The Cathedral of Guadalajara started to be constructed on the 31st of July 1568 and concluded on the 19th of February 1618, ordered by King of Spain Felipe II. Few people know it has the official title of “Basílica de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Virgen María”, because it was consecrated to her.
Aya Sofya is the great architectural landmark at the heart of Istanbul, with its four minarets poised like moon-bound rockets. Constructed in the 6th century AD as an Orthodox church, it later became a mosque and, since 1935, a museum. The enormous structure was built in just five years, and its musk walls are topped by an imposing dome, 31m wide and 56m high. The dome’s base is ringed by windows, so that from within the structure, the dome seems almost to hover ethereally above the building.
An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, the Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage.
Red Square remains, as it has been for centuries, the heart and soul of Russia. Few places in the world bear the weight of history to the extent that Moscow’s central square does. From the 16th Century St. Basil’s Cathedral – one of the most famous pieces of architecture in the world – to the constructivist pyramid of Lenin’s Mausoleum, Red Square is rich in symbols of Russia’s turbulent and intriguing past.
Known as the “Russian Versailles,” Peterhof is a series of palaces and courtyards full of glinting gold statues and wondrous fountains surrounded by manicured grounds. Preserved as UNESCO World Heritage Site, the initial construction of the Peterhof complex began around 1714 when Peter the Great commissioned a pleasure palace across the sea from the island fortress of Kronstadt. Especially amazing is the Grand Cascade, a series of stepped fountains surrounded by gilded statues flowing down to a remarkable grand fountain.
Finished in all its present-day lavishness in 1756, this Rococo palace functioned as the Russian monarch’s summer home until the monarchy was deposed in 1917. During World War II, the German army destroyed much of the palace’s gilded interior and left only its hollow bones. Renovations were finished in 2003 and the palace is now a great tourist destination as well a venue for elite concerts and gatherings.
Constructed in 1732 and heavily altered for the next two decades, the Winter Palace (in reality the fourth Winter Palace, as the first three iterations were not exquisite enough for Russian monarchs such as Peter the Great and Catherine I) served as the official residence of the Russian monarchy until the Revolution of 1917. The white and teal Winter Palace is one of six major historical buildings which comprise one of the most massive museums in the world, the Hermitage of St. Petersburg.
Vasily Stasov designed the Grand Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was completed in 1893 as a central worship space for the area’s growing Jewish community. One of the synagogue’s most notably opulent features is its 47 m copula. It was also possible to get married here at the lavish adjoining wedding chapel. The synagogue stands as a reflection of the prominent roles many Jewish individuals played in this period of Russia’s history. Today you can visit this house of worship, which was entirely restored in 2003. There are a variety of activities on offer and several surrounding Jewish cultural shops.
Metéora (“suspended in the air”) is one of the largest and most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos. The six Christian monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars in central Greece. In the 14th century, Athanasios Koinovitis from Mount Athos founded the great Meteoron monastery on Broad Rock. The location was perfect for the monks; they were safe from political upheaval and had complete control of the entry to the monasteries. Access to the monasteries was deliberately difficult, requiring either long ladders lashed together or large nets used to haul up both goods and people. This required quite a leap of faith – the ropes were replaced only “when the Lord let them break”.
Kiev Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, is a historic Orthodox Christian monastery in Kiev, Ukraine. Since its foundation as the cave monastery in 1015 the Lavra has been a preeminent center of the Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Eastern Europe. The Kiev Pechersk Lavra contains numerous architectural monuments, ranging from he Great Lavra Belltower, the notable feature of the Kiev skyline, to cathedrals to underground cave systems and to strong stone fortification walls.
