The Maha Dewalai Ganesha is a notable statue of Lord Ganesha located in Bang Krachao, Bangkok.
It is the only Hindu temple in the area and features a large white or sometimes golden-hued statue of Lord Ganesha.
The temple is situated along the cycling path in Bang Krachao, which is known as Bangkok's Green Lung. Visitors are advised to remove their shoes and cover their knees as a sign of respect when visiting the temple.
Ganesha or Ganesh (Sanskrit: गणेश) also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions are found throughout India. Hindu denominations worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists and beyond India.
Ganesha has many attributes, he is readily identified by his elephant head and four arms. He is widely revered, more specifically, as the remover of obstacles and bringer of ...
The Binbirdirek Cistern (Turkish: Binbirdirek Sarnıcı, also known as the Cistern of Philoxenos), located in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, is the city’s second-largest covered Byzantine cistern after the Basilica Cistern.
This subterranean reservoir, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Historic Areas of Istanbul” (inscribed 1985), once stored up to 40,000 cubic meters of water supplied by the Aqueduct of Valens, serving public and imperial needs during Constantinople’s peak.
With its 224 marble columns (earning the poetic name “Thousand and One Columns”), it offers a quieter, less crowded alternative to the more famous Basilica Cistern, blending atmospheric beauty with profound historical depth.
Historical Significance
Likely built in the 4th century by Roman senator Philoxenos under Emperor Constantine I, or expanded in the 5th–6th century during Justinian I’s reign, it functioned as a castellum divisorium—a distribution point for water from the Aqueduct of Valens ...
The Blue Mosque, officially the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii), is an iconic 17th-century Ottoman mosque in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district. Renowned for its stunning blue Iznik tiles and six slender minarets, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site within Istanbul’s Historic Areas.
It remains an active mosque, drawing worshippers and tourists for its architectural grandeur and historical significance.
Commissioned by Sultan Ahmed I (1603–1617), it was built between 1609 and 1616 by architect Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, a student of Mimar Sinan. Intended to rival Hagia Sophia (directly opposite), it symbolized Ottoman power and piety after military setbacks.
The mosque sparked controversy for its six minarets, equaling Mecca’s Masjid al-Haram, resolved by adding a seventh minaret to Mecca.
Completed just before Ahmed I’s death at age 27, it has since been a centerpiece of Istanbul’s skyline. Restorations in the 19th and 21st centuries preserved its ornate interiors.
The mosque ...
The Aqueduct of Valens (Turkish: Valens Su Kemeri or Bozdoğan Kemeri, meaning “Aqueduct of the Grey Falcon”) is a remarkable Roman engineering feat and one of Istanbul’s most iconic ancient landmarks.
Built in the 4th century AD, it formed a key part of a vast water supply system that sustained Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) for over a millennium. Spanning a valley in the city’s historic peninsula, it exemplifies Roman hydraulic ingenuity, with its robust limestone arches still standing tall amid urban bustle.
Construction began under Emperor Constantius II around 345 AD, but it was completed in 373 AD by Emperor Valens, after whom it is named. This was just five years before Valens’ defeat at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 AD, which exposed Thrace to invasions. The aqueduct addressed the growing water demands of Constantinople, founded by Constantine the Great in 330 AD, which had outgrown earlier systems from the Hadrian era (117–138 AD).
The full system stretched up to 268 ...