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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
Jul 17
Most cities impress you.
Rome? It overwhelms you.

Not with noise. Not with size.

With beauty so intense, it feels like standing in front of a tidal wave.

A hallway that lies (#4).
A chapel that opens the heavens (#13).

You’ll want to see this. 🧵👇 Doria Pamphilj Gallery Insta: @avanicastrophoto
1. Walk into Palazzo Colonna, and you’ll feel dizzy.

Gold. Mirrors. Marble.

It looks like a fever dream someone had in the 1600s and decided to build anyway. Credit: @archi_tradition
2. The Galleria Borghese doesn’t ease you in.

It hits you with Bernini.

Marble turns into flesh. Movement freezes mid-motion.

And you’re left wondering: how is this even possible? @ValentyneDreams
Read 18 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
Jul 15
The most dangerous thing you can do… is aim too low.

Michelangelo said it best.

These 20 sculptures show what happens when humans reach higher than anyone thought possible. 🧵

1. Pietà – Michelangelo
St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City

Michelangelo was 24. One block of marble. One mother. One dead son.
And somehow… he made it eternal.Michelangelo’s Pietà is a masterpiece so hauntingly perfect that it feels as if marble itself wept under his chisel.
2. The Veiled Virgin – Giovanni Strazza
Presentation Convent, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Carved in the 1850s. Still unexplained.
How do you make stone look like silk? The Veiled Virgin by Giovanni Strazza (1850s) — St. John’s, Canada Her veil looks like silk. You want to lift it. But it’s all carved from one marble block. Credit: @ArtorOtherThing
3. Winged Victory of Samothrace – Unknown
Louvre Museum, Paris, France

No face. No arms. And still… it dominates the room.
The moment just before she lands.
Read 23 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
Jul 14
Venice doesn’t feel real.

A floating city with no cars, no roads... just water, silence, and 1,500 years of ambition.

It’s not just beautiful. It’s impossible. 🧵

A thread on the haunting, seductive, unforgettable beauty of Venice: The Bridge of Sighs, Venice, Italy.
It began as a refuge, settlers fleeing barbarian invasions, building on marshes no army would cross.

But Venice turned exile into empire.

By the 13th century, it wasn’t just surviving, it was ruling the seas. Venice was built on a foundation of about 10,000,000 underwater wooden logs or 8 to 10 tree logs per sq meter. Trunks function as roots. 1200 years later, those same trunks still support almost all of central Venice. Credit: Dr. M.F. Khan @Dr_TheHistories
No city flaunted power like Venice.
Not with walls but with domes, gold, and spectacle.

The Basilica di San Marco was its crown: five bulbous domes, stolen columns, and a ceiling made of molten heaven.

It wasn’t built just for prayer. It was built to stun as well. The Patriarchal Basilica of Saint Mark (Italian: Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco) in Venice, Italy, was the national treasure of the Republic of Venice until 1797 and since 1807 it has been the Cathedral of Venice. Photo: @harimaolee By Nguyễn Khánh
Read 21 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
Jul 13
This cathedral looks like a fairytale. But it was built to scare people, not to inspire them.

A warning in stone. A symbol of domination.

Here’s the untold story of Saint Basil’s Cathedral 🧵👇 St. Basil’s Cathedral (Moscow, Russia) Credit: Architecture & Tradition @archi_tradition
After Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan in 1552, he wanted more than a monument.
He wanted to make a statement.

He ordered a cathedral so bold, so strange, that it would leave Russia’s enemies shaking.
And he didn’t hold back. Iván el Terrible entra en Kazán, por Piotr Shamshin.
The site was strategic, the edge of the Kremlin moat.

Before it, Red Square had no real landmark.

This cathedral changed the skyline forever.
It set the tone for how Moscow would be seen — sacred, strange, and unstoppable. Image
Read 21 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
Jul 13
Asia isn’t a continent. It’s a mosaic of civilizations, faiths, and empires.

These 24 landmarks capture its soul—with no filters, no gimmicks.

They’ll change how you see the world. 🧵👇 Great Wall of China Credit: @histories_arch
Persepolis – Iran

Imagine walking into the throne room of kings who ruled half the known world. That's Persepolis. Credit: @onationalparks
Angkor Wat – Cambodia

Built to honor Hindu gods and later transformed into a Buddhist temple, it’s a city of stone. Image
Read 27 tweets
Culture Explorer Profile picture
Jul 12
“Solomon, I have outdone thee!” — Emperor Justinian.

So why did Renaissance thinkers call his era the "Dark Ages"?

What if they got it completely wrong?
Let’s dismantle the biggest myth in history. 🧵👇 The Hagia Sophia in its current form was rebuilt by Emperor Justinian.
When people hear “Dark Ages,” they picture a world of ignorance, plague, and collapse.

No science. No progress. Just decay.
But that’s not what really happened.

The term “Dark Ages” isn’t just inaccurate, it’s propaganda. San Vitale (Ravenna) Photo by Phantom65 on flickr
In 536 AD, the sky literally darkened. A mysterious fog covered much of Southern Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia.

This foreboding change was recorded by the Byzantine historian Procopius. “For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during this whole year.”

Crops failed.
Plague followed. Millions died.

Scientists now believe massive volcanic eruptions triggered the chaos.

But the era didn’t die, it adapted.Photo by Maggie Evans freeyork.org/photography/watch-the-explosive-footage-of-a-recent-volcanic-eruption-in-iceland/
Dramatic storm clouds
Sunrise eruption at Volcano Fuego in Guatemala
Read 21 tweets

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