Angkor, Cambodia-the largest sacred temple complex

Angkor, Cambodia is the largest sacred temple complex in the world. Beautiful and ornate temples extend 40 miles (64 km) around the Cambodian village of Siem Reap.The site is located between the valleys of the Stung Ruluos and Stung Puok, and, part of the construction of the site included excavation of a four meter long canal, the first piece of what was to become an extensive water control system.


The most famous temple in Angkor is Angkor Wat, a huge pyramid temple built by Suryavarman II between 1113 and 1150. It is also the name of one of the medieval Khmer capital cities, containing some of the most spectacular temples in the world, such as Angkor Wat.
The ancestors of the Angkor civilization are thought to have migrated into Cambodia along the Mekong River during the 3rd millennium BC. Their original center, established by 1000 BC, was located on the shore of large lake called Tonle Sap, but a truly sophisticated (and enormous) irrigation system allowed the spread of the civilization into the country side away from the lake.

The Khmer society was a cosmopolitan blend of Pali and Sanskrit rituals resulting from a combined Hindu and High Buddhist belief system, probably the effects of Cambodia's role in the extensive trade system connecting Rome, India and China during the last few centuries BC.
The Khmer society was led by an extensive court system with both religious and secular nobles, artisans, fishermen and rice farmers, soldiers, and the elephant keepers; Ankgor was protected by an army using elephants.


The end of Angkor came in the mid-14th century, and brought about by a change in religious belief in the region, from Hinduism and High Buddhism to more democratic Buddhist practices.


Also Known As: Yasodharapura (the Holy City)

What is a geodesic dome?

What is a geodesic dome?

A Geodesic Dome is a type of structure shaped like a piece of a sphere or a ball. This structure is comprised of a complex network of triangles that form a roughly spherical surface. The more complex the network of triangles, the more closely the dome approximates the shape of a true sphere.
By using triangles of various sizes, a sphere can be symmetrically divided by thirty-one great circles. A great circle is the largest circle that can be drawn around a sphere, like the lines of latitude [Ed. he means longitude] around the earth, or the equator. Each of these lines divide the sphere into two halves, hence the term geodesic, which is from the Latin meaning "earth dividing". [From Mitch Amiano]
The dome is a structure with the highest ratio of enclosed area to external surface area, and in which all structural members are equal contributors to the whole. There are many sizes of triangles in a geodesic, depending on the frequency of subdivision of the underlying spherical polyhedron. The cross section of a geodesic approximates a great-circle line.

Khajuraho temple

Khajuraho is a village in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, located in Chhatarpur District, about 385 miles (620 kilometres) southeast of Delhi, the capital city of India.It has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for their erotic sculpture. The name Khajuraho is derived from the Hindi word khajur meaning date palm.

The whole area was enclosed by a wall with eight gates, each flanked by two golden palm trees. There were originally over 80 Hindu temples, of which only 22 now stand in a reasonable state of preservation, scattered over an area of about 8 square miles (21 km²).

Khajuraho temples, constructed with spiral superstructures, adhere to northern Indian shikhara temple style and often to a Panchayatana plan or layout. A few of the temples are dedicated to the Jain pantheon and the rest to Hindu deities - to God's Trio, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and various Devi forms, such as the Devi Jagadambi temple. A Panchayatana temple had four subordinate shrines on four corners and the main shrine in the center of the podium, which comprises their base. The temples are grouped into three geographical divisions : western, eastern and southern.With a graded rise secondary shikharas (spires) cluster to create appropriate base for the main shikhara over the sanctum. Kandariya Mahadeva, one of the most accomplished temples of the Western group, comprises eighty-four shikharas, the main being 116 feet from the ground level.

These shikharas - subordinate and main, attribute to the Khajuraho temples their unique splendor and special character. With a graded rise of these shikharas from over the ardhamandapa, porch, to mandapa, assembly hall, mahamandapa, principal assembly hall, antarala, vestibule, and garbhagraha, sanctum sanctorum, Khajuraho temples attain the form and glory of gradually rising Himalayan peaks.These temples of khajuraho have sculptures that look very realistic and are studied even today.

The Khajuraho group of monuments has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Niagara water falls

Location : Niagara Falls (Ontario & New York)
Type : Segmented Block

Total height : 167 ft (51 m)

Number of drops : Horseshoe Falls, American Falls Bridal Veil Falls

Average flow rate : 202,000 cu ft/sec (5,720 m³/s)

Watercourse : Niagara River

Niagara falls in winter

Niagara Falls (French: les Chutes du Niagara) located on the Niagara River in eastern North America, on the Canada–United States border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York.

It comprises three waterfalls: Horseshoe Falls in Canada and American Falls and the smaller,
adjacent Bridal Veil Falls in the United States. The falls are located 17 miles (27 km) from the city of Buffalo, New York, and 75 miles (120 km) from Toronto, Ontario.
Niagara Falls is very wide; with more than six million cubic feet (168,000 m³) of water falling over the crestline every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet (110,000 m³) on average, it is the most powerful waterfall in North America.

A popular tourist site for over a century, the Falls are shared between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York.

Point :

A point marks a position in space. It serve to mark
- the two ends of a line
- the intersection of two lines.
- The meeting of lines at the corner of a plane or volume
- The center of a field

Point makes its presence felt when placed within a visual field. If the point moves to off center, its field becomes more aggressive. To visibly mark a position in space a point must be projected vertically into a linear form as a tower or column.

Two points :

Two points are connected by a line. It can gives finite length or can be considered as a segment of an longer path. Two points can also suggest an axis perpendicular to the line they describe.
They established in space by columnar elements or centralized forms.
e.g. ‘Torii, Ise Shrine, Mie Prefecture, Japan, A.D. 690