Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2024
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These featured pictures, as scheduled below, have been chosen to appear as the picture of the day (POTD) on the English Wikipedia's Main Page in December 2024. Individual sections for each day on this page can be linked to with the day number as the anchor name (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2024#1]] for December 1).
You can add an automatically updating POTD template to your user page using {{Pic of the day}} (version with blurb) or {{POTD}} (version without blurb). For instructions on how to make custom POTD layouts, see Wikipedia:Picture of the day.
December 1
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The African helmeted turtle (Pelomedusa subrufa) is a species of side-necked terrapin in the family Pelomedusidae. The species naturally occurs in fresh and stagnant water bodies throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, and in southern Yemen. It is omnivorous, with its diet consisting mainly of aquatic invertebrates, small fish, and vegetation. It is typically a small turtle, with most individuals being less than 20 centimetres (7.9 inches) in straight carapace length. The female lays two to ten eggs on average, normally during late spring and early summer. The eggs are placed in a flask-shaped nest about 4 to 7 inches (10 to 18 centimetres) deep and hatch in 75 to 90 days. This African helmeted turtle was photographed in Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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December 2
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The Book of Fixed Stars (Arabic: كتاب صور الكواكب kitāb suwar al-kawākib, literally The Book of the Shapes of Stars) is an astronomical text written by Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Azophi) around 964. Following the Graeco-Arabic translation movement in the 9th century AD, the book was written in Arabic, the common language for scholars across the vast Islamic territories, although the author himself was Persian. It was an attempt to create a synthesis of the comprehensive star catalogue in Ptolemy's Almagest (books VII and VIII) with the indigenous Arabic astronomical traditions on the constellations (notably the Arabic constellation system of the Anwā'). The original manuscript no longer survives as an autograph, however, the Book of Stars has survived in later-made copies. This image from the book shows the constellation of Orion, in mirror image as if on a celestial globe, and is from a copy in the Bodleian Library dated to the 12th century AD. Ilustration credit: Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi
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December 3
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The mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) is a tropical evergreen tree with edible fruit native to Maritime Southeast Asia, from the Malay Peninsula to Borneo. It is grown mainly in Southeast Asia, southwest India, and other tropical areas such as Colombia, Puerto Rico and Florida, where the tree has been introduced. The fruit is sweet and tangy, juicy, somewhat fibrous, with fluid-filled vesicles (like the flesh of citrus fruits), with an inedible, deep reddish-purple colored rind (exocarp) when ripe. In each fruit, the fragrant edible white flesh that surrounds each seed is the endocarp, the inner layer of the ovary, and is roughly the same shape and size as a tangerine, about 4 to 6 centimetres (1.5 to 2.5 inches) in diameter. This photograph, which was focus-stacked from 22 individual images, shows two mangosteens, one whole, and the other halved to expose the endocarp. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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December 4
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The cinnamon teal (Spatula cyanoptera) is a species of dabbling duck found in western North and South America. It is a migratory species, travelling to northern South America and the Caribbean during the Northern Hemisphere's winter. The cinnamon teal lives in marshes and ponds, and feeds mostly on plants. It has a typical length of 16 in (41 cm), with a wing span of 22 inch (56 cm) and a mass of 14 oz (400 g). The male has bright reddish plumage with a duller brown coloration on the female. The bird feeds predominantly by dabbling, with its main diet being plants and sometimes molluscs and aquatic insects. This cinnamon teal was photographed at the Parrot World animal park in Crécy-la-Chapelle, France. Photograph credit: Clément Bardot
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December 5
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The fall of man is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. The doctrine of the Fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis, chapters 1–3. At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but a serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating the fruit of the tree of life and becoming immortal. The narrative of the Garden of Eden and the fall of humanity constitute a mythological tradition shared by all the Abrahamic religions. The fall of man has been depicted many times in art and literature. This 1828 oil-on-canvas painting, titled Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, by Thomas Cole (1801–1848), is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. Painting credit: Thomas Cole
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December 6
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Great Yarmouth Town Hall is a municipal building on Hall Plain in Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England. It is the meeting place of Great Yarmouth Borough Council and is a Grade II* listed building. The town hall was designed by John Bond Pearce in the Queen Anne Revival style, with terracotta facings and a 110-foot-tall (34-metre) clock tower with a lantern above. It was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), on 31 May 1882. The building served as the headquarters of Great Yarmouth County Borough Council for much of the 20th century and has continued to operate as the local seat of government following the formation of the enlarged borough council in 1974. This hand-colored photochrom shows Great Yarmouth Town Hall in the 1890s, seen from opposite the River Yare. Photograph credit: Detroit Publishing Company; restored by Adam Cuerden
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December 7
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The Ugandan kob (Kobus kob thomasi) is a subspecies of the kob, a type of antelope. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa, in South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Ugandan kob is distinguished from other kob subspecies by its reddish-brown colour. It is similar in appearance to the impala but is more sturdily built. Only the males have horns, which are lyre-shaped, strongly ridged and divergent. Males are slightly larger than females, being 90 to 100 centimetres (3.0 to 3.3 ft) at the shoulder, with an average weight of 94 kilograms (207 lb), while females are 82 to 92 centimetres (2.7 to 3.0 ft) at the shoulder and on average weigh about 63 kilograms (139 lb). This photograph shows two Ugandan kobs mating in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. Photograph credit: Giles Laurent
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December 8
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Jean Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer and songwriter who was known for playing the Appalachian dulcimer. Born to a family of folk singers in Viper, Kentucky, Ritchie was the youngest of fourteen siblings. As a child, her father Balis barred his children to play the dulcimer, but Ritchie defied his injunction and began playing it in secret. Thus, by the time her father began teaching her how to play, she was already accustomed to the instrument, and he labeled her as a "natural born musician". Ritchie popularized the dulcimer by playing it on many of her albums and writing tutorials, making her ultimately responsible for its revival, and earning her the nickname "Mother of Folk". This 1950 Associated Press photograph shows Ritchie playing the Appalachian dulcimer. Photograph credit: Associated Press
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December 9
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Leucojum vernum, commonly called the spring snowflake, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. It is native to central and southern Europe from Belgium to Ukraine. L. vernum is cultivated as an ornamental plant for its white flowers in spring. The plant multiplies in favourable conditions to form clumps. Each plant bears a single white flower with greenish marks near the tip of the tepal, on a stem about 10 to 20 centimetres (3.9 to 7.9 inches) tall, occasionally more. The Latin specific epithet vernum means 'relating to spring'; its close relative, L. aestivum, blooms in summer. This photograph of a L. vernum flower, taken in Bamberg, Germany, was focus-stacked from 32 separate images. Photograph credit: Reinhold Möller
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December 10
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Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak in the Quinlan Mountains, 55 miles (88 km) southwest of Tucson, Arizona, in the Sonoran Desert and the Tohono Oʼodham Nation. With more than twenty optical telescopes and two radio telescopes, it is one of the largest gatherings of astronomical instruments in the Northern Hemisphere. The observatory was founded in 1958, and was administered by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory from the early 1980s until 2019, after which it has been overseen by NOIRLab. This photograph, titled A Breeze of Color, shows a portion of Kitt Peak National Observatory at sunset, and was taken as part of a 2022 photographic expedition to all the NOIRLab sites. Photograph credit: Tomáš Slovinský
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December 11
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The dusky grasswren (Amytornis purnelli) is a species of small passerine bird in the family Maluridae. The species is endemic to Australia, in which it is limited to inland areas of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia. The dusky grasswren inhabits rocky ranges and outcrops, often preferring tumbled talus or scree, and with areas of thick, long-unburnt spinifex grasses in the genus Triodia. In the wild, it has been observed feeding on a range of small arthropods and other invertebrates as well as seeds. The vocal repertoire of the dusky grasswren is varied and includes trills, high-pitched whistles, rapid twittering, and high-speed warbling. This dusky grasswren was photographed in Ormiston Pound in the Northern Territory. Photograph credit: John Harrison
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December 12
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Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic. He has been the 20th and current president of Portugal since 9 March 2016. As a member of the Social Democratic Party, he previously served as a minister and parliamentarian in the Assembly of the Republic. This photograph of Rebelo de Sousa was taken in 2017 at Web Summit, an annual technology conference held in Lisbon. Photograph credit: João Pedro Correia
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December 13
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Stuben am Arlberg is a winter sports resort in the town of Klösterle in the westernmost Austrian province of Vorarlberg. It is located at an altitude of 1,410 metres (4,630 ft) and had 90 inhabitants in 2019. The settlement of Klösterle probably originated in the 9th century, at a time of silver mining in the Klostertal valley and the neighbouring Montafon valley, with the first known mention of Stuben occurring in a 1330 document describing it as a post station and the "Kaiser's highest living room". In the late 19th century, Stuben became a popular skiing and tourist resort and is now part of Ski Arlberg, Austria's largest skiing area. In the summer months the area is popular with hikers and mountain bikers. This aerial view from the north-west shows Stuben am Arlberg and the winding Arlbergstrasse, which passes through the resort. Photograph credit: Herbert Heim
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December 14
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Stephanolepis hispidus, commonly known as the planehead filefish, is a species in the filefish family, Monacanthidae. It is found in the Atlantic Ocean at depths of up to 300 metres (980 ft), with its range extending from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia to Uruguay in the west and from the Canary Islands to Angola in the east. It lives near the seabed on reefs and over sandy and muddy sea floors, often being found among Sargassum seaweed. Stephanolepis hispidus grows to a maximum length of 27 centimetres (11 in) but is more typically about 17 centimetres (6.7 in) long. The colour is cryptic, being a more or less mottled pale brown, olive or green on a light coloured background, sometimes with darker brown splotches and streaks. This S. hispidus individual was photographed off the Spanish island of Tenerife. Photograph credit: Diego Delso
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December 15
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Ornge is a Canadian registered charity that provides air ambulance and associated ground transportation services for the province of Ontario, under the direction of the province's Ministry of Health. The name Ornge (pronounced orange) is based on the orange colour of the organization's aircraft and land ambulances. In 2012, the charity and its associated companies employed more than 400 people, including paramedics, pilots and aviation specialists. Ornge has its own aircraft and land ambulances, with 12 bases across Ontario. It also contracts some operations out to independent service providers. This photograph shows an Ornge AgustaWestland AW139 departing from the Grand River Hospital helipad in Kitchener–Waterloo. Photograph credit: The Cosmonaut
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December 16
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Caroline Hill (1845 – unknown) was an English actress. She began acting as a child in the company of Samuel Phelps and soon joined the company of J. B. Buckstone at the Haymarket Theatre. There she created roles in several new plays, including some by W. S. Gilbert, in whose plays she continued to act later in her career. She played at various London and provincial theatres in the 1870s. In 1883, Hill married the actor Herbert Kelcey, with whom she had begun to appear on stage. The couple played mostly in New York City in the 1880s, and Hill continued to act through the 1890s, mostly in England. This 1870 photograph shows Hill as Mirza in a production of Gilbert's The Palace of Truth. Photograph credit: London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company; restored by Adam Cuerden
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December 17
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The Mauritius fody (Foudia rubra) is a rare and endangered species of bird in the weaver family, Ploceidae. It is endemic to the southern Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, where it resides in several types of forest, including degraded areas, as well as plantations. With a length of around 14 centimetres (5.5 inches), breeding males are olive brown, with a red head, breast and rump patch, and black lores. Females, non-breeding males and juveniles are olive brown with white wing bars and a brown bill. The bird feeds on insects such as grasshoppers, beetle larvae, caterpillars, and also spiders. Berries are eaten regularly by some individuals, and it feeds on nectar regularly, using its specialised brush-tipped tongue. This male Mauritius fody was photographed on the Île aux Aigrettes, an island off Mauritius's south-eastern coast. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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December 18
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A series of volcanic eruptions has been ongoing in the Reykjanes Peninsula, near the town of Grindavík, Iceland, since 18 December 2023. The eruptions, of which there have been seven so far, began after an intense series of earthquakes in November 2023. Although localised, seismic and volcanic activity has caused significant disruption across the western part of the peninsula, especially for the town of Grindavík. This Icelandic Meteorological Office photograph, taken on 18 December 2023, shows the first eruption in the series, in the Sundhnúksgígar crater chain. Photograph credit: Icelandic Meteorological Office
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December 19
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The papaya (Carica papaya), also known as the pawpaw, is a plant species in the family Caricaceae, and also the name of the plant's fruit. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and Central America, and is now grown in several countries in regions with a tropical climate. The papaya fruit is a large berry about 15 to 45 cm (5.9 to 17.7 in) long and 10 to 30 cm (3.9 to 11.8 in) in diameter. The fruit is cultivated for food, being typically consumed when ripe and eaten raw without skin or seeds. The black seeds are also edible and have a sharp, spicy taste. This photograph shows the longitudinal cross section of a papaya fruit lying on its side, with orange flesh and numerous black seeds visible. The picture was focus-stacked from seven separate images. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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December 20
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Marie Antoinette and Her Children is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, painted in 1787. It shows Marie Antoinette, the consort of King Louis XVI of France, wearing a red velvet gown with a sable lining. Her younger son, the future Louis XVII, sits on her lap, while her daughter Marie-Thérèse leans on her arm. Marie Antoinette's elder son, Louis Joseph, at that time Dauphin of France, is near an empty cradle intended for her younger daughter Sophie, who died before the painting's completion. The work was commissioned by Louis XVI in an effort to improve the public perception of Marie Antoinette, after her reputation was tarnished by the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, by focusing on her role as a queen and a mother; she is depicted with little jewellery. The painting was first shown at the Salon in Paris, to mixed reactions, and is now displayed at the Palace of Versailles. Painting credit: Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
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December 21
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Cholatse is a mountain in the Khumbu region of the Nepalese Himalayas. It has an elevation of 6,440 metres (21,130 ft) above sea level. Cholatse is connected to the slightly higher Taboche by a long ridge. The Chola glacier descends off the east face. A lake is located to the east, which gave the mountain its name – in Tibetan, cho means 'lake', la means 'pass', and tse means 'peak'. Cholatse was first climbed via the southwest ridge in 1982. The north and east faces of the mountain can be seen from Dughla, on the trail to the Everest base camp. This photograph of Cholatse was taken from the east, near Dughla, with a small section of Chola Lake visible in the centre of the image. The terminal moraine of the glacier can be seen in the foreground. Photograph credit: Vyacheslav Argenberg
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December 22
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The common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is a medium-sized perching bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 centimetres (8 inches) long and has glossy black plumage, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts, with an unmusical but varied song. The starling has about a dozen subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and western Asia, and it has been introduced elsewhere. This bird is resident in southern and western Europe and southwestern Asia, while northeastern populations migrate south and west in winter. The starling builds an untidy nest in a natural or artificial cavity in which four or five glossy, pale blue eggs are laid. These take two weeks to hatch and the young remain in the nest for another three weeks. The species is omnivorous, taking a wide range of invertebrates, as well as seeds and fruit. The starling's gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the medieval Welsh Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare. This common starling was photographed at Bodega Head on the northern coast of the U.S. state of California. Photograph credit: Frank Schulenburg
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December 23
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George Norman Barnard (December 23, 1819 – February 4, 1902) was an American photographer who was one of the first to use daguerreotype, the first commercially available form of photography, in the United States. A fire in 1853 destroyed the grain elevators in Oswego, New York, an event Barnard photographed. Historians consider these some of the first "news" photographs. Barnard also photographed Abraham Lincoln's 1861 inauguration. Barnard is best known for American Civil War era photos. He was the official army photographer for the Military Division of the Mississippi commanded by Union general William T. Sherman; his 1866 book, Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign, showed the devastation of the war. This photograph, by Mathew Brady, shows Barnard c. 1865. Photograph credit: Mathew Brady; restored by Adam Cuerden
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December 24
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton and released on December 24, 1916. Based primarily on the 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne, the film also incorporates elements from Verne's 1875 novel The Mysterious Island. This was the first motion picture filmed underwater. Actual underwater cameras were not used, but a system of watertight tubes and mirrors allowed the camera to shoot reflected images of underwater scenes staged in shallow sunlit waters in the Bahamas. For the scene featuring a battle with an octopus, cinematographer John Ernest Williamson devised a viewing chamber called the "photosphere", a 6-by-10-foot (1.8-by-3.0-metre) steel globe in which a cameraman could be placed. The film was made by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company (now Universal Pictures), not then known as a major motion picture studio, and took two years to make, at the cost of $500,000. Film credit: Stuart Paton
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December 25
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The Kefermarkt altarpiece is a richly decorated wooden altarpiece in the Late Gothic style in the parish church of Kefermarkt in Upper Austria. Commissioned by the knight Christoph von Zelking, it was completed around 1497. Saints Peter, Wolfgang and Christopher are depicted in the central section. The wing panels depict scenes from the life of Mary, and the altarpiece also has an intricate superstructure and two side figures of Saints George and Florian. The identity of its maker, known by the notname Master of the Kefermarkt Altarpiece, is unknown, but at least two skilled sculptors appear to have created the main statuary. Throughout the centuries, it has been altered and lost its original paint and gilding; a major restoration was undertaken in the 19th century under the direction of Adalbert Stifter. The altarpiece has been described as "one of the greatest achievements in late-medieval sculpture in the German-speaking area". This image shows the upper-left wing panel of the Kefermarkt altarpiece, depicting the birth of Christ. Mary is portrayed kneeling in devotion in front of the infant Christ, who is placed before her on a fold of her dress. On the other side, Joseph is also kneeling in front of the child. Above Mary, on the roof of the building behind them, are two angels playing a mandolin and a lute. The annunciation to the shepherds can be seen in the background. Sculpture credit: Master of the Kefermarkt Altarpiece; photographed by Uoaei1
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December 26
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Amphipoea oculea, the ear moth, is a moth in the family Noctuidae, with a wingspan of 29 to 34 millimetres (1.1 to 1.3 inches). Its range includes southern England, where it is widespread and common, as well as Ireland and continental Europe, with the exception of Albania, Greece and Turkey. Adults are found from June to September depending on the location, with one generation occurring per year. At night the moths come to light and flowers, seeking honeydew and sugar. During the day they feed at the flowers of thistles and ragwort. This female A. oculea moth was photographed feeding on field scabious in Keila, Estonia. The photograph was focus-stacked from 22 separate images. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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December 27
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The Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator was a facility developed by NASA in the early 1960s to study human movement under simulated lunar gravity conditions. It was located at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia and was designed to prepare astronauts for the Moon landings during the Apollo program. The simulator was tilted at a 9.5-degree angle from the vertical and test subjects were suspended on their side by cables at the same angle. This set-up allowed the trainees to walk along the surface while experiencing only one-sixth of Earth's gravity. It was also used to study the physiological effects on the astronaut's body during movement. In total, 24 astronauts used the simulator to train for lunar missions, including all three astronauts of the Apollo 1 mission. This photograph, taken in 1963, shows a test subject being suited up by two technicians on the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator. Photograph credit: NASA
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December 28
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Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) was an English composer best known for his operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert. Among his early works were a ballet, a symphony, a cello concerto and a one-act comic opera, Cox and Box, which is still widely performed. He wrote his first opera with Gilbert, Thespis, in 1871. The impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte engaged Gilbert and Sullivan to create a one-act piece, Trial by Jury, in 1875. Its box-office success led the partners to collaborate on twelve full-length comic operas, known as the Savoy operas, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Sullivan's only grand opera, Ivanhoe, though initially successful in 1891, has rarely been revived. His works include twenty-four operas, eleven major orchestral works, ten choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. His hymns and songs include "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord". This carte de visite of Sullivan was taken around 1870 by the English photographer H. J. Whitlock. Photograph credit: H. J. Whitlock; restored by Adam Cuerden
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December 29
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The cinnamon hummingbird (Amazilia rutila) is a species of hummingbird in the "tribe of the emeralds", Trochilini. Currently, four regional subspecies are recognized. It is predominantly found along the Pacific western coast of Mexico and south through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, with some also residing in Belize and the southern Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán. Cinnamon hummingbirds are typically found at or just slightly above sea level, often inhabiting coastal and lowland areas, as well as further inland in warmer locations in the southern parts of their range. The hummingbird has a length of approximately 9.5 to 11.5 centimetres (3.7 to 4.5 in), and on average weighs about 5 to 5.5 grams (0.18 to 0.19 oz). Its diet usually consists of food foraged from the understory to the mid-story, but it will also visit taller flowering trees. The cinnamon hummingbird feeds on nectar from a very wide variety of flowering plants and also eats insects. It is a territorial species, defending its feeding sites from intrusion by other hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. This cinnamon hummingbird feeding from a flower in flight was photographed in Los Tarrales Natural Reserve near Patulul, Guatemala. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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December 30
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Bathymetry is the study of the underwater depth of sea and ocean floors, lake floors, and river floors. It has been carried out for more than 3,000 years, with the first recorded evidence of measurements of water depth occurring in ancient Egypt. Bathymetric measurements are conducted with various methods, including depth sounding, sonar and lidar techniques, buoys, and satellite altimetry. However, despite modern computer-based research, the depth of the seabed of Earth remains less well measured in many locations than the topography of Mars. Bathymetry has various uses, including the production of bathymetric charts to guide vessels and identify underwater hazards, the study of marine life near the bottom of bodies of water, coastline analysis, and ocean dynamics, including predicting currents and tides. This video, created by the Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, simulates the effect on a satellite world map of a gradual decrease in worldwide sea levels. As the sea level drops, more seabed is exposed in shades of brown, producing a bathymetric map of the world. Continental shelves appear mostly by a depth of 140 meters (460 ft), mid-ocean ridges by 3,000 meters (9,800 ft), and oceanic trenches at depths beyond 6,000 meters (20,000 ft). The video ends at a depth of 10,190 meters (33,430 ft) below sea level – the approximate depth of the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point of the seabed. Video credit: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center / Horace Mitchell, and James O'Donoghue
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December 31
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The Shah Jahan Mosque is a 17th-century central mosque in the city of Thatta, Pakistan. The mosque was built during the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who bestowed it on Thatta as a token of gratitude, and is heavily influenced by Central Asian architecture – a reflection of Shah Jahan's campaigns near Samarkand shortly before the mosque was designed. It is notable for its geometric brick work, a decorative element that is unusual for Mughal-period mosques. The mosque is unusual for its lack of minarets although it has a total of 93 domes, the most of any structure in Pakistan. This photograph depicts an interior view of one of the Shah Jahan Mosque's secondary domes, showing its octagonal structure, with blue-and-white tiles arranged in stellated patterns to represent the heavens. Photograph credit: Alexander Savin
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