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Window of the Mezquita Catedral de Córdoba (Mosque Cathedral of Córdoba), full name Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption), Córdoba, Province of Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain.
The Mosque Cathedral of Córdoba shows the many religious changes Córdoba has seen over the centuries. The site on which the Mezquita stands has long been a sacred space – it was host to a Roman temple and a Visigothic cathedral before the mosque was constructed in the 8th century. Finally, a cathedral was added inside the mosque by the Christian conquerors in the early 13th century.
Today the mosque/cathedral is 179 m long and 134 m wide. It has a base of 23000 m² and is one of the largest sacred buildings in the world.
The most important room of the mosque is the large prayer hall which takes 2/3 of the whole area and is decorated with double horse-shoe arches carried by 856 columns of jasper, onyx, marble, and granite. The mosque also has richly gilded prayer niches. The mihrab is a masterpiece of architectural art, with geometric and flowing designs of plants.
After the conquest of Córdoba by the Catholic Kings in the 13th century, a Renaissance cathedral nave was built right in the middle of the expansive structure of the mosque.
The Historic Centre of Córdoba is inscribed in the World Heritage List of the UNESCO.
-------quotation from whc.unesco.org:-------
Cordoba's period of greatest glory began in the 8th century after the Moorish conquest, when some 300 mosques and innumerable palaces and public buildings were built to rival the splendours of Constantinople, Damascus and Baghdad. In the 13th century, under Ferdinand III, the Saint, Cordoba's Great Mosque was turned into a cathedral and new defensive structures, particularly the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos and the Torre Fortaleza de la Calahorra, were erected.
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Andalusia holiday April 2012
Triton on Palácio Nacional da Pena (Pena National Palace), Sintra, Portugal.
Pena National Palace is a "romantic fairy tale castle" surrounded by a large Park, the Pena Park. It was built from 1842–1854 by order of Fernando II of Portugal on the site of a former monastery that had been destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. It's an intentional mixture of several architectural styles including Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Islamic and Neo-Renaissance.
The reception of this eclectic building is quite ambivalent: while many people love it, critics decry it as an "early Disneyland".
Pena Palace belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Cultural Lanscape of Sintra.
----quotation from en.wikipedia.org about Sintra:----
Sintra [...] is a town within the municipality of Sintra in the Grande Lisboa subregion (Lisbon Region) of Portugal. Owing to its 19th century Romantic architecture and landscapes, becoming a major tourist centre, visited by many day-trippers who travel from the urbanized suburbs and capital of Lisbon.
In addition to the Sintra Mountains and Sintra-Cascais Nature Park, the parishes of the town of Sintra are dotted by royal retreats, estates, castles and buildings from the 8th-9th century, in addition to many buildings completed between the 15th and 19th century, including the Castelo dos Mouros, the Pena National Palace and the Sintra National Palace, resulting in its classification by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1995.
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Natur und Kultur in Mittelportugal (Nature and Culture in Mid-Portugal), Wikinger-Reisen, September 2011
Clay tiles with Lübeck's coat of arms (double-headed eagle) and part of the Latin inscription "Concordia Domi Foris Pax" (harmony at home, peace outside) on Holstentor (Holsten Gate), Hanseatic City Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
The old city center of Lübeck is in great parts inscribed in the World Heritage List of the UNESCO. A plan of the inscribed zones can be found here: whc.unesco.org/download.cfm?id_document=102311
text from whc.unesco.org/en/list/272:
"Lübeck – the former capital and Queen City of the Hanseatic League – was founded in the 12th century and prospered until the 16th century as the major trading centre for northern Europe. It has remained a centre for maritime commerce to this day, particularly with the Nordic countries. Despite the damage it suffered during the Second World War, the basic structure of the old city, consisting mainly of 15th- and 16th-century patrician residences, public monuments (the famous Holstentor brick gate), churches and salt storehouses, remains unaltered."
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Welcome to the Standing Stones of Stenness
Part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site (since 1999, ref. 0514)
This is one of the earliest stone circles
in Britain. The stones were raised
about 5,000 years ago. Originally
the circle consisted of 11 or 12 stones.
They were surrounded by a wide ditch
crossed by a single causeway. Outside the
ditch ran a substantial outer bank.
At the centre of the circle was a large
hearth. In Neolithic houses, such as
those at Barnhouse and Skara Brae, the
hearth formed a focal point. The hearth
at Stenness may have had a symbolic
role linked to the layout of a house.
It has even been suggested that this
hearth was brought here from a
dwelling at neighboring Barnhouse.
Ceremonial Use
The single entrance and bank created
a central space where access could
be carefully controlled. Although we
cannot say for sure what happened
within the circle, it probably involved
ceremonies and rituals. One can
imagine at special times of year a
large fire illuminating the stones,
with the sounds of people and
musical instruments, and the
smells of food and drink.
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[Text taken from a sign at the site]
View of the old town of Tallinn from Toompea Hill.
The St. Nicholas' Church (Niguliste kirik) is a medieval former church dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the patron of the fishermen and sailors. It was originally built by German merchants in a Gothic style between 1230 and 1275. The height of the church was increased 1405–1420 and again in 1515. In the late 17th century the tower was strengthened and secured and the spire was replaced with a Baroque one with airy galleries. The tower is now 105 meters (344.5 ft) high.
Mitten im Trierer Stadtzentrum gelegen, steht der Trierer Dom - die ältestes Bischofskirche Deutschlands - heute über einer ehemaligen konstantinischen Palastanlage, die im frühen 4. Jahrhundert durch die größte christliche Kirchenanlage der Antike überbaut wurde. Sie bestand aus vier Basiliken, die durch ein großes Taufbecken miteinander verbunden waren, und bedeckte eine Fläche, die an ihren Grenzen bis zum heutigen Hauptmarkt reichte. Unter dem Gebäude der Dom-Information können noch die Reste der ersten frühchristlichen Versammlungsstätte nördlich der Alpen aus dem späten 3. Jahrhundert und die Reste der ersten Basilika bei einer Führung besichtigt werden.
Der heutige Dom enthält noch den römischen Kernbau, den sogenannten „Quadratbau“ mit Originalmauern bis zu einer Höhe von 25,88 m. Auch das riesige Fragment einer Granitsäule neben dem Eingang zum Dom deutet auf den römischen Ursprung dieses Gotteshauses hin: Der Domstein war ursprünglich eine der tragenden Säulen des Quadratbaus; er wurde im Zuge des Einbaus eines Seitenaltars im 17. Jahrhundert vor dem Dom abgelegt und bildet dort wohl die älteste Rutschbahn Deutschlands und ein heute noch begehrtes Fotomotiv für Gruppen. Der Legende nach soll der Teufel die Säule vor den Dom geworfen haben, als er hörte, man baue nicht die größte Kneipe, sondern ein Gotteshaus.
Nach Teil-Zerstörungen im 5. und 9. Jahrhundert wurde der intakt gebliebene antike Kernbau durch romanische Anbauten erweitert, im 13. Jahrhundert wurde auf den Resten der niedergelegten antiken Südbasilika die Liebfrauenkirche unmittelbar neben dem Dom errichtet – als erste Kirche auf deutschem Boden im spätgotischen Stil. Später wurde ein Westturm des Doms aufgestockt, und im 17. Jahrhundert folgte eine weitere Umgestaltung im barocken Stil: Die Decke der Westapsis wurde reich mit Stuck verziert, und am Scheitel des Ostchors wurde die Heilig-Rock-Kapelle angebaut. Sie birgt die kostbarste Reliquie des Doms, die Tunika Christi, den Heiligen Rock, den der Legende nach die Mutter Konstantins, die Hl. Helena, von einer Pilgerreise mit nach Trier gebracht haben soll. 1512 wurde der Hl. Rock zum ersten Mal öffentlich gezeigt, was den Dom im Laufe der Jahrhunderte zu einer Stätte großer Pilgerströme machte.
Im 20. Jahrhundert wurde der Dom restauriert und der Altarraum umgestaltet. So zeigt die älteste deutsche Bischofskirche mit ihren drei Krypten, dem Kreuzgang und der Domschatzkammer Kunst und Architektur aus einer Zeitspanne von über 1750 Jahren.
Quelle: www.trier-info.de/dom-info
Baroque / rococo exterior created for Empress Elizabeth. Palace named after Emress Catherine I, Elizabeth's mother and Peter I's wife. some redecoration to "tone down" the interiors done for Empress Catherine II.
DSCN8705
The waterfall Muddusfallet in Muddus National Park, Lapland, Sweden.
Muddus National Park belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Laponian Area.
Text from whc.unesco.org/en/list/774/:
"The Arctic Circle region of northern Sweden is the home of the Saami, or Lapp people. It is the largest area in the world (and one of the last) with an ancestral way of life based on the seasonal movement of livestock. Every summer, the Saami lead their huge herds of reindeer towards the mountains through a natural landscape hitherto preserved, but now threatened by the advent of motor vehicles. Historical and ongoing geological processes can be seen in the glacial moraines and changing water courses."
This photo is from our Scandinavia family holiday back in 1989 (I was about 16 then).
Die Domkanzel, ein frühes Werk von Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann, wurde zwischen 1570 und 1572 errichtet. Das Relief der Treppenbrüstung stellt das Jüngste Gericht dar und die Reliefs am Kanzelkorb zeigen die Werke der Barmherzigkeit. Am Sockelfuß sind die Evangelisten dargestellt.
Der Bildhauer- und Steinmetzmeister Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann wurde um 1545 vermutlich in Worms geboren, erhielt seine Ausbildung in Mainz und starb 1616 in Trier. Zu seinen Werken in Trier gehören auch der Allerheiligenaltar im Dom und der Petrusbrunnen auf dem Hauptmarkt.
Hiking tour from Queimadas to Caldeirão Verde ("Green cauldron") and (somewhere near) Caldeirão do Inferno ("Cauldron of hell"), island of Madeira, Portugal.
This region of Madeira is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Laurisilva of Madeira.
Madeira is a Portuguese island in the Atlantic ocean, approximately 1000 km (620 mi) southwest of Lisbon and 700 km (435 mi) west of the Moroccan coast. Situated in a hot spot area, Madeira is of volcanic origin, formed during several eruptive phases, the last of which ended around 6500 years ago. Madeira is a very mountainous island. With an extent of only 57 km (35 mi) from west to east and 22 km (14 mi) from north to south, and with the highest mountain having an elevation of 1862 m (6109 ft), the terrain of the island is mostly very rocky and steep, except for the high plateau Paul da Serra.
Madeira is also known as the "island of flowers", although most of the popular "typical" Madeiran flowers (like the bird of paradise flower, the hydrangea, the agapanthus and others) are neither endemic nor native. Some of the genuine Madeiran plants are the "Pride of Madeira" (Echium candicans), Canary Islands Juniper (Juniperus cedrus) and the laurel forests of Madeira (the latter one being listed as UNESCO World Heritage).
Madeira is permeated by artificially built water channels called levadas, which distribute the water from the wetter northern half of the island to the agricultural regions of the south. The levadas, mostly built by prisoners or slaves, were cut into the side of the mountains, partly running through tunnels, and enabled for example the cultivation of sugar cane which was the source of the Madeiran wealth during the 15th to 17th century.
Today most of the levadas are still in use, not only for irrigation but also for hydroelectricity. Running across the whole island, they provide a wide network of walking paths, making even extremely remote regions of the island accessible to pedestrians, which is one of the reasons for Madeira's popularity as a hiking paradise.
Madeira hiking holiday July 2013.
Mitten im Trierer Stadtzentrum gelegen, steht der Trierer Dom - die ältestes Bischofskirche Deutschlands - heute über einer ehemaligen konstantinischen Palastanlage, die im frühen 4. Jahrhundert durch die größte christliche Kirchenanlage der Antike überbaut wurde. Sie bestand aus vier Basiliken, die durch ein großes Taufbecken miteinander verbunden waren, und bedeckte eine Fläche, die an ihren Grenzen bis zum heutigen Hauptmarkt reichte. Unter dem Gebäude der Dom-Information können noch die Reste der ersten frühchristlichen Versammlungsstätte nördlich der Alpen aus dem späten 3. Jahrhundert und die Reste der ersten Basilika bei einer Führung besichtigt werden.
Der heutige Dom enthält noch den römischen Kernbau, den sogenannten „Quadratbau“ mit Originalmauern bis zu einer Höhe von 25,88 m. Auch das riesige Fragment einer Granitsäule neben dem Eingang zum Dom deutet auf den römischen Ursprung dieses Gotteshauses hin: Der Domstein war ursprünglich eine der tragenden Säulen des Quadratbaus; er wurde im Zuge des Einbaus eines Seitenaltars im 17. Jahrhundert vor dem Dom abgelegt und bildet dort wohl die älteste Rutschbahn Deutschlands und ein heute noch begehrtes Fotomotiv für Gruppen. Der Legende nach soll der Teufel die Säule vor den Dom geworfen haben, als er hörte, man baue nicht die größte Kneipe, sondern ein Gotteshaus.
Nach Teil-Zerstörungen im 5. und 9. Jahrhundert wurde der intakt gebliebene antike Kernbau durch romanische Anbauten erweitert, im 13. Jahrhundert wurde auf den Resten der niedergelegten antiken Südbasilika die Liebfrauenkirche unmittelbar neben dem Dom errichtet – als erste Kirche auf deutschem Boden im spätgotischen Stil. Später wurde ein Westturm des Doms aufgestockt, und im 17. Jahrhundert folgte eine weitere Umgestaltung im barocken Stil: Die Decke der Westapsis wurde reich mit Stuck verziert, und am Scheitel des Ostchors wurde die Heilig-Rock-Kapelle angebaut. Sie birgt die kostbarste Reliquie des Doms, die Tunika Christi, den Heiligen Rock, den der Legende nach die Mutter Konstantins, die Hl. Helena, von einer Pilgerreise mit nach Trier gebracht haben soll. 1512 wurde der Hl. Rock zum ersten Mal öffentlich gezeigt, was den Dom im Laufe der Jahrhunderte zu einer Stätte großer Pilgerströme machte.
Im 20. Jahrhundert wurde der Dom restauriert und der Altarraum umgestaltet. So zeigt die älteste deutsche Bischofskirche mit ihren drei Krypten, dem Kreuzgang und der Domschatzkammer Kunst und Architektur aus einer Zeitspanne von über 1750 Jahren.
Quelle: www.trier-info.de/dom-info
Johann Philipps imposantes, klassizistisches Grabdenkmal befindet sich am östlichen Ende des nördlichen Seitenschiffes des Trierer Doms neben dem Eingang zur Sakramentskapelle. Auf ihm ist der Bischof in liegender Pose dargestellt, neben ihm steht ein anatomisch sehr feinfühlig modelliertes Skelett mit Sense. Es weist mit seinem Knochenfinger auf die Obeliskeninschrift „Ecce hora est“, sinngemäß: „Siehe, die Stunde ist da.“ In dem Buch Baugeschichtlicher Führer durch Trier (Regierungs- und Baurat von Behr, Trier, 1909) heißt es darüber, dass das Gerippe aus weißem Marmor in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts vom Grab entfernt und ins Dommuseum ausgelagert wurde, da es für die Gemeinde zu furchterregend aussah. Heute ist das Grabdenkmal wieder im Originalzustand. Der ursprüngliche Kopf der Bischofsfigur wurde wohl schon zur Zeit der Revolutionskriege zerstört und im 19. Jahrhundert durch eine wenig lebensechte Nachbildung ersetzt.
Prague is a fantastic city if you like old houses, art nouveau details, mosaics, sculptures, playful bits and pieces, things that seem to be there just because someone wanted them to be. But because there were so many these photos are coming every now and then.
All pictures clickable.
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Prag ist große Klasse wenn man auf alte Häuser, Jugendstildetails, Skulpturen, Mosaiken, verspielte Irgendwasse steht, die alle nur da zu sein scheinen, weil irgendwer sie nun mal da haben wollte. Ein Fest für Fotografen ist es dadurch auch.
Weil das aber nun wirklich viele Sachen sind, kommt immer mal wieder ein Post mit solchen Detailbildern.
Alles anklickbar.
Mosaic on the southern side of Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral (Katedrála svatého Víta), Prague Castle (Pražský hrad), Castle District (Hradčany), Prague (Praha), Czech Republic.
The Historic Centre of Prague is inscribed in the World Heritage List of the UNESCO.
Citation from whc.unesco.org/en/list/616
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Built between the 11th and 18th centuries, the Old Town, the Lesser Town and the New Town speak of the great architectural and cultural influence enjoyed by this city since the Middle Ages. The many magnificent monuments, such as Hradcani Castle, St Vitus Cathedral, Charles Bridge and numerous churches and palaces, built mostly in the 14th century under the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV.
Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe in terms of its setting on both banks of the Vltava River, its townscape of burger houses and palaces punctuated by towers, and its individual buildings.
The Historic Centre represents a supreme manifestation of Medieval urbanism (the New Town of Emperor Charles IV built as the New Jerusalem). The Prague architectural works of the Gothic Period (14th and 15th centuries), of the High Baroque of the 1st half of the 18th century and of the rising modernism after the year 1900, influenced the development of Central Europe, perhaps even all European architecture. Prague represents one of the most prominent world centres of creative life in the field of urbanism and architecture across generations, human mentality and beliefs.
Prague belongs to the group of historic cities which have preserved the structure of their development until the present times. Within the core of Prague, successive stages of growth and changes have respected the original grand-scale urban structure of the Early Middle Ages. This structure was essentially and greatly enlarged with urban activities in the High Gothic period with more additions during the High Baroque period and in the 19th century. It has been saved from any large-scale urban renewal or massive demolitions and thus preserves its overall configuration, pattern and spatial composition.
In the course of the 1100 years of its existence, Prague’s development can be documented in the architectural expression of many historical periods and their styles. The city is rich in outstanding monuments from all periods of its history. Of particular importance are Prague Castle, the Cathedral of St Vitus, Hradćany Square in front of the Castle, the Valdgtejn Palace on the left bank of the river, the Gothic Charles Bridge, the Romanesque Rotunda of the Holy Rood, the Gothic arcaded houses round the Old Town Square, the High Gothic Minorite Church of St James in the Stark Mĕsto, the late 19th century buildings and town plan of the Nave Mĕsto.
As early as the Middle Ages, Prague became one of the leading cultural centres of Christian Europe. The Prague University, founded in 1348, is one of the earliest in Europe. The milieu of the University in the last quarter of the 14th century and the first years of the 15th century contributed among other things to the formation of ideas of the Hussite Movement which represented in fact the first steps of the European Reformation. As a metropolis of culture, Prague is connected with prominent names in art, science and politics, such as Charles IV, Petr Parléř, Jan Hus, Johannes Kepler, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Kafka, Antonín Dvořák, Albert Einstein, Edvard Beneš (co-founder of the League of Nations) and Václav Havel.
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End of citation
That's it. A last view from the castle, then I descended to the valley and took the train to Cologne. Farewell Rheintal, so long mist, I'm done with Rheinromantik for now.
Sign in Breite Straße (Broad Street), Goslar, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Germany.
The sign shows a key and a house. Unfortunately, I don't remember what this sign was for :-(
Goslar is a historic town at the foot of the Harz mountain range. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System".
---quotation from whc.unesco.org:---
Rammelsberg-Goslar is the largest and longest-lived mining and metallurgical complex in the central European metal-producing region whose role was paramount in the economy of Europe for many centuries. It is a very characteristic form of urban-industrial ensemble which has its most complete and best preserved expression in Europe at Rammelsberg-Goslar.
Rammelsberg lies 1 km south-east of Goslar, in the Harz Mountains. It has been the site of mining for metalliferous ores and metal production (silver, copper, lead, zinc and gold) since as early as the 3rd century BC. The first documentary mention of Rammelsberg is from the beginning of the 11th century. The rich deposits of silver ore there were one of the main reasons for siting an imperial residence at the foot of the Rammelsberg mountain by Emperor Henry II; he held his first Imperial Assembly there in 1009. The town of Goslar grew up around the imperial residence. The town was to play an important role in the economic operations of the Hanseatic League and achieved great prosperity, which reached a peak around 1450. The revenues from mining, metal production, and trade financed the creation of the late medieval townscape of fortifications, churches, public buildings, and richly decorated mine-owners' residences which distinguish the present-day town.
(...)
The town was not significantly damaged in the Second World War and so the historic centre has survived intact, with its original medieval layout and many Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings of high quality.
---end of quotation---
Harz weekend June 2012
Toompea Castle is a castle and palace overlooking the center of Tallinn. Since the Middle Ages, it has served as a military and administrative center for all the foreign powers that dominated Estonia over the centuries: Denmark, the Teutonic Order, Sweden, and Russia. Under Tsarist Russia, the Baroque east wing was added as an administrative center; it was completed in 1773. After independence from Russia, the Riigikogu, the Estonian Parliament building, was erected in the courtyard of the palace (which is not accessible to the public).
Siena è un comune di 54.391 abitanti della Toscana centrale, capoluogo dell'omonima provincia.
La città è universalmente conosciuta per il suo patrimonio artistico e per la sostanziale unità stilistica del suo arredo urbano medievale, nonché per il suo famoso Palio; il centro storico è stato infatti dichiarato dall'UNESCO patrimonio dell'umanità nel 1995.
Siena fu fondata come colonia romana al tempo dell'Imperatore Augusto e prese il nome di Saena Iulia.
All'interno del centro storico senese sono stati ritrovati dei siti di epoca etrusca, che possono far pensare alla fondazione della città da parte degli etruschi.
Il primo documento noto in cui viene citata la comunità senese risale al 70 e porta la firma di Tacito che, nel IV libro delle Historiae, riporta il seguente episodio: il senatore Manlio Patruito riferì a Roma di essere stato malmenato e ridicolizzato con un finto funerale durante la sua visita ufficiale a Saena Iulia, piccola colonia militare della Tuscia. Il Senato romano decise di punire i principali colpevoli e di richiamare severamente i senesi a un maggiore rispetto verso l'autorità.
Dell'alto Medioevo non si hanno documenti che possano illuminare intorno ai casi della vita civile a Siena. C'è qualche notizia relativa alla istituzione del vescovado e della diocesi, specialmente per le questioni sorte fra il Vescovo di Siena e quello di Arezzo, a causa dei confini della zona giurisdizionale di ciascuno: questioni nelle quali intervenne il re longobardo Liutprando, pronunziando sentenza a favore della diocesi aretina. Ma i senesi non furono soddisfatti e pertanto nell'anno 853, quando l'Italia passò dalla dominazione longobarda a quella franca, riuscirono ad ottenere l'annullamento della sentenza emanata dal re Liutprando. Pare, dunque, che al tempo dei Longobardi, Siena fosse governata da un gastaldo, rappresentante del re: Gastaldo che fu poi sostituito da un Conte imperiale dopo l'incoronazione di Carlo Magno. Il primo conte di cui si hanno notizie concrete fu Winigi, figlio di Ranieri, nel 867. Dopo il 900 regnava a Siena l'imperatore Ludovico III, il cui regno non durò così a lungo, dal momento che nel 903 le cronache raccontano di un ritorno dei conti al potere sotto il nuovo governo del re Berengario.
Siena si ritrova nel X secolo al centro di importanti vie commerciali che portavano a Roma e, grazie a ciò divenne un'importante città medievale. Nel XII secolo la città si dota di ordinamenti comunali di tipo consolare, comincia a espandere il proprio territorio e stringe le prime alleanze. Questa situazione di rilevanza sia politica che economica, portano Siena a combattere per i domini settentrionali della Toscana, contro Firenze. Dalla prima metà del XII secolo in poi Siena prospera e diventa un importante centro commerciale, tenendo buoni rapporti con lo Stato della Chiesa; i banchieri senesi erano un punto di riferimento per le autorità di Roma, ai quali si rivolgevano per prestiti o finanziamenti.
Alla fine del XII secolo Siena, sostenendo la causa ghibellina (anche se non mancavano, le famiglie senesi di parte guelfa, in sintonia con Firenze), si ritrovò nuovamente contro Firenze di parte guelfa: celebre è la vittoria sui toscani guelfi nella battaglia di Montaperti, del 1260, celebrata anche da Dante Alighieri. Ma dopo qualche anno i senesi ebbero la peggio nella battaglia di Colle Val d'Elsa, del 1269, che portò in seguito, nel 1287, alla ascesa del Governo
dei Nove, di parte guelfa. Sotto questo nuovo governo, Siena raggiunse il suo massimo splendore, sia economico che culturale.
Dopo la peste del 1348, cominciò la lenta decadenza della Repubblica di Siena, che comunque non precluse la strada all'espansione territoriale senese, che fino al giorno della caduta della Repubblica comprendeva un terzo della toscana. La fine della Repubblica Senese, forse l'unico Stato occidentale ad attuare una democrazia pura a favore del popolo, avvenne il 25 aprile 1555, quando la città, dopo un assedio di oltre un anno, dovette arrendersi stremata dalla fame, all'impero di Carlo V, spalleggiato dai fiorentini, che cedette in feudo il territorio della Repubblica ai Medici, Signori di Firenze, per ripagarli delle spese sostenute durante la guerra. Per l'ennesima volta i cittadini senesi riuscirono a tenere testa ad un imperatore, che solo grazie alle proprie smisurate risorse poté piegare la fiera resistenza di questa piccola Repubblica e dei suoi cittadini.
Dopo la caduta della Repubblica pochi senesi guidati peraltro dall'esule fiorentino Piero Strozzi, non volendo accettare la caduta della Repubblica, si rifugiarono in Montalcino, creando la Repubblica di Siena riparata in Montalcino, mantenendo l'alleanza con la Francia, che continuò ad esercitare il proprio potere sulla parte meridionale del territorio della Repubblica, creando notevoli problemi alle truppe degli odiati fiorentini. Essa visse fino al 31 maggio del 1559 quando fu tradita dagli alleati francesi, che Siena aveva sempre sostenuto, che concludendo la pace di Cateau-Cambrésis con l'imperatore Carlo V, cedettero di fatto la Repubblica ai fiorentini.
Lo stemma di Siena è detto "balzana". È uno scudo diviso in due porzioni orizzontali: quella superiore è bianca, quella inferiore nera,con la Lupa che allatta Senio e Ascanio. Secondo la leggenda, starebbe a simboleggiare il fumo nero e bianco scaturito dalla pira augurale che i leggendari fondatori della città, Senio e Ascanio, figli di Remo, avrebbero acceso per ringraziare gli dei dopo la fondazione della città di Siena. Un'altra leggenda riporta che la balzana derivi dai colori dei cavalli, uno bianco ed uno nero, che Senio e Ascanio usarono nella fuga dallo zio Romolo che li voleva uccidere e con i quali giunsero a Siena. Per il loro presunto carattere focoso che, si dice, rasenta la pazzia, anche i senesi sono definiti spesso "balzani".
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Siena (em português também conhecida como Sena) é uma cidade e sede de comuna italiana na região da Toscana, província do mesmo nome, com cerca de 52.775 (ISTAT 2003) habitantes. Estende-se por uma área de 118 km2, tendo uma densidade populacional de 447 hab/km2. Faz fronteira com Asciano, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Monteriggioni, Monteroni d'Arbia e Sovicille.
Siena é universalmente conhecida pelo seu património artístico e pela notável unidade estilística do seu centro histórico, classificado pela UNESCO como Património da Humanidade.
Segundo a mitologia romana, Siena foi fundada por Sénio, filho de Remo, e podem-se encontrar numerosas estátuas e obras de arte mostrando, tal como em Roma, os irmãos amamentados pela loba. Foi um povoamento etrusco e depois colónia romana (Saena Julia) refundada pelo imperador Augusto. Era, contudo, uma pequena povoação, longe das rotas principais do Império. No século V, torna-se sede de uma diocese cristã.
As antigas famílias aristocráticas de Siena reclamam origem nos Lombardos e à data da submissão da Lombardia a Carlos Magno (774). A grande influência da cidade como pólo cultural, artístico e político é iniciada no século XII, quando se converte num burgo autogovernado de cariz republicano, substituindo o esquema feudal.
Todavia, o esquema político conduziu sempre a lutas internas entre nobres e externas com a cidade rival de Florença. Data do século XIII a ruptura entre as facções rivais dos Guibelinos de Siena e dos Guelfos de Florença, que seria argumento para a Divina Comédia de Dante.
Em 4 de Setembro de 1260, os Guibelinos apoiaram as forças do rei Manfredo da Sicília e derrotaram os Guelfos em Montaperti, que tinham um exército muito superior em armas e homens. Antes da batalha, toda a cidade fora consagrada à Virgem Maria e confiada à sua protecção. Hoje, essa protecção é recordada e renovada, lembrando os sienenses da ameaça dos aliados da Segunda Guerra Mundial de bombardearam a cidade em 1944, o que felizmente não veio a acontecer.
Siena rivalizou no campo das artes durante o período medieval até o século XIV com as cidades vizinhas. Porém, devastada em 1348 pela Peste Negra, nunca recuperou o seu esplendor, perdendo também a sua rivalidade interurbana com Florença. A Siena actual tem um aspecto muito semelhante ao dos séculos XIII-XIV. Detém uma universidade fundada em 1203, famosa pelas faculdades de Direito e Medicina, e que é uma das mais prestigiadas universidades italianas.
Em 1557 perde a independência e é integrada nas formações políticas e administrativas da Toscana.
Siena também deu vários Papas, sendo eles: Alexandre III, Pio II, Pio III e Alexandre VII.
Os dois grandes santos de Siena são Santa Catarina (1347-1380) e São Bernardino (1380-1444). Catarina Benincasa, filha de um humilde tintureiro, fez-se irmã na Ordem Terceira dominicana (para leigos)e viveu como monja na casa dos pais. É famosa pelo intercâmbio interior com o próprio Cristo, que num êxtase lhe disse: "Eu sou aquele que é e tú és aquela que não é". Apesar da origem modesta, influenciou papas e príncipes com sua sabedoria e seu exemplo, conseguindo inclusive convencer o papa de então, contra a maioria dos cardeais, a regressar a Roma do exílio de Avinhon na França. Quanto ao franciscano São Bernardino, ele é célebre por ter sido o maior expoente, no Catolicismo, da via espiritual de invocação do Nome Divino, que encontra similares em todas as grandes religiões, do Budismo (nembutsu) ao Islã ([[dhikr]]) e ao Hinduísmo (mantra). Os sermões que Bernbardino fez na praça central de Siena provocaram tal fervor religioso e devoção ao nome de Jesus que o conselho municipal decidiu colocar o monograma do nome de Jesus (composto pelas letras IHS, significando "Jesus salvador dos homens")na fachada do prédio do governo. Do mesmo modo, muitos cidadãos o pintaram sobre as fachadas de suas casas, como até hoje se pode ver na cidade.
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Siena also widely spelled Sienna in English) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.
The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008.[1] Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the palio.
Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans (c. 900–400 BC) when it was inhabited by a tribe called the Saina. The Etruscans were an 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. A Roman town called Saena Julia was founded at the site in the time of the Emperor Augustus. The first document mentioning it dates from AD 70. Some archaeologists assert that Siena was controlled for a period by a Gaulish tribe called the Saenones.
The Roman origin accounts for the town's emblem: a she-wolf suckling infants Romulus and Remus. According to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Statues and other artwork depicting a she-wolf suckling the young twins Romulus and Remus can be seen all over the city of Siena. Other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan family name "Saina," the Roman family name of the "Saenii," or the Latin word "senex" ("old") or the derived form "seneo", "to be old".
Siena did not prosper under Roman rule. 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 it knew 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 Mark of Tuscia which had been under the control of her family, the Canossa, broke up into several autonomous regions.
Siena prospered as a city-state, becoming a major centre of money lending and an important player in the wool trade. It was governed at first directly by its bishop, but episcopal power declined during the 12th century. The bishop was forced to concede a greater say in the running of the city to the nobility in exchange for their help during a territorial dispute with Arezzo, and this started a process which culminated in 1167 when the commune of Siena declared its independence from episcopal control. By 1179, it had a written constitution.
This period was also crucial in shaping the Siena we know today. It was during the early 13th century that the majority of the construction of the Siena Cathedral (Duomo) was completed. It was also during this period that the Piazza del Campo, now regarded as one of the most beautiful civic spaces in Europe, grew in importance as the centre of secular life. New streets were constructed leading to it, and it served as the site of the market and the location of various sporting events (perhaps better thought of as riots, in the fashion of the Florentine football matches that are still practised to this day). A wall was constructed in 1194 at the current site of the Palazzo Pubblico to stop soil erosion, an indication of how important the area was becoming as a civic space.
In the early 12th century a self-governing commune replaced the earlier aristocratic government. The consuls who governed the republic slowly became more inclusive of the poblani, or common people, and the commune increased its territory as the surrounding feudal nobles in their fortified castles submitted to the urban power. Siena's republic, struggling internally between nobles and the popular party, usually worked in political opposition to its great rival, Florence, and was in the 13th century predominantly Ghibelline in opposition to Florence's Guelph position (this conflict formed the backdrop for some of Dante's Commedia).
On 4 September 1260 the Sienese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of King Manfred of Sicily, defeated the Florentine Guelphs in the Battle of Montaperti. Before the battle, the Sienese army of around 20,000 faced a much larger Florentine army of around 33,000. Prior to the battle, the entire city was dedicated to the Virgin Mary (this was done several times in the city's history, most recently in 1944 to guard the city from Allied bombs). The man given command of Siena for the duration of the war, Bonaguida Lucari, walked barefoot and bareheaded, a halter around his neck, to the Duomo. Leading a procession composed of all the city's residents, he was met by all the clergy. Lucari and the bishop embraced, to show the unity of church and state, then Lucari formally gave the city and contrade to the Virgin. Legend has it that a thick white cloud descended on the battlefield, giving the Sienese cover and aiding their attack. The reality was that the Florentine army launched several fruitless attacks against the Sienese army during the day, then when the Sienese army countered with their own offensive, traitors within the Florentine army killed the standard bearer and in the resulting chaos, the Florentine army broke up and fled the battlefield. Almost half the Florentine army (some 15,000 men) were killed as a result. So crushing was the defeat that even today if the two cities meet in any sporting event, the Sienese supporters are likely to exhort their Florentine counterparts to “Remember Montaperti!”.
The limits on the Roman town, were the earliest known walls to the city. During the 10th and 11th centuries, the town grew to the east and later to the north, in what is now the Camollia district. Walls were built to totally surround the city, and a second set was finished by the end of the 13th century. Much of these walls still exist today.[2]
Siena's university, founded in 1240 and famed for its faculties of law and medicine, is still among the most important Italian universities. Siena rivalled Florence in the arts throughout the 13th and 14th centuries: the important late medieval painter Duccio di Buoninsegna (1253–1319) was a Sienese, but worked across the peninsula, and the mural of "Good Government" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Pubblico, or town hall, is a magnificent example of late-Medieval/early Renaissance art as well as a representation of the utopia of urban society as conceived during that period. Siena was devastated by the Black Death of 1348, and also suffered from ill-fated financial enterprises. In 1355, with the arrival of Charles IV of Luxembourg in the city, the population rose and suppressed the government of the Nove (Nine), establishing that Dodici (Twelve) nobles assisted by a council with a popular majority. This was also short-lived, being replaced by the Quindici (Fifteen) reformers in 1385, the Dieci (Ten, 1386–1387), Undici (Eleven, 1388–1398) and Twelve Priors (1398–1399) who, in the end, gave the city's seigniory to Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan in order to defend it from the Florentine expansionism.
In 1404 the Visconti were expelled and a government of Ten Priors established, in alliance with Florence against King Ladislas of Naples. With the election of the Sienese Pius II as Pope, the Piccolomini and other noble families were allowed to return to the government, but after his death the control returned into popular hands. In 1472 the Republic founded the Monte dei Paschi, a bank that is still active today and is the oldest surviving bank in the world. The noble factions returned in the city under Pandolfo Petrucci in 1487, with the support of Florence and of Alfonso of Calabria; Petrucci exerted an effective rule on the city until his death in 1512, favouring arts and sciences, and defending it from Cesare Borgia. Pandolfo was succeeded by his son Borghese, who was ousted by his cousin Raffaello, helped by the Medici Pope Leo X. The last Petrucci was Fabio, exiled in 1523 by the Sienese people. Internal strife resumed, with the popular faction ousting the Noveschi party supported by Clement VII: the latter sent an army, but was defeated at Camollia in 1526. Emperor Charles V took advantage of the chaotic situation to put a Spanish garrison in Siena. The citizens expelled it in 1552, allying with France: this was unacceptable for Charles, who sent his general Gian Giacomo Medici to lay siege to it with a Florentine-Imperial army.
The Sienese government entrusted its defence to Piero Strozzi. When the latter was defeated at the Battle of Marciano (August 1554), any hope of relief was lost. After 18 months of resistance, it surrendered to Spain on 17 April 1555, marking the end of the Republic of Siena. The new Spanish King Philip, owing huge sums to the Medici, ceded it (apart a series of coastal fortress annexed to the State of Presidi) to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century. A Republican government of 700 Sienese families in Montalcino resisted until 1559.
The picturesque city remains an important cultural centre, especially for humanist disciplines
The Reformation Church (Reformātu baznīca) at Mārstaļu iela 10 was built in a Baroque style between 1727 and 1733 according to plans by the architect K. Meinert. The main portal was made in Bremen in 1737 and transported to Riga by sea.
Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests • 祈年殿 • Qiniandian
Temple of Heaven • 天坛 • Tiāntán
Beijing
03.30 792
Seit 1986 ist die Liebfrauenkirche Teil des UNESCO-Welterbes Römische Baudenkmäler, Dom und Liebfrauenkirche in Trier.
Die Geschichte der Liebfrauen-Basilika führt in das Jahr 326 n. Chr. Zum 20-jährigen Regierungsjubiläum machte Kaiser Konstantin große Stiftungen. Unter anderem ließ er an den bedeutendsten Orten der Christenheit Kirchen bauen: die Geburtskirche in Bethlehem, die Grabeskirche in Jerusalem, die 1. Sophienkirche in Konstantinopel, die Peterskirche und die Laterankirche in Rom und eben die Doppelkirchenanlage in Trier, aus der die Hohe Domkirche und die Liebfrauenkirche hervorgegangen sind.
Nach den Wechselfällen der Geschichte stand der Erzbischof Theoderich von Wied (1212 - 1242) im Blick auf die Südkirche, die den Titel einer Aula beatae Mariae Virginis trug, vor einem Neuanfang. Die Baufälligkeit der Kirche ließ ihn französischen Baumeistern Gehör schenken, die aus der Champagne kamen, in der gerade die Gotik erfunden worden war. Was sie dem Erzbischof anboten, war eine Kirche im allerfeinsten hochgotischen Stil. Auf der Basis einer zwölfblättrigen Rose (Rosa Mystica) wollten sie eine Kirche bauen, die - vom Kreuz durchwebt - wie ein Juwel in der Sonne funkeln sollte, mit großen, die Heilsgeschichte erzählenden Fenstern, licht und weit und himmelhoch. Zwölf schlanke Säulen sollten das Gewölbe tragen, das, übersät mit leuchtenden Lilien, den Garten des Paradieses vorstellen sollte, in dem Maria und Jesus dargestellt sind. Eine Aula Dei als Liebeserklärung an die Gottesmutter. Der Kurfürst war begeistert. 1227 begannen die unbekannten gotischen Baumeister ihre Arbeit, die sie 33 Jahre an Trier binden sollte. Es entstand im reinsten Stil der Hochgotik der Champagne, als eines der Wunder der Gotik eine der ganz seltenen gotischen Zentralkirchen von außerordentlicher Schönheit und Harmonie.
1803 wurde Liebfrauen vom Dom getrennt und trat in eine neue Phase ihrer Geschichte: Sie wurde Pfarrkirche und nahm die Laurentiuspfarrei auf. Als Trier 1944 schwer bombardiert wurde, traf es mit aller Härte auch die Liebfrauenkirche; unter größter Anstrengung wurde sie nach dem Krieg gerettet und wiederhergestellt.
Quelle: www.liebfrauen-trier.de/pfarrkirche liebfrauen.htm
This Jugendstil (Art Nouveu) building at Alberta iela 12 in Riga was designed by Konstantīns Pēkšēns (1859-1928) and built in 1903.
www.jugendstils.riga.lv/lat/JugendstilsRiga/peksens/alber...
The building today serves as Jugendstil Museum (Rīgas Jūgendstila muzejs).
The Stiftskirche St. Servatius (St. Servatius Collegiate Church) was constructed in a Romanesque style between 1070 and 1129. Quedlinburg Abbey was an Imperial Estate founded in 936, one of the approximately forty self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Empire. It was sometimes referred to as Quedlinburger Dom (Quedlinburg Cathedral) in reference to the rank of abbess Mathilde as metropolitana, that is a rank equivalent to that of a bishop. It was dissolved in 1802. The church still is used by the Lutheran Church.
The modification of the choir in a Gothic style was completed in 1320. The interior of the apse was "restored" by the Nazis in a pseudo-romanesque style between 1938 and 1940. Between 1938 and 1945, the church served as a sanctuary for the SS under Heinrich Himmler.
Der Entwurf des Katharinenaltars geht auf einen Entwurf des Jesuitenmönchs Andrea Pozzo (Trient 1642 - Wien 1709) zurück.
Coloured light from the stained glass windows on the floor of the Manueline Panteão de D. Duarte (pantheon of King Duarte), better known as Capelas Imperfeitas (Unfinished Chapels) of Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória (Monastery of Saint Mary of Victory), better known as Mosteiro da Batalha (Monastery of Batalha, literally Monastery of the Battle), Batalha, Portugal.
Batalha monastery is inscribed in the World Heritage List of the UNESCO.
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The Monastery of the Dominicans of Batalha was built to commemorate the victory of the Portuguese over the Castilians at the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. It was to be the Portuguese monarchy's main building project for the next two centuries. Here a highly original, national Gothic style evolved, profoundly influenced by Manueline art, as demonstrated by its masterpiece, the Royal Cloister.
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Unfinished Chapels (Capelas Imperfeitas)
As Capelas Imperfeitas (The Unfinished Chapels) remain as a testimony of the fact that the monastery was never actually finished. They form a separate octagonal structure tacked on the choir of the church (via a retrochoir) and only accessible from the outside. It was commissioned in 1437 by King Duarte I as a second royal mausoleum for himself and his descendants. But he and his queen Leonor of Aragon are the only ones buried here. The original design, begun by Huguet, was altered by successive architects, especially Mateus Fernandes (who is buried inside the church). The octagonal rotunda has seven radiating hexagonal chapels. In the corners of the chapels stand the massive unfinished buttresses, that were intended to support the vault. These pillars, designed by Diogo Boitac, are decorated with Manueline motives carved in stone.
The portal rises to a monumental fifteen metres. It was originally built in Gothic style, but was transformed beyond recognition by Mateus Fernandes into a masterpiece of Manueline style (completed in 1509). It is completely decorated into a lacework of sumptuous and stylized Manueline motives : armillary, spheres, winged angels, ropes, circles, tree stumps, clover-shaped arches and florid projections. This homage of King Manuel I to his predecessor King D. Duarte mentions his motto Leauté faray tam yaserei (I will always be loyal). This motto is then repeated more than two hundred times in the arches, vaults and pillars of the chapels.
The Renaissance loggia, added at about 1533, was probably meant for musicians. It is ascribed to the architect João de Castilho.
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Natur und Kultur in Mittelportugal (Nature and Culture in Mid-Portugal), Wikinger-Reisen, September 2011
Stairway with pebble mosaic in Palacio de Generalife, Alhambra, Granada, Province of Granada, Andalusia, Spain.
Granada is the capital of the Andalusian Province of Granada, located near the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is a popular tourist destination because of the world famous Alhambra, a palace and fortress from Moorish times.
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Alhambra (...) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was constructed during the mid 14th century by the Amazigh ruler Badess Ben Habuss of the Emirate of Granada in al-Andalus, occupying the top of the hill of the Assabica on the southeastern border of the city of Granada.
The Alhambra's Moorish palaces were built for the last Muslim Emirs in Spain and its court, of the Nasrid dynasty. After the Reconquista (reconquest) by the Reyes Católicos ("Catholic Monarchs") in 1492, some portions were used by the Christian rulers. The Palace of Charles V, built by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527, was inserted in the Alhambra within the Nasrid fortifications. After being allowed to fall into disrepair for centuries, the Alhambra was "discovered" in the 19th century by European scholars and travelers, with restorations commencing. It is now one of Spain's major tourist attractions, exhibiting the country's most significant and well known Islamic architecture, together with 16th-century and later Christian building and garden interventions. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the inspiration for many songs and stories.
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Andalusia holiday April 2012
Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) at Levada da Serra, island of Madeira, Portugal.
Hiking tour Levada da Serra / Pináculo / Bica da Cana.
This region of Madeira is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Laurisilva of Madeira.
Madeira is a Portuguese island in the Atlantic ocean, approximately 1000 km (620 mi) southwest of Lisbon and 700 km (435 mi) west of the Moroccan coast. Situated in a hot spot area, Madeira is of volcanic origin, formed during several eruptive phases, the last of which ended around 6500 years ago. Madeira is a very mountainous island. With an extent of only 57 km (35 mi) from west to east and 22 km (14 mi) from north to south, and with the highest mountain having an elevation of 1862 m (6109 ft), the terrain of the island is mostly very rocky and steep, except for the high plateau Paul da Serra.
Madeira is also known as the "island of flowers", although most of the popular "typical" Madeiran flowers (like the bird of paradise flower, the hydrangea, the agapanthus and others) are neither endemic nor native. Some of the genuine Madeiran plants are the "Pride of Madeira" (Echium candicans), Canary Islands Juniper (Juniperus cedrus) and the laurel forests of Madeira (the latter one being listed as UNESCO World Heritage).
Madeira is permeated by artificially built water channels called levadas, which distribute the water from the wetter northern half of the island to the agricultural regions of the south. The levadas, mostly built by prisoners or slaves, were cut into the side of the mountains, partly running through tunnels, and enabled for example the cultivation of sugar cane which was the source of the Madeiran wealth during the 15th to 17th century.
Today most of the levadas are still in use, not only for irrigation but also for hydroelectricity. Running across the whole island, they provide a wide network of walking paths, making even extremely remote regions of the island accessible to pedestrians, which is one of the reasons for Madeira's popularity as a hiking paradise.
Madeira hiking holiday July 2013.
From 1725–68, Elector Clemens August (a younger son of the Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria) gave orders to erect today’s horseshoe-shaped castle according to the plans of Johann Conrad Schlaun, the famous Baroque architect from Münster. It was erected on top of the rests of the water fortress, which was destroyed by French marauders in 1689.From 1728-40, Francois de Cuvilliés reconstructed the castle into the elector’s residence in a French early Rococo design. The famous staircase was designed and then built by Balthasar Neumann from 1740-48. Today, the Castle Augustusburg is said to be the most meaningful Baroque castle of the Rhineland. In 1984, the Castle Augustusburg, the little pleasure palace Falkenlust and the large-scale park were included in the list of the UNESCO world cultural heritage.http://www.bonn-region.de/english/sightseeing/voreifel-bruehl-cologne/schloss-augustusburg-castle-augustusburg.html
May 7 2006, Nikon EM Camera, outside Cologne, Germany
D 038
This Jugendstil (Art Nouveu) building in Riga was designed by the German-Baltic architect Mihails Eizenšteins (Mikhail Eisenstein; 1867—1921) and built in 1904. Eizenšteins was the father of the Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein.
www.jugendstils.riga.lv/JugendstilsRiga//eizensteins/albe...
Venedig Venice Venezia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice
Italia 3 Album
www.flickr.com/photos/arjuna/sets/72157627437241642/
Venedig ( italienisch : Venezia [venɛttsja] ( hören ) , [ 1 ] Venetian : Venexia [venɛsja] ; ( Latein : Venetia )) ist eine Stadt im Nordosten von Italien gelegen an einer Gruppe von 118 kleinen Inseln, die durch Kanäle getrennt und verbunden durch Brücken. [ 2 ] Es wird in der sumpfigen befindet Lagune von Venedig , die sich entlang der Küste zwischen den Mündungen der streckt Po und Piave Rivers. Venedig ist für die Schönheit seiner Umgebung, seiner Architektur und seinen Kunstwerken bekannt. [ 2 ] Die Stadt ist in ihrer Gesamtheit als börsennotiertes Weltkulturerbe , zusammen mit seiner Lagune. [ 2 ]
Venedig ist die Hauptstadt des Veneto Region . Im Jahr 2009 gab es 270.098 Personen mit Wohnsitz in Venedig Gemeinde (die Bevölkerung von 272.000 Einwohnern umfasst die Bevölkerung des ganzen Comune von Venezia; rund 60.000 [ 3 ] in der historischen Altstadt von Venedig ( Centro storico ); 176.000 in Terraferma (das Festland ), vor allem in der großen Ortsteile von Mestre und Marghera , 31.000 leben auf anderen Inseln in der Lagune). Zusammen mitPadua und Treviso , die Stadt ist in der Padua-Treviso-Venedig Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) enthalten, mit einer Gesamtbevölkerung von 1.600.000. PATREVE nur eine statistische Stadtgebiet ohne Maß an Autonomie.
Der Westchor ist mit kostbaren Intarsien geschmückt, den Rückwänden des Chorgestühls, das aus dem Mainzer Karthäuserkloster St. Michael stammt, das Ende des 18. Jh. abgerissen wurde.
Schacht XII.
De Zeche Zollverein was een (van 1851 tot 1986 actieve) Steenkoolmijn in Essen (NRW) Germany. Tevens was er een cokesfabriek (Kokerei). Cokes wordt gebruikt in de staalindustrie (geeft hogere temperatuur dan steenkool).
Het industriecomplex staat op de Unesco werelderfgoed lijst en is inmiddels gedeeltelijk gerestaureerd.
Foto's uit dit album zijn gemaakt met een Canon Powershot A530.
outside st. Petersburg, Russia
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At first the palace was composed of three parts: a central block and two curved wing galleries terminating in service blocks. The central building, practically cube-shaped and three storeys high, was crowned with a shallow dome on a broad low drum encircled by sixty-four columns. It was flanked by two single-storeyed colonnaded galleries, linking it with the service blocks one and a half storeys high. The forecourt enclosed by these buildings on the far side, and by a moat with a paling on the near side, was of oval shape.
DSCN8317
The Central Market in Riga (Rīgas Centrāltirgus) is the largest market in Latvia. Planning began in 1922 the market was constructed from 1924 to 1930. It opened in 1930 and was Europe's largest and most modern market until WW II.
The five large market halls were constructed out of materials that stem from two large hangars at the Luftschiffhafen Wainoden (Wainoden airship port) in Southern Latvia which the Germans operated 1916-17 during their occupation in WW I. Because of the uniqueness of the architecture, it was included in the Riga UNESCO World Heritage Site.
BEIJING
April 2012
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The Meridian Gate (wumen) is the southern (and largest) gate of the Forbidden City. It has five arches. The three central arches are close together; the two flanking arches are farther apart from the three central arches. The center arch was formerly reserved for the Emperor alone; the exceptions were the Empress, who could enter it once on the day of her wedding, and the top three scholars of the triennial civil service examinations, who left the exams through the central arch. All other officials and servants had to use the four side arches.
www.360cities.net/image/the-meridian-gatewumen-beijing#14...
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First built 1751 in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor's reign. Modeled after the famous Jicahng Garden in Huishan, China. Destroyed by Anglo-French forces in 1860, rebuilt under Emperor Guangxu (1892). A winding corridor composed of over 100 sections connects the towers, pavilions, halls, chambers, bridges and terraces along the waterside. These ingeniously interconnected structures form a diverse lanscape, making this the best-known "garden within a garden' in China. - signage at the site
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Summer Palace- Beijing
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shot using "pinhole" feature
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Das Haus in der Sternstraße, die vom Hauptmarkt zum Domdreihof führt, erhielt 1897 eine neubarocke Klinkerfassade. Die beiden in die Fassade eingelassenen Wappensteine (Spolien) stammen aus dem 16. Jh. Links ist der hl. Petrus, Schutzpatron von Trier, dargestellt und rechts ist das Wappen des.Richard von Greiffenclau zu Vollraths zu sehen, der von 1511 - 1531 Erzbischof und Kurfürst von Trier war.
The Suurgild was the guild of the major merchants who dealt with international trade. Their guild house (Suurgildi hoone) at Pikk 17 was constructed 1407-1417 in a Gothic style. The double-nave grand hall (in view here) was vaulted in 1410. The building now houses the Estonian History Museum.
St. Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church) at night. Hanseatic Town of Stralsund, district of Vorpommern-Rügen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Germany.
St. Marienkirche is a late gothic church which was built in the Northern German Brick Gothic style. The 104 m high tower is open for the public and offers a great view of Stralsund and its surroundings, including Strelasund sound and the island Rügen.
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The town of Stralsund lies in Northeast Germany in the region of Western Pomerania in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
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The town lies on the sound of Strelasund, a strait of the Baltic Sea. Its geographic proximity to the island of Rügen, whose only fixed link to the mainland, the Strelasund Crossing, runs between Stralsund and the village of Altefähr, has given Stralsund the sobriquet "Gateway to the Island of Rügen" (Tor zur Insel Rügen). Stralsund lies close to the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park.
A municipal forest and three municipal ponds (the Knieperteich, Frankenteich and Moorteich) belong to the Stralsund's town borough . The three ponds and the Strelasund lend the Old Town, the original settlement site and historic centre of the town, a protected island location.
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The centre of Stralsund has a wealth of historic buildings. Since 1990, large parts of the historic old town have been renovated with private and public capital, and with the support of foundations. As a result of the contempt for historic buildings in East Germany many houses were threatened by ruin. The Old Town in particular, offers a rich variety of historic buildings, with many former merchants' houses, churches, streets and squares. Of more than 800 listed buildings in Stralsund, more than 500 are designated as individual monuments in the Old Town. In twenty years, from the Wende in 1990 to November 2010, 588 of the more than 1,000 old buildings were completely refurbished, including 363 individual monuments. Because of its historical and architectural significance, in 2002 Stralsund's old town together with the old town of Wismar were added to entitled the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list as the "Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar".
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The medieval towns of Wismar and Stralsund, on the Baltic coast of northern Germany, were major trading centres of the Hanseatic League in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 17th and 18th centuries they became Swedish administrative and defensive centres for the German territories. They contributed to the development of the characteristic building types and techniques of Brick Gothic in the Baltic region, as exemplified in several important brick cathedrals, the Town Hall of Stralsund, and the series of houses for residential, commercial and crafts use, representing its evolution over several centuries.
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Stralsund short trip October 2012
The building at Raiņa bulvāris 13 (taller building on the right) was designed by Heinrich Karl Scheel and built for a merchant in 1868. It became the German embassy in 1920, and again in 1992.
The corner building at Raiņa bulvāris 11 was designed in a neo-classical style and completed in 1876.
Seit 1986 ist die Liebfrauenkirche Teil des UNESCO-Welterbes Römische Baudenkmäler, Dom und Liebfrauenkirche in Trier.
Die Geschichte der Liebfrauen-Basilika führt in das Jahr 326 n. Chr. Zum 20-jährigen Regierungsjubiläum machte Kaiser Konstantin große Stiftungen. Unter anderem ließ er an den bedeutendsten Orten der Christenheit Kirchen bauen: die Geburtskirche in Bethlehem, die Grabeskirche in Jerusalem, die 1. Sophienkirche in Konstantinopel, die Peterskirche und die Laterankirche in Rom und eben die Doppelkirchenanlage in Trier, aus der die Hohe Domkirche und die Liebfrauenkirche hervorgegangen sind.
Nach den Wechselfällen der Geschichte stand der Erzbischof Theoderich von Wied (1212 - 1242) im Blick auf die Südkirche, die den Titel einer Aula beatae Mariae Virginis trug, vor einem Neuanfang. Die Baufälligkeit der Kirche ließ ihn französischen Baumeistern Gehör schenken, die aus der Champagne kamen, in der gerade die Gotik erfunden worden war. Was sie dem Erzbischof anboten, war eine Kirche im allerfeinsten hochgotischen Stil. Auf der Basis einer zwölfblättrigen Rose (Rosa Mystica) wollten sie eine Kirche bauen, die - vom Kreuz durchwebt - wie ein Juwel in der Sonne funkeln sollte, mit großen, die Heilsgeschichte erzählenden Fenstern, licht und weit und himmelhoch. Zwölf schlanke Säulen sollten das Gewölbe tragen, das, übersät mit leuchtenden Lilien, den Garten des Paradieses vorstellen sollte, in dem Maria und Jesus dargestellt sind. Eine Aula Dei als Liebeserklärung an die Gottesmutter. Der Kurfürst war begeistert. 1227 begannen die unbekannten gotischen Baumeister ihre Arbeit, die sie 33 Jahre an Trier binden sollte. Es entstand im reinsten Stil der Hochgotik der Champagne, als eines der Wunder der Gotik eine der ganz seltenen gotischen Zentralkirchen von außerordentlicher Schönheit und Harmonie.
1803 wurde Liebfrauen vom Dom getrennt und trat in eine neue Phase ihrer Geschichte: Sie wurde Pfarrkirche und nahm die Laurentiuspfarrei auf. Als Trier 1944 schwer bombardiert wurde, traf es mit aller Härte auch die Liebfrauenkirche; unter größter Anstrengung wurde sie nach dem Krieg gerettet und wiederhergestellt.
Quelle: www.liebfrauen-trier.de/pfarrkirche liebfrauen.htm
Old liturgical book in Igreja dos Clérigos (Church of the Clergy), Porto, Portugal.
---Citation from en.wikipedia.org---
The church was built for the Brotherhood of the Clérigos (Clergy) by Nicolau Nasoni, an Italian architect and painter who left an extense work in the north of Portugal during the 18th century.
Construction of the church began in 1732 and was finished around 1750, while the monumental divided stairway in front of the church was completed in the 1750s. The main façade of the church is heavily decorated with baroque motifs (such as garlands and shells) and an indented broken pediment. This was based on an early 17th century Roman scheme. The central frieze above the windows present symbols of worship and an incense boat. The lateral façades reveal the almost elliptic floorplan of the church nave.
The Clérigos Church was one of the first baroque churches in Portugal to adopt a typical baroque elliptic floorplan. The altarpiece of the main chapel, made of polychromed marble, was executed by Manuel dos Santos Porto.
The monumental tower of the church, located at the back of the building, was only built between 1754 and 1763. The baroque decoration here also shows influence from the Roman Baroque, while the whole design was inspired by Tuscan campaniles. The tower is 75.6 metres high, dominating the city. There are 225 steps to be climbed to reach the top of its six floors. This great structure has become the symbol of the city.
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Porto, Portugal.
The historic centre of Porto is inscribed in the World Heritage List of the UNESCO (whc.unesco.org).
Natur und Kultur in Mittelportugal (Nature and Culture in Mid-Portugal), Wikinger-Reisen, September 2011