In the last post, we walked towards Angkor Wat’s center and explored some of the carvings on its central section, beginning with the west wall.
Angkor Wat was built in the early twelfth century–exactly when the French pioneered Gothic architecture in the Basilica of St. Denis. Europeans constructed towering naves and choirs
. Ancient Indians came up with a unique way of thinking about and classifying emotions. Absorption in the larger environment became central in
Vietnamese religious traditions have had many personalities. Their soft sides inspired a lot of great art, which isn’t in any books I’ve seen. But
I’ve never seen these in any books about Asian art or Buddhist art. But I saw two especially common types of statue in several Vietnamese
While Florentine artists and architects were developing three dimensional perspective in the 15th century, Thai sculptors perfected their own art forms. They express a different
The Church of Orsanmichele was in the thick of it. It was, and still is, on the main street that leads from Florence’s cathedral to the main
Traditional Chinese painting has often been based on assumptions that a highly resonant whole is primary in nature and society. It hasn’t focused on linear
The primacy of human interaction over fixed abstract systems is a widespread traditional African pattern. Akan societies in Ghana tell stories about a popular cultural
Where did Angkor Wat come from? Most of its visitors don’t know how deep its roots are. The first big state in Cambodia was