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    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

    Buddha statues in Guimet Museum, Paris

    Buddha statues in Guimet Museum, Paris

    Museum of Scholars, Khiva , Uzbekistan

    Museum of Scholars, Khiva , Uzbekistan

    Malika e Kishwar’s grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

    Malika e Kishwar’s grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

    Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara

    Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara

    Gur e Amir, mausoleum of Amir Timur in Samarqand,Uzbekistan

    Gur e Amir, mausoleum of Amir Timur in Samarqand,Uzbekistan

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      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

      Buddha statues in Guimet Museum, Paris

      Buddha statues in Guimet Museum, Paris

      Museum of Scholars, Khiva , Uzbekistan

      Museum of Scholars, Khiva , Uzbekistan

      Malika e Kishwar’s grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

      Malika e Kishwar’s grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

      Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara

      Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara

      Gur e Amir, mausoleum of Amir Timur in Samarqand,Uzbekistan

      Gur e Amir, mausoleum of Amir Timur in Samarqand,Uzbekistan

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      Something to remember, something to forget: Berlin’s memorials to chilling memories

      inMy Travels
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      Neue Wache

      We left the Museum Island and walked on to Unter den Linden Street. There is no missing a beautiful neo-classical building. Drawn by the crowds there I also went in.

      20121010-010150.jpg

      Originally built as a guardhouse for the troops of the Crown Prince of Prussia, by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel the Neue Wache ( or New Guard House) building has been used as a war memorial since 1931.

      Nothing prepared me for what I saw inside. Its a huge bare room with an open roof. Under it sits the Käthe Kollwitz sculpture Mother with her Dead Son and the oculus, which exposes the sculpture to the elements.

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      The oculus or opening in the roof for the elements to pour in, seemed to me to symbolise the enlightenment of those who pause to reflect on the ravages of war.

      Interestingly enough since Unter den Linten was in the Soviet part of Berlin , in 1960 the repaired Neue Wache was reopened as a Memorial to the Victims of Fascism and Militarism. In 1969, the 20th anniversary of the GDR, a glass prism structure with an eternal flame was placed in center of the hall. And the remains of the Unknown Soldier and of an unknown concentration camp victim from World War II were enshrined in the building.
      Something which seemed quite incompatible to many!

      Book Burning Memorial
      In Berlin, some 40,000 people gathered in the Opernplatz / now Bebelplatz to hear Joseph Goebbels deliver a fiery address: “No to decadence and moral corruption!” Goebbels enjoined the crowd. “Yes to decency and morality in family and state! I consign to the flames the writings of Heinrich Mann, Ernst Gläser, Erich Kästner.”
      On 10th May 1933 members of the SA (“brownshirts”), SS, Nazi students and Hitler Youth groups burnt pver 20,000 books.

      20121010-021205.jpg

      Bebelplatz with the Opera House on the left ( being reconstructed) , the Catholic Church, St. Hedwig in the centre , and end of square and the law dept of Humboldt University on the right

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      Just near it a line of Heinrich Heine is engraved, stating “Das war ein vorspiel nur wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen” (in English: “Where they burn books, they ultimately burn people”)
      Heine was one of the authors whose books were burned that day.

      Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
      There are many memorials in Berlin and most of them symbolic.

      The most famous of these is the memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe also known as the Holocaust Memorial and is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. it is designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. It consists of a 19,000 square metres (4.7 acres) site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or “stelae”, arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field.

      20121010-015054.jpg

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      There are many explanations for this design . To me it seemed like so many tombstones but apparently according to Eisenman’s project text, the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.
      According to s 2005 copy of the Foundation for the Memorial’s official English tourist pamphlet,the design represents a radical approach to the traditional concept of a memorial.
      I suppose like all symbolism it depends on the imagination, scope and understanding of the viewer.

      20121010-193144.jpg

      Topography of Terror

      The most feared address in Berlin was the building located in the former Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse,now Niederkirchnerstrasse.I was easy to go in but almost impossible to come out. This was the Headquarter of the dreaded Gestapo and S,S the principal instruments of repression during the Nazi era

      During WW2 this location was heavily bombarded and whatever was left of it was later razed to the ground after the war.The boundary between the American and Soviet zones of occupation in Berlin ran along the Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, so the street soon became a fortified boundary, and the Berlin Wall ran along the south side of the street.
      Today there is an outdoor museum alongside the longest segment of remains of the outer Berlin Wall .

      It chronicles the horrors and atrocities of the Nazis from the period 1933 to their fall in 1945.

      This was one of the successful escapes from East Germany to West Germany using nylon ropes,

      Soviets patrolling Berlin after the war

      Watch the video here: Berlin In Your Pocket – Topography of Terror

      Its only when we openly admit our mistakes that we can redress them.a
      India can you hear me?nd wounds can heal and we can move forward like Germans have.

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      Rana Safvi

      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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