To the rear of First Derry Presbyterian Church is a refurbished Blue Coat School, now home to the The Blue Coat School Visitor Centre. This centre is a small museum on the history of Church, the history of Presbyterians in the city (and beyond) and the role Presbyterians played in the 1689 Siege of Derry. Continue reading “Blue Coat School Visitor Centre”
Tucked away in Mazā Pils iela you will find the Three Brothers – three Medieval to Baroque period houses, in a terrace like format. In medieval times houses at this location would have been on the outskirts of the city and home to craftsmen and their families. Today, the houses are home to the Latvian Museum of Architecture (No 19 – the centre house) and the State Inspectorate for Heritage Protection which you likely would not have cause to visit. Continue reading “The Three Brothers”
Dear Ladies, and Gentlemen as appropriate, Riga’s Powder Tower is not a fashionable place to powder your nose. Rather, it part of the Latvian War Museum but more on that later. Continue reading “Powder Tower”
Thankfully most of us have not lived in situations where we have been oppressed for most of our lives. We have not had our freedom taken away by tyrannical regimes, been incarcerated or exiled for crimes we did not commit, lost our loved ones without trace, been persecuted for our religious convictions or lost everything with no recompense. Continue reading “Museum of the Occupation of Latvia (1940 -1991)”
The Old City of Riga has a collection of small squares, each worthy a visit in its own right.
One of, if not, the oldest of these squares is the cobbled Town Hall Square (Rātslaukums). This has been the administrative/local government centre of the city since it was founded in 1201. Since then markets, festivals and all manner of events have occupied or taken place in this square. For those into it, this used to be the place to go for an afternoon’s merriment at a public execution or two. Continue reading “Town Hall Square (Rātslaukums)”
Those who have read others of my North Korea entries will be aware of what North Korea thinks of the United States. Since 1866 when the US warship, the General Sherman, was destroyed and all its crew killed after it sailed up the Taedong River seeking to engage in trade with, and land missionaries in, the country against the expressed wishes of the Korean Imperial Court, the United States has been seen as the very devil incarnate. The US continues to be held responsible for everything negative in North Korea. Every opportunity to demean, belittle, humiliate and insult the US is availed of. Continue reading “Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities”
The last two trains, both steam, one of the Great Northern Line and one of the Sligo Leitrim and Northern Counties Line, left Enniskillen, bound for Omagh and Sligo respectively, on the evening of the 30 September 1957. The following day the Enniskillen Railway Station closed – never to reopen. Continue reading “Headhunters Barber Shop & Railway Museum”
The castle complex consists of a number of buildings including the Keep (main castle), the Watergate, a magazine, various barracks buildings and a reception area. The reception area, which houses the Fermanagh County Museum, opened in 1992-3. Continue reading “Enniskillen Castle Complex”
I have to admit that, at twenty something years of age, I visited this museum purely because of the macabre nature of some of its exhibits. Continue reading “JK McCarthy Museum – Goroka”
This large complex of buildings (currently nearly 20) originally dates from 992 when the site housed the Taemyon Palace which later became an imperial guest-house and then the Bureau for Confucian Doctrines. In 1089 it became ‘the Kakjagam’ or highest centre of learning in Kaesong for those seeking to enter the civil service. Children of the aristocracy attended this centre of Confucian learning throughout the Koryo period and the subsequent Ri period which ended in the late 19th century. Continue reading “Koryo Museum”
The Rambling Wombat 