Category Archives: Museums

Day 447 In Beijing: Hagia Sofia, Part 4.

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The scaffolding and the interior of the Hagia Sofia.

The scaffolding and the interior of the Hagia Sofia.

 

Jill and I decided that the pictures were not quite enough to show the beauty of this amazing structure.

We decided we’d do a quick video.

It really is hard to comprehend all the work, time, and architectural knowledge that went into making a building like this about 1500 years ago.

I hope you have enjoyed visiting it and might even be tempted to go to Istanbul and see it yourself.

Trust me, as you will see in the next few weeks, this is just the start of places, and things, to see in Turkey.

 

 

Day 446 In Beijing: Hagia Sofia, Part 3.

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The view of the dome through the chandelier.

The view of the dome through the chandelier.

Jill’s and my journey continues.

You would think that one blog post about the Hagia Sofia would be enough.

However, it isn’t even close to enough.

I’ve got hundreds of pictures that I could post but I’ve decided to limit them.

I’ve cut it down to about 40 or so and they barely even touch the surface of the amazing Church/Mosque/Museum that is the Hagia Sofia.

 

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Day 445 In Beijing: Hagia Sofia, Part 2.

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The dome. Notice how it is not perfectly circular.

The dome. Notice how it is not perfectly circular.

 

Jill and I continued our tour around the Hagia Sofia.

We were both in awe and could barely talk.

I know, this doesn’t happen that often.

Enjoy the moment.

 

 

 

 

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Day 444 In Beijing: Hagia Sophia, Part 1.

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A mosaic of Mary and Jesus.

A mosaic of Mary and Jesus.

This might take awhile.

So, I’m going to keep it short and sweet and let the pictures speak for themselves.

The Hagia Sofia is mind blowing.

There is no other way to describe it.

From the outside is it monumental and awe inspiring.

From the inside it compares to anything I’ve seen in my travels around this Earth.

I’m planning about four days of posts on the Hagia Sofia because there are so many pictures and a video or two.

For starters, the history of this museum is amazing.

It was build in 537 and was an orthodox church until 1453.

It was then a mosque from 1453 until 1931.

In 1935 it became a museum.

It was the focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly 1,000 years.

The amazing dome has collapsed at least once and had to be rebuilt.

The other domes have also collapsed.

It has been ransacked and almost totally destroyed through the years but somehow survived.

It had many Christian mosaics on the walls that were then covered by the Muslims who took control of Istanbul.

Luckily, they didn’t destroy the mosaics, but instead, were plastered over and, therefore, saved to be renovated and shown as they are today.

It was a joy, and a wonder, to stand underneath the dome of the Hagia Sophia and just take in the history, the art work, and the power.

The best way to explain it is to click the wikipedia link and then look at my pictures.

 

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Day 339 in Beijing: 798 Art District, Part 2.

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One of our favorite pieces of graffiti art,

One of our favorite pieces of graffiti art,

Jill and I continued to walk around and check out the scene.

We were very impressed and noticed a massive building off a side street.

It was totally covered in graffitti and we noticed some other people taking pictures of it.

Being that I work Sunday through Wednesday, we often go places when other people are at work, so the locations are quite empty.

However, there were a lot of people visiting from out of town and so there were more tourists than usual compared to when we normally go sightseeing.

We walked up and notice a few high school aged girls taking pictures and waited for them to finish.

They looked at us and one of them started speaking English and asked us where we are from, do we live in Beijing and so forth.  They were on vacation from their high school and in Beijing only for a few days.

Jill and I have gotten used to being asked these kinds of questions, here in Beijing, and when we travel to other parts of China.

We don’t find it rude but it can be somewhat tiring as we sort of feel as if we are “monkeys in a zoo” and never really allowed to fit in completely.

Even on the subway or walking around beijing, a city of 23 million people, we are often stared at and looked at with amazement.

Now, we are good looking folks, but not that good looking.  Just kidding!

We also realize that expatriates are still fairly rare to a lot of people here and we want to make a good example so that people don’t believe everything they see on tv and that most Americans aren’t running around, shooting each other and dealing drugs.  We are just people who are trying to get along and survive, like most anyone else.

These girls then asked Jill, which I sort of expected, if she would take a picture with them.

This happens to us a lot.

Again, we aren’t that good looking, we are just average, but we are different here and so people want to take pictures with us.

I could never imagine going up to someone, who I don’t know in the USA, and just saying, “Oh, can I take a picture with you because you don’t look like me?” but people do here.  And it isn’t done in a rude or offensive way.  They just love selfies and love taking pictures with people.

So, Jill being Jill, she jumped right in and they took a few pictures.

After this, we continued on our way and just enjoyed the art and gorgeous day with very low pollution and blue skies.

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Day 234 in Beijing: The Melaka Sultanate Waterwheel.

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The beautiful Sultanate waterwheel.

The beautiful Sultanate waterwheel.

As Jill and I continued to explore Melaka, we left the Flor de la Mar museum and headed over to the Melaka Sultanate Water Wheel and took some time relaxing by this beautiful recreation of a waterwheel.

It was built in 2007, using ancient Islamic technology, and is the first and largest waterwheel in Malaysia.

It stands 13 meters tall, or about 36 feel, and cost about 1.5 million ringgit to build.  That equates to about $500,000 USD.

It supposedly represents the wheel of life and humanity’s evolution.

I found that to quite fitting and relished the chance to just let the water flow and move at its own pace.

 

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Day 233 in Beijing: Flor de la Mar Museum.

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My favorite shot of the day.

My favorite shot of the day.

Jill and I decided to explore some of Melaka’s museums today.

One of the most famous museums, and there are 34 museums in Melake presently, is the Flor de la Mar Museum.

It is located inside the replica of the Flor de la Mar ship that helped the Portugese conquer Melake in 1511.

The ship seems to have been the largest ship in the fleet and, because of that reason, was able to carry lots of cargo and treasure.

It also wasn’t particularly seaworthy and it was very difficult to manage her in the waters.

On the day of November 20th, she sailed into a storm and was lost.  She had been sailing home with a large trove of treasure and a full crew.  Much of it was lost and many of the crew died because of this wreck.

The museum houses a large collection of arms, statues of famous people, and information on different ships and why they were important.

We spent about 1 hour or so in it and had fun seeing how the world was “discovered” and thinking about how difficult it would have been to live a life of a sailor during that time.

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