Iconic dance halls of Mexico City; Andalusia’s ‘white towns’; a respite in Myanmar; diving with purpose off the Africa continent
|  | Friday, February 18, 2022 | | | | |
| In today’s newsletter, we explore the iconic dance halls of Mexico City, Andalusia’s ‘white towns,’ a glimpse of Myanmar ... and diving with purpose off the African continent. | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY HUGO PASSARELLO LUNA, HANS LUCAS/REDUX | | By George Stone, TRAVEL Executive Editor
“The beauty of Gothic architecture is one of the best proofs of the existence of God.” That’s Jean-Louis Georgelin, speaking of Notre Dame and the ongoing restoration of the iconic Paris cathedral three years after a devastating fire. He should know: Georgelin is a five-star general now managing the cathedral’s reconstruction. You can read all about his work in National Geographic’s cover story.
But if Gothic architecture is one of the best proofs of the existence of God…exactly which divine tradition are we talking about? Turns out that hidden in the architecture of some of the world’s most famous buildings—the Palace of Westminster in London, the pointed arches of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice—is a cultural exchange between Europe and the Middle East. Even the design of the twin towers and rose windows of Notre Dame (pictured above) are copied from a fifth-century church in Syria.
The influence of Middle Eastern design complicates the assumption that Gothic is an intrinsically Northern European style, writes architectural historian and Gothic expert Roger Luckhurst. “By knowing this deeper history of some of Europe’s most iconic buildings, travelers can approach these well-known attractions with new eyes and can appreciate that the ‘East-West divide’ isn’t as deep as we are often led to think.”
“Gothic” was not originally a compliment, as Robert Kunzig notes in his cover story. “Notre Dame was the first grand masterpiece of a new French architecture—one in which pointed arches and flying buttresses allowed the walls to be soaring and thin, the windows to be enormous, and the light to flood in. Jealous Italians named it ‘Gothic,’ by which they meant ‘barbarian,’ but the French style conquered Europe. In the tall light, people felt the presence of God.”
With the Gothic Revival in England, this architecture emerged as a national, patriotic style—a mark of virile and restless tribes like the Goths, in the estimation of Victorian polymath John Ruskin. “Gothic Revival style was supposed to symbolize order, tradition, and continuity in a volatile modern world,” writes Luckhurst. “[But] it was clear to many that the Gothic had traveled from the East.”
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 | | LEFT: PHOTOGRAPH BY BARRY LEWIS, IN PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES; RIGHT: PHOTOGRAPH BY NAFTALI HILGER, LAIF/REDUX | | (Above left: London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral bears a stunning dome that architect Christopher Wren incorporated from Islamic architecture. Above right: The Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem, is capped by a golden dome, a common design element in mosques across the Middle East.)
How wonderful is it to see that the world’s cultures are more interdependent and intertwined than we had imagined? That’s one of the great lessons travel teaches. Sometimes these lessons are hidden in plain sight, waiting to be decoded.
“The underlying truth [is] that many architectural forms are products of an intricate interchange of different cultures,” writes Luckhurst. “These patterns of mutual influence produce ingenious fusions and hybrids. Ideologues would place the East and West in implacable opposition. But so many of the spaces we traverse every day reveal a very different, and much more optimistic, history.”
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| Stupas in the mist: The ancient city of Bagan still has more than 2,000 temples and stupas that date as far back as the 11th century. Photographer Rubén Salgado Escudero, a Nat Geo Explorer, took this image from the UNESCO World Heritage site in Myanmar. The town once was the center of a kingdom that boasted more than 4,000 of these structures. Half of them have been destroyed, some from earthquakes. The United States advises against travel to the nation now, following civil strife and military repression.
Dispatch from Myanmar: Leaving Myanmar—and agonizing over friends left behind | | | |
 | PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIAN CARRASQUERO
| | | Dance, dance, dance: That’s been the draw since 1937 at Salon Los Angeles (pictured above), the oldest dance hall in Mexico City. Two days a week now, with limited capacity and other COVID restrictions, the dancers move to danzón, chachachá, mambo, and of course, salsa. Who grooved at the Los Angeles and other classic Mexico City dancehalls? Well, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Fidel Castro, and Gabriel García Márquez, for starters. They “showed up not to philosophize or organize, but simply to enjoy the pleasures of a night out,” writes Marian Carrasquero. | | | |
 | | A lot of times you think that after you raise your kids, or that when you’re in your 40s, 50s, or 60s, that the best part of your life has already passed you by, and that some of the things you had dreams of doing when you were a kid, you think you’re too old to pursue them or that you can't achieve them now. But that’s not the case. | | | | Sian Proctor | Geoscientist, Space X astronaut
From: Sian Proctor, first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft, opens up about her journey | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY YANICK FOLLEY, GETTY IMAGES | | | Going to the source: Nat Geo Explorer Tara Roberts, exploring the loss of ships and lives during the Middle Passage, travels to Africa in this week’s episode of our Into the Depths podcast. She discovers a centuries-old heritage of diving to salvage sunken vessels, as present-day Black divers are doing to find lost ships that were carrying enslaved Africans to America. And she seeks to follow her ancestors’ involuntary path to captivity—and to a “door of no return” (pictured above). Read her cover story in the March issue of National Geographic. | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERTO MOIOLA, SYSAWORLD/GETTY IMAGES | | | Whoosh! Adventurers who’ve ridden a sled have probably heard this heading downhill. It’s a common sound in eastern Switzerland, which has more than 150 dedicated sled runs (above, a run in St. Moritz). Many Swiss sled runs are illuminated by electrical lights after dark. There’s even an interactive nighttime ride, inspired by video games, that comes with sound effects and sensors that sledders tap to score points. Read about this sledder’s paradise. | | | |
| This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Monica Williams, and Jen Tse. We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. | | | |
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