The Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur
The Petronas Twin Towers here in Kuala Lumpur were once the world’s tallest buildings. From 1998 to 2004 they remained as this, however in 2004 Taipei 101 in Taiwan took the title which stands nearly 200 foot taller! However they still stand today as the world’s tallest twin towers.
The Petronas Twin Towers were designed by the architect Casar Pelli, and finished completion in 1998. The towers are based upon a Muslim symbol which is throughout the design of the building and also boast the worlds deepest foundations at 120m. I’m not sure if a lot of people know this but two different companies built each tower, they had a race between them. The company who started over a month later actually finished first!
Underneath the Petronas Twin Towers are the Suria KLCC shopping mall, and the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas which is the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. I never got a chance to listen to the orchestra but if your prepared to spend a few thousand pounds by all mean check out the shopping mall for some of the most expensive brands possible.
Article by http://alexasigno.co.uk/the-petronas-towers-kuala-lumpur/
Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka Square (Dataran Merdeka)
No part of Kuala Lumpur retains such a link to colonial times as Merdeka Square, the one-time hub of British Malaya. Unlike much of the city, where heritage has lost out to development over recent decades, the square is still ringed by historic buildings.
The open green space was once the Padang, or Parade Ground, in colonial times, echoing both to the sound of pomp and ceremony, and rather more charmingly, to (cricket) bat on ball. Dominating the square now is a 100-metre tall flag pole, supposedly the largest in the world; a not-so-subtle reminder of who is in charge now.
Of more aesthetic interest is the art nouveau Victorian Fountain, which dates back more than a century. It was made (in pieces) in England before being sent out to KL to be put together. Presumably the instructions came in the box.
Facing across Jalan Raja is the former administrative headquarters of British Malaya, the Sultan Abdul Amad Building, with its distinctive clock tower. It’s named after the Sultan of Selangor at the time of its construction in the late 1890s. Apart from the name though, this structure took its influences from much further afield, mostly from the hybrid architectural style imported from colonial India known as Indo-Saracenic.
Article by http://www.travelfish.org/blogs/malaysia/2012/04/03/kuala-lumpurs-merdeka-square-dataran-merdeka/
Architectural masterpieces of KL: The Railway Station
Of the four grand pieces of Moorish influenced architecture that the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur is blessed with, the old Railway Station is the one with which I have had the most interaction with, with it having been the destination and starting point of the many train journeys I made on the Malayan Railway. It was a place that brings many memories back of these journeys, and particularly of the first I had taken from the station on the return leg of that first journey I had made from Tanjong Pagar which I remembered for the wrong reasons.
The station, another one of Arthur Benison Hubback’s magnificent works of architecture, complements another, the Railway Administration Building, just across what is now Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin (Victory Avenue prior to independence), which I introduced in an earlier post, with its whitewashed façade spotting the distinctive arches and domes that give the building a grandeur fitting of an old world railway terminal. Together with the Railway Administration Building and Masjid Jamek (both of which were set in motion on the Hubback’s drawing board), as well as the grandest of them, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, the Railway station makes a quartet of Moorish influenced buildings that for a long time was what the city that grew out of a muddy confluence of rivers, had been identified with. These days, unfortunately, Kuala Lumpur seems to be identified with the monstrous pieces of modern architecture that rob these four buildings of the attention that they deserve.
Article http://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/tag/kuala-lumpur-railway-station/
There are many amazing places that tourists like to visit. Travel in Kuala Lumpur, you will find out your own attraction place.
