Milan Duomo: Then and Now

It is my honour to have the opportunity to see the different phases of the restoration/renovation of Milan's Duomo, one of the world's most famous Gothic cathedrals. 

Let's first look at this old old painting of Milan Duomo.  Then follow by another photo of it undergoing a restoration of its facade back in 2005.

The richly decorated facade was covered up for cleaning, to remove the marks left by the industrial revolution of Europe. 

In 2007, things got better.  Duomo lowered the veil and revealed a bit more of its beauty. 

The boards illustrated the different phases of the restoration work.  A long process spanning 7 years from 2003 to 2009.  So let's see how it looks like after the restoration work in 2010.

Unfortunately, when yours truly visited this magnificent cathedral in May this year, the weather was bad, always raining, non-stop raining.  So I can only present to you a less magnificent view from the square of this 4th largest church in the world.

Bulguksa Temple Korea: Then and Now

You know you are old when you can have both THEN & NOW photos from your own album.  Here is the 'THEN' photo of the Bulguksa Temple bell tower taken back in 2001 in Gyeongju, South Korea. 

And here is the 'NOW' photo taken in 2009.  I am not actually sure which one is better. 

And here is the 'THEN' photo of the main hall of the temple itself, which is a world heritage site.

And here comes the 'NOW' photo of the same hall, but from a different angle. 

10 years might not make much difference to a structure which had been standing for hundreds of years, but it is a large percentage of a normal human being's life.  10 years, did I improve?  Did I not? 

Osaka Castle: Then and Now

Two photos showing the then and now of the world famous Osaka Castle.  There is almost no change in terms of physical structures, but just more trees in the 'now' photo.  It seems Japanese have done a pretty good job in preserving their history and their past.  In contrast, Chinese are too money-minded, they squeeze almost every cent out from their rich past, and they do it almost always destructively.  It pains me to have to go overseas to see our own cultural treasures, our intangible culture of ancient Chinese.  The virtues of ancient Chinese, the Zheng-Qi, are little left in the nothing but money modern China.  Sad!

Kinkakuji: Then and Now

Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) is one of Japan's most famous Buddhist temples, not for its Buddhist teachings but for its magnificent architecture of the Golden Pavilion.  The Golden Pavilion, sitting right next to a calm pond, glittering under the bright sun, has charmed hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. 

Let's see an old photo of the golden pavilion.  It looked really run down.  The golden surface didn't glitter, probably because there was no sun.

And here is how it looks in modern days.  The pond is clean, the gold is glittering.  Mmh, now is better :)

Then and Now Series

My accidental discovery of old Gyeongbokgung photos has arisen my interests in comparing places of their past and present.  I have been to quite a lot of places, and I have photos of those places too.  Don't you think it is interesting to see how those places looked like say decades ago, or even more than a century ago?  It is also a record of history, which we are constantly making everyday. 

Please join me for this interesting journey of traveling down the memory lane.  Let's see how the world has changed over time, for better or worse.

You can see all my "Then and Now Series" here.

Seoul: Then and Now

As I was browsing the internet today, I found some very interesting old photos of Seoul in the late 19th century and early 20th century.  There are some familiar scenes and it is interesting to see how different Seoul was then and now. 

This is how Gyeonghoeru (慶會樓) looked like then.  This is the place where the King of Korea hosted his banquets for foreign dignitaries and his ministers and nobles. 

And this is how it looks like today.

Did you spot any difference, other than one photo is in color, whilst the other is in black & white?

This is the pond and pavilion and the bridge in the royal garden.

And how it looks like today.  We know the modern version is just a replica. 

Do you notice the bridge?  They look sooo different.  And further away in the background, there was the pagoda-like structure in the old photo either. 

Sometimes it is interesting to visit our past, although more often than not, some old agony will be dug out as well.  I wonder anyone has the photo showing the Japanese Governor of Korea's House standing right in front of Gyeongbokgung.