The Basilica of Bom Jesus (1594-1605) in Old Goa, 6 miles east of the Goa’s capital Panjim, occupies a very special place in the consciousness of the Goan Catholic community. Deliberate photography of this structure is not an easy undertaking. During the day there is a steady stream of pilgrims and tourists milling around the…
The majestic table mountain (tuya) – Herðubreið – in the Highlands of Iceland is seen on a dramatic afternoon from the ancient settlement at Möðrudalur, a remote sheep farm and at 469 metres, the highest in the country. Herðubreið is very dear to Icelanders. The bluish cast of the mountain has been untouched for that…
Halldór Laxness (1902-1998) was among the great literary figures of the 20th C and Iceland’s only Nobel Laureate to date. His home, Gljúfrasteinn, located in Mosfellsbær just outside Reykjavík, is now a national museum. A multimedia presentation on Laxness’s life and an excellent self-guided audio tour of the house are available. Laxness responded to beauty…
This installment presents some of the surviving aesthetic treasures of Panjim. The man responsible for parlaying what was once a swamp into one of the world’s most beautiful cities was the Portuguese Viceroy D. Manoel Francisco de Portugal e Castro. It was during his tenure, 1827-1835, that the marshland was reclaimed and the city’s layout…
Ensconced in an orchard in the Goan village of Advalpal, an old and precious temple of Hanuman lies in a state of criminal neglect. Physical decay of the structure has taken hold, inside and out. This corrosion of the land’s cultural soul is a corollary to the ecocide underway in Goa. Inside the shrine an…
