The Sedlec Ossuary is a small Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, many of whom have had their bones artistically arranged to form decorations and … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Justin Ames
In Search of Transylvania’s Vlad Dracula: The Dracula Tour
Fifteenth-century Wallachian prince Vlad Tepes is all too often credited with being Dracula, the vampire-count featured in the classic Gothic horror story Dracula (1897) written by Anglo-Irish novelist Bram Stoker. The association of these two unholy figures – one historical, the other fictitious – is nothing more than a product of popular imagination though. But … Continue reading
Mtskheta’s Sveti Tskhoveli Cathedral – The “UFO Church”
Dominating the small Georgian town of Mtskheta, the cathedral of Sveti Tskhoveli rises on the site of the palace of the kings of Iveria. The final resting place for numerous Georgian kings, it is also supposedly where the robe of Christ is buried. The first church in this location was built of wood in the … Continue reading
A Breakdancing Competition In Tbilisi, Georgia
While wandering around Tbilisi last week, we came across an impromptu breakdancing competition in front of the presidential palace (you can see it in the background). I thought it was pretty cool… Continue reading
Yerevan, Armenia
Unfortunately, despite its impressive history (Yerevan is older than Rome) and reasonably appealing center, Armenia’s capital of Yerevan is not a particularly attractive city. Too much of the city is comprised of crumbling, gray Soviet-era apartment blocks such as those pictured below… This dreary Soviet influence is due to the rapid expansion of the city … Continue reading
Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh
I can honestly say that I have never visited a town like Shushi before… By the way, Shusha is the Azeri name for this town whose majority population for most of the past century (until the most recent war) was actually Azeri; it is the Armenians that call it Shushi. The town used to possess … Continue reading
Photos Of The Day: Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is the national symbol of Armenia and has been revered by Armenians for ages. In Armenian mythology Mt. Ararat is the home of the Gods, much like Mt. Olympus in Greek Mythology. And then, of course, some people believe as well that a man named Noah built an ark that came to rest … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 