Places of Peace

Paige Schemenauer
Art History
Final exhibit

Topic: Places of peace

1. Chi Zhengzhi, The Fisherman’s Retreat, 12th c., restored in 18th c. by Yu Yin, renamed The Master of the (Fishing) Nets Garden, Suzhou, China

2. The UnMuseum - The Lines of Nazca. Peru


3. Angkor wat


4. Sultan Al-Hasan Bin Sulaiman’s palace, Kilwa Kisiwani, 1315-30


5. Aerial view of Great Zimbabwe’s Great Enclosure and adjacent ruins, looking southeast, 11th -15th c.

Intro:

Places of piece are a collection of physical places that are peaceful to the current country and has a past history of mainly peaceful events.  These places, spanning from places all over the world make up the places of peace. All large scale places that are truly peaceful environments and also aren't really surrounded by various religions.  From chinese gardens to african cassels. All these places are important to the countries in which they belong to, bringing in large amounts of tourism. If you take a look at the fisherman's retreat, now in a very busy and bustling city.  This city today even stands for a place of peace for the people living in this metropolis. Originally created for scholars and retired poets and artis, now a place for everyone to come and visit this historical site and take a moment to appreciate nature.  Along with that all these place stand very strong for each country's heritage, as part of their history and present day tourism. Angkor wat alone is one of the place widely known for bring in great tourism as one of the most visited places in south east asia.  The Nazca lines in Peru has over ten thousand visitors a year. All these places are places that had little to no war and are not completely religious places of worship. These places are all part of the true culture of the country. These places were ounce something so great and while all haven’t stayed in perfect conditions most are still very grad and worth visiting.  

Chi Zhengzhi, The Fisherman’s Retreat

The Chi Zhengzhi otherwise known as the Fisherman's Retreat is a garden with the city of what is now called Suzhou.  This city is a major trade city, now and even back in the 18th century. Placed along the Grand canal this city has been a bustling trade center for china.  Even today this city is visited by thousands for business of buys goods to import to their own country. This being said the Fisherman's retreat, which was later renamed to The Master of the (Fishing) Nets Garden serves as a true place of peace.  The Master of the (Fishing) Nets Garden is like central park to New York city. This garden was a place for scholars to retreat or retire back in it’s time. This place is where people could come to appreciate the finer things in life such as poetry, artwork, and calligraphy; something that during the time was looked on as one of the fines forms for art.  This garden really brings nature to the people. Even though everything in the garden is placed by man and created in a certain way with multiple buildings and courtyards. This is truly a place for peaceful times.

The Nazca lines Peru

Throughout the year people take time to look to the night sky to admire the stars above us. Nowadays we have other things to do in the night, like watch TV or read by the human light that we have created. But throughout history we have evidence of people looking at the skys and mapping them to better understand the world and universe around us. The Nazca lines are no exception. These great lines spanning thought the planes of Peru match many constellations within the night sky of the southern hemisphere. Constellations like the colombian which is a bird. You can see this bird like figure in the place but by telling that it is the colombian you have to count the amount of feathers that the figure has than that number matches the amount of stars within the constellation. This is also true with the “monkey” and the “little bird” all these lines match constellations within the peruvian night sky. This place really shows the intelligence of the people and their understanding of the sky and there placement within the universe. Here people looked at the skys and wondered. This place bring wonder and curiosity to the people that visit it today.


 


Angkor Wat


One of the most iconic parts of southeast asia is angkor wat. This glorious temple has more rock the what it took to build the egyptian pyramids and all together covers more space then modern paris. These series of temples were created by the Khemr people for their king Suryavarman II. It is said that the rush to finish this temple was to barry the king within. But after so many years of people over working the land for rice paddies the land finally became infertile and the people were forced to move, leaving this large temple to the jungle. After almost a century of the temple being abandon the encroaching jungle began to take residence. It was not until 1860 that a french naturist rediscovered the ruins. Taking back drawing people became incredibly interested in this jungle temple and what had happened to the people who created it. This temple held monks at one time yet was also attacked as well. This temple as a long history of enets and mysteries behind it. This place is one that is commonly visited today.



Sultan Al-Hasan Bin Sulaiman’s palace, Kilwa Kisiwani
          Many of us when thinking of east africa do not typically think of great wealth and major city states. But that is exactly what Kilwa Kisiwani was. Here was the biggest trading port in east africa with glorious wealth. But it takes a bit of imagination these days because most of the city has become a rural village now. Little remains of Sultan Al-Hasan Bin Sulaiman’s palace. Within the ruins of what is left today there is evidences of world trade, like chinese ceramics within the walls of the palace. At the time Al-Hasan Bin Sulaiman put a tax on all gold trade that was happening within his waters. Given at the time there was a lot of trade going on with gold from india to europe, Al-Hasan Bin Sulaiman became very wealthy are created his city of Kilwa Kisiwani. His palace today is now down to ruble but you can still see the general structure where the pools, gardens, and courtyards would have been. This place was built through peaceful trade that made Kilwa Kisiwani the great city that it once was.

The Great Zimbabwe


The Great Zimbabwe was created in the 11th century as one the biggest monuments in the country at the time. For the time this was a glorious monument for the country. This is where the king would have resided, within this stone soundings. The king would have stayed on the summit looking over his land with his number one wife living within the stone walls below. This stone enclosure is created with over a million stone blocks but with nothing as a mortar for the stones. Give the sense that this place was never built for war or protection but simply a look of power. The outer wall standing in some places 4 stories high gave a look of glory and strength. This was a place well beyond its time.