The Drawing of the Lute

Although most of the images were pretty impressive, but the ones I liked were :

1) The Drawing of the Lute :

The lute derives its name, as well as its distinctive shape, from the Arabic 'ud, an instrument which is very much at the heart of Arabic musical life to this day. 'Al 'ud' means 'the wooden one', a name perhaps coined to distinguish the 'ud from instruments made from gourds or with parchment soundboards. Since being in Dubai, In most Arabic festivals lute is the instrument that is been played, because of this I love the music as well played by Lute. While the essential design of the instrument (six pairs of strings tuned in fourths, with a third in the middle) is similar to that of the modern guitar, the sound is very different: low-tension gut-stringing and the peculiar resonance of its pear-shaped body give the sound of the lute a delicacy and richness which cannot be matched by its brash modern cousin. In a sense it is an instrument closer to nature than the modern guitar. http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=14&item=65.106.2&viewmode=0&isHighlight=1#a 2) The Kaaba, Mecca

In Islam, the Kaaba represents the House of God This physical centre on the planet earth symbolises the centre of the Universe, as well as the centre of life, of the Muslim community, and the centre of the mind to which all things are linked and around which they revolve. It is the centre of orientation which gives meaning and value to the lives and existence of all Muslims and all Muslim nations. I have visited the Kabah couple of times for auspicoius religious occasions and found it a releif whenever I see it. Although being a house made of stones, it carries a great amount of value.

3) Court of the Lions, Alhambra

There are, however, several features of the Court of Lions that appeals to me, One is that the central fountain - it was built in the 11th century, and is curiously older than the rest of the monument. It has been speculated that it was retained only because of its symbolic attachment to the story of Solomon in the Old Testament. http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/The_Alhambra.html/cid_2455747.gbi 1) Book of the Dead

The Book of the Dead is the name given by Egyptologists to a group of mortuary spells written on sheets of papyrus covered with magical texts and accompanying illustrations called vignettes. These were placed with the dead in order to help them pass through the dangers of the underworld and attain an afterlife of bliss in the Field of Reeds.