Drenched in gilded features, the gallery is embellished by myth-laden murals on its vaulted ceilings. Most prominent among them is Apollo Slays the Python, by French Romantic artist Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), which depicts the Greek god Apollo in a torrid battle with a serpentine beast.
2. Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque, Shah Alam, Malaysia
It feels like I am being sucked into a vortex. The giant, dark-brown ceiling above me is adorned with a concentric pattern that is hypnotising, gradually drawing my eye towards its core.
The pattern lines the interior of a colossal dome, one of the many notable design features of the mosque, which was completed in 1988.
My guide tells me that few international travellers used to reach Shah Alam, a small city 20km (12.5 miles) west of downtown Kuala Lumpur. Then, a few years ago, images of this mosque’s 142-metre-tall (466-foot-tall) minarets, blue dome and mesmeric ceiling began to proliferate on Instagram.Now, he says, it is a popular destination for tourists seeking a picturesque social media backdrop.
3. Oculus Transportation Hub, New York, United States
Alongside New York’s September 11 Memorial Plaza, dedicated to the victims of the 2001 terrorist attack, is a brash building that resembles a massive metallic eagle with its wings spread.This mall and railway station was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2016, at a cost of about US$4 billion.
The interior is even more beguiling due to its unique ceiling. Dominated by dozens of white, steel rafters, it resembles a colossal rib cage and is made all the more picturesque by a 100-metre-long skylight, which casts dramatic shadows.
4. Mandarins’ Building, Hue, Vietnam
Jagged teeth protrude from the jaws of a dragon looming over a group of visitors. Encircled by clouds, flowers, goblets and leaves, this mythical beast dominates a polychromatic mural on the ceiling of the Mandarins’ Building, a former banquet hall inside the Imperial City of Hue.Built in the early 1800s as the headquarters of Vietnam’s Nguyen dynasty, this citadel still has about 20 intact buildings. Many boast splendid, hand-painted ceilings. This hall has the finest of them all, emblazoned with depictions of Vietnam’s four sacred creatures – the dragon, turtle, unicorn and phoenix.
5. Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin, Italy
Turin, in northwest Italy, is known for a four-metre-long strip of cloth that was supposedly worn by Jesus and bears marks of his body. Its provenance is disputed, but tourists still swarm the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, where a replica of the linen strip is on display.
Overhead, inside this 17th century chapel built by Italian architect Guarino Guarini (1624-1683), is a phenomenal dome. Resembling a gear inside a complicated watch, it has layers of hexagonal shapes complemented by gilded features and arched windows that funnel light into the church.
6. Bongeunsa Temple, Seoul, South Korea
It seems fitting that the main temple in Seoul’s Gangnam district, home to many a K-pop studio, has arguably the city’s boldest ceiling.The Bongeunsa Temple is more than 1,200 years old, yet the ceiling of this Buddhist complex seems tailor-made for the social media generation, so drenched is it in colour and dense in detail.
Painted geometric patterns and floral motifs – trademarks of Korea’s Dancheong system for decorating key temples – are flanked by hundreds of handcrafted lanterns hung from the ceiling.
This prayer hall is most photogenic in September, when hundreds of monks congregate within for the annual Jeongdaebulsa ceremony.
7. St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland
Like an artistic interpretation of the Scottish flag, the ceiling above me is an ocean of blue criss-crossed by ribbed vaults.
St Giles’ Cathedral – now technically a parish church – is laden with complex stonework and eye-catching murals. Equally engaging is the comparatively simple, yet undeniably attractive, ceiling of this 900-year-old church, located in the middle of the city’s Old Town, just 300 metres from Edinburgh Castle.Volunteer guides explain to visitors the church’s Gothic design and how over many centuries it survived many raids by the English.
8. Charminar, Hyderabad, India
Thousands of people surround me yet it feels as though the collective din has been muted. Such is the transfixing effect of my first glimpse up inside the Charminar, a monument in Ghansi Bazaar, the teeming historical district of Hyderabad.
Shaped like an intrados (the inner curve of an arch), the stone ceiling is decorated with floral motifs and ringed by a gallery of arched windows, each of which is carved with Persian-style Arabesque patterns.
Visitors can peer through those openings by climbing the narrow staircases of the 49-metre-high Charminar, built in 1591 by the Qutb Shahis, an Islamic dynasty that was heavily influenced by Persian culture.
9. Palau Güell, Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona is defined by the genius of Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), an architect who birthed many of the Catalonian city’s prime tourist attractions, such as La Sagrada Familia church.And you could fill a memory card snapping away beneath his Palau Güell mansion’s dark wooden ceilings, which reach a zenith in the building’s central hall.
Complementing the extravagant woodwork is a parabolic dome pierced by small holes, which filter natural light and make the ceiling look like a sky dotted by stars.
10. Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal
Sunglasses are almost a necessity while viewing the bright ceiling of the Kopan Monastery.
Standing on a verdant hill about 6km northeast of downtown Kathmandu, the loud appearance of this Buddhist complex belies its tranquillity.Its grounds are soothingly serene as I wander past novice monks while searching for its photogenic prayer hall.
Inside is a riot of colours, motifs and murals splashed over its ceiling. Depictions of Buddha and mythical creatures such as the Garuda are positioned amid floral splendour or dense geometric patterns.
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