Borobudor, Indonesia, at daybreak, August 2002
Borobudor, Indonesia, at daybreak, August 2002
Borobudor - Got up very early in the morning to drive the hour or so from Yogjakarta for sunrise at this old monument. It was lovely, but there were a bunch of weird Germans there achieving nirvana or something at the moment the sun finished coming up over the horizon. For more pictures from this trip, click here. From The Britannica Concise: "Buddhist monument in central Java, built c.778-850 under the Shailendra dynasty. Constructed with about 2 million cu ft (57,000 cu m) of gray volcanic stone, it resembles a stepped pyramid. Its base and first five terraces are square; the highest three terraces are circular. Reliefs on its terrace walls represent the ascending stages of enlightenment. The simple and spacious upper circular terraces carry 72 bell-shaped stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha." [ source ]
Berlinerdom - Funny that non-episcopal Lutherans would need to build a cathedral to compete with the Catholics, but where else should such a construct go but in the heart of Reformation Land? As one web site puts it: "Much larger than any of the previous buildings, it was a Protestant counterweight to the St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. The baroque building with Italian Renaissance influences was designed by Julius Raschdorff. Construction of the 114m long and 73m wide Cathedral took place between 1894 and 1905." [ source ] S. Peter and S. Paul - Detail of the beautiful cathedral of Burgos, along the Camino de Santiago, famed pilgrimage path of the medieval Spain. The cathedral also has the bones of the great Spanish liberator, El Cid, who was born nearby.
Jakarta - From the rooftop of the national parliament, the skyline of Indonesia's capital city is not unlike Chicago's. Called Jayakarta, meaning city of victory, before the Dutch named it Batavia, Jakarta was given it's current name by the Japanese after it conquered Indonesia in the Second World War. [ source ]
Cyprus - Site of many Roman archeological sites, this Roman amphitheater overlooks the Mediterranean, through which empires have passed for millennia, conquering Cyprus on their way.
Megiddo - The hill in the background is the site of Megiddo. "Megiddo, located about 16 miles southeast of Haifa, has come to be associated with the end times. The book of Revelation says that the final battle between the forces of good and evil will take place at Armageddon (Revelation 16:16). In Hebrew, Har Megiddo means mountain of Megiddo. Megiddo is located at the place where very important ancient trade routes met. This location made Megiddo strategically important. Any power that could control the city would control the trade routes. Megiddo was continuously occupied between the years of 4000 and 400 B.C.E. Archaeologists have unearthed here layers of over 20 cities dating back 3500 years." [ source ]
Official cathedral site: http://www.berliner-dom.de/
S. Peter and S. Paul, Cathedral of Burgos, Spain, December 2000
