Mary Cassatt, american impressionist

Impressionism was the art form favored by an elite group consisting mostly of Frenchmen. Names like Renoir, Degas, and Monet are recognized as some of history's greatest artists. The fraternity of French Impressionism was invaded by a lone American woman -- Mary Cassatt.

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born on May 22, 1845 in what is today called Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When she was fifteen, Mary entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. (By this time, her family had moved across the state and lived in the Philadelphia area.) At the academy, Mary focused on drawing human figures.

Having studied under artists who were themselves taught in France and otherwise influenced by the frequent French art exhibits held in Philadelphia, Mary decided to go to Europe to further her studies in Paris.

In 1867, Mary submitted some of her work to be juried by the Paris Salon, a very important art exhibit at that time. She was turned down in this first attempt, but a year later, her painting, "La Mandoline," was accepted. Her first appearance in the Paris Salon coincided with the first appearance of the controversial Impressionists. This was her first connection with this art group.

Despite her first major success, Mary returned to Pennsylvania when she was 26 years old, with the intention of settling down and perhaps opening her own art studio. However, Philadelphia lacked the ingredients that Cassatt felt necessary for serious art making -- outstanding collections to study, exciting modern art, picturesque models. When her family moved to rural Hollidaysburg in the western part of Pennsylvania, she was forced to close her Philadelphia gallery. Living in a small town, away from the art world, frustrated Mary, and she longed to return to Europe.

With good luck, she received a commission from a Pittsburgh bishop to go to Europe and paint copies of two famous religious paintings for his cathedral.

It was during this trip to Europe that Mary decided to live in Paris. By this time, she had become an independent painter, experimenting with this modern art form, Impressionism.

She studied under the teacher who tutored Edouard Manet. Edgar Degas became her most intimate friend, and it was he who invited her to join the group of Impressionists. Over time, Cassatt and Degas worked closely together, consulting each other frequently, until it became difficult for the untrained eye to distinguish a Degas painting from a Cassatt. Mary had said that one of her greatest compliments came after Degas' death, and art critics mistook her gifts to him as his own work.

Mary Cassatt proved to be an important voice among the Impressionists in ways beyond her art. Because of her own wealthy upbringing, she was able to establish contacts with those who would become patrons of this "rebel" art group. Being the only American, she brought legitimacy to the style in the United States. She was also able to tap her family's wealth to help support her own starving artist companions.

The themes of her art were woman-centered: motherhood, girlhood, womanhood. The recurrence of these themes may have had to do with her relationship with her mother, which was very close. In her personal life, Mary remained single and childless.

Remaining in Paris for the rest of her life, Mary Cassatt lived long enough to see a new generation of avant-garde artists enter the art scene and to see the Impressionists considered Old Masters. She continued painting until 1915 when cataracts nearly blinded her. She remained vigorous into her old age, until diabetes finally weakened her. She died on June 14, 1926.

The religious paintings of Hieronymus Bosch

Little is known of Hieronymus Bosch, one of the most mysterious western artists in modern history. It is known that he was a dutchman, born near the belgian border, and that he came from a family of artists. His family was also fairly rich, and Bosch, whose real name was Jerome van Aken, married into an even richer one. None of Bosch's works are either dated or named, but he was painting in the same era as Italian masters like Da Vinci and Michaelangelo, twenty years either side of the end of the 15th century, although his work bears little or no relation to theirs and it is debatable whether or not he was aware of their emergence. The period in which Bosch worked was important because of the changing attitude toward the church in Europe. Protestantism was developing under Martin Luther near the end of Bosch's life, but the disenfranchisement which fuelled it was prevalent for a long time before Luther's emergence.

It was in this time of religious unrest that Bosch, a very religious man who according to a number of sources joined a group known as the Brotherhood of our Lady, painted, and his doctrinaire belief in the religion is reflected in the very medieval nature of his paintings on religious topics. However they also reflect a resentment of the church, with church figures frequently presented as corrupt and almost diseased.

Bosch's paintings reflect a vivid imagination and a strong interest in moral values, but it is uncertain exactly what views Bosch held, as his symbolism relies on its archaism for its undoubted power.

His earliest works, such as 'epiphany' or 'the marriage feast at cana' are simple depictions of biblical tales, painted in loving detail but without the eccentricity present once he began to develop a style of his own. These first began to emerge in complex narrative pictures like 'the conjuror,' where such detail was needed to convey the story, but all of Bosch's most distinctive work was on morality and themes of punishment and sin. His first classic work was a tabletop of 'the seven deadly sins and the four last things.' This featured a single circle with four concentric rings, the innermost of which showed a beatific Christ, and the outermost of which comprised tableaux of each deadly sin. There are many subtle details in each, the dogs in 'lust' for example and the contrast between the glutton and his barely furnished dwellings. The 'four last things' depict possible eventualities, the most important being hell, which was later to feature almost to the exclusion of all else in Bosch's work, and the whole collection of images is surrounded by warnings of Gods omnipotence, in Latin.

However, outside of his hell paintings, Bosch had two symbols which were used for propagandic purposes, the owl, whose distanced observation of the Church's failings in works like 'ship of fools' symbolizes the evil of the scene it surveys, and carved heads on the end of staffs, which represent false idols, as in the ten commandments, and are always carried by the fools in Bosch's work. It is the paintings of the last judgment for which Bosch is best known, however, these comprising three giant panels, one of the fall of mankind and then two of hell. The fall of man features Eve presenting the apple of knowledge to Adam, but this is a small part of a wider tableau, where the tree is inhabited not by a snake but by a woman and God rests above dark clouds where angels fight scaled reptilian creatures with wings. Adam and eve feature three times concurrently, first at the bottom in God's grace, the fall, and then being chased from Eden by an angel with a sword. As they fall they get closer to god, but also to the owl in the tree and to the heavenly conflict above them.

The centre panel of the last judgment depicts human life, but in the same terms as hell on the other side of it. There are numerous subtle and outrageous depictions of the deadly sins, and demons are shown to walk alongside the humans, colluding in their sin. The majesty of the work in the detail, there is an unbelievable array of symbolism, all in the most apocalyptic terms. The point of this hell on earth is just that, there is little difference between it and Bosch's hell. Here the demons are replaced by humanoids in robes with the heads of swordfish and humans are pictured in great white naked huddles and burning in crucibles.

Bosch painted using this format of three panels on two other occasions, in 'the garden of earthly delights' and 'the haywain.' These are works of equal symbolic intricacy, but less wildly and imposing than those of 'the last judgment.' As Bosch matured his work became more devoutly religious, addressing contemporary issues of Church corruption rather than the general consequences of sin, but they are no less powerful than his earlier, maybe more sensational work.

Throughout his work, Bosch never questioned the sanctity of figures from the bible, but as 'christ carrying the cross' shows, he had no affection for the church. In this picture Christ carries the cross in closed-eyed serenity, but he is surrounded by blue tinged thieves, merchants, women and two priestly figures who are depicted in the harsh caricature of the villains rather than in the realistically rendered tranquility of their godhead.

Although it is almost impossible to fully comprehend the work of Hieronymus Bosch, it is possible to simply observe init a strong warning morality, and most importantly an imagination almost unrivalled in its gory genius.

Albert bierstadt

Albert Bierstadt - Painter of the West

Albert Bierstadt was born in 1830 in Solingen, Germany. When he was a child of two years of age his parents moved to Massachusetts where he lived until he was 23. He early on studied the art of being a daguerreotypist. In 1854, he returned to Germany and went to the Dusseldorf Art Academy for five years of training in landscape paining. Bierstadt belonged to the Hudson River School of painting of American landscapes. He began his art career as a European landscape artist. His best celebrated work from this period is Lake Lucerne. The painting shows a grand view of Lake Lucerne with the village of Brunnen in the middle background. The mountain peaks Ematten, Oberbauen, St. Gotthard and Uri Rotstock all lay in the distance. This work was greatly praised in the United States when it was presented in 1858 and helped establish Albert Bierstadt as a great landscape artist. He studied in Germany, Italy and Switzerland until 1857 after which he returned to the United States. Between 1859 and 1889, Albert Bierstadt traveled West on six different occasions to gather material for his art work. The first trip, in 1859, was with Colonel Frederick W. Lander. Lander was on an expedition to survey a more Northern route to California that would bypass Salt Lake City. The proposed new route would lessen tension between Mormons and emigrants who were passing through Salt Lake City on their way west. Another goal of the expedition was to sooth Native American populations whose hunting had been effected by wagon trains on the California and Oregon Trails. For Bierstadt it was an excellent opportunity to sketch and paint the Western United States with the Rocky Mountains and the Native Americans. Bierstadt also used a new technology for the time: photography. Bierstadt's brothers, Edward and Charles were photographers, and so, naturally Albert took camera equipment with him on his trip. He would photograph an area and occasionally paint from the photograph. The Lander expedition went through Nebraska and up the North Fork of the Platte River into the region of Wyoming. Bierstadt sketched and photographed wagon trains and Native Americans along the way. Less than a month later Lander went on to California while Bierstadt remained in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. Bierstadt thought the Wind River Mountains compared with the Alps of Europe. The first painting from this trip was The Rocky Mountains. It was exhibited in 1860. After this painting, Albert assisted his two brothers in setting up a photography studio. The Civil War, along with the work with his brothers' studio delayed Bierstadt's next trip West until 1863. His The Rocky Mountains, along with another painting, Lander's Peak, were exhibition successes and Bierstadt wanted to return West to garner more material for future art works. Lander's Peak sold for an astonishing sum of $25,000 to James McHenry, an American expatriate living in England. Bierstadt later bought the painting back and gave it to his brother, Edward.

During the Civil War, Albert Bierstadt painted works other than landscapes. In October 1861, Bierstadt received a five-day pass to observe Union troops. For the next two years Bierstadt painted several paintings of war scenes. In 1862, Bierstadt pained Guerilla Warfare (Union Sharpshooters Firing on Confederates. He later painted The Bombardment using newspaper accounts of the bombing of Fort Sumter in Charleston. The painting is from a viewpoint not directly above the conflict, but looking down from an angle, almost as if one was looking down upon a map of the area.

In May 1863, Bierstadt set out from St. Joseph, Missouri via Overland stagecoach with the goal in mind of reaching California. Bierstadt wanted to visit Yosemite and then travel through Oregon, Washington and then Canada. He painted Yosemite scenes profusely. He produced scenes in all of the four seasons, as well as different times of day and night. Bierstadt produced Emigrants Crossing the Plains in November 1867 from this trip. Wagons covered in white cloth with Indian teepees in the background splayed across the canvasses. He also produced a nearly identical piece but on a smaller scale with The Oregon Trail. In 1867 Bierstadt took his work to exhibit to Europe where he worked and exhibited his work until 1869.

The Western landscape paintings of Albert Bierstadt are truly masterpieces. They use light and form to portray mountain lakes with idyllic deer by the shores. Ponderous mountains fill the background with light and shadow creating grand vistas and larger than life landscapes. The landscape paintings give the viewer a sense of the immensity of the West and the beauty of its wilderness. The Yosemite painting of Bridal Vail Falls captures of sparkle of light on water while showing the power of the waterfall as it descends over the cliff. The power of Albert Bierstadt's paintings is in his ability to convey the grandeur and beauty of the 19th century American West landscape.

Thomas hart benton

Thomas Hart Benton - American Artist

Thomas Hart Benton was born April 15, 1889 in Neosho, Missouri. He was named after a great-uncle who served as a U.S. Senator before the Civil War. His father served as a U.S. Congressman from Missouri. He grew up going to boarding schools and spent much of his early years during his father's four terms as a U.S. Congressman. Benton's first art job was as a cartoonist for the Joplin American in Missouri.

In 1907, when he was eighteen, Benton began his serious art training at Washington D.C.'s Corcoran Gallery School. Later on in 1907 Benton studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago but left out of dissatisfaction with the school's teaching techniques of using plaster casts as models from which to draw. In 1908, Benton went to Paris and studied at the Academie Julian for three years. It was here that he learned of contemporary European art styles such as postimpressionism and cubism. Benton's early works followed these European styles. More of his early work would be available except that it was destroyed in a fire in 1917 in Neosho, Missouri.

In 1918, Benton became a draftsman for the U.S. Navy and worked out of the Norfolk, Virginia Naval Yard. The work of draftsman demanded objectivity from Benton and this influence greatly shows itself in his mature works. This draftsman experience also led him away from the European influences he had gained in Paris. Benton began working more in the form of realism in his work. In 1923, following his naval duty, Benton moved to New York City and taught art at the Art Students League for twelve years. In 1935, Benton moved back to his home state of Missouri and taught at the Kansas City Art Institute. He also directed the institute. Benton would stay here the rest of his life. His most famous student was Jackson Pollock, the Abstract Expressionist. On January 19, 1975, he died at the age of eighty-five in his studio.

Thomas Hart Benton is best known for his portrayal of Midwest American life during the 1930s and 1940s and also for exhibiting a rebellious spirit of going against the grain of the art world of his era. His style was bold color with strong lines. The characters in his paintings have an almost caricature-like appearance in that the muscles and facial aspects are distended and given a fluid appearance. Benton is perhaps best known for his mural work. His most famous murals are located in New York City at the New School for Social Research, the state capitol building of Missouri and the Harry S. Truman Library. Some critics have labeled Benton as a Regionalist for only producing work from scenes of the American Midwest. A careful examination of his work would show that his art goes beyond the scope of a Regionalist and extends to many aspects of American Life. For example, following Benton's term of service for the Navy he decided to embark on a project that would depict American history in twelve groups of paintings, five works in each group for a total of 75 large paintings. The undertaking was to be known as the American Historical Epic. It was to be an examination of the people's history of the United States; not an idealized, sanitized depiction of American history but focusing on scenes of exploitation and violence. Benton only finished three of the paintings before giving up on the project due to dissatisfaction. He began working on paintings of the people and culture around him.

Thomas Hart Benton painted scenes that could be deemed rebellious for his time. Benton painted scenes of black agricultural workers in the fields, farmers struggling to get in the harvest, or seedy bar scenes with drunken lewdness and murder. His paintings were not idealistic or romantic. They contained explosions of color, giving the canvas an almost gaudy aspect. The subjects were treated with a tremendous boldness, an overpowering boldness of an America that was bigger than life itself. Every scene was an outpouring of excess. From the greed and grasping hordes of capitalism to the raw strength of a cowboy wrestling a steer to the ground Benton brought the scenes of the Midwest to life with a strength that could not be ignored by the art world. Benton's works are realistic in their nature, but not as the quaint realism of Norman Rockwell. Many of the paintings act as criticism of U.S. life and culture. Yet they are not done in an air of superiority. They are done so that the viewer of the work has to come face to face with America from toiling farmer to exploitation of African Americans to debauchery in a gin mill. The genius of Thomas Hart Benton is not in his critical depiction of America culture, but of making the art viewer confront a view of America that is not romanticized at all.

A biography of Ansel Adams

Charles and Olive Adams gave their son, Ansel, the freedom to grow and become whatever his intellect and talents would allow him to be. At twelve, unable to stand the confinement and tedium of the classroom, he utterly disrupted his lessons with wild laughter and undisguised contempt for the inept ramblings of his teachers. His father decided that Ansel’s formal education was best ended. From that point forward, the boy was home-schooled in Greek, the English classics, algebra, and the glories of the ocean, inlets, and rocky beaches that surrounded their home very near San Francisco. He also made a serious study of the piano, which he thought was to be his avocation. Another rich source of learning was the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, which celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and contained exhibits and displays from around the world that fascinated young Ansel for a full year.

In 1916, during a family vacation in Yosemite National Park, Ansel was given another gift from his parents...a Kodak Box Brownie. It allowed him to record the wondrous images that he already perceived in the natural beauty around him, a process that would continue all his life. Given the position of Custodian of Yosemite’s Leconte Memorial (Joseph Leconte was an eminent geologist and conservationist.) in 1920, Adams wrote to his father that “...I want you to see what I am trying to do...the representation of material things in the abstract or purely imaginative way.”

After a prolonged and sometimes painful courtship, Ansel Adams and Virginia Best were married in January 1929, and for the first two years of their marriage, he wavered between his two possible career choices, music and photography. After viewing the wonderful work of a new friend, photographer Paul Strand, Adams decided on his course. Happily for all those who would enjoy his work in the future, he would be a professional photographer. A short time later, he joined Willard Van Dyke, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, Henry Swift, Sonya Noskowiak, and Jon Paul Edwards to form “f/64”, a group dedicated to the concept of photography that looked like photography, not like an imitation of other art forms. Their exhibitions excited much comment, a great deal of which was negative, as their more simplistic, high realistic work was in stark contrast to the overdone photos in vogue at that time.

March 1933 was an important time for Adams. It was then that he met the renowned photographer and patron, Alfred Stieglitz, husband of Georgia O’Keefe, owner of An American Place gallery, and a powerful influence on artists of that time. Stieglitz was favorably impressed with the young photographer and his work, and mounted an exhibition for him in November of 1936. Adams wrote in his 1985 autobiography “Steiglitz taught me what became my first commandment: “Art is the affirmation of life.”

The photography of Ansel Adams is virtually synonymous with the Sierra Nevada, the four hundred mile long, ten to fourteen thousand feet high mountain range that inspired the Sierra Club. John Muir, the Sierra Club’s first president and one of the greatest of America’s environmentalists, led the group to become a powerful force that influenced the United States government to establish the National Park Service. Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, and Glacier National Parks are all found within the Sierra, and their splendid beauty was recorded with enormous dedication and brilliance by Ansel Adams. Both the grandeur of the canyons stalked by gigantic looming thunderclouds (Tenaya Lake, Mount Conness, Yosemite National Park, c. 1946), massive rock formations shrouded with fragile morning mist ( El Capitan, Winter, Sunrise,

Yosemite National Park, 1968) and the intricate composition and wonderful design of pine cones and eucalyptus leaves were recorded with painstaking and crystalline clarity for anyone to witness and enjoy. Adams said of his work: “My approach to photography is based on my belief in the aspects of grandeur and minutiae all about us”.

Adams also worked in the commercial field, taking pictures of everything from raisin bread to glassware to bathrobes for a Christmas catalog. It was not his favorite work, but it paid the rent and allowed him to continue his more artistic pursuits. Even his commercial work produced some powerful images (Worker and Turbine, Pacific Electric

and Gas, 1939).

Adams established a working partnership with another great photographer of the time, Dorothea Lange, with whom he collaborated on several magazine pictorials for Fortune and Time. The Fortune piece concerned the struggle between small family farms and large conglomerates over water rights in California’s San Joaquin valley; Life magazine contracted them for a study of the Utah Mormons. But Adams, though he admired the work done in that field, was not a proponent of documentary photography. He wrote to Lange in 1962 that he “...resent(ed) being manipulated into a politico-social formula of thought and existence....Is there no way photography can be used to suggest a better life-not just to stress the unfortunate aspects of existence...?”

In 1943, anxious to contribute in some way to the war effort, Adams sought and received a commission from Ralph Merritt, then director of Manzanar War Relocation Camp, to illustrate and record the lives of the Nisei, American-born citizens of Japanese descent who were interned there. He was tremendously impressed by the spirit of those people as they patiently awaited to return to their lives. “Born Free and Equal”, a compilation of photos of the camp with text written by Adams himself was released in 1944, but was badly received by those who only wanted to see the Japanese as the enemy.

In 1949, Adams received another camera as a gift. Edwin Land, brilliant inventor of the Polaroid Land camera, invited the photographer to become a consultant. Adams was impressed by the camera and by Land’s determination to make photography an artistic form accessible to all. Although other professionals considered the Land camera

to be little more than a toy, Adams continued to test the camera and promote its use by providing boxes of the film to his associates. Ultimately, he sent over three thousand memos to Polaroid.

Ansel Adams wanted his work to be seen by many, not just the few who could afford to purchase it. He chose three images...Moonrise, Winter Sunrise, and the vertical of Aspens...and arranged for them to be printed as easily affordable posters. This went so well that, in 1984, production begun of Ansel Adams calendars (still a favorite over desks and on kitchen walls everywhere).

In 1979, Adams published his very successful book, Yosemite and the Range of Light, which was to sell over two hundred thousand copies. And in 1980, The Ansel Adams Conservation Award was established by the Wilderness Club, and Adams himself named as the first recipient. The citation read “...Ansel Adams-for your deep devotion to preserving America’s wild lands and to caring that future generations know a part of the work as it has been...”.

The work of Ansel Adams serves as a guide to what we once had, what still remains with us, and what we must not lose in the future. As he reminds us in his autobiography, “The only things...that compatibly exist in this grand universe are the creative works of the human spirit.”

The comfort of flannel nightgowns

Wintry nights with blasts of cold air generally bring forth images of snow and icicles, men and women layered in various types of wool, heavy cotton, and flannel, and none of these images invokes feelings of beauty or sensuality. But, cold and snow filled months do not have to mean de-sexing oneself or loosing one’s sexuality in the bedroom. Take the warmth and comfort of flannel nightgowns as a prime point for this measure.

Flannel nightgowns are typically floor length, with long sleeves, and their colors are plaid prints in dark muted colors. These nightgowns are perfectly fine for warmth, but for sensuality they lack aesthetics. So, to make these nightgowns feel sensual replace cotton flannel sheets with satin or over 100 thread count cotton sheets. High thread count sheets make for soft bed coverings, and paired with a “drab” flannel nightgown they detract from its mundane appearance. But, if you must have flannel sheets choose nightgowns that are more flattering.

For a more flattering nightgown wear a spaghetti strapped one, in flannel, and preferably have it come to your knees. This will show just enough skin to make you alluring, and the wraps of flannel sheets with meld with the skimpy flannel nightclothes. Now, you will be wrapped in flannel, still have a sexy glow, and be able to sleep through the night with warmth and comfort. For added flare, on the nights that you choose to wear the spaghetti strapped flannel nightie wriggle yourself around your significant other (or for single folks around a body pillow) and breathe in the comfort and warmth the extra body heat gives off.

If you do not feel comfortable wearing a spaghetti strapped nightie, then improvise the standard nightgown look with an oversized man’s pajama top in flannel. These shirts always provide a woman with a sensual air because the idea of a woman’s delicate body loosely encompassing a man’s shirt is just classically sexy. A woman’s body, her curves and moving lines, will peek through the baggy shirt teasing the imagination and allowing her significant other to dream and fantasize about what lies underneath. More importantly, when buying the man’s nightshirt buy the entire set—with pants. Then, your hubby can wear the matching pants, and the two of you can cuddle throughout the evening—her showing off her legs and him showing off his chest. The perfect symmetry of skin, between him and her, adds to the cozy comfort of flannel. He can wrap inside of her shirt, and she can wrap around him . . . again providing added warmth and comfort for the evening ahead.

Lastly, the traditional flannel nightgown can be worn by both a man and a woman. Here, buy the matching pair, and gleefully embrace your nightly excursions of sleep and dreams in “grannies” nightie. But purchase these items in rustic colors, with similar colored sheets, and make your bedroom feel and look like a cabin get-away. The cabinesque feel will provide a sense of escape and intrigue by allowing your fashion to dictate your mindset instead of your mindset being dictated by your fashion must haves. So be brave and beautiful, let winter breathe its cold air and long, dark, and dreary days because you will have warmth, comfort, bliss, and sensuality in your flannel nightgowns—sexy, alluring, and made for comfort.

Top 10 things to do in dubai

Traveling to Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates on the Arabian Peninsula, is one of the most rewarding and intellectually stimulating trips that one can take. Not only is it a beautiful location, but it is rich in history and culture. The possibilities are almost limitless as far as what you can see and do while you are there, but here are some suggestions for those who need some direction.

1) Visit the Dubai National Museum. The Dubai museum is located on the Al Fahidi Fort, which was built in 1799 to protect Dubai against invasions. It was converted to a museum in 1993 and now houses a vast collection of artifacts. Not only that, but it gives you a glimpse into the lives of those in the region with beautiful depictions of everyday life.

2) Shop and marvel at the Heritage and Diving Village, located at the mouth of a creek. Potters and weavers display their crafts and present tourists with Dubai's heritage in a traditional village. The Heritage and Diving Village recreates the way Bedouin life used to be in Dubai.

3) Learn about the history of Dubai at Sheikh's Saeed House, a listed national monument. Once the official residence of the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh's Saeed House now has a collection of photographs, documents, coins, and stamps that are quite rare.

4) Witness the beauty of the Jumeirah mosque. This is the largest mosque in Dubai and it is a wonderful example of Islamic architecture. The Jumeirah mosque was built in stone in the medieval Fatimid Tradition. It is the only mosque in Dubai that allows non-Muslims to venture inside and this is only through the use of organized tours.

5) Travel back in time in Bastakia, and view some of the oldest buildings in Dubai. Here you can see traditional wind-towered, mud-walled houses. In the summer, the wind towers would funnel the sea breeze, protecting the people from the overwhelming heat.

6) View the camel race area where traditional sports take place and go to Sheikh Zayed road, where you can view the towers of the Dubai sky line and the Emirates towers. The Emirates towers are the 10th highest building in the world.

7) Find out why Dubai is called the "City of Gold" at the gold market. Purchase goods, or just view the splendor and beauty of jewelry and other gold goods. The Middle East is a huge market for gold with the world’s highest per capita sales. Dubai is the center of the region where more than 150 tons of gold are sold each year.

8) Wander over to a Souk or a traditional market to view gorgeous fabrics or just travel through the streets of Old Dubai. The Souk is located on both sides of the creek, but the best side to venture to is the Deira side. The spice market is a must-see and smell.

9) Ride a camel in the desert so you can experience the beauty and vastness of the region. While you are at it, climb the sand dunes too.

10) Learn about the culture and customs of the people at Hatta Village, which is considered one of the most ancient locations in Dubai. Hatta Village is completely fortified and contains thirty houses that have been restored to their ancient style. It contains a splendid, old mosque which is over 200 years old. Once you have grown tired from exploration, rest at the oasis and seating areas.

No matter what you decide to do in Dubai, the experience will surely be rewarding. Get ready to relax, and open your eyes to a culture that may be different from your own. Make sure you take in the surroundings, and enjoy it to the fullest. This is a trip you surely won’t forget.