AIA Photo Contest: Monuments

Ara Pacis

Ara Pacis Museum (Museo dell'Ara Pacis), Rome, Italy

The facade of the Ara Pacis, now kept inside the Ara Pacis Museum. The reassembled altar a peace is open to the public to explore and learn about.

Roman Forum

Arch of Septimius Severus, Roman Forum, Rome, Italy

A photo of the Arch of Septimius Severus taken from below in the Roman Forum. To the left is the Chiesa Santi Luca e Martina Martiri. This photo is taken during the hike up Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio)

Tharros

Tharros, Sardinia, Italy

The twin columns of Tharros, currently under excavation by the University of Cincinnati.

Qena, Egypt, Dendera Temple

Qena, Egypt

The image shows the interior of **Dendera Temple**, with two women standing in the middle of large, intricately carved stone columns. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and reliefs on the columns and walls depict deities and mythological scenes, creating a grand, historical atmosphere. The women appear to be in quiet conversation or reflection, adding a sense of intimacy against the monumental scale of the temple's architecture. Sunlight softly illuminates the scene, highlighting the detailed carvings and enhancing the serene, timeless feeling of the ancient setting.

Qena, Egypt, Dendera Temple

Qena, Egypt

The image shows the interior of **Dendera Temple**, with two women standing in the middle of large, intricately carved stone columns. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and reliefs on the columns and walls depict deities and mythological scenes, creating a grand, historical atmosphere. The women appear to be in quiet conversation or reflection, adding a sense of intimacy against the monumental scale of the temple's architecture. Sunlight softly illuminates the scene, highlighting the detailed carvings and enhancing the serene, timeless feeling of the ancient setting.

Xpuhil I

Xpujil, Rio Bec, Campeche, Mexico

Only birds, bats and lizards live now in the Rio Bec courts, but the Wheels of Time stubbornly continue to roll... Rio Bec is the most elaborate and amazing architectural style throughout the lifespan of Maya civilization. The Sun sets over the Palace of the Three Towers as it did over a thousand years ago

zuoyun

Datong, Shanxi, China

The Eighth Beacon Tower Village is located in Zuoyun County, Datong City, next to the eighth beacon tower on the Great Wall. It is also the birthplace of the Ten-mile River, where a German missionary built a Catholic church at the end of the 19th century. According to some villagers’ memory, many starving people came to convert to the religion, but merely because the missionaries was willing to provide food for the believers. During the Japanese invasion of China, missionaries negotiated with the Japanese army to protect many villagers. Before the founding of China, missionaries left and moved a lot of gold and silver. During the Cultural Revolution, the church was demolished and only one tower remained. Nowadays, Catholics still come to worship every Sunday.

Stobi

Gradsko, Palikura, North Macedonia

Windy Day A windy day at the site of Stobi in North Macedonia

Newcastle Town Wall

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne & Wear, United Kingdom

Fire escapes of St Andrews Buildings West (1898-1899) hang down the curtain wall and a turret of the thirteenth century town wall of Newcastle. The building was allowed to overlie the town wall by all but six inches of its width, leaving seven feet of the walls width under the Victorian building. Witches executed in the seventeenth century were buried on the north side of St Andrews churchyard, at the foot of this part of the town wall. St Andrews Building West is on Gallowgate, a medieval route out of the walled town that led to the gallows.

Simpson St School

Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, United Kingdom

Built by the Sunderland School Board in 1884 to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding industrial town, the school was built on a narrow piece of land on the steep Wellington Bank. The architectural competition to design the building was won by J.W. Rounthwaite (1851-1927).

Former NER Stables

Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, United Kingdom

The base of a brick manure bin survives in this former North Eastern Railway stables, built in 1883 to serve Monkwearmouth Goods Yard in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK. The stables and stableyard surfaces are all paved with scoria brick pavers, which were cast from blast furnace slag on nearby Teesside by the Tees Scoriæ Brick Company.

Summer Palace

Haidian, Beijing, China

The Palace is now a large park of almost 300 hectares on the banks of Kunming Lake and contains a number of buildings. It was originally built in 1750 by the Qianlong Emperor. The lake is artificial. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, the original Summer Palace was almost completely destroyed by Franco-British forces. Part of the old palace was restored and embellished by Empress Cixi in 1899. The Empress used it as her temporary summer residence from 1901 onwards and it was also the seat of government until 1908.

Arch of Medinaceli

Medinaceli, Castilla, Spain

The Arch of Medinaceli is a Roman triumphal arch located in Medinaceli, Spain It was built on a hill overlooking the Jalón Valley, at almost 1200 m high and in a cold area, with rain, wind and snow which caused the wear of the ashlars, moldings and cornices. The Arch was built at the end of the 1st century AD during the time of Emperor Domitian It commemorates the expansion and power of the Roman Empire in the region. It also marked the boundary between the legal convents of Caesaraugusta and Clunia. Its strategic location on a hill allowed it to be visible from great distances, symbolizing the Roman presence and dominion.

Famagusta

Salamis Ruins, Salamis, Famagusta, Cyprus

Salamis Ruins

Hisar

Hisar, Haryan, India

Konark, Puri, Odisha

Konark, Puri, UTTAR PRADESH, India

The architectural design on stones at the Sun Temple of Konark, Odisha, India.

Konark, Puri, Odisha

Konark, Puri, UTTAR PRADESH, India

The Sun Temple of Konark is one of the ancient monuments of India.

Puri, Odisha , India

Konark, Puri, UTTAR PRADESH, India

Image of an ancient monument of the Sun Temple of Konark, Odisha.

VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA

SARNATH, VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, India

Buddishts' stupa of Sarnath is situated at Sarnath, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Ancient Agora

Athens, Attica region, Greece

A view over the Ancient Agora in Athens, Greece in December 2023.