Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Istanbul
One of the last masterpieces of classical Ottoman architecture, it is popularly known as the Blue Mosque, for the blue tiles on its inside walls.
Subscribe:
RSS feed
One of the last masterpieces of classical Ottoman architecture, it is popularly known as the Blue Mosque, for the blue tiles on its inside walls.
October 17, 2009
The view southwest across the Golden Horn, towards the magnificent Suleymaniye Mosque.
October 17, 2009
The Sufi dervishes of the Mevlevi order in Turkey are famous for their Sema, a ceremony in which they spin themselves into a trance-like state as a way of becoming closer to God.
October 16, 2009
Hagia Sophia. Santa Sophia. Aya Sofya. Church of Holy Wisdom. Has any other church in the world been witness to so many monumental events in history? The eruption of the Great Schism. The sacking of Constantinople by the Crusaders. The fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman Turks. Rebuilt many times over the years,… [Read more…]
November 12, 2008
The view northward from atop the south-west minaret of Delhi’s cavernous Jama Masjid, or Friday Mosque. Only from an elevated position can one truly appreciate how hazy and polluted the atmosphere above Delhi is. The mosque itself is one of the great monuments to Mughal architecture, commissioned by emperor Shah Jahan.
November 9, 2008
The monumental east gate of the Jama Masjid or Friday Mosque at the abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri. Once the capital of Mughal emperor Akbar, the city was abandoned not long after it was built, probably due to lack of water. Uttar Pradesh, India.
November 9, 2008
Women and children gather at the tomb of the 13th century Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in south Delhi, India. The tomb is a popular place of pilgrimage for both Hindus and Muslims, an increasingly unusual example of inter-faith harmony in these times. Most evenings, pilgrims gather to listen to qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional… [Read more…]
November 3, 2008
Young boys at a madrasah, or Muslim school, get ready for dinner. Delhi, India. Muslims make up a substantial minority (over 100 million) in India. But recent politics, the partition of 1947 along religious grounds and a resurgent Hindu nationalism which seems Islam as little more than a foreign invasion threatens to upset the friendly… [Read more…]
November 3, 2008
A Muslim Indian man with friendly, smiling eyes. Muslims make up a substantial minority (over 100 million) in India. But recent politics, the partition of 1947 along religious grounds and a resurgent Hindu nationalism which seems Islam as little more than a foreign invasion threatens to upset the friendly relations that no doubt many Indian… [Read more…]
November 3, 2008
This man is the main caretaker of Alamgir Mosque in the ancient Indian city of Varanasi. It was constructed under the orders of Muslim Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and is perched atop Panchganga Ghat, overlooking the river Ganges. It is one of several large mosques in Varanasi, some of which were built over destroyed Hindu temples,… [Read more…]
October 17, 2009
0