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    Confluence not Erasure: The Church of El Salvador in Toledo, Spain

    Confluence not Erasure: The Church of El Salvador in Toledo, Spain

    Mezquita/Cathedral del Cristo de la Luz – Where Architecture Tells a Tale

    Mezquita/Cathedral del Cristo de la Luz – Where Architecture Tells a Tale

    The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca In Toledo, Spain—often called the “City of Three Cultures”

    The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca In Toledo, Spain—often called the “City of Three Cultures”

    East Side Gallery, Berlin

    Neptune Fountain in Berlin

    Neptune Fountain in Berlin

    Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

    Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

    Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

    Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

    Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

    Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

    Abu Serga Church, Cairo

    Abu Serga Church, Cairo

    The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

    The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

    Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

    Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

    Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

    Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

    Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

    Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

    Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

    Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

    Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

    Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

    Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

    Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

    A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

    A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

    Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

    Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

    Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

    Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

    The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

    The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

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      Confluence not Erasure: The Church of El Salvador in Toledo, Spain

      Confluence not Erasure: The Church of El Salvador in Toledo, Spain

      Mezquita/Cathedral del Cristo de la Luz – Where Architecture Tells a Tale

      Mezquita/Cathedral del Cristo de la Luz – Where Architecture Tells a Tale

      The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca In Toledo, Spain—often called the “City of Three Cultures”

      The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca In Toledo, Spain—often called the “City of Three Cultures”

      East Side Gallery, Berlin

      Neptune Fountain in Berlin

      Neptune Fountain in Berlin

      Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

      Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

      Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

      Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

      Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

      Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

      Abu Serga Church, Cairo

      Abu Serga Church, Cairo

      The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

      The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

      Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

      Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

      Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

      Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

      Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

      Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

      Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

      Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

      Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

      Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

      Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

      Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

      A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

      A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

      Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

      Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

      Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

      Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

      The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

      The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

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      A Tour of Boston Public Library

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      Boston Public Library is the first free to all library in USA. It was established in 1848 and this present building was completed in 1895.

      Famous Boston architect Charles Follen McKim designed it.

      McKim called the Library built in the Renaissance Revival style a “palace for the people” when it opened in 1895. 

      At the entrance on either sides are two statues representing art holding a palette and brush( right) and science holding a globe( left).

      These allegorical statues were made by Bela Pratt and installed in 1912 at the entrance to the library.

      It is built from pale pink granite, with perfect classical proportions.

      The vaulted ceiling has name of 30 prominent Bostonians.

      The staircase hall is formed of yellow Siena marble

      On either side of the staircase are the two lions that memorialize two Massachusetts volunteer infantries in the Civil War: the Second and the Twentieth.

      On the second floor all around are murals by French painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, one of the greatest muralists of the 19th century. This was the only work he did outside France and Puvis never saw the work installed. “He painted his library panels on Belgian linen in Paris and shipped them to Boston for installation in 1895-96 using the marouflage technique, binding the canvases to their plaster niches with a paste of lead white and linseed oil. With their harmonious palette, which the artist chose from referencing a sample of the staircase’s Siena marble, the paintings integrate seamlessly into their architectural surround.”

      https://www.bpl.org/mckim-points-of-interest/

      On the left of the staircase we have Philosophy with 2 figures shown in conversation, reading a bound codex.

      Center is Astronomy with the Chaldean Shepherds, regarding the stars.

      At far right History is represented in a red robe calling the spirits of the past from Caves below

      The three panels on the right panels depict the 3 poetries. On the left side is Pastoral Poetry with Virgil.

      At the center is Dramatic Poetry with Aeschylus in the foreground, backed by sea nymphs, the Oceanides.

      On the right is Epic Poetry with Homer crowned by the Iliad and Odessey

      Chemistry on left of the hall has a fairy wave her wand over elements undergoing ‘mysterious change’ watched closely by crouching spirits

      Physics mural has modern technology with Telegraph wire bearing what painter Puvis de Chavannes called “The wondrous agency of Electricity”

      Two figures r shown traveling across the wires representing communication

      The one above has good news, below bad news

      The long panel in front of Bates hall isThe Muses of Inspiration Hail the spirit, the messenger of light.

      The 9 muses in white dress against a pastoral background of field& sea welcome the Spirit of Enlightenment represented by a small figure on top of hall door

      the Abbey room or holding room ( waiting room for delivery of books) with the Quest and achievement of the Holy Grail painted by Edwin Austin Abbey installed 1895-1902

      The highlight of the library is the John Singer Sargent murals. The great American painter considered them his most important work, created over a period of 30 years.  Titled “The Triumph of Religion” and painted in the style of Italian Renaissance frescos, the murals depict the development of world religions and are very different from his society portraits that you’ll see in the Museum of Fine Arts.

      Frieze of Prophets

      Visible in this eastern portion of the Pagan Gods arch is Astarte, the goddess of sensuality enrobed in swaths of light blue and adorned with jewels rendered in glass and metal relief.

      Astarte

      Dogma of the Redemption; Trinity and Crucifix, Frieze of Angels

      This panel was left incomplete.

      “Following the 1919 installation of images of Synagogue and Church on the hall’s east wall, a controversy erupted around the depiction of Synagogue, with legions calling the panel defamatory to Judaism and demanding its removal. Sargent insisted that he had no intention for the painting to carry this message, but nevertheless found his project enveloped by a public storm. He never completed the final, central panel along the east wall, intended to illustrate the Sermon on the Mount, before he passed away in 1925; the panel remains blank to this day.”

      https://www.bpl.org/mckim-points-of-interest/

      Synagogue

      Church

      The Reading Room

      This figure of the girl and the Swan was outside what used to be the Children ‘s Room

      “Charles Follen McKim designed the Central Library’s courtyard after that of the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome. Its covered arcade surrounds an open plaza skirted by white marble and low greenery, at the center of which lies a pool and fountain.

      The keynote of the courtyard is arguably the bronze statue of Bacchante and Infant Faun by Frederick MacMonnies, gifted to the library by McKim himself. When she was unveiled in 1896, Bacchante caused a frenzy among Bostonians, who were outraged by her apparent embrace of drinking (she clasps a symbolic bunch of grapes in her outstretched hand), debauchery (as a nude, dancing figure), and worst of all, her subjecting the infant held in her left arm to this behavior. The community clamored for her removal, and in 1897, McKim transferred his gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

      Nearly a century later, the city commissioned a cast of the Boston Museum of Fine Art’s copy of the original Bacchante, returning her to her original location as part of the McKim building restoration project in the 1990s.”

      https://www.bpl.org/mckim-points-of-interest/

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      Come, explore and fall in love the Beauties of Delhi (Dilli ki Ranaiya’n) and the World with me, Rana Safvi

      I have a masters in medieval history from the prestigious Centre for Advanced Studies, Dept. of History, AMU. A firm believer in our Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, I am passionate about gaining and sharing knowledge and these days I am doing it via the social media platform.

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