Life through the viewfinder: statue

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Thursday, November 27, 2014

The Shrine of Abbas Ali

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Shrine of Abbas ibn Ali[/caption]

This is the top of Mount Tomorr, the Partisan's Peak, the Shrine of Abbas Ibn Ali. The shrine has a tomb inside but Abbas wasn't buried there. He is actually buried at that ground where he fell from his horse in Karbalā, Iraq. The tomb is covered by gifts, clothes and money. It is said that the money that gets collected up here and down at the holy ground (look my previous posts), is transported via helicopter (needs citation, I have no source besides word of mouth). I suppose it goes to the Bektashis Community but I don't have further info on how it is spent. Never heard them financing anything but then again, never heard them living la vida loca either.

The weather is clear, the air is cold, I guess some 5-10 degrees Celsius. The people are not wearing heavy clothes because down the mountain is quite hot. They just visit the shrine for a couple of minutes.

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Abbas ibn Ali[/caption]

Here is the statue of Abbas ibn Ali, on his horse and with two children (the other one is behind the horse's head). The statue's size is lifelike. The sculptor must have been on acid I guess. look them eyes :D The statue is also seen on the far left of the next photo.

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Praying[/caption]

The people here are burning candles and praying for their loved ones, dead or alive. Although Albanians don't pray much on their dead, it isn't our custom. We pray for health and money (Albanian: Shnet e Pare).

As you can see, the parking place is not a parking actually. The road ends here and cars are parked on both sides of the road. When you step out of the car, if anyone approaches you to ask for money for parking, don't pay. You can give money if you want someone to look after your car not to get scratched (accidentally) or blocked by other cars (due to small space) but this is entirely up to you. There might be beggars as well, I wonder how they get up here. Perhaps they collect enough money to pay the ride which is fairly expensive.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Anchor

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Anchor[/caption]

This old anchor is found on the sidewalk of the promenade. The writing on the marble says: Anchor you too in this city! It looks real, I mean, very old due to rust. Also, the port of Saranda has been used for centuries, I guess it wouldn't be that hard to find an old anchor. It's quite tall btw, some 3-4 meters.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Apollo's Head

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Apollo's Head[/caption]

Although a replica, this is one of the best preserved statues found in Butrhotum. This replica is exposed on the entrance of the museum, on top of the hill. Far in the distance lay the ruins of on of Ali Pasha's fortresses. The mountain in the background is the island of Corfu. The archaeologist that discovered the head was so excited that they believed it was a woman's head. After carefully examining it, they came to conclusion it must be Apollo's head.