View thru My Global Lens

A Painted Church and Graveyard in Transylvania

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:25:47 PST

There must be a fascinating history behind this amazing painted church and its graveyard that I am posting for Monday Mural and Taphophile Tragics. It pains me that I cannot find anything about it (online)!

On the start of a long weekend last June my brother and I drove north from Bucharest a bit over three hours, then got off the main road at Boita to explore a string of 18 traditional Romanian settlements in a special area called Mărginimea Sibiului in southern Transylvania. Earlier I posted village scenes from this well-preserved ethnographic area along the foothills of the Cindrel Mountains.

We spotted this little Romanian Orthodox church not far from Boita, driving east toward Tălmacel (map below). Unfortunately, this is all I can tell you about this particular painted church and its graveyard. My photos will have to tell the story.

However, there are a great number of such architectural treasures - painted churches and monasteries - in Romania and Moldova built in the 16th and 17th centuries; many are listed in UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites.

It's quite possible, since we did not see headstones predating the 20th century, that this is a more recent church and graveyard. But it is still a marvel to behold.

Post script: Thanks to fellow blogger Traveling Hawk from Romania, I can now tell you a little more. This church was erected between the years 1775-1784 in Tălmacel, first recorded in 1488 as a small hamlet of ten families. Along with 246 others in Romania, the church was dedicated to the popular Saint Paraschiva. It was built and financed by the community, who made the bricks and transported them to the site on horses. Legend has it the money ran out before winter 1779, but the next spring a woman found a tub of gold coins. With this the interior was completed and painted by local masters. Restoration work was done 1975-80. [Sources: here and here.]

The main interior of the church was locked, but in the small entranceway we were greeted with a ceiling to floor fresco depiction of hell or purgatory.

Location: You can see all the towns on this map, with the highlighted orange area showing where this church should be.

The orange rectangle on this second map shows the approximate area of Marginimea Sibiului (meaning margins of Sibiu) in relation to Sibiu and Bucharest.

For more marvelous murals and fascinating burial grounds, follow the links in my opening paragraph. (Monday Murals now has a home; YaY!) I will visit as many as I can before I must close down for my trip to China. From there, accessing blogs is very difficult, thanks to an overzealous Big Brother.

Fence Along Tanjiang River

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:03:13 PST

Along the Tanjiang River in Kaiping is a long stretch of walkway where pedestrians are separated from the river by a unique fence. Here are three shots featuring the fence taken at different times of the day.

Kaiping, 2011

In this last photo you see a boat-shaped restaurant that I first posted here.

The fence is for Friday Fences.

The sunset is for Skywatch Friday.

The reflections are for Weekend Reflections.

The fence shadow is for Sunday Shadows.

I am returning to Kaiping early next week, so after this weekend my posting and blog hopping will be interrupted until I find a way to pierce the Great Firewall of China... or leave China. I can always be reached by email.

Location... the red bubble marks the spot:

H is for Hair in Huangluo

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:32:21 PST

We were en route to the Longji Rice Terraces in Guanxi province when we stopped to have lunch in a small village called Huangluo.

The village is inhabited by the ethnic minority Yao and it has become a popular stop for tourists. Hence there was an array of minority clothing, jewelry, artwork and intricate embroidery for sale

What makes this Yao village unique is that its women have the longest hair in the world. Really, it's been certified by the Guinness World Records.

We had no inkling of this when we stopped here, but just as we were finishing lunch, I heard a bit of a commotion outside. I grabbed my camera and this is what I saw: a row of women standing on the edge of the river modeling their long hair and how they style it.

By tradition the Yao women cut their hair only once in their lifetime, at an age between 16 and 18 when they are considered adult and ready to get married. The cut hair is kept as a headpiece and is twisted into their standard hairdo.

The longest of the women's hair can grow up to 1.9 meters (6 feet) and the average is about 1.2 meters (4 feet). Imagine washing that every day... in the river!

Seeing these women later in modern street clothes tells me the tradition won't remain pure for long.

Longsheng, Guangxi, 2007

Location - the red bubble:

If you would still like to see the hair being piled up, there is a short video (not mine) HERE. I posted an earlier photo of a Yao woman HERE.

The letter at Alphabe-Thursday is H.

Z is for Zhongshan

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 07:14:01 PST

For the last letter of Round 9 at ABC Wednesday I'm bringing you to a favorite market of mine, the Zhongshan Antique Furniture Market.

When I first visited this market many years ago, there was no fancy gate like this to greet us and no real buildings, just a small loose group of vendors in makeshift structures selling antiques collected in villages near and far. (It's a pity I did not carry a camera in those early days!)

The market has expanded significantly over the decades and today it is an enormous formal complex of vendors selling antiques real and reproduced. Not only furniture, but you can find garden decor, home decoratives and knickknacks here... in stone, metal, wood and ceramic.

I am going to let my photos tell you the rest of the story.

Zhongshan, Guangdong, 2009

The red bubble between the City of Zhongzhan and Macau marks the spot where this market is.

Graveyard by the Franciscan Monastery of Pridvorje

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:17:45 PST

Today I am participating in a new meme recently started on a topic that fascinates me: burial grounds. Taphophile Tragics is the title of the meme and will be posted on Tuesdays.

Quoting from Julie's blog:

Taphophilia is an interest, morbid or otherwise, in graveyards and cemeteries. Graveyards were attached to churches, whereas cemeteries were specifically set up for the burial of the dead.

A taphophile is one who finds they are attracted to walking around cemeteries, reading the headstones and musing upon the family history contained therein.

Yes, that describes me. There is something a little curious about that, too.

My biological father, a Morocco-born Frenchman (whom I did not grow up with, but met as a young adult), had an absolute horror of cemeteries. When we traveled together, he became visibly upset whenever I wanted to go explore one. He never could adequately explain that aversion to me. I surmised it might stem from a fear of death. So I find it intriguing that my inclination is so opposite.

My first post on this topic is a tiny strip of graveyard on the side of a small Franciscan monastery near the village of Pridvorje on the slope of Mount Snježnica. It is about 8 kilometers (5 miles) up the hill from Cavtat, the gorgeous town on the Adriatic Sea where we lodged in May of 2009 for four nights when my mother's car broke down (see earlier post).

The monastery with the church of St Blaise was built 1423-1429. I can only guess that it is former resident Franciscan monks who were buried here. Had I known I would one day post for this meme, I would have paid more attention to details and taken more photos.

While we saw no one in the monastery, the many fresh flowers left on the graves, as well as in the courtyard, told me this place was not deserted.

Croatia, 2009

Monday Mural V - Reposo II

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:55:22 PST

This is the second of the Reposo fine art murals.

The artist is Eddie Cabisada. The only information I could find about him is from his social media profiles: he is a self-described muralist who works in acrylics, oil and water colors, and he "doesn't like people who are liar and cheaters."

I like his bold use of colors here.

Manila, 2008

Find more murals here, here, here, here, and here. Our little mural group is expanding. How about you, you have a mural to share next Monday?

Two Bridges in Dumaguete

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:30:00 PST

The sky was already dimming by the time we reached the Banica River flowing through Dumaguete just over a week ago, December 28, so the light was not ideal for photography. Nonetheless, I thought these images of two of the four bridges spanning the river were an interesting entry for Sunday Bridges.

Perhaps you've read or heard about the devastating floods caused by tropical Sendong’s (Washi) fury in the southern parts of the Philippines earlier in December. Dumaguete was one of the towns affected. The mayor has applied for funding for the construction of four new bridges across this river to replace the spillways that had overflowed and were partly damaged when the typhoon caused the river to overflow.

It amazes me how calm the scene looks now, just a couple of weeks after the storm.

Dumaguete, 2011

Portrait of a Tricycle Driver

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:50:23 PST

"God Bless Our Trip" are the words knitted into the interior window decor.

For some context, this is his tricycle that four of us climbed into.

Dumaguete, 2011

Linking with Weekend Reflections.

Along a Yellow Fence

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:41:19 PST

For the meme Friday Fences, here are three different scenes I captured walking in Cebu, capital of the Visayas, along one loooong yellow metal fence separating the sidewalk from the busy street.

Ostensibly the fence was erected to force some discipline into the typically unruly pedestrians. But that did not stop the cigarette and candy vendor from setting up his stand right on the street. The Philippines is the only place I have been where street hawkers will sell a single "stick" of cigarette or a single piece of candy to motorists. Do you know any other country that has this special service?

Cebu, 2011

G is for Gold

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:40:16 PST

How does gold grab you? Is it glamor that glitters? Or is gold given to goons with guns (think: government) ghastly?

Today we look at the letter G at Alphabe-Thursday.

I will first share with you a few scenes of the grand and glitzy Gold Souk in Dubai, where gold gewgaws from tiny to gigantic go for below the global price when you haggle.

Then you may find interesting the thoughts on gold from luminaries past that seem still so germane in today's turbulent world... and which give heed to the great idiom, "the more things change, the more they stay the same".

Dubai, 2005

By gold all good faith has been banished; by gold our rights are abused; the law itself is influenced by gold, and soon there will be an end of every modest restraint.

~ Sextus Propertius elegiac poet of the Augustan age (~50 BC-15 BC)

Between falsehood and useless truth there is little difference. As gold which he cannot spend will make no man rich, so knowledge which cannot apply will make no man wise.

~ Samuel Johnson (1709 –1784) English author

Democracy is never a thing done. Democracy is always something that a nation must be doing. What is necessary now is one thing and one thing only that democracy become again democracy in action, not democracy accomplished and piled up in goods and gold.

~ Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) American poet

Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; who sows a field, or trains a flower, or plants a tree, is more than all.

~ John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) American Quaker poet

I did not know that mankind were suffering for want of gold. I have seen a little of it. I know that it is very malleable, but not so malleable as wit. A grain of gold will gild a great surface, but not so much as a grain of wisdom.

~ Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American author/philosopher

All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.

~ Plato (424 BC–348 BC), Classical Greek philosopher

A Great and Glorious New Year to my fellow blog hoppers!

Y is for Year

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:39:09 PST

We are a few days into 2012 and this post is a brief peek into how Filipinos celebrate the arrival of the New Year. Two words might suffice, really: deafening and dangerous.

Firecrackers, fireworks and other noisemakers are key to bringing the new year in with a bang. For days before the midnight transition from old year to new and for a day or two after still, the eardrum bursting sounds of snap, crackle, pop, whizz, fizz and BANG! permeate the air, along with lung-busting (and airplane diverting) smoke.

A traditional belief I suspect was adopted from the Chinese holds that the cacophony drives off evil spirits, thereby ensuring a bountiful and blessed new year.

Despite legally banning the larger explosives and annual attempts to forewarn the public of the dangers of fireworks through information campaigns, each year many hundreds of casualties and a few deaths are reported throughout the nation. Many would like to see a total ban on all fireworks, but there is still a massive resistance again such a move.

My photos were taken last week in Dumaguete, where vendors in makeshift stalls along the street saw a brisk business for their fiery wares.

Dumaguete, 2011

I am linking to ABC Wednesday where the letter is Y and to Signs, Signs.

Monday Mural IV - Visayas I

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:33:36 PST

Mural paintings in Philippine towns are often created as part of local competitions designed to encourage urban beautification and/or awareness raising. I've noticed that often there is a theme to a group of paintings; popular ones being environmental protection, family values, education, and ethical development.

Stretches of fence wall are donated by municipal governments or private companies to organizers who entice art students to participate with cash prizes. The quality of these murals span the spectrum from wonderful to what is that!?

This Monday's mural is in the Visayas, one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, the other two being Luzon to the north and Mindanao to the south. On this map, the Visayas is in blue.

Walking around in the cities of Cebu and Dumaguete last week I spotted a good number of wall paintings and I photographed some to share with you on Mondays when a handful of bloggers play along. So this series is called Visayas.

I thought this mural in Cebu was one of the better ones I saw, with a strong feel of traditional Filipino subject and painting. Lots to look at [better enlarged].

Cebu, 2011

More murals here and here and here.

Strolling Along the Sea in Negros Oriental

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:33:47 PST

Last week my honey and I joined a group of good friends for a few days of fun and laughter at a resort on the tip of Negros Oriental, about an hour's drive from the university town of Dumaguete.

Join me here for a little stroll along the beautiful sea. The boardwalk is concrete and has seen better days, but the camera did not mind that.

Negros Oriental, 2011

I am linking this post with the blogging communities at Sunday Bridges, Scenic Sunday, Macro Monday and Mosaic Monday.

HaPpY hApPy NeW yEaR!!

The Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:14:52 PST

Cebu, 2011

This boy looked rather blue to me, sitting here in his blue shirt and shorts on shiny blue tiles with blue water bottles.

Linking with reflection seekers at Weekend Reflections.

HaPpY hApPy NeW yEaR!!

W is for Wish

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:32:04 PST

These heartfelt wishes are for my blogging friends at ABC Wednesday, Alphabe-Thursday, Weekend Reflections and any other friendly bloggers dropping by. CHEERS!

Monday Mural III - Reposo I

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:59:49 PST

Today's mural could start a sub-series under the heading Monday Mural that I will name Reposo.

I have in my photo archives a good number of interesting outdoor wall paintings that were created as part of an annual art and culture festival in Manila. For the past seven years the art party has been held the last weekend of May on what was formerly called Reposo Street. I've attended the street party twice, in 2006 and 2008. (If you're in Manila, go check out the street and the art and lifestyle studios in the LRI building.)

Besides the painting of a wide range of murals on a long wall by well-known as well as not-so-known Filipino artists, the festival offers a full schedule of live performances (singers, dancers, story-tellers), an arts/crafts/food bazaar, body painting for children, portraiture, movie screenings, lectures on art and culture, and much more.

Two 2006 murals by the celebrated artist Egai Fernandez are the first I will showcase.

In this first image you can see Egai at work on one of his murals, as well as a part of the long wall used for the event.

Manila, 2006

Egai describes himself as "A Filipino Social Realist Artist. Who's hands and art are dedicated to art and placing the word 'fine' in it."

Here is a second mural he was nearly finished painting, one I particularly like.

And finally a charming smile from the artist.

None have committed to post a weekly linky, but there are a few of us playing with Monday Murals. Find more murals here, here and here.

Shadows at a Resort

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 07:36:11 PST

For Shadow Shot Sunday here are three shadow images I captured at a very special resort in Ilocos Norte I've posted about here and here.

I like the mix of materials, textures and colors. A metal chair on terracotta Vigan tiles, name after the Ilocos Sur town that makes them. Details on the chapel. Gecko in a paper lamp.

Ilocos Norte, 2010

Click the link to find fun shadows around the globe. Thanks to the new team for continuing to host this fun meme!

Tanjiang Bridge at Night

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 01:15:09 PST

This is again the bridge over the Tanjiang River I posted last week. At night it tells quite a different story, don't you agree? [Click to enlarge for full view.]

Kaiping, 2011

For Weekend Reflections and Sunday Bridges.

Tonight's Sunset

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 07:40:19 PST

Watching a big round sun set on Manila Bay is my extra special bonus when I am called to an early evening meeting at Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza.

Manila, 2011

This sunset [more beautiful enlarged] is linked with SkyWatch Friday. Check out the hundreds of stunning skies seen and captured from around our globe.

F is for Fishing

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:34:32 PST

Boys fishing together. Friendship. What could be more fun than that?

Ilocos Norte, 2010

With the letter F at Alphabe-Thursday, I'm offering this fun series of friends fishing in Blue Lagoon in northern Philippines.

V is for Vandalism

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:17:16 PST

Vandalism can be simply defined as "willful or malicious destruction of public or private property." Few would argue that smashing windows or burning cars is criminal behavior, no less than trespassing or burglary, subject to prosecution and punishment.

Yet when it comes to graffiti - writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place - a debate has raged for centuries.

Bucharest, 2011

On one end of the spectrum are those who argue that graffiti can be an artful expression of rebellion, an acceptable form of individual, political or social commentary by the powerless and marginalized.

Hardliners on the other end firmly believe that graffiti, totally unlike commissioned or requested wall/public art (like yesterday's post), is an unwelcome sign of anarchy, a loathsome act of disrespect for property, a crime, and certainly never to be called art.

What do you think? Can we discuss artistic or social merit when looking at the graffiti in these photos I took in Bucharest earlier this year? Is there a middle-of-the-spectrum position? Or is it all merely vandalism, period?

Of course graffiti filled spaces are nothing unique to Bucharest. Still I see more of it throughout Europe than in North America, and even less in Asia.

What role does culture play in the acceptance or tolerance of graffiti? I don't know; I'm asking.

(Ne Travaillez Jamais = Never Work)

Municipalities and businesses bear significant costs to clean up graffiti (when they can afford to do so at all). So I wonder whether it would do any good to provide clean and accessible walls for people to come and express themselves (sort of like the ill-fated Democracy Wall in Beijing in 1978)? Or is the illicitness of the vandalism an intrinsic part of the message? Again, just asking.

(La Vie Est Ailleurs = Life Is Elsewhere)

I'm linking with the blogging communities at Our World Tuesday and ABC Wednesday with the letter V.

Monday Mural II - Peles Castle V

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:05:37 PST

It's Monday and again I join a small group of bloggers posting interesting murals found around the world. Check them out... one in Ontario, one in Flint, MI, and the other where the mural blog-hop started, in Oakland, CA. Why not join and show us yours?

Today my mural is in Romania. This is the delightful fresco in a small courtyard near the public entrance to the fairytale Peles Castle in Sinaia. The link takes you to my earlier posts on this outstanding castle built between 1873 and 1914 (and a couple of other castles).

Sinaia, 2011

Reflections on a Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 10:02:23 PST

Back in January of this year, we saw this bridge under construction near where we were staying in Kaiping. It was in fact a reconstruction of an old one. It is called the Tanjiang Bridge.

Kaiping, 2011

By October when we went back it was completed and in operation. I learned that this 328 meter long bridge with six lanes was opened to traffic on June 22. The reconstruction had started in July 2009.

The towers on the bridge symbolize the watch towers for which this county is famous.

On the bridge I found a "selfie" reflection for Weekend Reflections. The bridge joins Sunday Bridges.

Iron Fences

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 05:51:22 PST

Hong Kong, 2011

Little did I know two months ago when I snapped this scene near the former Marine Police Headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui that I'd be posting it for the meme Friday Fences.

The old building you see is called Star House. In the '80s we had our trade consultancy office on the sixth floor. It has a fabulous view of Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island.

In the photo below taken from another angle you can see the distinctive Bank of China building across the water in Central District on Hong Kong Island. It was designed by the famous IM Pei. Since construction started in 1985, the same year I landed in Hong Kong, I was able to see it rise up until it was opened in 1990. For only three years it was the tallest building in the city (315 m or 1,033 ft).

On the right you can see the old Ball Tower, which was formerly used to provide time signals to the boats in the harbor. Today its view from the water is blocked by the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

E is for Embroidery (again)

noreply@blogger.com (Francisca) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:29:34 PST

Decorating textile by hand with needle and thread may be a dying handicraft. Machines can do most of that embellishing work today faster and cheaper.

But in the Chinese southwestern mountain province of Guizhou I still saw a lot of amazing hand embroidery - often on attractive traditional ethnic Miao costumes that I must one day show you.

Today I share with you this intricate silk embroidered bell tower wall hanging that was being prepared for display at a local trade show in the provincial capital Guiyang. [Better seen enlarged, of course.]

Guizhou, 2006

If you are partial to exquisite embroidery, you can see my earlier posts about embroideries I found in Mongolia here and here.

The letter is E at Alphabe-Thursday, so hop on over and see what E topics others have found to post.