August Photo Contest Discussion: Religious Buildings (page 3 of 6)

Back in Europe with some Viennese religious buildings. A tribute to the most grandiose one, St. Stephen's Cathedral (1137-1263) and its famous glazed-tile roof.







Baroque in style, the Karlskirche (built 1716-1737) seen from different angles:







Detail of another Viennese Baroque church.

Other cathedral "bits" (I totally get the frustration of trying to photograph them in their entirety most of the time 😉):

Reims





Lecce (Santa Croce)

A change of scenery in Nepal Photos taken in 2009—I think many of these buildings were damaged or destroyed by the severe earthquake in 2015. I just rediscovered my photos thanks to Lightroom’s improvements. The light in Nepal was extremely contrasty, and I hadn’t been able to develop many of them because some parts were almost black while others were nearly blown out. I’ve never encountered such extreme contrasts since that trip. Now it’s easy to recover both shadows and highlights. A few random shots—I didn’t annotate my photos enough :/

Tengboche Monastery, Khumbu (Nepal)

Kate, your idea of a "religious building" is pretty original! Your photo shows a worshipper, but we don’t see the building itself. I seem to remember a travel journal on Istanbul with lots of cats and not much architecture ;)... Maybe the theme doesn’t excite you... but to me, you’re off-topic. Sorry :/

Hi Noëlle, You mentioned in the guidelines that we could show a detail. This is a detail of the Blue Mosque :/

Alright, if the boss thinks it’s off-topic, I’ll respect that and delete it :P ;)

That was still a bit of a stretch...😉

One of your intro photos for the August contest (taken where? In Brittany?) reminded me of a little church lost in the mountains near Delphi:

About Greece, two monasteries "clinging" to rocky cliffs: Promodou (in Arcadia, Peloponnese)



And the one at Hozoviotissa on Amorgos:

A bridge between two contests... Mostar



Mostar by night

Sharing these photos of the Selinunte archaeological park to complement my photo #2. Centuries of history right before your eyes. You learn so much on this site and feel really small in the best way.

The white chapel by the water is indeed in Brittany, in the Morbihan region, on the Ria d'Étel if my memory serves me right.

Back in Thailand at Sukhothai, which was the capital of the first Thai kingdom founded in 1238. Its sanctuaries built up until the 14th century are still revered by Buddhists today.

Wat Si Chum and its 14th-century seated Buddha, which stands 14.7 meters tall, with its fingernails covered in gold leaf by devotees.









The Sukhothai Historical Park is home to many ruins, like this chedi reflected in a pond.



The "Walking Buddha" is the iconic representation of Buddha in the Sukhothai style.

We're heading back to Europe, specifically Italy, stopping by Pisa and its Romanesque cathedral, which began construction in 1064 and was completed in the mid-12th century. It's famous for its bell tower, which has been leaning since the start of its construction.



Below: Pisa's baptistery is the largest in Italy. The first two floors are Romanesque, while the arcades are Gothic.

In the vast cloister of the cemetery, the Romanesque arcades were later modified into Gothic four-light windows.



The cathedral of Lucca is also in the Tuscan Romanesque style.



Still in Tuscany but further south, the cathedral of Siena is Gothic. It's hard to get enough distance to photograph it properly. The colors of its polychrome marble façade really stand out in the late afternoon sun. The bell tower features the black-and-white colors of Siena’s city coat of arms.

Here are some photos of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat:

And some (exterior) details of this same mosque:

Beautiful contrast between the Orthodox monasteries and this modern mosque. Mosques have such graphic shapes that are a pleasure to photograph, with intricate geometric designs. I haven’t been to Iran, but I really enjoyed Uzbekistan. I’ll post a few of my shots 😉

Hello

A few churches in Kerala (India)