Al Faisaliyah Center

  By David | May 13, 2013 - 12:00 am | Architecture, Travel
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Al Faisaliyah Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Al Faisaliyah Center, photo courtesy King Eliot.

The Al Faisaliyah Center is a skyscraper in the business district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is the third tallest building in Saudi Arabia after the Kingdom Centre and Abraj Al Bait.

The skyscraper is about 267 meters high and has 44 floors and its four corner beams join at the top above a golden ball. Inside the golden ball is a luxurious revolving restaurant.

The Al Faisaliyah Center, which was designed by UK based architects Foster and Partners, is part of the Al Faisaliyah Complex, which consists of a hotel, the tower, and two other buildings.

Main Square, Kraków

  By David | May 12, 2013 - 12:00 am | Architecture, History, Travel
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Kraków (Poland), Market square seen from tower of St. Mary church: Cloth Hall, Town Hall tower and St. Adalbert church

Main Square, Kraków, photo courtesy Pko.

The Main Square (in Polish Rynek Główny) is the main market square of the Old Town in Kraków, Poland and a principal urban space in the centre of the city.

The square dates back to the 13th century, and, with around 40,000 m² (430,000 ft²), it is one of largest medieval town squares in Europe.

The Main Square is surrounded by historical townhouses, palaces and churches. Its is dominated by the Sukiennice (the Cloth Hall or Drapers’ Hall), rebuilt in 1555 in the Renaissance style, topped by a beautiful attic or Polish parapet decorated with carved masks. On one side of the Sukiennice is the Town Hall Tower, on the other the 10th century Church of St. Wojciech (St. Adalbert’s) and 1898 Adam Mickiewicz Monument. Rising above the square are the Gothic towers of St. Mary’s Basilica.