World History and Beauty

18/07/2024

The oldest carpet in the world from the fifth century BCE was discovered inside the frozen tomb of a nomadic tribal chief at Pazyryk in southern Siberia.

Wise-ranging horsemen, the tribe maintained contacts with distant cultures. The carpet’s design comes from Persia, yet it was found among bronze and silk artifacts from beyond the Great Wall of China.

14/07/2023

Medieval Manuscript Illuminations: Rare as medieval manuscripts are, they are far more numerous than their ancient predecessors. An important invention, dating to the 1st century in the Roman Empire, the codex, the earliest form of bookbinding, greatly aided the dissemination of manuscripts as well as their preservation.

The example of an illuminated manuscript pictured here is a copy of the entire Holy Scriptures in German language, published in 1535.

Vellum (calfskin) and parchment (lambskin), which provided better surfaces for painting, also replaced the comparatively brittle papyrus used for ancient scrolls. As a result, the artistic ornamentation of sacred books became increasingly typical during the Middle Ages.

Art historians refer to the luxurious painted books produced printed before the invention of the printing press as illuminated manuscripts, from the Latin "illuminare," meaning " to adorn ornament or brighten."

The oldest example, dates to the fifth or sixth centuries.

22/06/2023

The monastery of Cluny in France.

Cluny was the main church of a large chain of churches throughout Europe.

https://historymedieval.com/cluny-pioneering-a-profound-spiritual-revival/

18/06/2023

Flags in a room in the interior of the Leuven Town Hall

18/06/2023

A room in the Leuven Town Hall.

18/06/2023

The Leuven Town Hall with blue sky.

18/06/2023

A sunset near the Leuven Town Hall, Leuven, Belgium.

18/06/2023

The Leuven Town hall, Leuven, Belgium.

18/06/2023

A street leading up to the Town Hall of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

18/06/2023

A park in Leuven, Belgium.

18/06/2023

The most well-known organizations and buildings in European history are the churches, intended to represent the Kingdom of God, where serious matters of repentance, worship, and love for the people as reflections of the Kingdom, are preached about, and put into practice in daily life. The Bible commands that local churches be governed by lead servant Christians who hold the offices of overseer, elder, and deacon. However, every church has a different church government structure, and defines "overseer-elder" and "deacon" differently.

14/06/2023

If you drive two hours south of Paris, you’ll come across the northern Burgundy commune of Treigny. At first, you might not think anything of the community with a population of just under 800, but if you travel to the nearby woodland area, you’ll find a reason to stay a while.

Guédelon Castle is a 13th-century medieval castle that’s currently under construction in the woods near Treigny. Slated to be completed in 2023, the structure is being built using the techniques and tools that were accessible to those living in the Middle Ages. This will ensure that, while it’s technically a modern castle, it still shares the characteristics of one built during the 1200s.

To construct Guédelon Castle, a team of forty master-builders was amassed. Among those on the team include stonemasons, woodcutters, quarrymen, tilers, blacksmiths, rope makers, carters and carpenter-jointers. Together, they’ve been steadily making progress and have largely succeeded in making a modern-day medieval castle.

08/06/2023

Walking trail in the mountains of São Miguel Island, Azores Hiking trails crisscross much of the landscape on the nine islands in the Azores archipelago, a far-flung autonomous region of Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean. Because the Azores are the peaks of vast mountains straddling active tectonic plates, the topography here is a dazzling mix of volcanic forms. On São Miguel Island, caldera lakes gleam below the jagged green cones of ancient volcanos. Hot springs and mud pots hiss and bubble in the island’s Furnas Valley.

The trail around the Sete Cidades caldera reveals jaw-dropping vistas like the one we see in our image.

08/06/2023

Azenhas do Mar is a seaside town in the municipality of Sintra, Portugal. It is part of Colares civil parish. Azenhas do Mar means Watermills of the Sea and the name derives from a once-powerful stream that moved the watermills as it made its way to the sea.

31/05/2023

The Church of the Holy Cross on Akhtamar Island on Van Lake (modern-day Turkey) was built around 915-921 as the palace chapel for King Gagik of the Armenian kingdom of Vaspurakan.

Photos of the exterior, the interior, the relief sculptures, and the paintings of the medieval Armenian church, a work of magnificent craftsmanship, stone masonry, and architecture taken by Serif Yenen Travel.

27/04/2023

Carcassonne, a fortress city in France, dating to the 13th century.

01/02/2023

Terrace houses in Ephesus

15/11/2022

Albrechtsburg Castle near Wolfsburg, Germany.

08/10/2022

Jiuzhaigou National Park in Sichuan, China.

08/09/2022

31/08/2022

In the Guangxi Province of China, Ancient Town has a history of nearly one thousand years. It is decorated by lush mountains, lucid water, and small bridges, with intact ancient buildings, looking like a paradise.

31/08/2022

The fields in Jiamian Township, Congjiang County, southwest ’s Province. There is beauty in the healthy vegetation in the fields, hills,
and mountains with the teal sky and clouds.

31/08/2022

The fields in Jiamian Township, Congjiang County, southwest ’s Province.

03/07/2022

Shangri-La City, Yunnan Province, China.

29/06/2022

Bacharach, Germany near the St. Peter’s Church.