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Rozelle Tram Depot, Sydney

fabian foo — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:13:09 +0000

Sydney used to have one of the largest metropolitan tram fleets in the world. This all changed in the 1950s when trams were progressively replaced with buses.

Rozelle Tram Depot still houses six of the original trams that used to run on the network, though they are woefully neglected and have been subject to extensive vandalism and graffiti over the years.

Filed under: australia, history, sydney Tagged: australia, decay, graffiti, industrial, rozelle, sydney, tram, transport

Burial towers of Sillustani, Peru

fabian foo — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:01:01 +0000

These strange structures found in southern Peru are called chullpas and belong to the nobility of a pre-Incan people.

Posted in history, peru Tagged: archaeology, burial, peru, ruins, sillustani, tower

Red Fort of Agra

fabian foo — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:09:18 +0000

The Red Fort of Agra is an immense fortress-palace and was the seat of government of the Mughal Empire for much of its existence. It sits not far from the Taj Mahal, near the banks of the Yamuna river.

Famously, it also served as the prison of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, imprisoned there by his own son Aurangzeb, the last of the Great Mughals. The old Shah Jahan would stare out of the palace window towards the Taj Mahal, which he had ordered built in memory of his wife Murg Mumtaz.

Posted in architecture, history, india Tagged: agra, architecture, fort, india, mughal, palace, red, sandstone

Tomb of Humayun, Delhi

fabian foo — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:42:00 +0000

The Tomb of Humayun is an early example of the Mughal style that would culminate in masterpieces such as the Taj Mahal.

Herein lies the second of the Great Mughals.

Posted in architecture, history, india Tagged: architecture, delhi, humayun, india, mausoleum, mughal, tomb

Ollantaytambo, Peru

fabian foo — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:26:51 +0000

The Inca settlement of Ollantaymbo was a focal point of Inca resistance during the Spanish conquest of Peru.

The adjacent town of the same name is one of the most intact Inca towns still in existence, with houses, streets and drainage systems almost entirely unchanged from the time of the Incas, some five hundred years ago.

The terraces were used for agriculture.

Trademark Incan masonry with irregular shapes and very tight fits between individual stones.

Posted in architecture, history, landscape, peru Tagged: architecture, inca, masonry, ollantaytambo, peru, ruins, stone, terraces, walls

Sacsayhuaman, Peru

fabian foo — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:59:45 +0000

The immense yet intricate masonry of the Inca sacred site Sacsayhuaman, on the outskirts of Cuzco, Peru.

The unfinished look to the tops of the walls show where the Spaniards took stone to build their own religious structures in the newly conquered Inca capital of Cuzco.

Posted in architecture, history, peru Tagged: andes, cuzco, inca, masonry, peru, ruins, sacsayhuaman, stone, walls

Macchu Picchu in life and in art

fabian foo — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:07:50 +0000

Posted in history, landscape, peru Tagged: huayna picchu, inca, macchu picchu, peru, ruins, sacred valley

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Athens

fabian foo — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:56:06 +0000

An Evzone soldier stands guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens, Greece. The Scots did not have a monopoly on going to war in skirts. The ceremonial uniform of the Evzones is derived from that of the Greek bandits and guerillas that resisted Ottoman Turkish occupation prior to independence in the early 19th century.

Posted in europe, greece, history, people Tagged: athens, europe, evzone, greece, memorial, military, monument, portrait, soldier, tomb, unknown soldier

Mont Saint-Michel, France

fabian foo — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:02:44 +0000

Off the coast of Normandy in northern France. Surrounded by some of the fastest tides in Europe, the thousand year old abbey and fortified island is famous for holding out against the English during the Hundred Years’War.

Posted in architecture, europe, france, history, landscape Tagged: abbey, europe, france, gothic, island, mont saint michel, normandy

Monasteries of Meteora, Greece

fabian foo — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:37:42 +0000

Built between five hundred to a thousand years ago, the monks and hermits of the Greek Orthodox Church sought ever more remote and difficult-to-reach places from where to pray and contemplate.

Hence their position amongst these spectacular sandstone rock formations in central Greece.

Nowadays a sealed road links all the monasteries and they are as much tourist museums as they are living monasteries.

Posted in christianity, europe, greece, history, landscape, religion Tagged: architecture, christianity, europe, greece, greek orthodox church, meteora, monastery, religion, sandstone