Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, is a sacred place, a burial place, a pleasure ground, a work in progress. Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 and became a model for the American ‘rural’ cemetery movement. The idea to create suburban landscaped cemeteries goes back to ideas by architects such as Sir Christopher Wren …
Category: Themes
Watching the Royals Die: The plight of the Chinar Tree in Kashmir
Greater Kashmir, one of the main newspapers in Kashmir, published the article ‘Watching the Royals Die’ by Jaasindah Mir and Jan Haenraets about the plight of the endangered Chinar trees in Kashmir. To view the full text as Pdf, go to this LINK (790 KB). These royals are the Chinar trees, the booyn, of our Kashmiri land. …
Whale Watching in Boston
Boston is an excellent location to undertake whale watching. From Boston harbor you can select a cruise that will take you towards the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary. As a bonus you will get scenic views of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area and the waterfront of Boston Harbor. The Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank …
Busking at Iguazu Falls, Argentina (Music Video)
My favourite chant at the Iguazu Falls, on the Argentine side, by a troupe of local buskers. They were jolly, but visibly tired at the end of a warm day. Visiting the Iguazu Falls, experiencing the scale of the falls and cataracts and the thundering sounds, together with the natural setting of the subtropical Alto Paraná Atlantic forest, is …
Drifting in Blue in Chefchaouen, Morocco
Chefchaouen, also called Chaouen, is a town located in the north of Morocco in the Rif Mountains (شفشاون/الشاون in Arabic). It has become a popular tourist destination as it is one of its kind, with the houses painted in shades of blue. Chefchaouen has an old town, the maze-like medina, and a new city, to its western side. …
Save the Chinar: The Endangered Heritage of the Oriental Plane Trees of Kashmir (Intro)
The Chinar, the Oriental (Eastern) Plane tree (Platanus orientalis), is living heritage of Kashmir. It is a majestic tree that can be found throughout the landscape of the valley, hillsides and cities. The oldest found Chinar is thought to have been planted in the year 1374. Their number has since the 1970s been in a steady decline with over 25,000 trees …
Mughal Gardens of Kashmir: Towards the UNESCO World Heritage Nomination (Book Proceedings)
The International Seminar on ‘Mughal Gardens of Kashmir: Towards the UNESCO World Heritage Nomination’ was held in Srinagar at the University of Kashmir from 14 to 16 May 2011 and was the first international seminar on these famed gardens. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Jammu and Kashmir Chapter (INTACH J&K), in …