Author Archives: Ursula Jersey, the southern-most of the Channel Islands, packs a lot of history into a tiny space. Much of this history is because of the island’s strategic location: only 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from France. Functionally part of the United Kingdom since the Norman conquest of England under William the Conqueror in 1066, this little island in the English Channel has been […]  . . . There is something intriguing about walking in the footsteps of prehistoric people – people who have left no written records and whose lives we can only pretend to reconstruct from the buildings and artefacts they left behind. I had read about the Cliff Palace, a complex of cliff dwellings built by the ancient Anasazi – more properly called the Ancestral Pueblo […]  This time a year ago, my husband and I were on a big boat, on a very short trip from Port Canaveral (Orlando) Florida, to Nassau, capital of the Bahamas. You might ask why we were on what can only be described as a floating resort-cassino in the North Atlantic Ocean. That’s a very good question, […]  Bagan, in Central Myanmar, is known for its temples. Not all its temples, however, are ruined relics of the Pagan Empire (9th to 13th Century). Others – like the beautiful Shwezigon Pagoda – are still living, breathing places. Shwezigon was Pagan’s first Buddhist temple. It was started by King Anawrahta after he took the throne by force in 1044, unified the country, and […]  “Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passion of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones.” – Sir Edwin Arnold We all know the story: the Taj Mahal, considered the epitome of Mughal art and architecture, was built by emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Prince […] |
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