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Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah built the monument in 1591 shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golkonda to what now is known as [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]][http://www.aponline.gov.in/Quick%20links/HIST-CULT/architecture_qut.html A.P. Government: Charminar]. Legend has it that the building honors a promise Quli Qutb Shah made to Allah. He supposedly had prayed for the end of a plague and vowed that he would build a [[masjid]] on that very place. The masjid became popularly known as Charminar because of its four (Farsi ''char'' = four) minarets (''Minar'' (Arabic manara) = spire/tower), which possibly honor the [[Rashidun|first four caliph]]s of [[Islam]]. The actual masjid occupies the top floor of the four-story structure. ([[Madame Blavatsky]] asserted that each of the floors was meant for a separate branch of learning .)''FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN'',H.P.Blavatsky. Urbana, Illinois (USA): Project Gutenberg.Etext #6687. 2004. p 265 There is a legend that an underground tunnel connects the palace at [[Golconda]] to Charminar to give the Qutb Shahi royal family an escape route should they need it during a siege. However, the exact location of the tunnel is unknown.
In 1591 while laying the foundation of Charminar, Quli prayed: ''Oh God, bestow unto this city peace and prosperity. Let millions of men of all castes, creeds and religions make it their abode. Like fishes in the water.'' True to the legend, the city blossomed into a synthesis of two cultures. ************************************************************ Please contact Shashi Mettu at + 00-91-98495-30995 for Prints / Enlargements and Busssiness enquiries *********************************************************** |
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This gigapan is 18 images high and 22 images wide, a total of 396 images that took over 10 hours for the GigaPan Stitcher to stitch (not very well I might add). "Blueprints" at Addison Circle is located in Addison Circle at Quorum Drive and Addison Circle Drive. Located in Addison Circle, this unique four-story sculpture offers a vision of Addison's past, present and future. A vase-like structure containing poles that reach out over the street are topped with five floating art panels, each a blueprint tracery of a phase in the town's development. - Stands 45 feet high and 140 feet across. - Blueprints art piece weighs 410,000 pounds, each pole weighs 9,000 pounds. It took more than 650-gallons of custom-mixed, Sherwin Williams "Sharpie Blue" paint for the piece. - Artists: Michael Van Valkenburgh and Mel Chin. Van Valkenburgh is a professor in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Chin is an artist, originally from Houston, now living in Burnsville, North Carolina and has been an artist in residence at University of Georgia and Stanford University. - Grand "Unveiling" event: April 13, 2000 - Total cost for the sculpture is 2.1 million dollars For more info go to - http://www.addisontexas.net/what_to_do/Attractions/blueprints.asp |
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The Crown Point Bridge was abruptly closed on October 16, 2009 after underwater inspection revealed dramatic deterioration of two support piers. Built in 1929 between Chimney Point, Vermont (right) and Crown Point, New York (left), it is one of only two bridges that cross Lake Champlain. The bridge is not expected to open again soon, if ever, and local businesses and several hundred daily commuters are scrambling to cope.
News update (November 9, 2009): The bridge is too unstable to repair and must be demolished. http://www.vermontbiz.com/news/november/new-york-vermont-replace-champlain-bridge The shores which so spectacularly narrow the lake here have a long history of human occupation and drama. Ruins of a 1731 French fort and the larger British 1759-1763 Fort Crown Point can be seen under the arched through-truss. On the Vermont side, the Chimney Point Museum occupies a two story 1780s brick tavern where Seth Warner plotted the American capture of Fort Crown Point. In 2000, the bridge made cameo appearances in What Lies Beneath (Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer) and Me, Myself, and Irene (Jim Carrey, Renee Zellweger). Notes: I used a Nikon D40 with a Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 AI-s lens at f/11, 1/250 second, ISO 200, NEF. 35mm equiv is 450mm, and field of view was set to 3.1 degrees. Focus was manually adjusted many times. Two second shutter delay was initiated by wireless remote. Lightroom was used to remove vignetting and increase exposure and saturation before outputting jpegs for stitching. |
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What: 2008 State Fair of Texas
http://www.bigtex.com When: Sept. 26 - Oct. 19 Where: Fair Park, a 277-acre entertainment and recreation complex owned by the City of Dallas, is located two miles east of downtown. The park is the year-round home of the Music Hall, Cotton Bowl and eight museums. Fair Park is a National Historic Landmark and boasts the largest collection of art deco exposition buildings in the United States. Big Tex Big Tex made his debut at the 1952 State Fair of Texas. Wearing size 70 boots and a 75-gallon hat, Tex towered 52' above wide-eyed visitors. His denim jeans and plaid shirt were donated by the H. D. Lee Company of Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Cosmetic surgery the following year straightened his nose, corrected a lascivious wink and allowed him to talk. From The Great State Fair of Texas – An Illustrated History, by Nancy Wiley. HISTORY: The first State Fair to be held in Dallas was presented at this location in 1886. Fair Park was the site of the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition which ran for six months and attracted 6 million people. An extended 31-day Fair in 1986 celebrated the Texas Sesquicentennial and drew almost 4 million visitors. |
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This is Kabukiza of the palace of Kabuki.
Kabukiza has the history of 85. However, it is rebuilt in May of the next year. A construction period is three years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki-za It is a problem that the photograph of the site of here is more beautiful |
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This was our first attempt at using Gigapan - taken by Alex Otto of Bournemouth University and Alice Ralph and Denis Roberts, both of The Study Gallery of Modern Art, Poole. Here we have some of Poole's most historic and popular buildings, including Poole Museum, Poole History Center, Custom House, and of course (most important of all) The Kings Charles pub! |
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The Salisbury Town Forest was originally designated as the town's school lot, and early in the 19th century one of the first schools in town was built near the lot's western border. Parts of the dry laid stone foundation have survived two centuries of freeze-thaw cycles and decades of garbage dumping. A large white pine is rooted in one side of the foundation, and other white pines have colonized what was once the school yard. A black birch grows from the cellar's floor.
Elevation: 165 m (535 ft), Camera location from GPS: N43 56.303 W73 05.980 Notes: I used a Nikon D40 with Nikkor P C 105mm f/2.5 lens at f/32, ISO 200, NEF. 35mm equiv is 157mm. Shutter speed was altered between 0.5 (top 2 rows) and 0.8 (bottom 2 rows) seconds. Two second shutter delay was initiated by wireless remote. Field of view set to 9.8 degrees. Exposure, color balance, vibrance, and saturation of photos were tweaked in Lightroom before outputting jpegs for stitching. |
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Golkonda consists of four distinct forts with a 10 km long outer wall with 87 semi circular bastions; some still mounted with cannons, eight gateways, four drawbridges and number of royal apartments & halls, temples, mosques, magazines, stables etc, inside. The lowest of these is the outermost enclosure into which we enter by the "Fateh Darwaza" (Victory gate, so called after Aurangzeb’s triumphant army marched in through this gate) studded with giant iron spikes (to prevent elephants from battering them down) near the south-eastern corner. At Fateh Darwaza can be experienced the fantastic acoustic effects, characteristic of the engineering marvels at Golkonda. A hand clap at a certain point below the dome at the entrance reverberates and can be heard clearly at the 'Bala Hisar' pavilion, the highest point almost a kilometre away, this worked as a warning note to the royals in case of an attack
************************************************************ Please contact Shashi Mettu at + 00-91-98495-30995 or ravistudios@gmail.com for Prints / Enlargements and Busssiness enquiries *********************************************************** |
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The garden was designed by V. Shchuko, A. Gegello, and R. Katzer.
It contains a large variety of trees: oaks, maples, poplars, ash trees, chestnuts, birches, rowan trees, bird cherry trees, apple trees, pines, and larches. Bushes include hawthorn, honeysuckle, jasmine, lilacs, and barberries. Nice views are here: http://www.enlight.ru/camera/216/index_e.html |
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The Australian War Memorial combines a shrine, a world-class museum, and an extensive archive. The Memorial's purpose is to commemorate the sacrifice of those Australians who have died in war. Its mission is to assist Australians to remember, interpret and understand the Australian experience of war and its enduring impact on Australian society. |