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Museum of Ethnography Budapest Hungary
Architects: NAPUR Architect
Area : 34000 m²
The new building of the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest City Park (Városliget) was opened 2022. The award-winning new museum building – which is part of Europe’s largest urban-cultural development called Liget Budapest Project has dynamic yet simple lines simultaneously harmonized with the park environment and communicating with the surrounding urban area.
The collection, which comprises 250.000 items from the Carpathian Basin and from every corner of the world, has been hosted by various facilities since its establishment in 1872, but never in its history did it operate in a building designed specifically to cater to its needs. The project was one of over 1700 entries from 115 countries. According to the decision of an international jury, the competition was won by the Hungarian architectural studio, Napur Architect (beating leading world-class architect studios such as Zaha Hadid, BIG), whose building is distinguished by a dynamic yet simple design harmonized with the natural environment of the park while communicating with the urban texture of its surroundings. The gently curving lines enable the building to function as a gateway and a passage linking the city and the park. Sixty percent of the structure is under ground level, and thanks to the landscaped roof and the transparency of the sections over the ground, the new museum is adapted to its environment in its scale too. The grass-covered roof area will be a pleasant community space awaiting visitors to Városliget.
The spectacular trademark of the building is the glass curtain wall surrounding the landscaped roof garden, reminiscent of two intertwined hillsides, with a unique characteristic, consisting of nearly half a million pixels, a raster made by metal grid based on ethnographic motifs selected from the museum's Hungarian and international collections.
The new functions and flexible spaces of the modern and state-of-the-art museum building will facilitate the understanding of the historical heritage embodied by the collection as well as the various aspects of contemporary society. Besides passing down this historical heritage, the realization of more recent professional and research themes and perspectives continues to be among the priority objectives of the museum, as confirmed by its mission. The creatively built spaces will open up new opportunities to communicate with visitors, enabling the presentation of the everyday objects, phenomena, and ideas of the past and the present side by side.
Museum of Ethnography Budapest Hungary
Architects: NAPUR Architect
Area : 34000 m²
The new building of the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest City Park (Városliget) was opened 2022. The award-winning new museum building – which is part of Europe’s largest urban-cultural development called Liget Budapest Project has dynamic yet simple lines simultaneously harmonized with the park environment and communicating with the surrounding urban area.
The collection, which comprises 250.000 items from the Carpathian Basin and from every corner of the world, has been hosted by various facilities since its establishment in 1872, but never in its history did it operate in a building designed specifically to cater to its needs. The project was one of over 1700 entries from 115 countries. According to the decision of an international jury, the competition was won by the Hungarian architectural studio, Napur Architect (beating leading world-class architect studios such as Zaha Hadid, BIG), whose building is distinguished by a dynamic yet simple design harmonized with the natural environment of the park while communicating with the urban texture of its surroundings. The gently curving lines enable the building to function as a gateway and a passage linking the city and the park. Sixty percent of the structure is under ground level, and thanks to the landscaped roof and the transparency of the sections over the ground, the new museum is adapted to its environment in its scale too. The grass-covered roof area will be a pleasant community space awaiting visitors to Városliget.
The spectacular trademark of the building is the glass curtain wall surrounding the landscaped roof garden, reminiscent of two intertwined hillsides, with a unique characteristic, consisting of nearly half a million pixels, a raster made by metal grid based on ethnographic motifs selected from the museum's Hungarian and international collections.
The new functions and flexible spaces of the modern and state-of-the-art museum building will facilitate the understanding of the historical heritage embodied by the collection as well as the various aspects of contemporary society. Besides passing down this historical heritage, the realization of more recent professional and research themes and perspectives continues to be among the priority objectives of the museum, as confirmed by its mission. The creatively built spaces will open up new opportunities to communicate with visitors, enabling the presentation of the everyday objects, phenomena, and ideas of the past and the present side by side.
© all rights reserved
Please take your time... and enjoy it large on black
This is Laos, a land of ethnically diverse inhabitants but where gentle, open, beaming smiles surround you wherever you go. Of all the places we've visited, Laos probably wins the award for Friendliest Country. Despite Laos poverty and isolation, its people were some of the kindest and most outgoing we've ever met. Its delightful old world charm has not been despoiled by the slow but steady pace of modernization. A number of kids played along the coffee plantations and greeted us. A few others kids took care of their cattle. We enjoyed the natural surroundings exploring by feet and bask in the welcoming embrace of the locals. Pakxong spreads over a beautiful forest in the Bolaven Plateau. At this elevated area you can soak up the fresh climate and the friendly atmosphere. Bolaven Plateau greatly suffered during the Vietnam War. The Bolaven Plateau was one of the most heavily bombed theaters of the Second Indochina War. Laos has remained virtually unchanged for half a century. Rich in history and culture, Laos and its peoples, more than 47 ethnic groups, harmonize life to ancient rhythms and traditions that evoke timeless Asia. Although the trappings of the modern world are becoming increasingly visible, Laos remains the least developed country in Southeast Asia. A country where experienced travelers will appreciate breathtaking scenery and ofcourse the friendly people.
From Tad Yuang waterfalls we continued our trekking. The scenery was very good, the plateau is crossed by several rivers and has many scenic waterfalls. We went along rolling high hills and scattered farms and villages where we met this friendly man with a sincere smile I won't forget. He's wearing a warm hat for the chilly evenings and mornings. Thanks to its location on an elevation of 1300 meters and surrounded by clouds forests, temperatures are much lower than elsewhere in Laos. A cloud forest, is a tropical evergreen highland moist forest characterized by a high incidence of low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Within cloud forests, much of the condensation is in the form of fog drip, where fog condenses on tree leaves and then drips onto the ground below. Even in the hottest period of the year, March and April, temperatures in the daytime usually do not reach over 27 Celsius, while at night it cools down considerably. Starting July, when rain starts to fall more regularly, temperatures drop and a sweater in addition to a rain coat is recommended. Do definitely pack warm clothes when staying with us between November and February.
Laos is een prachtig land met ongerepte natuur, exotische dieren en vriendelijke mensen. Het land is een arm land, met nog onbedorven wildernis en een bevolking van 5,5 miljoen mensen. In Laos zijn zo'n twintig natuurgebieden die door de overheid zijn aangewezen als National Protected Area. Door deze bescherming wordt het unieke landschap en de flora en fauna zoveel mogelijk behouden De gebieden bestaan uit tropische regenwouden, kalkstenen rotsformaties, inheemse flora en fauna en andere wildlife. Zeker voor de avontuurlijke reiziger herbergt dit land een grote hoeveelheid aan onontdekte natuurschatten, vriendelijke mensen en een gevoel dat veel nog puur is.
“The successful adept must be endowed with a knowledge of the material of the Great Work; also with faith, silence, purity of heart, and prayerfulness. After passing through the gate surmounted with the hieroglyph of philosophic mercury he traverses the seven angles of the citadel, representing the chief operations of the Great Work - calcination, dissolution, purification, introduction into the sealed Vase of Hermes, transference of the Vase to the Athanor [furnace], coagulation, putrefaction, ceration, multiplication and projection. And even upon reaching the Petra Philosophalis, he finds it is held in custody by a formidable dragon.”
Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae, Heinrich Khunrath
Saturn is related to Mercury in alchemical text, and is given the same ambiguous sexuality, or androgyny, and named it ‘Mercurius senex’.In Tiphareth, the geometric symbol is the interlaced triangles of water and fire, or the Star of David. When expanded to connect the planetary sepheroth of the Tree (with Saturn being attributed to Daath), the Triangle of Water connects the spheres of Mars, Jupiter, and Luna. The Triangle of Fire connects Saturn, Venus, and Mercury.
Just as Ouroboros is cosmic energy (the serpent) limiting itself (Saturn), Venus is the creative cosmic force multiplying itself in life (its vegetative nature) as a prism splits the light of the sun. Mercury, like Saturn in many respects, is androgynous, and controls the fire of creation, directing it in the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone. Mercury holds the Caduceus, or winged staff with two serpents intertwined around it. The Wings represent sublimation, the serpents the basic forces of creation. There crossing over is the psychic centers, often given as seven in number, here representing the colors in the spectrum, plus white (Venus). Central to the diagram is Sol, which is the cosmic creative forces which unify, enliven, and harmonize creation, and which we can hope to contact. It is central, and directs and controls all of the other planets, psychic centers, or aspects of Cosmic energy.By contacting the fire of the Sun, we can open the fire of the other psychic centers (via Venus), and more easily direct the restrictive and enlightening energy of Saturn, through the powers of the Mind, or Mercury.To understand these multi-faceted aspects of the planets, particularly Venus and Mercury, it is important to have done the Pathworkings up to Tiphareth. While this is not required to perform the techniques later in this monograph, it is a help for an understanding of the theoretical part.However, we can begin to understand the relationship of the Spheres to each other by undertaking a series of meditations based on the following idea:Venus is the regenerating, sensual, active life force in its vegetative and unconscious manner. It responds to heat, light, and emotion. On the Path of the Decent, Venus splits the singular rays of the Sun into the many facets of the color spectrum, and as such, can lead us to a better understanding of the relationship between multiplicity and unity, the psychic centers and planets, and their unique natures. On the Path of Ascent, Venus re-unites the divergent energies, both planetary and personal (psychic centers) and harmonizes it into a singular force, although still multi-colored, until it returns to the Sun as pure light.
“This Stone rises in growing, greening things. Wherefore when the Green is reduced to its former nature, whereby things sprout and come forth in due time, it must be decocted and putrefied in the way of our secret art.” Splendor solis, Trismosin.The Stone is made through the greening of nature (Netzach) and it returning to its source (Tipahreth) by putrefaction (Death card of the path connecting them).Mercury gives form and meaning to the diverse energies made by the splitting actions of Venus, and re-unites them as fundamental forces, symbolized by the Caduceus. Mercury is Psychopomp, or Guide of the Soul, and directs the energies that Venus represents. Since both Venus and Mercury sit at the base of the Pillars of kabbalah, they access the material, astral, and mental realms, and can influence all three to some degree. On the Descent, Mercury creates form and structure, for the body, the mind, or the soul, and on the ascent, Mercury helps free us from the limitations of form, without forgetting its lessons.The serpent is primordial force or energy, fire and water being the principle two of creation, with air and earth following them. Because it shed it’s skin, it is seen as a symbol of regeneration and renewal. It is also dangerous, deadly, can be found often in ‘guardian’ roles near springs or water as well as deserts. When controlled or mastered, it is seen as mastering a powerful and deadly, yet regenerating force, basic to creation, or possibly from which creation came.
The Secret Fire is directly linked to the sexual, (i.e. principle and most basic creative forces) in humanity. Here, the relationship between ‘bliss’ ‘ecstasy’ and the erotic impulse can be clearly seen and experienced. The development of a host of ‘sexual yogas’ and ‘sex magic(k)’ practices bear this out to some degree. However, it is the sexual desire in humanity that acts as its basic drive and evolutionary force. It also suggests that the ability and need for mystical experience is biologically rooted. Only by ignoring the most basic of pleasures, sex, can we ignore the drive to ecstatic union on some level. The ‘little death’ or petite morte, is a forerunner of the ‘big death’ as we let go and experience divine oblivion.Sexual power, linked to our innate drive for mystical experiences, is also linked to human evolution, and some kind of predetermined point or state to which we are being directed.This is a significant point, in that almost all of modern Western societies psychological illnesses are focused around sexual repression and obsession.If the Secret Fire flows freely, or with greater strength than before, without the proper purification of the Vital Energy of the physical body, it is possible that it will result in what appears to be extreme physical, but more likely psychological, illness in the form of schizophrenia and psychosis, instead of psychic gifts, genius, and either transpersonal states, or simply altered states of consciousness.Wilhelm Reich, the father of Orgon Therapy states that the basis for all mental-emotional disturbances are anchored in the physical body, and that these anchors can be released through breathing techniques, somewhat similar to pranayamana. Since the body is the “Salt” of alchemy, and partially composed of accessible unconscious elements through its “Watery Element” all of our emotional and physical experiences become indelibly marked, associated, or stored in our physical body. If these blocks, or energy concentrations of emotional and physical trauma (composed of Vital Energy) are not removed before the Secret Fire begins to flow more intensely, the so-called negative side effects of ‘Kundalini phenomena’ will appear.
Abuse of drugs, alcohol, and sexual extremes only worsen the condition in that they inadvertently release the Secret Fire by weakening the physical body and its link to the astral, thereby damaging the etheric substructure, and create energy blocks in the end rather than diminish them, when the mind and body attempt to make repairs.A nervous system damaged by substance abuse makes a tricky vehicle for the clear, clean, and powerful expression of the Secret Fire. It is through our nervous system (under the domain of Yesod-Luna) that we engage both the physical world, as well as out interior world. It links the body (Malkooth) with the Mind-Intellect (Hod) as well as instinctual, creative, and sensual urges (Netzach). If it is damaged, our ability to relate fully, creatively, and productively to these psyhco-physical-spiritual parts of our self becomes endangered. If it is damaged, then our most direct and important link to our Holy Guardian Angel, and means of releasing the Secret Fire safely (via Tiphareth) is threatened in this incarnation.
“Listen, then while I make known the Grand Arcanum of this wonder-working Stone, which at the same time is not a stone, which exists in every man, and may be found in its own place at all times…. It is called a stone, not because it is like a stone, but only because by virtue of its fixed nature, it resists the action of fire as successfully as any stone….If we say that its nature is spiritual, it would be no more than the truth; if we describe it as corporeal, the expression would be equally correct; for it is subtle, penetrative, glorified, spiritual gold. It is the noblest of all created things…it is a spirit or quintessence.”
hermetic.com/stavish/essays/secret-fire.html
The American artist Mark Dion invests Fine Arts in Paris which he is invited in 2016. It offers a labyrinthine exhibition consisting of works from the heritage collection of fine arts, contemporary works and his own productions. The theme of the supernatural, they open to a reinterpretation of the collections and the historic site of Fine Arts.Extending the exhibition, two exceptional nocturnal journey in the Fine Arts in Paris will be offered during the night of the opening (Tuesday May 17) and as part of the Museum Night (Saturday 21 May).Since the 1990s, Mark Dion speaks regularly at the heart of cultural and scientific institutions such as museums and natural history museums which it involves typologies and scenic codes. In his speech to the Fine Arts, he will hold a series of works chosen for their report more or less allegorical in the supernatural.Extranatural, large immersive installation, will engage older pieces (drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures ...) and contemporary works, some produced by students and graduates of Fine Arts in Paris, which will result in an original narrative form close of the investigation.Chosen for their enigmatic power, and the power of suggestion, not reducible to a genus, the works assembled by Mark Dion is an opportunity to probe the report to the strange and the supernatural, which passes through art and creation: magic and alchemy, hybrid, and grotesque monsters, witches and sabbaths, unusual objects, morphological elements ...The issue of representation, that of anthropological works and their resonance, form the issues of the work of Mark Dion, whose scenography thwarts the traditional codes, sometimes diverting objects from their original meaning and function.The central device, the Palace of Fine Arts, each room corresponds to one of the four elements (earth, water, air, fire), will mingle including Dürer and Goya, and Kawanabe Goltzius and contemporary works by Jimmie Durham , Extra Lucid, Matt Mullican, morgane tschiember ...Both nocturnal journey to the heart of Beaux-Arts in Paris will allow visitors to discover surprising places, some of which opened for the first time to the public. From the room Melpomene, the course will provide access to lounges and hotel garden Chimay, library, collections, to the cellars of the Palace of studies.Extranatural result of a collaborative process of reflection and research, conducted in close collaboration with the curators of collections of Fine Arts. Particularly significant in the eyes of the artist, the historical continuity of the collection, closely linked to his vocation of transmitting artistic practices, echoes his visual approach and the fact archaeologist museum. The choice of institution and venues that will host this specific work, then makes sense.The works collected by Mark Dion invite the viewer to renew his experience of curiosity through 500 years of history.
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Please take your time... and enjoy it large on black
Laos has remained virtually unchanged for half a century. Rich in history and culture, Laos and its peoples, more than 47 ethnic groups, harmonize life to ancient rhythms and traditions that evoke timeless Asia. The vast majority of Lao people live in Laos is approximately 4 million. Laos is generally very rural areas, and Many Lao people support by agriculture, with rice being the most important crop. Women hold dual responsibility for farm at home. In rice farming women in Laos have a substantial role. Traditionally, men plough, make bunds and prepare seedbeds, and women do more than half of the transplanting of rice, weeding, harvesting, threshing and post-harvest operations. Aside from this enumerated work, a gender division of labour exists in Laos which assigns women the major responsibility for childcare and housework. As household size averages seven people these tasks require numerous hours of work each day in addition to women's work outside their home. Women are responsible for much heavy work—hauling water for the household and, in the absence of rice mills, pounding the rice in big mortars of hollowed out logs to husk it. The men plow and deal with draft animals, while women tend to be responsible for pigs and poultry and vegetable gardens. The animals usually live under the house. Everyone, including the children, helps with transplanting and harvesting rice. Such hard life for elderly women where life expectancy is 59 years est. 2008. Although the trappings of the modern world are becoming increasingly visible, Laos remains the least developed country in Southeast Asia. Laos has enjoyed high economic growth, despite poor national infrastructure and a dominant, inefficient agriculture sector. It is also heavily reliant on international assistance programs. In 1998, Laos began formal negotiations with the World Trade Organization. In 2008 a 5.60 US$/day per capita.
Photo of an old women taken on Don Det. A backpackers’ paradise, Don Det is an island in Laos near the border of Cambodia. Nestled along the breathtaking Mekong River, Don Det is a perfect base for travelers exploring the area. Don Det is off the beaten path, so lacks the touristy feel of other destinations, but still offers beauty and adventure. Along the way to other side of the island we met this old woman. She was working in front of her house busy with household duties. Lao women have played a central role in the national country's and household economies over the past two decades. Women's participation exceeds men's in the economically active population. Due to dual responsibility for farm and household they are usually overburdened with work. At home some of these duties include water collection, which may take two to three hours a day; husking rice for family consumption, which may require two hours of work; milling rice; and caring for the sick and the elderly. Girls assist their mothers with these chores and they are often made responsible for care of younger kids. In spite of their major economic contribution, women are generally not considered as workers. However, women, particularly older ones, do control household budgets and share in financial decision making. However, for some intangible reason, the Lao people are still wonderfully friendly, hospitable and passionate. They do not have much, but show it off with pride.
Si Pan Don, ofwel vierduizend eilanden, is een verzameling bewoonde en onbewoonde eilandjes in de Mekong. De rivier is hier een maar liefst 14 km breed labyrint van zandplaten, eilanden, rotsen, stroomversnellingen en spectaculaire watervallen. De eilandjes liggen in het uiterste zuiden van Laos, tegen de grens met Cambodja en hebben een unieke flora en fauna. Don Det is een oase van rust, want gemotoriseerd verkeer is er nog vrijwel onbekend. Je kunt hier heerlijk wandelen langs tempeltjes, rijstvelden, lotusvijvers en dorpjes. De meeste guesthouses liggen aan de noordelijke zijde van Don Det, en net als Don Khon is ook dit eiland en beetje een backpackers paradijs aan het worden. Laos, is nog één van de weinige overgebleven communistisch regimes en is ook één van de armste naties van Azië. De huidige regering kwam aan de macht in 1975 en legde onmiddellijk een onbuigzaam socialistisch economisch programma op. Verandering begon in 1986 met de losmaken van beperkingen op privé-onderneming. Sinds dien heeft Laos een hoge economische groei, ondanks arme nationale infrastructuur en een overwegende, ondoelmatige landbouwsector. Het is ook zwaar afhankelijk van internationale hulpprogramma's. In 1998 begon Laos formele onderhandelingen met de Wereld Handelsorganisatie. De gemiddelde verdienste per dag is 5,60 US$ per hoofd. Opvallend is de sterke positie die de vrouwen binnen de familie innemen en ze doen zelfs het meeste werk op de rijstvelden. De natte rijstbouw is het voornaamste middel van bestaan. De vrouwen en mannen in Laos blijven ondanks hun moeilijke bestaan altijd vriendelijk en gastvrij. Ze hebben niet veel maar stralen altijd hun trots uit.
The dead woman for whom the vase had been commissioned is shown lying on a couch surrounded by mourning relatives and friends. This figural composition harmonizes well with the overall decorative scheme of the vase, being organized along the same basic horizontal-vertical lines as the framing bands of abstract ornament; some of the rhythm set up in the encircling zones of meander is picked up by the repeating motif of the mourner; the balance of dark and light elements of the abstract decoration is also preserved across the figural panel by the filling of the intervening spaces around the figures with Geometric motifs.
Even more remarkable than the formal quality is the subject matter of this scene. The events of the funeral are related in a simple and readily comprehensible manner. The deceased lies on a tall couch enveloped in a large checkered shroud, while mourners wait in file to raise the shroud for a last view of her. Grief is portrayed symbolically by an already conventional gesture of raising the hands to the head. The mourners are not all anonymous ciphers, even those waiting in line, some of them with weapons, portrayed as knights. In suggesting this relationship to the deceased, and in portraying the emotion of grief by both conventional and unconventional means, the Dipylon Master introduced a note of pathos into Greek art. He had not the formal means at his disposal to progress further in this direction, but one suspects from this attempt that he was an extraordinarily sympathetic individual. It may well be that he was influenced by another medium, namely oral poetry. Sympathy for the suffering of fellow men and a desire to portray their grief are intrinsic aspects of Homer's Iliad, which, I feel sure, must have been composed by this time.
Source: Barbara E. Bohen, “The Dipylon Amphora: Its Role in the Development of Greek Art”
Athenian geometric belly-handled amphora
H. 83 cm; D. 29 cm
Attributed to The Dipylon Painter
760 – 750 BC
From Kerameikos cemetery, Athens
Athens, National Museum, inv. 804
The Voigtländer Ultron 40mm SL-II comes with a 39 mm adapter that is screwed into the lens filter thread and doubles as a stray light baffle. It also takes 39 mm filters or a close-up lens that also comes with the lens and reduces the closest focusing range from 45 cm to approximately 28 cm.
The Ultron lens already harmonizes extremely well with the camera sensor. With the close-up lens, the bokeh is magic.
You just want to use this on a CCD sensor because colour rendition is everything here and the film-like qualities of a CCD sensor are brought out.
Musically, they had kind of an Ike and Tina going. Some of my favorite music has that male-female harmonizing or call-and-response thing going. A set of pipes on both of them, for sure
The Mahkama du Pacha, a parliamentary building that not only houses the court of justice but also serves as a reception area for state occasions.
The main problem with the Mahkama du Pacha as a tourist attraction is that, because it is in regular use, it can be difficult or impossible to gain access to the interiors of the building. Still, it is a great place to make a stop and take a few pictures as the building features some impressive architecture. Apparently construction of the Mahkama du Pacha commenced in 1948 and ended in 1952, and the architectural style of the building shows strong Moorish influences. The name of the building can be loosely translated as ‘Pasha’s courthouse’, which is appropriate considering the function of the building. If you are fortunate enough to gain entry, you will discover a wonderful variety of rich furnishings and finishes. The ceiling is made of carved cedar wood that harmonizes perfectly with the chiseled stucco and polychrome mosaics which can be found decorating the interiors. There are also white, marble columns and rigid geometric designs which add the finishing touches to an already unimaginably graceful interior.
Clearly, such a well designed, built and finished building is ideal for use as a state reception room and a court of justice. The building is also sometimes referred to as the ‘Prefecture of Habouss’ and it is definitely worth viewing – even if only from the outside.
I wonder why they decided for these yellow light posts. Maybe bercause grey skies are pretty prevalent around here and yellow harmonizes with grey.
[Sankt-Peter-Ording_20211014_1328_e-m10_10145543]
Close your eyes and listen. The rush of water harmonizes with the rustling leaves and the distant calls of birds. It's a symphony composed by nature–a melody that resonates deep within your soul. As you follow the stream, you'll encounter mini waterfalls, their spray catching the sunlight like a thousand diamonds.
Fujigawachi Valley receives water from Mount Natsuki, a 1,386-meter-high mountain situated on the border of Oita and Miyazaki prefectures. The journey begins at Kannon Falls and extends for approximately eight kilometers.
For photographers, Fujigawachi Valley is a dream. Capture the play of light on water, the reflections in still pools, and the interplay of shadows and sunbeams. Whether you wield a professional camera or a humble smartphone, every frame here is a masterpiece waiting to be framed.
A splendid afternoon with my lovely quirky Stephanie was marked with summery shots and talks. I was amazed at how she harmonized with the camera and remained confident with everything around. My friend knows my thoughts ;)
Close your eyes and listen. The rush of water harmonizes with the rustling leaves and the distant calls of birds. It's a symphony composed by nature–a melody that resonates deep within your soul. As you follow the stream, you'll encounter mini waterfalls, their spray catching the sunlight like a thousand diamonds.
Fujigawachi Valley receives water from Mount Natsuki, a 1,386-meter-high mountain situated on the border of Oita and Miyazaki prefectures. The journey begins at Kannon Falls and extends for approximately eight kilometers.
For photographers, Fujigawachi Valley is a dream. Capture the play of light on water, the reflections in still pools, and the interplay of shadows and sunbeams. Whether you wield a professional camera or a humble smartphone, every frame here is a masterpiece waiting to be framed.
Then I zoomed in even closer. They do a lot of Renaissance Faires, mostly in the western states, and they also do Christmas performances and the like. I guess I like coming back to them whenever I've gone to the Faire because of their familiarity. So many acts don't have that effect on me.
This is a teaspoon filled with flavored green tea blend with a ceramic tea cup on the background. Fresh cranberries, sweet raspberries, beautiful rose buds harmonize wonderfully with Sencha( Japanese green tea) base.
More information about green tea and its history can be found on my blog blog.espemporium.com/
Museum of Ethnography Budapest Hungary
Architects: NAPUR Architect
Area : 34000 m²
The new building of the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest City Park (Városliget) was opened 2022. The award-winning new museum building – which is part of Europe’s largest urban-cultural development called Liget Budapest Project has dynamic yet simple lines simultaneously harmonized with the park environment and communicating with the surrounding urban area.
The collection, which comprises 250.000 items from the Carpathian Basin and from every corner of the world, has been hosted by various facilities since its establishment in 1872, but never in its history did it operate in a building designed specifically to cater to its needs. The project was one of over 1700 entries from 115 countries. According to the decision of an international jury, the competition was won by the Hungarian architectural studio, Napur Architect (beating leading world-class architect studios such as Zaha Hadid, BIG), whose building is distinguished by a dynamic yet simple design harmonized with the natural environment of the park while communicating with the urban texture of its surroundings. The gently curving lines enable the building to function as a gateway and a passage linking the city and the park. Sixty percent of the structure is under ground level, and thanks to the landscaped roof and the transparency of the sections over the ground, the new museum is adapted to its environment in its scale too. The grass-covered roof area will be a pleasant community space awaiting visitors to Városliget.
The spectacular trademark of the building is the glass curtain wall surrounding the landscaped roof garden, reminiscent of two intertwined hillsides, with a unique characteristic, consisting of nearly half a million pixels, a raster made by metal grid based on ethnographic motifs selected from the museum's Hungarian and international collections.
The new functions and flexible spaces of the modern and state-of-the-art museum building will facilitate the understanding of the historical heritage embodied by the collection as well as the various aspects of contemporary society. Besides passing down this historical heritage, the realization of more recent professional and research themes and perspectives continues to be among the priority objectives of the museum, as confirmed by its mission. The creatively built spaces will open up new opportunities to communicate with visitors, enabling the presentation of the everyday objects, phenomena, and ideas of the past and the present side by side.
Musically, they had kind of an Ike and Tina going. Some of my favorite music has that male-female harmonizing or call-and-response thing going. A set of pipes on both of them, for sure.
The gentleman is dressed in the costume of the troubadours, often students from the University, who sing their way through the alleys of Guanajuato every night.
Of all the places we've visited, Laos probably wins the award for Friendliest Country. Despite Laos poverty and isolation, its people were some of the kindest and most outgoing we've ever met. We visited a Kieng Than Lei village along the Sexet river. A number of kids played along the beach and greeted us. Walking is by far the best way to get around this small village. And during our strolls we'd often bump into the same kids over and over. A small village next to the Tad Lo waterfall. We enjoy the natural surroundings exploring by foot or elephant. Tad Lo spreads over a beautiful forest in the Bolaven Plateau. At this elevated area you can soak up the fresh climate and the friendly atmosphere.
Photo of this lovely smiling lady taken in Kieng Than Lei. A little village located on the Bolaven Plateau. A great place to explore some of the lesser-known areas of the southern region of Laos. A village to meet the friendly Lao people despite their poverty and isolation.
Laos has remained virtually unchanged for half a century. Rich in history and culture, Laos and its peoples, more than 47 ethnic groups, harmonize life to ancient rhythms and traditions that evoke timeless Asia. Although the trappings of the modern world are becoming increasingly visible, Laos remains the least developed country in Southeast Asia. A country where experienced travelers will appreciate breathtaking scenery and ofcourse the friendly people.
Color harmony begins in nature. This Lotus leaf with golden droplets of water under the luminous red and orange rays of dusk, is tinged by the warm glow of the setting Sun, the colors harmonizing under its golden palette.
ceremony for making new footpath and water canal feeding rice fields, ( if I understand right to pacify, harmonize those who had their rice fields cut resp. the rice fields themselves for giving space ) Mas, Bali
New forearms, extra padding around the waist, complete new lower legs, harmonized the color blocking. Let me know how I can make it better, I welcome your thoughts.
The beginning of the 1930’s marks the democratization of aerodynamics in the car lines. Each manufacturer tries to harmonize its range with more contemporary offerings, including Peugeot with its 301 Profilée version. The model we present is in an advanced state of preservation, but is very healthy. Its paint is not the original one, and shows an old quality restoration. The interior is complete, but the upholstery is in a rather used state. From a mechanical point of view, a restoration will be necessary, but the package seems to be in good condition. Here is the opportunity to acquire one of the rare survivors of the 301 Profilée versions!
l'Aventure Peugeot Citroën DS, la Vente Officielle
Aguttes
Estimated : € 5.000 - 10.000
Sold for € 8.580
Citroen Heritage
93600 Aulnay-sous-Bois
France
September 2021
Bold color, playful geometry, and the rhythmic pulse of light define this unforgettable space—the locker room at Sea Ranch’s Moonraker Athletic Center, designed by architect Charles Moore and his firm Moore Lyndon Turnbull Whitaker (MLTW) in the early 1970s. While The Sea Ranch is most often celebrated for its restrained, wood-clad houses that harmonize with the Northern California landscape, this interior offers a joyful counterpoint: an exuberant burst of color and composition that captures the postmodern imagination at its most spirited.
Moore, whose architectural philosophy combined intellectual rigor with childlike wonder, envisioned The Sea Ranch not as a fixed aesthetic but as a living community where design could range from serene to celebratory. Here, in this small yet iconic locker room, his belief in the emotional power of architecture comes vividly to life. The red, blue, black, and white murals—painted in bold geometric patterns—transform a utilitarian passageway into a sensory experience. Walls, ceilings, and stair risers become a dynamic canvas of circles, stripes, and diagonals that shift with one’s movement through space.
The artwork, executed in collaboration with graphic designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, represents one of the earliest examples of what would become known as Supergraphics—a movement that redefined how color and scale could activate architecture. Solomon’s designs, using oversized, high-contrast forms, were a radical departure from the natural tones of Sea Ranch’s exteriors. Yet inside, her work perfectly complements Moore’s architectural rhythm, turning the simple act of moving through a locker room into a theatrical encounter with form and light.
This stairway embodies the dialogue between architecture and art that made The Sea Ranch so influential. The sharp yellow line marking the edge of the step, the bold red curve slicing through a white wall, the clean black handrail—all converge to express the precision and playfulness that Moore and Solomon championed. Even the sunlight itself participates, casting shadows that animate the geometry in real time.
Seen today, the space feels remarkably contemporary—its saturated hues and graphic clarity anticipating decades of modern design trends. Yet its power lies in its humanity. Charles Moore once said that architecture should “make room for joy,” and this interior does exactly that. It’s both functional and poetic, modest in scale yet monumental in impact. The locker room at Sea Ranch remains a testament to collaboration, creativity, and the enduring belief that good design can make the everyday sublime.
...made to harmonize with Amy Butler curtains in an urbanite's version of a "master bedroom" (yup, it's small!).
VIDEO: (Coming soon!)
••• SCRIPT/LYRICS: •••
MOLEMAN'S EPIC RAP BATTLES!!!!!!
GARNET…
…VS…
…FIRESTORM!!!
BEGIN!
Firestorm:
We could think about what gimmicks convolute our history:
Mixups with Russians, nature-forces and Yoruba witchery,
And we could think of crises wrought on our identity…
Yes, surely…
…But today, let's only think of flaming enemies with fury!
Hey, here comes a question most alarming; not to be dismissed,
And one whose comprehension won't take an atomic physicist:
Why let a contest measure merger-might to choose from we and you
When the answer is plainer than combining two plus freaking two?!
Don't get too cocky, Ronald; let's see this done as it ought to be:
Transmute lit lyrics from raw beats, and lecture blockheads properly!
It's gonna be a far cry from your Brightest Day; I'm going dark,
With aims to end this in a Flash just like my debut story arc!
Complete transparency, now; tip: skip on a kicked-in butt tonight.
Called on and dared to speak out? Quit, not even picking up the mic!
You see your worth as apt for some Gem-world princess, or even goddess,
Yet I wouldn't appraise your value at one-half Nicki Minaj's!
It's a lock, and un-jail-breakable, at that: you're getting blasted;
Your cut's unfit for this face-off, falling flat in every facet.
Why, it's evident: our foe lacks proper grasp of her position,
Just as suits the fruit of reckless, raw romance at first collision!
Molecules are being rewritten, spelling death for sucker golems;
Souring your Sugar sweetness!
That reminds me of a poem… how's it go?
A Ruby's red, and a Sapphire's colored blue;
When they're together, all the better to set fire onto you!
Garnet:
It seems your touted tangibility-tweaking tricks are getting screwy:
Though plainly made with fazing aims, your statements phase directly through me!
Fisticuffs raised to the max, I'll put it heavy-handedly:
This space-borne stone immortal's here to Vandalize you Savagely!
Don't think the balanced bond behind a harmonizing master humbled
By the body-bunking counterpart of Simon and Garfunkel;
You're the one Nuclear waste it's best to keep left in the ashcan:
That brute in Supes' ill-fated Quest for Peace was less a hack, man!
Your own saw Lanterns, Squads, the Reds and A-bombs quell your mission;
That's as jacked up as your black successor's break on television!
You'd do well to fission: squishies risk affliction, sticking to that kind of nexus;
It's as if you're mixing in black clouds in morning-time for breakfast.
Hawking off your power-set as something there's no reproducing?
Your old flame Lorraine objects, and check that shared New 52 scene!
Take me on? You're tripping; I could go all Summer Day,
Mad-laughing as you're curse-slapped, your collapse one stone's throw-down away!
Firestorm:
I'd hardly call that verse a gem, but do see you're impassioned;
Now, brace for an opposite, unequal nuclear reaction!
I'd advise you set about disarming; keep at trying to battle,
And you'll only fall apart, so turn around, three-eyes: skedaddle!
Put a bubble on your gushing pride, and hear just what I'm made of:
Nobel Prize-commemorated brains and brawn prime for the playoffs…
Oh, and right: the atoms' might, infused not in a tiny me,
But through a union whose inducement gets them splitting violently!
The irony…
These elements comprising me like father, son and holy ghost,
Your cotton candy composition couldn't come remotely close;
These bogglers are built to leave your flipping mind
As broken as that gay love metaphor between two different kinds!
Pursuing this is straight-up suicidal; heed some good advice:
Lest you be undone swiftly as a Slipknot, fleeing would be wise!
Hmm… knots, you say?
Tying yours sure garnered fandom's queerness-touting cheers.
What an accomplishment; it merely took damn-near six thousand years!
Our souls, conjoining, form an epic entelechy, knowing which,
Forgo all hopefulness of cloning this, as shown amiss with Soviets,
You cloying, kitschy clod! As for the riffs you spit haphazardly,
Those bare-bones bars have less meat than the prick who nicked your anthem, G!
Ours? Fine-tuned to the quantum level; spliced into arrangements
Set to shake your union to the brink of thrice-induced estrangement,
And don't count on pulling back together, damaged faith restored,
'Cause just the two of us are stronger than your whole volcanic Megazord!
Garnet:
Yeah, I'd imagine you'd know all about that, Orange Ranger,
But your floating mentor-head ought to have warned you to the danger;
What if I told you you'll be blindsided, both blacking-out in quick turn,
When I yank you from the Matrix like my name was Laurence Fishburne?
Known to wreck hard-headed haters, your hot one'll prove no different,
As part-timing casuals get taught the sum of true commitment!
Wanna see a giant of a power couple? I'm your girl; espouse its meaning:
Steady-rocking since mankind, they say, was still fresh out of Eden!
Plus, your Time Squad of a secret team can bite me;
Your whole future's at an end, and naught will tweak it, even slightly!
I mean, blimey: screw false pretense for some cackling magician bull;
That mind-entrapping weeks-long bender? Flatly unforgivable!
I'm dropping bombs; the biggest Ron, his mommy or his pops have seen,
For overkill to match the namesake of a poor man's Constantine:
Destabilizing deconstruction, it'll make them draw a blank.
I'd call your deal a nature-crime; rechristen Raymond: "Ronnie Frank"!
Firestorm:
You say your bodyguard-love schtick will never come to dissolution,
Like a pair of mutant, midget technicolor Whitney Houstons!
Think we'll have a problem here?
Now, that's bananas! We'll be home by daylight,
NASA asked that she's seen, fee-free, to her own, one-way flight!
Girl, your jointly self-absorbed felicity's an utter joke;
Make threats of dropping bombs, and watch your dignity go up in smoke!
You're unprepared for prime time, Gemmy! How can you expect to win this
When your origin got upstaged by a Robot Chicken Christmas?
From N.Y.C. streets to Justice Leagues, we've made ourselves a name;
You've kept ones shared with countless drones, all bred and trained to be the same!
I live up to and past the heights of my Star-Spangled heritage;
You aren't worth your own weight at the ideal price per carat, bitch:
You're meritless! You call those palette-swapped foam Hulk props on you gauntlets?
Come at me with them, and catch a flaming knuckle through the faceplate!
Your lame cheeto P.S.A. coach couldn't top this all-new hotness,
So if you can't stand the heat, beam back on up into your safe space.
See all notions that it's nearly so severely hard to beat her
Shattered like the trust invested in her dear, departed leader!
You perceive self-value more-than-constituting both your parts' sum,
But the math says otherwise; check any jewelry broker's charts, hon!
Half of you served in a royal court as its official seer;
You've gone some kind of third-eye-blind, though, if this isn't crystal-clear:
You don't look awesome, and it's time you went to bed!
Now close the deal!
I'll let your godson know that what you did today was choke, for real!
Garnet:
Oh, you'll find no exhaustion here; I'm far from prone to break a sweat:
When I wipe the floor with phony-hot shits, it's liable to wind up painted red!
It's viable to say I've wholly got this: child's play, though only for Garnet;
Joining in on it? You're gonna get rolled and left cold, all your folks going: "Oh no, they are dead."
Try on a total toxin-taste: raw space-rock rhymes, created ground-up,
Like your Ogaden oasis, the fate of which I wouldn't take it you're too proud of.
A tenth-level belter, I rep rebel melders:
Test against my mettle? Best inject some Nth; augment your cells, or get to shelter!
It's a song of ice and fire; when you're packing just the latter,
Your whole rhythm-ride's implosion-bound, and plasma's gonna splatter.
As for your nuclear family values? I'm beyond such rigid norms,
With Multiplex strengths, all rolled up inside one monolithic form!
Ever-flowering, love letter-showered, empowering, towering gay-romantic titan,
Shade thrown my way's, with a hand-flick, reflected, and BAM: it's the source who sees dishonor.
Dominant during debates, dissent-drainingly as any achromatic tyrant,
Try shouting this down, and watch me unshakenly pluck out your core; ensure you'll be a goner!
………
(*SOLO ROUND!*)
………
Martin Stein:
How's Stein's schooling session's starting something Sapph's supposed to handle?
Kindergarten rooms have brought her whole proud pairing to a standstill!
Singlehandedly one-upping that accursed menagerie,
Observe: in verse, a worse-disturbing blasphemy!
Your present-perspicacity has faltered from foresight-fixation; your taste in soulmates shows, for starters:
Even Jason never sunk to such low standards with his partners!
When this atomic architect takes to the floor,
The only overhyped-up ship that's headed for a wreck is yours!
Sapphire:
I see a glorified Jiminy Cricket with a nonexistent sex life.
He will find less clemency afforded here than with his ex-wife!
You've not met a Crystal cold to you as this; you'd better hide:
No psycho on any of infinite Earths could hope to sway me to your side.
Your Doomsday Clock is ticking; precognition needn't spell what's gonna happen,
When the baddest blue boss bombshells 'bout you break since Doc Manhattan's!
This alleged Legend won't see tomorrow: it's apparent you'll be slaughtered;
Deploring the oracle was a mistake just as aberrant as your daughter!
Martin Stein:
Hey, h- …Oh, why should I fall back onto dumb distraction-tunes,
When you're as prone to cause your own strikeout, all while we shoot the moon?
Cut with the C.R.A.P.; let this theory of mine be self-fulfilled: you'll cease to diss me,
Lest I cut your lifeline like your Greek ancestors three from Disney!
Sapphire:
If that Titanic travesty of trite trash-talk's all you've got,
Then it's no inner-fascist speaking when I say you should be shot!
Though I'd have warned you, that would be to squander breath for me; I know this:
You'd be heedless even with a quarter-century of notice!
Ruby:
Hit the streets, relapsed to homelessness: you'll want to keep anonymous;
A fuming-to-the-brim stone's bent on bringing your Apokalips!
The CW can have Ms. Kane informed on termination:
There was no room for her once this Ruby rose to the occasion!
Ronnie Raymond:
It was plain why you would be a cowboy: shit got polarizing.
Now, take one more comic page to heart: ride into the horizon;
No horsebacking, though! Try force-propelled ascension through the sky;
Yo, when you get to space's vacuum, tell your brethren I said "Hi",
And like the Happy of those five red dwarves reneged on standing with you,
Just back down from whence you've stepped up. Better yet, abandon ship, too!
Gangster-rapping worthily of some Dakotaversal bang-baby,
Watch this meta-S.T.A.R. extinguish your eternal flame, baby!
Ruby:
Funny you'd mention horizons: the events that I discern
Are painting you abyss-inbound, and past the point of no return!
Your jerkhole gripes and talking smack? I wouldn't fly to such judgments, were I to be you;
Full-circled like a Tokamak, your lapped back attacks will bite you something entirely new!
Ronnie Raymond:
A tempered temper lends to endless energy attained to blow through;
Rage has got you burning out, and that's my okay to K.O. you,
So let's leave the hero business to myself and the professor,
Making sure they'll see the written notice of your surrend
er!
Ruby:
Have you turned your own brains to jelly?! You're intoxicated; face it:
Flying off the rails, you'll plummet to rock bottom, getting wasted!
I'm out to bring hurt beyond mere heartbreak, and thus, your wounds yet need more salting,
Like your record's blackest mark, which Rusch won't soon let be forgotten!
Sapphire: That was rotten, alright; biting to look back upon as Sodom's burning.
White light this night, too, will end your torment, though with no returning!
Ruby: Or, in more straightforward wording: DIE. You must be nuts,
'Cause if the wedding stage didn't clue you in…
R+S: Today belongs to us!
Martin Stein:
I'll gladly rain on your reunion, jerks; it's time to face the truth:
You're plainly out of it as any circus sideshow saber-tooth!
Ronnie Raymond: If the professor is the passenger beside my pilot, punks,
That puts you as the ones blindfolded, bound and gagged inside our trunk!
Firestorm: You've walked Earth since prehistory?
Well, let's address the elephant…
A flung-back Furby's apt to outpace your epochal relevance!
You'll soon return to purpose-lacking, playing parent off the table,
Once our 'verses clash, and Steven takes an arrow in the navel!
Ruby:
Dude; leukemia is one thing, but those bars of your creation?
Sapphire: Cancerous beyond the help of your most cosmic incarnation!
R+S: Striking with a shadow's subtle grace, yet shining steel's lethality,
You may think it's Injustice, but we're winning by fatality! (Frosty!)
(*♪, ♪-♪-♪, ♪-♪*)
Garnet: You're getting throttled,
Harder than you dropped the ball with Brainiac's whole ship of bottles!
Take a moment to think, now, of just how very wrong you were, disputing me:
A clear-cut polymerized paragon; let no-con-fusion be.
?????????:
The trigger word's been stated! Now, my trap is activated;
Thus, the trump card's played in my fair maiden's name, so sayeth I!
The coming game's experience? You bums should take to fearing it,
Because it's time to D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DIE!
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon:
I'm the overkill O.G. of owning old O.C.G. scenes; don't test me:
M.C. B.E.U.D. on the track? Best bet that it's your Death-T!
I inflict direct attacks; take life points down to zero, no doubt,
For this joke of a Gem-Knight and Elemental HERO dropout!
I drop right on in, without a brutal cost; sans Cyber-Stein:
Bring triple threats, converging onto Ruby, Ron, Sapphire and Stein!
You're all exhausted; left defenseless as a goblin-force one-shotter:
Losing hands dealt to you all played-out, and now I strike like Yata
Garasu, to lock you pussy Fusionists in strangleholds!
You'd never bend my will in shining armor forged of rarest gold.
In terms of targets fixed upon you, you'll have no chance to Scapegoat it:
One fell burst-stream's zapping your whole sheepish quartet of components!
Weighing you against me, the Millennium Scales will tip so hard,
You'll catapult, with robo-turtles wishing they could flick as far.
You're standing on the edge; ensuing shock is sure to wreck your balance,
Come the baddest dragon's dark discharge from his Zorc Necrophallus!
Need I spell it out? Your destiny is FINAL; undisputed!
As for changing fate, moreover, that's my job, with gods tributed!
Crushing you, why would I spring some virus? That ain't worth my time,
When all your values at their highest couldn't match a third of mine!
The legend that began it all: oft-mimicked, never replicated.
My pot runneth over; it's not necessary to explain it!
You'll beg for some shadow penalty, such twistedness you'll face;
For those who come in behind Blue-Eyes, a Limp Bizkit's what they taste!
Firestorm:
Self-special-summoning into our double-duel? Screw that whole deal;
If I had wanted a royale, I'd just be playing Battlefield!
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon: Don't drag this out with dialogue, delaying; I haven't got all day,
And when this card is heartless to you, how can you so much as pray?
Garnet: Well, I'd say you've let your defenses down, and I ain't talking misprints:
Your effect on me's, put simply as your text box, nonexistent!
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon:
It's the rapper-kingdom finals, whelp; that isn't gonna fly:
Those one-star-studded gauntlets plainly tell that you're unqualified!
I've got you insects flipping out, but doing so won't serve to bite me,
For your lot's too basic!
Lusterless!
Dull!
…Let alone worthy to ride me,
While I shine on ever brightly, even scaled down for the big screen;
Steal the thunder of Gate-Guards: my lyrics' layout's labyrinthine!
This collective looks combustion-bound, face flared up; in a frenzy,
But I've felled far more infernal red-eyed monsters full of envy.
Cards here stacked against you steeper still than Reshef of Destruction,
White light's sealing your demise, so though you guessed correct on one thing,
Know my arsenal's evolved to make for new alternatives;
With chaos rituals to maximize the pain, I'll burn you, bitch!
Watch me send this three-eyed sucker straight to the grave; negate a compensating deck search:
End malformed mashups' miseries, like the doggy saying "Edward"!
Garnet:
Oh, you can banish that shit; try, instead, Fullmetal Jacket,
'Cause I have to ask it: what is your mammoth malfunction, maggot?!
Firestorm: I have had it with these Muto-fighting dragons, coalesced as one,
But for us coming back from this hijacking, hopes look next to none…
Our best's yet unexhausted…
Garnet: The sole option left to take here…
Firestorm: …Should we all agree we want it.
Garnet: …Would be nuclear in nature.
Firestorm: Are you thinking what I am?
Garnet: I don't think that's how fusion works.
Firestorm: Well, screw the rules; we have fan fiction logic!
Garnet: Let's just do this, jerk…
………
Garnetstorm:
Know your last-minute winning plays; details: I take no pleasure in this
As I bust loose from our tightest spot and get direct to business,
No less vocal for it, mind you, while I counter-steal the show,
And finish what your master started, with one down, and three to go!
These blows will knock you sideways, keeping up the damage all the same,
With meteoric impacts fit to fuel your blackest rival's flames!
I'm breaking your sustaining chains; those of my components' restraint, too:
But four pieces here need come together to obliterate you!
Brightly-blazing stone conglomerate, far from some shadow puppet:
Mega-mixture; this vanilla triple-dipper can go shove it!
If you're triple-A, call me the alphabet's whole backmost leg;
No Toonish trickery required, I'll deflect attacks all day!
My fighting spirit's too intense to stay; my presence here is fleeting,
But the Last Turn is upon us, and you're set for searing beating!
Wanna end this with a draw? I'll go Berserker, then: get violent,
And remake Destroy All Monsters; stomp out this tri-headed tyrant.
WHO WON?
WHO'S NEXT?
I DECIDE!
MOLE…
…MAN'S…
HA!
…EPIC RAP BATTLES!!!!!!!
Museum of Ethnography Budapest Hungary
Architects: NAPUR Architect
Area : 34000 m²
The new building of the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest City Park (Városliget) was opened 2022. The award-winning new museum building – which is part of Europe’s largest urban-cultural development called Liget Budapest Project has dynamic yet simple lines simultaneously harmonized with the park environment and communicating with the surrounding urban area.
The collection, which comprises 250.000 items from the Carpathian Basin and from every corner of the world, has been hosted by various facilities since its establishment in 1872, but never in its history did it operate in a building designed specifically to cater to its needs. The project was one of over 1700 entries from 115 countries. According to the decision of an international jury, the competition was won by the Hungarian architectural studio, Napur Architect (beating leading world-class architect studios such as Zaha Hadid, BIG), whose building is distinguished by a dynamic yet simple design harmonized with the natural environment of the park while communicating with the urban texture of its surroundings. The gently curving lines enable the building to function as a gateway and a passage linking the city and the park. Sixty percent of the structure is under ground level, and thanks to the landscaped roof and the transparency of the sections over the ground, the new museum is adapted to its environment in its scale too. The grass-covered roof area will be a pleasant community space awaiting visitors to Városliget.
The spectacular trademark of the building is the glass curtain wall surrounding the landscaped roof garden, reminiscent of two intertwined hillsides, with a unique characteristic, consisting of nearly half a million pixels, a raster made by metal grid based on ethnographic motifs selected from the museum's Hungarian and international collections.
The new functions and flexible spaces of the modern and state-of-the-art museum building will facilitate the understanding of the historical heritage embodied by the collection as well as the various aspects of contemporary society. Besides passing down this historical heritage, the realization of more recent professional and research themes and perspectives continues to be among the priority objectives of the museum, as confirmed by its mission. The creatively built spaces will open up new opportunities to communicate with visitors, enabling the presentation of the everyday objects, phenomena, and ideas of the past and the present side by side.
Chengdu, Sichuan province, China - Feb 2, 2025 : Bustling urban landscape of Chengdu's Baoli ShiGuangLi district comes alive at night, as traditional and contemporary aesthetics harmonize. A large red lantern with intricate white and gold patterns hangs prominently, surrounded by smaller white-lit trees, creating a magical ambiance. The photo showcases the city's fusion of cultural heritage and modern progress. Neon-lit skyscrapers and vibrant buildings serve as the backdrop to this picturesque scene
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The Halászbástya or Fisherman's Bastion is one of the best known monuments in Budapest, located near the Buda Castle, in the 1st district of Budapest. It is one of the most important tourist attractions due to the unique panorama of Budapest from the Neo-Romanesque lookout terraces. The Fishermen's Bastion's main façade, parallel to the Danube, is approximately 140 meters long, of which the southern aisle is about 40 meters long, the north is 65 meters long, and the ornate central parapet is 35 meters long. Its seven high-pitched stone towers symbolize the seven chieftains of the Hungarians who founded Hungary in 895.
The original walls were built in the 1700s, forming part of the walls of a castle. Several historians say that in the Middle Ages this part of the castle walls was protected by the guild of fishermen (halász), who lived under the walls in the so-called Fishtown or Watertown. The current structure was built between 1895 and 1902, in Neo-Romanesque style, on the base of a stretch of the Buda Castle walls, by architect Frigyes Schulek, who was also responsible for the restoration of the Matthias Church.
Since 1987 it has been one of Budapest's World Heritage Sites as part of the Várkerület District (Buda Castle District).
Origin of the name
The building was formerly known as the 'Fishermen's Bastion', presumably from the section of the Buda City Wall entrusted to the guild of fishermen, but more likely to the Danube side settlement, Fishtown (Halászváros) also called Watertown. The fishermen found their merchandise already in the Middle Ages near the Matthias Church it was brought to the fish market, but the guild of fishermen not only cared about selling fish, but in wars, its members defiantly defended the city walls.
History
The Castle Hill served as a lodging and fortification for the surrounding settlements at the time of the kings of Árpád dynasty. The development of the settlement on the Castle Hill for King Béla IV of Hungary became more prominent as a result of urban development, but as the administrative center of the country, it became dominant in the era of King Matthias Matthias Corvinus. Its defenses and bastions were fortified in the Middle Ages and during the Turkish occupation, but were repeatedly damaged. The Buda Castle Quarter itself has undergone a major transformation over time. From Matthias' bright, was prosperous the Buda Castle but following the Mohács Disaster during the Turkish rule destroyed, abolished and transformed many things and in the Castle as well. The Austrian forces retook the city from the Turks ruling from Vienna.
It is based on the basement walls of today's Fisherman's Bastion, from the tower of the former Híradás (Telegraph) to the Jezsuita lépcső (Jesuit stairs), following the folded layout of the former bastion. This folded castle wall protection system breaks the bastion line so that each section can protect each other with a side fire. This section was built after the defeat of the Rákóczi's War of Independence by Austrian Command, according to what was then a modern military principle. The northern lobby tower of today's Fisherman's Bastion, was erected on the site of the circular tower.
The Fishermen's Bastion gradually deteriorated despite the renovation of some of its defenses and the rebuilding of Austrians, which was recognized by the Austrian military leadership as a military fortress. The Fishermen's Bastion was spared neither by nature nor by the wars. Rain from the mountain loosened, washing away some of the foundations of the castle wall and the Bastion on the hillside. At the same time, in memory of recent wars, many of them had traces of good or bad restoration of the rocks of ball-dart gaps. At the same time, the area rises far above the city and was of decisive importance for the cityscape. However, the Austrian military leadership refused to spend more money on settling the area than would be required for a more prominent fortification, so they only performed the fortification. The fortress character of the Buda Castle was abolished in 1874 when the Ministry of War declared that the Castle as a fortress did not meet the requirements considered modern at that time. From now on, these repairs were also canceled. While handling the matter in the capital, he had already dealt with the reassuring settlement of the area. Already in 1871 the Pest Committee on Beauty has launched a call for the development of regulatory plans for the newly merged capital. All three winners of the competition dealt with the issue of the settlement of the Castle Hill, and within this the Fishermen's Bastion was given special emphasis.
Renovation
The Fisherman's Bastion is due to its architectural and urban planning tasks related to the restoration of Matthias Church. In his summary of the architect Frigyes Schulek, which has done so much to protect and renew the Medieval temples, he has already recognized that the church was once lacking in money and with its peculiar and slightly depressed proportions from a military point of view (it was not possible for its tall, towering tower to be a reference), the lower soil level achieved by the excavation and the environment should be maintained. After the completion of the renewal of the Matthias Church, the question of restoring the environment and making it worthy of the temple became urgent. According to the original ideas, this area should have been organized for the millennary anniversary of the Hungarian state, when the first Hungarian king was crowned, and although it was drafted in Schulek's time and submitted to the Public Works Council of the Capital, in 1894 it was consultated, the construction was eventually limited to 1899 and started in several installments. In 1901 and 1902, the southern and northern stairs were completed, but the entire Fishermen 's Bastion was completed after the construction was completed, 1905. In 9 October was handed over to the capital.
Construction costs
The implementation of the Fisherman's Bastion and its original appropriation differed, mainly because of a change in the basic concept of the millennium celebration. The first budget appropriation for the construction of the Fisherman's Bastion was of 800,000 forints at that time, of which 100,000 for the stairs, 200,000; for the corridors, 200,000; for the planned St Stephen's Hall. and 300,000 forints for the Seven chieftains halls. The latter idea was highlighted in the plan and elsewhere, on the Pest side of the City Park, at the end of what was then Sugár Road, in today's Heroes Square was realized according to the ideas of Millenium Monument not of Schulek, but of Albert Schickedanz and sculptor György Zala. In the meantime, the cost of another statue of St Stephen and the Millennium Monument has been deducted. In the end, total construction cost was of 1,165,000 forints; of which the stairs and associated landscaping costs, 200,000 forints; were covered by the Metropolitan Public Works Council, and the rest were shared between the capital (685 and 1,000 forints) (280,000).
In WWII and onwards
The Fisherman's Bastion was severely damaged during the sieges of World War II, but since it was one of the important landmarks of Budapest, it occupied a prominent place in the restoration priorities after the war. The restoration work was led by László Bors,[5] a state-appointed architect. The restoration was made more difficult by the fact that firefighters had to thoroughly inspect the area from almost a centimeter to an inch before the damage assessment and restoration plans could be completed. The first spectacular part of the process took over the years, the restoration of the Fisherman's Bastion after the World War, was completed in 1953. The Buda Castle was separated from its other parts by a high wood block, which was not inspected, especially on today's Hilton Hotel. There was a constant patrol station to avoid accidents in the Rákosi era, but even after 1957 there were several places that had a real danger but also a political dimension, especially with regard to the control of incoming foreigners.
The hotel building behind the Fisherman's Bastion with its modern windows has been the subject of much controversy. Many saw the Schulek, a purely unified Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion, overturned, finding no reason to build a much larger unit of the hotel. Others saw the principles of the modern and the old coming together in what was then a new one in our country, in a close but new unity between the two buildings.
On 30 May 1995 the Castle District introduced an entry fee for the Fishermen's Bastion. In November 2003, the building complex was handed over to the public. Together, it became part of the World Heritage.
This staircase leads to the dedicated hall of Hungarian faith and to the memories of Hungarian glory, inspired by the faith and memories of the great past in the artistically crafted stones of the Coronation Main Church of Budavár and the exalted convert of the Fisherman's Bastion. Hungarian, you are on this step remember: Our nation is made strong by the unity of faith and patriotism.
Architecture
Schulek originally intended to build three-stage staircases reaching the Danube. Until the Fisherman's Bastion was built, in the place was a long stretch of narrow and dark Jesuit stairs, which reached the southern wall of the bastion.[8] It was possible to access the Jesuit stairs from the Fishtown, which was unsuitable for major, larger traffic. Schulek altered the gateway, widening the stairs to 8 meters in some places, and its lower gate was accentuated with a stylish gable, incorporating an original lionic relief from a Romanesque church excavated during the rampart work. Simple stairs made of granite stone are placed on a brick foundation, and only the so-called "stairs" used on the railings were used. It was decorated with truncated, pierced forms with Romanian style features. On the right and left of the staircase, a statues of warriors representing different weaponry of the 10th century Árpád age were placed guarding the gate (at the top of the stairs, under the arch). Four of the seven leading statues on the main stairs were carved by Franz Graf Mikhail (Ferenc Mikula 1861–1926), a sculptor born in Debrecen and educated in Vienna. Also he made the pedestal, the lions and the reliefs of the statue of St. Stephen.
North and South bastions and corridors
The north and south bastions, as well as the corridors form the bastion courtyard, are connected below by a staircase connecting the bastions on both sides, above, and on the level of the courtyards by a parapet. One of Schulek's greatest merits is that he transformed this area of the Castle Hill, which was essentially and originally for military purposes, into a peaceful promenade and a lookout object, forming a significant architectural unit of the Castle Hill, with the Matthias Church behind it. Originally, the temple was closed to the battlements for military purposes and could not be built too high, for similar reasons. Schulek, alive to the government decree that unlocked the military objectives, opened the Fishermen's Bastion towards the Danube and Pest by encircling the church trunk and, with the two bastion towers, secured sufficient space for the building complex. He formed covered corridors along the edges of the former battlements, with an arch on an open row of columns, above which he opened an accessible courtyard with ornate buildings (bastions) with conical roofs. Currently, this area serves as a lookout. In the north, a multi-storey, overlapping tower rises, the main tower, below which are the statues of Elder and Álmos leaders, a lion holding a tassel shield, and a mythological creature with an open mouth, a dragon carved in the same style as the two founding leaders. In the narrow area in front of the Matthias Church sanctuary, there is an ornate parapet that connects the two corridors of the Fisherman's Bastion, allowing a view from below. The arcade-like barrier wall is decorated with a balcony in the axis of the middle staircase.
The third large unit of the monument complex is the southern bastion court and its associated founder, it is initially made by the Stephen I of Hungary, the first king of Hungary.
Schulek's original idea was to have a covered dome around the statue of St. Stephen, but for budgetary reasons a free-standing statue was placed in the middle of the southern courtyard enclosed by corridors on three sides. He asked the sculptor Alajos Stróbl, to make the statue of Szent István; he started the project in 1896 and completed it in 1906. After the statue was placed, its solemn was unveiled on 21 May 1906. On the morning of the inauguration, dr. Antal Nemes, the papal prelate and parish priest of Buda-Pest, then, after the mass, everyone withdrew around the statue and the veil fell under Alajos Stróbl's admonition.
The high priest toured the statue and consecrated it. The shroud was then returned. Three-quarters of government members once appeared: Sándor Wekerle, Count Albert Apponyi, Ignác Darányi, Count János Zichy and Lajos Jekelfalussy. Finally, at one o'clock, the king himself arrived at the bell-ringing and the official ceremony began.
For the statue of Stróbl, Schulek designed the Neo-Romanesque foundation, and around it was an oval-shaped, pierced stone and parapet railing, placed in the geometric center of the southern bastion court. The foundation structure is decorated with reliefs originally used for murals designed for the walls of the hall, which commemorate a prominent moment of King Stephen's reign: the coronation scene, the introduction of the legislative act, the depiction of Vienna and the Austria-Hungary dualism, while on the back and east we see a series of scenes symbolizing the temple construction, where Stróbl depicted the aging Schulek master as the bearded, kneeling, model of King Stephen in the form of a master builder.
Above the relief is a richly decorated ledge, with gold medallions on its sides, agnus dei, evangelist badges and double-cross reliefs. The ledge of the upper member of the foundation is supported by six solid, ornate columns of beams on which the bronze statue of the king is placed.
Originally intended to replace the northern tower group, the Seven Leadership Sculpture Group, which was lifted out of the plan on the fly, was implemented with modifications and major changes to today's Heroes' Square.
Statue of John Hunyadi
The John Hunyadi statue erected at the turn of the John Hunyadi road is also an integral part of the Fishermen's Bastion. Tóth István was commissioned to make the statue in 1899, which was ceremoniously inaugurated in 1903. The Neo-Gothic limestone foundation was also built according to Schulek's plans, forming a harmonizing unit with the rest of the Fisherman's Bastion. The foundation is closed by leaf-shaped ledges, the façade features the coat of arms of Hunyadi, and the other sides have a marble decoration. The Hero in armor, with a raven-helmet on his head, resting on a pall, heavily on his pallet, with the flags and other military badges of the defeated Turks at his feet, symbolizing his victory.
Statue of St. George
Near the statue of John Hunyadi there is a bronze copy of the statue of St. George the Dragon from 1313 that can be found in the Prague Castle, that original statue was made by medieval Hungarian masters (the Kolozsvari Brothers).
At the initiative of László Bendefy, a statue of the Friar Julian and Gerhardus belonging to the Monument of the Fishermen's Bastion was erected, to which Bendefy based in the writings of Friar Julian offered their book "Biography and Criticism of the First Asiatic Hungarian Scholar" published in 1936. Károly Antal made decades after the handover of the Fishermen's Bastion, in 1937, originally next to the Northwest Tower of the Fishermen's Bastion. A statue depicts friends of Julianus and Gerhardus who, on the orders of Andrew II of Hungary, they set out to search for the remaining of the Hungarians in the Ancient Homeland.
And having passed through the desert without any paths, on the thirty-seventh day they came to the land of the Moslems, called Vedas, in the city of Bundaz. There was no way they could get accommodation here, but had to stay in the fields in the rain and frost. In the daytime, a frater who was healthy, begged for food for himself and his sick companion, and received drinks and more, especially from the city governor, who, knowing that he was a Christian, was happy to give him alms, all the people in that region publicly say they should soon be Christian and belong to the Roman Church. From here they went to another city, where in the house of a Mohammedan who received them in the name of God, said the monk Gerhardus, was resting in the Lord and was buried there.
— About the Report of the First Way of Friar Julian of 1237
A typical example of the style of the Római School and one of the outstanding works of the genre is the two-meter high bronze memorial. It was originally located next to the Northwest Tower of the Fisherman's Bastion, but in 1976, when the Hilton Hotel was being built, it was located in the horseshoe-shaped garden of the apse of the former Dominican church. Its pedestal is a limestone of Haraszti with the following inscription:
Friar Julian started his quest for Hungarians in his native country in 1235. After many adversities, his two companions returned. The third, Gerhardus, died before the goal was reached. Julian was alone by the Volga River in the Tatras of Baskiria, where he found the Eastern Hungarians. On his second journey in 1237 he could not reach the Eastern Hungarians because the Mongols swept them away. He is the first European traveler to bring serious news of the Mongols.
Overview
Its seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 895. From the towers and the terrace there is a panoramic view over the Danube, the Margaret Island, the Gellért Hill and Pest (sometimes even further East).
A bronze statue of Stephen I of Hungary mounted on a horse, erected in 1906, can be seen between the Bastion and the Matthias Church. The pedestal was made by Alajos Stróbl, based on the plans of Frigyes Schulek, in Neo-Romanesque style, with episodes illustrating the King's life.
Near the bastion there is a lookout-terrace with many stairs and walking paths.
The building was featured as a Pit Stop on the sixth season of American TV show The Amazing Race.
Street performers grace the square in front of the Four Seasons in Spain with classical melodies. Amidst the music, a man serenely pushes a chair en route to his office, harmonizing with the city's rhythm
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Nikon D200 with AF Nikkor 24 mm 1:2:8 D
Another test picture that is rather meaningless as such but tells me that camera and lens are good, that they harmonize well and produce a consistently high IQ, though rather subdued, the way I like it.
Darmstadt, Germany
A4 live @ Bayerisches Jazzweekend Regensburg, 15.Juli 2023
Vincent Thiriat (Harmonizer)
Hugo Gardé (Bass)
Tom Couineau (Drums)
Robin Mom (Trumpet)
Johan Thouvenot (Keybord)
"No Hope" -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykSpF84U2pE
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With custom coachwork and artistic color effects to harmonize with the personal tastes of the owners.
Art Nouveau it was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants, but also in curved lines. Architects tried to harmonize with the natural environment.
To visualise this philosophy I took pictures of art nouveau architecture as well as plants and combined them in one picture.
This picture is double exposure done on analogue film. The film is exposed taking architecture pictures and once all pictures are taken the film is wind back to be exposed a second time. This time pictures of natural and floral objects are taken. Since one hardly remembers what picture was taken when in the first round, it is a lot of random process how the objects overlay in the final picture. But surprise is part of the fun.
The rural choir of fauna.. ready to harmonize
breaks into joyful song.. as the sun begins to rise
an orchestra of wild oats performs on center stage
directing the entire field .. pleasing crowds of any age
... those who witness glory.. those who hear the morning song
those that feel the peace within.. those that truly belong
capture the notes each morning ...beauty of dawns rural choir
the climb of the crescendo.. encouraging the sunrise higher
....let the wild oats of dawn..sow a song today..
- Kelly De Witt Schlicht -
Design composed of a symbols set harmonized to each other that blend together for a very personal creation of great visual impact.
In a game of overlap born the unusual idea with an evocative aesthetic from the world of slot machines, roulettes, poker chips and dices of the American casinos green tables.
In this composition stand out, as well as the unmistakable symbol of the ace of spades, playing cards with their rich decorations printed on the back.
Harley-Davidson Softail tank airbrushed and painted with special techniques.
Full of overlapping transparent glazes, metallic and pearlescent colors that blend together with each other.
This is the last shot I took at Cabo Raso on a magnificent evening for photography, meaning plenty of clouds with the light shining through and an abundance of color right after the sun had set. I tried to arrange the shot so that the gap in the clouds harmonizes with the swirling water in front of me, unfortunately in the upper right there was no light getting through and nearly no texture in the clouds but I still like it.
I used a lee 0.9 hard grad and a hoya hd polarizer and the postprocessing was mostly contrast adjustments.
have a nice weekend, hopefully I'll find the time to go out shoot again, even if it's only here in germany ;-)
Estes Park, CO, trail outside town. The wind was blowing a fiercely frigid 20mph, and it was a brisk walk!
HFF
As always, a special thanks to all of you who drop by to look, comment and fave!
Teruel (Spain).
ENGLISH
Main door made by Pablo Monguió in 1909, trying to harmonize the main door with the tower of the cathedral. For it he made a triple archivolt with round arch and on its friso of small intercrossed round archs, similar to those of the low part of the tower. Also he conjugated the stone, the brick and the vidriada ceramics, but without obtaining a correct balance.
The cathedral was constructed on top of the Santa Maria de Mediavilla church. It has three stonework and brick naves, as a result of the enlargement of the old Romanesque church in 1171. Juzaff the Moor directed the work that consisted of substituting the Romanesque apses with Gothic-Mudejar apses, which can still be seen in the main chapel. The Mudejar Tower dates back to the thirteenth century with a small passageway covered by a pointed barrel vault that leads on to the street. Another highlight of the Mudejar art inserted in the Cathedral is its ceiling, made around 1300. It is of wood, profusely decorated with streamlined, geometric and epigraphic elements of Islamic tradition and linear gothic decoration. This last one surprises by its wealth and variety, having received diverse interpretations.
More info about Teruel: www.teruel.com/en/historia_en.html, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teruel
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CASTELLANO
Este portal lo realizó Pablo Monguió en 1909, intentando armonizar el portal con la torre de la catedral. Para ello realizó una triple arquivolta con arco de medio punto y sobre ella un friso de pequeños arcos de medio punto entrecruzados, similares a los de la parte baja de la torre. También conjugó la piedra, el ladrillo y la cerámica vidriada, pero sin conseguir un correcto equilibrio.
La catedral es un conjunto de gran complejidad, fruto de ocho siglos de existencia. Posee la primera torre campanario mudéjar de la ciudad (1257-58), cuya parte baja está abierta mediante arcos apuntados y bóveda de cañón, siendo atravesada por una calle. Está decorada con arcos de medio punto entrecruzados, frisos de esquinillas con fustes de cerámica, ventanas abocinadas en arco de medio punto, platos y azulejos vidriados en verde y morado, etc. Otra de las obras cumbres del arte mudéjar inserto en la Catedral es su techumbre, realizada en torno al 1300. Es de madera, con armadura de par y nudillo, profusamente decorada con elementos vegetales estilizados, geométricos y epigráficos de tradición islámica y decoración figurada gótica lineal. Esta última sorprende por su riqueza y variedad, habiendo recibido diversas interpretaciones: representación sistemática de todo el saber de la época, representación cósmica, presidida por los meses del año (devenir del tiempo) y las diferentes actividades humanas: temática vinculada a la literatura romance.
Más info de Teruel: www.es.teruel.com/historia.html, es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teruel
While my wife was at the Arizona Bar Association Conference in Coronado, I took a photo trip to the San Diego Japanese Friendship Garden.
Bonsai Collection — Japanese Friendship Garden (niwa.org)
What is Bonsai 盆栽
Bonsai is the Japanese art of growing miniature, or ornamental-shaped trees or shrubs in small, shallow pots. The literal translation of bonsai is “tray planting” (bon – pot; sai – planting). A common misconception is that bonsai specimens are hereditary dwarfs; however, they are in fact, ordinary trees and shrubs. They are ‘dwarfed’ by a system of pruning roots and branches, and training branches by tying them with wire. The art originated in China but has been pursued and developed primarily by the Japanese. The direct inspiration for bonsai is found in nature – in trees that grow in harsh, rocky places that are dwarfed and gnarled throughout their existence. Prized characteristics are an aged-looking trunk and branches, and weathered-looking exposed upper roots. Bonsai may live for a century or more and are handed down from one generation to another as valued family possessions. Bonsai pots, usually earthenware and of variable shape, are carefully chosen to harmonize in color and proportion with the tree. A sizable bonsai industry exists as part of the nursery industry in Japan; California is home to a small-scale bonsai industry.
The mission of the Japanese Friendship Garden Society of San Diego (JFG) is to develop a traditional Japanese garden as a center to educate, engage, and inspire people of diverse backgrounds about Japanese culture and community legacy.
JFG is an accredited museum that offers a variety of educational programs, exhibits, and cultural festivals to enhance appreciation and understanding of Japanese culture. Over 330,000 visitors from the United States and internationally attend the garden annually. JFG opened to the public in 1991 and is an expression of friendship between San Diego and its sister city, Yokohama. The garden is inspired from centuries-old Japanese design and techniques that showcase JFG’s living exhibition comprised of plants and florae native to Japan and San Diego. The second phase opened in 1999 and was designed by renowned landscape architect Takeo Uesugi, which included the addition of the Exhibit Hall, Activity Center, and Upper Koi Pond. The third phase, completed in 2015, incorporated a 200 cherry tree grove, large azalea and camellia garden, a water feature reminiscent of the San Diego watershed, and the state of the art Inamori Pavilion. Today, JFG resides on 12 acres and fosters a relationship between humans and nature, providing a respite attuned to Japanese simplicity, serenity, and aestheticism.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Friendship_Garden_(Balboa_Park)
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