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The Beautiful Architecture Thread


New Town Loafer

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New Town Loafer

I often find that beautiful architecture improves my mood, particularly when I have a proper look at the subject.

 

SO, I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to photos of beautiful buildings, be they churches, mosques, train stations etc.

 

I'll kick off with one of my favourites in Edinburgh as well as a place I'd love to visit.

 

St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal) - Wikipedia

 

St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral Edinburgh: What You Need To Know

 

 

 

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus | Mumbai (Bombay), India | Attractions  - Lonely Planet

 

 

 

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Great thread.  👍

 

Will start with nothing as grand as the OP pics but I still love walking about some of the Georgian architecture around the New Town.  Around the West End,  Charlotte Square,  Randolph Crescent,  Moray Place,  Royal Circus.

 

 

 

 

 

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New Town Loafer
Just now, Victorian said:

Great thread.  👍

 

Will start with nothing as grand as the OP pics but I still love walking about some of the Georgian architecture around the New Town.  Around the West End,  Charlotte Square,  Randolph Crescent,  Moray Place,  Royal Circus.

 

Much like you, I love walking around town and taking in the Georgian architecture. I take it for granted most of the time, however.

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28 minutes ago, New Town Loafer said:

I often find that beautiful architecture improves my mood, particularly when I have a proper look at the subject.

 

SO, I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to photos of beautiful buildings, be they churches, mosques, train stations etc.

 

I'll kick off with one of my favourites in Edinburgh as well as a place I'd love to visit.

 

 

 

 

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus | Mumbai (Bombay), India | Attractions  - Lonely Planet

 

 

 

Is that the Mumbai railway station?

 

I was there a few years ago with work. Great building.

 

My own favourites from this year's travels...

 

image.png.63e6ec6881ca2e77d92bbdd283000484.png

 

image.png.821612a9c3a0febee17ed1af144013c4.png

 

image.png.61d1f96335e6b4cd165921fe7d38d174.png

 

 

 

image.png

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One favourite building in Edinburgh has to the be the pavillion in the NMS. It feels so different from the street once you go inside, and markedly different from the imposing ediface of the building frontage with the big steps and rotating door to gain entry.

National Museum of Scotland | Accidentally Wes Anderson

Another favourite is the airport at Jeddah, with it's marble interior and Bedouian tent influenced exterior for the Haji terminal. 

Jeddah airport 2024: Your guide to terminals and flights at King Abdulaziz  International Airport in Saudi Arabia | Time Out Jeddah

If you enjoy architecture and discussions on the built environment, you could do worse than watch this channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DamiLeeArch

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Was fortunate enough to be in Milan earlier in the year. You'll struggle to see a more beautiful building than this IMO:

 

Milan Cathedral - Wikipedia

 

Did a great tour where you can walk around the rooftops. Quite incredible level of detail in the stonework, a real pity no-one has the vision to build things like this any more!

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I took those in Italy 

 

 

1st pic palazzo vecchio Florence 

 

 

 

Palazzo civilta Italiano ( in honour of Mussolini ) before he got hung ! 

IMG_9757.jpeg

IMG_9756.jpeg

IMG_9755.jpeg

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I enjoy a good look at architecture. The centre of Chicago has some amazing buildings from the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright, the super high modern skyscrapers and the sheer oddness of Marina City (familiar to Wilco fans).

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il Duce McTarkin
2 hours ago, New Town Loafer said:

I often find that beautiful architecture improves my mood, particularly when I have a proper look at the subject.

 

SO, I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to photos of beautiful buildings, be they churches, mosques, train stations etc.

 

I'll kick off with one of my favourites in Edinburgh as well as a place I'd love to visit.

 

St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal) - Wikipedia

 

St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral Edinburgh: What You Need To Know

 

 

 

 

I worked there for 4 - 5 years as an apprentice then tradesman Stonemason. 

Wonderful building. The engineering in the bits that you don't get to see is also fantastic.

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Plaza de España, Seville.  Very difficult to capture it in a single photograph.

 

plaza-de-espana-seville.jpg

 

 

The Alhambra, Grenada.

 

Alhambra-Spain.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c848e4

 

 

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia.

 

fAp-FanRelFIW6PtVDzX-CCFlL8PpYojJbXhKdND

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Kalamazoo Jambo
1 hour ago, Tazio said:

I enjoy a good look at architecture. The centre of Chicago has some amazing buildings from the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright, the super high modern skyscrapers and the sheer oddness of Marina City (familiar to Wilco fans).


The Chicago suburbs have some brilliant Frank Lloyd Wright houses too, including his home and studio, and the Robie House which is classic prairie style.

 

Just a wee detail maybe, but the use of natural light in this bathroom (at the home and studio) is incredible…

 

IMG_2460.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New Town Loafer
3 hours ago, Ally said:

Is that the Mumbai railway station?

 

I was there a few years ago with work. Great building.

 

My own favourites from this year's travels...

 

image.png.63e6ec6881ca2e77d92bbdd283000484.png

 

image.png.821612a9c3a0febee17ed1af144013c4.png

 

image.png.61d1f96335e6b4cd165921fe7d38d174.png

 

 

 

image.png

Bombay to you and me 👀 but yes indeed - looks fabulous.

 

All great pictures there, too.

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New Town Loafer
2 hours ago, il Duce McTarkin said:

 

I worked there for 4 - 5 years as an apprentice then tradesman Stonemason. 

Wonderful building. The engineering in the bits that you don't get to see is also fantastic.

Something that always amazes me with European cathedrals is the sheer detail. Outstanding craftsmanship.

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2 hours ago, Ulysses said:

Plaza de España, Seville.  Very difficult to capture it in a single photograph.

 

plaza-de-espana-seville.jpg

 

 

The Alhambra, Grenada.

 

Alhambra-Spain.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c848e4

 

 

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia.

 

fAp-FanRelFIW6PtVDzX-CCFlL8PpYojJbXhKdND

Three fantastic examples.  👍❤️

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Dean Village, Edinburgh.

 

7de48f5e-13b3-4dc4-ac51-555713584057.jpg

 

 

Aerial view of York Minster and surrounding area.

 

IMG_1829-low-res.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=4eb7

 

 

The Crown Bar, Belfast.

 

Crown-liquor-saloon-belfast-2-min-1024x5

 

 

And not a building as such, but possibly the most iconic piece of architecture in Scotland.

 

forth-bridge-seen-from-hawes-pier.jpg&f=

 

 

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luckyBatistuta
7 hours ago, Craig_ said:

Was fortunate enough to be in Milan earlier in the year. You'll struggle to see a more beautiful building than this IMO:

 

Milan Cathedral - Wikipedia

 

Did a great tour where you can walk around the rooftops. Quite incredible level of detail in the stonework, a real pity no-one has the vision to build things like this any more!

They do, just nobody wants to pay for it. Imagine how much something like that would cost now, mind blowing.

2 hours ago, John Findlay said:

This too.

 

Screenshot_20241001-195919~2.png

Agree John, absolute crime what they’ve done with it imo

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New Town Loafer

Couldn’t actually find a photo that did it any justice but Cologne Cathedral was spectacular when I was over for the football in the summer.

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Kalamazoo Jambo
10 minutes ago, luckyBatistuta said:

They do, just nobody wants to pay for it. Imagine how much something like that would cost now, mind blowing.


Plus it would take (checks notes) 579 years, give or take :ninja:

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19 minutes ago, luckyBatistuta said:

 

Agree John, absolute crime what they’ve done with it imo

It is indeed.

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5 hours ago, Ulysses said:

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia.

 

fAp-FanRelFIW6PtVDzX-CCFlL8PpYojJbXhKdND

 

Big fan of Santiago Calatrava. The City of Arts and Sciences is probably his best work but he's also designed some pretty cool railway stations and bridges (not least the Joyce and Beckett bridges in Dublin). 

 

World Trade Centre Transportation Hub

Heintges_WTCTransHub_13.thumb.jpg.ffe3a0e8fef2a913e9fb966b8138301b.jpg

 

Liege Station 

Referenz-IM0009694.thumb.jpg.316e8637edb8d8bb48830bce2f3c4009.jpg

 

Reggio Emilia high speed station 

reggio1-980x390.jpg.54846edcaba72830d9a9a75a0ac3e359.jpg

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luckyBatistuta
15 minutes ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:


Plus it would take (checks notes) 579 years, give or take :ninja:

🤣🤣🤣 and the roof would still collapse after a couple of months

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2 hours ago, Ulysses said:

Dean Village, Edinburgh.

 

7de48f5e-13b3-4dc4-ac51-555713584057.jpg

 

 

Aerial view of York Minster and surrounding area.

 

IMG_1829-low-res.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=4eb7

 

 

The Crown Bar, Belfast.

 

Crown-liquor-saloon-belfast-2-min-1024x5

 

 

And not a building as such, but possibly the most iconic piece of architecture in Scotland.

 

forth-bridge-seen-from-hawes-pier.jpg&f=

 

 

Forth bridge most iconic bridge in the world for me.

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Was fortunate to walk round the top of the this structure away back in 1980. You get a cracking few right inside the local football team's stadium too.

Screenshot_20241001-233619~3.png

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1 hour ago, New Town Loafer said:

Couldn’t actually find a photo that did it any justice but Cologne Cathedral was spectacular when I was over for the football in the summer.

 

You're not wrong.  The close-up shots don't give any sense of the scale of the building, while the wide-angle pictures don't capture the intricacies and the details.

 

 

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1 hour ago, John Findlay said:

Was fortunate to walk round the top of the this structure away back in 1980. You get a cracking few right inside the local football team's stadium too.

Screenshot_20241001-233619~3.png

 

Feck, it's amazing the damage that a load of celebrating Italian football fans can do to a building, eh?  :whistling: 

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Drottningholm Palace, Stockholm.

 

DrottningholmPalaceTour.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&i

 

 

Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.

 

schloss_schoenbrunn_feature.jpg&f=1&nofb

 

 

Palace of Versailles (another one that's very difficult to do justice to in a photo).

 

jV2a9D.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=22f5a163197494

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New Town Loafer
5 hours ago, Ulysses said:

 

You're not wrong.  The close-up shots don't give any sense of the scale of the building, while the wide-angle pictures don't capture the intricacies and the details.

 

 

Spot on. A stunning building.

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15 hours ago, Ulysses said:

 

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia.

 

fAp-FanRelFIW6PtVDzX-CCFlL8PpYojJbXhKdND

Came here to post that. Save some buildings for the rest of us. 

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8 hours ago, Ulysses said:

Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.

 

 

schloss_schoenbrunn_feature.jpg&f=1&nofb

Was there this year. Beautifully lit up at night. Walking around central Vienna on a crisp winter's evening after an afternoon of stuffing oneself with an Einspänner and Apfelstrudel  is a lovely experience.

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11 hours ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:


Plus it would take (checks notes) 579 years, give or take :ninja:

 

😀Fair point. Makes the Sagrada Familia look like a Barratt new build!

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12 hours ago, John Findlay said:

This place is not to shabby piece of architecture either.

Screenshot_20241001-232402~2.png

 

Cracker. Used to use those steps very regularly and the view always impressed me. 

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I’ve always been a huge fan of Art Nouveau/Jugendstil/Secession/Liberty Style. Seems to me it was the last great flourishing of creativity and beauty before Europe converted itself into an abattoir in 1914. Although many would say the whole thing derived from the English Arts & Crafts movement, it didn’t really have much impact on Britain, with notable exceptions  - the most notable being Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

 

The Glasgow School of Art was (😢) certainly one of the most remarkable buildings in Scotland. Jugendstil with a distinctly unfussy, sober, linear Scottish twist. Just extraordinary.

 

The Glasgow School of Art i

 

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19 hours ago, John Findlay said:

Was fortunate to walk round the top of the this structure away back in 1980. You get a cracking few right inside the local football team's stadium too.

Screenshot_20241001-233619~3.png

We stayed in Pisa before heading to florance. The tower and its surrounding area are lovely but I thought as a whole Pisa was a bit of a shithole. FB_IMG_1727891805690.thumb.jpg.b5213187adb1fdca098d17c59ef74720.jpg

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23 hours ago, Ulysses said:

The Crown Bar, Belfast.

 

Crown-liquor-saloon-belfast-2-min-1024x5

 

 

Coincidently, today on Radio 5, Matt Chorley's afternoon program he typically randomly generates a constituency from which he offers folks to call in and state why they would be an ideal MP for that particular constistuency, basically!  Well today, it was West Belfast and the very last boy to call in ws asked right at the end of the program (quickly!) what was great about the area, and he very matter of factucally stated, The Crown.

:fonzie:

Edited by ArcticJambo
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Was down at Granton Harbour  couple of weeks ago and what was probably a wee tunnel that went under the railway, I happened upon this interlacing of stone blocks, which impressed me anyway.

20240909_184927.jpg

Edited by ArcticJambo
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Paris

 

Arc de Triomphe.

 

a60c7ed4-cc5d-478e-98fa-0c4210ed2908.jpg

 

 

Palais de Louvre (another building to which it is hard to do justice in a photo).

 

Louvre_Museum_Wikimedia_Commons.jpg&f=1&

 

 

 

A view along the Champs-Élysées to the Louvre from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

 

4083768079_d60f6313ff_b.jpg

 

 

La Conciergerie.

 

conciergerie-palais-seine-paris-zigzag-s

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il Duce McTarkin
30 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

Paris

 

Palais de Louvre (another building to which it is hard to do justice in a photo).

 

Louvre_Museum_Wikimedia_Commons.jpg&f=1&

 

 

 

I often think that Palais de Louvre outshines the many outstanding artworks that it guards. 

 

Imo, Paris is one of those cities in which the city itsef steals show.

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1 hour ago, il Duce McTarkin said:

 

I often think that Palais de Louvre outshines the many outstanding artworks that it guards. 

 

100% agree with this.  The interior and exterior architecture is stunning.

 

 

1 hour ago, il Duce McTarkin said:

 

Imo, Paris is one of those cities in which the city itsef steals show.

 

It is indeed.  Mme U and I were there during the Paralympics, and even with all the disruptive effects of the Olympic and Paralympic temporary buildings, signs and traffic diversions, the city itself was still really impressive and elegant.

 

 

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Todaiji-Temple-Nara-temple-tours-1.jpg

 

Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan.

 

World's largest wooden structure made without using nails.  

 

todaiji-evening-header.jpeg

Edited by Lovecraft
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On 01/10/2024 at 18:51, Ulysses said:

Plaza de España, Seville.  Very difficult to capture it in a single photograph.

 

plaza-de-espana-seville.jpg

 

 

The Alhambra, Grenada.

 

Alhambra-Spain.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c848e4

 

 

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia.

 

fAp-FanRelFIW6PtVDzX-CCFlL8PpYojJbXhKdND

Thanks for posting these.

 

When I moved to Spain 5 years ago I started a competition with my friends whilst we were stood in Plaza de España in Sevilla - for those that haven’t been they have a mosaic for all of the provinces (and 2 autonomous cities). The first person to compete them all (by having a menú del día in each one) would win.

 

Ive completed 40 of them now and seen some truly brilliant places, been to numerous village parties and got to learn a bit about each region. 
 

Recently moved to Valencia and the modern architecture is fantastic. They’re situated in the old river that’s now a  park and a great place to spend time exercising, reading or having a rest. 

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2 hours ago, John Findlay said:

Madrid is not to shabby either.

Screenshot_20241003_090009_Chrome.jpg

Screenshot_20241003_085957_Chrome.jpg

Madrid is a superb city - I miss it a lot. Shame that building was always covered in scaffolding mind you :lol: 

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