Asian Historical Architecture

August 24, 2003 12:20 PM

Asian Historical Architecture.'Here you can view over 6500 photos of 462 sites in seventeen countries, with background information and virtual tours. '
posted by plep (12 comments total)

Fascinating site, although a little light on Sikh architecture in India and Pakistan (see here). It's going to take me days to work through the whole site!

Thanks.
posted by daveg at 1:15 PM on August 24, 2003

Apologies regarding the previous link - the pictures of the Gurudwaras are fine, but all of the text is in Gurbani / Panjabi (oops).
posted by daveg at 1:26 PM on August 24, 2003

A great site, plep! I really like the navigation, and the bibliography they include for each building. daveg - it is rather spotty in coverage, but they're open to (depend upon) contributions. So if you or anyone you know has original photographs of Gurudwaras, send 'em in, hopefully with bibliographic references to back up your commentary. The FAQ says they will acknowledge you as the photographer, and you retain ownership. (I do think this is very cool - I wonder if they'll get a lot of contributions, and if they do, if the site will scale ...)
posted by carter at 2:43 PM on August 24, 2003

Splendid. Thanks, plep!
posted by hama7 at 2:47 PM on August 24, 2003

Excellent stuff plep.
posted by 111 at 3:13 PM on August 24, 2003

another gem from plep!
posted by madamjujujive at 8:22 PM on August 24, 2003

daveg - thanks for the gurdwara link. Here's another about gurdwaras in India, at allaboutsikhs.com.

No pictures here, but it's interesting just to see this listing of gurdwaras around the world.
posted by plep at 2:17 AM on August 25, 2003

Whenever you see a Buddha head at an Asian antique shop, please think of pictures like this:

http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/ayutthaya/MAHATHAT05.htm

http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/ayutthaya/MAHATHAT04.htm

The site manages to hide it fairly well, but all around SE Asia you will find that all that is left in many old temples are lots of beheaded Buddha sculptures. Ugh!

But they're still worth the visit - great stuff, plep
posted by magullo at 6:48 AM on August 25, 2003

Wow. Thanks, plep.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:54 AM on August 25, 2003

awesome. :)
posted by Foosnark at 9:26 AM on August 25, 2003

What a coincidence, I posted the Tiger Balm Gardens elsewhere for kicks earlier this morning.
posted by hobbes at 1:53 PM on August 25, 2003

hobbes :- synchronicity indeed. I posted it somewhere else last year, and re-discovered it going through the archives. :)
posted by plep at 11:50 PM on August 25, 2003