Ailsa has just shown us some curves she captured in her travels: http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-curves/
Now she’s challenging us to show off our own curves. Here are mine:
La Basilique Notre Dame d’Héliopolis, or the Basilique Church, sits in the centre of Heliopolis, which at the beginning of the 20th century was a planned town built in the desert ten kilometres from the centre of Cairo by the Belgian Baron Empain. It’s now a suburb of Cairo. Alexandre Marcel, the church’s architect, was inspired by Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, designing a smaller version of the domed basilica to be the centre of the new town. The baron is buried beneath the church.
A beautiful place and photo
Thanks. I’m so glad you like this unusual church.
What an amazing church. It looks a bit like a cross between a church and a mosque!
It does! It’s modelled after the Byzantine church of Hagia Sofia which is now a mosque. And there’s a citadel in Cairo with similar domes. The architects of the district wanted this combination of Islamic and European styles. It’s quite unique.
I have never been to Egypt. What did you like most about it?
I’m sorry but I should have explained above that the photo is from my father’s WWII album. I usually mention this, but I’ve been submitting his photos on my blog all year and have begun to assume that everyone knows where they come from. He was in the Middle East in 1941/42, in Egypt most of the time. The photos in his album come from a variety of sources as far as I can discover. Some were his, some were purchased, some were obtained in swaps. He is in some of the photos, though I don’t often post those.
Beautiful shot, and great tombstone!
Yep, that’s one way to make sure you’ll never be forgotten. Build a church and be buried in it. Or under it.
Beautiful choice!