Balinese have traditionally conducted a ceremony to straighten out the world. A long procession winds to the sea, where people leave offerings.
They believe that this calms the forces under the land, which they imagine as a giant turtle that causes earthquakes when he fidgets. [click to continue…]
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Many Indian temples seem the opposite of Greek ones. Instead of reducing forms to clear lines, many Indian shrines project so many gods and forms in all directions that they can overwhelm you.
The variety of ideas about the meaning of temples is just as profuse. [click to continue…]
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After we drove into Amman from the airport, my guide and I stopped at a restaurant that looked like a desert castle. We were escorted into the courtyard, where all the tables sat on crimson carpets under dark goat-haired tents.
The food was carb-heavy. People ate delicious breads that they dipped into sauces. Most men smoked hookah pipes. Nobody seemed to exercise much. The focus in Jordan and Egypt was on sitting with the family and sharing human warmth. [click to continue…]
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Flying over the Holy Land is dramatic, even at 35,000 feet. You see long stretches of tan with no other colors. No vegetation or clouds, just pure desolation that threatens to engulf you, even at this soaring altitude.
The monotony is broken by jagged mountains that seem as hostile to life as the sands. This isn’t the Greek measured landscape, with clear distinctions between coastline and land, and between valleys and wild uplands. You’re entering a different world. [click to continue…]
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I just returned home from my month-long trip to China. It was far beyond expectations. The people’s friendliness and warmth impressed me the most.
A warm welcome in Beijing
I found that some of the media don’t understand this wonderfully deep culture very well. China is often painted as “the other” but I found its people some of the friendliest I ever met. [click to continue…]
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I entered Thailand after exploring Khmer temples in Cambodia. Its art is some of the most enchanting I’ve ever seen, and some of the most under-appreciated in the world.
The Grand Palace in Bangkok
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If you fancy all things medieval, here are my favorite places for immersion in the Middle Ages.
1. Assisi. You walk through an entire town of 13th and 14th century buildings until you come to St. Francis’ Basilica. Giotto painted scenes from his life on its walls with far more realism than any European painter had created. You see people praying, kissing, crying–you might forget the century you’re in.
2. Regensburg, Germany. This town by the Danube has the largest collection of 13th century buildings in Germany. It’s most atmospheric when you view it from the island in the middle of the river in the evening.
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K.C. Chang wrote that dragons were venerated in China at least 5,000 years ago. Now that’s continuity.
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We explored Angkor Wat’s outer enclosures in the last two posts, Angkor Wat One, and Angkor Wat Two. Now we’ll approach its center.
1. After you walk around the stone carvings on the walls that surround the central towers, a staircase takes you towards the center. There are now fewer sculptures–you’re leaving worldly affairs and approaching more mysterious powers.
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Of all the Gothic buildings I’ve explored, these are the most significant in artistic history.
1. The abbey church of Saint Denis, Paris. The mother of them all. King Louis the Fat’s right hand man, Abbot Suger, implemented the first full examples of Gothic style in the entrance and choir of the old basilica, including a glorious collection of stained-glass windows. Suger wanted the altar to be bathed in light. Mission accomplished.
Suger did this work around 1140, when Angkor Wat was being built in Cambodia. But no other culture made anything like Gothic cathedrals. Only the West was able to build large inner spaces in stone and line the walls with stained-glass windows that filled them with light. Please come in and explore one of the greatest art forms in world history.
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