If you love buildings from a time where craftsmanship and beauty went into every inch, in which form was as important as function, then you will appreciate seeing the most beautiful ceilings in the world. Each gives us a reason to look up and to marvel at the work that went into them. For example, shown above is the Castello di Sammezzano in Leccio, Italy.
The mesmerising ceiling, vaults and decor of the Peacock Room in this abandoned Italian palazzo near Florence speak for themselves. Peacocks, and other exotica, were the source of the inspired decoration to be found throughout the seemingly endless empty rooms of this daydream building. The Moorish-style makeover of what was a much older palace was the life work of Ferdinando Panciatichi Ximenes d’Aragona. Although the aristocratic Italian architect, engineer, botanist, philosopher and politician never visited the Levant or the Orient, he imagined a world of exquisite and highly exotic forms and colours that he brought to life in Leccio between 1843 and 1889. A hotel in the 20th Century, the palazzo and its polychromatic Peacock Room are in limbo today.
See nine more gorgeous ceilings in a list from the BBC. -via Metafilter
(Image credit: Flickr user Antonio Cinotti)
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"Cheesecake" has sure come a long way in today's media generation. I even hear that 3-D is coming next. That's like putting chocolate syrup on one's cheesecake and having it melt before you can eat it!