There are 04 photographs here.
The first one is of the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, Kolkata (India). A temple dedicated to Goddess Kali, the building has a distinct structure. Its most remarkable features are the wide arches that bend gracefully towards the pillars.
In the second photograph, which is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (Turkey), we notice the same pattern of arches repeated. Only here, they are shorter and steeper. The Hagia Sophia, over the centuries, has been both a church and a mosque.
The third photo is of the St Andrew of Patras Cathedral in Patras (Greece). A pattern highly similar to that of the Kali Temple of Kolkata can be noticed here, too. This is especially true of the three-arched entrance, the sweepingly beautiful arch above it and on the sides of the structure.
This brings us to the fourth and last photograph, of the Valday Iversky Monastery in Russia's Novgorod Oblast. Again, the same design -- of the arches -- is repeated here. In this elaborate structure, the base of the building houses arches over windows in groups of two. This is topped off with the main structure of the monastery, with its distinctive, wide, sweeping arches.
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| 2. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, TURKEY |
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| 3. St Andrew of Patras Cathedral, Patras, GREECE |
COMMON STRUCTURAL FEATURES:
1. ARCHES -- In all four buildings, if an onlooker was to point out one defintive feature, that which is 'striking' & 'eye-catching', it will have to be the Arches. They are distinctly-shaped and REPEATED all over the building.
2. SEVERAL LEVELS to the building -- All 04 buildings are built on multiple levels. Design elements found at the base of the building get 'pronounced' at its top
3. DOMES -- Though different in shape -- ranging from elongated, oval, nearly-round to egg-shaped -- Domes are the other common factor between these 04 structures. Acting as the crowning glory here, quite literally, they gracefully lend stability and regality to these already-impressive buildings.
4. UNIFIED across Continents -- Separated by several thousand kilometres in distance and hundreds of years in time, all four temples/churches/mosques bring together disparate design elements in the building and make them work beautifully together. One cannot help but wonder about the unifying influence of structural design spread across continents. How unique, how unifying!
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| 4. Valday Iversky Monastery, Novgorod Oblast, RUSSIA |
