Amos Chapple
The Peter and Paul Cathedral in Peterhof, in Saint Petersburg, Russia,
with the palace and gardens in the background.
Beyond, the Finnish Gulf is obscured by fog. During WWII,
Nazi armies occupied Peterhof,
destroying it almost completely during their retreat.
Amos Chapple
The star fort at Bourtange, Netherlands.
Three centuries after the last cannonball was fired in anger at the fort,
it now serves as a museum and the center
of a sleepy farming village in eastern Holland.
The low, thick walls were designed to offset the pounding force of cannon fire.
Amos Chapple
Clouds swirl through the pillars of Sagrat Cor Church,
high on a hill above Barcelona, Spain.
Twenty minutes later a thunderstorm hit the city.
Amos Chapple
A ruined college in Gali, Abkhazia, near the "border" with Georgia,
where ethnic Georgians made up 96% of the region’s pre-war population.
Most fled, or were driven out of their homes after the war.
Today Gali is a twilight zone of empty buildings and overgrown farmland.
Amos Chapple
The windswept Liberty Statue, overlooking Budapest.
Built in 1947 by the new communist rulers for the “Liberating Soviet Heroes”
the inscription was amended swiftly after the USSR collapsed,
"To the memory of all those who sacrificed their lives for the independence,
freedom, and prosperity of Hungary."
Amos Chapple
The Palace at Petergof, perched on a bluff overlooking
the sea some 19 miles from central Saint Petersburg.
Amos Chapple
Jama Masjid, the heart of Islam in India.
The red sandstone structure was built
under the orders of the same Mughal emperor of Taj Mahal fame.
Amos Chapple
Visitors walk on fallen leaves in the Summer Garden,
central Saint Petersburg’s oldest Park.
Amos Chapple
Buda castle on August 20. The barge in the center
of the Danube is loaded with fireworks,
launched later that night to celebrate Hungary’s national day.
Amos Chapple
The Hermitage Pavilion near Saint Petersburg, Russia, wreathed in dawn mist.
The little “whipped cream” pavilion was an example of the decadence which
would eventually topple the Tsarist autocracy.
It was famous for parties where tables laden with food would rise
from beneath the floorboards into groups of delighted guests.