Interiors

Biblioteca Vasconcelos (Vasconcelos Library) is a library located in the north of Mexico City, Mexico. It was inaugurated in 2006 and by 2015 had 600,000 publications and books, but there are plans to host up to 2 million items. The building, with a surface of aprox. 38,000 square metres (410,000 sq ft), was visited in 2014 by 1.7 million people and can host at the same time 5,000 people.

Vasconcelos Library, Mexico City, Mexico.

Altar of the church of St Felix, Torralba de Ribota, province of Zaragoza, Spain. The church, of mudéjar and late gothic style was built between 1367 and 1420. The church is a national heritage monument in Spain (known as Bien de Interés Cultural) since 2006.

Altar of the church of St Felix, Torralba de Ribota, province of Zaragoza, Spain.

Main nave of the Church of the Society of Jesus (La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús), a Jesuit church in Quito, Ecuador. The exterior doesn't give an idea of the beauty of the interior, with a large central nave, which is profusely decorated with gold leaf, gilded plaster and wood carvings, making of it the most ornate church in Quito. The temple is one of the most significant works of Spanish Baroque architecture in America and considered the most beautiful church in Ecuador.

Main nave of the Church of the Society of Jesus, a Jesuit church in Quito, Ecuador.

Colored windows seen from the interior of the Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, a traditional mosque located in Shiraz district of Gouwd-e-Arabān, Iran. The mosque was built from 1876 to 1888, by the order of Mirzā Hasan Ali (Nasir ol Molk), a Qajar ruler.

Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, Shiraz, Iran.

Iconostasis in the church of the Cocoș Monastery, Romania. The monastery, located in a forest clearing 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from Niculițel, was built between 1883 and 1913 and is dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos.

Iconostasis in the church of the Cocoș Monastery, Romania.

View of the main nave of the church of the monastery of San Martiño Pinario, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. The temple, a work of Mateo López and González de Araújo, Bartolomé Fernández Lechuga and José de Peña y Toro, was finished in 1652. The jewel of the church is the elaborated reredos, the biggest designed by Fernando de Casas Novoa and of baroque style.

Church of the monastery of San Martiño Pinario, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.

View of the rich ceiling of the interior courtyard of the Borujerdi House, a historic house located in Kashan, Iran. The house dates from 1857 and was constructed by architect Ustad Ali Maryam for a wealthy merchant as proof of love to his wife.

Ceiling of the interior courtyard of the Borujerdi House, Kashan, Iran.

Steps and pulpit of the refectory (dining room) of the Cistercian Monastery of Santa María de Huerta located in the village of Santa María de Huerta, province of Soria, Castille and León, Spain. The first stone of the building was laid by the king Alfonso VII of Castile in 1179 and the building underwent an expansion in the 16th century thank to the help of the kings Charles I and Philip II. The refectory, built in 1215, is the jewel of the monastery and one of the best examples in Europe. The pulpit was used by a monk for reading during dinner time.

Steps and pulpit of the refectory of the Cistercian Monastery of Santa María de Huerta, province of Soria, Spain.

Golestan Palace is the former royal Qajar complex in Iran's capital city, Tehran. The UNESCO World Heritage Site belongs to a group of royal buildings that were once enclosed within the mud-thatched walls of Tehran's arg ("citadel") and is one of the oldest of the historic monuments in the city.

Golestan Palace, Tehran, Iran.

The tunnel of Cotefablo is a public traffic tunnel located between Broto and Biescas, in Aragon, not far from the Pyrenees, Spain. The tunnel is 683 m long and was constructed in 1935. It was the scenario of a famous tragic accident during the 1989 Vuelta a España, causing that the brilliant 30-year-old german cyclist, Reimund Dietzen, retired from active sport due to the crash.

Tunnel of Cotefablo, near Biescas, Aragon, Spain.

Dome of the entrance hall (aka staircase hall), National Gallery, London, England. The National Gallery was founded in 1824 and has a collection of over 2,300 paintings from the mid-13th century to 1900. The present building in London's Trafalgar Square is the third to house the National Gallery, and was designed by William Wilkins from 1832–38. The Staircase Hall was designed by Sir John Taylor in 1884–7.

Dome of the staircase hall, National Gallery, London, England.

Interior of Mausoleum of Emir Ali, Shiraz, Iran. The current temple was built in the 19th century to replace the former one damaged over the centuries due to earthquakes. In this site rest the remains of Ali Ibn Hamz, nephew of shah of Cheragh.

Mausoleum of Emir Ali, Shiraz, Iran.

Interior view of the dome of the church of Santo Domingo, Historic Centre of Lima, capital of Peru. The site, built between 1535 and 1578, is also a basilic and convent. It was destructed by the earthquake of 1678 and rebuilt shortly afterwards with the current appearance. The church merges different architectural styles, neoclassicism, rococo and renaissance.

Church of Santo Domingo, Historic Centre of Lima, Peru.

Interior view of St Peter's church in Teruel, Aragón, Spain. The church, of mudéjar style was built in the 14th century and was declared World Heritage in 1986. The decoration, performed between 1896-1902, is a neo-mudéjar style.

St Peter's church in Teruel, Aragón, Spain.

Dome of Salzburg Cathedral, Austria. The cathedral was founded in 774 and rebuilt in 1181 after a fire but it become its present Baroque style appearance under Prince-Bishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau in the 17th century.

Dome of Salzburg Cathedral, Austria.

Upper view of the main nave of the Gothic church of San Pedro de los Francos, in Calatayud, Aragon, Spain. The original temple was founded in the 12th century by order of Alfonso I, "The Battler". He wished to offer the French who settled in Calatayud after helping him in the Battle of Cutanda (1120) against the Almoravids a place to pray. The current church was built two centuries later.

Church of San Pedro de los Francos, in Calatayud, Aragon, Spain.

View of the ceiling in the interior of the Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, is a traditional mosque located in Shiraz district of Gowad-e-Arabān, Iran. The mosque was built from 1876 to 1888, by the order of Mirzā Hasan Ali (Nasir ol Molk), a Qajar ruler.

Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, a traditional mosque located in Shiraz, Iran.

Superior view of the interior of the main nave of the church and Monastery of St. Francis, Quito, Ecuador. The Roman Catholic temple, finalized in the 17th century, is the largest architetural ensemble among the historical structures of colonial Latin America. The church is also featured by the mixture of different architecture styles as the construction took 150 years.

Main nave of the church and Monastery of St. Francis, Quito, Ecuador.

Ceiling in one of the rooms of Hasht Behesht, Isfahan, Iran. The palace, built in 1669, and which name means "Eight Heavens" is the only one left today out of forty mansions that existed during the rule of Safavids.

Ceiling in one of the rooms of Hasht Behesht, Isfahan, Iran.

Ceiling of the Sioni Cathedral, a Georgian Orthodox cathedral in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia. The cathedral is situated in historic Sionis Kucha (Sioni Street) in downtown Tbilisi. It was initially built in the 6th and 7th centuries. Since then, it has been destroyed by foreign invaders and reconstructed several times. The current church is based on a 13th-century version with some changes from the 17th to 19th centuries. The Sioni Cathedral was the main Georgian Orthodox Cathedral and the seat of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia until the Holy Trinity Cathedral was consecrated in 2004.

Ceiling of the Sioni Cathedral, a Georgian Orthodox cathedral in Tbilisi, Georgia.

The Caves of Hercules are of archeological, historical and mythological significance and are located 14 kilometres (9 mi) west of Tangier in Cape Spartel, in the North of Morocco. The cave is part natural and part-made, as the Berber people cut stone wheels from its walls (as you can appreciate in the image) to make millstones, expanding the cave considerably. The name is dedicated to Hercules as he is believed to have slept in the cave before doing his 11th labour, which was to get golden apples from the Hesperides Garden.

Caves of Hercules, Cape Spartel, near Tangier, Morocco.

Gas chamber of the Dachau concentration camp, Dachau, near Munich, Germany. It was the first of the Nazi concentration camps opened in Germany, intended to hold political prisoners. Its purpose was enlarged to include forced labor, and eventually, the imprisonment of Jews, German and Austrian criminals, and later foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded. As U.S. Army troops neared the Dachau sub-camp at Landsberg on 27 April 1945, the SS officer in charge ordered that 4,000 prisoners be murdered. Windows and doors of their huts were nailed shut. The buildings were then doused with gasoline and set afire. There were 32,000 documented deaths at the camp, and thousands that are undocumented.

Gas chamber of the Dachau concentration camp, Dachau, near Munich, Germany.

Round view of the interior of the Royal Gniezno Cathedral, located in the historical city of Gniezno, old capital of Poland (before Kraków and Warsaw) located in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The cathedral served as the coronation place for several Polish monarchs and as the seat of Polish church officials continuously for nearly 1000 years. Throughout its long and tragic history, the building stayed mostly intact making it one of the oldest and most precious sacral monuments in Poland. The religious temple dates back to the end of the ninth century, when an oratory was built in the shape of a rectangular nave. At the end of the tenth century Duke Mieszko I of Poland built a new temple on a cruciform plan and remodeled the existing nave oratory. Prince Bolesław I the Brave, later the first king of Poland, rebuilt the temple according to the plan of a rectangle, elevating it later to the rank of a Cathedral.

Royal Gniezno Cathedral, Gniezno, old capital of Poland.

Crepuscular ray of light in the north dome room of the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran. The mosque, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the oldest still standing buildings in Iran. It was erected in 771 and its architecture was continuously changed until the 20th century.

Crepuscular ray of light, Jameh Mosque, Isfahan, Iran.

Skylight in the Cybele Palace or Palace of Communication, located on the Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Spain. The building, one of the landmarks of Spain's capital, was inaugurated in 1919 as headquarters of the Spanish postal and telecommunications service (Correos). The building was designed by Antonio Palacios and Joaquín Otamendi. Today the building is seat of the City Council.

Skylight in the Cybele Palace or Palace of Communication, Madrid, Spain.

Hypogeum of the Amphitheatre of El Jem, an archeological site in the city of El Djem, Tunisia. At both sides of this tunnel are located the cells where the beasts for the games were kept. The amphitheatre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, was built around 238 AD, when the modern Tunisia belonged to the Roman province of Africa. It is the third biggest amphiteatre and one of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world with capacity for 35,000 spectators within 148 metres (486 ft) and 122 metres (400 ft) long axes and a unique in Africa.

Hypogeum of the Amphitheatre of El Jem, El Djem, Tunisia.

Former municipal pharmacy of Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, Spain. The pharmacy dates from 1841 and used to serve to the former Hospital de La Merced. The pharmacy is located in the second floor of the Palace of Villavicencio, which is situated within the Alcazar of Jerez de la Frontera.

Former municipal pharmacy of Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, Spain.

Dome of Salzburg Cathedral, Austria. The cathedral was founded in 774 and rebuilt in 1181 after a fire but it become its present Baroque style appearance under Prince-Bishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau in the 17th century.

Dome of Salzburg Cathedral, Austria.

Interior of the Serbian Orthodox Hercegovačka Gračanica church, Trebinje, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbian Orthodox Hercegovačka Gračanica church, Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Interior of the Notre-Dame Basilica, located in the historic district of Old Montreal, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The interior of the basilica, built in Gothic Revival style, is impressive with vivid colors, stars and filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues. It was built between 1823 and 1829 after a design of James O'Donnell and it has become one of the landmarks of the city.

Interior of the Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

View of the Great Bath, part of the Roman Baths complex, a site of historical interest in the city of Bath, England. The baths, based on the local hot springs, were built during the Roman occupation of Britain and has become a major touristic site.

Great Bath, part of the Roman Baths complex, Bath, England.

Interior of the Notre-Dame Basilica, located in the historic district of Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Diego Delso CC BY-SA.

Interior of the Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

View of one of the domes of the Kushak located in the center of Fin Garden, city of Kashan, Iran.

Dome of the Kushak, Fin Garden, Kashan, Iran.

Cathedral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World, Montreal, Canada. The construction of the cathedral, ordered by Ignace Bourget, began in 1875 in order to replace the former Saint-Jacques Cathedral which had burned in 1852. The building is a scale model of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and the new church was consecrated in 1894. In 2000 the cathedral was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

Cathedral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World, Montreal, Canada.

Dome and crossing of the Roman Catholic church and Monastery of St. Francis, Quito, Ecuador. The monastery complex, the largest architectural ensemble among the historical structures of colonial Latin America, was completed in the 16th century. Construction took 150 years, and the building exhibits a mixture of architectural styles.

Dome and crossing of the Roman Catholic church and Monastery of St. Francis, Quito, Ecuador.

Painting of the Last Supper and mosaic of the Death of the Virgin, Cocoș Monastery, Romania. The monastery, located in a forest clearing 6 km of Niculițel, was built between 1883 and 1913 and is dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos.

Painting of the Last Supper and mosaic of the Death of the Virgin, Cocoș Monastery, Romania.

Interior of the Notre-Dame Basilica, located in the historic district of Old Montreal, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The interior of the basilica, built in Gothic Revival style, is impressive with vivid colors, stars and filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues. It was built between 1823 and 1829 after a design of James O'Donnell and it has become one of the landmarks of the city.

Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Canada.

Basilica, Ottobeuren, Germany

Basilica, Ottobeuren, Germany

Domed centrepiece of the Barry Rooms, National Gallery, London (England). The National Gallery was founded in 1824 and has a collection of over 2,300 paintings from the mid-13th century to 1900. The present building in London's Trafalgar Square is the third to house the National Gallery, and was designed by William Wilkins from 1832–38. The Barry Rooms were constructed later on, between 1872 and 1876 and were nouned after their designer, the English architect Edward Middleton Barry (1830–1880). The dome is located over the room 36 and is of polychrome Neo-Renaissance style.

Domed centrepiece of the Barry Rooms, National Gallery, London, England.

Corridor inside of castle Hohenwerfen, Werfen, near Salzburg, Austria. The medieval rock castle, situated on a 623 metres (2,044 ft) precipice overlooking the town of Werfen in the Salzach valley. The fortress is a "sister" of Hohensalzburg Fortress, both built by the Archbishops of Salzburg in the 11th century.

Corridor inside of castle Hohenwerfen, Werfen, near Salzburg, Austria.

Chapel of St Joseph and the Holy Family in the Westminster Cathedral, City of Westminster, London, England. This cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the was purchased by the Diocese of Westminster in 1885, and construction completed in 1903. The temple was designed by John Francis Bentley in neo-Byzantine style, and accordingly made almost entirely of brick, without steel reinforcements, Sir John Betjeman called it "a masterpiece in striped brick and stone" that shows "the good craftsman has no need of steel or concrete."

Chapel of St Joseph and the Holy Family, Westminster Cathedral, London, England.

Pipe organ, apostle statues and ceiling of the Baroque church of the Assumption of Mary, Kirchhaslach, Germany.

Church of the Assumption of Mary, Kirchhaslach, Germany.

The church of Santa María de África is a Roman Catholic church located in the city of Ceuta, a Spanish exclave on the north coast of Africa. The temple is dedicated to Santa María de África, the patron saint of the city. In 1421 Henry the Navigator sent to Ceuta an image of Our Lady of Africa that guided to the first temple built to honour her in the current location, but no remains have been found from the medieval age. The church is of Baroque style and the first evidence of its existence dates from 1676. The church undergoed a renovation during the first half of the 18th century resulting in its current appearance.

Church of Santa María de África, city of Ceuta, a Spanish exclave on the north coast of Africa.

St. Peter's Church, Vienna

St. Peter's Church, Vienna

Church of St Sebastian, Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal

Church of St Sebastian, Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal

Ceiling of the parish Church of Saint Sebastian (in Portuguese «Igreja Paroquial de São Sebastião»), Setúbal, Portugal. The original church of São Sebastião was a small hermitage, built around 1490 on the site of the current viewpoint of the city of Setúbal. The current parish church of São Sebastião, located in the Dominican convent, was founded between 1564 and 1566, in a work sponsored by D. Sebastião. The design of the temple is attributed to Afonso Álvares, royal architect who built the churches of São Roque, in Lisbon, and Espírito Santo, in Évora. The work of the church of São Sebastião de Setúbal stands out for the military design of its structure, certainly derived from the training of Afonso Álvares as a military engineer. The interior, with a single nave, has interconnecting side chapels, and was originally covered by a barrel vault, destroyed in the earthquake and replaced by a wooden roof. Although it is not a Jesuit temple, its design fits into an architectural typology disclosed by the Society of Jesus in the second half of the 16th century, resulting in a building of large proportions, with a large and bright interior space, preceded by an imposing and austere façade. Although it has undergone some structural changes, the church of São Sebastião can be defined as "a remarkable building in the evolution of Portuguese architecture in the second half of the 16th century" and is listed as National Portuguese Monument (Idem, p.50).

Ceiling of the parish church of Saint Sebastian, Setúbal, Portugal.

Church of the Monastery of Jesus, Setúbal, Portugal

Church of the Monastery of Jesus, Setúbal, Portugal

Catholicon, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Catholicon, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Basilica, Xavier, Navarre, Spain. The basilica belongs to the ensemble of the Castle of Xavier, built in the 10th century, although the basilica was not built until end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Of eclectic style, the interior has a unique neogothic nave built with grey stone and white marble. The stained glass is a work of painter Marcelino Santamaría from Burgos. The main altar is an artistic decorative work, carved in stone inlaid with mosaics, bronzes and enamels by the Biais house in Paris. The tabernacle is located on a high relief that represents San Francisco baptizing and preaching.

Basilica, Xavier, Navarre, Spain.

Ceiling of the Oratory of Saint Mary Queen and Mother, Málaga, Spain. The church was constructed in 2008 and is host of the Confraternity of the Sorrows. The paintings in the ceiling, done with acrylic paint, are work of Raúl Berzosa Fernández and were executed in different phases between 2008 and 2014. The 140 square metres (1,500 sq ft) surface is dedicated to the Coronation of the Virgin.

Ceiling of the Oratory of Saint Mary Queen and Mother, Málaga, Spain.

Blue whale skeleton at the Central Hall of the Natural History Museum, London, England. 'Hope', nickname of the blue whale skeleton, is 25.2 metres (83 ft) long and is suspended from the ceiling since July 14th 2017. Blue whales are the largest creature ever to have lived in the Earth. In the 1800s there was an estimated amount of 250,000 blue whales across the world's oceans. After decades of commercial hunting the species was to the brink of extinction, with only around 400 surviving in 1966. That year the world took action in London and decided to legally protect blue whales from commercial hunting. Since then the population of blue whales has steadily grown to its current level of around 20,000.

Blue whale skeleton at the Central Hall of the Natural History Museum, London, England.

Choir of the Saint Cecil Cathedral (Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile) in Albi, France. The grim exterior of this resembles a fortress, but the interior is lavishly decorated with art and sculpture as you can appreciate in the choir. The UNESCO World Heritage Site was built between 1282 and 1480 in Southern French Gothic style.

Choir of the Saint Cecil Cathedral (Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile) in Albi, France.

Museum of San Agustin Church, Manila, Philippines. The Roman Catholic church under the auspices of the Order of Saint Augustine is located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros. It was completed in 1607 and it's the oldest stone church in the country. During the Japanese occupation during the Second World War, San Agustin Church became a concentration camp. In the final days of the Battle of Manila (1945), hundreds of Intramuros residents and clergy were held hostage in the church by Japanese soldiers with many hostages killed during the three-week-long battle. While the church sustained damage to its roof, the adjacent monastery was completely destroyed. In the 1970s the monastery was rebuilt as a museum under the design of architect Angel Nakpil.

Museum of San Agustin Church, Manila, Philippines.

Church of El Salvador, Luesia, Zaragoza, Spain. The church is located in the highest area of the nucleus of the village of Luesia, next to the remains of the old medieval castle, to which it is historically and constructively associated. Its origin dates back to the end of the 11th century with the construction of the semicircular triple apse head with a double crypt at the bottom, while the body with three naves was built throughout the 12th century and the two portals on its southern fronts and occidental already respond to models from the beginning of the 13th century. The Romanesque building underwent a profound reform though in the mid-16th century. The main altarpiece is a Romanesque piece carved in wood; polychrome and gilt. The work is attributed to Gaspar Ramos, a sculptor from Sangüesa, who executed it around 1630.

Church of El Salvador, Luesia, Zaragoza, Spain.

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