"It's just a rainbow, not a city!" - say amazed tourists when they find themselves in one of the quarters of the city of Taichung in Taiwan. Who would have thought that these were once ordinary inconspicuous slums! So bright and amazing, like a rainbow, an ordinary city quarter was made by a single artist
The dirtiest street in the world is not one where no one sweeps the sidewalk. Everything is much more neglected. On a street in downtown San Luis Obispo, even the walls are covered in a thick layer of … spit gum! One of the most unappetizing, and at the same time bright and funny sights of California - a whole gallery of painting art
Probably most of the readers of Kulturologiya.Ru remember a funny episode from the film "The Unusual Adventures of Italians in Russia", when the plane was taxiing to the landing strip along the most ordinary road. There is a place in the world where this episode could be filmed even without special effects: Gibraltar airfield, where the runway … intersects with a busy highway
Switzerland is one of those wonderful European countries in which the memory of the Middle Ages is still alive. A very beautiful holiday that is celebrated there - the Escalade in Geneva - is heavily involved in the events of medieval history. The beginning of December in Geneva is the days during which the spirit of old Switzerland revives, children eat candy "soup" from a chocolate cauldron, teenagers throw flour and eggs, and adults go out to the solemn parade in medieval costumes
The last refuge for the vast majority of people is a cemetery or urn for ashes, even in exotic Japan. But it is in Japan that the dead before cremation can stay in the penultimate refuge - a hotel for the dead, invented by the resourceful lord Hisayushi Teramura. Why do you need a hotel for those who no longer need anything, and what service the departed can count on - read on
Parking is hard to find in a metropolis - but how difficult can it be in the Arabian desert, where parking is plentiful? But that is why we and people are to come up with all sorts of difficulties and troubles, sometimes very extravagant. So the Arabs inhabiting the Abhi region in Saudi Arabia are doing strange things: in the parking lot for the car, they manually erect stone stands
Dog racing is one of the most frequent and traditional sporting events in the United States. At the same time, for some reason, competition between "sausages" is especially popular. The very ones in whose honor they named the national American dish - hot dog. We call these cute animals dachshunds, and in America - "wiener dog": "sausage dogs", and therefore it is not strange that the biggest dachshund race in San Diego is sponsored by the fast food chain "Wienerschnitzel". Although no
Have you ever played snowballs? Have you ever walked the earth? Have you ever breathed air? If not, then throwing snowballs is unlikely to be to your liking. And if so, welcome to the funniest winter sports championship, snowball fights, which is taking place right now
Notting Hill is one of the most famous districts of London, and not only because of the film of the same name, but also because a grandiose carnival is held on its streets on the last Sunday of August. One of the largest and most colorful carnivals in the world, which proves: the more peoples of cultures gather in one city, the more … problems? No. All the more fun and costumes
Salt marshes can hardly win a prize in the competition of the most cheerful landscapes: all around is the whistling wind, white salt and baking sun. But if you think saline plains cannot be beautiful, then you are simply underestimating Mother Nature. The colossal Uyuni salt marsh in Bolivia is the largest and most beautiful salt plain on the planet, which is sometimes the "salt of the earth" and sometimes the "mirror of the world"
Respect for Buddha in the vastness of a quarter of Eurasia knows no boundaries. And what kind of images of their deity are not made by believers - Buddhas of pearls, gold and jade, Buddhas of the Most Light, Unwavering and Wise … After all, the Enlightened One has a thousand equal incarnations. And the only place where you can get an idea of the infinity of its forms is the Temple of ten thousand Buddhas; figuratively speaking, the most Buddhist monastery in the world
The sea frowned menacingly, whipping with gray breakers - under the sail of the jarl, the glorious drakkar is looking for prey! The Viking ships are approaching the shore, and the impatient men of the battle are trying with their fingers whether the axes are well pricked up … But the Spanish village of Catoira today will not be given over to fire and sword; there will be a much more peaceful sight - the historical Viking festival
Medieval castles - mesmerizing monuments of fabulous antiquity; even in ruins, overgrown with ivy and strewn with the dust of oblivion, they make an indelible impression on romantic hearts. But, despite attempts to preserve them, medieval castles are being destroyed more and more … Will they soon be gone? It was not so! The most ambitious project in the world for lovers of the Middle Ages - an attempt to build from scratch a castle of the 13th century - is already halfway to success
Ernest Hemingway is a holiday that is always with you. At least if you look like him to such an extent that you can go to the competition for the doubles of the great American writer. A bar in the Florida Keys, 121 white-bearded old men and the sea are the main ingredients of the annual Hemingway festival
What will save a person from the heat of a sultry summer? Moving your workplace closer to the sea - for example, to a city on the water. Expensive? Cities on the water are not necessarily futuristic ships or bulk islands in the wealthy United Arab Emirates. In fact, building such a city is no more difficult than Noah's ark, and even with antediluvian tools of labor. Proof of this is the Cambodian village of Kampong Phluk, whose cunning inhabitants have found the best way to escape the heat
How to properly divide an office space if there are no walls in it yet? Of course, this question should be asked to original designers like Radford Wallis, who very clearly showed where to erect the walls using giant felt-tip pen, scotch tape, scissors and a tape measure
Many of us in our hearts remain children who are so lacking in all the worries and joys of a small child's life. Designers, unfortunately or fortunately, for anyone else, cannot return us to the past. But to remember that atmosphere, to revive it, they are able to
Although the weather is letting us down this year, we must remember that the New Year is approaching. At least, the calendar helps us not to forget this, reminding us that it is already the end of November. It's time to start thinking about the tree, toys and gifts
Is it possible to make a restaurant in the premises of an old bank? Fashionable, modern, fashionable, dear? It turns out that it is possible, and it can be done easily even with the help of a material such as wood. Although we have become accustomed to plastic or other materials lately
Fires are scary, very scary. When it comes to the fact that the whole city burns out, we call this a tragedy, and they are not joking about such things. But the designers are not trying to joke, it's just that their projects do not always have any subtext
Since there are many types of entertainment in the modern world, we have the right to choose where to go for lunch or dinner, where to celebrate a wedding anniversary or just have a good time. Only time does not stand still, and more and more options appear on the horizon
Have you ever wondered what it is like to live in a bunker or dungeon? Modern films and books are full of situations in which this possibility is considered - be it a weak earthquake or even the end of the world. However, some are ready to live underground and in peaceful, calm times
If body art has become a common phenomenon in modern art and drawings on the human body are no longer surprising, then “animal” body painting invariably arouses the interest of viewers. For the third year in a row, an unusual competition has been held in the Chinese county of Jiangcheng (Puer Urban District): artists from all over the world come here to demonstrate their skill in decorating … cattle
There is an opinion that auto tuning is a luxury available only to people who are really interested in cars and at the same time very wealthy. The participants in The Art Car Parade demonstrate in the most graphic way that only the first criterion matters
In some fields in Namibia and Angola, one curious phenomenon can be observed: numerous circular patches of barren land dot these vast plains. This phenomenon was discovered back in 1971, but to this day there is no adequate explanation for it
At the end of March, the Catholic world celebrated Easter, one of the main Christian holidays, established in honor of the resurrection of Jesus. Despite the fact that many strict traditions and customs have developed around this date, adherents of Catholicism approached the celebration of Easter with imagination and even humor
In the middle of the Sahara lies a half-abandoned city called Ghadames, where ancient architectural traditions are still alive. Unique buildings attract not only tourists, but also numerous inhabitants of neighboring, more modern cities, who find in Ghadames the coolness that air-conditioned rooms cannot give them
The photographs taken in the Dead Valley (Dead Vlei) can be mistaken for the unfinished canvases of Salvador Dali - the atmosphere of unreality is so strong in these places. The viewer will need some effort to look at the earthly landscape in them and to believe that the images have not been processed in any graphic editors
Some students in schools in Asia and South America have to make the most difficult journey from home to the place of study and back every day. The adventures they encounter along the way could well form the basis of an action-packed movie
Planting will begin soon in the rice fields of Japan, and some of them will turn into giant images of national heroes and Western pop icons in the fall. The authors of these incredible drawings are not ambitious contemporary artists, but the most ordinary farmers
This year the fifth Festival of Living Architecture, organized by the Champ Libre association, took place in the French city of Montpellier. Festival participants worked with sculptures and installations on the theme "Between Light and Shadow". The works themselves were exhibited in the courtyards of old French establishments, and we will consider some of them
What was once originally conceived as an ordinary average table looked, in principle, the same. But after the crowd of visitors at the exhibition in which this table participated, after many people armed with sandpaper and wiping all 50 different layers of paint on the table to the "holes", nothing at all remained of the boring gray table
Extravagant yet timelessly elegant architectural projects from renowned Zaha Hadid Architects have enjoyed a steady success among fans of modern architecture. Zaha Hadid's latest creation, a grandiose cultural center for the city of Changsha, China, was no exception
Japanese architecture firm Hironaka Ogawa & Associates has decided to bring a purely "natural" touch to the modern residential interior. The decision was born by chance: in the course of working out the project on the dignity of the house, they decided not to cut trees that occupied the "wrong" place, but to organically fit them into the new environment
Longmen is a complex of Buddhist cave temples carved into limestone rocks along the banks of the Yihe River. This is one of the largest religious buildings in the world, which includes about 1350 caves and 40 pagodas, in which you can see more than one hundred thousand images and statues of Buddha of various sizes
Oruro is a small mining town with gray houses of the same type, which once a year turns into one of the brightest places on the planet. How is this possible? Here, on the eve of Lent, a three-day carnival is held, in which more than 30,000 dancers and 10,000 musicians take part! The program includes "dances of the devil", theatrical performances, mysteries and, of course, a sea of laughter and unrestrained fun
Cozy patios, or patios, are the highlight of the architectural style of the Spanish city of Cordoba. Every year at the beginning of May, there is a floristic festival here, and the patios are literally buried in greenery. During the so-called "Battle of the Flowers", amazed tourists enjoy the splendor, and a competent jury determines the most picturesque decor
For those who shiver in the street under the cold winter wind and complain about bad weather, it is worth looking at the photos from the Yakut village of Oymyakon. The lowest temperature of -67.7 ° C was recorded there in 1933, but usually in January we should expect more "benign" frosts of -50 ° C. New Zealand photographer Amos Chapple decided to spend two days on a trip from Yakutsk, which is considered the coldest large city on Earth, to Oymyakon and capture the usual life
The absolutely wonderful Weather & Volcanoes calendar offers a wide variety of views, from beautiful rainbow clouds to the Himalayan mountains in Nepal, from the 6-kilometer peak Tamserku to the ash fountain from the mouth of Eyaflatlayokull volcano. Each photo reminds viewers of the tremendous power and beauty of our nature and the world in which we were lucky enough to live
Metro is an underground kingdom with its own laws, inhabitants, stories and legends. Several million people go down there to go to friends, to work, for a walk or just for a ride. The architecture of the stations is especially impressive, each has its own. "Doors" open before us - atmospheric shots of the most beautiful metro stations from around the world