San Diego Reader | Delphi, Greece: In Search of Sibyls

• Remains of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi

I have a confession: I’m crazed about the ancient fortune-telling sibyls.

So crazed that I’ve raced through the Vatican to see Michelangelo’s depiction of the sibyls on the Sistine Chapel and I’ve even flown to Athens, Greece, rented a car, and driven out to the sibyls’ most famed residence. Why the fascination? Is it because I have a fuming question that could restore or save man’s future?

Located close to the Corinthian Gulf, Delphi is about a two-hour drive from Athens. According to legend, Apollo slew the mythical Python dragon here, throwing its body into a crack in the earth, which then forever plumed with nauseous gases.

Another myth says that a Delphic sibyl – the daughter of Apollo – lived here and prophesized the coming of Christ. While her existence is questionable, ancient writers did describe priestesses known as Pythias who lived in Delphi from the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D.

According to the Greek historian Plutarch, the Pythias owned property, were exempt from taxes, received free room and board, and made a large stipend. Unusual for the male-dominated ancient world, these women sat in an adytonof the Apollo temple, breathing fumes that made them go into a frenzy and utter crazed predictions about the future. Their work would leave them as depleted as athletes after a race.

Interestingly, in 2001 Geology reported that ethane, methane and ethylene gases were found in spring water located near the oracle. Ethylene, in particular, is known to produce euphoric effects. The findings gave credence to the ancient records.

Men came from throughout the Greek world to consult the Pythias. Delphi, over time, also served as a de facto bank for cities that left their valuables in vaults along the steps going up to the Temple of Apollo.

The Delphi archeological site today has a museum that displays some of these riches, including a silver- and gold-plated bull statue from the 6th century B.C. From the museum, visitors walk up a steep hill, passing the marble vaults – now empty – until they reach the Temple of Apollo. Now merely flattened blocks of massive stone with a few standing columns, the temple is wedged into Mount Parnassus and overlooks a breathtaking valley.

Walking up above the temple, there’s a theater and even further up a stadium that once held the Pythian Games. Trekking back down the hill and along a road for about a half-mile, visitors can also see the sanctuary of Athena. The ruins stretch out so far that it’s easy to imagine a bustling ancient city.

So what about the sibyl or the Pythias, and their predictions? While standing by the Apollo Temple, my mind whirled and I thought quickly, hoping a female’s prophesy could once again save men from their errors.

I asked out loud: “Will the European man-bag ever go out of style?”

The answer, I believe, blew down from Mount Parnassus and away into the valley.

Sotheby's auctions of Arab, Iranian and Islamic art a success - Visual Art - Arts & Culture - Ahram Online

Bahman Mohasses 'Untitled'

On 4 and 5 October, Sotheby’s auction of art from the Arab world, Iran and other Islamic countries concluded with combined sales of $16,843,460.

Comprised of 123 lots, the sale included major works by leading modern masters such as Louay Kayyali, Fateh Moudarres and Aref El-Rayess, as well as key pieces by some of the foremost contemporary artists, among them Farhad Moshiri, Ziad Antar and Yousef Nabil.

An auction dedicated to contemporary Arab and Iranian art concluded with sales of $3,610,219.

The sale saw ten new auction records set for artists including Bahman Mohasses, Kadhim Hayder, and Nadim Karam, and ten benchmarks established for artists featured for the first time at auction including Hadieh Shafie, Tagreed Darghouth and Ebrahim Olfat.

Among lots included was Iranian artist Bahman Mohasses’s Untitled which sold for $187,452 (estimated $75,000-85,000), setting a new record for the artist at auction.

Mohasses provides an enlightening perspective into the isolated nature of his disposition. He felt confined by his Iranian identity when he was living in Rome and by developing his distinct style, he fell further into fashioning fresco-style paintings juxtaposed with harsh realism.

The second auction of arts of the Islamic world concluded bringing a combined total of $13,233,241.

The top-selling lot of the arts of the Islamic world evening sale was an important post-sasanian silk shirt, originating from Khurasan or Central Asia in the 7th-9th century, which sold for $1,102,684 (est. $900,000-1,200,000).

10-language tour guide in Lijiang ancient town

10-language tour guide in Lijiang ancient town

( chinadaily.com.cn ) 2011-09-30

In September 2011, Lijiang ancient town introduced a wireless voice tour guide. The guide is domestically advanced. The protection administration of Lijiang will lease 1,000 wireless guides at the tourist service center at the entrance to the ancient town. "It is hard to find the way to the scenic spots in the ancient town, because of the unique layout. Now, tourists may rent wireless voice tour guides, which will provide tourists with barrier-free sightseeing," said a staff of the ancient town administration. The guide is a little larger than a mobile phone, and resembles a mini-tablet PC. It contains information on 280 scenic spots and folk customs of Lijiang. The guide adopts Aigo digital navigator, with 8G internal memory, 4-inch TFT high definition liquid crystal touch screen. It is able to automatically identify scenic spot sites, and play videos. The guide has a built-in loudspeaker, and can be connected to stereo headphone. It is powered by a lithium battery to continually operate for eight hours. The navigation is supported with 10 languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Arabian and Portuguese), spoken by native speakers. The wireless communication technology is applied for accurate positioning, within 100 meters. At the hot spots, the software will be stimulated to play audio narrations automatically. Tourists may also choose to manually play video programs. So far, the ancient town has set up 282 hot spots. The audio services cover all the scenic zones. In addition to multi-language automatic tour guide, the facility is functioned to direct tourists to the service center, toilets, hospital and post office. What is more, the noises and interference can be jammed to ensure the guidance. Edited by Fu Bo and Tania Lee

Master Painters of India, Now in New York - NYTimes.com

Collection of Barbara and Eberhard Fischer, Museum Rietberg, Zurich‘Wonder of the Age’: Master Painters of India, 1100-1900 “The Lover Prepares to Depart,” from around 1710 and attributed to Golu of Nurpur, at the Metropolitan Museum.

” ‘Wonder of the Age’: Master Painters of India, 1100-1900,” newly opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is “in effect an epic and immersive progress report” on historians’ attempt to track and name Indian artists who worked hundreds of years ago, writes Roberta Smith in The New York Times.

“The show is a somewhat wild ride down one of the three longest and greatest rivers of world painting (the other two being Chinese and European). Sometimes, as in the opening gallery, you might almost be shooting rapids, so quickly do the elements of the Rajput vocabulary accrue from one Buddhist, Hindu or Jainist manuscript to the next.” Read the full article here.Master Painters of India, Now in New York - NYTimes.com

Exhibit reveals secret of portraits

Exhibit reveals secret of portraits

“Self-portrait of Yun Du-seo” By Chung Ah-young Peer into some interesting faces as the National Museum of Korea is currently displaying some 200 portraits by master painters such as Kim Hong-do and 16th-century Dutch artist Peter Paul Rubens. Titled “The Secret of the Joseon Portraits,” the exhibition also features works by Yi Myeong-gi, Kim Hong-do, Park Dong-bo, Kim Hee-gyeom, Yi Han-cheol and Chae Yong-shin, who were representative painters of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). Consisting of four sections — “Heaven & Earth,” “Humaneness, Rightness, Propriety and Wisdom,” “Individual Expression” and “Photography, a New Way to View the World,” a wide variety of expressions can be viewed. The first two sections include portraits produced by the royal court, the major force behind the development of portraiture at the time. Works that reflect the relationship between the king and his subjects under the concept of the “three bonds and fiverelationships” of Confucianism are incorporated. The “Portrait of King Taejo (1335-1408),” which was repainted in 1872 by royal artists such as Jo Jung-muk, Park Gi-jun, Baek Eun-bae and Yu Suk, features the king’s blue robe, reflecting the remnants of Goryeo customs, according to the “Sukjong Sillok (Annals of King Sukjong).” The portrait exudes solemn and flamboyant beauty, contrasting the blue robe and the red throne as the typical style of royal portraits popular during the early Joseon period. Parts 3 and 4 focus on the beauty of form and characteristics that appeared in Joseon portraiture. The sections present the departure from tradition, reflecting more individualistic and unique styles and at the same time showing the declining process of the portraits with the introduction of photographs. “Self-portrait of Yun Du-seo (1688-1715)” is regarded as one of the masterpieces in Korean art history, marked by the delicate depiction of the scholar’s outside and the expression of the inner world. The museum said that the highlights of the event are the two works by Yi Myeong-gi, one of Joseon’s top portrait painters, and Peter Paul Rubens, the Dutch painter. The exhibition juxtaposes the two portraits “Portrait of Seo Jik-su” by Yi and “A Man Wearing Hanbok” by Rubens to compare their styles. The figure in “A Man Wearing Hanbok” is known as Antonio Corea who was taken captive by the Japanese during the Japanese invasion of Joseon in 1592. Another theory argues that he was a high-ranking government officer at the time who worked for a Dutch trade company in Japan in 1606-1621. A small ship drawn beside him supports that he was a visitor from a distant country. “Portrait of Hwang Hyeon” was drawn by painter Chae Yong-shin in 1911 after Hwang, an independent fighter, killed himself out of despair when Joseon was forcibly annexed by the Japanese. The portrait was based on Hwang’s photograph taken in 1909. In the painting, Hwang’s expression is solid and confident as a high-spirited literati and a patriot. Chae captures the inner state of the model in his portrait, which photography couldn’t express. “The Secret of the Joseon Portraits” is an important exhibition not only because it shows new directions for research into the subject of Joseon portraiture but it is also expected to mark a turning point in the analysis of portraits according to period and the use of historical materials. To boost visitors’ understanding of the production process and the function of portraits from the Joseon period, the exhibition features the recreation of a “yeongdang,” a shrine for the portrait of an eminent person, and a display of the related clothing. Storytelling services to help visitors better understand the history and culture of the Joseon period and experience the familiar historical figures such as Jeong Mong-ju and Yi Sun-shin are offered as well. Comparatively, Moon Dong-su, curator of the exhibition, said that the Korean portraits are more humble than the bold Chinese ones and more moderate than the delicate Japanese ones. “The Joseon portraits are the greatest feat in Korean art history, surpassing the Western portraits based on realism by capturing the human souls and personality through candid touches,” the curator said. The exhibition runs through Nov. 6. For more information, visit www.museum.go.kr.

INDIA Archdiocese of Mumbai launches first historical museum - Asia News

Historical, artistic, cultural and religious artefacts, dating back to the 16th century. For Card. Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, the museum "celebrates freedom of religion, bears witness to the search for God in India and is an instrument of evangelization for the young." The museum also celebrates the 125th anniversary of the archdiocese.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - The first historical museum of the Archdiocese of Mumbai is a "celebration of our history" and an "instrument of evangelization for the young generation," according to Card. Oswald Gracias, archbishop of the diocese. Inaugurated yesterday and set in the St. Pius seminary in Goregaon, the museum contains a collection of artefacts - the oldest dating back to the 16th century - belonging to the spiritual tradition of India. The museum also celebrates the 125th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Mumbai, which occured on 1st September 1886 under the papal bull Humanae Salutis by Pope Leo XIII.

"The museum - explains, Card. Gracias to AsiaNews - shows our historical, artistic, cultural and religious patrimony, the authentic roots of our faith". According to the archbishop, the museum will be a real "instrument of evangelization, especially for younger people. Each of these works of art has a profound message for all of us, they reveal how artists of the time saw and lived their faith. "

A timeline was painted on the wall of the museum, showing the stages of Christianity in the region from 6 AD onwards. Many of the scenes represented are imbued with elements of the rich Indian spiritual tradition, "which are part - Card. Gracias explains - of our family culture, our ethos. In this sense, the museum celebrates religious freedom and witnesses the search for God in India. "

"What we want - the Archbishop concludes - is to show our brothers and sisters of other religions and help them understand that Christianity is no stranger. Indian Christianity has existed for thousands of years. We must continue that journey of faith which for thousands of years was lived with joy, freedom, peace and harmony

The many aspects of Devi - Times Of India

Uma Nair reports on an exhibition on the Mother Goddess at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A small exhibition that is a cornucopia of artistic endeavour, gorgeous goddesses and soul stirring antiquity – New York City's Metropolitan Museum's jewel-like little display shows off 'Mother India: The Goddess in Indian Painting'.

The goddess has held the interest of artists since long; exhibitions of such artworks have been an important part of the circuit across countries. One such show was held at the Smithsonian, Washington, in 1999. Curated by Vidya Dehejia, the show dealt with the evolution of Devi through the ages. Each segment revealed that as Hinduism evolved and changed through the centuries, the roles and functions of Hindu goddesses also went through dramatic changes. This show speaks in the mood of a little oyster of recall.

Hanoi Art

ART & ENTERTAINMENT IN BRIEF 26/9

Cham people celebrate Kate festival in Binh Thuan

The traditional Kate festival of the Cham people in the southern province of Binh Thuan is attracting thousands of local people and tourists.

A procession of the Po Sah Inu Goddess’ costume was held in early morning Sept. 25 (the 30th day of the 6th month on the Cham people’s calendar) in Phan Thiet city, followed by folk dances and games, and demonstration of brocade weaving and pottery.

The Cham people celebrate Kate festival in the first 10 days of the 7th month of the Cham Calendar to express their respect to their Gods.

This year’s Kate festival is to introduce and promote the traditional culture and arts of the Cham people.

VN participates in foreign cultures week in France

The 10th Foreign Cultural Week officially opened in Paris on Sept. 23, beginning with an exhibition themed “ Cultural Heritage Route ” of Vietnam.

This is the first time the Vietnamese Cultural Centre in France (VCCF) has jointed the event as both organiser and participant.

Attending the event were representatives from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Vietnam-France Friendship Association, the Vietnamese Embassy in French and overseas Vietnamese in the country.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Le Hong Chuong, Director of VCCF highlighted the significance of the event. He said through the event, the centre wanted to promote the special features of Vietnam ’s culture to the French people as well as foreign friends.

Vietnamese Ambassador Duong Chi Dung spoke highly VCCF’s contributions to the event, saying that this is the best opportunity for spectators to enjoy a multicolour and multinational cultural event.

VCCF is the newest member of the Forum of the Foreign Cultural Institutes in Paris (FICEP), which gathers foreign institutes or cultural centres in Paris to introduce culture to the world.

In the framework of the event, a range of activities including music performance, Vietnamese films screening, and courses on Vietnamese language, traditional musical instrument and martial art will be also held.

The event will run until October 1.

Independent filmmakers pass torch to students

“First, get a good team” is the advice of Phan Dang Di, the director of award-wining “Bi, Don’t be afraid” to students about independent film making.

“A perfect team is the basic element of making a successful independent film”, Di told Ho Chi Minh City students at a meeting held on Friday at Hoa Sen University.

Di, and two other members of his “perfect team” that made “Bi, Don’t Be Afraid,” scriptwriter and director Nguyen Hoang Diep and cameraman Pham Quang Minh, told local youths that it was not impossible to make an independent film.

According to the rising filmmakers whose “Bi, Don’t Be Afraid” has won two of the International Critics Week’s prizes at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in 2010, and Best First Feature and Best Cinematography at the 21st Stockholm International Film Festival this year, besides teamwork, passion is also important.

Di said foreign investors in particular would prefer filmmakers who really believe in the success of their projects.

At the meeting, the trio also talked about their upcoming project, a movie titled “Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung (Wings in the Air)” about a 17-year-old girl whose boyfriend leaves her when she is pregnant with his child.

In 2010, Phan Dang Di was nominated for Best Writer at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong for the movie “Choi Voi” directed by Bui Thac Chuyen.

Nguyen Hoang Diep started her filmmaking career in 2004 with the movie “Mua Thu 5” which won the third prize at the 2005 National Short Film Festival. She’s recently directed the TV series “Chit and Pi” and “The 10A8 Class’ Quartet”.

Pham Quang Minh won Best Cameraman at the National TV Awards in 2006.

Southeast Asian youth ship to take place next month

The 38 th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Programme (SSEAYP) will take place from October 25 to December 16, According to the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

The programme is scheduled to start in Japan and go through five Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines , Brunei , Indonesia , Malaysia and Vietnam .

The event is part of friendly activities to strengthen mutual understanding between young people from Japan and Southeast Asian countries and to provide a chance for participates to get to know about various cultures in the region, expand their view and improve knowledge in many fields.

Vietnam will select 28 delegates to participate in this year’s programme.

Red River among most charming sites on earth

The Red River (Song Hong) located in northern Vietnam was listed as one of the eighteen most beautiful sites on earth by Russian magazine Ria Novosti last week, together with American Grand Crayon, Indonesian Komodo national park, and Russian Baikal Lake.

“Our planet is enormous. If you decide to travel around it, you will go about 40,000 kilometers. And if you decide to visit every country, you will go even farther. For those who don’t have the time to travel, here is a series of photos,” wrote the magazine in the introduction.

Ria Novosti describes Red River as the cultural and historical centre of Vietnam on their site.

The Red River, which gets its name from its reddish-brown heavily silt-laden water, flows from southwest China through northern Vietnam to the Gulf of Tonkin.

At 120 kilometers long and 140 kilometers wide, the river is one of the major highways of the coastal strip and thus acts as an important transportation link between China and Vietnam.

Today, Red River is not only an important hub of transportation but also a touristic site in Vietnam.

Vietnam strengthens TV cooperation with Russia, Belarus

Vietnamese Television (VTV) and the Russia Today television channel (RT) on Sept. 22 signed an agreement on exchange of TV programmes, experts, professional skills and other relevant fields.

The agreement was reached during the visit to Russia by a delegation VTV led by its Director General Tran Binh Minh.

Also on Sept. 22, the Vietnamese delegation made fact-finding tours of business facilities of Vietnamese people in Moscow and met with representatives of the Vietnamese community in Russia to explore their demands for information.

The delegation on Sept. 23 held a working session with the Russian State Television (RTR) to discuss prospects for cooperation between the two sides.

The delegation is scheduled to leave Russia for Belarus on Sept. 24 and work with the National State TV and Radio Company of Belarus in Minsk .

Both will compare notes on cooperation in TV programme production, personnel training, exchange of news, reports and documentary films, and share experience in areas of mutual concerns.

Hanoi exhibits Dong Son culture

An exhibition on Dong Son culture belonging to the prehistoric Bronze Age at the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam will take place from September 26 until October 3 at Viet Art center, 42 Yet Kieu, Hanoi.

The exhibition will introduce to visitors Dong Son culture, its origins, development eras and people. Focuses will be on Dong Son applied art. Besides, various lost Dong Son arts such as knitting, wood and Dong Son musical instruments will be introduced.

The Hindu : News / National : Buddhist stupa discovered in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district

A hemispherical Buddhist stupa belonging to the Vajrayana period of Buddhism dating back to 6th and 7th Century A.D. was by chance unearthed by the Department of Archaeology of Andhra Pradesh last week following sighting of a large brick in the vicinity of a large mound in this village.

The 10-metre (diametre) main stupa is now in a dilapidated state, but is yet another Buddhist site to get added to the four major ones in the district. Due to tilling activity some of the outer structures like aramas and ayakas have vanished. Some of the sculptures, bearing a distinct resemblance to the Amaravathi School of sculpting designs, now adorn some common places of the villages as Hindu deities such as Jambala (Kubera).

Vintage temple

The villagers considered it a vintage temple of Lord Shiva in a barren land of about 1 acre on the village outskirts. The stupa with Ayaka pillars in a hemispherical shape was found adjacent to the Zilla Parishad High School. The village derives its name from Buddhist bikshus, whom the locals used to call ‘Munulu' (sages) and thus the name Munuluru which over the years turned into Munjuluru.

Additional Director of Archaeology and Museums K. Chitti Babu, who visited the site along with The Hindu team, said that the stupa belonged to the last phase of the Buddhism (Vajrayana Buddhism practised in Tibet and Mongolia).

He said the barren area, covering many acres close to the stupa, was littered with Buddhist cultural remains.

Conch shells

The archaeologist also collected a number of red and black pottery, including rims in different shapes and sizes. The black, red and scarlet buffed ware, along with conical shaped bowls with heaps of lime conch shells used for plastering during the construction of the stupa, were collected and recorded by Mr. Babu.

The stupa is built with bricks made of husk measuring 23 cm width, 7 cm height and 28 cm length — a typical Buddhist construction material of that period. One of the ayaka pillars, which is in octagonal shape, was perched on a square base. However, for the locals it is a dilapidated Shiva temple. The government will soon issue a notice seeking objections from the public to declaring the stupa a protected national monument.

Goharshad Mosque, a masterpiece of Islamic architecture - Tehran Times

Goharshad Mosque is a remarkable Islamic structure due to its age, architectural characteristics and rich tile decorations. Made of brick and plaster in the 15th century, it used to be served as a free standing mosque and currently serves as one of the prayer halls within the splendid Imam Reza Shrine Complex in Mashhad.

On the margins of the main veranda’s entrance, there is an old inscription carved by calligrapher Baysunqur Mirza.

This comprehensive deed of endowment suggests that the mosque was built when Shahrokh, the Timurid king, was on the throne. The construction started in 1418 by the order of Queen Goharshad, the wife of Shahrokh.

Goharshad Mosque in focus

It took about 12 years to be completed under the supervision of capable Iranian architect Ghavameddin Shirazi by the use of the architectural and decorative manpower supplied from the Iranian cities of Shiraz and Isfahan.

Covering an area of 9410 square meters, the mosque consists of a large azure dome, two 40-meter minarets, four verandas, a courtyard with seven big bedchambers, and a large altar made of a stony dado and mosaic faience shell.

Standing in the courtyard one can recognize the ensemble’s exuberant color and solidity among the tower-like minarets, merging with the outer corners of the portal screen extend to the ground together with the high foundation revetment of marble.

The entire court facade is faced with enamel brick and mosaic faience of the finest quality.

The entire surface of the minarets, walls and the surrounding colonnades are decorated with fine mosaic and glazed tiles produced in a variety of colors including ultramarine, turquoise, white, clear green, yellow, light yellow and ebony.

The lucid and vigorous patterns are artfully adapted to their decorative role, whether for eye-panels, or dome ornament meant to be effective at a thousand feet.

This is accomplished by the energy of the faience floral patterns and brick geometrical schemes; by the emphatic rhythm of the arcades, open galleries and deep recesses.

The northern veranda of the Goharshad Mosque or Dar al-Siyadeh, which has the shallowest veranda measuring 18x12 meters, was constructed with respect to the inscription on the portal in 1087 lunar hejira during the time of Suleiman Shah of Safavid Dynasty.

The interior design of the mosque

The eastern veranda measuring 7x1 meters and the western one measuring 1x3 have rich tile work decorations. The mosque has a broad courtyard measuring 56x51 square meters which has been restricted by verandas and colonnades.

The mosaic faience of the courtyard is covered by dark stone and the rest of the surface is decorated with tiles of flora, artistic and arabesque designs.

The main dome of the building constitutes two dissociated onion-like layers with short shaft and a hatchway diameter of 15 meters, circumference of 63 and thickness of 5.2 meters. The convex part of the dome’s shell is decorated with an inscription in Kufic script.

Moreover, the mosque has a public library holding a large number of books. There is also a museum which represents various handicrafts including a collection of carpets and gold-woven works donated to the holy shrine of Imam Reza. Most of the gold-woven works date back to 11th and 12th centuries. Among precious artifacts of this museum are the handwriting inscriptions by Ali Reza Abbasi, the renowned Safavid calligrapher and painter.

Renovations

The Goharshad Mosque was renovated several times when Shah Abbas, the powerful Safavid king, was on the throne. He contributed a lot to the restoration, construction and reconstruction of various religious and historic sites in the country. However, time marches on and the mosque was relatively ruined by a devastating earthquake happened in 1803.

It was time for Qajars to undertake required renovations in the early 19th century.

Another disaster happened by the 1911 Russian bombings resulted in severe damage to the mosque’s double layered dome.

Distinctive in its beauty and architecture, the Goharshad Mosque is still standing firm to host millions of pilgrims every year and maintain its position as one of the most magnificent mosques of Central Asia.

St John’s wall carvings get their golden shine back - timesofmalta.com

Restoration work on the atriums leading to the north and south side doorways of St John’s Co-Cathedral, in Valletta, adorned with beautiful 17th century wall carvings, has been completed.

St John’s Co-Cathedral curator Cynthia de Giorgio said the project consisted of the restoration of the dome and wall carvings that had sustained severe deterioration from the infiltration of rain water, causing the erosion of some of the carvings and the irreparable loss of gilding. The lower strata of the walls also sustained similar damage caused by rising damp. The carvings were found covered by a thick layer of dust and candle soot deposits, which accumulated over the years.

The first stage of the restoration process included the removal of the thick layer of dust and soot while a layer of linseed oil applied during the 20th century was removed using poultices of alkaline solutions, followed by the consolidation of the loose stone carvings and mortar joints. The walls were then prepared for regilding with 24 carat gold leaf, adopting the same gilding process used in the 17th century.

Restoration works began last January and were successfully carried out by the Maltese restoration firm ReCoop on the initiative of The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation.

The restoration of the two atriums follows that of the chapel of Aragon, Catalunia and Navarre, the chapel of Italy and the chapel of the Virgin of Philermos. Works on the chapel of Castille, Leon and Portugal will begin shortly.

Pakistan claim stops Christie’s auction of Buddha | Entertainment | DAWN.COM

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has claimed a fasting Buddha statue put up for auction by Christie with a starting price of $4.45 million and wants it back.

Dawn has learnt that at UNESCO’s intervention, the world famous fine arts auction house has stopped the planned auction and has asked the Pakistani authorities to prove their claim. Sources in the Capital Administration Development Division (CADD) a sharp-eyed UNESCO official in Paris raised alarm after seeing a Christie advertisement about the auction.

The advertisement described the grey schist figure of the emaciated Siddhartha, or ‘Fasting Buddha’, as the most fascinating 3rd/4th century Gandhara piece in Christie’s entire collection. It came to the auctioneer from a private collector who acquired it in Germany back in 1981.

The UNESCO official’s alertness, made Islamabad’s Department of Archaeology and Museums (DOAM) look deeper for Pakistan-origin artifacts that might have reached the auctioneer surreptitiously for sale.

Indeed search revealed 60 more relics of Gandhara period lying with Christie with price tags from $2,000 to $200,000.

A DOAM official called them Pakistan’s cultural property, excavated illegally from Buddhist sites in Gandhara region and smuggled out in early 1980s.

“We have checked all the sculptures on the (Christie) website. It is difficult to ascertain the authenticity and origin of all the sculptures from the photographs but some definitely look original. They can be certified only after physical and scientific examination.

“Nonetheless, it is quite clear that all artifacts belong to the ancient Gandhara region of Pakistan,” said the official.

Relief works, heads, busts, figures and stupa basis made up the collection. It includes a 3rd century grey schist relief of
Buddha, price tag $182,500; a 7th/8th century bronze figure of seated Buddha from Swat Valley, price tag $122,500; a 4th/5th century Gandhara large stucco head of Buddha, starting auction price of $80,500, and a 2nd/3rd century grey schist figure of a pensive Buddha for going price of $68,500.

Other pricey relics in the collection include a 2nd/3rd century grey schist relief of Buddha and another grey schist head of Buddha from the same period for $30,000. Several more had the price starting from $2,000 upwards.

Pakistan is demanding that these artifacts be returned to the country of origin under UNESCO convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970. It obliges UNESCO to take appropriate steps to recover and return any cultural property to its country of origin at the request of a State Party.

Toby Unsik of the Communications Department of Christie, responding to a Dawn e-mail said: “We take our responsibilities in relation to the sale of cultural property very seriously and abide strictly by the laws in the countries in which we operate.

We have invited the Pakistan authorities to provide us with full details of the grounds for any concerns they may have in relation to the sale of this lot and await hearing from them.”

He declined to comment further until Christie heard from the Pakistan government.

If this collection does return to Pakistan, it will be the second time that the country gets back its cultural property. The first time was when the USA returned a lot of more than 40 relics in 2008-09.

A lot can happen over coffee: From traditional Persian coffee houses to modern cafés - Tehran Times

A lot can happen over coffee: From traditional Persian coffee houses to modern cafés - Tehran Times

PhotoBlog - Elaborate makeup and costumes from 18th century art form brought back to life in Beijing

PhotoBlog - Elaborate makeup and costumes from 18th century art form brought back to life in Beijing

Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Art exhibition from Pakistan gets positive press reviews

NEW YORK, Aug 11 (APP): An exhibition of the splendors of the ancient Buddhist civilization of Gandhara from Pakistan, which opened at Asia Society on Wednesday, has received positive review in the press.“After what seemed like an endless run of geopolitical roadblocks, ‘The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara’ has finally come, six months late, from Pakistan to Asia Society. Is the show worth all the diplomatic headaches it caused? With its images of bruiser bodhisattvas, polycultural goddesses and occasional flights into stratosphere splendor, it is,” said The New York Times.

“That all but a handful of the 75 sculptures are from museums in Lahore and Karachi is in itself remarkable,” art critic Holland Cotter wrote in the newspaper’s art section.
The Times paid tributes to Pakistan’s U.N. Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon for his role in facilitating the release of the precious objects from the museums in Pakistan to New York. “Without (his) persistent effort ... the exhibition would almost certainly never have happened,” the newspaper said.
“So the show has a cliffhanger back story as an attraction, and some monumental work, like the fantastic relief called “Vision of a Buddha’s Paradise.” (Dated to the fourth century A.D., it’s a kind of flash-mob version of heaven.) The serenely installed show of architectural reliefs, and works of gold and bronze, offers no hint of the immense bureaucratic and political challenges that almost prevented it from opening, wrote ARTINFO, the premier site for news about art and culture around the world.
The highlight of the exhibition, organized by Adriana Proser, a curator at Asia Society, is “Vision of a Buddha’s Paradise.”
“The big Buddha seated at its center wears an off-the-shoulder robe ... while a couple dozen of mini-bodhisattvas around him mix and match international fashions, with no two outfits, or gestures, or poses, quite the same,” the New York Times’ art critic observed. “Two figures gaze raptly up at the Buddha;
another, chin propped on hand, looks day-dreamingly away; far below, two tiny observers feed lotuses to fish in a stream.”
ARTINFO quoted Asia Society Museum director Melissa Chiu as saying that the exhibition will provide not only an important counterpoint to the prevailing perceptions of Pakistan in the United States, but also an art-historicallysignificant reevaluation of the ancient objects themselves.
“For so long, it was this outpost of Greco-Roman culture, and now we’re actually trying to locate it very much within the region and within an idea of how cultures travel and how they became more a symbol of pluralism,” said Chiu.
For Chiu, the Asia Society’s exhibition reflects a reappraisal that is currently underway in the entire discipline of art history. “Gandharan art has undergone a new appreciation now with scholarship being developed around the idea of a global culture rather than a national culture,” she explained.
In the last two or three years, according to Chiu, art historians have begun to argue that ours “is not the only period in which there was lots of culture interchange and travel, but actually in the ancient world there were these moments. And so Gandharan art comes out of one of those.”
The Wall Street Journal wrote,”The carving eloquently embodies the European-Asian synthesis of Gandharan culture in the first to third centuries.
It was there, in what is now the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan,that Alexander the Great’s incursion into India ultimately spawned an artistic expression. Gandhara produced the first sculptural representations of the Buddha,a thousand years after he died.

The Hindu : Arts / Crafts : Experiments with design

What do you get when you bring together two architects who love design and art? Design accents. Sonali Chitale and Ujjwala Naik Goenka, two architects who shared a passion for interior design, were introduced through a mutual friend. As the friendship grew, Ujjwala joined Sonali, and they began SoUk, in Singapore, which offers niche services for residential and hospitality projects. Taking their designs a step further, the duo has opened its first showroom Kaizen, in the city.

Warm ambience

It has warm interiors and warmer lights. There are distinct shades of red and brown on the coconut-made umbrella stands while the metallic black, melted bronze and white brighten the hurricanes, lamps, candle stands and the cheerful dancing women. There is horse-shaped driftwood and tables made of naturally-shaped teakwood. All this to accentuate your home!

Kaizen stands for ‘Zen of better living' and continuous improvements, which signifies the brand's simplistic designs and ongoing evolution. Tables, chairs, hurricanes, lamps and lights are just some of the accents they offer. “We're always experimenting and trying out new ideas, and that is why we decided on that name. Also, we're not a full-fledged furniture store, but deal with accents. What we realised was that not many people accessorise spaces, and we thought it would be good to come up with a niche service of accessorising homes and hotels,” says Ujjwala.

A ‘light' choice

The duo is passionate about lights, and has made them a big part of Kaizen. “We found a void here when it comes to decorative lights, and we've got this range of table, floor and ceiling lights that will accentuate interiors,” explains Sonali.

The designs come in natural materials, almost completely handmade and can even be customised to the client's design. “We've consciously tried to stay away from brands, and try to cater to every kind of customer. Our price range is as wide as our selection, but our products come in small numbers because we try to avoid bulk,” explains Sonali, while Ujjwala adds: “We want to give the best of what we can offer. Our production time is usually six to eight weeks, and we use all kinds of materials such as natural wood, coconut, driftwood to bring in different textures.”

And, they strive to keep up with the trends. “Because we're from Singapore, we've been influenced by the structure and standard there. A lot of architects and designers elsewhere make Singapore their base, and this helps us keep a close eye on the market,” Ujjwala says.

Kaizen is located at Chamiers, 106, Chamiers Road, R.A. P

PressTV - Malaysia to host Iran Qur'anic arts expo

Iranian embassy in Malaysia has programmed to mount an exhibition to display exquisite arts and calligraphy of the holy Qur'an in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

Iran embassy's cultural office has attempted to hold an exhibition to showcase Qur'anic masterpieces and calligraphy created by Iranian Artists, IRNA reports.

Islamic paintings on stone, wood and clay along with Qur'anic illumination and cultural productions such as Qur'anic softwares are among other works to be presented at the event.

Organized by Astan Quds Razavi, there would also be workshops on the illumination and calligraphy of the holy Qur'an conducted by world renowned and prominent Iranian calligraphers.

Furthermore, the event is planned to present several Qur'ans translated into 40 languages as well as some precious scripts of the holy book.

Rare and old manuscripts of the holy Qur'an belonging to Imam Ali (PBUH), Imam Hussein (PBUH), Imam Hassan (PBUH), Imam Sajjad (PBUH), Imam Kazem (PBUH), Imam Reza (PBUH) will also be displayed at this cultural event.

Iran's biggest Qur'anic art exhibition is scheduled to kick off on August 14, 2011, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (KLCC) Exhibition Hall.

Portrait of a North Korean propagandist turned protest artist - CSMonitor.com

Seoul, South Korea

For Song Byeok, as for many North Koreans, getting out of his homeland came at a steep price.

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The soft-spoken artist decided to leave in 2000 to find food, as famine ravaged large parts of the country. During his initial attempt to cross the Tumen River intoChina to find and bring back food, Mr. Song watched as his father was washed away in the surging waters.

“I was about halfway across the river when the rope grew slack,” he says in a recent interview. “My father told me three times to go and leave him and then disappeared underwater.”

Related Choi Hyun-mi, teen boxing champ, spurs fellow North Korean defectors to keep fighting

Mr. Song dragged himself ashore and begged for help from a group of North Korean border guards. “They refused, saying, ‘Why have you survived? You should die also,’ and they beat me up,” he says.

He spent seven months in a North Korean prison camp, where he lost a finger to frostbite and became disillusioned with the regime. After Song was amnestied, he successfully sneaked into China. A year later, after securing a secret passage to South Korea, he arrived in Seoul.

Song is just one of the estimated tens of thousands of starving or disillusioned North Koreans who have fled the country since the mid-1990s, when a collapse of the country’s food distribution systems coincided with a devastating famine.

Propaganda artist

Before fleeing to China, Song was a propaganda artist. In a rural studio south of the capital,Pyongyang, he created grinning portraits of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il and vibrant billboards depicting ranks of revolutionary workers and peasants.

Song started painting as a hobby, but his talents were quickly noticed by the authorities and he was soon recruited to work for the regime.

He says the central authorities would present him with strict models outlining the posters’ style and content. Painting “outside the lines” – making personal alterations to the models – was strictly forbidden. “Every line, every angle, it was all presented in the model. It was just copying. There was no creativity, none of the artist’s personality, nothing.”

At his small studio in suburban Seoul, Song unveils a reproduction of a typical propaganda poster, rendered in an apocalyptic palette of reds and browns. It shows a stern-faced worker clenching his weapon, with shrill yellow Korean script running along the top and bottom of the painting: Are you going to live as a free human, or as a slave? Let’s protect the red flag of the revolution until the very end.

“In North Korea, this is an actual slogan,” Song says. “But it could be turned back at them: Are yougoing to live as free men or as slaves? Look at how you’re living: You’ve got no freedom of speech or activity or assembly, or anything in North Korea.”