Oddity Central |
- The Breathtaking Glass Temple of Johor Bahru – A Shining Wonder of Malaysia
- CW Roelle’s Wondrous Metal Wire Artworks
- Real-Life Shrek and Fiona Have Their Very Own Fairy Tale Castle
| The Breathtaking Glass Temple of Johor Bahru – A Shining Wonder of Malaysia Posted: 05 Sep 2012 04:28 AM PDT
In the city of Johor Bahru, close to Malaysia’s southern border with Singapore, lies one of the world’s most amazing pieces of architecture – a Hindu Temple covered almost entirely with glass. It’s called the Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman temple, and it’s one of the must see attractions of Malaysia. Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman is one of the oldest temples in the state of Johor. It started out as a small shelter, built in 1922, and grew steadily over the years, but its true expansion started in 1991, when the current chief priest, Sri Sinnathamby Sivasamy, inherited the administration of the temple from his father. He became the driving force of this once humble hut, and committed himself to turning it into a beautiful Hindu place of worship. Despite facing many challenges, Sivasamy managed to expand and completely rebuild the temple in just five years, and in 1996 it was reopened to the public. Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman had already transformed into an impressive display of Malaysian architecture, but it would soon become a truly unique Hindu sanctuary, unlike any other. Photo: Icepisces Guru Sri Sinnathamby Sivasamy was traveling to Bangkok in a Thai rickshaw when he got the idea of turning the Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman temple into a shining marvel. While he was gazing at the surroundings, his attention was suddenly captured by a shimmering light in the distance. Curious about its source, the Hindu priest decided to follow the light and eventually discovered it was actually a glass artwork placed at the entrance of a temple. That’s when he decided he was going to use the same material to make his temple shine in the sunlight. Between 2008 and 2009, Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman was almost entirely covered with colorful pieces of glass both on the inside and on the outside. While there are a few other temples partially decorated with glass, at least 90% of this particular one is decorated with a beautiful-yet-fragile glass mosaics. Photo: Icepisces The unique temple is embellished with 300,000 pieces of red, blue, yellow, green, purple and white glass, including its floors, pillars and walls. There are large crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and their light reflected on the glass surroundings can be quite blinding at first, but once your eyes get used to it, you’ll end up admiring the surreal effect. Apparently, the renovation process of Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman temple cost 3 million ringgits (around $1 million), funds raised from donations and community programs. The glass sanctuary is fully air-conditioned and can accommodate 1,500 devotees. Photo: Icepisces Although it still operates primarily as a religious temple, Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman also allows tourists, but it’s best checking opening times before visiting. Photo: Visnurm Photo: Garmin The Breathtaking Glass Temple of Johor Bahru – A Shining Wonder of Malaysia was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| CW Roelle’s Wondrous Metal Wire Artworks Posted: 05 Sep 2012 02:08 AM PDT
CW Roelle is often referred to as the “Wire Magician” and looking at his breathtakingly intricate wire artworks, it’s easy to see why. The Rhode Island-based artist somehow manages to twist black metal wire into detailed masterpieces that resemble pencil drawings. The first time CW Roelle used wire as an art medium was in 1997, during the second semester of his junior year of college. One day, when drawing a model, he suddenly felt he wanted to reach in, grab the lines of his drawing and just move it around. That night he started redrawing his classroom works with wire. Over the years, his skills improved immensely, and Roelle is now able to create detailed works of art with nothing but metal wire. Some of his pieces can take just a few hours to complete, but there have been some that have taken the artist as long as four months to finish. He says most of his medium-size artworks take about two-three weeks, which is actually less than his realistic pencil drawings take. Because they are all handmade, no two wire drawings are the same. Even though the objects and scenes depicted in CW Roelle’s wire artworks are one-dimensional, being arranged on different planes and casting a shadow on the white background they create an optical illusion, often tricking the eye into thinking they’re three-dimensional sculptures. The level of detail in some of his most complex works is simply mind-blowing, and judging by the constant evolution of his technique, they’re only going to get better. Make sure you check out his entire art portfolio on Flickr.
Photo copyrights: CW Roelle CW Roelle’s Wondrous Metal Wire Artworks was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Real-Life Shrek and Fiona Have Their Very Own Fairy Tale Castle Posted: 05 Sep 2012 12:53 AM PDT
A Ukrainian couple from the village of Akimova, in the Zaporozhye region have spent 10 years building their own fairy tale castle. And because of their resemblance to the popular animation characters, they are known as Shrek and Fiona by the locals. Anatoly and Larisa Galitsky love children, so one day they decided to built a castle-themed cafe where they could come and play in a fairy tale setting. The courtyard was supposed to be full of swings and carousels for the kids to enjoy, while the castle interior was designed to look like what they read in popular stories. But alas, the real world has its own villains, and in the Galitskys’ case it was the local sanitation department who just wouldn’t authorize the build of a public cafe on the site of an old landfill. After several attempts to convince the authorities to approve their project, Anatoly finally decided to give up and make his castle into a unique residence. The real-life Shrek drew up the plans himself, and after 10 long years, he and his beloved Fiona finally have a castle to call their own. The entire structure covers an area of 300 square meters, has three large halls, a bedroom and a huge kitchen. The three stone walls also house a bathhouse and a garage. Of the castle’s six pointy towers, only one is actually hollow, the rest are just for show. "I like children and smiles. I wanted to place swings and carousels here, but they are still getting dusty at work", Anatoly says, and even though they weren’t allowed to make their castle into a public kids’attraction, they still organize tours for children, who always refer to them as Shrek and Fiona. Their home is also very popular with newlyweds who come here for photo shoots, and the Galitskys are always happy to welcome them in, without charging them an entrance fee. Asked if they regret spending so much time and money building an actual castle, the two said they never regretted it, if only for the fact that their children and grandchildren love to visit and enjoy a cup of tea at the large kitchen table. It seems castle-style homes are pretty popular in the Former Soviet Union. Just last year, we posted a story about another Russian couple who built their own fairy tale residence from all kinds of junk material.
Anatoly and Larisa Galitsky – The Ukrainian Shrek and Fiona via 69News.ru Real-Life Shrek and Fiona Have Their Very Own Fairy Tale Castle was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
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