Thought for the Day

More Unusual Buildings

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Stave Churches:

• A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building made of posts and lintels.

• The name comes from the load-bearing posts, called stafr in Old Norse and stav in modern Norwegian.

• Once common in north-western Europe, most of the surviving stave churches are in Norway.

• The only remaining medieval stave churches outside Norway, which has 28 still in existence, are those of circa 1500 at Hedared in Sweden and one Norwegian stave church relocated in 1842 to the outskirts of Krummhübel, Germany.

Urnes stave church in Luster, Norway, listed as a world Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Borgund Stave Church, Norway, built around 1180 and dedicated to the Apostle Andrew. The church is exceptionally well preserved and is one of the most distinctive stave churches in Norway. Some of the finest features are the lavishly carved portals and the roof carvings of dragons' heads.


Heddal stave church, Notodden, the largest stave church in Norway


Interior of Borgund Stave Church
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National Library, Minsk:

• The National Library of Belarus houses the largest collection of Belarusian printed materials and the third largest collection of books in Russian behind the Russian State Library in Moscow and the Russian National Library in St Petersburg.

• The library building in Minsk, Belarus has 22 floors and was completed in January 2006.

• The building can seat about 2,000 readers and has a 500-seat conference hall.

• Its main architectural component has the shape of a rhombicuboctahedron (diamond) and was opened in 2006.

• The building is covered with glass panels and during the day all 24 sides sparkle like a real diamond. The architects wanted to also preserve and convey this vision at night, when various lighting displays can be seen from quite some distance away.

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Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain:

• The Sagrada Família, in English The Church of the Holy Family, is a large unfinished Roman Catholic church in Barcelona.

• It was designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) and was consecrated in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI, who proclaimed it a minor basilica, as distinct from a cathedral, which must be the seat of a bishop.

• Construction commenced in 1882. Gaudi took over in 1883 when architect Villar resigned, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.

• Relying solely on private donations, Sagrada Familia's construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010. However, some of the project's greatest challenges remain, including the construction of ten more spires, each symbolising an important Biblical figure in the New Testament. It is anticipated that the building could be completed by 2026—the centenary of Gaudí's death.

Detail of the roof in the nave. Gaudí designed the columns to mirror trees and branches

Interior of the Sagrada Familia
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China Central Television Headquarters:

• The CCTV Headquarters is a 234-metre (768 ft), 44-story skyscraper in the Beijing CBD.

• The tower serves as headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) and was completed in 2012.

• The main building is not a traditional tower, but an irregular grid on the building's facade with an open centre. The building is formed by two leaning towers, bent 90° at the top and bottom to form a continuous tube.

• The local nickname for the building is "big boxer shorts". It is also called "big pants".

Thought for the Day

Bytes and Pieces

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Samosely:

No, not these . . . 

Those are samosas.

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone covers an area of approximately 2,600 km2 (1,000 sq mi) in Ukraine immediately surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant where radioactive contamination from fallout is highest and public access and inhabitation are restricted. 

Entrance to the Exclusion Zone at Checkpoint "Dityatki"

The Exclusion Zone is home to a population of settlers, mostly elderly, who are known as “samosely”, meaning “self settlers”. Yes, you read that right . . . people who choose to live in Radiationland. 

Two samosely, 2007

Some facts:

• The samosely are people who either refused to evacuate the area or secretly resettled after it was cordoned off.

• The majority of the samosely are elderly people who already lived in the area prior to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, although some are disaffected settlers from outside the region.

• When the population was evacuated, they were initially told they could return in a few days, and many faced discrimination in areas of government resettlement. 

• The zone is estimated to be home to 197 samosely living in 11 villages. This number is down from previous estimates of 314 in 2007 and 1,200 in 1986. The average age is 63.

• After attempts to keep them out, the authorities became reconciled to their presence and have allowed them limited supporting services. Residents are now informally permitted to stay by the Ukrainian government.

• During the past 25 years, there were more than 900 deaths and just one birth in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The only known birth occurred on 25 August 1999, when 46-year-old Lydia Sovenko gave birth to a healthy girl. Both Lydia and her husband, Mikhail Bedernikov had returned to Chernobyl a few months earlier. The child, Maria Sovenko lived in Chernobyl until 2006. She now lives in a village outside the Exclusion Zone, attending a boarding school. Maria returns to Chernobyl only on weekends, to meet her mother who still lives there.

Lydia Savenko and her 6 year old daughter, Maria, 2006.

Date unknown

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Obelisks:

An obelisk is a four-sided tapering shaft with a pyramidal top, originally erected in pairs at the entrances of ancient Egyptian temples. The Egyptian obelisk was carved from a single piece of stone, usually red granite from the quarries at Aswan.

As with many Egyptian artefacts, major powers saw, conquered and took, back to their own countries for display. A good example is Cleopatra's Needle, the popular name for each of three Ancient Egyptian obelisks re-erected in London, Paris, and New York City during the nineteenth century. The obelisks in London and New York are a pair, and the one in Paris is also part of a pair originally from a different site in Luxor, where its twin remains. Although all three needles are genuine Ancient Egyptian obelisks, their shared nickname is a misnomer, as they have no connection with the Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, and were already over a thousand years old in her lifetime.

Cleopatra’s Needle, London

Close up of the London Needle

As noted above, the obelisks of ancient Egypt came from the granite quarries located along the Nile, in the city of Aswan. These quarries supplied some of the finest quality stones for the construction of temples, sculptures and monuments in ancient Egypt. Cleopatra's Needle(s) came from these quarries, as did several structures in the pyramids,

In the northern region of Aswan’s stone quarries lies an unfinished obelisk, resting on its side. Intended to be the tallest and the largest obelisk ever erected in Ancient Egypt, the project was abandoned when cracks began appearing in the granite. The unfinished obelisk remains in situ, attached by its base to the bedrock, as it has done for the last 3,500 years.

Some facts:

• This stone block was intended to be 36m/120ft tall obelisk and it is estimated that it would have weighed more than 1000 tons.

• It would have had to be transported 800 kilometres/500 miles from Aswan to Cairo.

• It is believed that the obelisk was constructed and abandoned during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut in the 15th century BC. 

• Archaeologists believe that the Ancient Egyptians used small balls of Dolerite, which is a type of rock harder than granite, to cut through the rock.

• To separate the carved obelisk from the bedrock, they dug small cavities along the intended line of separation and those cavities were filled with wood spikes. The wood was then thoroughly wetted with water until it expanded causing the rock to crack along the separation line.

Gallery:

Thought for the Day

Trumpkins

You may have thought that Trumpkin referred only to the character in C S Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia and, until recently, you would have been right. Trumpkin is the dwarf who has a major role in the Prince Caspian book and film:

By the way, that’s Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin in the film. Dinklage these days is better known as Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones:

The advent of The Donald has sen that term widened, not to:

, , , but to Halloween pumpkins carved to look like Donald Trump. Scary, I know.

The trend started in 2015 when artist Jeanette Paras carved a pumpkin to look like Trump:

Paras also did other celebrities:

It was her Trump pumpkin which inspired other people, who saw in the shape and colouring of the pumpkins the basic appearance of The Donald, to emulate her work for Halloween.

Here is a selection of Trumpkins:

A lifesize Trumpkin scarecrow has become a tourist attraction in Carmel