Moonlights UNESCO WHS Blog: Oktober 2011

Montag, 31. Oktober 2011

United Kingdom of Great Britain - Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret’s Church

Westminster Palace, rebuilt from the year 1840 on the site of important medieval remains, is a fine example of neo-Gothic architecture. The site – which also comprises the small medieval Church of Saint Margaret, built in Perpendicular Gothic style, and Westminster Abbey, where all the sovereigns since the 11th century have been crowned – is of great historic and symbolic significance.

Westminster Abbey, London, England

France - The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes 9

The Loire Valley is an outstanding cultural landscape of great beauty, containing historic towns and villages, great architectural monuments (the châteaux), and cultivated lands formed by many centuries of interaction between their population and the physical environment, primarily the river Loire itself.

La Charité - Sur-Loire (Nievre), FR-25432, France

Finland - Fortress of Suomenlinna

Built in the second half of the 18th century by Sweden on a group of islands located at the entrance of Helsinki's harbour, this fortress is an especially interesting example of European military architecture of the time.

FI-365328, Fortress of Suomenlinna, Finland

Fortress of Suomenlinna - Anu

Estonia - Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn

The origins of Tallinn date back to the 13th century, when a castle was built there by the crusading knights of the Teutonic Order. It developed as a major centre of the Hanseatic League, and its wealth is demonstrated by the opulence of the public buildings (the churches in particular) and the domestic architecture of the merchants' houses, which have survived to a remarkable degree despite the ravages of fire and war in the intervening centuries.

Tallin, Estonia

Toompea Castle, Tallin, Estonia

Town Hall, Tallinn, EE-120510, Estonia

Egypt - Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur

This oThe capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt has some extraordinary funerary monuments, including rock tombs, ornate mastabas, temples and pyramids. In ancient times, the site was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Pyramiden von Gizeh, Egypt - Tobi

Pyramiden von Gizeh, Egpyt - tobi

Pyramiden von Gizeh & Spinx, Egypt - Tobi

Pyramiden von Gizeh, Egypt - Tobi

Pyramids of Gizeh

Denmark - Kronborg Castle

Located on a strategically important site commanding the Sund, the stretch of water between Denmark and Sweden, the Royal castle of Kronborg at Helsingør (Elsinore) is of immense symbolic value to the Danish people and played a key role in the history of northern Europe in the 16th-18th centuries. Work began on the construction of this outstanding Renaissance castle in 1574, and its defences were reinforced according to the canons of the period's military architecture in the late 17th century. It has remained intact to the present day. It is world-renowned as Elsinore, the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Helsingor, Kronborg, Denmark -Gforp

Kronborg Slot, Helsingor, Denmark - Gforp

Czech Republic - Historic Centre of Prague

Built between the 11th and 18th centuries, the Old Town, the Lesser Town and the New Town speak of the great architectural and cultural influence enjoyed by this city since the Middle Ages. The many magnificent monuments, such as Hradcani Castle, St Vitus Cathedral, Charles Bridge and numerous churches and palaces, built mostly in the 14th century under the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV.

Prag, CZ-12850 Czech Republic

Prag, CZ-11500, Czech Republic

Croatia - Plitvicer Nationalpark

The waters flowing over the limestone and chalk have, over thousands of years, deposited travertine barriers, creating natural dams which in turn have created a series of beautiful lakes, caves and waterfalls. These geological processes continue today. The forests in the park are home to bears, wolves and many rare bird species.

Plitvicer Nationalpark, Croatia

China - the Great Wall

In c. 220 B.C., under Qin Shi Huang, sections of earlier fortifications were joined together to form a united defence system against invasions from the north. Construction continued up to the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when the Great Wall became the world's largest military structure. Its historic and strategic importance is matched only by its architectural significance.

China - CN-25480, Juyongguan Section of the Great Wall, China -Sandy

China - The great Wall, China - Xia Ling

The Great Wall, CN-12334 , China

Cambodia - Angkor Wat

Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia. Stretching over some 400 km2, including forested area, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century. They include the famous Temple of Angkor Wat and, at Angkor Thom, the Bayon Temple with its countless sculptural decorations. UNESCO has set up a wide-ranging programme to safeguard this symbolic site and its surroundings.

Angkor Wat, Cambodge

Bulgaria - Ancient City of Nessebar

Situated on a rocky peninsula on the Black Sea, the more than 3,000-year-old site of Nessebar was originally a Thracian settlement (Menebria). At the beginning of the 6th century BC, the city became a Greek colony. The city’s remains, which date mostly from the Hellenistic period, include the acropolis, a temple of Apollo, an agora and a wall from the Thracian fortifications. Among other monuments, the Stara Mitropolia Basilica and the fortress date from the Middle Ages, when this was one of the most important Byzantine towns on the west coast of the Black Sea. Wooden houses built in the 19th century are typical of the Black Sea architecture of the period.

Nesebar

The old Nesebar

The old Nesebar - Deseslava

Brazil - Historic Centre of the Town of Diamantina

Diamantina, a colonial village set like a jewel in a necklace of inhospitable rocky mountains, recalls the exploits of diamond prospectors in the 18th century and testifies to the triumph of human cultural and artistic endeavour over the environment.

Dimantina - Minas Gerais, Brazil - Tito Garcez

Postais de Minas, Brazil - Tito Garcez

Diamantina, Minas Gerais, BR-40051, Brazil

Australia - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

This park, formerly called Uluru (Ayers Rock – Mount Olga) National Park, features spectacular geological formations that dominate the vast red sandy plain of central Australia. Uluru, an immense monolith, and Kata Tjuta, the rock domes located west of Uluru, form part of the traditional belief system of one of the oldest human societies in the world. The traditional owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta are the Anangu Aboriginal people.

Ayers Rock, Australia

Ayersrock AU-109371

Ayersrock, Australia - Rosie

Sonntag, 30. Oktober 2011

About me...

I love receiving and writing postcards.
Five years ago I found postcrossing and I'm very lucky with it. It's a great possibility to get to know people all over the world. My passion becomes bigger and bigger and now I have found different ways to trade postcards.

Here is a small list:
postcrossing.com
There I have two accounts and it's a lot of fun to get postcards from foreign people. It's everytime a surprise from where the cards are sent.
There is also the possibility to find postcard- or pen pals. Postcrossing has its own forum, take a look, you can find so many different cards to trade... :)
facebook:
A lot of groups around postcrossing and of course UNESCO WHS.

to be continued...