And on the ninth day of the Eldership's Babylonian Captivity by the Forces of Pulandia, the Dowager Empress Pooh Lee Shah had mercy upon Captain Wife and her Crew of de-I (and de-I and de-I, etc, etc) and declared.
"For you have been faithful in following the path of gastronomic consumption dictated by my consort, I shall personally escort you to see some of the wonders of my current realm here in Medan, Indonesia."
And the Empress spoke true, taking Wife and I to the Graha Maria Annai Velangkanni and the Tjong A Fie Mansion. Both provided to be gold mines of photographic opportunities as well as interesting sites in their own right.
Graha Maria Annai Velangkanni
Here is what Wikipedia has to say:
Our Lady of Good Health Church (Indonesian: Graha Maria Annai Velangkanni), is a Marian shrine built in an architectural synthesis of Dravidian, Indonesian, Chinese and local Batak styles, that opened in 2005 in Medan, Indonesia.[1] It is devoted to Our Lady of Good Health (Tamil: ஆரோக்கிய மாதா or Ārōkkiya mātā, Indonesian: Bunda Maria dari Kesehatan yang Baik), a Marian apparition dating from the 17th century in the village of Velankanni on Southeastern India coast, in the present state of Tamil Nadu.
Hello. Here we are
If you have seen the thousands of European style cathedrals on this blog over the decades, this is something completely different.
We faithfully followed the directions of the Empress
The work was done by local artists. The statues were mixed in quality.
But the interior was quite unique especially the window images
Such different representations of familiar Catholic themes like this image with a person clearly in Indian garb
And thought was given to how the window scenes looked from the outside as well as the inside
Misc.
Candid shots
Cleaner who shooed us out of the interior for taking pictures that were not allowed
Cleaner's daughter who was less than happy being required to help
Head Nun. Studied in Italy
Was told we were coming and was looking for us!
The Pooh is always watching
On to the Tjong A Fie Mansion.
Tjong A Fie Mansion (traditional Chinese: 張耀軒 故居; simplified Chinese: 张耀轩 故居; pinyin: Zhāng Yàoxuān Gùjū) is a Sino Portuguese-style two-story mansion in Medan, North Sumatra, built by Tjong A Fie (1860–1921) a Hakka merchant who came to own much of the land in Medan through his plantations, later becoming 'Majoor der Chineezen' (leader of the Chinese') in Medan and constructing the Medan-Belawan railway.
Tjong A Fie is said to be related to Cheong Fatt Tze, who built the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang, Malaysia.
The building is constructed in Chinese-European style, and was completed in 1900. Although it has been stated in some sources to have been modeled on the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang, Malaysia, that mansion was not completed until 1904.
Our lovely guide
Lots of Chinese style artwork
On the interior the main bedroom and an early 20th century vacuum cleaner
de-I telling our guide she needs to do a demonstration of the hand operated grain milling stones
Wife telling de-I to stay in line
The home is built around a large courtyard. The many open windows and the hallway and courtyard decorations made for excellent photographic opportunities
Wife and de-I as Eldership Officers would like to feel important
But #2 IS important as shown by her picture displayed in the mansion museum!
SIGNS OF THE WORLD
God begot Hod
"It's a secret. No phones allowed."
Two Toilet Attitudes
"You WILL follow the dictates of Toilet behavior"
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