The Magic of the Cities.

Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Lines and Colors

Awakening


The year is 1909. Mexico has just been through a bloody revolution and despite all the bloodshed reverted back to a partially stable state of affairs.

In that era when the fame of two folk heroes Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa were spreading throughout Mexico, Ottoman Sultan Resad decided to send his compliments to the Mexican people through a valuable imperial gift.

He orders the imperial engineers to prepare an enduring gift to symbolize the friendship of Mexican and Ottoman peoples.

After a few months of work, the Sultan's engineers created this watch tower covered with precious Iznik ceramic tiles and a dial that displayed Arabic numerals.

Today the same clock tower still stands in Mexico City where it was erected almost a century ago.

The plaque on the tower reads "La Colonia Otomana a Mexico. Septiembre de 1910." (From the Ottoman Community to Mexico. September 1910)

The clock, standing on Bolivar Street, is still working without a hitch today. However the ceramic tiles are falling apart. The Mexican officials have asked for Turkey's help in renewing the historic but damaged tiles with new ones from Iznik.

Diana

Latinamerican Tower

Happy Sunday!

music+image

Thanks for visiting, please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments, I appreciate them all. Stay tuned.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great photos to an interesting story ;-)

Luis Gomez said...

Como me gustan tus imagenes! Que place visitar contigo el DF.

T. Becque said...

Lines and colors are two of my favorite subjects and you've done them so well. The photo of the fountain with the statue and building is amazing.

Randy said...

Excellent post. I love the photo of the statue as well.

Unknown said...

Buenos recuerdos me traen tus imágenes.
Un abrazo

Bill said...

I really like the shot of 'Diana' and the fountain and the tall building behind. Very balanced. Black and white suits it also.

Anonymous said...

Very beautiful lines and colors
I love the first one
Happy week Carraol :)

Abrazos

Unknown said...

Bonita serie de fotos y ademas tomadas en Mexico, que ciudad más bonita.
Un saludo

Antonio Machado said...

Alô Carraol,
Hermosas fotos con sus excelentes recortes!
Saludos

J_on_tour said...

Very good photography and post. I was drawn to the clock photo with the colours and angles. Silhouette statue amazing too.