In this January 8, 2015 photo, a monk Kenmyo Muta bows at the condominium construction site and the gate of Sengakuji temple in Tokyo. The “47 ronin” samurai who inspired the long-loved saga of loyalty and honor eulogized in films, books and plays are fighting a new kind of battle in urban Japan. An apartment complex is going up next to the curved tile-roofed Sengakuji temple where the three-century-old graves of the ronin, or masterless samurai, lie. The banner reads: “We only hope to protect landscape of Sengakuji temple”. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

Ivar Rodningem is a professional illustrator, whose imaginative mind transports us into a parallel world where trolls roam the lands. These creatures might seem scary at first sight, but in reality they are very docile and friendly, help each other and humans that they happen to meet. One of their characteristic features is of course their large noses and long tails. They are one with the nature, which is why it is almost impossible to see a troll if he doesn’t want to be found. Just like you and I they love having fun, though it is hard thing to do, considering their size.

A picture of Moon Ji-sung, a high school student who died in the Sewol ferry disaster, hangs in her room in Ansan April 7, 2015. Her dream was to be a flight attendant. Nearly a year after the Sewol ferry sank on April 16, 2014, with the death of 250 students, some families keep their children’s bedrooms intact to remember and honour their loved ones. More than 300 people, most of them students and teachers from Danwon High School, are dead, or missing and presumed dead, after the Sewol ferry sank on a routine trip from the port of Incheon, near Seoul, to the holiday island of Jeju. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

As you look at the majestic Crater Lake, located in south-central Oregon, United States, it is hard to imagine that thousands of years ago this place was one giant crater with scorching hot lava spilling over the sides. Those were the times of turmoil. Now, however, this place is the essence of tranquility. The lake that was formed, after the volcano died down, is amazingly clear due to the fact that the water isn’t moving at all. No rivers go in or out of the Crater Lake, and the water lost through evaporation is compensated by the rain and snowfall. This lake is also frighteningly deep – 1,943 feet (592 m) at its deepest point – making it the deepest lake in the United States. If you love nature and if you ever come to Oregon, this is truly a sight to behold.

The winners of the Historic Photographer of the Year Awards 2020 from triphistoric.com celebrate the places and cultural sites around the world that offer a window to the history that exists all around us. This year, restricted by Covid, photographers were called on to scour their photographic archive to share their imagery of those places that dominate our past. Here: The Brighton Palace Pier. (Photo by Michael Marsh/Historic Photographer of the Year 2020)

Inga Paltser is a young painter from Severodvinsk known for her watercolor illustrations and paintings of owls. Inga prefers working with paper, but sometimes also creates on textile, wood, and canvas. She started painting in her childhood at the local school of arts. However, after high school Inga decided to become a biologist and now she works as a researcher. Even though art hasn’t become her profession, Inga finds time to create wonderful paintings presented on this website. Her first owls were painted spontaneously – Inga decided to utilize small pieces of watercolor and pastel paper and created two cute owls called “Friends”. Inga’s owls instantly received recognition across the web and social networks and now are greatly loved by thousands of people around the world.

French artist Thomas Lamadieu, also know as Roots Art, must really love looking at the sky. Every time he looks up, Thomas sees a potential canvas where the building rooftops frame the sky. He photographs it and uses the odd sky shapes to create whimsical line drawings. “My artistic aim is to show a different perception of urban architecture and the everyday environment around us, what we can construct with a boundless imagination,” says Thomas. (Photo by Thomas Lamadieu)

Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. (Photo by Mike Stilkey)