Edward Lear was not only the author of the famous limericks, but was also a keen traveller and a gifted painter. As I was trying to find any online editions of his works on Italy (as a matter of fact, Lear is buried in San Remo in Italy), I instead came across this glorious, glowing painting of Masada that is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the name of the site in the South District of Israel where palaces and fortifications used to be located in the era B.C. The site was located on the top of an isolated a rock plateau, on the eastern edge of the Judaen Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. This in fact is the angle from which Lear painted Masada: the sea is seen in the background, separating the Masada from another mountain chain.