The stone for the BAPS Temple in Atlanta, Georgia was shipped piece by piece from India, where craftsmen had sculptured it into more than 500 designs including rosettes, leaves, feathers and lacy geometric patterns. The thousands of sections, ranging from five ounces to five tons, each with its own bar code, have been assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle based on instructions for religious buildings written into scripture thousands of years old.
Staircase to the Temple
Open to one and all, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, in Atlanta, Georgia) was inaugurated in August of 2007 after only 17 months of construction time utilizing 1.3 million volunteer hours. The Mandir is comprised of three types of stone (Turkish Limestone, Italian marble, and Indian pink sandstone). More than 34,000 individual pieces were carved by hand in India, shipped to the USA and assembled like a giant 3-D puzzle.
BAPS Temple Atlanta Panorama
Remnants of art in stone in India …..
Art in Stone
A head of an elephant sculpted out of stone at Darbargadh Poshina
Elephant in Stone
Due to my interest in elephant pieces, I look for unusual items during my travels. Darbargadh Poshina didn’t disappoint with several unique elephants in stone.
Elephants Carved in Stone
Darbargadh Poshina has interesting artifacts from the past including this hand operated stone flour mill. Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. Millstones come in pairs – the runner stone spins above the stationary bedstone creating the “scissoring” or grinding action of the stones.
An Essential Item from the Past
An artist has used stone as a canvas for a painting a dancer and Indian musical instruments at Shilparamam, Hyderabad
Painted on Stone
A sculpture garden at Shilparamam, Hyderabad displays amazing art carvings in stone
Creating Art in Stone
A Picture in Stone
Stone Walls of the Lake District – walls made without cement still standing after hundreds of years. Growth in between the stones adds beauty to the walls.
Dry Stone Wall
Green Growth in Stone
Stone Wall Roots
A stone fence guards the pasture in the Lake District, England
A Pasture Enclosure from the Past
A stone window in the Abbot’s House at Muchelney Abbey, Somerset, England
A Window from the Past
Founded in 7th or 8th century, Muchelney Abbey is a landmark in Somerset. It was once a wealthy Benedictine house and the second oldest religious foundation in Somerset, but as part of the dissolution the abbey’s principal buildings were demolished by Henry VIII in 1538. The Abbey was the second largest in Somerset after Glastonbury, England.
Muchelney Abbey
The only intact structure is the Abbot’s House with well-preserved architectural features including external stonework and inside a great chamber with ornate fireplace, carved settle and stained glass, and timber roof.
Muchelney Abbey Abbott’s House
An intriguing combination of stone walls and arches covered with ivy, but leading to a locked gate. What pastures lie behind the gate in the English countryside?
Forbidden Pastures
Symmetry of stone arches leading to the door at Duke Chapel, Raleigh, North Carolina. Impressive in both color and black & white images.
Leading to the Door
Doorway Arches
The simple yet attractive design of stone arches at Duke Chapel in North Carolina
Stone Arches
A chain blocks the entrance to a door but can’t hide the beauty of ornate, stone arches at Duke Chapel in North Carolina
Forbidden Door
Built in 1928, the Market Street Bridge is a stone arch bridge that spans the Susquehanna River between Harrisburg and Wormleysburg, Pennsylvania.
Harrisburg – Market Street Bridge on Susquehanna River
A Fall landscape with leaf colors and stone formations ….
Fall Colors Around Rock Formations
Machu Picchu – Stonework
The central buildings of Machu Picchu use the classical Inca architectural style of polished dry-stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, called ashlar, in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together tightly without mortar. Many junctions in the central city are so perfect that it is said not even a blade of grass fits between the stones.
Gathering Moss
Since this stone is not rolling it is definitely gathering moss
