Another tour!!

On Monday, January 27 I went with Lucia on the House of Mirrors tour (also with the AWARE Center). (I know, it sounds like a carnival ride!) A wonderfully eccentric older woman, named Liddia, who is the artist of this unique place, gives the tour.

details of the process for putting mirror mosaics on surfaces: lecture number 1

Liddia at the entrance to her kitchen

She is a tiny bit of thing – maybe almost 5 ft. with what appeared to be 3-inch platform shoes. After her husband died in 2004 (I think), she turned the mirror portion of the house into a museum. As we toured, it sounded like her grandchildren might live with her in another portion of the house not open to the public. I am guessing she is pretty close to 70 years old, if not over that and was an energetic dynamo! She began by having us sit down while she served us two types of tea, ginger and cinnamon, along with cake, cookies, and bread sticks. What we didn’t eat was packaged up in plastic bags to send home with us.

sitting room where we were served tea on individual folding tables that were also covered in mosaic mirror pieces

ceiling, and yes, even the ceiling fan was tiled in mirrors! (and it even worked!)

another room where we were lectured about the birth of the Earth.

each room had a theme and this one was the ocean. This was the floor!

It all began with mirror mosaic pictures.

She philosophized and preached to us as she told us about her artwork, including the detailed process of how it is done. She uses different colors of mirror.

The birth of the Earth.

ceiling in the birth of the Earth room.

birth of the Earth room where we received lecture number 2.

every surface was covered in mirror mosaics, even cabinet and drawer fronts, as well as the sink and shower

Her husband was also an artist and we also saw some of his work.

she does paintings as well

one of her husband’s paintings. Pretty unconventional, especially for a Kuwaiti.

She also makes these gouache-type figures. This one incorporates a sheep horn.

The museum was not huge, but it took us over 2 hours to get through it. There were many experiential opportunities.

The Universe Room. It was dark (I used flash for this.) and we were “taken” on a journey: lecture number 3

entrance door from courtyard and her signature corner

the only window in the mirror part of the house.

Liberation Tower tour

I went with the AWARE center on a tour of the Liberation Tower.

looking up from the bottom

It is rarely open to the public and it was opened especially for us on Saturday, January 25.  We rode an elevator up to 150 meters and then walked around. It was a hazy day so views were not spectacular and the windows were quite dirty as well.

view as we stepped out of the elevator

walking around to another view

zoomed in on ship sitting in the Gulf

another view of the city

in yet another direction

so very hazy

We were told they were washed twice a year and when dignitaries visited (I guess we weren’t dignified enough!). The tower houses many of the government ministries, including the Ministry of Education.

Ministry of Education office

It was designed to accommodate a revolving restaurant, but that never materialized as far as I know.

“Ministry of Communication
Liberation tower is one of the facilities of telecommunications complex.
The construction of the project started on May 1987 and has been interrupted during the barbarian Iraqi invasion the reconstruction was resumed on January 1994 and the new telecommunications complex was inaugurated on March 10 1996.
The tower’s height is 372 meter which is considered the fifth highest freestanding tower in the world. The lower part of the tower is made of armed concrete up to the height of 308 meter while the upper part is made of steel (the antenna mast) till the height of 372 meter.
The technical head of the tower starts from the height of 190 meter up to the height of 210 meter in a form of 6 floors for housing the telecommunications equipment and services.
The tower restaurant with a revolving platform is located at the height of 150 meter. The public can reach the restaurant through the 2 panoramic elevators at a speed of 6.5 m/s. one of the fastest in the Middle East.”

up at the top

stairway up to balcony over “restaurant” area

photo of a photo showing upper portion of tower

looking straight up from the base

From this tour we went out to lunch, Gabe, Kelly and me with a couple of women from the tour, Mary and Bridgette. We went to a Syrian restaurant that a  parent of one of Kelly’s students works at, called Naranj. It was delicious!

Naranj, a lovely Syrian restaurant for lunch