Safi-o-Din shrine in northwestern Iran reimagined (all images courtesy of Mohammad Hassan Forouzanfar) From the royal palaces of Persepolis to the glorious mosques of Isfahan, Iran’s ancient architecture has given the world some of its most spectacula…
Later, the municipality used them in various campaigns, including one in 2003, when the White City was named a UNESCO world heritage site.
Hidden in the verdant hills of the Sierra Chapaneca in the beautiful state of Chiapas, southern Mexico, is the ancient capital of the B’aakal Kingdom. The name of the city then was Lakamha’ in Maya-Yucatec language. The town is today called by its S…
I’m still several blocks away when the white towers of BAPS Sri Swaminarayan Temple come into view, gleaming in the sunshine I’m lucky to have coincide with my visit. Completed in 1995 in Neasden, a district of London, the structure is the first pur…
Architecture is not simply the stage set in which we live our lives. It is also a reflection of how we live our lives and who we are. An integral aspect to this is the unfolding of time. What happens when our needs, desires, and beliefs change, and the …
Open secret … Gjirokaster is a Unesco world heritage site and a rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town. Photograph: Viktor Loki/Alamy Was it a wolf? As our car swung round yet another tight bend deep in the Albanian countryside, a gangly, shagg…
The Royal Palaces of Abomey, a UNESCO world heritage site (image via Wikimedia Commons) The Royal Palaces of Abomey are said to be the historic capital of the West African Kingdom of Dahomey, which ruled for nearly three hundred years from roughly 1600 …
Updated: 21 May 2018 Save to wishlist Save to Wishlist Madrid is home to some of the oldest restaurants in the world—in fact—the oldest restaurant in the world, Sobrino de Botín, according to Guinness World Records. The restaurant dates back to 172…
The Stone Spheres of Costa Rica are a group of more than 5 hundred pyrospheres located mainly in the south of Costa Rica in the alluvial plain of the “Delta del Diquí” (confluence of the Sierpe River and Rio Grande de Turrialba), Osa Peninsula, and…
The seaside town of Harlech in Wales is now home to the world’s steepest street, Guinness World Records has ruled. Ffordd Pen Llech , a winding street through the historic part of town, has a gradient of 37.45%. That means for every 2.67 meters …
A vast public plaza inside one of the more polarizing Brutalist complexes in the U.S., designed by architect Paul Rudolph, is reopening after being closed for more than a decade. On Thursday, Rosalin Acosta, the Massachusetts Secretary of Employment Lab…
The world is full of sorry bus stops. The sorriest ones—as Streetsblog has chronicled in their annual contest—are just a sign and a patch of unshaded dirt. And while grassroots organizations have come up with creative ways to reimagine bus stops as …
A 1915 photograph of researcher Aram Vruyr’s son with one of many thousand cross-stones at Djulfa, enhanced by Judith Crispin’s Julfa Cemetery Digital Repatriation Project (courtesy Aram Vruyr archives) Moments ago, the global organization for cultu…
Suzhou is an ancient city whose profound history plays a large part in its culture and way of life, even today. Located in the Jiangsu Province, around 60 miles west of Shanghai, it’s easy for travelers to get to via train or car, making it a worthwhi…
A basketball sparked an international manhunt after a joke – inspired by Tom Hanks’ film Cast Away – saw it travel more than a thousand miles over sea from the most remote part of the UK. The ball was launched into the North Atlantic at St Kilda, …
Atlantic City, New Jersey never really had a heyday, at least not one that lived up to the halcyon daydreams of its original architects. First conceived as the East Coast’s answer to Europe’s fashionable seaside resorts, its tawdry boardwalk attract…
Pulau Jerejak was once a leper colony and holding area for newly-arrived immigrants. ? Picture by KE Ooi GEORGE TOWN, June 26 — The small island off the east coast of Penang island, known as Pulau Jerejak, has a long eventful past; through the decades…
1st Place Cities and Grand Prize: “GREENLANDIC WINTER” BY CHU WEIMIN/ 2019 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVEL PHOTO CONTEST (all images courtesy of National Geographic) An arctic village cloaked in a winter blue hue, a griffon vulture soaring serenely, a…
“At 11pm. on December 31, 1958, I decided to fly to Cuba. At daybreak, I was sharing the streets of Havana with hundreds of delirious Cubans. Within four days, I had found Fidel, and by January 10 this project was completed” – Burt Glinn CUBA. 1…
My Sea Haluk Safi By combining classic contrast with a contemporary setting, this photographer redefines the parameters of what we call “street photography.” How do we define street photography today? When we think about the classic genre, sharp lig…