picturingjordan.com/public/categories/architecture/index.xml

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    <title>Picturing Jordan</title>
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    <description>Recent content on Picturing Jordan</description>
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    <item>
      <title>The Grandeur of Petra</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/12/grandeur-petra/</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 24 Dec 2016 20:13:21 +0200</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/12/grandeur-petra/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/12/DSC_0029.JPG&#34; alt=&#34;Petra&amp;#39;s &amp;#34;monastery&amp;#34; basking in the golden light just before sunset&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;
        Petra&amp;#39;s &amp;#34;monastery&amp;#34; basking in the golden light just before sunset
        
            
        
        &lt;/p&gt; 
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&#34;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabataeans&#34;&gt;Nabataeans&lt;/a&gt; were a tribe who became filthy rich on the trade of frankincense, myrrh, and spices in the Arabian peninsula around 2,000 years ago. They built Petra as the capital of their flourishing civilization. Hauntingly beautiful stone facades standing one hundred meters tall are amazingly intact and well preserved to this day.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Evolutionary biologist J. B. S. Haldane once said that &amp;ldquo;the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; suppose,&amp;rdquo; alluding to the fact that physical sciences often raise more questions than they answer, leaving us scratching our heads. After visiting Petra I was overwhelmed with a similar feeling, that Petra is not only grander than we suppose, but grander than we &lt;em&gt;can&lt;/em&gt; suppose. What I would give to have seen it in its time!&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Sheikh Zayed Mosque: the Pearl of Aqaba</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/sheikh-zayed-mosque-pearl-aqaba/</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 11 Oct 2016 12:06:06 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/sheikh-zayed-mosque-pearl-aqaba/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/DSC_0024.JPG&#34; alt=&#34;Beautiful mosque by the sea, surrounded by palm trees&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Beautiful mosque by the sea, surrounded by palm trees&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The best way to describe the Sheikh Zayed mosque would be &amp;ldquo;the pearl of Aqaba.&amp;rdquo; There is a lot to love about this picturesque mosque by the Jordanian seaside, but its crown jewel — to continue the analogy — is the impeccable Arabic calligraphy inlaid in its facade. Sadly, Aqaba itself &lt;a href=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/10/aqaba-dirty-disappointing/&#34;&gt;isn&amp;rsquo;t much to write home about&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Originally built in 1975, the mosque was refurbished in 2010 as part of a larger &lt;a href=&#34;http://www.marsazayed.com/&#34;&gt;effort to revitalize the Red Sea port city&lt;/a&gt; and was modeled after the &lt;a href=&#34;http://www.szgmc.gov.ae/en/&#34;&gt;Sheikh Zayed Grand mosque&lt;/a&gt; in Abu Dhabi.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>King Hussein Mosque at Night</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/king-hussein-mosque-night/</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2016 11:54:07 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/king-hussein-mosque-night/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/DSC_0010.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Amman&amp;#39;s King Hussein mosque at night&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Amman&amp;#39;s King Hussein mosque at night&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&#34;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Hussein_Mosque&#34;&gt;King Hussein mosque&lt;/a&gt; was built in 2005 and is the largest mosque in Jordan. I haven&amp;rsquo;t visited it yet, but I&amp;rsquo;ve spent quite a few evenings admiring it from a balcony in the &lt;em&gt;Khalda&lt;/em&gt; neighborhood of West Amman.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Technical: Nikon D3100, ten-second exposure time, post processed from RAW with &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.darktable.org/&#34;&gt;darktable&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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      <title>Another Beautiful Hand-Painted Wood Ceiling</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/another-beautiful-hand-painted-ceiling/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 26 Sep 2016 14:28:23 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/another-beautiful-hand-painted-ceiling/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/DSC_0008.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;A hand-painted floral pattern on wooden panels on the ceiling&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;A colorful floral pattern pops out of the ceiling&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;Another day, another exquisite, hand-painted ceiling in Amman. Just like the &lt;a href=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/beautiful-hand-painted-woodwork/&#34;&gt;other hand-painted wood ceiling&lt;/a&gt; I posted about a few weeks ago, the work was done by an old Syrian man. This one is actually in my flat, and I may or may not have taken this picture while laying on my back on the living room floor.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Technical: Nikon D3100, post processed from RAW with &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.darktable.org/&#34;&gt;darktable&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Saint Thaddeus Church in Amman</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/saint-thaddeus-church-amman/</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 20 Sep 2016 14:58:34 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/saint-thaddeus-church-amman/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/IMG_20160919_141959.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Armenian church with pointy steeple&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Easily one of the most unique buildings in Amman&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;Even if the number number of mosques in Amman &lt;em&gt;didn&amp;rsquo;t&lt;/em&gt; outnumber churches by a factor of ten, the Saint Thaddeus Armenian Apostolic church would still stand out. It caught my eye once a few weeks ago and then I started seeing it every time I glanced at Jabal Al-Ashrafieh. After weeks of squinting and asking myself &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;Is that an Armenian church?&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo; I finally went on an epic scavenger hunt and found it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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    <item>
      <title>Beautiful Hand-Painted Woodwork</title>
      <link>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/beautiful-hand-painted-woodwork/</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 17 Sep 2016 15:48:23 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/beautiful-hand-painted-woodwork/</guid>
      <description>&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/IMG_20160916_174409.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Beautiful hand-painted wood panels on the ceiling&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Beautiful hand-painted wood panels on the ceiling&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;There&amp;rsquo;s an old Syrian man who does this fantastic hand painting on wood panels in Amman. A few flats in our building have them installed on the ceiling, but this one takes the cake. I&amp;rsquo;m not sure if it&amp;rsquo;s typical for the region or not — the man was referencing pictures from a Russian art book — but they are exquisite.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
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