Category Archives: UNESCO World Heritage

Beautiful Photography of UNESCO World Heritage Sites

There Must Be More Than This Provincial Life

Posted on March 11th, 2012 by

Disney Dork

Ok…I freely admit, I have a soft spot for the Disney movies of my younger years (and not so younger years). The Hamlet, located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles was built for Marie Antoinette’s strange desire to experience the common life of a peasant. This distinctly reminded me of a particular Disney song…can you guess which one? I kept milling about taking photos of the great little village singing like the proverbial idiot. Good things we were there early and it was just us. The baker wasn’t even up yet, with his tray (like always).

Strange Surroundings

This is one of the odd homes built in the Hamlet. The village consists of a working farm, vineyard and several buildings representing a small French Provincial village. The proportions are, however, very wrong. If you happen to glance inside, the rooms are built more for entertaining than real living. Another example of the fabled…”Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (let them eat cake) attitude of the French aristocracy. As a side note, there is actually not real evidence that Marie Antoinette ever uttered those words.

HDR Photography
There Must Be More Than This Provincial Life by W. Brian Duncan

A Path to the Palace

Posted on March 4th, 2012 by

The Path

While at Versailles we did quite a bit of walking. You can’t really help it…well you can rent a golf cart, but that didn’t see very regal or fitting. One of the many paths to the various palaces can be seen below.

Hugging Trees

I love the simplicity of the trees at Versailles. They are placed simply, but with great purpose and intent. Control of nature is one of the many reoccurring themes of Versailles. You can see it all around. The monarchy was in control of all things (until that whole revolution thing happened).

HDR Photography
A Path to the Palace by W. Brian Duncan

Entering the Temple of Love

Posted on February 12th, 2012 by

It’s Almost Valentine’s Day

Not that I am oblivious or anything, but Pamela asked me what HDR photo I was working on and I said one of the shots of The Temple of Love. “Oh,” she said, “for Valentine’s Day!” Right! Valentine’s Day! In retrospect, it was probably some sort of subconscious observation that put the holiday together with the temple at Versailles dedicated to love.

History of Love

The Temple of Love was commissioned by Marie Antoinette to be part of her Hameau (place, often a rural area). It is made of marble and contains a dozen Corinthian columns that support the structure. In the center is a statue of Cupid, (the Roman god of love, desire, and erotic love) fashioning his bow from the club of Hercules. Marie Antoinette fancied the life of the peasants. Well, she rather fancied some aristocratic washing over of how wonderfully simple it must be to be a peasant. She didn’t actually fancy being poor or doing manual labor… that was far beneath her. She built a fantasy playground at the Trianon Palaces this temple is but one of the amusements of the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette.

HDR Photography
Entering the Temple of Love by W. Brian Duncan

The Royal Chapel of King Louis XIV

Posted on January 29th, 2012 by

The Glory of Versailles

Versailles has been described as a temple created to one man…King Louis XIV. Enormous is scope, the entire complex is one of the most impressive I have ever seen. Multiple palaces (for the mistresses of the King mainly) and grounds complete with their own Venetian style canals and an Orangerie. The Sun King was perhaps nearly revered as a god among men, and requisite with this theme is a lack of Christian symbology anywhere in the multiple palaces, with the notable exception of the Royal Chapel.

All Worship…uh Hail…the King

In keeping with this “the king is pretty much a deity” theme, during daily worship the Royal Court of King Louis XIV’s time would kneel with their back to the alter (not pictured below, but directly below the organ seen) and look up to our pictured vantage point, where the King and his family would be worshiping. They would in essence have the pleasure of watching their King worship God with their own backs to the alter. An interesting big of symbolism, for the end of the Renaissance and what would eventually usher in the Age of Enlightenment. I don’t mean to suggest the airs of King Louis XIV where the foundation of “Reason” but simply mean to point out the interesting correlation. Isn’t history fun when its framed about pretty stuff?

HDR Photography
The Royal Chapel of King Louis XIV by W. Brian Duncan

Parisian Seine

Posted on November 20th, 2011 by

The Seine

On our first day in Paris, right after we dropped our things off at our wonderful AirBNB apartment, we headed down to Notre Dame. The cathedral is overwhelming and deserves its own post (probably several) but one of the first pictures I took was on the Seine. Just an average day, with the river flowing along as it always does. The river has a sort of elegance that is hard to describe. There are thousands of tourists milling about, but even with the hustle and bustle and snap of cameras, the river swallows it all up and washes it away.

HDR Photography
Parisian Seine by W. Brian Duncan