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South façade of the Château royal d'Amboise, Amboise, Loire Valley, France
Some background information:
The Château royal d'Amboise is a palace situated on a spur above the town of Amboise. It is located in the Loire Valley in the department of Indre-et-Loire, about 25 km (15 miles) east of the city of Tours.
The strategic qualities of the site were already recognised in pre-Roman times, when it was used to build a Gallic oppidum. In the 9th century the oppidum was converted into a castle by Ingelgarius, viscount of Orléans, who controlled the area after having married Adelais, a member of the family that controlled it previously. Ingelgarius was succeeded by his son Fulk the Red, who later became Count of Anjou. After Fulk had expanded his territory, Amboise, Loches, and Villentrois formed the core of his possessions, but Amboise still lay on the eastern frontier of his holdings.
In 987, the town and its castle descended through the family to Fulk III (also known as Fulk the Black). Fulk had to contend with the ambitions of Odo I, Count of Blois, who wanted to expand his own territory into Anjou. He attempted to isolate and threaten the castles of Amboise and Loches by erecting fortifications at Chaumont and Montsoreau while garrisoning the town of Saint-Aignan.
Expanded and improved in the course of the centuries, the Château d'Amboise was seized by King Charles VII of France in 1434, after its owner, Louis d'Amboise, Viscount of Thours, was convicted of plotting and condemned to be executed. However, the king pardoned him but took his castle. Once in royal hands, the château became a favourite of French kings, from Louis XI to Francis I.
Charles VIII decided to rebuild it extensively, beginning in 1492 at first in the French late Gothic Flamboyant style and then after 1495 employing two Italian mason-builders, Domenico da Cortona and Fra Giocondo, who provided at Amboise some of the first Renaissance decorative motifs seen in French architecture. Following the Italian War from 1494 to 1495, Charles turned the Château d'Amboise into "the first Italianate palace in France". In 1498, Charles died at Château d'Amboise after hitting his head on a door lintel.
During the first years of the reign of King Francis I the château reached the pinnacle of its glory. In 1515, Leonardo da Vinci came to the palace as a guest of the king. He lived and worked in the nearby Château du Clos Lucé, just a few hundred metres away from Château d'Amboise and connected to it by an underground passage. After his death on death on 2nd May 1519, da Vinci was buried in the Chapel of St. Florentin, originally located approximately 100 metres northeast of the Chapel of St. Hubert that lays within the stone fortifications of the Château d'Amboise, where his remains were brought to in 1874.
Henry II, the successor of Francis I, and his wife, Catherine de' Medici, raised their children in the Château d'Amboise, along with Mary Stuart, the child Queen of Scotland who had been promised in marriage to the future French King Francis II.
In 1560, during the French Wars of Religion, a conspiracy by members of the Huguenot House of Bourbon against the House of Guise that virtually ruled France in the name of the young Francis II was uncovered by the Count of Guise and stifled by a series of hangings, which took a month to carry out. By the time it was finished, 1200 Protestants were gibbetted, strung from the town walls, hung from the iron hooks that held pennants and tapestries on festive occasions and from the very balcony of the royal rooms. The court soon had to leave the town because of the smell of corpses. Those events went down in history as the Amboise conspiracy.
The abortive peace of Amboise was signed at Amboise in March 1563, between Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, who had been implicated in the conspiracy to abduct the king, and Catherine de' Medici. The "edict of pacification", as it was termed, authorised Protestant services only in chapels of seigneurs and justices, with the stipulation that such services had to be held outside the walls of towns. However, neither side was satisfied with this compromise.
Following this first French War of Religion, Amboise never returned to royal favour. The French kings moved their royal seat back to Paris and used the palace only as an occasional hunting château. At the beginning of the 17th century, the property passed into the hands of Gaston d'Orleans, the brother of the Bourbon King Louis XIII. After his death it returned to the Crown and was turned into a prison during the Fronde, a series of civil wars. Under King Louis XIV it held disgraced minister Nicolas Fouquet and the Duke of Lauzun.
Louis XV made a gift of it to his minister, the Duke of Choiseul, who had recently purchased the Château de Chanteloup to the west. During the French Revolution, the greater part of the château was demolished and it was even more demoslished due to an engineering assessment commissioned by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th century.
Since 1840, the Château d'Amboise has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. King Louis-Philippe began restoring it during his reign but with his abdication in 1848, the château was confiscated by the government. The captive Emir Abd Al-Qadir, who resisted the French colonisation of Algeria, and an entourage of family and retainers were transferred to Château d'Amboise in November 1848. In 1852, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, then president and later king, visited Abd al-Qadir at Amboise to give him the news of his release.
In 1873, Louis-Philippe’s heirs were given control of the property and a major effort to repair it was made. During the German invasion in 1940 the château was damaged once again. Today, the present Count of Paris, descendant of Louis-Philippe, repairs and maintains the château through the foundation Saint-Louis. Since 2000, the Château royal d'Amboise belongs to the UNESCO Word Heritage Site "The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes" with its many breathtaking châteaux. Altogether there are more than 400 of them in the Loire region.
The town of Amboise is located on the banks of the Loire River in the administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire and has more than 12,500 residents. In pre-Roman times there used to be a Gallic oppidum on the site, which was taken over by the Romans later. Today, Amboise is mainly renowned for its beautiful old town, but also for its altogether three châteaus: the Château royal d'Amboise, the Château Château du Clos Lucé (the former residence of Leonardo da Vinci) and the Château Gaillard.
A forth château, the Château de Chanteloup was destroyed by an act of incendiarism in 1823 and never rebuild. Only a part of the garden and some of its features have survived, of which the most important is the Pagoda of Chanteloup. But both region and town are also renowned for their cuisine. How about a poultry ballotine, a slice of Sainte Maure goat cheese or rillettes de canard together with a glass of sweet white wine from the Tourraine wine-growing region? That’s French art de vivre, to enjoy without any moderation.
Cusco / Peru
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View of the central chimneys and roof windows of the Château de Chambord, Chambord, Loire Valley, France
Some background information:
The Château de Chambord is a large palace, which is located in the Loire Valley in the village of Chambord. The palace is situated in the department of Loir-et-Cher between the cities of Tours to the west and Orléans to the east, just 15 km (9 miles) to the northeast of the town of Blois. It is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King Francis I of France.
Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley. It was built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I, who maintained his royal residences at the palaces of Blois and Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed, though with some doubt, to Domenico da Cortona, but there is some evidence that Leonardo da Vinci was also involved. Archeological findings have established that the lack of symmetry of some facades derives from an original design, abandoned shortly after the construction began, and which ground plan was organised around the central staircase following a central gyratory symmetry. Such a rotative design has no equivalent in architecture at this period of history, and appears reminiscent of Leonardo Da Vinci's works on the hydraulic turbine and the helicopter.
On 6th September 1519 Francis Pombriant was ordered to begin construction of the Château de Chambord, but work was interrupted by the Italian War that lasted from 1521 to 1526. Building resumed in 1526, at which point 1,800 men were employed to continue the construction works. In 1540, the main building was completed. The château was built to act as a hunting lodge for King Francis I. However, the king spent barely seven weeks there in total, that time consisting of short hunting visits. But the palace was not only a huge hunting château for Francis I, but also – more importantly – an enormous symbol of wealth and power and hence, a property to show off with. To this effect the king hosted his old archrival, Emperor Charles V, at Chambord in 1539, although the monumental mansion wasn’t even fully completed at that time.
As the palace had been constructed with the purpose of only short stays, it was not practical to live in on a longer-term basis. The massive rooms, open windows and high ceilings meant that heating was almost impossible. As a result, the château was completely unfurnished during this period. All furniture, wall coverings, eating implements and so forth were brought specifically for each hunting trip, which was a major logistical exercise. It is for this reason that much furniture from the era was built to be disassembled to facilitate transportation. After Francis had died of a heart attack in 1547, the Château de Chambord was not used for almost a century.
For more than 80 years after the death of King Francis I, French kings abandoned the château, allowing it to fall into decay. Finally, in 1639 King Louis XIII gave it to his brother, Gaston d'Orléans, who saved the château from ruin by carrying out much restoration work. King Louis XIV had the great keep restored and furnished the royal apartments. The king then added a 1,200-horse stable, enabling him to use the château as a hunting lodge and a place to entertain a few weeks each year. Nonetheless, Louis XIV abandoned the château in 1685. From 1725 to 1733, Stanislas Leszczyński (Stanislas I), the deposed King of Poland and father-in-law of King Louis XV, lived at Chambord. In 1745, as a reward for valour, the king gave the château to Maurice de Saxe, Marshal of France, who installed his military regiment there. Maurice de Saxe died in 1750 and once again the colossal château sat empty for many years.
In 1792, the revolutionary government ordered the sale of the furnishings. The wall panellings were removed and even floors were taken up and sold for the value of their timber. One more time the empty château was left abandoned until Napoleon Bonaparte gave it to his subordinate, Louis Alexandre Berthier. The château was subsequently purchased from his widow for the infant Duke of Bordeaux, Henri Charles Dieudonné, who took the title Comte de Chambord. A brief attempt at restoration and occupation was made by his grandfather King Charles X but in 1830 both were exiled. After the Comte de Chambord had died in 1883, the château was left to his sister's heirs, the titular Dukes of Parma. And since 1930, the Château and its surrounding areas, some 5,440 hectares (13,400 acres resp. 21.0 sqare miles) as vast as inner Paris, belong to the French state.
Some more words about the architecture:
Built in Renaissance style, the internal layout of the Château de Chambord is an early example of the French and Italian style of grouping rooms into self-contained suites, a departure from the medieval style of corridor rooms. The massive château is composed of a central keep with four immense bastion towers at the corners. The keep also forms part of the front wall of a larger compound with two more large towers. Bases for a possible further two towers are found at the rear, but these were never developed, and remain the same height as the wall. The château features 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, 84 staircases and more than 200 chimneys. Four rectangular vaulted hallways on each floor form a cross-shape.
The château was never intended to provide any form of defence from enemies; consequently the walls, towers and partial moat are decorative, and even at the time were an anachronism. The roofscape of Chambord contrasts with the masses of its masonry and has often been compared with the skyline of a town. It shows eleven kinds of towers and three types of chimneys, without symmetry, framed at the corners by the massive towers. The design parallels are north Italian and Leonardesque. One of the architectural highlights is the spectacular open double-spiral staircase that is the centrepiece of the château. The two spirals ascend the three floors without ever meeting, illuminated from above by a sort of light house at the highest point of the château.
The château also features 128 metres of façade, more than 800 sculpted columns and an elaborately decorated roof. When Francis I commissioned the construction of Chambord, he wanted it to look like the skyline of Constantinople. The palace is surrounded by a 52.5-square-kilometre (13,000-acre) wooded park and game reserve maintained with red deer, enclosed by a 31-kilometre (19-mile) wall.
The design and architecture of the château inspired William Henry Crossland for his design of what is known as the Founder's building at Royal Holloway, University of London. But Château de Chambord’s architecture also influenced the architecture of other well-known buildings like Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland, Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, England, and Schwerin Palace in Schwerin, Germany. The Château de Chambord is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981 and belongs to the much larger UNESCO Word Heritage Site "The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes" with its many breathtaking châteaux since 2000.
Wikipedia:
El Castillo
Dominating the center of Chichén is the Temple of Kukulkan (the Maya name for Quetzalcoatl), often referred to as "El Castillo" (the castle). This step pyramid has a ground plan of square terraces with stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top. On the Spring and Autumn equinox, at the rising and setting of the sun, the corner of the structure casts a shadow in the shape of a plumed serpent - Kukulcan, or Quetzalcoatl - along the west side of the north staircase. On these two annual occasions, the shadows from the corner tiers slither down the northern side of the pyramid with the sun's movement to the serpent's head at the base.
Mesoamerican cultures periodically built larger pyramids atop older ones, and this is one such example. In the mid 1930s, the Mexican government sponsored an excavation of El Castillo. After several false starts, they discovered a staircase under the north side of the pyramid. By digging from the top, they found another temple buried below the current one. Inside the temple chamber was a Chac Mool statue and a throne in the shape of Jaguar, painted red and with spots made of inlaid jade.
The Mexican government excavated a tunnel from the base of the north staircase, up the earlier pyramid’s stairway to the hidden temple, and opened it to tourists. In 2006, INAH closed the throne room to the public.
Samarkand wurde etwa 750 v. Chr. gegründet. Der mongolische Herrscher Timur machte Samarkand zur 1369 zur Hauptstadt seines Großreichs und baute die Stadt zu einer der schönsten und bedeutendsten Metropolen seiner Zeit aus.
Die Altstadt von Samarkand ist Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO.
Bronze statue of Democritus by Léon-Alexandre Delhomme in the courtyard of the Musée des Beaux Arts in Lyon, France.
Der heute evangelische Naumburger Dom St. Peter und Paul in Naumburg (Saale) ist die ehemalige Kathedrale des Bistums Naumburg und stammt größtenteils aus der ersten Hälfte des 13. Jahrhunderts. Er gehört zu den bedeutendsten Bauwerken der Spätromanik in Sachsen-Anhalt, ist eine Station an der Straße der Romanik und seit 2018 UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe.
Gardens of Augustusburg Palace in the town of Bruehl near the city of Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Some background information:
Augustusburg Palace and Falkenlust Hunting Lodge form a historical building complex located in the town of Bruehl at the edge of the Rhineland Nature Park, about 20 km (12.5 miles) south of the city centre of Cologne. The building complex and the spacious gardens that connect both buildings have been listed as a UNESCO cultural World Heritage Site since 1984. Augustusburg Palace and its parks also serve as a venue for the Bruehl Palace Concerts. Furthermore, the Max Ernst Museum is located nearby.
Already in the the 12th century, the archbishops of Cologne owned a deer park at this spot of land. In 1284, a moated castle was built by archbishop Siegfried that was meant to be a bulwark against the city of Cologne. In 1298, this stronghold was completed. The castle was enhanced by archbishop Walram. But in 1689, in the course of the Nine Years' War, it was blown up by French forces and hence destroyed completely.
Augustusburg Palace and Falkenlust Hunting Lodge were built at the beginning of the 18th century on the spot of the former castle by the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Clemens August of Bavaria of the Wittelsbach dynasty. The construction took place according to the plans of the German architect Johann Conrad Schlaun, who also used the former stronghold’s foundations for building the new palace. That’s why Augustusburg Palace has exactly the same width as the predecessor building.
The palace, which was the Archbishop-Elector’s favourite residence, is one of the first examples of Rococo creations in Germany. While the gardens and the exterior facades of both the palace and the hunting lodge still represent high baroque architecture, the palace’s interior was designed in the Régence and Early Rococo styles. Its designer was the Belgian-born Bavarian architect François de Cuvilliés.
In 1728, he took over and made the palace into one of the most glorious residences of its time. Until its completion in 1768, numerous outstanding artists of European renown contributed to its beauty. A prime example of the calibre of artists employed here is Balthasar Neumann, who created the design for the magnificent staircase, an enchanting creation full of dynamism and elegance. The magical interplay of architecture, sculpture, painting and garden design made the Brühl Palaces a masterpiece of German Rococo.
Also in 1728, the Baroque gardens were designed by the French garden designer Dominique Girard according to French models. The gardens weren’t built axial to the main wing, but axial to the southern wing, which was quite unusual. In the 19th century, main parts of the gardens were re-landscaped into an English style landscape garden by the Prussian garden designer Peter Joseph Lenné. However, between 1933 and 1935, the gardens were again reconstructed under the old plans of 1728.
But although Archbishop-Elector of Cologne Clemens August of Bavaria loved Augustusburg Palace, it was only used as a summer residence and hunting château and therefore was only occupied by him for six weeks each year. The Electoral Palace in the city of Bonn and Poppelsdorf Palace in the Poppelsdorf district of Bonn remained his main residences.
At the end of World War II the palace was damaged heavily. But already in 1946, restoration work began. From 1949 onwards, Augustusburg Palace was used for representative purposes by the German Federal President and the Federal Government for many decades.
Today, Augustusburg Palace, Falkenlust Hunting Lodge and the gardens are open to the public. The complex is viewed by almost 200,000 visitors each year and therefore is economically rather important for the town of Bruehl.
The Smolny Convent at the eastern end of Shpalernaya Street in Saint Petersburg’s city centre, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Some background information:
The Smolny Convent or Smolny Convent of the Resurrection, is a large building complex in the city of Saint Petersburg, that was originally intended for a convent. It is located on Ploschad Rastrelli, on the bank of the River Neva, and consists of a cathedral and the buildings surrounding it.
The name "Smolny" derives from the location. In the early days of St. Petersburg a tar factory was located on the convent’s spot ("smola" meaning "tar" in Russian). The tar was processed for use in shipbuilding and maintenance. As a result, the locale was called "smolny".
This Russian Orthodox Smolny convent was built to house Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. After she was disallowed succession to the throne, she opted to become a nun. However, when her imperial predecessor, Ivan VI, was overthrown during a coup d'état (carried out by the royal guards in 1741), Elizabeth decided against entering monastic life and accepted the offer of the Russian throne. Work on the convent continued with her royal patronage.
The convent's cathedral, a blue-and-white building, is considered to be one of the architectural masterpieces of the Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who also redesigned the Winter Palace, and created the Grand Catherine Palace) in Tsarskoye Selo, the Grand Palace in Peterhof and many other major St. Petersburg landmarks. The cathedral is the centerpiece of the convent, built by Rastrelli between 1748 and 1764. The projected bell-tower was to become the tallest building in St. Petersburg and, at the time, in all of Russia. Elizabeth's death in 1762 prevented Rastrelli from completing this grand design.
When Catherine II assumed the throne, it was found that the new Empress strongly disapproved of the baroque style, and funding that had supported the construction of the convent rapidly ran out. Rastrelli was unable to build the huge bell-tower he had planned and unable to finish the interior of the cathedral. The building was only finished in 1835 by Vasily Stasov with the addition of a neo-classical interior to suit the changed architectural tastes at the time. The cathedral was consecrated on 22 July 1835. Its main altar was dedicated to the Resurrection and the two side altars were dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene and Righteous Elizabeth.
The church was closed by the Soviet authorities in 1923. It was looted and allowed to decay until 1982, when it became a concert hall. In April 2015, Smolny Cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, and is now converted back to its original purpose as a church, while the faculties of sociology, political science and international relations of the Saint Petersburg State University are located in some of the buildings surrounding the cathedral.
In close proximity to the convent the Smolny Institute is located, which was chosen by Vladimir Lenin as Bolshevik headquarters in 1917 during the October Revolution. Subsequently, the Smolny Institute became the headquarters of the local Communist Party and also effectively the city hall. After 1991, the historic building was used as the seat of the city mayor and city administration. Today, it is the official residence of the governor of Saint Peterburg and also houses a museum dedicated to Lenin.
Saint Petersburg (in Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг) is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with currently 5.3 million inhabitants, part of the Saint Petersburg agglomeration with a population of 6.2 million (2015). An important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it has a status of a federal city. Saint Petersburg is also the fourth-largest city in Europe, only excelled by Istanbul, London and Moscow. Other famous European cities like Paris, Berlin, Rome and Madrid are smaller. Furthermore, Saint Petersburg is the world’s northernmost megapolis and called "The Venice of the North", due to its many channels that traverse the city.
Situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27th May 1703. On 1st September 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, on 26 January 1924 to Leningrad, and on 7 September 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. Between 1713 and 1728 and again between 1732 and 1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow, which is located about 625 kilometres (388 miles) to the south-east.
Saint Petersburg is also the cultural capital of Russia. Today, the city is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as an area with 36 historical architectural complexes and around 4000 outstanding individual monuments of architecture, history and culture. It has 221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries and exhibition halls, 62 cinemas and around 80 other cultural establishments. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. Every year the city hosts around 100 festivals and various competitions of art and culture, including more than 50 international ones. In 2017, the city was visited by 7.2 million tourists and it is expected that in the years ahead the number of tourists will still be on the rise.
Margarethengang (Margaret's passage) of Wartburg castle near Eisenach in the Thüringer Wald (Thuringian Forest), Thüringen (Thuringia), Germany.
Around 1207, Wartburg was the venue of the Sängerkrieg (Minstrel's Contest).
Saint Elisabeth of Hungary lived at Wartburg from 1211 to 1228.
Martin Luther, the initiator of the Protestant Reformation, stayed at Wartburg from 1521 to 1522 under the name of Junker Jörg (Knight George) after he had been excommunicated by Pope Leo X. During this time he translated the New Testament into German.
Wartburg is inscribed in the World Heritage List of the UNESCO.
---quotation from whc.unesco.org/en/list/897:---
"Wartburg Castle blends superbly into its forest surroundings and is in many ways 'the ideal castle'. Although it has retained some original sections from the feudal period, the form it acquired during the 19th-century reconstitution gives a good idea of what this fortress might have been at the height of its military and seigneurial power. It was during his exile at Wartburg Castle that Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German. "
---end of quotation----
Thüringen Easter short trip April 2015
Interior of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood with its apse, its iconostasis and its many huge mosaic icons, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Some background information:
The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood is one of the main sights of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Other names include the Church on Spilled Blood and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. It was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded by political nihilists in March 1881 and funded by the imperial family with the support of many private donors.
Construction began in 1883 during the reign of Alexander III, two years after the assassination of his father Alexander II. The church was dedicated to be a memorial to his father, Alexander II. Estimates suggest that the construction cost 4.5 million rubles. The construction was completed during the reign of Nicholas II in 1907.
The church is prominently situated along the Griboedov Canal. Paved roads run along both sides of the canal. On 1st March, 1881, as Tsar Alexander II's carriage passed along the embankment, a grenade thrown by an anarchist conspirator exploded. The tsar, shaken but unhurt, got out of the carriage and started to remonstrate with the presumed culprit. A second conspirator took the chance to throw another bomb, killing himself and mortally wounding the tsar. The tsar, bleeding heavily, was taken back to the Winter Palace, where he died a few hours later.
A temporary shrine was erected on the site of the attack while plans and fundraising for a more permanent memorial were undertaken. In order to build a permanent shrine on the exact spot where the assassination took place, it was decided to narrow the canal so that the section of road on which the tsar had been driving could be included within the walls of the church. An elaborate shrine, in the form of a ciborium, was constructed at the end of the church opposite the altar, on the exact place of Alexander's assassination. It is embellished with topaz, lazurite and other semi-precious stones, making a striking contrast with the simple cobblestones of the old road, which are exposed in the floor of the shrine.
In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the church was ransacked and looted, badly damaging its interior. The Soviet government closed the church in 1932. During the Second World War when many people were starving due to the Siege of Leningrad by Nazi German military forces, the church was used as a temporary morgue for those who died in combat and from starvation and illness. The church suffered significant damage. After the war, it was used as a warehouse for vegetables, leading to the sardonic name of Saviour on Potatoes. After management of the church had passed to Saint Isaac's Cathedral in July 1970, the cathedral was restored. In August 1997, it was reopened after 27 years of restoration.
Architecturally, the cathedral differs from Saint Petersburg's other structures. The city's architecture is predominantly Baroque and Neoclassical, but the Savior on Blood harks back to medieval Russian architecture in the spirit of romantic nationalism. It intentionally resembles the 17th-century Yaroslavl churches and the celebrated St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.
The church contains over 7500 square meters of mosaics—according to its restorers, more than any other church in the world. This record may be surpassed by the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, which houses 7700 square meters of mosaics. The interior was designed by some of the most celebrated Russian artists of the day—including Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov and Mikhail Vrubel — but the church's chief architect, Alfred Alexandrovich Parland, was relatively little-known. Perhaps not surprisingly, the church's construction ran well over budget, having been estimated at 3.6 million rubles but ending up costing over 4.6 million. The walls and ceilings inside the church are completely covered in intricately detailed mosaics — the main pictures being biblical scenes or figures — but with very fine patterned borders setting off each picture.
Saint Petersburg (in Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг) is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with currently 5.3 million inhabitants, part of the Saint Petersburg agglomeration with a population of 6.2 million (2015). An important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it has a status of a federal city. Saint Petersburg is also the fourth-largest city in Europe, only excelled by Istanbul, London and Moscow. Other famous European cities like Paris, Berlin, Rome and Madrid are smaller. Furthermore, Saint Petersburg is the world’s northernmost megapolis and called "The Venice of the North", due to its many channels that traverse the city.
Situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27th May 1703. On 1st September 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, on 26 January 1924 to Leningrad, and on 7 September 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. Between 1713 and 1728 and again between 1732 and 1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow, which is located about 625 kilometres (388 miles) to the south-east.
Saint Petersburg is also the cultural capital of Russia. Today, the city is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as an area with 36 historical architectural complexes and around 4000 outstanding individual monuments of architecture, history and culture. It has 221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries and exhibition halls, 62 cinemas and around 80 other cultural establishments. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. Every year the city hosts around 100 festivals and various competitions of art and culture, including more than 50 international ones. In 2017, the city was visited by 7.2 million tourists and it is expected that in the years ahead the number of tourists will still be on the rise.
The production facility of the champagne house De Castellane with its distinctive tower, the Tour de Castellagne, Épernay, Grand Est (Champagne), France
Some background information:
In 1895, the Viscount Florens de Castellane, heir of one of the oldest families in France, established his champagne house in Épernay. To promote his brand to the eyes of the world, he chose as his logo the red "Saint-Andrews" cross as a tribute to the standard of the oldest regiment in the champagne region. In 1899, Boni de Castellane, cousin of the Viscount, was in charge of the distribution in Paris and rapidly made it the champagne of choice for the Parisian society during the Belle-Epoque period. De Castellane Champagne was served in the trendiest places.
In 1902, the House de Castellane asked the famous Italian painter Leonetto Cappiello to design its first advertising poster. Since then, de Castellane has developed a real patronage of poster art with an incredible collection of paintings and posters. Directed by Fernand Mérand, the "Union Champenoise" acquired de Castellane in 1907 and integrated it in its imposing buildings located on the famous "Avenue de Champagne". The brand name de Castellane was preserved and thanks to its prestige and great notoriety, the "Union Champenoise" was finally renamed "Champagne de Castellane".
Alexandre Mérand, son of Fernand, bought de Castellane in 1927. Not only did he focus on the French but also on the global market. Hence, he began to export de Castellane all over the world: It was now savoured in London, Brussels, Berlin, Stockholm, New-York, Alexandria and even Sydney. The death of Alexandre Mérand obliged his family to take-over the company in 1970. De Castellane was now chaired by Alexandre’s daugther Claude Mérand, who was married to Bernard de Nonancourt, owner and director of Champagne Laurent-Perrier. In 1999, de Castellane finally entered the Laurent-Perrier group. It is still owned and managed by the family Nonancourt .
The town of Épernay is located in the French Grand Est region, about 130 km (81 miles) north-east of Paris on the mainline railway to Strasbourg. It has more than 22,300 residents. The town sits on the left bank of the Marne at the extremity of the Cubry valley which crosses it. Épernay belonged to the archbishops of Reims from the 5th until the 10th century, when it came into the possession of the counts of Champagne. It was badly damaged during the Hundred Years' War, and was burned by King Francis I in 1544. In 1592, it resisted Henry of Navarre and his troops. In 1642 it was, along with Château-Thierry, named as a duchy and assigned to the Duke of Bouillon.
Épernay is best known as the principal "entrepôt" for champagne wines, which are bottled and kept in large cellars built into the chalk rock on which the town is built. The major grape varieties used in champagne are the pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay. But the production of the equipment and raw materials used in the champagne industry is also a major source of local employment.
Many larger and smaller champagne houses have their headquarters in Épernay. That’s why the town is often named "the capital of champagne". A lot of them reside in noble mansions or villas alongside Epernay’s Avenue de Champagne, which is hence often called "the most valueable street of the world". The cellars of these champagne houses are right beneath the street and the champagne houses by its side.
Merely the cellar tunnels of Moët & Chandon have a total length of 110 km (68 miles). Hence, one can imagine that the chalky soil, on which Épernay is built, is hollowed like Emmentaler cheese. Apart from Moët & Chandon with its second brand Dom Perignon, champagne houses in Épernay include Mercier, De Castellane, Boizel, Charles Mignon, Château Comtesse Lafond, A. Bergère, Pol Roger, Collard-Picard, Janisson-Baradon, Esterlin and Perrier-Jouet, to name just a few.
In 2015, the whole Champagne area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was named "Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars" and was admitted into the World Heritage List for being the site, where the method of producing sparkling wines was developed.
Front view of the Château de Chambord with the horse stables in the foreground, Chambord, Loire Valley, France
Some background information:
The Château de Chambord is a large palace, which is located in the Loire Valley in the village of Chambord. The palace is situated in the department of Loir-et-Cher between the cities of Tours to the west and Orléans to the east, just 15 km (9 miles) to the northeast of the town of Blois. It is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King Francis I of France.
Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley. It was built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I, who maintained his royal residences at the palaces of Blois and Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed, though with some doubt, to Domenico da Cortona, but there is some evidence that Leonardo da Vinci was also involved. Archeological findings have established that the lack of symmetry of some facades derives from an original design, abandoned shortly after the construction began, and which ground plan was organised around the central staircase following a central gyratory symmetry. Such a rotative design has no equivalent in architecture at this period of history, and appears reminiscent of Leonardo Da Vinci's works on the hydraulic turbine and the helicopter.
On 6th September 1519 Francis Pombriant was ordered to begin construction of the Château de Chambord, but work was interrupted by the Italian War that lasted from 1521 to 1526. Building resumed in 1526, at which point 1,800 men were employed to continue the construction works. In 1540, the main building was completed. The château was built to act as a hunting lodge for King Francis I. However, the king spent barely seven weeks there in total, that time consisting of short hunting visits. But the palace was not only a huge hunting château for Francis I, but also – more importantly – an enormous symbol of wealth and power and hence, a property to show off with. To this effect the king hosted his old archrival, Emperor Charles V, at Chambord in 1539, although the monumental mansion wasn’t even fully completed at that time.
As the palace had been constructed with the purpose of only short stays, it was not practical to live in on a longer-term basis. The massive rooms, open windows and high ceilings meant that heating was almost impossible. As a result, the château was completely unfurnished during this period. All furniture, wall coverings, eating implements and so forth were brought specifically for each hunting trip, which was a major logistical exercise. It is for this reason that much furniture from the era was built to be disassembled to facilitate transportation. After Francis had died of a heart attack in 1547, the Château de Chambord was not used for almost a century.
For more than 80 years after the death of King Francis I, French kings abandoned the château, allowing it to fall into decay. Finally, in 1639 King Louis XIII gave it to his brother, Gaston d'Orléans, who saved the château from ruin by carrying out much restoration work. King Louis XIV had the great keep restored and furnished the royal apartments. The king then added a 1,200-horse stable, enabling him to use the château as a hunting lodge and a place to entertain a few weeks each year. Nonetheless, Louis XIV abandoned the château in 1685. From 1725 to 1733, Stanislas Leszczyński (Stanislas I), the deposed King of Poland and father-in-law of King Louis XV, lived at Chambord. In 1745, as a reward for valour, the king gave the château to Maurice de Saxe, Marshal of France, who installed his military regiment there. Maurice de Saxe died in 1750 and once again the colossal château sat empty for many years.
In 1792, the revolutionary government ordered the sale of the furnishings. The wall panellings were removed and even floors were taken up and sold for the value of their timber. One more time the empty château was left abandoned until Napoleon Bonaparte gave it to his subordinate, Louis Alexandre Berthier. The château was subsequently purchased from his widow for the infant Duke of Bordeaux, Henri Charles Dieudonné, who took the title Comte de Chambord. A brief attempt at restoration and occupation was made by his grandfather King Charles X but in 1830 both were exiled. After the Comte de Chambord had died in 1883, the château was left to his sister's heirs, the titular Dukes of Parma. And since 1930, the Château and its surrounding areas, some 5,440 hectares (13,400 acres resp. 21.0 sqare miles) as vast as inner Paris, belong to the French state.
Some more words about the architecture:
Built in Renaissance style, the internal layout of the Château de Chambord is an early example of the French and Italian style of grouping rooms into self-contained suites, a departure from the medieval style of corridor rooms. The massive château is composed of a central keep with four immense bastion towers at the corners. The keep also forms part of the front wall of a larger compound with two more large towers. Bases for a possible further two towers are found at the rear, but these were never developed, and remain the same height as the wall. The château features 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, 84 staircases and more than 200 chimneys. Four rectangular vaulted hallways on each floor form a cross-shape.
The château was never intended to provide any form of defence from enemies; consequently the walls, towers and partial moat are decorative, and even at the time were an anachronism. The roofscape of Chambord contrasts with the masses of its masonry and has often been compared with the skyline of a town. It shows eleven kinds of towers and three types of chimneys, without symmetry, framed at the corners by the massive towers. The design parallels are north Italian and Leonardesque. One of the architectural highlights is the spectacular open double-spiral staircase that is the centrepiece of the château. The two spirals ascend the three floors without ever meeting, illuminated from above by a sort of light house at the highest point of the château.
The château also features 128 metres of façade, more than 800 sculpted columns and an elaborately decorated roof. When Francis I commissioned the construction of Chambord, he wanted it to look like the skyline of Constantinople. The palace is surrounded by a 52.5-square-kilometre (13,000-acre) wooded park and game reserve maintained with red deer, enclosed by a 31-kilometre (19-mile) wall.
The design and architecture of the château inspired William Henry Crossland for his design of what is known as the Founder's building at Royal Holloway, University of London. But Château de Chambord’s architecture also influenced the architecture of other well-known buildings like Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland, Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, England, and Schwerin Palace in Schwerin, Germany. The Château de Chambord is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981 and belongs to the much larger UNESCO Word Heritage Site "The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes" with its many breathtaking châteaux since 2000.
If you want to see the entire Greenwich album you may go here:
www.flickr.com/photos/wwwuppertal/albums/72177720316970534
Curious to have a look at some of my other albums? Here's the link:
www.flickr.com/photos/wwwuppertal/albums/with/72177720316...
The Old Guildhall, Bamberg, Franconia (Bavaria)
Some background information:
The Old Guildhall (also known as Bridge Guildhall) is one of Bamberg’s most important buildings and due to its singularity also one of the town’s landmarks. It was built in the middle of the River Pegnitz and is connected with both riversides by bridges. Nowadays the Old Guildhall houses the Collection Ludwig, one of the biggest collections of porcelain in all of Europe.
The building was first mentioned in a document in 1387. From 1461 to 1467 it was renovated and thereby got its present appearance. During this construction phase the look of the Old Guildhall was mainly influenced by the Gothic style.
Between 1744 and 1756 the architect Johann Jakob Michael Küchel redesigned the landmark in the style of Baroque and Rococo. In 1755 Johann Anwander added the façade paintings to the building. Since then the sides to both bridges are completely decorated with allegorical scenes and architectural details, which represent the typical trompe l'oeil of this time. Little figuratively shaped ornaments on the eastern side even reinforce the three-dimensional impression.
According to a legend the citizens of Bamberg were dissatisfied with their prince-bishop in the late 14th century, because they wanted to be free burgesses of a free imperial city. So they advanced on the prince-bishop’s municipal residence. But ahead of time the bishop got scent of the intend of Bamberg’s citizens and when the armed civic forces reached his home, they were already received by a storm of bullets of all kinds. Hence the civic forces had to withdraw, but were chased by the episcopal men-at-arms. The latter onces pushed the former ones through Bamberg’s narrow lanes and created a bloodbath, until the prince-bishop instructed his captain to stop the massacre.
The stricken burgesses tried to make peace with the prince-bishop then and therefore send the major together with three councillors to ask him for mercy and his allowance to rebuild their burnt down guildhall, which was destroyed by the bishop's men-at-arms. Hearing about the civic concern the bishop got very angry and told the delegates, that they should never again dare to build a house on his land. The delegates retracted and carried the municipal council bad news. The matter was discussed then, until a young councillor kiddingly interposed to rebuild the new guildhall in the middle of the river’s water, which wasn’t the prince-bishop’s property. When listening to this suggestion the other councillors laughed. But then they took the plan seriously and after even the city’s master builder told them, that he would be able carry out the work, they decided unanimously to put it into action and to build the Bridge Guildhall up.
Bamberg is a town with more than 70,000 residents, located in Upper Franconia. First mentioned in 902, it became a separate diocese in 1007. Its cathedral was already consecrated in 1012.
Besides its beautiful old town, Bamberg is also known for its eight breweries and its famous smoked beer. Since 1993 the old town is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, primarily because of its authentic medieval and also baroque appearance. Bamberg’s core city has more than 1,200 buildings of historic importance.
Marksburg Castle, one of the very few castles which have never been destroyed, today the seat of 'Burgenverein', the association for the preservation of German castles.
Located above the town of Braubach in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley which has been awarded the title UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002 (ref. 1066).
A first version of Marksburg Castle including the central tower (not as tall at the time, though) was most probably erected shortly after 1100. First mentioned as a castle in a document in 1231.
Le Mont-Saint-Michel and the mudflat in the Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel (in English: "Mont Saint-Michel Bay") at low tide, Normandy, France
Some background information:
Le Mont-Saint-Michel (in English: "Saint Michael's Mount") is an island commune in the Norman department of Manche. It is located about one kilometre (0.6 miles) off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. The tidal island is 100 hectares (247 acres) in size and has a population of just 41 residents.
The tides can vary greatly, at roughly 14 metres (46 feet) between high and low water marks. Popularly nicknamed "St. Michael in peril of the sea" by medieval pilgrims making their way across the flats, the mount can still pose dangers for visitors who avoid the causeway and attempt the hazardous walk across the sands from the neighbouring coast.
The tidal causeway, that connected the island with the mainland for many centuries, was converted into a raised and therefore permanently dry causeway in 1879. In 2014, a new causeway was opened to the public by French president François Hollande, appearing as a light bridge, which allows the waters to flow freely around the island. The bridge improves the efficiency of the also new hydraulic dam, which uses the waters of the river Couesnon and the tides to help remove the accumulated silt. Futhermore a new carpark on the mainland was built, that is now located 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) from the island. Visitors can either walk or use shuttles to cross the causeway.
The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times and since the 8th century has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: on top, God, the abbey and monastery – below, the great halls – then stores and housing – and at the bottom, outside the walls, houses for fishermen and farmers. The commune's position – on an island just 600 metres from land – made it accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims to its abbey, but defensible as an incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned would-be assailants.
The original site was founded by an Irish hermit who gathered a following from the local community. Mont Saint-Michel was used in the sixth and seventh centuries as an Armorican stronghold of Gallo-Roman culture and power until it was ransacked by the Franks, thus ending the trans-channel culture that had stood since the departure of the Romans in 460. From roughly the fifth to the eighth century, Mont Saint-Michel belonged to the territory of Neustria, and in the early ninth century was an important place in the marches of Neustria.
Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called Mont Tombe. According to legend, the archangel Michael appeared in 708 to Aubert of Avranches, the bishop of Avranches, and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet.
Unable to defend his kingdom against the assaults of the Vikings, the king of the Franks agreed to grant the Cotentin peninsula and the Avranchin, including Mont Saint-Michel, to the Bretons in the Treaty of Compiègne, in 867. This marked the beginning of the brief period of Breton possession of the Mont. In fact, these lands and Mont Saint-Michel were never really included in the duchy of Brittany and remained independent bishoprics from the newly created Breton archbishopric of Dol. When Rollo confirmed Franco as archbishop of Rouen, these traditional dependences of the Rouen archbishopric were retained in it.
The mount gained strategic significance again in 933 when William I Longsword annexed the Cotentin Peninsula from the weakened Duchy of Brittany. This made the mount definitively part of Normandy, and is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the 1066 Norman conquest of England. Harold Godwinson is pictured on the tapestry rescuing two Norman knights from the quicksand in the tidal flats during a battle with Conan II, Duke of Brittany. Norman ducal patronage financed the spectacular Norman architecture of the abbey in subsequent centuries.
In 1067, the monastery of Mont Saint-Michel gave its support to William the Conqueror in his claim to the throne of England. This he rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island off the southwestern coast of Cornwall which was modeled after the Mount and became a Norman priory named St Michael's Mount of Penzance.
During the Hundred Years' War, the Kingdom of England made repeated assaults on the island but were unable to seize it due to the abbey's improved fortifications. The English initially besieged the Mont from 1423 to 1424, and then again from 1433 to 1434 with English forces under the command of Thomas de Scales, 7th Baron Scales. Two wrought-iron bombards that Scales abandoned when he gave up his siege are still on site. They are known as les Michelettes. Mont Saint-Michel's resolute resistance inspired the French, especially Jeanne d’Arc (in English: "Joan of Arc").
The wealth and influence of the abbey extended to many daughter foundations, including St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall. However, its popularity and prestige as a centre of pilgrimage waned with the Reformation, and by the time of the French Revolution there were scarcely any monks in residence. The abbey was closed and converted into a prison, initially to hold clerical opponents of the republican regime. High-profile political prisoners followed, but by 1836, influential figures—including Victor Hugo—had launched a campaign to restore what was seen as a national architectural treasure. The prison was finally closed in 1863, and the mount was declared an historic monument in 1874.
In 1979, Le Mont Saint-Michel and its bay were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Furthermore France protects over 60 buildings within the commune as monuments historiques. Today, it is one of France’s most recognizable landmarks, visited by more than three million people each year.
By the way, to take this photo from a less photographed angle I had to tramp through the mudflat. And although I had already put on my old sneakers on that very day, they were in much more pitiful condition after having reached the island. ;-)
Cusco / Peru
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Khajuraho-Lakshmana temple.
Khajuraho (Hindi: खजुराहो) ist
ein Ort im indischen Bundesstaat Madhya Pradesh, ungefähr 620 Kilometer südöstlich von Delhi. Khajuraho hat die größte Gruppe mittelalterlicher hinduistischer und Jain Tempel. Berühmt sind die erotischen Skulpturen. Die Tempel sind UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe und gelten als eines der "Sieben Wunder" Indiens.
Mehr Information: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khajuraho
Khajuraho (Hindi: खजुराहो) is a village in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, about 385 miles (620 kilometres) southeast of Delhi. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for their erotic sculpture. The Khajuraho group of monuments has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered to be one of the "seven wonders" of India.
More Information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khajuraho
See where this picture was taken:
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Eine alte Burg wurde von Franz I. 1528 zu einem Jagdschloss umgebaut. In der Folge wurde das Schloss von Heinrich IV., Ludwig XIII, Ludwig XIV und Napoleon I erweitert.
Wiltshire -England
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The medieval Palazzo Massaini in the Val d’Orcia (in English: "Valley of the Orcia"), Province of Siena, Tuscany, Italy
Some background information:
This picture and my second one of this castle were taken one after another just about five minutes apart. All the more I was surprised how different my camera has displayed the sky, although the sky should look almost the same in both photos. Does anybody have a photographic explanation for this oddness?
Palazzo Massaini can be found just over four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the town of Pienza. The origins of this castle date to around 1200 when it was built by Bibbiano Cacciaconti, a member of the aristocratic Asciano family. In the 16th century, the fortified building was converted into a "villa". A wing was added, as well as an elegant little loggia in the courtyard and understated cornices to the gates. Amongst the many owners was Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who lived from 1405 to 1464 and who became Pope Pius II in 1458. The coats of arms of the aristocratic and powerful Piccolomini family, the "light blue cross with the moons of God", can still be seen inside the castle.
Today the architectural complex features an Italian garden which spreads to the east of the villa. The current owners grow both grapes and olives and produce red wine as well as olive oil. Furthermore, they also manufacture cosmetic products. And if you have always wanted to spend your holiday on the premises of a rural Italian palazzo, here’s your opportunity: There are old outbuildings on the estate, which have been converted into holiday homes and can be booked.
The Val d'Orcia, or Valdorcia, is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. Its endless gentle, cultivated rolling hills, which are covered with grain or sunflowers in the summer and vineyards, olive groves, cypresses, beech or chestnut trees all year round alternate with medieval habitations, rural villas and castles boasting impervious towers – all of which is diffused in a tranquilly-isolated nature. This is the scenario that is laid out before the eyes of the visitor to Val d’Orcia.
In 2004, the Val d'Orcia was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. According to UNESCO the valley is an exceptional exemplar of the way in which a natural setting was redesigned during the Renaissance (in the 14th and 15th centuries), reflecting the ideals of good governance in the Italian city-state. Additionally, these splendid localities were celebrated by the painters of the Sienese School, which flourished between the 13th and 15th centuries.
The Val d‘Orcia is often described as the perfect combination of nature and culture, but it is also an ecosystem which bears witness oft he rural population that has cultivated and farmed the ground since the Middle Ages. However, also five-million years of geological history have left their mark on this territory that, today, is abundant in plant and animal species. Even the deposits of lava from volcanoes no longer active – such as Mounts Radicofani and Amiata – have contributed to the delineations and details of the area; the lava, hardened, gave form to those dark stones known as trachytes.
The valley is not only traversed by the river Orcia, but also by the rivers Asso, Formone, Vellora and Vivo. Furthermore the historic road Via Francigena and the Roman road Via Cassia pass through valley that covers and area of altogether 61,188 hectare (151,200 acres). Occasionally the landscape is broken by gullies and picturesque towns and villages such as Montalcino, San Quirico, Pienza, Castiglione and Radicofani. In the northwest the Val d’Orcia borders the Crete Senesi landscape while in the northeast it is flanked by the Val di Chiania.
Until 1250, the Val d’Orcia was under the rule oft he noble family Aldobrandeschi, but subsequently noble families oft he nearby town of Siena took control oft he valley. They were attracted by the continuous transit of men and commerce along the fundamental pathways Via Francigena and Via Cassia. The most notable of these families was the family Piccolomini, which also provided several popes, among them the famous Pius II. It was him who commissioned to transform the little village of Corsignano into the town of Pienza and hence into a place which he thought is the "ideal town". However, after the mid-1500s, Val d’Orcia became a valuable part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and thereby of the Florentine orbit – solely for its agricultural aspect. Thus, it was the family Medici that improved the valley’s infrastructure in the years that followed.
Within the Val d'Orcia is a strip of land following the Orcia river that is used as a wine-growing area between the DOCG zones of Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Here the Sangiovese and Trebbiano-based wines are produced under the Orcia Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) status. The DOC red wine is composed of at least 60 percent Sangiovese with other local varieties, such as Abrusco, permitted to fill in the remainder of the blend. The dry white wine and Vin Santo style DOC wines are composed of at least 50 percent Trebbiano with other local varieties filling out the rest of the blend. All grapes destined for DOC wine production are limited to a maximum harvest yield of 10 tonnes/hectare with the finished wines required to have a minimum alcohol level of at least 12 percent.
But the region is also very rich in other high quality local products such as the "Pecorino" cheese of Pienza (a typical cheese made with sheep's milk), the genuine olive oil, saffron, mushrooms, (including truffles), sweet chestnuts, honey and a lot of other specialties.