Dagoberto Valdés, editor of Convivencia, a Catholic journal, says the American thaw has robbed the regime of its ability to cast its neighbour as an "external enemy", so its own shortcomings have moved into the spotlight.El Capitolio, a marble landmark in central Havana, modelled on (and with a bigger dome than) America's Capitol, points to a brighter future.
The first went to the Russian walker Valeriy Borchin, who added the world 20-kilometer title to last year's Olympic title in a race that ended at the Brandenburg Gate, the marble landmark that was once a damaged symbol of divided Berlin.
"The sole purpose of the dirty tour is to show people why we have to spend money," said John M. Clarkson, program director for the United Nations' master plan to renovate the patched-together, aging interior of the landmark Modernist marble and glass tower.
In the forest of Mervent, past an imposing granite calvary with a Christ of white marble, I looked for another landmark, the Grotte du P re Montfort, a grotto carved into a rock that I remembered visiting as a child.
A neat alternative (and opposite) would be the modern, polished space of Langton House Hotel (69 John Street, +353 56 776 5133), a real landmark for the Marble City, with several Celtic Tiger-era bars and restaurants.
Famous Hotel Becomes Infamous Hôtel Carlton de Lille in France was a landmark known for its large suites, marble bathrooms and furniture in the style of Louis XVI.
This landmark hotel features wooden ceiling fans, marble floors in the lobby and 363 rooms that combine flat-screen TVs with artistic antique décor.
There are many who cry out that Stone's white marble building should be preserved as a historic landmark and many who would just as soon see it go.
All that is landmarked will stay the same: the sculptures, marble staircases, the building facade, the Art Deco bas-reliefs and wood paneling in the Imperial suite, and the ceiling and 18th-century marquetry floors of the Chopin suite.
The former headquarters of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company at 195 Broadway — a sumptuous forest of neo-Classical granite and marble columns, inside and out — was designated an official city landmark yesterday by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Calling it "a new and monumental landmark," King Harald V formally inaugurated the $840 million white marble structure, above, on the shore of the Oslo Fjord in the heart of the capital.
