Set in an idyllic landscape of verdant rolling hills along the banks of the River Suir, the ruins of Athassel Abbey stand as a romantic symbol of Ireland’s legendary past. Dedicated to St. Edmund, the abbey was founded in 1192 by William Fitz Aldem de Burgo, a Norman aristocrat, for the Augustinian...Read more
It is astonishing to find that in a nation where culture is so publicly revered, an ancient tradition could persist seemingly in isolation, in a world hidden from view. Such is the case with a devout group of Buddhist nuns who for more than a millennium have endowed and maintained a suite of...Read more
The hutongs are being bull-dozed!” “The hutongs are being bull-dozed!” Why the hue and cry? What is a hutong? And why are these “whatevers” being plowed under? For more than six centuries, the hutongs—the thousands of small lanes and narrow passages lined with courtyard houses and commercial...Read more
In the far north of Scotland, the icy waters of the North Sea lash a forbidding promontory jutting into the Bay of Sinclair, 29 kilometers south of John o’ Groats. On a crooked finger of land stands the ruin of Castle Sinclair-Girnigoe, its sublime remains embraced by a sheer drop to the sea on the...Read more
A traveler in the 1820s, having toured the prosperous Shaker village of Mount Lebanon in upstate New York, raved about the place in his memoirs: “Every thing bears the impress of labour, vigilance and skill.” Along the community’s busy fields and streets, he noted, “Not a weed, not a spot of filth...Read more
Upon my arrival at Perm-36, I am surprised by how familiar it all seems. Four hours’ drive on a bad road from the barren city of Perm, at the western edge of the Urals, the prison camp—a collection of low buildings made of dull brick—is enveloped in barbed wire, wooden fencing, electric fencing,...Read more
Built at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the former British Residency in Hyderabad is considered one of the earliest examples of classical revival architecture in India. The building, which at the time of publication is home to Osmania Women’s College, was constructed for Colonel...Read more
Cool air blasts across my face as I gaze out a broken window on our twin-engine airplane, bound for Gunungsitoli on the island of Nias, 125 kilometers off the west coast of Sumatra. Below, whitecaps frolic atop the deep azure waters of Mentawai Strait. Today, these very waves, spawned by strong...Read more
The world’s largest cultural relic in terms of the sheer volume of its building material, the Great Wall of China has lost roughly a third of its original length over the centuries. Erosion, earthquakes, unmitigated biological growth, and the scavenging of building stone by surrounding...Read more
Nestled in the canyons and foothills of the Western Sierra Madre lies a suite of caves that harbor some of the richest architectural treasures of the Mesoamerican world. Etched into the landscape by falling rain more than a million years ago, the caves provided refuge for peoples who settled in the...Read more