Ondel-Ondel

One of the prominent folk arts of the Betawi people of Indonesia are the Ondel-Ondel puppets/costumes. These large colorful figures are donned by dancers at various festivals and cultural events. While today it is more of a cultural practice, these figures come from folk beliefs, where they seem to have originally represented the ancestors who watch over the people and protect them from evil spirits. Here are Ondel-Ondel figures and mask by Kosmas Santosa and Dendi Pratama.

Dharma Bhakti Buddhist Temple

The Dharma Bhakti Buddhist Temple (here in LEGO by Kosmas Santosa) was originally built in Jakarta Indonesia in 1650 to honor Buddhist priest Guan Yin. The building has gone through renovations and name changes over the years, and sadly was largely destroyed by fire earlier this year.

Leg Godt / Gizmodo

Gizmodo is a prime news site for all things tech-y and geeky, including LEGO. You can read the whole site, or go straight to the LEGO-themed sub-site Leg Godt (btw, the name LEGO came from the Danish phrase 'play well', or 'leg godt'). Anyway, a few days ago writer Titania Danger wrote a piece on GodBricks. Thanks, Titania! Glad you're enjoying the site. Everyone else, please check out her articles on LEGO and other topics.

Notre Dames

Daniel Stoeffler built two different French Notre Dames: Notre Dame de Paris and Notre Dame de Strasbourg. The cathedral in Paris was built from 1160 to 1345 on the Île de la Cité, an island in the Seine. The cathedral in Strasbourg was built from 1176 to 1439, though the originally planned south tower was never built, so I suppose you could argue it is still under construction. .

Red Sea

Patric Gnepf portrays the destruction of Pharaoh's army as the Red Sea closes in on them, as depicted in Exodus 14.