development begins with the history of Persia; this constitutes therefore the beginning of history"
Georg Hegel in The Philosophy of History, (trans.) J. Sibree, Buffalo, 1991, p. 173.
Imam Mosque, formerly called Shah Mosque, is one of the greatest architectural achievements of Shah Abbas I who built it to complete the magnificent central square of Isfahan. Work started on its outstanding entrance in 1611 and it was not until 1629, the last year of Shah Abbas’s reign when the mosque was completed, although minor decorations were added during the reign of his descendants.
The height of the entrance’s minarets is 48 meters, southern minarets 42 meters and central dome 52 meters. Due to double-layering the interior, its ceiling is 36.3 meters high, and the hollow space in between is responsible for the loud echoes heard when you stamp your foot below the dome.
The entrance faces the square as a counterpoint to the Qeysarieh portal, but the mosque is designed to point in the direction of Mecca. A short corridor leads into the inner courtyard, which has a pool and is surrounded by four corridors, each of which leads into a vaulted sanctuary. There are also two theological schools, a marble prayer niche and a pulpit at the head of stairs on which the speaker sits, which are beautifully crafted.
The mosque is completely covered, both inside and outside, with dazzling tiles. An estimated 18 million bricks and 472,500 tiles have been used in the building. The richness of its blue-tiled mosaic designs, the unity of the overall structure and its perfectly proportioned Safavid-era architecture form a visually stunning monument.
www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Isfahan_Half_of_the_...
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The Imam Mosque of Esfahan is[...] registered along with the Naghsh-i Jahan Square as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [...]. Its splendor is mainly due to the beauty of its seven-color mosaic tiles and calligraphic inscriptions. simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Mosque
Enjoy your weekend and thanks for visiting.
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