The Freedom Monument is a statue built in Riga, Latvia, in 1935. The Freedom Monument is a 42-metre high statue made of granite, copper and travertine. The base of the statue comprises 13 groups of bas-relief sculptures symbolizing Latvia’s culture. A 19-metre high column topped with a figure of Liberty lifting 3 stars completes the […]
St. Olaf’s Church was built in Tallinn, Estonia, in the 12th century. The Church was a part of the Roman Catholic Church until the Reformation period, when it became a part of the Lutheran tradition. By 1950, St. Olaf’s became a Baptist Church. With an approximate height of 123 metres, the church is a beautiful
Once, the Bodhisattva was born as the Great King Clear-sighted, who was fair and honest. He had a great kingdom. Kusavati, his capital, had four magnificent gates made of gold, silver, jade and crystal respectively, while the city was surrounded by rows of palm trees. King Clear-sighted had a couch encrusted with jewels and he
Long, long ago, it was believed that the way to remove suffering was to make the body suffer. So, a Bodhisattva decided to test this theory. The Bodhisattva became a holy man and gave up everything of comfort. He left the city to go into the forest and forced himself to eat mud and dirty
Once, a rich man owned a herd of cattle. He had employed a man to look after them. The herdsman would take the cattle to the forest to graze. From there, he would bring milk, butter and cheese to the rich man in Bodh Gaya. One day, the rich man asked the herdsman, “Why have
The Tequendama Falls Museum was built as a mansion in Columbia, in 1923. The Tequendama Falls Museum was initially built to celebrate the style and sophistication of the elite citizens of the 1920s. The mansion overlooks the Tequendama Falls on the Bogotá River. In 2003, the structure was converted into a Museum, as the Institute
The royal minister who was the Bodhisattva in his previous birth decided to solve the mystery of the missing necklace. He thought, ‘The necklace was lost in the royal garden. Its gates were guarded. No one from outside could have stolen it. Also, the garden is full of monkeys.’ So, he went to the king
Moses was born around the 1393 BC in Lower Egypt and passed away in the 1273 BC. Do you know that while Moses was a prophet he was also trained in military tactics and the government? Moses was an Egyptian prince who gave up the life of wealth and comfort and followed God’s will to
Once, King Brahmadatta’s queen went for a swim in the pond of the royal garden. She removed her precious necklace and left it with her maid. A curious she-monkey was attracted by the necklace. It stole it and hid it in a hollow tree-trunk. When the maid realised that the necklace was missing, she raised
The Christ of the Abyss is a bronze statue placed in the Mediterranean Sea, on the Italian Riviera in 1954. This bronze statue is 2.5 metres in height and was placed at a depth of 17 metres at the spot where the first Italian diver to use SCUBA gear died. The statue depicts Jesus Christ
The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) was built in Rome, Italy, in 1651. The fountain represents the four major rivers of the four subcontinents through which the papal authority had spread, namely the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges and the Río de la Plata. The rivers are represented as river gods
Once, a rich man was addicted to gambling. He used to play dice with his friend. However, his friend was a trickster. Whenever he started losing, he would secretly put the dice in his mouth and claim it was lost. Thus, the game would have to be stopped. The honest rich man had noticed his
Once, a monk and his pupil went to a village to preach. On the way back, they had to pass through a forest. The pupil started beating the drum, as he thought it would scare the narakas away. The monk stopped his pupil and said, “Don’t beat the drum continuously. Beat it to look as
Once, there lived a cruel monkey king. He did not want his sons to take over the kingdom, so he bit them to make them weak. One of the king’s wives escaped and gave birth to a strong monkey. When the prince grew up, he went to meet his father. The king hugged him hard
One day, an old man was returning home from a city. He had been travelling since morning. Althoug he travelled so long, he could not reach the destination. On the way, he saw a Buddhist hut. He went there and requested the disciple, “I would like to stay here as it is getting dark and