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@CultureExploreX
Feb 26, 2024 • 16 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
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The absence of constructing beautiful new buildings is not exclusive to the West!

Indo-Saracenic architecture, a blend of Islamic, Mughal, Gothic, and Neo-Classical styles, beautified 19th-century South Asia.

Let’s explore some examples in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. 🧵 Top Left: Khalsa College, Amritsar (By Joe mon bkk - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38445839) Top Middle: Chennai (Madras) High Court (By Yoga Balaji - From a Digital Camera (Nikon), CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11200059) Top Right: Multan Clock Tower (By Junaidahmadj - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30327400) Bottom Left: Darbar Mahal, Bahawulpur (By Tahsin Shah - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51850351) Bottom Right: Chhatrapati Shivaji ...
1. Puthia Rajbari, Bangladesh By Khalidrahman - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51304744
2. Ahsan Manzil in Dhaka, Bangladesh Credit: By Aymash at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16972174
3. Tajhat Palace in Rangpur, Bangladesh By Moheen Reeyad, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48774518
4. Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus formerly Victoria Terminus in Mumbai, India. Credit: By Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12847960
5. Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore, India incorporates elements of Indo-Saracenic and Dravidian styles. It was constructed 1951–1956. Image
6. The Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, India has very discreet Indo-Saracenic touches. Credit: By Subhrajyoti07 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62003286
7. Mysore Palace, India Credit: By Muhammad Mahdi Karim - Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36123357
8. Lucknow Charbagh Railway Station Credit: By Azharkhan077 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55300135
9. Kowdiar Palace in Kerala, India By Manu rocks at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7265120
10. Lahore Museum in Lahore, Pakistan Credit: By Guilhem Vellut - Lahore MuseumUploaded by Ekabhishek, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10642621
11. King Edward Medical University in Lahore, Pakistan Credit: By Mustafa - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35791708
12. University of Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan Credit: By Lime.adeel - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35778840
13. Darbar Mahal in Bahawalpur, Pakistan Credit: By Tahsin Shah - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51850351
14. Multan Clock Tower in Multan, Pakistan Image
15. Frere Hall in Karachi, Pakistan Credit: By Asim Iftikhar Nagi - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62761549

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More from @CultureExploreX

Culture Explorer Profile picture
May 8
Most stories entertain.

Dante’s Divine Comedy does something else.

It drags you through Hell, exposes every lie you believe, and rebuilds your soul from the ruins.

It’s the most terrifying and hopeful poem ever written. This is why Dante still haunts us today? 🧵👇 Dante and Virgil, a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1850), which depicts Dante and Virgil in the eighth circle of Hell, observing two damned souls in eternal combat in Hell.
Before you can glimpse Heaven, Dante forces you to stare into Hell.

Not symbolically—viscerally.

He shows you sin, layer by layer, until you can’t look away.

At the center isn’t fire. It’s ice.

Where Satan sits frozen, chewing on the worst traitors in history. Lower Hell, inside the walls of Dis, in an illustration by Stradanus; there is a drop from the sixth circle to the three rings of the seventh circle, then again to the ten rings of the eighth circle, and, at the bottom, to the icy ninth circle
Image
Illustration by Sandro Botticelli: Dante and Virgil visit the first two bolge of the Eighth Circle
Dante didn’t dream this up from nothing.

He built a cosmos.
Using a 2nd-century map by Ptolemy:
• Earth at the center
• 9 circles of Hell below
• 9 spheres of Heaven above

And everything—everything—has meaning. Image
La materia della Divina commedia di Dante Alighieri, Plate VI: "The Ordering of Paradise" by Michelangelo Caetani (1804–1882)
The Paradiso assumes the medieval view of the Universe, with the Earth surrounded by concentric spheres containing planets and stars.
Read 16 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
May 7
You’ve seen photos of the Sistine Chapel, the site of the Papal conclave.

But what else does the Vatican holds?

Rooms so beautiful they feel illegal.
Manuscripts so rare they were once guarded by swords.
And art that made you weep.

Let me show you what you’ve missed… 🧵👇 The Sistine Chapel in Vatican City
The Vatican Museums aren’t just a tourist stop.

They’re a labyrinth of 54 galleries, 20,000 artworks, and secrets buried in brushstrokes and stone.

But what’s hidden beyond the crowds?

And what’s locked in the Vatican Library? Here’s the story no one tells. The Vatican Library
Start with the Raphael Rooms.

Most visitors walk past without knowing:
This was where the Renaissance reached its peak.

Where Pope Julius II had a private study painted not for politics but for truth. Room of the Signatura
Room of Heliodorus
Room of the Fire in the Borgo
Hall of Constantine. Wikimedia CC
Read 18 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
May 6
Inside a locked room, men starved, wept, and cursed each other.

One Conclave dragged on so long the roof was torn off to speed it up. Another one ended with two popes...

You’ve never seen power struggles like this... 🧵👇 Cardinals walking into the Sistine Chapel for the start of the Conclave
Forget the white smoke.

Behind the most sacred ritual in Christianity lies a history of backroom deals, bribes, riots, and betrayals.

Here are the conclaves that nearly broke the Church and the world.

It only gets darker from here… Image
First, understand what a conclave is:
From the Latin cum clave—“with a key.”

Once cardinals enter, the doors are locked until a new pope is chosen.

But in history, locking the doors didn’t stop the chaos… 2013 Conclave
Read 17 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
May 5
Most people think Cinco de Mayo is just tacos and tequila.

But the real story is written in stone on the walls of Mexico’s most breathtaking buildings.

Let me show you the side of Mexico they never teach in school... 🧵👇 The Palacio de Bellas Artes is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City.
Behind every dome, plaza, and cathedral lies a story of defiance, beauty, and forgotten genius.

And once you see what Mexico built… you’ll never reduce it to a holiday again. Museo Nacional de Arts Photo: Shutterstock
Start in Puebla.

The city where Mexican troops crushed a European empire in 1862.

But few realize—Puebla is also a jewel of colonial architecture. Mexican cavalry charge at the Battle of Puebla
Read 18 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
May 3
When Notre-Dame caught fire in 2019, Parisians wept in the streets.

Not because a building burned—but because something sacred was bleeding.

That’s Paris.

A city where beauty is always one spark away from ruin. The painful, defiant beauty of Paris... 🧵 👇 Paris | France - Notre Dame - Apostles Balance on the Central Spire By Marcus Frank on Flickr r_marcus_frank/39030088842/in/photostream/
Paris has never just been a postcard.
It’s a survivor.

Built on bones, crowned in blood, reborn in art—again and again.

This thread isn’t about travel. It’s about how the world’s most beautiful city keeps rising from its own ashes. Napoleon commissioned the Arc de Triomphe in 1806 to celebrate his victories, and today it stands as a proud sentinel over Paris’ most famous avenue. Credit: Richard Joly on Flickr
Sainte-Chapelle isn’t just a church.

It’s a 13th-century jewel built by King Louis IX to house the Crown of Thorns—bathed in over 1,000 stained-glass windows.

Step inside, and it feels like God Himself lit the walls from within. Credit: @JeremyTate41
Read 17 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
May 2
Most people think Leonardo da Vinci was just a painter.

But what if I told you the Mona Lisa was the least of his brilliance?

He died on this day, May 2nd, 1519.

And the world still hasn’t caught up to his mind. Let’s dive into why... 🧵 The Death of Leonardo da Vinci by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1818) Francis I Receives the Last Breaths of Leonardo da Vinci
The deeper you look, the more impossible he seems.

He painted like a god, dissected corpses, sketched flying machines, and wrote entire treatises… backward.

Here’s the story of a man who tried to understand everything. Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci or Leonardo with workshop participation
Virgin of the Rocks  1483–1493 Louvre version
Lady with an Ermine, c. 1489–1491 Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland
Antique Warrior in Profile, c. 1472. British Museum, London
He was born illegitimate.

No formal education. No family title. No inheritance.

Yet he outshined kings, popes, and scholars.

His weapon? Curiosity sharpened into obsession. Image
Read 19 tweets

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