Paul Williams Gallery Fine Art Photography & Fine Art Photos – Budapset Basilica from Day For Night

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Budapset Basilica from the “Day For Night” Fine art selective colour photos of award winning photographer Paul Williams. Fine art gallery with photo art prints

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Pictures of The Busojaras Hungary.

If you are in Hungary this Mardi Gras (day before Ash Wednesday) then you might like to join the strangely dressed Busos at the Busójárás in Mohács. This 4 day Šokci (Croats) festival fills the streets of Mohacs with the pagan rights that the carnival season springs from. It one of the last truely pagan festivals left in Europe and is still largely unspoilt by tourism. If you cannot join the Busos then theb photos in our picture gallery will give you a flavour of the Busojaras

[ Gallery of Pictures & Prints Mohacs Busojaras, Hungary]

Paul Williams Gallery Fine Art Photography & Fine Art Photos – Holiday #1 “Alone” from By The Sea

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Holiday #1 “Alone” from the “By The Sea” Fine art selective colour photos of award winning photographer Paul Williams. Fine art gallery with photo art prints

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Fine Art Photo Series of Cappadocia, Turkey

This is the first photo art series from Paul Williams 2011 trip to Turkey. The art photos explore hot air baloons over the dramatic rock formations of Cappadocia in Turkey. This selective colour series of art images are available to buy as art prints and cards from Funky Stock.

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Paul Williams Gallery Fine Art Photography & Fine Art Photos – Blue Domes #1 from Blue Domes

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Blue Domes #1 from the “Blue Domes” Fine art selective colour photos of award winning photographer Paul Williams. Fine art gallery with photo art prints

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Download Free ebook of “At The Circus” Or see this Fine art Photos & Photography series Gallery Exhibition in our photo gallery on line.

We are pleased to open our FREE eBOOK LIBRARY. You can view many of our fine art photos & photography exhibitions and download a free ebook from Pixel Pigs Publications secure download page. We hope you enjoy these books and more will be added to the ebook store soon.

New Pictures of The North Yorks Moors National Park

New Gallery of North Yorks Moors National Park pictures, images & photos. The North Yorks moors are one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in the United Kingdom and became a National Park in 1952. Located in the north east of England just south of the Tees the boundaries of the moors are defined by the steep scarp slopes of the Cleveland Hills to the north, the Hambleton Hills to the west, the Tabular Hills to the the south with the eastern boundary being the North Sea.

The North Yorks Moors is a domed shaped area rising to 1100 ft at Blakey. Valleys or Dales are cut into the dome radiating to the north & south. The geology is dominated is dominated by rock of the Jurassic period with shales, limestones and sandstone. Fossils can be found in the rocks of Robin Hoods Bay and iron ore was mined in Rosedale & Farndale. Alum was extracted along the coast and deposits of Jet are found around Whitby.

Visitors today see a wild landscape of heather moorland which bloom deep purple in late summer cut by remote green dales where sheep graze. The land is far from wild though and is the result of thousands of years of land management and farming. The moors are still separated into the feudal Manors the the Normans created when they conquered England in 1066. The heather moorland is populated by the Grouse which are managed and hunted for a short period each year who come from all round the world to pay £1000 a day to shoot grouse on the moors.

Rosedale was an industrial valley 150 years ago with iron ore mining all around the valley. It is hard to visualise that what appears to be such an unspoilt dale had a mining population of 5000. High above the ruins of 2 kilns linked by a an old railway track are all that is left of the important mining area that sent iron ore to the foundries of Teeside just north of the moors.

[ Gallery of Prints of The North Yorks Moors Nationa Park]

Pictures of The spectacular Bridestone of North Yorkshire

Pictures of the Bridestones nature reserve, Dalby forest in the North Yorks Moors National Park. The Bridestones are weathered Jurassic sandstone outcrops that stand on the edge of a valley of ancient woodland in Dalby forest. Some of the Bridestones are cylindrical towers whilst others have been weathered at their bases to create rocks formations that look like they may topple at any moment. There are many so called Bridestones across the neolithic landscape of Britain, some man made and some natural formations like those in Dalby. Many of the Bridestone sites are associated with pagan rituals and their purpose is unknown yet the name Bridestones have been passed down to us from antiquity. These ancient Bridestones and set in Site of Scientific Interest with rare plants like the insect catching sundew.

[ Gallery of Pictures & Prints of The Bridestones]

New Pictures of The Picturesque Robin Hoods Bay.

Pictures & Images of Robin Hood’s Bay, North Yorkshire. Robin Hood’s Bay is a small fishing village on the North Yorkshire Coast whose houses tumble down the cliffs linked by a maize of small alleys. This picturesque village is famous for its tales of smuggling and the close proximity of the houses and their underground cellars led to the stories that smugglers could land their tea, brandy tobacco or gin on the beach then move the contraband up through the cellars of the houses to the top of the village without the Excise Officers ever knowing.

Robin Hood’s Bay was settled by Danish Vikings in about 1000. After the conquest of William The Conqueror in 1066 the area was given to Tancred the Fleming who sold it to the Abbot of Whitby.

The people of the Bay relied upon fishing and farming using as style of boat known as the Coble to catch herring which were then sent over the Moors to York. Today few fishermen work from the little harbour of Robing Hood’s Bay and the village relies upon tourism. Apart from the picturesque village visitors come to Robin Hood’s Bay to look for fossils in the layer of Jurassic shales that lies along the beach.

The whole of the East coast of England is slowly sinking into the sea and the coast is getting heavily eroded. To save Robin Hood’s Bay high sea walls have been built to protect the village.

[ Gallery of Pictures & Prints of Robin Hoods Bay]

Pictures, Images & Photos of The Chora or Kariye Museum.

Pictures images and photos of the late Roman Byzantine Chora Church, Holy Saviour, mosaics 1315-1321 ( now Kariye Museum ). Originally outside the original city walls built by Emperor Constantine The Chora Monastery derives its name from the Greek Kariye meaning country or suburban area. In 413 AD Emperor Theodosius built new land walls and the Chora monastery lies just inside these. Devastated by an earthquake on October 6 557 a new basilica was built for the monastery by Emperor Justinian. The occupation and sacking of Constantinople by the notorious Forth Crusade in 1204 lucky left the Chora untouched but due to neglect under the Latin occupiers it fell into poor repair.

Theodore Metochites ( 1270–1332 ) was a poet and humanist scholar during the reign of Andronicus II. Son of the archdeacon George Metochites who was condemned to exile for his fervent support of the union of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic church. Theodore Metochites was an academic being versed in literature & science, writing poetry in high Greek that is still difficult for academics to translate. Metochites’ political career culminated in 1321, when he was invested as Grand Logothete. He was then at the summit of his power, and also one of the richest men of his age.

Metochites restored the Chora adding an outer Narthex and adorning the ceilings with sumptuous mosaics and frescos between 1315-1321. Being an early Humanist the style of the frescos introduces Human emotions and depictions of “real” people over the purely spiritual rules of depiction adhered to by the Orthodox Icon painters of the time. In 1332 in the west Giotto was still painting static unemotional frescos at the same time as the Anastasis ( resurrection) fresco of the Parecclesion chapel in the Chora was being painted. It depicts Christ saving Adam and Eve by resurrecting them from their sarcophagi. The fresco is full of movement with Christ all powerful in a pool of light at its centre. It has often been asked how western art went from the two dimensional lifeless paintings of Giotto to the full glory of Renaissance painting and sculpture in such a short time. The art of the Chora shows the conduit that saw Byzantine academics reveal Humanist ideas and the sciences of the old Greek Classical world to a Western Europe that had forgotten them after the fall of the Roman Empire and a period when academic pursuits stopped. The art of the Chora still has to conform to Orthodox beliefs of iconography of the time so could not go as far as later western Renaissance religious painting. How far the Byzantines would have gone will never be known because Constantinople fell and the Empire was extinguished in 1453. Under the rule of Andronicus III Metochites fell out of favour and spent the last years of his life as a monk in his beloved Chora Monastery.

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Pictures, Images & Photos of Dalyan Turkey.

Pictures & images of Dalyan, its river & delta on the Aegean Sea, Turkey. Dalyan is situated inland from the Aegean Sea on a river that runs through reed marshes from the inland lake & sanctuary of Köyceğiz (Koycegiz).

The Dalyan Delta has a spit of sand running across it known as Iztuzu Beach which is a famous breeding ground of the endangered loggerhead sea turtle. In 1988 the beach was designated a Special Environment Protection area after plans were announced to build luxury Hotel on the beach.

Behind the beach is a Delta lagoon where the young Loggerhead Turtles first go for protection waiting for a high tide to escape to the open sea. Reed beds make up a classic Delta which leads via the River Dalyan past the tourist town of Dalyan & the Archaeological site of Kaunos to the inland Köyceğiz (Koycegiz) lake. The lake is a mixture of Sea & fresh water at different depths giving it an unusual diversity of wild life. Bass, Mullet and Sea Bream come to the lake to spawn and are caught in nets known as “Dalyan’s”. A fish lunch can be eat by tourists & locals in the restaurants that line the reed banks, many only accessible by boat.

The symbol of Dalyan are the Lycian style rock tombs carved out of the cliffs opposite the town. These 4th -2nd cent. B.C tombs have the front of Hellenistic Ionic order temples. They are on the edge of a large ruined city known as Kaunos. The extensive ruins have a big amphitheatre that would have sat 5000 people and temple ruins that sit on the side of a picturesque silted up harbour.

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Pictures, Images & Photos of The Elgin Marbles.

Pictures, images & photos of The Parthenon Marbles, known as The Elgin Marbles exhibited in the British Museum, London. Dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, the construction of the Parthenon Temple began in 447 BC with its decorations being completed in 432 BC. The Parthenon has become the great iconic symbol of Ancient Greece and the Athenian democracy being the high point in the development of the Doric Order. The friezes, Metopes and sculptures of the Parthenon are also considered to be one of the high points of Greek art.

Between 1801 and 1812 Lord Elgin, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, paid for the removal and shipping to London of 75 m of the original frieze, 15 of the Metope panels and 17 of the pediment figures. These were bought by the British Government and a purpose built gallery was built in the British Museum.

The pediment is the triangular end of the Parthenon in which sculptures were set. Below the ledge of the pediment is a lintel that runs over the top of the Doric columns on which were placed sculpted marble panels known as Metopes. The Parthenon had a double row of columns and on the lintel above the inner row of columns was a sculpted frieze.

The Pediment sculptures in the British Museum show scenes from the life, including her birth, of the goddess Athena accompanied by her father Zeus and her brother Hephaistos. Athena was the goddess of goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilisation, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.

The metope panels of the Parthenon in the British Museum show scenes of the Lapiths, a pre-Hellenic mythological people from Thessaly, battling with the Centaurs, a mythological creature half man half horse. The scene is probably from the wedding of the king of the Lapiths, Perithoos. The story tells that the Centaurs, who were guests at the wedding, became drunk and a fight broke out during which they tried to carry off the Lapith women. The Centaurs would have represented the Persians to the Athenian viewer of the time. Athens had a long and bitter struggle against the Persian Empire and the Parthenon was built on an earlier unfinished temple that had been destroyed when the Persian sacked Athens in 480 BC.

The Parthenon Ionic frieze sculptures show bas-relief carvings of the Panathenaic procession. This annual procession of Athenians and foreigners ended in the ritual sacrifice of cattle at the Parthenon to honour the goddess Athena. The north and south frieze both show a procession of sixty riders in ranks of 10 men. The south frieze also shows cattle being led to be sacrificed and the east frieze shows Athena watching the procession with her father Zeus. The West frieze shows the preparation of the riders for the procession and, apart from two blocks, these are moulds made for Lord Elgin in 1802 of the blocks that would remain in Athens.

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Pictures, Images & Photos of Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire.

Pictures & Images of Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal Park Water Gardens. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for over 400 years until it was closed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Abbey is part of It is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England and was the second Cistercian monastery to be built after Rievaulx Abbey just 20 (32km) or so miles away. After its closure like all monasteries in England it was abandoned and became a ruin.

In 1718 John Aislabie the owner of the Studley Estate & Chancellor of the Exchequer decided to build a water Garden in his park. The style of the day was for picturesque landscaping and the ruins of Fountains Abbey were incorporated into the design at the end of a sweeping curved lake that follows a narrow wooded valley. This has created the famous vista of Fountains Abbey making Studley Royal one of the best surviving examples of a Georgian water garden in England. Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey owes its originality and striking beauty to the fact that a humanised landscape was created around the largest medieval ruins in the United Kingdom. The use of these features, combined with the planning of the water garden itself, is a true masterpiece of human creative genius that influenced the rest of Europe.

Studley Royal & Fountains Abbey are a UNESCO World Heritage Site

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Pictures, Images & Photos of Istanbul Turkey.

Pictures, images & photos of Istanbul and the historic buildings of the Roman Byzantine Constantinople. Istanbul is one of the most fascinating cities in the world. It literally straddles the East West divide of the Bosphorus with its western bank in Europe and its Eastern bank in Asia.

Originally the Greek city of Byzantium, the strategic importance of its peninsula was recognised by Emperor Constantine who made it into the Imperial City of the Roman Empire in AD 330. The city was founded on the Seraglio Point, a peninsular with the sea of Marmara to the south and the natural harbour known as the Golden Horn to the north. The peninsular overlooks the southern entrance to the Bosphorus, a narrow channel that links the Mediterranean via the sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. The importance of this was not lost on Constantine who saw that the city would not only control trade from the West north into the Black sea but being at the end of the Silk road, which brought precious goods from the far East to the West, Constantinople would be at the hub of East West trade. This gave Constantinople far more power and economic potential than Rome which Constantine never liked.

Constantine built his new city at an incredible pace looting whole buildings and statues from Rome and the other cities of the Empire. This new city was also a Christian city and Constantine built the first great churches of the Roman Empire.

As Constantinople prospered its Emperors took less interest in the Western Roman Empire which slowly weakened and was taken over by Barbarians that swept into the Empire from the north. With what is called the Fall of The Roman Empire in the 5th century history starts calling the Emperors of Constantinople Byzantine after the Greek city of Byzantium. The Emperors of Constantinople would not have understood themselves as Byzantine as they were Emperors of The Roman Empire and remained so until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Even Mohammed refers to them as Romans in his writings but by the time of Mohammed they were Greek speaking Romans not Latin speaking.

Constantinople became fabulously rich and powerful and therefore a target for conquest. The massive land walls that protected the peninsular and its sea walls made it impregnable to many attempts to take it by force. It did though fall in 1204 to the stealth of the Venetian Dodge Enrico Dandolo when he diverted the 4th Crusade to Constantinople to help “protect” it from the Islamic onslaught that had conquered most of Asia Minor. The taking of Constantinople led to a 3 day sack of the city during which time the Venetians loaded all of its treasures onto their ships and sailed off to Venice. The four bronze horses that adorn the from of St Marks Basilica come from Constantinople as do the marble columns and decorations that adorn the palaces of the Grand Canal.

Even though the Byzantine Roman Emperors retook Constantinople it never regained its glory and went into slow decline. In 1453 it finally fell to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II and it became the centre of the Ottoman Empire until its fall at the end of the First World War in 1918.

Little remains of Constantinople but buildings like the Hagia Sophia, built by Emperor Theodosius II and inaugurated it on 10 October 415, give an idea of the heights of sophistication the Roman Empire had reached. It would be a thousand years before a bigger dome was built than that on Hagia Sophia.

The Ottomans have endowed Istanbul with splendid mosques & palaces which fused the mystique of Eastern architecture with that of the west which along with its famous Bazaars make Istanbul one of the most colourful cities in the world.

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Blue Domes selective colour picture gallery with photos of The Blue Domed churches of Santorini to download on line or buy as prints

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Pictures, images & photos of ancient Assyrian relief sculptures. The Assyrians existed as an independent state fro 2400 B.C to the end of the 7th cent. B.C in Mesopotamia, present day Iraq The Assyrians became a power rich empire that showed its great conquests in exquisitely intricate relief sculptures on its palace walls. Assyrian art was designed to overwhelm the viewer. Huge mythical beasts stood either side of its palace and city gates pronouncing the wealth and prestige of the Assyrian rulers.

The detail in the relief sculptures is sumptuous and gives a very clear understanding of the intricately woven cloth that made up the nobilities clothes. Scenes of hunting are popular with the rulers killing lions with bow & arrow and spears from their chariots. These hunting scene are not for the faint hearted with lions shown graphically dying or dead. The relief sculptures of the rulers great victories are equally revealing. The victorious Assyrians humble the defeated and scenes of refugees and executions show the fate of many from the ancient world.

The scale and craftsmanship of Assyrian sculpture is compelling and the narrative content is still quite understandable to the modern eye giving a clear view of the ancient world of the Assyrian rulers.

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Pictures, Images & photos of Hydra Island Greece. Located in the Aegean sea between the Saronic and Argolic gulfs Hydra is a fascinating island with no roads or cars. Hydra, the main town nestles on steep hills that rise up from a natural harbour full of small fishing boats. Steep flights of steps lead up from the harbour through small alleys to beautiful Greek villas that would have been the homes of the wealthy ships captains that came from Hydra. Everything from the building materials to the new fridges that are delivered at the dock are moved by donkeys or pack horses that climb nimbly up the steep flights of steps.

Hidden high in the mountainous interior of Hydra are the Orthodox monasteries of Profitas LLias and Ayia Efpraxia. Small paths lead up from the harbour at Hydra through the wooded slopes of the island revealing breathtaking views of the tiny island. The remote monastery of Profitas LLias sits on top of the central mountain and you will be welcomed by one of the monks who will offer you water and Greek delight and a seat to rest on.

There is no beach in Hydra but a 30 minute walk along the coast, or a short boat ride leads to Vylcosh Village which has a lovely small beach with umbrellas.

The harbour of Hydra with its cafes & tavernas contrast with the serene uninhabited mountains and the beautiful little beaches of Hydra to make a fantastic and unique Greek stop over for a few days.

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Pictures & images of Great Palace Mosaics, Istanbul, Turkey. The Roman Byzantine mosaics used to decorate the pavement of a peristyle court, dating possibly to the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I ( 527-565 ). The area formed part of the south-western Great Palace, and the excavations discovered a large peristyle courtyard, with a surface of 1872 m², entirely decorated with mosaics.

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Pictures & images of artefacts and art of ancient Babylon. The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed in about 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city. Dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the gate was constructed using a rare blue stone called lapis lazuli with alternating rows of bas-relief mu??u??u (dragons) and aurochs. Through the gate ran the Processional Way, which was lined with walls covered in lions on glazed bricks.

Babylon was an Akkadian city-state founded in 1867 BC by an Amorite dynasty of ancient Mesopotamia. Babylon was probably the first a small town which had sprung up by the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC and is situated on the lower Euphrates river in southern Iraq. The town flourished and attained independence with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC. In the mid 7th century Babylon was dissolved as it was invaded and settled by Arabs who brought Islam to the area.

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Pictures, Images & Photos of Kayakoy Turkey.

Pictures of the Greek ghost village of Kayaköy (Kayakoy), nr Fethiye , Izmir, Turkey. For thousands of years Anatolia (Today Turkey) has been the venue of periodic wars and invasions. Every major ancient Mediterranean & Middle Eastern civilisations has fought over this area of the world. The last conflict was between the Greeks & the newly formed Turkish state which ended with the Armistice of Mudanya on October 11 1922, followed by the treaty of Lausanne on 24 July 1923, which agreed a population exchange of Greeks in Turkey with Turks in Greece. It is estimated during the autumn of 1922, around 900,000 Orthodox refugees had arrived in Greece around 2,000 of whom came from Kayaköy .

Kayaköy was resettled by Turks who found the land too hard to farm & abandoned the Village. Today Kayaköy has 500 ruined houses & several churches which stand in the picturesque hills of the western Anatolia coastal mountains. Walking around the ghost village is a strange experience. The people who lived here were obviously simple peasant farmers and the heartbreak of having to give everything up must have been intense. There was no conflict in Kayaköy between Greek & Turkish neighbours and few of the Anatolian Greeks that left for Greece believed that they would be leaving for ever, so they left belongings they could not carry with their Turkish neighbours for safe keeping. The Greeks did not return though and Kayaköy stands as a sobering reminder of the damage the Nationalism of the 20th century caused to peoples lives.

Kayaköy was adopted by the UNESCO as a World Friendship and Peace Village as a symbol of unity to help heal divisions of the past. Kayaköy is said to be the inspiration behind “Eskibahçe”, the imaginary village chosen by Louis de Bernières as the setting of his 2004 novel Birds Without Wings, which chronicles the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the ‘Father of the Turkish Nation’ and deals with the impact of religious intolerance, over-zealous nationalism, and the war that often results.

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Selective Colour “BURANO” Picture Gallery.

“Burano” selective colour picture gallery with photos of the colourful houses of the Venetian island of Burano to download on line or buy as prints

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