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Der Alcázar von Sevilla ist der mittelalterliche Königspalast von Sevilla. Die Anlage hat eine lange, bis in maurische Zeit zurückreichende Baugeschichte und wird bis heute von der spanischen Königsfamilie als offizielle Residenz genutzt, wenn sich diese in Sevilla aufhält.
Der Alcázar wurde ursprünglich als maurisches Fort angelegt und später mehrfach erweitert. Der Palast ist eines der am besten erhaltenen Beispiele für die Mudéjar-Architektur, die unter christlicher Herrschaft entstandenen Bauten mit islamischem Einfluss. Spätere Monarchen erweiterten den Alcázar, wodurch noch weitere Baustile Eingang in den Komplex fanden. So entstanden z. B. unter den Katholischen Königen, Karl V. und Philipp II. Bauten mit gotischen Elementen, die in starkem Kontrast zu der dominierenden Mudéjar-Architektur stehen.
Der Real Alcazar ist Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s atelier in the Château du Clos Lucé with a copy of Leonardo’s painting "Saint John the Baptist" in the background, Amboise, Loire Valley, France
Some background information:
The Château du Clos Lucé, formerly called Manoir du Cloux, is a large château located in the center of Amboise, in the French department of Indre-et-Loire. The mansion in situated in the Val de Loire in the former Touraine region, about 23 km (14 miles) to the east of the city of Tours. Built by Étienne le Loup in the middle of the 15th century, the palace has known several famous owners such as the French king Charles VIII and Leonardo da Vinci. Clos Lucé is just 500 metres from the royal Château d'Amboise, to which it is connected by an underground passageway.
The house was erected on a Gallo-Roman foundation. It was organized around an octagonal tower. Around the spiral staircase inside the tower two buildings were annexed that had two floors each. The elegant facade made with pink bricks and whites stones was typical for the 15th century. Formally called Manoir de Cloux, the building was property of the Chateau D’Amboise, and the lands of Lucé were affiliated to the castle as of the 14th century. At the beginning, the manor was surrounded by fortifications of which only one – the watchtower – has remained.
In 1490, the château was acquired by the French King Charles VIII, who paid 3500 gold ecus and immediately transformed the medieval stronghold into a more comfortable and habitable home. He also built a chapel for his wife, Anne of Brittany, who lived at Clos-Lucé until she moved to the Château Royal de Blois. From then on, the palace was the summer residence of the French kings for about 200 years.
In 1516, the 64-year-old Leonardo da Vinci left Rome and travelled through Italy, armed with his sketchbooks and three of his most famous paintings: "Mona Lisa", "The Virgin and Child with St. Anne" and "Saint John the Baptist". At that time, the French King Francis I offered da Vinci a pension of 700 gold ecus, the guarantee of buying all his artworks and the allowance to live and work at Château du Clos Lucé for the rest of his life.
Leonardo da Vinci accepted, became the first painter, engineer and architect of the king and was quite was enthusiastic and productive during his years at Clos Lucé. He worked on numerous projects, organized feasts for the court of Amboise, and even conceived the famous "Double Spiral Staircase" of the Château de Chambord. In 1519, Leonardo da Vinci passed away in his bed-champer at Clos Lucé. According to rumours he died in the king’s arms but those rumours are unverified. Leonardo da Vinci bequested all his books, drawings, sketches and manuscripts to his beloved apprentice, Francesco Melzi.
Da Vinci was buried in the nearby Chapel of St. Florentin. This chapel was originally located approximately 100 metres northeast of the Chapel of St. Hubert that lays within the stone fortifications of the royal Château d'Amboise, where his remains were brought to in 1874.
After Leonardo's death, Louise of Savoy took over the château again. However, this did not last too long as Philibert Babou of the Bourdaisière and his wife succeed her in 1523. The Chateau was then inhabited by Michel de Gast, who was the guards captain under King Henri III. In 1632, the marriage of Antoine d’Amboise and Michel de Gast’s granddaughter brought the Chateau back in the hands of House Amboise.
During the French Revolution the castle was miraculously spared and remained in the Amboise family. In 1855, the Château du Clos Lucé became the property of the Saint-Bris family. Since 1862, it has been a classified monument historique and hence, a French national heritage site. In 1954, both house and gardens were opened to the public by Hubert and Agnès Saint Bris. And in the 1960s a major restoration was completed.
In today’s gardens, many of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions are displayed and hence brought to life. While walking through the extensive gardens, visitors can meet Leonardo the engineer, Leonardo the visionary and also Leonardo the painter and architect.
By the way, since 2000, the Château du Clos Lucé 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.
Fahrt von Gudvangen nach Innvik (Tag 5) auf der Autofähre Gudvangen - Kaupanger im Nærøyfjord bei Bakka vor der schmalsten Stelle des Fjords
I not only captured dead birds, also living ones.
Klasse: Vögel (Aves)
Ordnung: Regenpfeiferartige (Charadriiformes)
Familie: Regenpfeifer (Charadriidae)
Gattung: Kiebitze (Vanellus)
Art: Kiebitz
Part of Forlorn Places - Forsaken Buildings.
DMC-G2 - P1330904 9.4.2012
Corvey / Höxter (Weser Uplands, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
Platform edge at metro station Avtovo on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line (Line 1), Avtovo district, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Some background information:
The Saint Petersburg Metro is the underground railway system of the city of Saint Petersburg. It has been open since 15th November 1955. Formerly known as the V.I. Lenin Order of Lenin Leningrad Metropoliten, the system exhibits many typical Soviet designs and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world, maybe only excelled by the Moscow Metro. Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is also one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the deepest by the average depth of all the stations. The system's deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, is located 86 metres below ground. Serving 2.1 million passengers daily (resp. 763.1 million passengers per year), the Saint Petersburg Metro is the 19th busiest metro system in the world.
Avtovo is a station on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro. Designed by architect Yevgenii Levinson, it opened as part of the first Leningrad Metro line on 15th November 1955. In 2014, the British newspaper "The Guardian" included it on its list of the twelve most beautiful metro stations in the world.
Avtovo's unique and highly ornate design features columns faced with ornamental glass manufactured at the Lomonosov factory. Although the original plan envisaged using glass on all of the columns in the station, white marble was substituted on some due to time constraints. This marble was supposed to be temporary, but it has never been replaced. The walls are faced with white marble and adorned on the north side by a row of ornamental ventilation grilles. At the end of the platform a mosaic by V.A. Voronetskiy and A.K. Sokolov commemorates the Leningrad Blockade (1941 to 1944) during the Second World War.
Unlike the other stations on the first line, Avtovo is a shallow-level station, located just 12 metres below ground level and constructed using the cut and cover method. It belongs to the shallow column class of underground stations. Avtovo has as its entrance vestibule a large Neoclassical building with a domed cupola, located on the east side of Prospekt Stachek.
In Saint Petersburg’s history, the question of building an underground transport system arose several times, the first time in 1820, when the idea was hatched to build an underground road in a tunnel. By the end of the 19th century, certain interested parties began discussing the possibility of opening the Russian Empire's first metropolitan railway system. Almost all pre-revolutionary designs featured the concept of an elevated metro system, similar to the Paris or Vienna metros. However, as was later discovered through the experience of operating open (ground-level) metro lines in the city, such schemes would likely have resulted in a poor metro service. Unfortunately, at the time, Russian engineers did not have sufficient expertise or technical resources for the construction of deep underground tunnels through the bedrock located far beneath St Petersburg. Hence, it was finally Moscow that got the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union in 1935.
In 1938 the question of building a metro for Saint Petersburg (by then renamed to Leningrad), resurfaced again. The initial project was designed by the Moscow institute 'Metrogiprotrans', but on 21st January 1941, "Construction Directorate № 5 of the People's Commissariat" was founded as a body to specifically oversee the design and construction of the Leningrad Metro. By April 1941, 34 shafts for the initial phase of construction had been finished. During the Second World War construction works were frozen due to severe lack of available funding, manpower and equipment. At this time, many of the metro construction workers were employed in the construction and repair of railheads and other objects vital to the besieged city.
In 1946 Lenmetroproyekt was created, to finish the construction of the metro first phase. A new version of the metro project, devised by specialists, identified two new solutions to the problems to be encountered during the metro construction. Firstly, stations were to be built at a level slightly raised above that of normal track so as to prevent drainage directly into them, whilst the average tunnel width was to be reduced from the 6 metres (20 feet) standard of the Moscow Metro to 5.5 metres (18 feet).
On 3rd September 1947, construction in the Leningrad subway began again and eight years later, on 7 October 1955, the electricity was turned on in the metro l. On 15th November 1955, the subway grand opening was held, with the first seven stations being put into public use. These stations later became part of the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line, connecting the Moscow Rail Terminal in the city centre with the Kirovsky industrial zone in the southwest. Subsequent development included lines under the Neva River in 1958, and the construction of the Vyborgsky Radius in the mid-1970s to reach the new housing developments in the north. In 1978, the line was extended past the city limits into the Leningrad Oblast.
By the time of the USSR's collapse, the Leningrad Metro comprised 54 stations and 94.2 kilometres (58.5 miles) of track. But development even continued in the modern, post-Soviet period. Today, the Saint Petersburg metro comprises five lines with altogether 69 stations and 118,6 kilometres (74 miles) of track. However, the present state is not meant to be the end of the story. Plans have been made to extend the Saint Petersburg Metro to nine lines with altogether 126 stations and 190 kilometres (118 miles) of track. But delays due to the difficult geology of the city's underground and to the insufficient funding have cut down these plans to 17 new stations and one new depot until 2025. At the same time, there are several short and mid-term projects on station upgrades, including escalator replacements and lighting upgrades.
On 3rd April 2017, a terrorist bombing caused an explosion on a train between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologicheski Institut stations, on the Line 2. 14 people died and over 50 sustained injuries, while Russian president Vladimir Putin was in the city, when the attack happened. On the same day, Russia's National anti-terrorist unit defused another explosive device at Ploshchad Vosstaniya station.
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. Furthermore, many foreign consulates, international corporations, banks and businesses have offices in Saint Petersburg. The multinational Gazprom company has its headquarters in the newly erected Lakhta Center.
Details from the azulejo tiled lateral wall of the Chapel das Almas (in English: "Chapel of the Souls"), Porto, Portugal
Some background information:
The Capela de Santa Catarina, which is also known as the Capela das Almas, is a chapel located in the shopping street Rua de Santa Catarina, in the city of Porto’s quarter Santo Ildefonso. It is particularly noted for the blue azulejo tiles on its exterior walls.
The chapel had its origins in an old wooden chapel built in praise of Saint Catherine. The construction of the present building began at the end of the 18th century, when the Brotherhood of Souls and Wounds of Saint Francis moved from the Monastery of Santa Clara to the former wooden chapel on this spot. This led to an increase in popularity of the cult of Saint Catherine and to the decision to build a new chapel. The chapel has two sections, one lower than the other, and underwent expansion and restoration works in 1801.
Today, the Capela das Almas is a major tourist attraction in Porto, mainly due to its beautiful exterior. In former times, the neoclassical exterior surfaces of the chapel were plastered and painted white without tiles. But since 1929, they are tiled with 15,947 azulejo tiles that cover around 360 square metres of wall. These tiles represent the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Catherine, notably his death and her martyrdom.
Porto, also known as Oporto, is the second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is located along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, about 280 km (174 miles) north of Lisbon. With an estimated pospulation of 250,000, Porto’s city center is rather small, compared to its metropolitan area, which has around 1.8 million residents. Porto has one of the oldest European centres. Its core was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, as the "Historic Centre of Porto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar".
Port wine, one of Portugal's most famous exports, is named after Porto, since the metropolitan area, and in particular the cellars of Porto’s quarter Vila Nova de Gaia, were responsible for the packaging, transport, and export of fortified wine. It is typically a sweet red wine, often served with dessert, although it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties. Famous port wine brands are among others Sandeman, Cockburn’s, Graham’s, Fonseca, Offley, Ferreira and Quinta do Noval.
Proto-Celtic and Celtic people were among the first known inhabitants of the area of Porto. Archaeological findings from the 8th century BC also hint at a Phoenician trading settlement. During the Roman era, the city developed as an important commercial port, primarily in the trade between Olissipona (the modern Lisbon) and Bracara Augusta (the modern Braga).
Following the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, Porto fell under Muslim control in 716, but was reconquered by Alfonso I of Asturias in 741. Thus Porto became a border settlement, occasionally invaded and conquered by the Muslim Moors. In 1092, during the so-called Reconquista, the area finally came under Christian rule, initially as part of the Kingdom of León. In 1093, Teresa of León, illegitimate daughter of the king Alfonso VI of Castile, married Henry of Burgundy, bringing the County of Portugal as dowry.
After eventually expanding its current frontiers and conquering additonal territory inhabited by the Moors for centuries, the county became the independent Kingdom of Portugal at the beginning of the 12th century. At that time, Porto also became one of the hubs of the Reconquista led by Afonso I Henriques, the first King of Portugal. In 1370, during the reign of King Ferdinand I, the new, expanded, and reinforced city walls, known as the Muralhas Fernandinas (in English: "Ferdinandine Walls"), were completed.
In 1387, Porto was the site of the marriage of John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt. This marital bond symbolized a long-standing military alliance between Portugal and England. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Porto's shipyards contributed to the development of Portuguese shipbuilding. In 1415, Prince Henry the Navigator embarked from the port of Porto on the conquest of the Moorish port of Ceuta in northern Morocco. This expedition was followed by navigation and exploration along the western coast of Africa, initiating the Portuguese Age of Discovery.
By the 13th century, the wine produced in the nearby Douro valley had already been transported to Porto in so-called barcos rabelos (flat sailing vessels). In 1703, the Methuen Treaty established trade relations between Portugal and England and strengthened both countries‘ military alliance. The production of port wine then gradually passed into the hands of a few English firms.
To counter this dominance, the Portuguese Prime Minister Marquis of Pombal established a monopolistic Portuguese firm, the Douro Wine Company in 1756 to receive all the wines from the Douro valley. He demarcated the region for the production of port, to ensure the wine's quality, which was the first attempt to control wine quality and production in Europe, almost a century ahead of a similar exercise in Bordeaux. The small winegrowers revolted against his strict policies on Shrove Tuesday, burning down the buildings of the Douro Wine Company. The revolt became known as the Revolta dos Borrachos (in English: "Revolt of the Drunkards").
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the city became an important industrial center and hence, its size and population increased. The invasion of the Napoleonic troops in Portugal brought war to the city of Porto. In 1809, when the population fled from the advancing French troops and tried to cross the river Douro over the Ponte das Barcas, the bridge collapsed under the weight of the people and almost 4,000 residents of Porto died in the floods of the Douro river. In the Second Battle of Porto, which took place still in the same year, the French Army was thrown out of the city by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, and his Anglo-Portuguese Army.
In 1820, the Liberal Revolution began in Porto. The revolutionaries demanded the return of King John VI of Portugal, who had transferred the royal court to the Portuguese colony of Brazil since the French invasions, and also a constitutional monarchy to be set up in Portugal. But after the new constitution had been accepted in 1822, the new Portuguese King Miguel I rejected this constitution in 1828 and reigned as an anti-liberal, absolutist monarch.
Porto rebelled again and had to undergo a siege of eighteen months by the absolutist army. After successfully resisting the siege in 1833, King Miguel I had to abdicate and the liberal constitution was re-established. However, not bevore 1910, the monarchy was overthrown and Portugal became a republic. In 1919, forces favorable to the restoration of the monarchy launched a counter-revolution in Porto known as the Monarchy of the North. During this time, Porto was the capital of the restored kingdom, but the monarchy was deposed less than a month later and no other monarchist revolution in Portugal happened again.
Today, Porto is the most important industrial city in the country, thanks to its textile, leather goods, metal, food, and chemical industries, its oil refinery as well as the overseas port Porto de Leixões. The university, the art academy, museums, theaters, and the opera also emphasise Porto's status as a major cultural and scientific center. But it’s mainly the export of port wine and its beautiful UNESCO-protected old town, to which Porto ows its appeal to visitors from everywhere.
Rue de la Couronnerie with Porte Malbec, one of the medieval gates of the fortified village of Rocamadour, Lot, Occitania, France
Some background information:
Rocamadour is a commune and pilgrimage site in the department of Lot in southwestern France. The village, which has more than 600 residents, is nestled to a steep rock above the gorge of the Alzou river, a tributary of the Dordogene river. It is located in the far north of the Occitania region and at the heart of the natural preserve Causses du Quercy, about 60 km (37 miles) to the south of the city of Brive-la-Gaillarde and about 166 km (103 miles) to the north of the city of Toulouse.
Rocamadour and its many caves already housed people in the Paleolithic as shown in the cave drawings of the Grotte des Merveilles. The Grotte de Linars cave and its porch served as an underground necropolis and a habitat in the Bronze Age. During the Iron Age, the Cadurques people arrived from middle Germany. In the 8th century BC, they colonised the current department of Lot while using their iron weapons.
In the Middle Ages, Rocamadour as it still exists today, was erected on three levels. These levels reflect the three orders of medieval society: the knights on top, linked to religious clerics in the middle and the lay workers at the foot of the rock near the river. Documents mention that in 1105 a small chapel was built in a shelter of the cliff at a place called Rupis Amatoris, at the limit of the territories of the Benedictine abbeys of Saint-Martin at Tulle and Saint-Pierre at Marcilhac-sur-Célé.
In 1112, Eble de Turenne, Abbot of Tulle, settled in Rocamadour. In 1119, a first donation was made by Eudes, Comte de la Marche. In 1148, the first miracle of Rocamadour was announced and the location began to attract pilgrims to the Virgin Mary of Rocamadour. The 12th-century book Livre des Miracles written by a monk from the sanctuary illustrates that at that time Rocamadour had already become famous as a place of pilgrimage.
In 1159, King Henry II of England, husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine, came to Rocamadour to thank the Virgin Mary for the healing of his wife. The statue of the Black Madonna dates from the 12th century. Géraud d'Escorailles , who was Rocamadour’s abbot from 1152 to 1188, built the religious buildings, which still can be seen today on Rocamadour’s second level, financed by many donations from visitors. These works were finished at the end of the 12th century.
In 1166, an excavation for a grave in front of the entrance to the chapel of the Virgin uncovered an intact body, presented as that of Saint Amadour. Rocamadour had finally found its patron saint. At least four stories, more or less tinged with legend, presented Saint Amadour as being close to Jesus. The body was burned during the French Wars of Religion and today only fragments of bones remain, on view in the crypt of Saint-Amadour. Saint Amadour is also the saint, from whom the place derives ist name, as "Roca de Amadour" simply means "Rock of Amadour" in English.
In 1211, the pontifical legate during the Albigensian Crusade, Arnaud Amalric, came to spend the winter in Rocamadour. In addition, in 1291, Pope Nicholas IV granted three bulls and forty day indulgences for site visitors. The end of the 13th century saw the height of Rocamadour's influence and the completion of the buildings. At that time, the castle was protected by three towers, a wide moat and numerous lookouts. And at that time, Rocamadour had also become one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Western Europe.
But the 14th century saw Rocamadour’s decline. In 1317, the monks left Rocamadour. The site was then administered by a chapter of canons appointed by the bishop. In the fourteenth century, a cooling climate, famines, epidemics like the Black Death ravaged Europe and hence, also the area of Rocamadour. In 1427, reconstruction was started, but without financial or human resources. A huge rock crushed the chapel of Notre-Dame, which was rebuilt in 1479 by Denys de Bar, Bishop of Tulle.
Subsequently, during the French Wars of Religion, the iconoclastic passage of Protestant mercenaries in 1562 caused the destruction of religious buildings and their relics. Rocamadour was burned and looted, while many statues, paintings, bells, ornaments and jewels were destroyed. Even the relics were desecrated and destroyed, including the body of Saint Amadour. According to witnesses, the Protestant captain Jean Bessonia broke it with a blacksmith's hammer, saying: "I am going to break you, since you did not want to burn". During the French Revolution, the site was looted once again.
The Via Averna, a byway of the Via Podiensis and hence, one of the Ways of St James to Santiago de Compostela, leads through Rocamadour. For that reason, Rocamadour was also listed by UNESCO in 1998 as part of the World Heritage Site "Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France".
Since the early 20th century, Rocamadour has become more of a tourist destination than a pilgrimage center, although pilgrimage continues and remains important. The site's gravity-defying churches and the Black Madonna statue remain a spiritual draw for both Catholic pilgrims and for visitors who practice earth-based or New Age religions, being drawn to stories of Rocamadour's "strange energies" and pre-Christian origins.
By the way, if you look up in Rocamadour’s monastic second level, you will most likely see a sword stuck in the rocks. It is said, that this sword is Durendal, the sword of Roland, a legendary paladin and partially historical officer of Charlemagne in French epic literature. The sword is famous for its hardness and sharpness. Legend has it that in an attempt to break Durendal, Roland cut a huge gash in the mountainside with just one blow.
Another local legend holds that instead of dying in Iberia with Durendal hidden under his body, Roland called on the Archangel Michael for assistance and with the help of the Archangel, was able to throw the sword several hundred kilometres across the border into France, where it came to rest in Rocamadour. Unfortunately the sword was stolen in 2024, not for the first time in history.
The commune of Rocamadour has also become a member of the association "The most beautiful villages of France" (in French: "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France"), which promotes small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage. Currently 176 villages throughout France are pooled under the umbrella of the organisation. Furthermore, Rocamadour is also known for its goat cheese of the same name.
East façade of the Medici Villa, viewed from the gardens, Poggio a Caiano, Tuscany, Italy
Some background information:
The Medici Villa in the little town of Poggio a Caiano, also called "Ambra" and located just about 15 km (9.5 miles) to the northwest of the city of Florence, is definitely one of the most famous of the Medici villas. Altogether the Medici family owned 29 villas and three palaces. Today the Medici Villa in Poggio a Caiano is state owned and houses two museums: one showing the historic apartments on the ground floor and first floor and the museum of still life on the second floor. The building belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany", that was added to the World Heritage list in 2013.
The villa is perhaps the best example of architecture commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici (also known as "Lorenzo il Magnifico"), in this case to Italian architect Giuliano da Sangallo around 1480. It is no coincidence that it is a private building with several elements that later served as a model for the future developments of the type of Italian rural mansions: the internal and external penetration through filters such as loggias, the symmetrical distribution of environments around a central salon ("centrifugal" space), the dominant position in the landscape and the conscious recovery of classical architectural elements (such as the barrel vault and the ionic temple facade).
The villa is located in the middle of a hilltop, the last offshoot of the Montalbano mountains, in a strategic position, lying on the promontory towards the Ombrone river and the plain and dominating the road between Florence and Pistoia. It was built by Lorenzo de' Medici after buying a rustic farm from Giovanni Rucellai. Lorenzo commissioned Giuliano da Sangallo to build a villa on the estate that became the prototype of the country's noble residences in the following centuries. At the death of Lorenzo in 1492, the construction of the villa was still largely unfinished. Between 1495 and 1513, it was even halted because of the Medici dynasty’s exile from Florence.
Between 1513 and 1520, after the return of the Medici, the works were completed on the initiative of Giovanni de' Medici , the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who had become Pope Leo X. Giuliano da Sangallo in the meantime. The villa was the place where foreign brides of the family members in Florence were welcomed. Here, among other events, the weddings of Alessandro de' Medici and Margaret of Austria in 1536, of Cosimo I and Eleanor of Toledo in 1539, and of Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Bianca Cappello in 1579 were celebrated.
Bianca and Francesco also found death in this villa, for causes not fully clarified and suspected of poisoning. In 2006, forensic and toxicology experts at the University of Florence reported evidence of arsenic poisoning in a study published in the British Medical Journal. But in 2010, evidence of the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which causes malaria, was found in Francesco's remains too.
It is a fact, that already soon after the sudden and simultaneous deaths of Francesco and Bianca in October 1587 rumours spread that both had been murdered by Francesco's brother, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici. Ferdinando had a very good motive to kill his brother and the woman that Francesco had loved and then married after the death of his first wife the Grand Duchess Giovanna of Austria. Ferdinando was at risk of being excluded from the succession, if Francesco's illegitimate son Don Antonio was to inherit the title of Grand Duke.
A couple of weeks after Ferdinando had come to the villa at Poggio a Caiano, where Francesco and Bianca lived, the couple suddenly fell ill. They died eleven days later, a few hours apart. The behaviour of Ferdinando during Francesco's final days, and after his death as well, raised more than a suspicion about his involvement in his brother's illness. He took charge of the entire matter, drawing up all the medical bulletins and minimising the gravity of his brother's state of health in the dispatches sent to the Holy See. He stressed that his brother's illness had to be attributed solely to his imprudent eating habits and that Bianca's illness was caused by the grief she felt for her husband's condition.
He did his best to raise an impenetrable wall of isolation around Francesco and Bianca so that they would not be approached by anyone with the right or authority to be admitted to their presence. He ordered immediate autopsies on the two bodies (which was habitual at that time for princes and rulers but not for a grand duchess) as if he wanted to have flawless documentation on the "non-toxic" cause of death in order to protect himself from future accusations. By the way, Ferdinando actually succeeded Francesco as Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Well, the results of toxicological investigations carried out by the forensic and toxicology experts at the University of Florence, "on the samples identified as biological tissues and attributable, according to DNA profiling, to Francesco I de' Medici and, tentatively, to Bianca Cappello, and on the femur and beard hair of Francesco I, were consistent with the hypothesis that the Grand Duke and his wife were victims of an acute arsenic poisoning" (quote from the forensic report).
In the second half of the 17th century, Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, cousin of the French King Louis XIV and wife of Cosimo III de' Medici, was relegated to Poggio a Caiano. In order to alleviate his wife’s "captivity", Cosimo III built a theatre on the ground floor before returning permanently to France in 1675.
During the reign of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, the villa came under the influence of France. Napoleon bestowed the estate on his sister Elisa Bonaparte and also confered the titles Princess of Lucca and Piombino, Princess of Lucca, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Countess of Compignano on her. Obviously, one title wasn’t enough honour. The Medici Villa soon became Elisa’s favourite place and she made it a centre of cultural and social events.
In the time of European Restoration, the villa was used by the House of Savoy that ruled the Kingdom of Italy in the person of King Victor Emmanuel II as from 1861. It was also him who made Florence the Italian capital. Victor Emmanuel II commissioned the restoration of the villa and as he was an enthusiastic hunter, also commissioned the construction of new horse stables. At the same time, the villa was also inhabited by Rosa Vercellana, who was Victor Emmanuel’s concubine.
In 1919, the Medici Villa in Poggio a Caiano passed into possession of the Italian State. Today, both villa and gardens are open to the public. A visit is highly recommended as it’s a very interesting place steeped in history.
The Bode-Museum is one of five major museums on Berlin's Museum Island; together, they are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was built from 1898 to 1904 in a Baroque revival style.
The Reiterstandbild des Großen Kurfürsten (equestrian statue of the Great Elector) was created by the German sculptor Andreas Schlüter in 1696 and cast in bronze by Johann Jakobi in 1700. It is considered a masterpiece of Baroque sculpture. It represents Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm (Elector Frederick William, 1620–1688) of Brandenburg. This statue that is exhibited in the entrance hall of the Bode Museum is a replica.
Das Islam Xo´ja-Minarett ist mit 46,5 m das zweithöchste in Usbekistan.
Khiva war der Ort an der Seidenstraße, wo sich die Karawanenwege teilten: in Richtung Norden nach Russland und in Richtung Süden nach Persien, die Türkei und Westeuropa.
Die Altstadt von Khiva ist Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO.
Treasury of Atreus
Kuppelgrab.
Archäologische Stätte Mykene.
Mykene auf den Peloponnes / GRIECHENLAND
/https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schatzhaus_des_Atreus
Interior
The Treasury of Atreus, a tholos tomb at Mycenae, Greece (Panagitsa Hill) constructed around 1250 B.C.
A window in the historic city of Siena, decorated by a Sienese artist, with a typical Sienese street light on the left, representing the urban district of Aquila (in English: "eagle"), Tuscany, Italy
Some background information:
With its about 54,000 residents, the city of Siena is the capital of the province of Siena in Tuscany. Siena is located about 70 km (44 miles) south of the city of Florence and about 180 km (112 miles) north of the Italian capital Rome. The town is situated in the central part of Tuscany, in the middle of a vast hilly landscape between the Arbia river valley (south), the Elsa valley (north), the Chianti hills (north-east), the Montagnola Senese (west) and the Crete Senesi (south-east). The city lies at 322 m above sea level.
Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans (from 900 to 400 BC) when it was inhabited by a tribe called the Saina. The Etruscans were an ethnic group of advanced people who changed the face of central Italy through their use of irrigation to reclaim previously unfarmable land, and their custom of building their settlements in well-defended hill forts. In the time of the Emperor Augustus a Roman town called Saena Julia was founded at the site.
According to local legend, Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus and thus nephews of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Supposedly after their father's murder by Romulus, they fled Rome, taking with them the statue of the she-wolf suckling the infants, thus appropriating that symbol for the town. Additionally they rode white and black horses, giving rise to the Balzana, or coat of arms of Siena with a white band atop a dark band. Some claim the name Siena derives from Senius. Other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan tribe name Saina.
Under Roman rule Siena did not prosper. It was not sited near any major roads and lacked opportunities for trade. Its insular status meant that Christianity did not penetrate until the 4th century AD, and it was not until the Lombards invaded Siena and the surrounding territory that the town experienced prosperity. After the Lombard occupation, the old Roman roads of Via Aurelia and the Via Cassia passed through areas exposed to Byzantine raids, so the Lombards rerouted much of their trade between the Lombards' northern possessions and Rome along a more secure road through Siena. Siena prospered as a trading post, and the constant streams of pilgrims passing to and from Rome provided a valuable source of income in the centuries to come.
The oldest aristocratic families in Siena date their line to the Lombards' surrender in 774 to Charlemagne. At this point, the city was inundated with a swarm of Frankish overseers who married into the existing Sienese nobility and left a legacy that can be seen in the abbeys they founded throughout Sienese territory. Feudal power waned, however, and by the death of Countess Matilda in 1115 the border territory of the March of Tuscany which had been under the control of her family, the Canossa, broke up into several autonomous regions. This ultimately resulted in the foundation of the Republic of Siena.
The Republic existed for over four hundred years, from the 12th century until the year 1555. During the golden age of Siena before the Black Death in 1348, the city was home to 50,000 people. In the Italian War that lasted from 1551 to 1559, the republic was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown. After 18 months of resistance, Siena surrendered to Spain on 17th April 1555, marking the end of the republic. However, a republican government of 700 Sienese families in the nearby town of Montalcino resisted until 1559. The new Spanish King Felipe II, owing huge sums to the Medici, ceded it to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century.
In 1798, Siena was shaken by an 8.5 magnitude earthquake and several private as well as public buildings (such as churches) were damaged heavily. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces occupied the town. Not before 1814, the French troops left. However, in World War II, Siena suffered only minor damage. Only the Basilika dell’Osservanza was almost completely destroyed during a US bomb attack on 23rd January 1944.
In 1995, its historic city centre has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Siena is also one of the Italy’s most visited tourist attractions as it is considered to be one of Tuscany’s and also Italy’s most beautiful towns. Unlike Florence that is regarded as a prime example of Renaissance architecture, Siena has preserved its medieval appearance and hence, is considered a treasure of Italien Gothic architecture.
Siena is also well-known for its Palio di Siena, a horse race, that is hold on the city’s central plaza Piazza del Campo twice a year. At this race that has a centrality for the town since the Middle Ages, Siena’s 17 urban districts compete with each other. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Italy’s third biggest bank and also the oldest still existing bank around the world, has still its headquarters in Siena.
Siena’s 17 urban districts, the so-called contrade, are named after animals and do each have an animal symbol. The streets of the particular districts have unique street lamps with the amulets of that particular animal on the street crossings — indicating the boundaries of a contrada. These districts were historically set up to supply troops when Siena fought to defend itself from Florence between the 13th and 15th century. Today, the urban districts are still kept alive by sentiments and a great mutual rivalry that finds its expression in the horse race Palio di Siena. By the way, the street lamp on my picture represents the contrade Aquila (in English: "eagle") in Siena's historic city centre.
Le Mont-Saint-Michel and the salt marches in the Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel (in English: "Mont Saint-Michel Bay") at low tide, Normandy, France
Some background information:
I guess that this view was already captured a billion times or even more. That’s why I have chosen this title.
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 - as already mentioned - 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, the tidal island is one of France’s most recognizable landmarks, visited by more than three million people each year.
Fagus Werk UNESCO-Welterbe, Fagus Factory commissioned by owner Carl Benscheidt , designed by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer, constructed between 1911 and 1913. UNESCO World Heritage, shoe last factory in Alfeld on the Leine, Lower Saxony, Germany, Sonnar FE 55mm F1.8 ZA
View of the city of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo with Ponte Vecchio (crossing the Arno river) on the left, Palazzo Vecchio in the centre and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore on the right, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Some background information:
With about 400,000 residents in its city centre and more than 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area, Florence is the capital and also the most populous city of the Italian region of Tuscany. The town lies in a basin formed by several hills. The Arno river, three other minor rivers and some streams flow through its metropolitan area. During the Middle Ages the city was a centre of European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is also considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the Athens of the Middle Ages". A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 Florence was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy.
The Florentine dialect forms the base of Standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Italy due to the prestige of the masterpieces by Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini, who were all born in the city. Florence attracts millions of tourists each year, and its historic centre was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, art, architecture and monuments. It contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti. Due to Florence's artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Furthermore, Florence is also an important city in Italian fashion, being ranked in the top 15 fashion capitals of the world.
Florence originated as a Roman city. Around 200 BC, the Etruscans initially formed the small settlement of Fiesole, which was destroyed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 80 BC in reprisal for supporting the populares faction in Rome. In 59 BC, the present city of Florence was established by Julius Caesar as a settlement for his veteran soldiers. Originally it was named Fluentia, owing to the fact that it was built between two rivers, but its name was later changed to Florentia (in English: "flowering"). Situated along the Via Cassia, the main route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre.
In centuries to come, the city was often troubled by warfare between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines, which may have caused the population to fall to as few as 1,000 people. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century. In 774, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as its capital. The population began to grow again and commerce prospered.
Margrave Hugo chose Florence as his residency instead of Lucca at about 1000 AD. The Golden Age of Florentine art began around this time. The city's primary resource was the Arno river, providing power and access for the industry (mainly textile industry), and access to the Mediterranean Sea for international trade. Another great source of strength was its industrious merchant community. The Florentine merchant banking skills became recognised in Europe after they brought decisive financial innovation to medieval fairs, such as bill of exchange and double-entry bookkeeping system.
In 1115, the Republic of Florence originated, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon the death of Matilda of Tuscany, a woman who controlled vast territories that included Florence. The Florentines formed a commune in her successors' place. Subsequently, the early, modern state of the republic was ruled by a council known as the Signoria of Florence. The republic had a checkered history of factions and counter-factions. But in 1434, the Medici faction gained governance of the city under Cosimo de' Medici.
During this first Medici governance, in 1469, Cosimo’s grandson Lorenzo de' Medici assumed the reins of government. Lorenzo was a great patron of the arts, commissioning works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli. As he was also an accomplished poet and musician himself, he brought composers and singers to Florence too. By contemporary Florentines (and since), he was known as "Lorenzo il Magnifico" (in English: "Lorenzo the Magnificent").
The Medici kept control of Florence until 1494, when Lorenzo’s son Piero II was expelled by the French king Charles VIII, whose army had invaded northern Italy. In 1498, when the Medici were out of power, Niccolò Machiavelli, a diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, writer, playwright and poet of the Renaissance period, became secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence. His prescriptions for Florence's regeneration under strong leadership have often been seen as a legitimisation of political expediency and even malpractice. In other words, Machiavelli was a political thinker, perhaps most renowned for his political handbook, titled "The Prince", which is about ruling and the exercise of power. Commissioned by the Medici, Machiavelli also wrote the Florentine Histories, the history of the city.
In 1512, Giovanni de' Medici (later Pope Leo X) re-conquered the Republic of Florence. However, Florence repudiated Medici authority for a second time in 1527, during the so-called War of the League of Cognac. But again the Medici re-assumed their rule in 1531 after an 11-month siege of the city. The republican government was disestablished in 1532, when Pope Clement VII appointed Alessandro de' Medici "Duke of the Florentine Republic", making the republic a hereditary monarchy.
In 1569, the Medici became Grand Dukes of Tuscany, ruling for another two centuries. In all Tuscany, only the Republic of Lucca and the Principality of Piombino were independent from Florence. The extinction of the Medici dynasty and the accession in 1737 of Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine and husband of Maria Theresa of Austria, led to Tuscany's temporary inclusion in the territories of the Austrian crown. From 1801 to 1807 Florence was the capital of the Napoleonic client state Kingdom of Etruria and from 1808 to the fall of Napoleon in 1814, it was the was the prefecture of the French département of Arno. In 1861, Tuscany became a region of the Kingdom of Italy. In 1865, Florence replaced Turin as Italy's capital, but already six years later, it was superseded by Rome.
After doubling during the 19th century, Florence's population was to triple in the 20th, resulting from growth in tourism, trade, financial services and industry. During World War II the city experienced a year-long German occupation (1943 to 1944) and was declared an open city in late July 1944 as troops of the British 8th Army closed in. The retreating Germans decided to demolish all the bridges along the Arno, making it difficult for troops of the 8th Army to cross. But at the latest moment, the German general was convinced that Ponte Vecchio was not to be destroyed due to its historical value. In November 1966, the Arno flooded parts of the centre, damaging many art treasures.
Today, Florence is known as the "cradle of the Renaissance" for its many Renaissance monuments, churches, and other buildings. 600 years after its completion, the dome, built by Filippo Brunelleschi, is still the largest dome built in brick and mortar in the world. Florence also contains numerous museums and art galleries where some of the world's most important works of art are held. Hence, tourism is, by far, the most important of all industries and most of the Florentine economy relies on the money generated by international arrivals and students studying in the city. The value tourism to the city totalled some 62.5 billion € in 2015 and the number of visitors still increases to the present day.
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.
Aqueduto da Agua de Prata (Aquädukt des silbernen Wassers), ein 8,5 km langer Aquädukt der um 1530 fertiggestellt wurde um Evora mit frischem Wasser zu versorgen.
Evora ist Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO.
Timur plante 1399 den Bau der größten Freitagsmoschee der islamischen Welt. Doch Erdbeben und die Gesetze der Statik machten diesen Plan zunichte. Umbauten und Verstärkungen sollten die Moschee retten. Jedoch schon nach wenigen Jahren fielen erste Ziegel aus der Kuppel über dem Mihrab. Möglicherweise waren auf Timurs Betreiben die bautechnischen Grenzen überschritten worden. Danach verfiel die Moschee und wurde zur Ruine, an der Wind, Wetter und Erdbeben weiter nagten. Der innere Bogen des Portalbaus brach 1897 in sich zusammen. Jahrhundertelang plünderten die Bewohner Samarkands die Ruine auf der Suche nach Baumaterial. Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts begann die usbekische Regierung mit der Wiederherstellung der drei Kuppelbauwerke und des Paradeportals.
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.
Der Alcázar von Sevilla ist der mittelalterliche Königspalast von Sevilla. Die Anlage hat eine lange, bis in maurische Zeit zurückreichende Baugeschichte und wird bis heute von der spanischen Königsfamilie als offizielle Residenz genutzt, wenn sich diese in Sevilla aufhält.
Der Alcázar wurde ursprünglich als maurisches Fort angelegt und später mehrfach erweitert. Der Palast ist eines der am besten erhaltenen Beispiele für die Mudéjar-Architektur, die unter christlicher Herrschaft entstandenen Bauten mit islamischem Einfluss. Spätere Monarchen erweiterten den Alcázar, wodurch noch weitere Baustile Eingang in den Komplex fanden. So entstanden z. B. unter den Katholischen Königen, Karl V. und Philipp II. Bauten mit gotischen Elementen, die in starkem Kontrast zu der dominierenden Mudéjar-Architektur stehen.
Der Real Alcazar ist Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO.
Town houses on Piazza del Campo in the historic city of Siena,, Tuscany, Italy
Some background information:
Piazza del Campo is the principal public space of the historic center of Siena. It is regarded as one of Europe's greatest medieval squares and renowned worldwide for its beauty and architectural integrity. The twice-a-year horse-race, Palio di Siena, is held around the edges of the piazza. At this race ten horses and riders compete with each other, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, representing ten of the town's seventeen contrade resp. city wards.
With its about 54,000 residents, the city of Siena is the capital of the province of Siena in Tuscany. Siena is located about 70 km (44 miles) south of the city of Florence and about 180 km (112 miles) north of the Italian capital Rome. The town is situated in the central part of Tuscany, in the middle of a vast hilly landscape between the Arbia river valley (south), the Elsa valley (north), the Chianti hills (north-east), the Montagnola Senese (west) and the Crete Senesi (south-east). The city lies at 322 m above sea level.
Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans (from 900 to 400 BC) when it was inhabited by a tribe called the Saina. The Etruscans were an ethnic group of advanced people who changed the face of central Italy through their use of irrigation to reclaim previously unfarmable land, and their custom of building their settlements in well-defended hill forts. In the time of the Emperor Augustus a Roman town called Saena Julia was founded at the site.
According to local legend, Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus and thus nephews of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Supposedly after their father's murder by Romulus, they fled Rome, taking with them the statue of the she-wolf suckling the infants, thus appropriating that symbol for the town. Additionally they rode white and black horses, giving rise to the Balzana, or coat of arms of Siena with a white band atop a dark band. Some claim the name Siena derives from Senius. Other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan tribe name Saina.
Under Roman rule Siena did not prosper. It was not sited near any major roads and lacked opportunities for trade. Its insular status meant that Christianity did not penetrate until the 4th century AD, and it was not until the Lombards invaded Siena and the surrounding territory that the town experienced prosperity. After the Lombard occupation, the old Roman roads of Via Aurelia and the Via Cassia passed through areas exposed to Byzantine raids, so the Lombards rerouted much of their trade between the Lombards' northern possessions and Rome along a more secure road through Siena. Siena prospered as a trading post, and the constant streams of pilgrims passing to and from Rome provided a valuable source of income in the centuries to come.
The oldest aristocratic families in Siena date their line to the Lombards' surrender in 774 to Charlemagne. At this point, the city was inundated with a swarm of Frankish overseers who married into the existing Sienese nobility and left a legacy that can be seen in the abbeys they founded throughout Sienese territory. Feudal power waned, however, and by the death of Countess Matilda in 1115 the border territory of the March of Tuscany which had been under the control of her family, the Canossa, broke up into several autonomous regions. This ultimately resulted in the foundation of the Republic of Siena.
The Republic existed for over four hundred years, from the 12th century until the year 1555. During the golden age of Siena before the Black Death in 1348, the city was home to 50,000 people. In the Italian War that lasted from 1551 to 1559, the republic was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown. After 18 months of resistance, Siena surrendered to Spain on 17th April 1555, marking the end of the republic. However, a republican government of 700 Sienese families in the nearby town of Montalcino resisted until 1559. The new Spanish King Felipe II, owing huge sums to the Medici, ceded it to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century.
In 1798, Siena was shaken by an 8.5 magnitude earthquake and several private as well as public buildings (such as churches) were damaged heavily. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces occupied the town. Not before 1814, the French troops left. However, in World War II, Siena suffered only minor damage. Only the Basilika dell’Osservanza was almost completely destroyed during a US bomb attack on 23rd January 1944.
In 1995, its historic city centre has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Siena is also one of the Italy’s most visited tourist attractions as it is considered to be one of Tuscany’s and also Italy’s most beautiful towns. Unlike Florence that is regarded as a prime example of Renaissance architecture, Siena has preserved its medieval appearance and hence, is considered a treasure of Italien Gothic architecture.
Siena is also well-known for its Palio di Siena, a horse race, that is hold on the city’s central plaza Piazza del Campo twice a year. At this race that has a centrality for the town since the Middle Ages, Siena’s 17 urban districts compete with each other. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Italy’s third biggest bank and also the oldest still existing bank around the world, has still its headquarters in Siena.
Siena’s 17 urban districts, the so-called contrade, are named after animals and do each have an animal symbol. The streets of the particular districts have unique street lamps with the amulets of that particular animal on the street crossings — indicating the boundaries of a contrada. These districts were historically set up to supply troops when Siena fought to defend itself from Florence between the 13th and 15th century. Today, the urban districts are still kept alive by sentiments and a great mutual rivalry that finds its expression in the horse race Palio di Siena. By the way, the street lamp on my picture represents the contrade Aquila (in English: "eagle") in Siena's historic city centre.
UNESCO World Heritage: Dubrovnik, Croatia, Europe
UNESCO-Welterbe: Dubrovnik in Kroatien
Dubrovnik (Latin: Ragusa, Italian: Ragusa) is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea, in the region of Dalmatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. In 1979, the city of Dubrovnik joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubrovnik
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Die Stadt Dubrovnik (lateinisch Rausium später Ragusium, italienisch und deutsch Ragusa) ist eine Stadt im südlichen Kroatien an der Adria. Die Stadt wird aufgrund ihrer kulturellen Bedeutung und der jahrhundertelangen politischen Sonderstellung oft auch als „Perle der Adria“ und „Kroatisches Athen“ bezeichnet. Im Jahr 1979 wurde die gesamte Altstadt von der UNESCO in die Liste des Weltkulturerbes aufgenommen.
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A champagne tasting at a visit to the prominent champagne house Moët & Chandon in the town of Épernay, Grand Est (Champagne), France
Some background information:
Moët & Chandon, also known simply as Moët, is a prominent French champagne house and as such one of the world's largest champagne producers. It is also the co-owner of the luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. Moët et Chandon was established in 1743 by Claude Moët, and today owns 1,190 hectares (2,900 acres) of vineyards. It produces approximately 28 million bottles of champagne per year.
Moët has two different brands of champagne: "Moët & Chandon" and "Dom Perignon". The headquarters, production facilities and cellars of the company are all situated in the town of Épernay in the west of the French department of Marne. In 1959, Chandon founded an outpost winery in Argentina. In 1973, two more outpost wineries were established in Brasil and in the Napa Valley. The latter was the first French-owned sparkling wine venture in the United States. In 1986, another outpost was started in Australia, and in 2013 and 2014, outpost wineries were also established in China and India.
In 1743, Épernay wine trader Claude Moët founded the winery as Moët et Cie (in English: "Moët & Co."). He began shipping his wine from the Champagne region to Paris, where the reign of King Louis XV coincided with an increased demand for sparkling wine. Soon after its foundation, and after son Claude-Louis had joined Moët et Cie, the winery's clientele already included many nobles and aristocrats. After Claude-Louis Moët’s son Jean-Remy had taken the company’s lead in 1792, the winery was visited regularly by Napoleon Bonaparte, whom he had met in Paris several years before, when Napoleon was still a lieutenant-colonel. Napoleon became Jean-Remy’s close friend, whom he provided with lots of champagne. Recorded are Napoleon’s words: "Champagne! After a victory you deserve it. And after a defeat you need it."
In 1833, the company was renamed Moët & Chandon after Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de Briailles, Remy Moët's son-in-law, had joined the company as a partner of Jean-Remy Moët. Following the introduction of the concept of a vintage champagne in 1840, Moët marketed its first vintage in 1842. The company’s best-selling champagne, Brut Imperial, was introduced in the 1860s. In 1927, Moët & Chandon acquired the brand Dom Perignon from Champagne Mercier.
The brand is named after Dom Pierre Pérignon, a Benedictine monk who was an important quality pioneer for Champagne wine but who, contrary to popular myths, did not discover the champagne method for making sparkling wines. Dom Pérignon was the first prestige cuvée, an idea proposed by Englishman Laurence Venn. The first vintage of Dom Pérignon was 1921 and was only released for sale in 1936. Vintage means that it is only made in the best years, and all grapes used to make the vintage are harvested in the same year. Many champagnes, by contrast, are non-vintage, meaning that they are made from grapes harvested in various years.
In 1971, Moët & Chandon merged with Hennessy Cognac. In 1987, there was another merger, but this time with the luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton. Following the merger, the new umbrella company LVMH (Louis-Vuitton-Moët-Hennessy) was founded, which is still the largest luxury group in the world. In 2006, Moët et Chandon Brut Impérial issued an extremely limited bottling of its champagne named "Be Fabulous", a special release of its original bottle with decorative Swarovski crystals, marking the elegance of Moët et Chandon. Finally, it is also worth mentioning that Moët & Chandon was holding the royal warrant as supplier of champagne to Queen Elizabeth II.
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.
Angkor Thom - Bayon | Angkor | Cambodia
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Das Mausoleum Gur Emir ist die Begräbnisstätte Timurs. Das Mausoleum wurde zu Lebzeiten Timurs für seinen, unerwartet verstorbenen, designierten Nachfolger Mohammed Sultan Anfang des 15. Jhdts errichtet. Timur wollte eigentlich nicht in Samarkand begraben werden, aber im Thronfolgekrieg bestand der Sieger Khalil Sultan für seine eigene Legitimation auf ein Grab Timurs in Samarkand.
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.
Das Kloster wurde im 16. Jhdt mit einer Bauzeit von 70 Jahren errichtet. Es gilt als Hauptwerk der "Manuelinik", einer portugiesischen Variante der Spätgotik, die auch Elemente der Renaissance enthält.
Im zweistöckigen Kreuzgang verbinden sich Elemente aus dem Abendland, dem Orient und Fernost.
Belem ist Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO.