Favourite Romantic Work of Art: Photo Challenges Combined

Favourite Romantic Works of Art… 3 photo challenges all rolled into one.

Favourite -show your Favourite thing from where you live (food, place, thing to do…) for Tourist in Your Own Town, which is a monthly challenge hosted by me. 🙂

Romantic -Bastet’s Pixelventures has asked us to show the softer side.

Work of Art – from Word Press. A work of art can be a masterpiece, something your children have made for you, something in nature, or Michelle’s example of gastric delights almost too pretty to eat.

 

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One of Shanghai’s favourite landmarks to shoot must be the unusual Pearl Tower. How romantic to stroll along the Bund at night and look at al the twinkling lights. It certainly is a masterpiece of unique design inspired by pearls, which are often harvested in China’s waters.

Dali’s melting clock, according to the plaque, is the second one in the world on display. Who would have thought it would be in Shanghai? It is one of my favourite works of art. I was delighted to happen upon this as we strolled along Nanjing Road. For some reason this masterpiece feels romantic for me. Maybe because the first time I saw it I was in the romantic city of Florence, Italy.

Be sure to show or tell about your favourite,  romantic, or work of art in the comments below. Can you roll all 3 into a post too?

 

Masterpiece #2: Ottawa

After rereading Word Press‘s post about a masterpiece I had another idea. Cheri described the masterpiece the Sagrada de Familia a huge, amazing cathedral designed by Antio Gaudi. It is located in Barcelona, Spain and is still under construction over 100 years later. I saw it on TV when I was a teenager and I was impressed and vowed to myself one day I would go there and see if for real. Years later my dream came true. I remember the feeling of coming around a corner and there is stood. It took my breath away. It was truly a masterpiece and better in real life and more than I ever imagined or dreamed it could be. It certainly outlived my expectations. I expected the same reaction when I got to the Great Wall, but I was disappointed that I didn’t have that ‘take my breath away‘ reaction. That is not to say I wasn’t impressed, because I was. When I thought about something that gave me that little intake of breath I thought of this:

3 floors of books and a domed roof

This is the library inside the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada, our nation’s capital. I had never been inside this building before and only made one other visit to Ottawa over 10 years ago. I didn’t have any preconceived notions or ideas of what it would look like, or really that such a thing existed. when we went inside it did take my breath away. Our tour group’s collective intake of breath was immediate. Our tour guide’s response…. “I know…. incredible!” He is still in awe after hundreds of tours. The lighting, design, details… just incredible. A true masterpiece in design.

The details and design amazing!

We were so lucky to be there on a Saturday since tour groups are normally not allowed to take photos. During the week it is a working library and the staff do not want the distractions or constant flash and photos. Can’t say that I blame them.

it’s all in the details

As a book lover it was the most amazing thing I ever saw. Our guide told us it almost was lost to fire many years ago. A fire broke out inside the Parliament buildings in a near-by room. Luckily a quick thinking individual closed the large iron doors and the library was spared. The beauty, books and so much history would have been lost.

Statue that greets you as you enter

The statue is of a young Queen Victoria. The building was completed in 1876 in a Gothic Revival style. Click here to get more information. The photos certainly do not do this magnificent structure justice!

The domed roof

What has taken your breath away?

Stay tuned….

Masterpiece: Weekly Photo Challenge

This week’s theme from Word Press is Masterpiece. After reading a blog about Rome I thought about this symbol from ancient Rome right near the Colosseum.

Arch of Constantine, Rome

The Colosseum itself is also a masterpiece that has stood the test of time 🙂 I decided to use the Arch of Constantine instead, which is right beside the Colosseum. It was started about 312 AD and dedicated in 315 AD. Triumphal arches were popular in ancient Rome and many can be seen around the Forum in Rome which celebrated triumphs of the current Roman Emperor. Every emperor aimed to have one in a prime location and to show their importance and accomplishments to the people. This one in particular is interesting since it has sculpture and reliefs from numerous other monuments from the Emperors Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius. If you look carefully you can see the different styles and techniques that developed over time. This took the best of the best from other masterpieces and put it all in one along side of current depictions of Constantine.

It is thought due to lack of time art work was moved from other places and added here. The pieces were chosen carefully. Iconography was important to symbolise different things to the people of the time. The emperors used were part of a “golden age” and were popular with the people and did good things. Using these as a part of Constantine’s arch was not only to show his importance, but putting him in line with other popular and great emperors before him.

Be sure to check out more examples here.

What masterpiece have you seen?

As always stay tuned…