Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
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Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds travel blog informs you in Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds. Art and Architecture Worlds website is dedicated to architecture, art, archaeological sites, and the adventures of travel. On the site, you can keep up with her travels with Smithsonian Journeys and also with her independent travels on her travel blog.
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
The Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo is not often visited by tourists, who focus instead on ancient Egyptian wonders, but it’s well worth visiting and has a fantastic collection. There’s a very nice set of Abbasid bowls from Iraq dating from around the 8th or 9th century. They have elegant inscriptions in Arabic in ..read more
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
This is a detail from a remarkable artifact in the new Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo. It’s from an ivory chariot, with the cart showing victorious deeds of the pharaoh. Here, the pharaoh grabs the hair of a group of his enemies and readies to ‘smite’ them. The raise their hands in submission, a ..read more
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
One of the most common types of figural Roman sarcophagi shows a wedding scene. The sarcophagus is meant ultimately to hold the remains of both husband and wife, who will then remain together in the hereafter. Frequently, if the couple was willing to pay for it, the lid might show the husband and wife reclining ..read more
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
Here’s the first of four images from a tomb in the Egyptian site of Saqqara. In this relief, a man in a boat is trying to entice a cow to cross the river. To accomplish this, he has taken her calf and is dangling it off the stern, much to the mother cow’s chagrin. But ..read more
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
Here’s a second image from a tomb at Saqqara, Egypt. This relief shows a fishing scene, with a man in a boat dipping a sort of scoop-like net. The most compelling detail, however, are the reeds on the left, and if you look closely you’ll see a frog with his eyes on a dragonfly (the ..read more
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
Here’s a third image from a tomb at Saqqara, Egypt. It shows a detail from a procession of men bringing offerings to a temple. Here, you can see details of a finely woven basket, to the left fronds of papyrus, and two live ducks who seem to realize their fate ..read more
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
Here’s a fourth image from tombs at Saqqara, in Egypt. This one shows a row of dancers performing a dance of worship. It required, as you can see, quite a degree of athleticism and flexibility ..read more
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
Throughout the Middle Ages, Muslim cultures were for the most part more advanced than “western” or Christian cultures. Geometry, mathematics, and astronomy were particularly advanced. These studies had implications for technology, such as the astrolabe, used for navigation. Here’s an Ottoman-era astrolabe (detail) from the 15th century during the reign of Sultan Beyezid ..read more
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
This picture was taken at the Ptolemaic Period Egyptian temple of Horus and Sobek at Komobo (ca. 180-47 BCE). Horus was the Egyptian falcon-headed god (son of Isis and Osiris), while Sobek was the crocodile-headed god. Crocodiles were worshipped here, and on site is a museum of crocodile mummies. Komobo is a rare example of ..read more
Allan's Art & Architecture Worlds » Travel Blog
2y ago
The renowned painter and architect Giulio Romano began his career as one of Raphael’s assistants in Rome, and he’s especially known for finishing the famous stanze in the Vatican. After Rome, Romano went to the city of Mantua, which was controlled by the Gonzaga family. There, he designed the huge Palazzo del Te for that ..read more