Those barbiranians build things? >.> (edit: technically it was still Persia when that was built, so the fragility of my propaganda-induced understanding of modern-day Iranians remains just about intact. Whew, close one there Big Brother.)

I think the truly awe-inspiring thing about buildings like these - whether mosques or churches or whatnot - is the [i]space[/i]. The icons and paintings and patterns etc. are all very beautiful of course, but what really takes you is, say, the lofty height which a church ceiling rises to. I think it is in the [i]empty space[/i] rather than the building itself that the true beauty of what the architect(s) were trying to capture lies.

I mean, I've just come back from my local town hall, and as you're leaving there's this part where the low ceiling gives way to a sudden square dome-like rise, and there were two windows that let the sun in from two different directions. And that [i]space[/i] was just breathtaking (even though the townhall's interior is white and bare). It surprised me so much that I just stood there and gawped for, like, five minutes.