It is not a mosque

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“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”

Aldous Huxley

This is the Red Mosque in the palace gardens of Schwetzingen in Germany.  The mosque was built in 18th century and is today the last surviving of similar constructions that were en vogue in Europe then.  It was never meant as a place of prayer but rather to illustrate the common search for principles of reason in the spirit of enlightenment.  Hence, the words written on the walls may or may not be correct in Arabic, their origin lies rather in Western culture or in how the West perceived Oriental culture.

Erwirb dir Gold so viel du brauchst

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Although it is a wrong image of a foreign culture, it was done with good intentions and the means and knowledge available at the time.

Incidentally, although it has nothing to do with Islam as religion, it is one of the  most popular spots for wedding photographs by Turkish and Arab couples in the region.

Linked to Travel with Intent where you can find more photos inspired by the Huxley quote.

Go forth, my heart, and seek delight

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Linked to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Gardens.

The title is the English translation of a German church hymn, written by Paul Gerhardt and published in 1653:

Geh aus mein Herz und suche Freud

Go forth, my heart, and seek delight
In all the gifts of God’s great might,
These pleasant summer hours:
Look how the plains for thee and me
Have decked themselves most fair to see,
All bright and sweet with flowers.

The trees stand thick and dark with leaves,
And earth o’er all here dust now weaves
A robe of living green;
Nor silks of Solomon compare
With glories that the tulips wear,
Or lilies’ spotless sheen.

 

 

 

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Glad, to see the back of you

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This is the back of the war memorial in our town.  Erected in 1936, it did both at the time: commemorate the men who had died in  the first world war, and glorify the war itself, preparing the population for the next one.  The names of the dead from that war where added in the fifties.

For Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: things from behind.  For more rear views, click here.

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