• facebook
  • twitter
  • pinterest
  • 500px
  • instagram
  • flickr
  • google
  • rss

Travel To Eat

Look...Learn...Eat...Live

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Categories
    • Arabia
    • Belgium
    • Bridges and Buildings
    • California
    • Cathedrals & Churches
    • Clocks and Astrolabes
    • Colorado
    • Cooking and Recipes
    • Egypt
    • Ethiopia
    • Events
    • Food and Drinks
    • France
      • Versailles
      • Paris
      • Rouen and Normandy
    • Plants and Gardens
    • History
    • Jewels and Jewelry
    • Las Vegas
    • London
    • Maps
    • Monument
    • Museums
      • Painting
      • Sculpture
      • The Louvre
      • British Museum
    • Portugal
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Rome
    • This and That
  • Blog
  • Glossary

October 20, 2015 by Max Distro LLC 6 Comments

Design of the Temple of Isis from Philae, Egypt

The temple of Philae, from Description de L'Egypte, 1800

The temple of Philae, from Description de L’Egypte, 1800

During my visit to the Temple of Isis I was struck by the architectural sophistication and I thought I would delve deeper. Egyptian temple designs emphasized order, symmetry, monumentality, and combined geometric shapes with stylized organic motifs. Elements of temple design also alluded to the form of the earliest Egyptian buildings. It wasn’t until the New Kingdom that temples were built entirely of stone. Our knowledge of what preceded them or how the design came about is necessarily slim as their predecessors did not survive, since they were mostly constructed of mudbrick. It is probable that the layout was similar to earlier temples; there must have always been a special sacred area where the statue of the god resided. This was at a higher level than the rest of the area and the later design of slightly ascending floor level copies this. Since the early structures were mostly mudbrick, it is unlikely that the finer details which we will discuss here were present, hard to carve mudbrick. The influence of materials on architecture is worth notice. Where granite, which is worked with difficulty, is the material obtainable, architecture has invariably been severe and simple; where soft stone is obtainable, an abundance of ornamention makes its appearance. Where marble is abundant and good, refinement is to be met with, for no other building material exists in which very delicate mouldings or very slight or slender projections may be employed with the certainty that they will be effective.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Decorative Arts, Egypt Tagged With: abacus, Ancient Egypt, Architrave, Campaniform Capital, Cavetto, Cornice, Creation, Creation Myth, Egyptian Temple, Egyption Symbols, Inverted Bell Capital, Lotus, Molding, Monumental Architecture, Ovolo, Owen Jones, Palm, Papyrus Plant, Philae, Phylia, Primeval Mound, Temple of Isis, The Grammar of Ornament, Torus, Volute Papyrus Capital

March 10, 2015 by Max Distro LLC Leave a Comment

Australian Aboriginal Bark Paintings. Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

Rainbow Snake. Australian Aboriginal Bark Paintings. Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

Rainbow Snake. Australian Aboriginal Bark Paintings. Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

When Lisa and I visited the Museum of Contempory Art, they had an entire wall of beautiful bark paintings without (to me) comprehensible labeling p, with my apologies to the artists I have decided to present them here. Bark painting is an Australian Aboriginal art form, involving painting on the interior of a strip of Eucalyptus bark. This is a continuing form of artistic expression in Arnhem Land and other regions in the Top End of Australia including parts of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Traditionally, bark paintings were produced for instructional and ceremonial purposes and were transient objects. Today, they are keenly sought after by collectors and public arts institutions. Bark paintings are based on sacred designs that include abstract patterns and designs (such as cross-hatching in particular colours) that identify a clan, and also often contain elements of the Eternal Dreamtime. Sometimes the elements of a story are obvious—such as men or animals—but sometimes the elements are symbolic. Many of the myths seem only to be concerned with a particular animal or bird. However in symbolic meaning of great importance. For instance, the Sun is a woman, she creates life and she is often symbolized by water, fire, earth and red ochre, the Moon is male and controls the tides and seasonal cycles – he is often symbolized by snake, dog, frog and also water.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Australia, Myth, Philosophy and Religion Tagged With: Aboriginal People's, Australia, Bark Paintings, Bundjalung Nation, Creation, Dirawong, Dreamtime, Goanna, Kurt Buzard MD, Museum of Contempory Art, Rainbow Serpent, Rainbow Snake, Sydney

Search the Site

Site Tags

Africa Ancient Egypt Auckland Australia Birds Birdwatching Botswana British Museum California Cappadocia Cathedrals & Churches Colorado Costa Rica Denver Eiffel Tower Flowers France Garden Istanbul Kunsthistorisches Museum Kurt Buzard MD Larco Museum Las Vegas Lima London Louis XIV Madagascar Mesopotamia Montreal Museums Napoleon I Napoleon III Nevada New Zealand Normandy Painting Paris Peru Restaurant Sculpture Sydney The Louvre Tomatoes Turkey Vienna

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Twitter

Welcome to Travel to Eat

This website has been redesigned from the ground up to make it easier for you, the reader to find posts that might interest you. Just click on a photo to select the topic or the blog for the most recent posts

Buzardweb@gmail.com

Civilization

Every society has a specific set of ideas and customs, and a certain set of manufactures and arts that make it unique. Because ancient civilizations continue to influence us today, and because I love history, I have devoted many posts to prehistory and ancient civilizations.

About the Blog

This blog is a collection of my thoughts on places, things and places, that I find interesting. There are no advertisements, no cookies and I do not share your email address with anyone. I hope you enjoy your visit and I hope you will return and leave a comment.

Copyright © 2019 · Travel To Eat · Built on the Genesis Framework