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Sunday Snapshot – Seychelles

Kathryn Frengs — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:00:10 +0000

As winter drags on and on and on in London, I find myself daydreaming more and more of exotic, tropical locations. The Seychelles are a perfect “daydream” spot – with the crystal clear water, towering palms and “tropical deserted island” feel, and this photo makes me want to go there immediately!

Photo credit: rachel_thecat

Saturday Snapshot – Bahrain

Kathryn Frengs — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:00:13 +0000

A beautiful sunset over the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Riffa Fort. A small island country located in the Persian Gulf, Bahrain is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family and lies just east of Saudi Arabia. An oil-rich country, Bahrain is enjoying the most rapidly growing economy in the Arab world and is also considered by some to be the fastest growing economy in the world. It’s interesting to see such modernity contrasted with 19th century relics like this one.

Photo credit: Harold Laudeus

Wooden Churches

Kathryn Frengs — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:48:00 +0000

Inspired by a link sent over to me from a friend of mine, today’s post features some of the amazing wooden churches of Russia, Romania, Poland, Finland and Moldova. Some dating back as far as the medieval times, these beautiful churches are becoming more and more rare as many are lost to redevelopment or decay. Though hundreds of examples of wooden churches used to dot the landscape in this area of the world, today there are few left in good condition. There are preservation campaigns occurring across these countries to try to protect these natural architectural treasures.

The construction of these wooden churches dates back to the beginning of Christianity and the construction methods used are unbelievable. The traditional style of wooden church construction requires that these structures be built without the use of nails. However, apart from this similarity, there are many other differences in style of construction, including varied features such as spires, tin or metalwork, and roof style. Most of these differences depend on region and all are quite interesting.

Here’s a look at some of my favourite examples of wooden churches around these areas.

Kerimaki, Finland

Photo credit: robin-root

Suzdal, Russia

Photo credit: kyllaris

Haczow, Poland

Photo credit: Michael Tyler

Larga, Moldova

Photo credit: liviuss76

Poiana Brasov, Romania

Photo credit: cod_gabriel