Today is the second of three Fun Photo Fridays featuring Qasr Al Watan Palace favorites.
For additional information on the Qasr Al Watan Palace see:
● Qasr Al Watan Palace
● Qasr Al Watan Abu Dhabi site
● Qasr Al Watan official website
● Islamic architecture
● Abu Dhabi
● United Arab Emerates
● Arabian Peninsula
● Middle East
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Filed under Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation
Time for us to head deep into the east wing at Qasr Al Watan Palace. Here we’ll explore the cultural side of the house, for the east wing contains the House of Knowledge: Age of Enlightenment (information link below), the 50,000-book Qasr Al Watan Abu Dhabi Public Library (information link below), and the Presidential Meeting Room. Just to give you a sense of direction, here again is the palace interior diagram:
Unfortunately, the lighting in the House of Knowledge: Age of Enlightenment (area 8 in the interior diagram above) was not the best and flash photography is, of course, not allowed. Had I been able to get presentable photos of this area I would be treating you to images of the Birmingham Quran, the Holy Bible, the Psalms of David, and various ancient documents covering everything from astronomy and math to literature.
Just beyond the House of Knowledge is the Qasr Al Watan Abu Dhabi Public Library (Item 7 above). The stacks here are impressively tall, and the library is home to 50,000 books. This is just one of the two stacks just inside the library entrance:
I said earlier that the east wing is the cultural side of the palace, but there is an exception. Across from the House of Knowledge, between the Great Hall and the library, is the Presidential Meeting Room and the adjoining seating area (Item 6). The Presidential Meeting Room is reserved for state visits and other government meetings.
Adjoining the Presidential Meeting Room is another room to allow attendees a place to briefly get away from it all, relax, or conduct side discussions:
Once you’ve explored the east wing, reenter the Great Hall and hang a right. Just beyond the Great Hall you’ll find a long, relatively “narrow” hallway. If you need a bathroom break, this is where you’ll find it. If you don’t, then get out your camera for this view:
And, of course, from here you can capture yet another image of that massive Great Hall dome:
Next week, beginning Monday, I’ll take you into the west wing. Until then, come back for this week’s Fun Photo Friday of Qasr Al Watan favorites.
For additional information on the Qasr Al Watan Palace see:
● Qasr Al Watan Palace
● Qasr Al Watan House of Knowledge
● Birmingham Quran
● One Thousand and One Nights (a.k.a., Arabian Nights)
● Qasr Al Watan Abu Dhabi Public Library
● Qasr Al Watan Abu Dhabi site
● Qasr Al Watan official website
● Islamic architecture
● Abu Dhabi
● United Arab Emerates
● Arabian Peninsula
● Middle East
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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation
Today we hang a right at the Great Hall and head into the east wing, although the Great Hall is so stunning that many of today’s photos will peering back into that area. I hope it doesn’t get too monotonous for you. Let’s start with a review of the layout of Qasr Al Watan Palace to help you get your bearings:
The Great Hall is represented above by the number 2. The east wing is to the right and contains points of interest 6, 7, and 8. We’ll be looking at these today and Wednesday. But before you get there, you’ll pass by area 1, “A Memory From The Palace.” This area contains the palace’s media room. You can also have taken here a photographic “memory” of yourself, which you will then be able to purchase as you exit.
Leaving this area behind and heading into the east wing, make sure to look back for some stunning views of the Great Hall:
The ceilings in the Great Hall (information link below) are so tall that I had to orient my camera into portrait mode and utilize my most extreme wide angle setting to record a full appreciation of the immense height:
I don’t know how tall the flat portion of the ceiling is, but that dome in the center rises to 197 feet/60 meters. And although it looks quite small in these photos because of the gargantuan scale of the hall, at 121 feet/37 meters across there is nothing small about it. In this next image of the dome, you can see a smaller dome at the top of the image. There are four of these smaller Great Hall domes, with each anchoring a corner of the ceiling.
As you walk into the east wing, you’ll see an impressively large circular metal sculpture. Here, for a price, you can step inside and pay to have a photograph taken.
While the ceiling above the Great Hall is impressive, that doesn’t mean you should skip looking overhead in the side wings:
On Wednesday we’ll continue deeper into the east wing to witness some of the cultural treasures residing there.
For additional information on the Qasr Al Watan Palace see:
● Qasr Al Watan Palace
● Qasr Al Watan Palace Great Hall
● Qasr Al Watan official website
● Qasr Al Watan Abu Dhabi site
● Islamic architecture
● Abu Dhabi
● United Arab Emerates
● Arabian Peninsula
● Middle East
Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)
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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
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The Globe — Murder in Luxury
Mystery novel available for Kindle
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R. Doug Wicker — Author 