The Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos

The Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos was founded around the end of the 11th century by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081 – 1118). The monastery lies at an altitude of 1318 meters on the north west face of Troodos Mountains.

The Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos

The Kykkos Museum (also known as the Museum of the Holy Monastery of Kykkos), is unlike today’s modern museums. The museum houses artifacts based on their artistic value. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Situated inside the Holy Moastery of Kykkos, the museum features holy objects, icons, vestments, woodcarvings, embroiders, and manuscripts.

Kykkos museum - room 3

All items are exhibited as part of the living adoration and history of the monastery. Most notable, the museum is home to one of the three surviving icons painted by the Apostle Luke.

Kykkos museum - room 2

More panoramas of Cyprus can be seen in Arounder Cyprus.

The exterior of the theatre is just as exquisite as its interior. The exterior sight alone is enough reason to visit the Luxembourg’s popular attractions.

Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg - exterior

Since its original construction, the facility has been renovated to better serve the needs of its patrons. The structure features building materials from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Today, the Grand Theatre de la ville de Luxenbourg, which is referred to by locals as the New Theatre, has hosted major concert artists from across the world.

Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg - foyer

The theater has also welcomed local artists and serves as a venue for ballet, modern dance, opera, and drama featured in numerous languages. Notable festivals and theatre groups hosted at the theatre include “La Monnaie de Bruxelles”, the “Nederlandse Opera d’Amsterdam”, the “Wiener Festwochen” and the Festival of Aix-en-Provence.

Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg - on stage

The facility has two showrooms. The main room seats 943 guests and boasts a vast variety of sophisticated, high-tech state sets. The second auditorium seats 400 guests.

More panoramas of Luxembourg can be seen in Arounder Luxembourg.

The theatre was founded in 1748, first serving as the theatre of the king, and then as the theatre of the country. The theatre presents opera, the Royal Danish Ballet, classical music concerts (by the Royal Danish Orchestra, which dates back to 1448), and drama in several occasions.

Royal Danish Theatre Copenhagen

The Royal Danish Theatre organization is under the control of the Danish Ministry of Culture, and its objectives are to ensure the staging of outstanding performances that do justice to the various stages which it controls.

More panoramas of Copenhagen can be seen in Arounder Copenhagen.

Teatro Farnese Parma

The architect, inspired by the classical age theatres, transformed a huge “hall” which was originally intended as a “salle d’armes” in a theatrical space of great technical complexity, which still fascinates for its warm and golden wood and its wide volumes. The wooden structures were originally painted to mimic more precious materials like marble and bronze, and it was decorated with many plaster statues, work of Luca Reti, imitating white marbles, such effects being now vanished after wartime destruction in 1944.
The Theatre, accurately re-built in its volumes in the ’50s, still holds on the walls many portions of the original frescoes, painted by various masters, including Malosso and Lionello Spada.

Teatro Farnese - stage

The wide-proportioned stage, used to hide complex stage machines which, according to the baroque theatre’s character, allowed spectacular changes of scene. In the Theatre were held only nine representations, during ducal marriages or some Princes’ visits. After the last representation in 1732, the Farnese Theatre slowly deteriorated until the almost total destruction of the wooden parts due to the fragmentation of a bomb, during the Second World War.

More panoramas of Parma can be seen in Arounder Parma.

Teatro alla Scala - view from the Royal box

Building costs were borne by the “Palchettisti” or box-holders in the Ducale Theatre in exchange for the concession of the site of the former Church of Santa Maria alla Scala” after which the Opera House was named and the renewal of the right to own a box in the new Theatre.

Teatro alla Scala - view of Royal box

The stage is one of the largest in Italy with outstanding acoustic effects. Directly opposite the stage is the Royal Box. The Theatre’s overall seating capacity can accommodate almost 3000 spectators.

Teatro alla Scala - back stage

Museo teatrale alla Scala (La Scala Theatre Museum): Most of the mementos displayed in this shrine to Opera are related to the history and fascinating tradition of La Scala. The Museum was founded in 1911 after a group of protagonists of Milanese cultural life bought the enormous collection of the Parisian antique dealer Giulio Sambon. Numerous donations and acquisitions were added to this initial nucleus over time making this rich historic collection one of the most envied in the world.

Teatro alla Scala Museum - lower floor

The Museum documents the history of the Theatre over time by means of portraits, mementos, sculpture, musical scores, playbills among other interesting objects. It is a worthy tribute to the most important personalities of the world of music, ranging from Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini to Arturo Toscanini and Victor de Sabata.

More panoramas of La Scala Theatre and Milan can be seen in Arounder Milan.

Georgia Aquarium Main Entrance

Funded mostly by a $250 million donation from Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, the aquarium was built on a 20 acre (81,000 m²) site north of Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. Marcus credited his 60th birthday dinner at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 1990 as among the inspirations behind his desire to build an aquarium in Atlanta.

Georgia aquarium map

The aquatic animals are displayed in five different galleries: Georgia Explorer, Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager, Cold Water Quest, and River Scout. Each corresponds to a specific environment.

Georgia Aquarium Ocean Voyager - Tunnel

Georgia Aquarium Ocean Voyager - Whale Shark Tank

Georgia Aquarium Cold Water Quest

More panoramas of the Georgia Aquarium and Atlanta can be seen in Arounder Atlanta.

It is made up of five main elements: the Hemisfèric (IMAX cinema and digital projections), the Umbracle (a landscaped vantage point and car park), the Principe Felipe Science Museum (an innovative centre of interactive science), the Oceanográfico (the largest aquarium in Europe with over 500 marine species) and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (which takes care of the operatic programme). The Ágora will give the complex a multifunctional space.

The city of Arts and Sciences by night

The City of the Arts and the Sciences is situated at the end of the old riverbed Turia which became a garden in 1980, after the creation of the bypass of the river after the great flood of Valencia in 1957.

Museu PrÌncipe Felipe

Designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, the project underwent the first stages of construction in July, 1996 and the finished “city” was inaugurated April 16, 1998 with the opening of L’Hemisfèric. The last great component of the City of the Arts and the Sciences, El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, was presented in October 9, 2005, Valencian Community Day.

More panoramas of the City of Arts and Sciences and Valencia can be found in Arounder Valencia.

The Last Supper painted by Leonardo da Vinci is ingeniously devised as an expansion of the perspective of the space in which it is set (1495-1497). It is one of the most famous works of art in the world, and has long been an icon of Western civilization.

The Last Supper - Leonardo da Vinci (zoomify)

The scene portrays the moment in which Jesus tells his disciples that one of them is about to betray him. The Last Supper is included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage list. On the opposite wall there is a Crucifixion dating of the same period by Giovanni Donato Montorfano.

The Last Supper - detail

The Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is one of the most striking monuments of Lombard Renaissance. The Church was built between 1466 and 1490 under the direction of Guiniforte Solari, only subsequently in 1492 the apsidal part was added by Bramante. In the refectory of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, ancient premises of the Court of the Inquisition, one of the absolute masterpieces of history is kept: Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper.

The fame of the building is also due to the tribune of the apsyidal part on today’s Via Caradosso, added in 1492. The inside of the church with a double series of side chapels highlights the Solari’s Gothic background just as the arcades on the two rows of columns. The vaults bear frescoed decorations dating from the birth of the building, rediscovered after they had been hidden in 600.

Santa Maria delle Grazie - exterior

The inside of the church with a double series of side chapels highlights the Solari’s Gothic background just as the arcades on the two rows of columns. The vaults bear frescoed decorations dating from the birth of the building, rediscovered after they had been hidden in 600.

Santa Maria delle Grazie - central nave

More panoramas of the Last Supper and Santa Marie delle Grazie and Milan can be seen in Arounder Milan.

Notre Dame de Paris façade (zoomify)

It is the cathedral of the Catholic archdiocese of Paris: it contains the “cathedra”, or official chair, of the Archbishop of Paris, André Cardinal Vingt-Trois.

Notre Dame de Paris façade detail

Here you can see a detail of the high resolution image of the facade.

It was restored and saved from destruction by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, one of France’s most famous architects. The name Notre Dame means “Our Lady” in French, and is frequently used in the names of Catholic church buildings in Francophone countries. Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic period. Its sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism, unlike that of earlier Romanesque architecture.

Notre Dame de Paris - altar

Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. After the construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral’s architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern.

Notre Dame de Paris - interior

The cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790s, when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. During the 19th century, an extensive restoration project was completed, returning the cathedral to its previous state.

More panoramas of Notre Dame de Paris and Paris can be found in Arounder Paris.