View allAll Photos Tagged sacral
Godess of mercy statue.
Linh Ung pagoda (Bai But close to Da Nang, Vietnam).
Its the highest statue in Vietnam (67 meters height approximately 30 stories).
For size comparison, note the people in the foreground!
Biru ‘e Concas è un eccezionale sito archeologico che contiene un raggruppamento di menhir fra i più importanti dell’intera area mediterranea. Sono circa 200 monoliti, alcuni isolati, altri in piccoli gruppi, altri ancora disposti in circoli o allineati fino a un numero di 20 menhir. Molti giacciono sul terreno, interi o spezzati, fuori dalla loro posizione originaria.
La visita di questo luogo mi ha veramente impressionato, per l’atmosfera di sacralità che le sue antichissime pietre riescono a trasmettere, ma anche perché si estende in mezzo ad alberi secolari, fra conifere, castagni e nocciole, in un ambiente naturale di emozionante bellezza.
(v. altre foto di Biru ‘e Concas nello stesso album “Pedras fittas, i menhir di Sardegna”).
FS 9.9.22
The Monastery at Lébény was established between 1199 and 1203, by a nobleman, for private worship. The complex was dedicated to the Apostle Saint James the Great. Though the existing charter for approving the donations and construction was signed by Andreas II (1208), one of the walls of the church had “1206” engraved in them, which may indicate that the church was already built at that time. It is also mentioned in the RegestrumVaradiense (an important language memorial), which was made in the late cathedral chapter of the present Oradea (Nagyvárad) in the 13th century. The monastery of Lébény was attacked and burnt down several times; the first by Mongols, then the second by King Ottokar I of Bohemia; and thereafter by the Turks, which was probably in 1529 and definitely in 1683. The monastery was taken back from the Turks by the arch-abbot of Pannonhalma in 1540. He named a new abbot, though the title only existed on paper for a little bit longer than two decades. In 1563 the monastery was burnt down again for the third time and was left devoured. Presently, the only part of the complex that is still standing is the iconic three-nave Romanesque church in the middle of Lébény village. This church is one of the most important Romanesque style buildings of Hungary, which was most probably restored in the 17th century by the Jesuits, and it was the first ever Hungarian monument that was restored in the second half of the 19th century. In addition, the Romanesque church is also operating as a parish of the village.
Lamayuru - Ladakh - West-Tibet - India
This is the photo in the monk's hand:
www.flickr.com/photos/a_lion/5002502832/in/photolist-nEtw...
Curiosity: Last day I was in this house. It was a dead and funeral ceremony. I gave as gift family some Dalai Lama photo.
Next day I walked in the street. The monk come out of the house and showed me this pic. He couldn't knew, that is my photo. He was very proud for the HHDL pic. I told him, this pic is my work. The monk smiled, and told me thanks, and blessed me. :-)
In the vicinity of Jelšava, an old mining village Rákoš hides a quiet church with unique Gothic paintings. The church was built on an elevated site in the northern part of the village under the slope of Železník Hill on top of which a castle of the Bubek Family was once standing.
The Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity is an early Gothic single-nave building from the mid-13th century. It has still a Romanesque horseshoe-shaped apse and slotted Romanesque windows, but the entrance portal is already formed by a Gothic arch. The nave has a flat wooden painted ceiling from the end of the 17th century. In front of the church stands a Baroque brick belfry with a wooden superstructure.
Wall paintings from the last third of the 15th century cover the walls and the vault of the chancel and almost the entire northern wall of the nave. High-quality Italian fresco paintings can be seen, a piece of art ordered by the wealthy noblemen from the House of Bubek. Travelling through northern Italy in the service of King Louis the Great, they had an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the best works of Italian masters whom they brought to the Kingdom of Hungary to decorate churches in Plešivec, Štítnik, and Rákoš. The vault of the sanctuary depicts the Christ Pantocrator with angels, the four church fathers and the symbols of the Evangelists (Matthew – angel, Mark – lion, Luke – bull, and John – eagle). On the walls of the sanctuary, we can find prophets, apostles and three saint kings: Ladislaus, Stephen, and Emeric. In the window lining, there are figures of women saints: Catherine, Barbara, Elisabeth and Margaret of Hungary. One of the most interesting parts is the unconventional depiction of Christ standing in a grave held by Mother Mary. The scene is complemented with the figures of an angel and of St. John the Baptist. Figures of saints, prophets, a depiction of the ten virgins, a partially damaged figure of the Virgin Mary Protector and a very well-preserved sitting figure of God with three faces giving blessings are on the walls of the triumphal arch. This unusual way of portraying the Holy Trinity which has been later banned by the Trident Council for its striking resemblance to the pagan god Triglav, still appears in two other locations in Slovakia – Ochtiná (logo of the Gothic Route) and Žehra.
The northern wall of the nave is almost entirely covered with murals in three horizontal bands. The upper band depicts scenes from the St. Ladislaus legend, it shows lancer horse riders of the St. Ladislaus’s royal entourage at the forefront, in a dynamic moment of fight with the Cumans. The second and the third band below portray the Last Judgment with the central figure of Christ the Redeemer with angels and a number of saints on the sides. Right below them we can see open graves from which dead are rising. Archangel Michael divides them into two groups, the saved ones, who walk to the left towards the heaven‘s gate, and the damned ones, whose chains are bound by the devils to the gate of hell. The most recent of the paintings date back to the first half of the 15th century; they depict the Assumption of the Virgin, individual figures of saints and the Stigmatization of St. Francis. We have chosen the hand of St. Francis with a stigma as the logo of the church. On the outer southern wall of the church, fragments of the painting of Madonna and Child have been preserved. Since 1992, there have been intermittent renewal activities of the church taking place, during which the restoration of murals was included. Furniture is stored and it would be returned into the church, once the restoration works are finished.
The monastery of the Benedictine Order at Pannonhalma was founded in 996 in Western Hungary and had a major role in the diffusion of Christianity in medieval Central Europe. The monastery shows a stratification of different architectural styles and various buildings.
Among these buildings: a school (the first ever school founded in the country), the monastic complex – home to the monks whose life is still based on St. Benedict’s Rule ‘Ora et labora’ -, the tourist welcome points and hospitality facilities, the Chapel of Our Lady, the Millennium Chapel and the botanical and herbal gardens.
www.comece.eu/christian-artworks-benedictine-archabbey-of...
Today the Idyllic Garden in Glimmen just to the south of Groningen in The Netherlands, in which I am a glad guest of my Latinist and Art Historian friends, was particularly beautiful. As Frogs sunned themselves on lilypads in the pond and dragonflies flitted to and fro, its fringes were alive with bees and butterflies frequenting autumnal flowers.
This Painted Lady - earlier in life as a caterpillar feasting on thistle (= Cardus) leaf - could not get its fill from this beautiful Vervain. An almost sacral sight, this coming time and again to these bright purple rods. Described they were by the great Carolus Linnaeus (1753) as 'bonariensis', from Buenos Aires or possibly Bonaire. And the air of this Edenic scene did justice to that name!
Duty in Groningen called, and I had to cycle off not heeding Elizabeth Barrett Browning's (1806-1861) exclamation:
"Sweet verbena! which being brushed against.
Will hold you three hours after by the smell..."
A pleasant valley of the meandering Muráň river south of Jelšava has a significant landmark. You cannot overlook the strategically interesting hill above the village of Šivetice, on which a brick Romanesque church dedicated to St. Margaret of Antioch was built in the middle of the 13th century. Šivetice belonged to the Jelšava estate back then and from the 15th century on was administered by the Castle of Muráň. In the past, the village was known for its typical ceramics.
The church has the shape of a rotunda with an internal diameter of 11 m and is one of the largest structures with circular footprint in Central Europe. In addition to the primary sacral significance, it is assumed that the rotunda originally served as a watchtower, taking into consideration its location on a hill and its proximity of a castle (that no longer exists). During the 14th century, the interior of the church was divided into a nave and a chancel by a monumental pointed triumphal arch. Original Romanesque murals depicting scenes from the legend of St. Margaret were covered by gothic paintings with the same theme and complemented with scenes of the Passion Cycle. Like many other Gemer temples, the rotunda of Šivetice belonged in the 17th century to the Evangelical Lutheran church. In the 18th century, the church was partially rebuilt into Baroque style and the bell tower with the entrance gate was inserted into the stone wall. A cemetery is surrounding the church nowadays.
Photo by Bill Tricomi
Every so often, a photographer captures an image that transcends his normal routine. Such is the case with this very special photo of my friend and belly dancer Arielle Juliette. There is a long story to be told here. If that reading taxes your patience too much, or if you simply wish to enjoy the beauty of this image without all the verbiage, that's okay. I ask only this: please keep all comments respectful, in tone with the story to follow. Also, please refrain from making the obvious, cheap shot comments about "topless belly dancing". This photo is ABOUT the dance, but is not Of the dance. For the record, Arielle does NOT dance topless! :-)
With that out of the way, I now take a page from the book of my flickr friend Garry Wilmore, who not only beautifully captures the motion of ballroom dance with his camera, but with his gift for words, often adds another dimension to his images with the "telling of the tale", as it were. I don't often take the time to do that with my photos, but this photo demands no less. As if to make up for past failings, this is going to take some time!
Those who have followed my photographic journey on flickr over the past few years are well aware that I specialize in photographing local belly dancers here in Madison, Wisconsin. Over that period of time, Arielle Juliette has become a particularly favorite model for both performance and studio shoots. Two main reasons for this are 1) she is exceptionally easy to photograph, as she loves being in front of the camera and the camera loves her right back; and 2) she has gone out of her way to act as my "practice dummy" on numerous occasions when I needed a live subject to test out my new found skills as a developing studio photographer. For that I owe her more thanks and gratitude than words can express.
Arielle has a couple of tattoos. This is not unusual these days, as it has become something of a fashion for young ladies to acquire such decoration. (Disclaimer: I ask for forgiveness in advance for my temerity in assuming I know anything about women. Let it be made abundantly clear, I am in no way an expert on such matters. To this day women remain a profoundly intriguing, beguiling mystery.) These tattoos often find an apparently favorite "home" toward the bottom of the spine at the sacral region just above the gluts. Tattoos are definitely common among my dancer friends. Mona, Ayperi, Nalingee, Mahela all have tattoos, Mahela being the only one lacking the lower back tat.
I became used to photographing Arielle and her tattoos, both
front and back, during her many appearances at the Med Hookah Lounge and Cafe, so I was rather complacent when Arielle would say that her back tattoo had significant meaning to her as a dancer. I had heard the story of "Life" and "Dance" many times already. It was only in late November of 2009, when Arielle wrote a lengthy note on Facebook, that I finally fully understood the symbolism behind her tattoo and the significant role that belly dance plays in her life.
I let Arielle tell the story in her own words...
Why must I dance? Why did I choose this life over any other?
When I was a child, I had always loved to dance, and it did not matter to what. The radio, the TV, whatever was playing a jingle, I was moving to it. My parents, surmising that this was an activity I enjoyed, tried enrolling me in several dance classes when I was 7. I tried ballet, hip hop and jazz, all of which I promptly quit, claiming "I don't want to do all this across the floor stuff. I want to dance!"
By the time I was 12, I believed that having quit formal dance training so young meant that I had effectively ended any dance career I might have had. I buried the dream, but the passion for dance lived on. I wanted it terribly, but would not allow myself even to fantasize. I still felt the burning desire to further my natural skill, so I started watching hip hop music videos religiously every day. I would fast forward, rewind, and rewatch rewatch rewatch. After I had seen the video enough times, I would try the moves I had watched so closely. The going was slow, but there was no deadline to meet and my craving was satiated, at least momentarily. The real satiety came during mixers, which are the dances my middle and high schools held. I loved mixers; I lived for them. I was too shy to really let loose, at least during my early teen years, but still I was known to "bust a move" on the dance floor.
And so my early dance years continued, and between watching music videos and practicing in my home and at the school events, I grew to be a good dancer by general standards. Although I had long since given up the dream of being a professional dancer, still the desire lingered on as displayed by a letter I wrote to myself when I was 15. Tom Harden, my teacher for Talented and Gifted English students, made everyone in the class write letters to themselves that he would then send to us 5 years later. My letter was completely unremarkable. I made mention of wanting to be a professional dancer or singer, but that since I lacked training I knew it to be an idle wish. I had no real ambition towards any other career, although it was clear that I could do anything that I wanted. And so it was true; I graduated with honors, I received a 32 on my ACT. With determination I could have gone anywhere and done anything. But I had no passion for school, and no passion for any of the careers I could have potentially had.
That is, I had no passion for any of my potential careers until I started bellydancing. When I was 16, my mom went to see a show that included a bellydance troupe named the Blue Lotus Tribe. She came back raving about how amazing the dancers were and how much I would like it... Little did I know how much that one show would change my life. I then embarked on a mission to find a bellydance teacher in Madison, and eventually I ended up emailing the Blue Lotus Tribe. They responded with several names, and I emailed every single one of them. At this point, fate must have intervened as Mona N'wal was the only one to answer my email, and how grateful I am that it was in to her lap I fell. On September 4th, 2004, 3 weeks before my 17th birthday, my mother and I went to our first bellydance class. I loved it from the very first- there was so much crossover between hip hop and bellydance, it came naturally to me, although I struggled to take the street out of my dance style. One class a week was not enough; soon we were attending two or three classes a week, repeating the ones we had already taken and moving on to the higher levels when we could.
In 2006, after two years of intensive study, I knew that this was what I wanted to do. I was not going to let my late start prevent me from being a professional dancer. I was so certain, in fact, that I got the tattoo on my back that is now my logo- a blue lotus in honor of the Blue Lotus Tribe, and the words "Dance" and "Life" in Arabic, because my life is dance. So why must I dance? Why must this be my career? I spent so many years dreaming, wishing, that I could dance professionally. I wanted it so bad, the longing that comes when you believe your longing will remain unsatisfied. There was nothing I wanted to be known as more than a dancer, so when I finally got my chance, I ran with it. And now, there is nothing that pleases me more than to be known or to introduce myself as "Arielle the Bellydancer". This is for what I waited my whole life, which is part of the reason why I kept my given name rather than choosing a stage name as most other dancers do. This is what I was born to do. The person that I am when I perform is Arielle at her most real; I am not putting up a facade or pretending to be someone else. Totally unselfconscious, I let the music move me to my soul, and hope that the movement it produces moves others to their souls as well.
When I was 15, I was in a bad accident on a ski hill, resulting in a fractured skull and an epidural hematoma- in layman's terms, I burst a blood vessel in my head that required an emergency craniotomy. I easily could have and, as I found out later, should have died, but my life was spared. I literally walked away with only a mild auditory processing disorder and an extremely keen sense of smell. Afterwards, many people said that I must be here to do something special, that my life was meaningful in some way. I know now that dance is the reason for which I was spared. I am here to touch lives.
Some people reading this may question how bellydance could touch someone's life; indeed, I have asked myself the same question in my times of doubt, wondering how I could possibly touch the world as a dance instructor. But then, I remember the person that I was before I found Middle Eastern Dance..... I suffered from severe depression, often turning to self-mutilation to stop the pain, and I was so full of self-loathing I could barely stand to see my own reflection. After many years of sexual abuse, I had disconnected from my body; it had not been my own for a long while. Discovering bellydance was about more than learning how to move to music in a new way; it was about reclaiming what I had lost. For the first time since I was 5 years old, my body is my own again. I found myself through this dance, and pulled myself from the darkest depths to become the person I am today. I do not like to think what would have become of me had I not started dancing.
To return to my original question again, why must this be my career? It is in my soul to dance; it is written in my destiny. Dance is the only thing that moves me entirely, the only thing which can occupy my brain to exclusion. It is the only thing I have wanted for my entire life. I must be the best, the biggest name in bellydance, the biggest legend that ever was, because I must reach the largest audience possible. I need to bring Middle Eastern dance to as many people as I can that have ever felt how I felt; if it can save me, it can save others as well. And in the end, if I reach only one person, only touch one life, then all the sweat, blood and tears that I have put in to my profession will be well worth it.
But I trust in myself, and I trust in the universe, that I will do more than that.
I was absolutely dumbfounded. i knew that Arielle had had a "troubled" past, but I never realized what that actually meant until I read her 'Very personal story of why I dance". Once I read it, I had a mission I was driven to accomplish. I told Arielle that some day I wanted her in my studio. I wanted her back and tattoo, with nothing else getting in the way, in front of my camera. Somehow I was going to visually capture and tell her story with a single image. We talked, we planned, we talked some more.
Finally, on Sunday, Jan 17, 2010, with Phaedra on hand as artistic director - this photo owes much to her creative, artistic eye for detail - we put it all together.
It's a seemingly simple portrait - Arielle's inner core, her back and tattoo, surrounded by the draping of the belly dancer's veil. That simplicity is very misleading.
Arielle saw the image and said how happy she was that it turned out as it did, because "when I was posing I was thinking 'please universe help me become a star' or drawing in the energy of the universe, and I wanted my pose to read that thought or energy. I think it's safe to say that was accomplished. I like it even more because there's so much emotional charge to so simple of a picture."
I smiled at that, telling her I had a similar impression but with a somewhat opposite interpretation. "While you say you were reaching out to the universe for inspiration, drawing in its energy, I saw something very different. You are presenting - revealing - yourself to the universe, arms open in welcome, hiding nothing, all inviting. You are saying, 'I am Arielle, unveiled. THIS is who and what I am. Come DANCE with me!' "
The Blue Lotus is the key to her new life. The words "Dance" and "Life" are joined together in that new life. For Arielle, to live is to dance; to dance is to live. This is the ICONIC Arielle.
097/365
It was time to go home and I really was relieved that the conference was almost over. After breakfast I walked through the neighbourhood to take pictures and take my mind off the bad news for a while. I then went into this church and lit some candles. I'm not a religious person but I thought it would be a nice gesture that my grandmother would have appreciated.
Örményország - Armenia
Քարահունջ
Carahunge (örményül: Zorats Karer) a világ legősibb obszervatóriuma Örményországban, Jerevántól 200km-re. Korát 7500 évre becsülik, vagyis idősebb, mint az angliai Stonehenge. 222 db kő van koncentrikus körökben felállítva, ebből 84 lyukas.
Könnyen lehet, hogy az úgynevezett "horgonykövek" is igazából ősi pogány csillagvizsgáló kövek.
"KBAL SPEAN" was taken it name after a local who pronounced a portion of natural stone which lies across the river and resembles to that of a bridge. This site had been established as a sacred site for more than a millenium and the evidence could be substantiated by archaeological vestages such as incriptions and relief, w/c are mostly dated to the 11th & 13th centuries. With the belief that the water flows from KBAL SPEAN, as the source of development and prosperity, from just above the natural bridge to the north and down to the waterfall below, the KBAP SPEAN is covered with scuptures of lingas, the symbol of the god's Shivas supreme essence. A group of lingas inside the yoni can also be seen. Likewise, the riverbanks,along the basins carved deep into the riverbed, are sculpted with variety of symbol and scenes w/c are related to the god Shiva as well as insriptions. The other scenes include the reclining god Vishnu bin the middle of the ocean in meditation and absord the watery chaos below, and from the navel, a growing lotus flower bears the god Brahma, the god of creator. Flowing past and over these reliefs,the water is being sacralized before creating into a Russei river, which is branching off to form the Siem Reap and Pouk Rivers.
Thank you all guys..
Taken with ND filter 10 stops...
30secs..
CHeers!
The Monastery at Lébény was established between 1199 and 1203, by a nobleman, for private worship. The complex was dedicated to the Apostle Saint James the Great. Though the existing charter for approving the donations and construction was signed by Andreas II (1208), one of the walls of the church had “1206” engraved in them, which may indicate that the church was already built at that time. It is also mentioned in the RegestrumVaradiense (an important language memorial), which was made in the late cathedral chapter of the present Oradea (Nagyvárad) in the 13th century. The monastery of Lébény was attacked and burnt down several times; the first by Mongols, then the second by King Ottokar I of Bohemia; and thereafter by the Turks, which was probably in 1529 and definitely in 1683. The monastery was taken back from the Turks by the arch-abbot of Pannonhalma in 1540. He named a new abbot, though the title only existed on paper for a little bit longer than two decades. In 1563 the monastery was burnt down again for the third time and was left devoured. Presently, the only part of the complex that is still standing is the iconic three-nave Romanesque church in the middle of Lébény village. This church is one of the most important Romanesque style buildings of Hungary, which was most probably restored in the 17th century by the Jesuits, and it was the first ever Hungarian monument that was restored in the second half of the 19th century. In addition, the Romanesque church is also operating as a parish of the village.
Rustem Pasha Mosque -
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
The fortified early Gothic church from the first half of the 14th century was built on the site of an older building. In the 15th century it was fortified with a wall and a wooden bell tower was built on the grounds in 1657. The single-nave space with a square-ended presbytery and a built-in sacristy has a painted cassette ceiling from 1758, the presbytery is characteristic by its rib vault. The mural paintings date back to the 60s of the 14th century and the creator of at least a part of them is the Master of Ochtiná presbytery. These interior frescoes were discovered in the early 20th century by I. Huszka who was restoring them in 1905. All the paintings, interior and exterior ones, were completely restored between 1983 and 1985 by J. Josefík, L. Székely and I. Žuch.
Within the almost intact medieval church, the murals have a uniquely strong impression and informative value, thanks to their scale and complexity of preservation. Thematically they focus on individual scenes from the Marian and the Passion cycle, but they do not have a uniform concept unlike the upper belt on the nave’s northern wall with a complete depiction of the St. Ladislaus legend.
als zusammengesetztes/stiched Panorama
Nach zweimaligem reinklicken kann man mit dem Kursor im Bild herumfahren und viel mehr Einzelheiten entdecken.
After clicking twice you can move the cursor around the image and discover many more details.
The ancient city is only about to wake up, and it was really chilly ... It was hardly possible to see anything while you were travelling by boat.
To take actual shots I had to get more close to the object though the fog was all around quite thick, but the atmosphere was something incredible that I've never felt before, a pure mystic pleasure that will wave you to come back here again and again.
Sentado, fui testar o filtro de densidade neutra variável, quando olhei para o alto esse garoto me xeretava por cima. Agradeci a composição....
Meu menino deus tem ascendência espartana e disputará a sombra da cruz com a geração decadente e serrará todas as cruzes e devolverá a sacralidade às curvas da natureza. Meu menino deus ao manipular livros salvará a si antes dos velhos, meu menino deus saberá a hora de me enterrar embaixo do fogo! E rezará pelas cachoeiras, pelas matas, mares e águas todas do por aí. Meu menino deus terá saudade de futuro...
Zusammengesetztes/stiched Panorama
Nach zweimaligem reinklicken kann man mit dem Kursor im Bild herumfahren und viel mehr Einzelheiten entdecken.
After clicking twice you can move the cursor around the image and discover many more details.
My road trip yesterday took me out of the Schengen zone for the first time since we became part of it. It was uneventful like it should be!
Here's a photo I took. It's Harmanska/Ić-Hisar mosque in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mosque was built in 1797, renovated in 1967 and again in 2002.
Taken with Panasonic GX7 digital mirrorless camera and Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4 lens.
L’area archeologica di Sa Fronte ‘e Uda è situata lungo il margine dell’altopiano basaltico che domina a nord-est il solco vallivo del Rio Murtazzolu e a sud il paese di Dualchi. I due monumenti che la compongono, non facili da individuare, sono situati a breve distanza fra loro, confusi in mezzo ai massi di basalto.
FS 18.9.19