Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Factor influences that will shape the future of educational tourism



Tourism has developed to a level where it has become a major industry, a major force for social change and a major power for good, for evil.

The world is in a period of rapid transition; the traditional tourist generating countries are moving from an industrial stage to becoming post-industrial societies.

With this change, lifestyles and values are also changing; the old desire to accumulate material possessions shows signs of abating; this will result in a new desire to accumulate experience as avidly as we formerly collected possessions. This changing lifestyle will influence consumers’ demand for travel.

Demographic and Social Trends:
Future demographic and social trends will influence tourism demand to the year 2000 and beyond. Demographic trends, such as ageing populations in the major generating countries and the declining number of young people, are particularly important.

Demographic trends are mixed up with the social trends which lead to late marriage, couples having children in later life and increased number of single child and childless-couple households.

In the Third World, growing labour force will lead to immigration to the developed world and the growth of knowledge and interest in other countries will see a convergence of lifestyles worldwide.

With increased level of education, these trends will give people more time, resources and inclination to travel. This will be encouraged by the growth and spread of discretionary incomes and the liberalisation of trade on an international scale. It is beneficial for tourism in India.

Political Developments:
In the late 1980s we saw a change of the political map of the world, and this has a number of implications for tourism. The fall of communism has led to expansion of tourism because huge numbers thronged to see the outside world.

The emergence of market economy in Eastern Europe and the opening of the borders will pave the way for East European countries to participate more fully in travel movements, particularly to western countries.

Already Hungary has become a leading international destination for tourism and other parts of Eastern Europe will become important destinations as travel restrictions are eased. It will benefit tourism in India.

Transportation Development:
Tourism is highly dependent upon transport technology and the consequent improvements in efficiency and safety of travel.

Although it is generally accepted that total deregulation of the international airline industry is not practical, the trend towards deregulation will continue in 1990s in Europe.

In the US deregulation has led to domination by a small number of larger airlines—a trend which is emerging in other sectors of the tourism industry.

Forecasts of international transport over the next 10 years predict that technological developments, increased airline efficiency and labour productivity savings will offset any rises in aviation fuel prices and thus fares will continue to fall.

This will support the continued trend towards long haul travel. P.M. Atal Bihari Bajpai’s project of development of road transport in India will benefit tourism in India.

Despite the focus on air transport, most tourism journeys are by car. Continued development of highway network, developments of car technology and improved fuel efficiency will all make motoring cheaper and more attractive.
It is believed that by the year 2005 there will be gradual switch away from air to surface transport.

Other Factors:
There are other variables which also influence the future of tourism. These include the changing value systems of the consumers as well as global warming.

The raising of the earth’s temperature and the consequent rise in sea level will affect tourism to India’s advantage because we are adopting environment friendly approach.

Human behavior too is a threat to tourism as the spread of AIDS may render some otherwise attractive destinations no-go areas; increasing incidence of skin cancer may reverse the fashion for a suntan; and disease in some parts of the world decreasing levels of safety will constrain the uninhabited expansion of tourism. Since we are trying India disease free to stimulate tourism in India.

Advances in computer reservations will allow individual holiday-makers to select their destinations, accommodation and flights, put together their own packages, book and pay for the booking by direct debit to their bank account, all without leaving their armchair. The ability to book from home would suggest a rise in impulse booking, coupled with a decline in traditional patterns of advance booking.

If consumers can package their own holidays at home at the push of a button, it could make the task of operator and travel agent redundant. We are progressing very well in this area, therefore, tourism will benefit from it in future.

Some futurologists have predicted that there will be no need to travel away from home in the twenty-first century. Holographs are capable of reproducing an environment artificially, so that we will be able to recreate in the home any environment of our choosing in order to ‘experience’ foreign travel

Tourism and Demography
Demography is the most important external factor that will shape the future of the tourism. Current demographic trends will change the demand for tourism and the available workforces, which will fundamentally impact on how the industries are structured, how they operate, and how they develop in a sustainable manner. The tourism industry has to know how, why, when and what will occur, the consequences for the industry, and the strategies that need to be put in place now to combat this

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Haunted Shaniwar Wada Fort Pune

Shaniwar Wada Fort located near on Baji Rao Road near Abhivnav Kala Mandir in Pune. This fort is one of the most horrible places in India. On January 10, 1930 the formal foundation was determined by Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath, More than 16,110 were expensed in contraction of this fort.
Shaniwar Wada Fort 

It was named Shaniwarwada from the Marathi words Shaniwar (Saturday) and Wada (a general term for any residence complex).Teak was foreign from the jungles of Junnar, stone was brought from the close quarries of Chinchwad, and Lime (mineral) was brought from the lime-belts of Jejuri.

The inauguration has been performed in accordance with Hindu spiritual customs, with January twenty-two, 1732, another Sunday chosen to be an especially auspicious time. Later your Peshwas produced several additions, including your fort wall, with bastions and gates; court halls as well as other buildings; fountains in addition to reservoirs. Presently, the outside fort wall membrane has several gateways in addition to nine bastion towers, enclosing any garden complex while using foundations with the original building.
Full moon nights are haunted, especially here. The 13-year-old heir Narayan Peshwa dynasty was brutally murdered. His killers chasing him all over the fort, the boy again and again shouted, "Kaka, mala vachwa!" (Uncle, save me) and even local people help each new moon to midnight on the day that he heard cries. After overnight visitors to the fort can hear the cries for his help.

Shaniwar Wada Fort 

There are five gates of Shaniwar Wada: Dilli Darwaza (Delhi Gate), Mastani Darwaja (Mastani's Gate) or Alibahadur Darwaja, Khidki Darwaja (Window Gate), facing north, Ganesh Darwaja (Ganesh Gate), facing east, Narayan Darwaja (Narayan's Gate) or Jambhul Darwaja, facing south-east.
Delhi Gate each pane grid arranged of a nine-eight to seventy-two twelve-inch steel tack sharps, almost the height of a battle-elephant's forehead. Each panel was also fortified with steel cross members, and extended the boundaries of the cone head was closed with steel bolts.
Narayan's gate was utilized by Kept woman to enter along with leave from fort. It obtains its subsequent name following Narayanrao Peshwa's corpse was stripped away from the fort for cremation through this gate.

The complex has an impressive lotus-shaped fountain: Hazari Karanje (a thousand planes Fountain) complex was an impressive lotus-shaped fountain. It was built for the pleasure of infant Peshwa Sawai Madhavrao. It was designed as a sixteen lotus leaf; each leaf with an eighty-foot arch was sixteen planes. It sleeps most of the time was complex and complicated. In one corner is a marble statue of Ganapati and the castle surrounded by a fountain and a flower garden. "

The impact of tourism towards Haunted Shaniwar Wada Fort Pune,India
Peshwa Baji Rao I, prime minister to Chattrapati Shahu, king of the Maratha empire, laid the ceremonial foundation of his own residence on Saturday, January 10, 1730. It was named Shaniwarwada from the Marathi words Shaniwar(Saturday) and Wada (a general term for any residence complex). Teak was imported from the jungles of Junnar, stone was brought from the nearby quarries of Chinchwad, and Lime (mineral) was brought from the lime-belts of Jejuri. Shaniwarwada was completed in 1732, at a total cost of Rs. 16,110, a very large sum at the time.

The opening ceremony was performed according to Hindu religious customs, on January 22, 1732, another Saturday chosen for being a particularly auspicious day.
Later the Peshwas made several additions, including the fortification walls, with bastions and gates; court halls and other buildings; fountains and reservoirs. Currently, the perimeter fortification wall has five gateways and nine bastion towers, enclosing a garden complex with the foundations of the original buildings. It is situated near the Mula-Mutha River, in Kasba Peth.

Despite its cultural value the fort is not maintained well by the Government. Its inability to maintain the historical Shaniwarwada from the funds provided by central archaeology department forced the fort’s advisory committee’ to woo business houses to fund Shaniwarwada’s makeover.



Monday, May 18, 2015

...St. Moritz A Famous Playground of the Wealthy...


BACKGROUND
The Swiss playground of the rich and famous is marking 150 years since a celebrated hotelier opened his doors to British visitors in winter. And so, 150 years ago, the Swiss hotelier and the English tourists created what would become Europe’s first winter holiday resort and an Alpine playground for the international wealthy and famous.
The 2014-5 season, which opens next weekend, will be celebrated with a comprehensive programmer of events marking the town’s glorious past and intended as a thank-you to those first visitors.

It was considered a hoot to hurtle along the village streets on sleds and sleighs, terrifying the locals. Eventually the British were persuaded to build a proper bob run, much to everyone’s relief. They later formed the Tobogganing Club & The Cresta Run – male-only since 1929. The regulations they drew up would form the basis of Olympic sports and are still detailed in neatly typed documents at a tiny museum above the kindergarten in nearby Celerina.

As was their wont, the English gentlemen formed exclusive clubs, many of which still exist, such as the Shuttlecock, only open to those who have been unceremoniously ejected from the Cresta Run on the notorious Shuttlecock bend. Today, St Moritz is home to more than 5,000 people – 38% of them foreign – but getting there is still a trek for those lacking private jet or helicopter.

It takes the best part of four hours by train from Zurich. From the regional capital, Chur, the Red Train wends its way up through the mountains of what was once marketed as “Heidi-land” on a single-track Unesco-listed route of breathtaking beauty to Switzerland’s highest station.

The ubiquitous ski-hire shops of most Alpine resorts are curiously absent, despite the town having twice hosted the Winter Olympics (1928 and 1948) and being set to host the World Ski Championships, for the fifth time, in 2017. Instead, visitors are confronted with the luxury offerings of Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford, Gucci, Miu Miu and the rest.

Badrutt’s pension Faller is now the Kulm hotel, a five-star palace acquired by Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos in 1968 to avoid it falling into the hands of the French group Club Med, whose family empire now owns large swaths of St Moritz.

And Badrutt, its original owner and the man who, incidentally, also brought electricity to the town, has gone from simple hotelier to local hero. In his original larch-panelled living room, little changed since the 19th century, Heinz E Hunkeler, the manager at Kulm, pulled a stack of black and white photographs from a cupboard with the careless mien of a man not given to nostalgia.

His hotel, he said, is unashamedly grand and very St Moritz, but has changed with the times. “This is a unique hotel and nothing can change that, but it is not stuffy or dusty. Before, a tie was a must after 7pm but people don’t want to come on holiday and wear a tie, though you still have to wear a jacket,” Hunkeler said. “St Moritz doesn’t want to be too chic and champagne but the fact is we don’t have many B&Bs or one-star hotels because the place has a certain cachet. If there was more mass tourism it wouldn’t be St Moritz.”

Though the town never really caught on with British royals (Prince Charles promised to come but never has), the early upper-class toffs who careered down St Moritz’s streets never gave way to the rowdy après ski crowd.

“We’ve managed to avoid the binge drinking. Maybe it’s just too expensive to get drunk in St Moritz, but we do know how to have a good time,” says Susi Wiprächtiger, a mountain guide and ski and swimming instructor in St Moritz.

Locals such as Ariane Ehrat, a former Swiss ski champion and head of St Moritz’s tourist board, say: “There is a perception that St Moritz is snobbish but this is not the reality. It is authentic.”

Its discreet, understated charm, however, comes at a price. The strong Swiss franc has made the resort even more expensive at a time when the well-off, as opposed to the fabulously rich, want more value than glamour for their money. St Moritz also suffers from the second-home syndrome that has blighted many other fashionable towns and cities.

Wiprächtiger points out steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal’s home overlooking the town, homes owned by the Heineken family, and property belonging to other unnamed wealthy families. About half the resort’s properties are second residences, and in the past decade several hotels have been transformed into luxury apartments, some of them by Norman Foster. Today, the conundrum for St Moritz, which featured in Hitchcock’s 1934 thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much, at least two Bond films and Private Lives by Noël Coward, is how to encourage more tourism but not mass tourism. The resort wants to have its traditionalEngadiner Nusstorte (a nut cake) and eat it.

The old and the new rub shoulders in St Moritz. Wooden chalets and traditional Alpine homes mix with gleaming modern condominiums costing CHF 100,000 a week; celebrities share slopes with youngsters who speak Romansh – the least-spoken of Switzerland’s four official languages – until they go to school to be taught high German, Swiss German, English and Italian.

Retired teacher Edith Grob, 84, from near Basel, has spent her holidays in St Moritz for 38 years – three weeks in winter, four in summer – and swears by the local mineral baths and spas. She says St Moritz has to remember its roots. “You can walk around and discover so much wonderful nature and landscapes. Sometimes I feel I owe St Moritz part of my life.”

THE IMPACT ST MORITZ FOR TOURIST
Glamour meets nature means these days St. Moritz has become an important hub for winter sport enthusiasts. In fact, some 70 percent of the guests now come in winter. The 5000-strong town at 1800 meters (5,900 feet) above sea level, is popular due to reliable snow levels as well as varied skiing opportunities for all levels.
Surviving the future where want to become the most famous and most desirable holiday destination in the Alps.

SCIENCE CITY KOLKATA সায়েন্স সিটি কলকাতা








HISTORY
Science City, Kolkata is the largest science centre in the Indian subcontinent under National Council of Science Museums(NCSM), Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is at the crossing of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and J B S Haldane avenue,Kolkata. It is considered by some people as the most distinguished landmark in post-independence Kolkata. Saroj Ghose, the first director general of NCSM, who is credited with having conceptualized this centre in 1997. This centre was inaugurated by two parts: the ‘Convention Centre Complex’ was unveiled on 21 December 1996 by Paul Jozef Crutzen in presence of the then chief minister Jyoti Basu and the whole centre was opened by the then prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral on 1 July 1997. On 10 January 2010, prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the second phase of Science City in presence of the then chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

WHAT MAKE THEM SPECIAL
Having trouble evoking your child’s interest in the complex subject of science? Take him to the most amusing creation in the field of science and technology, the Science City in Kolkata.
The intelligent innovations of this place surprise you right from the entrance, where a rope way which offers a bird’s eye view of the museum, is provided. The complex structure of the museum is divided into different sections. These comprise the Space Odyssey, Maritime Centre, Science Park, Dynamotion and Evolution Theme Park. Some of the most popular attractions here include the optical illusions, a super-exciting Time Machine, 3D theatre, a special butterfly corner, an aquarium and the Dinosaurs Complex.
Apart from this, there are a number of swings, slides, train rides, musical fountains and other entertainment facilities, especially for children.The convention centre at the science city includes a Grand Theatre with a seating capacity of more than 2,000 people, a mini-auditorium, and an open-air exhibition ground. With such a long list of facilities, the Science City is certainly the most entertaining option for a fun-filled day out with your children. Imagine generating an earthquake at your own will or traveling to the era of the dinosaurs! These bizarre imaginations can come true only at the Science City of Kolkata. 

GALERIES

Dynamotion Hall

Hands-on and interactive exhibits on various topics of science encouraging visitors to experience with props and enjoy the underlying scientific principles.
  • Illusions. A permanent exhibition on the world of illusions with interactive exhibits, explores how motion and placement make a different in the visual perception. 
  • Powers of Ten. 43 exhibits unfold the smallest or the biggest of the universe through zooming in or out in the order of ten. 
  • Fresh Water Aquarium. Variety of fresh water fishes in 26 tanks; provide the bio-diversity of the fish species. 
  •  Live Butterfly Enclave. A colony of live butterflies hatched here and screening of a film Rang Bahari Prajapati on life cycle of butterfly.
Earth Exploration Hall
Earth Exploration Hall. Nov.2013


Inaugurated on 6 December 2008 by Ambika Soni, the then Union Minister for Culture, India. A permanent exhibition on earth is housed in a two storied hemispherical building that displays the details of the southern hemisphere in the ground floor and northern hemisphere in the first floor. Slicing a huge earth globe at the centre of the hall into 12 segments vertically in each hemisphere, important features of each segment such as physical geography, lands and people, flora and fauna and other dynamic natural phenomenon on earth have been highlighted around the central globe with the modern display technologies such as attractive visuals, interactive multimedia, video walls, panoramic videos, tilting tables, computer kiosks and 3-D effects theatre wearing a special Polaroid spectacle.

Former Directors 
  • Tapan Kumar Ganguly 
  • G S Rautella 
Evolution Park
A theme tour of 1300 square meter covering 7 large walk through dioramas with 71 robotic pre-historic animals, 26 dinosaurs and 140 early plant model set to their periods. It portrays the story of evolution of animal life, specially the extinct species.
Space Odyssey
Comprising Space Theatre equipped with Helios Star Ball planetarium supported by 150 special effect projectors and Astrovision 10/70 Large format Film Projection system housed in a 23 meter diameter tilted dome having unidirectional seating arrangements for 360 person immersive shows on sciences. Now the Astrovision film Adventures in Wild California [8] of 40 minutes duration has been screening from June, 2013.

· 3-D Vision Theater. A show based on stereo back projection system where visitors experience 3D effect by Polaroid spectacles.

· Mirror Magic. There are 35 exhibits based on reflection of light.

· Time Machine. 30-seater motion simulator provides virtual experience of space flight or journey into unknown world sitting in a casual maneuvered by hydraulic motion control system.

Maritime Centre

Depicts maritime history of India, artifacts, dioramas and interactive exhibits on shipping and navigation systems. There is an unmanned quiz corner also.


THE IMPACT OF TOURISM TOWARDS Science City, Kolkata

1. Employment
Recently, Science City has become one of the most must visited places in India. Since the establishment of Science city at the year of 1997, there is a lot of development towards that place. Nowadays, it has become tourist attractions especially for educational. Therefore, it required a lot of new employment to fullfill the needs of that places since there are increasing numbers of visitors.

2. Efforts on educational programs aiming at environmental awareness
The latest addition in the popular attractions of Kolkata, the Science City is the biggest science centre in the Indian sub-continent. This unique Science Amusement Park was set up in the year 1997 as the brainchild of the National Council of Science Museums to disseminate scientific knowledge with fun and ease. It is not only distinctive in its architecture but also in the arrangements made for the visitors to experience the power of science.

3. Building landmarks
In a tropical country like India, the outdoor is sunny and more inviting than the indoors for most part of the year. In a Science Park, people come closer to plants, animals and other objects in their natural surroundings and also learn about the basic principles of science in an open air learning environment. The park interactive exhibits are engineered so as to tolerate all the weather. Science Park has become the integral part in all the centres of NCSM. It comprises Caterpillar Ride, Gravity Coaster, Musical Fountain, Road Train, Cable Cars, Monorail Cycle, butterfly nursery and several exhibits on physical and life sciences and a maze set up in a lush green ambience. there are many people came in different states

HAGIA SOPHIA MUSEUM IN ISTANBUL “THE CHURCH THAT TURN INTO MOSQUE”


Hagia Sophia is a perfect place for educational tourism. This place consist a lot of history behind the established of the museum. For the student who love to historical story must come to this museum because u will discover something that is very wonderful.
HISTORY
The Hagia Sophia, whose name means “holy wisdom,” is a domed monument originally built as a cathedral in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the sixth century A.D. It contains two floors centered on a giant nave that has a great dome ceiling, along with smaller domes, towering above.

“Hagia Sophia’s dimensions are formidable for any structure not built of steel,” writes Helen Gardner and Fred Kleiner in their book "Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History." “In plan it is about 270 feet [82 meters] long and 240 feet [73 meters] wide. The dome is 108 feet [33 meters] in diameter and its crown rises some 180 feet [55 meters] above the pavement.”

In its 1,400 year life-span it has served as a cathedral, mosque and now a museum. When it was first constructed, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire. This state, officially Christian, originally formed the eastern half of the Roman Empire and carried on after the fall of Rome.

Born out of riots
The story of the construction of the Hagia Sophia began in A.D. 532 when the Nika Riots, a great revolt, hit Constantinople. At the time Emperor Justinian I had been ruler of the empire for five years and had become unpopular. It started in the hippodrome among two chariot racing factions called the blue and green with the riot spreading throughout the city the rioters chanting “Nika,” which means “victory,” and attempting to throw out Justinian by besieging him in his palace.

“People were resentful of the high taxes that Justinian had imposed and they wanted him out of office,” said University of London historian Caroline Goodson in a National Geographic documentary. After moving loyal troops into the city Justinian managed to put down the rebellion with brute force.

In the wake of the uprising, and on the site of a torched church that had been called the Hagia Sophia, a new Hagia Sophia would be built. To the ancient writer Paul the Silentiary, who lived when the cathedral was completed, the building represented a triumph for both Justinian and Christianity. 

“I say, renowned Roman Capitol, give way! My Emperor has so far overtopped that wonder as great God is superior to an idol!” (Translation by Peter Bell, from the book "Three Political Voices from the Age of Justinian," Liverpool University Press, 2009)

Building of Hagia Sophia
To build his cathedral, Justinian turned to two men named Anthemius and Isidore the Elder.
“Contemporary writers do not refer to Anthemius and Isidore as architects, though the term was common in the sixth century, but asmechanikoi or mechanopoioi,” writes Indiana University professor W. Eugene Kleinbauer in a section of the book "Hagia Sophia" (Scala Publishers, 2004). “These terms denote a very small number of practitioners of the arts of design, whether of buildings or of machines or other works ...”

They built the Hagia Sophia in great haste, finishing it in less than six years. To put this in comparison it took nearly a century for medieval builders to construct the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

This short construction period appears to have led to problems. Ancient sources, such as the writer Procopios, write that the builders had problems with the dome roof, the structure almost collapsing during construction. The dome used a system of piers to channel its weight.

“The piers on top of which the structure was being built, unable to bear the mass that was pressing down on them, somehow or other suddenly started to break away and seemed to be on the point of collapsing...” writes Procopios (translation republished on Columbia University’s website).

Eventually Anthemius and Isidore did get the domed roof to stand and it was a magnificent sight indeed. “It seems not to be founded on solid masonry, but to be suspended from heaven by that golden chain and so cover the space,” wrote Procopios.

Unfortunately this roof did not stand. It collapsed about two decades later and it fell to a man named Isidore the Younger to build a new domed roof. It has lasted, with some repairs, nearly 1,400 years, down to the present day.

“The dome rests not on a drum but on pendentives, spherical triangles that arise from four huge piers that carry the weight of the cupola. The pendentives made it possible to place the dome over a square compartment,” writes researcher Victoria Hammond, who describes the structure of the surviving Hagia Sophia dome, in a chapter of the book "Visions of Heaven: The Dome in European Architecture" (Springer, 2005).

Beneath the dome are 40 windows with sunlight coming through. “The sunlight emanating from the windows surrounding its lofty cupola, suffusing the interior and irradiating its gold mosaics, seemed to dissolve the solidity of the walls and created an ambience of ineffable mystery,” she writes. “On the completion of Hagia Sophia, Justinian is said to have remarked, ‘Solomon, I have outdone thee’.”

Decorations and iconoclasm The decorations within the Hagia Sophia at the time of construction were probably very simple, images of crosses for instances. Over time this changed to include a variety of ornate mosaics.

“There are a number of mosaics that have been added over the centuries, imperial portraits, images of the imperial family, images of Christ and different emperors, those have been added since Justinian’s day,” said Goodson in the documentary.

During the eighth and ninth centuries A.D., there was a period of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire that resulted in some of the mosaics being destroyed.

“The controversy spanned roughly a century, during the years 726–87 and 815–43. In these decades, imperial legislation barred the production and use of figural images; simultaneously, the cross was promoted as the most acceptable decorative form for Byzantine churches,” writes Sarah Brooks, of James Madison University, in a Metropolitan Museum of Art articles.


“Fear that the viewer misdirected his/her veneration toward the image rather than to the holy person represented in the image lay at the heart of this controversy.”

At the end of this period decoration of the interior of Hagia Sophia resumed, each emperor adding their own images. One of the most well-known mosaics is located on the apse of the church showing a 13-foot-tall (4 meters) Virgin Mary with Jesus as a child. Dedicated on March 29, 867, it is located 30 meters (almost 100 feet) above the church floor, notes University of Sussex professor Liz James in a 2004 article published in the journal Art History.

Conversion to mosque




Another chapter in the Hagia Sophia’s life began in 1453. In that year the Byzantine Empire ended, with Constantinople falling to the armies of Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

The Byzantine Empire had been in decline for centuries and by 1453 the Hagia Sophia had fallen into disrepair, notes researcher Elisabeth Piltz in a 2005 British Archaeological Reports series book. Nevertheless, the Christian cathedral made a strong impression on the new Ottoman rulers and they decided to convert it into a mosque.

“What a dome, that vies in rank with the nine spheres of heaven! In this work a perfect master has displayed the whole of the architectural science,” wrote Ottoman historian Tursun Beg during the 15th century (translation from Piltz’s book).

Outside the church, four minarets would eventually be added, Kleiner writes (in a 2010 edition of his book) that these “four slender pencil-shaped minarets” are more than 200 feet (60 meters) tall and are “among the tallest ever constructed.”

Changes occurred on the inside as well. Piltz writes that “after the Ottoman conquest the mosaics were hidden under yellow paint with the exception of the Theotokos [Virgin Mary with child] in the apse.” In addition “Monograms of the four caliphs were put on the pillars flanking the apse and the entrance of the nave.”

The style of the Hagia Sophia, in particular its dome, would go on to influence Ottoman architecture, most notably in the development of the Blue Mosque, built in Istanbul during the 17th century.

Present-day museum
In 1934, the government of Turkey secularized the Hagia Sophia and turned it into a museum. The Turkish Council of Ministers stated that due “to its historical significance, the conversion of the (Hagia Sophia) mosque, a unique architectural monument of art located in Istanbul, into a museum will please the entire Eastern world and its conversion to a museum will cause humanity to gain a new institution of knowledge.” [From Robert Nelson, "Hagia Sophia: 1850-1950: Holy Wisdom Modern Monument," University of Chicago Press, 2004)

Research, repair and restoration work continues to this day and the Hagia Sophia is now an important site for tourism in Istanbul. It is a place that has been part of the cultural fabric of the city in both ancient and modern times.

THE IMPACT OF TOURISM TOWARDS HAGIA SOPHIA MUSEUM 

1. Hagia Sophia becomes most visited museum in turkey.
The latest statistics over 3.326.591 visitors come to visit the museum. This is because, the museum have carried a lot of history behind them. The visitors who come will know the history of first born of Hagia Sophia then convert to Mosques and lastly become a museum. In they will know the flow of the story. This kind of place is suitable for student who studied in historical and all of visitors. The museum gives a lot of knowledge to the visitors who come. That why they become the most visited museum in turkey every year.

2. Entrence fees.
Visitors who want to enter the museum have to pay the entrance fees. This is because the management of the museum used the fees that visitors paid for maintaining the facilities inside there. Due to many visitors who visit the museum, the management needs a lot of work and effort for maintaining the building as the original. So that they need money for that kind of work. So that visitors have to pay the entrance fees.







Sunday, May 17, 2015

Sabah

History of Sabah *_*



Sabah, which was known as North Borneo before it joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963, was part of the Sultanate of Brunei in the 16th century while the north-eastern coast of the state became part of the Sultanate of Sulu which was centered in the southern islands of the Philippines. The the mid 18th century, Europeans began making an appearance and the British managed to open a trading post on Pulau Balambangan off the northern tip of Sabah. This post however failed to take off.

In 1865, the American Consul for Brunei, Claude Lee Moses obtained a lease over North Borneo. The lease ownership was passed to an American company which tried to set up a post in what is today Kimanis. That also turned out to be a failure and was abandoned. The lease was then sold to Baron von Overbeck, the Austrian Consul in Hong Kong which he then transferred to Alfred Dent who in 1882 formed the British North Borneo Company to develop the colony. The capital was first established in Kudat, then transfered to Sandakan. North Borneo became a protectorate of Great Britain in 1888 but administration and control over the colony remained in the hands of the Company ruled until 1942 when the Japanese invaded. There were of course resistance to the company's rule, including by Mat Salleh in the late 1890s and the Muruts in the early 1900s.

The Japanese occupation between 1942 and 1945 was brutal and this was when the infamous Death Marches by British and Allied soldiers forced by the Japanese took place. British Military Administration took over when the Japanese surrendered and in 1946, North Borneo became a British Crown Colony. Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu), which suffered Allied bombing, was rebuilt and chosen to replace Sandakan as the capital.

On September 16, 1963, North Borneo together with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore formed the Federation of Malaysia and from then on it became known as Sabah.

Poring Hot Springs

 

Poring Hot Springs is about 13 kilometers from Ranau or about 40 kilometers from the Kinabalu National Park Headquarters in Kundasang. The hot springs is actually part of the huge Kinabalu National Park. The Poring Hot Springs was first developed by the Japanese during World War II and has progressed gradually to become one of the top tourist destinations amongst foreigners and locals alike. The hot waters of the spring contains sulphur are piped into open-air Japanese style baths where you can rest your tired limbs after the long hours and strenuous climb up the Mount Kinabalu

Other than the natural hot spring as the main attraction at Poring Hot Springs, there are also other interesting areas in the park which is worth visiting. There is a butterfly farm, the Poring Orchid Conservation Center, the tropical garden, the Poring canopy walkway and the Rafflesia flower site.