Heaven's Touch -(B)In the Presence of Gods

Four Places under this category are:

1. Bagan Temple, Myanmar
2. The Parthenon's Old World Order, Athens, Greece
3. The Grandeur of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
4. Ancient Ephesus of Turkey

1.Bagan Temple, Myanmar

On the banks of the Irrawaddy River, more than 3,000 temples stretch across a 30-square-mile plain in Pagan, Myanmar (formerly Burma). Most were constructed between 1057 and 1287 during a building frenzy initiated by King Anawrahta, who formed the first Burmese kingdom in 1044.

Bagan Temples

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/lifelists/lifelist-pagan.html#ixzz1Z3zlSFdR

Travel Guide:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bagan




2.The Parthenon's Old World Order, Athens, Greece

Goddess Athena

From: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/lifelists/lifelist-parthenon.html#ixzz1Z40KJoov

More than 2,400 years after its construction, the Parthenon—the sanctuary to the goddess Athena—still dominates the skyline of the Acropolis in Athens. The structure, originally painted in brilliant shades of red, green and blue, remained largely intact until 1687, when a force of Venetians laying siege to invading Turkish troops ignited a gunpowder magazine stored there. The explosion reduced the sanctuary to near ruins.

Parthenon

Travel Guide:

http://www.athensguide.org/

http://iguide.travel/Parthenon

3.Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

The 12th century temple is the worlds largest religious structure and a jewel of Khmer architectural style.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/lifelists/lifelist-angkor-wat.html#ixzz1Z41MLvQk

From:http://www.southeastasia.org/index.php/things-to-do/detail/siem-reap-angkor-wat-travel-guide/

Angkor Wat attracts several million tourists every year. The 12th-century temple, literally known as the Capital Temple, is just one of hundreds in Siem Reap province in northwestern Cambodia. In 1992, the famous temple, part of Angkor Archaeological Park, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Khmer Architecture

Travel Guide:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Angkor_Archaeological_Park

4.Ephesus

Ruled over the centuries by Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires, there is much to see of the city’s former splendor.

Ephesus was much larger than Parthenon

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/lifelists/lifelist-ephesus.html#ixzz1Z43D8tno

Over the centuries, a succession of empires—Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and, finally, Ottoman—ruled over the city of Ephesus. Yet no matter how many times it changed hands, the city remained one of the most vibrant metropolises of the ancient world. Located on Turkey's western coast, nearly 300,000 people lived there at its height, in the second century A.D. Its busy seaport ferried goods from Asia to Greece, Italy and beyond.

Ephesus' greatest claim to fame was its temple to the goddess Artemis. One of the "seven wonders" of the ancient world, it was almost four times larger than the Parthenon in Athens. According to the New Testament, the Apostle Paul preached in Ephesus, prompting a riot led by silversmiths who crafted shrines to the goddess and feared for both their livelihoods and the future of the temple.

Today, a few columns are all that remain of the temple. But there is still much to see that evokes the city's former splendor. A three-tiered theater, built into the slope of a hill, once seated 25,000. Just outside the city stands the Church of Saint John, built in the fourth century over the evangelist's presumed tomb and expanded into a basilica some 200 years later.

Ephesus

Travel Guide:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Ephesus