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The Alcázar de Colón, or Columbus Alcazar, is located in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.
It is located in the city's Colonial Zone (Ciudad Colonial or Zona Colonial) - the oldest permanent European settlement of the Americas. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It was built in 1509 by Diego Columbus, Christopher Columbus' son, who was Governor of the Indies. It is the oldest Viceregal residence in the Americas.
The building houses the Museo Alcázar de Diego Colón, which contains the Caribbean's most important collection of European late medieval and Renaissance furniture and works of art.
Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE Sun Temple at Konark in Orissa, India. It is believed that the temple was built by king Narasimhadeva I of Eastern Ganga Dynasty in 1255 CE. The temple complex is in the shape of a gigantic chariot, having elaborately carved stone wheels, pillars and walls. A major part of the structure is now in ruins. The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has also featured on various list of Seven Wonders of India. The temple is 35 km from Puri and 65 km from Bhubaneswar.
The name Konark derives from the combination of the Sanskrit words, Kona (corner or angle) and Ark (the sun), in reference to the temple which was dedicated to the Sun God Surya.
CloseUp@Mound Terrace. Upon emerging from ground, the supersaturated alkaline flow precipitates carbonate as travertine as its pH increases (as a result of degassing of carbon dioxide in the solution).
Hampi (Kannada: ಹಂಪೆ Hampe) is a village in northern Karnataka, India. It is located within the ruins of the city of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Predating the city of Vijayanagara, it continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple, as well as several other monuments belonging to the old city. The ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as the Group of Monuments at Hampi. According to statistics of 2014, Hampi is the most searched historical place in Karnataka on Google.
ETYMOLOGY
Hampi traditionally known as Pampa-kshetra, Kishkinda-kshetra or Bhaskara-kshetra is derived from Pampa, which is the old name of the Tungabhadra River on whose southern banks the city is built. The name "Hampi" is an anglicized version of the Kannada Hampe (derived from Pampa). Over the years, it has also been referred to as Vijayanagara and Virupakshapura (from Virupaksha, the patron deity of the Vijayanagara rulers).
HISTORY
The emperor Ashoka's minor rock edicts in Nittur & Udegolan (both in Bellary district) leads one to believe that this region was within the Ashokan kingdom during the 3rd century BCE. A Brahmi inscription & a terracotta seal dating to the 2nd century CE were also discovered from the excavation site.
The first historical settlements in Hampi date back to 1 CE.
Immediately before the rise of the Vijaynagara kings, the region was probably in the hands of chiefs of Kampili, now a small town, 19 km east of Hampi.
Hampi formed one of the core areas of the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1343 to 1565, when it was finally laid siege to by the Deccan Muslim confederacy. Hampi was chosen because of its strategic location, bounded by the torrential Tungabhadra river on one side and surrounded by defensible hills on the other three sides.
The site is significant historically and architecturally. The topography abounds with large stones which have been used to make statues of Hindu deities. The Archaeological Survey of India continues to conduct excavations in the area, to discover additional artifacts and temples.
GEOGRAPHY
Hampi is situated on the banks of the Tungabhadra river. It is 353 km from Bangalore and 74 km away from Bellary. Hosapete (Hospet), 13 km away, is the nearest railway head. Mantralayam, which is also on the banks of Tunghabhadra, in AP is some 150 km away.The principal industries of the village are agriculture, the support of the Virupaksha temple and some other local holy places in the vicinity, as well as tourism. The annual Vijayanagara Festival is organized by the Government of Karnataka in November.
Due to the presence of several mineral deposits in this region (iron-ore, manganese), mining has been done for a number of years. A recent boom for the supply of iron-ore in the international market has led to increased levels of mining in this district. Some feel that the World Heritage Site at Hampi as well as the Tungabhadra Dam is under threat as a result.
ARCHITECTURE
The city of Vijayanagara was originally encompassed by seven lines of fortifications. These fortifications had a large number of bastions & gateways. The seventh & the innermost fortification enclosed the main city & is the best preserved. The extant monuments of Vijayanagara or Hampi can be divided into Religious, Civil & Military buildings. While most of the monuments at Hampi are from the Vijayanagara period, a small proportion may be assigned to pre-Vijayanagara times. The Jain temples on Hemakuta hill, the two Devi shrines & some other structures in the Virupaksha temple complex predate the Vijanagara empire. The earliest amongst them, the Shaiva shrines with their stepped pyramidal vimanas or superstructures, date to the early Chalukyan period around ninth-tenth century AD.
RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS
Hampi has various notable Hindu temples with some vedanta mythology inside the temples, some of which are still active places of worship. Among the most notable are:
- Achyutaraya Temple
- Badavi Linga
- Chandramauleshwara Temple
- Malyavanta Raghunathaswamy temple was constructed in the ancient style of architecture, the temple of Malyavanta Raghunathaswamy stands 3 km down the road. Its inner walls flaunt peculiar and interesting motifs of fish and marine creatures.
- Hazara Rama Temple Complex: This ruined temple complex is well known for elaborate frescoes from the Hindu religion and a sprawling courtyard well-laid with gardens. It is well known for more than many thousand carvings & inscriptions on & in the temple depicting the mighty story of Ramayana. It has about 1000 carvings & inscriptions depicting the story of Ramayana.
- Hemakuta group of temples
- Krishna Temple Complex: This temple complex has been recently excavated through the last decade, and restoration work is still in progress. The temple has the Sacred Tank or the Pushkarani located on its eastern side.
- Vittala Temple Complex:
This is perhaps the most famous and well-known among the ruins of Hampi. The iconic stone chariot in the vicinity of this temple complex is a symbol of Karnataka Tourism. Off late, floodlights have been installed in the temple complex that provide illumination at dusk, thereby adding to the grandeur of the architecture.
The temple houses the famous musical pillars. The British wanted to check the reason behind this wonder and so they had cut two pillars to check anything was there inside the pillars that was producing the sound. They had found nothing but hollow pillars. Even today we can see those pillars cut by the British.
The road leading to the temple was once a market where the horses were traded. Even today we can see the ruins of the market on both the sides of the road. The temple contains the images of foreigners like Persians selling horses.
- Muslim Sunni masjid
- Preksha temple and groups
- Saasivekaalu Ganesha
- Virupaksha Temple known as the Pampavathi temple, it is an ancient temple situated in the Hampi Bazaar. It predates the founding of the Vijayanagara empire. The temple has a 49 m high tower at its entrance. Apart from Shiva, the temple complex also contains shrines of the erotica statues Bhuvaneshwari and Pampa.
- Underground Shiva Temple
- Yantrodharaka Anjaneya temple
CIVIL BUILDINGS
- Aqueducts and Canals
- Archaeological Museum at Kamalapura
- Lotus Mahal
- Zanana enclosure
MILITARY BUILDINGS
- Elephant stables:
used to house the eleven royal elephants in King Krishnadeva Raya's army. The neighbouring building housed the elephant riders of the royal elephants.
- The Kings’ balance
IMPORTANT SITES
Anegondi
Anjeyanadri Hill
Kadalekalu Ganesha
Lake (Near Sanapur)
Tungabhadra River
Uddana Veerabhadra temple
Sri Lakshmi Narasimha
Virupapura
Yeduru Basavanna
WIKIPEDIA
More unesco postcards for my collection. Thankyou to Olga in Russia for these 2 sites: the ancient city of Tauric Chersonese and its chora, in Ukraine, plus the Assumption cathedral and monastery of the town-island of Sviyazhsk, in Russia.
The card top left is of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels - a stunning art nouveau mansion, with wall friezes by Klimt. And I have to confess I can't remember where it came from - but I just discovered it in my "to be filed" box - and saw it wasn't on my website, but still marked as a wishlist card.
Ku 16, Room B, west wall: At the far end of the funerary chamber, on the upper register, is the 'adoration of the sun barque by the baboons'. The middle register shows Tawetamani kneeling in front of his Ba bird (the mobile element of the deceased), his heart - representing the personality of the deceased - placed on a symbolic stand. (Hand-held camera, by torchlight)
St. George's is located at the eastern end of Bermuda. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
St. George's, founded in 1612, was the second English town established in the New World.
It is a wonderful place to send an afternoon wandering the maze of narrow streets.
The Extension of the natural listing of a United Nations World Heritage property of Jungfrau - Aletsch - Bietschhorn (first inscribed in 2001), expands the site to the east and west, bringing its surface area up to 82,400 ha., up from 53,900. The site provides an outstanding example of the formation of the High Alps, including the most glaciated part of the mountain range and the largest glacier in Eurasia. It features a wide diversity of ecosystems, including successional stages due particularly to the retreat of glaciers resulting from climate change. The site is of outstanding universal value both for its beauty and for the wealth of information it contains about the formation of mountains and glaciers, as well as ongoing climate change. It is also invaluable in terms of the ecological and biological processes it illustrates, notably through plan succession. Its impressive landscape has played an important role in European art, literature, mountaineering and alpine tourism / We continue up Route 6 for less than a mile to the Interlaken Ost Train Station, also known as Interlaken East, the city’s main Railway Station; the other being Interlaken West, a mere 1 mile apart. This terminus is for the cogwheel train to Jungfraujoch, the 3,466 m peak in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, is one of the most sought-after experiences. To reach the peak you not only get to enjoy the magnificent Jungfrau region near Interlaken, but also experience the Jungfraubahn, Europe’s highest-altitude railway. The train climbs up the mountain at this amazing elevation on a slope that sometimes reaches 25 degrees. Quite impressive if you think about it. A cogwheel a/k\a rack railway, rack-and-pinion railway or cog railway, is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail. This allows the trains to operate on steep grades above 10%, which is the maximum for friction-based rail. Most rack railways are mountain railways, although a few are transit railways or tramways built to overcome a steep gradient in an urban environment. The first cog railway was the Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, U.K, where the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, ran in 1812. This used a rack and pinion system designed and patented in 1811 by John Blenkinsop. The first mountain cog railway was the Mount Washington Cog Railway in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, which carried its first fare-paying passengers in 1868. The track was completed to reach the summit of Mount Washington in 1869. The first mountain rack railway in continental Europe was the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn on Mount Rigi in Switzerland, which opened in 1871. Both lines are still running.
In UNESCOs report recommending Trogir be approved as a World Heritage Site it commented on the "remodelling" of the main town square in the Renaissance period as a model of urban planning of that period.
A "pal abhishekam" (the deity being bathed with milk), was in progress inside when this photograph was taken.
My travels around the UK by car for three weeks with my son. June/July 2019 Wales.
Day Nine .. In Beaumaris for a quick look around before going onto Hirael where we are staying the night.
Beaumaris in Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales, was built as part of Edward I's campaign to conquer north Wales after 1282. Plans were probably first made to construct the castle in 1284, but this was delayed due to lack of funds and work only began in 1295 following the Madog ap Llywelyn uprising. A substantial workforce was employed in the initial years under the direction of James of St George. Edward's invasion of Scotland soon diverted funding from the project, however, and work stopped, only recommencing after an invasion scare in 1306. When work finally ceased around 1330 a total of £15,000 had been spent, a huge sum for the period, but the castle remained incomplete.
The castle design formed an inner and an outer ward, surrounded in turn by a moat, now partially filled. The main entrance to the castle was the Gate next the Sea, next to the castle's tidal dock that allowed it to be supplied directly by sea. The dock was protected by a wall later named the Gunners Walk and a firing platform that may have housed a trebuchet siege engine during the medieval period. The Gate next the Sea led into an outer barbican, protected by a drawbridge, arrow slits and murder-holes, leading on into the outer ward.
UNESCO considers Beaumaris to be one of "the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe", and it is classed as a World Heritage site.
For More Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumaris_Castle
A horse mill is a mill, sometimes used in conjunction with a watermill or windmill, that uses a horse as the power source. Any milling process can be powered in this way, but the most frequent use of animal power in horse mills was for grinding grain and pumping water. Other animal engines for powering mills are powered by dogs, donkeys, oxen or camels. Treadwheels are engines powered by humans.
In Antwerp, Belgium, the Brewers' House museum is a good example of horse-powered pumping machinery. The building dates from the 16th century; although the original wooden machinery was replaced in cast iron in the mid-19th century, the original layout has been retained.
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Rossmühle - erbaut 1750 von Stadtbaumeister Johann Adolf Soherr zum Mahlen von Korn und als Lagerhaus. 1918 zu Wohnzwecken umgebaut und die Fenster verändert" - das steht auf einer Tafel, die an dem langgestreckten Fachwerkhaus an der Obertrave 43 angebracht ist.
Insgesamt 47 Jahre war die Mühle in Betrieb. "Wenn die beiden Mühlen am Mühlendamm wegen Wassermangel stillstanden, kam die Roßmühle zum Einsatz", berichtet Dietrich Oldenburg vom Bereich Denkmalpflege.
Vermutlich habe sich im rund 600 Quadratmeter großen Hof ein Pferdegöpel befunden, eine durch Pferdestärken bewegte Drehvorrichtung zum Antrieb der Mühle, auch Tretmühle genannt. "Allerdings ist bei Ausschachtungsarbeiten kein Mahlwerk gefunden worden", so Oldenburg.
Aufzug am Mittelerker
Eine Besonderheit des Gebäudes ist ein außen am Mittelerker angebrachter Aufzug, mit dem die Lasten durch eine Luke in die Obergeschosse befördert wurden. 1797 war es mit dem Kornmahlen in der Mühle schon wieder vorbei; über die Gründe dafür findet sich laut Oldenburg allerdings nichts in den Unterlagen. Fest steht: Das Haus diente als Lagerraum, so daß der Lastenaufzug vermutlich von großem Vorteil war. "Der ursprüngliche Grundriß des Gebäudes ist unklar", so Oldenburg, "vermutlich bestand es aus zwei riesigen Lagerräumen, in denen sich verschiedene Mahlgeräte befanden."
Geplant: Eichamt mit "Bureau"
1888 lagen erstmals Pläne für Umbauarbeiten vor. Wände sollten in die Lagerhalle eingezogen werden, um sie in ein Eichamt mit "Bureau", Justiersaal mit Gewichten und Faßschuppen zum Ausmessen von Fässern zu verwandeln. Doch diese Pläne sind wahrscheinlich nie ausgeführt worden.
Erst nach Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs wurde umgebaut. Bis dahin hatte das Haus nur Luken zum Lüften und Korntrocknen; nun wurden Fenster eingesetzt, und im Inneren des Gebäudes wurden Wände gezogen. In jeder der beiden Haushälften, die bis heute durch eine Toreinfahrt getrennt sind, entstanden vier Wohnungen, bestehend aus Stube, Kammer und Küche. Darin wohnten häufig Familien mit mehreren Kindern.
Keine Toiletten
Da vermutlich der Fußboden in den Obergeschossen durchzubrechen drohte, wurde darüber ein zweiter Fußboden eingezogen. Für diesen wurden mehrere alte Fensterluken verwendet. Die beiden kleinen Dachgauben links und rechts vom Mittelerker verschwanden später.
Die Wohnungen waren ohne Toiletten. Die waren - bis heute - in Bretterbuden im großen Innenhof untergebracht.
Im Lauf der Jahrzehnte wurden allerhand "Modernisierungen" durchgeführt: Kachelöfen kamen in die Wohnungen, und an den Außenwänden wurden Elektroleitungen angebracht.
1977 wurde das Fachwerkhaus, dessen Fassaden und konstruktive Teile im Inneren nahezu vollständig erhalten sind, unter Denkmalschutz gestellt.
Die städtische Grundstücksgesellschaft "Trave" hat das Haus im vergangenen Jahr verkauft. Der Bereich Stadtplanung machte zur Bedingung, daß maximal zwei Familien das Haus nutzen dürfen. Außerdem müssen die neuen Besitzer Sanierungsauflagen beachten.
Anfang des Jahres zog der letzte Mieter aus dem historischen Gebäude an der Obertrave aus.
HANSESTADT LÜBECK
The Extension of the natural listing of a United Nations World Heritage property of Jungfrau - Aletsch - Bietschhorn (first inscribed in 2001), expands the site to the east and west, bringing its surface area up to 82,400 ha., up from 53,900. The site provides an outstanding example of the formation of the High Alps, including the most glaciated part of the mountain range and the largest glacier in Eurasia. It features a wide diversity of ecosystems, including successional stages due particularly to the retreat of glaciers resulting from climate change. The site is of outstanding universal value both for its beauty and for the wealth of information it contains about the formation of mountains and glaciers, as well as ongoing climate change. It is also invaluable in terms of the ecological and biological processes it illustrates, notably through plan succession. Its impressive landscape has played an important role in European art, literature, mountaineering and alpine tourism / We continue up Route 6 for less than a mile to the Interlaken Ost Train Station, also known as Interlaken East, the city’s main Railway Station; the other being Interlaken West, a mere 1 mile apart. This terminus is for the cogwheel train to Jungfraujoch, the 3,466 m peak in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, is one of the most sought-after experiences. To reach the peak you not only get to enjoy the magnificent Jungfrau region near Interlaken, but also experience the Jungfraubahn, Europe’s highest-altitude railway. The train climbs up the mountain at this amazing elevation on a slope that sometimes reaches 25 degrees. Quite impressive if you think about it. A cogwheel a/k\a rack railway, rack-and-pinion railway or cog railway, is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail. This allows the trains to operate on steep grades above 10%, which is the maximum for friction-based rail. Most rack railways are mountain railways, although a few are transit railways or tramways built to overcome a steep gradient in an urban environment. The first cog railway was the Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, U.K, where the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, ran in 1812. This used a rack and pinion system designed and patented in 1811 by John Blenkinsop. The first mountain cog railway was the Mount Washington Cog Railway in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, which carried its first fare-paying passengers in 1868. The track was completed to reach the summit of Mount Washington in 1869. The first mountain rack railway in continental Europe was the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn on Mount Rigi in Switzerland, which opened in 1871. Both lines are still running.
This chamber, excavated in 1743, was named for Casimir the Great in 1968 and is decorated with a bust sculpted by Wladyslaw Hapek. In 1368 Casimir the Great published a law known which set out mine working conditions and miners rights.
The largest known cave system in the world, the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System, as of 2022, has 426 miles of documented passages, and sits beneath the ground in Mammoth Cave National Park, established in 1941, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, the only designation in the state of Kentucky. The park is also an International Biosphere Reserve, designated in 1990, and an International Dark Sky Park, designated in 2021. The Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System formed in Mississippian Limestone rock underneath a Big Clifty Sandstone cap, which has formed several stable arched passages of varying sizes from the intrusion of water into the rock layers, with the less porous sandstone cap preventing water intrusion at most locations, which have kept the caverns beneath intact and stable for eons. The water that passes through the cave system drains into the adjacent Green River, and has continuously eroded deeper into the rock along with the river. The cave is home to endemic species of organisms that have adapted to the dark conditions within the cave system. The cave system was known to indigenous people, whom mined gypsum from the walls of the caves and explored the caves, with human remains, signs of human activity, and artifacts from their presence in the cave. The cave became known to European settlers in the 1790s, and it started being mined by Valentine Simon for saltpeter to create gunpowder in 1798, with the mining activities intensifying around the time of the War of 1812, and becoming an industrial-scale operation under the ownership of Charles Wilkins and Hyman Gratz, whom used slave labor to exploit the cave’s resources. In 1838, with the decline in value of saltpeter, the cave was sold to Franklin Gorin, whom operated the cave as a tourist attraction, but was sold to Doctor John Croghan the following year. Under Gorin and Croghan, Black slaves served as tour guides for visitors, with Stephen Bishop being the most notable of these guides. Bishop made many maps of the caves during the 1840s and 1850s, and was the first known person to cross Bottomless Pit and discover the River Styx and Mammoth Dome on the other side. Croghan attempted to run a Tuberculosis Hospital within the cave in 1842-1843, believing the stable temperatures and air would assist patients, but this was short lived. In 1886, the Mammoth Cave Railroad was built between Park City and the historic Mammoth Cave Hotel, which operated until 1931. The caves were mapped more accurately by German visitor Max Kämper in 1908, whom mapped the surface topography and used instruments to document the cave, allowing for the opening of new entrances to the caverns from the surface and being the most accurate maps of the caves until the 1960s. Sadly, this was not appreciated by the Croghan family, whose historic cavern entrance was threatened in status by these maps, and Kämper returned to Germany, where he died as a soldier during World War I’s Battle of the Somme in 1916. Starting in the 1920s, the land around the caves was purchased by the private Mammoth Cave National Park Association, with the park being officially authorized in 1926. Between 1933 and 1942, the park’s landscape was reforested and infrastructure was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), part of the New Deal. Between 1954 and 1972, the cave system was further explored, culminating in the connection between the longer Flint Ridge System and wider Mammoth Cave being found, making it the longest known cave system in the world. Today, the park sees about half a million visitors annually, and contains the majority of the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave system, with some portions of the system extending east of the park’s boundaries under privately-owned land.
The largest known cave system in the world, the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System, as of 2022, has 426 miles of documented passages, and sits beneath the ground in Mammoth Cave National Park, established in 1941, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, the only designation in the state of Kentucky. The park is also an International Biosphere Reserve, designated in 1990, and an International Dark Sky Park, designated in 2021. The Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System formed in Mississippian Limestone rock underneath a Big Clifty Sandstone cap, which has formed several stable arched passages of varying sizes from the intrusion of water into the rock layers, with the less porous sandstone cap preventing water intrusion at most locations, which have kept the caverns beneath intact and stable for eons. The water that passes through the cave system drains into the adjacent Green River, and has continuously eroded deeper into the rock along with the river. The cave is home to endemic species of organisms that have adapted to the dark conditions within the cave system. The cave system was known to indigenous people, whom mined gypsum from the walls of the caves and explored the caves, with human remains, signs of human activity, and artifacts from their presence in the cave. The cave became known to European settlers in the 1790s, and it started being mined by Valentine Simon for saltpeter to create gunpowder in 1798, with the mining activities intensifying around the time of the War of 1812, and becoming an industrial-scale operation under the ownership of Charles Wilkins and Hyman Gratz, whom used slave labor to exploit the cave’s resources. In 1838, with the decline in value of saltpeter, the cave was sold to Franklin Gorin, whom operated the cave as a tourist attraction, but was sold to Doctor John Croghan the following year. Under Gorin and Croghan, Black slaves served as tour guides for visitors, with Stephen Bishop being the most notable of these guides. Bishop made many maps of the caves during the 1840s and 1850s, and was the first known person to cross Bottomless Pit and discover the River Styx and Mammoth Dome on the other side. Croghan attempted to run a Tuberculosis Hospital within the cave in 1842-1843, believing the stable temperatures and air would assist patients, but this was short lived. In 1886, the Mammoth Cave Railroad was built between Park City and the historic Mammoth Cave Hotel, which operated until 1931. The caves were mapped more accurately by German visitor Max Kämper in 1908, whom mapped the surface topography and used instruments to document the cave, allowing for the opening of new entrances to the caverns from the surface and being the most accurate maps of the caves until the 1960s. Sadly, this was not appreciated by the Croghan family, whose historic cavern entrance was threatened in status by these maps, and Kämper returned to Germany, where he died as a soldier during World War I’s Battle of the Somme in 1916. Starting in the 1920s, the land around the caves was purchased by the private Mammoth Cave National Park Association, with the park being officially authorized in 1926. Between 1933 and 1942, the park’s landscape was reforested and infrastructure was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), part of the New Deal. Between 1954 and 1972, the cave system was further explored, culminating in the connection between the longer Flint Ridge System and wider Mammoth Cave being found, making it the longest known cave system in the world. Today, the park sees about half a million visitors annually, and contains the majority of the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave system, with some portions of the system extending east of the park’s boundaries under privately-owned land.
January 1, 2019 - Exploring the Giza Pyramid Plateau which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The pyramids are the only remaining of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World.
January 1, 2019 - Exploring the Giza Pyramid Plateau which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The pyramids are the only remaining of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World.
Friday 16 August 2013 - Day 28 - Cusco - Lima - Madrid (overnight) (photos)
After coffee at Jack's Cafe - a favourite from Hazel's last time in Cusco - and ham and cheese toastie for Hazel (recovered!), we pottered around Cusco taking photos in the sun before returning to the always hospitable and helpful Amaru Hostal, picking up some tasty, pastry supplies from Panadería El Buen Pastor en route. Handy that it's located just uphill from the hotel.
We did our final packing (aka cramming), checked out and then read in the Amaru's inner courtyard until it was time for our taxi transfer to the airport. Luckily we were able to get on an earlier flight, but even so only left at our original flight time. LAN Peru can be prone to delays.... Any later and our connection at Lima would have been tight. Much newer (LAN Chile) plane for our overnight, transatlantic flight, and after the short hop up to London courtesy of BA I was home early on the evening of Saturday 17 August.
Read more about the Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit plus Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
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The Nubian pyramids may be characterised by smaller scale, with steeper slopes, but they are far more numerous, considerably more standardised and owned by more members of the royal households (and probably non-royals as well) than the classical Egyptian pyramids. When the Nubians stopped building them, the pyramid as a marker for a royal tomb would be no more. Pyramids 5 and 6.
The largest known cave system in the world, the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System, as of 2022, has 426 miles of documented passages, and sits beneath the ground in Mammoth Cave National Park, established in 1941, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, the only designation in the state of Kentucky. The park is also an International Biosphere Reserve, designated in 1990, and an International Dark Sky Park, designated in 2021. The Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System formed in Mississippian Limestone rock underneath a Big Clifty Sandstone cap, which has formed several stable arched passages of varying sizes from the intrusion of water into the rock layers, with the less porous sandstone cap preventing water intrusion at most locations, which have kept the caverns beneath intact and stable for eons. The water that passes through the cave system drains into the adjacent Green River, and has continuously eroded deeper into the rock along with the river. The cave is home to endemic species of organisms that have adapted to the dark conditions within the cave system. The cave system was known to indigenous people, whom mined gypsum from the walls of the caves and explored the caves, with human remains, signs of human activity, and artifacts from their presence in the cave. The cave became known to European settlers in the 1790s, and it started being mined by Valentine Simon for saltpeter to create gunpowder in 1798, with the mining activities intensifying around the time of the War of 1812, and becoming an industrial-scale operation under the ownership of Charles Wilkins and Hyman Gratz, whom used slave labor to exploit the cave’s resources. In 1838, with the decline in value of saltpeter, the cave was sold to Franklin Gorin, whom operated the cave as a tourist attraction, but was sold to Doctor John Croghan the following year. Under Gorin and Croghan, Black slaves served as tour guides for visitors, with Stephen Bishop being the most notable of these guides. Bishop made many maps of the caves during the 1840s and 1850s, and was the first known person to cross Bottomless Pit and discover the River Styx and Mammoth Dome on the other side. Croghan attempted to run a Tuberculosis Hospital within the cave in 1842-1843, believing the stable temperatures and air would assist patients, but this was short lived. In 1886, the Mammoth Cave Railroad was built between Park City and the historic Mammoth Cave Hotel, which operated until 1931. The caves were mapped more accurately by German visitor Max Kämper in 1908, whom mapped the surface topography and used instruments to document the cave, allowing for the opening of new entrances to the caverns from the surface and being the most accurate maps of the caves until the 1960s. Sadly, this was not appreciated by the Croghan family, whose historic cavern entrance was threatened in status by these maps, and Kämper returned to Germany, where he died as a soldier during World War I’s Battle of the Somme in 1916. Starting in the 1920s, the land around the caves was purchased by the private Mammoth Cave National Park Association, with the park being officially authorized in 1926. Between 1933 and 1942, the park’s landscape was reforested and infrastructure was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), part of the New Deal. Between 1954 and 1972, the cave system was further explored, culminating in the connection between the longer Flint Ridge System and wider Mammoth Cave being found, making it the longest known cave system in the world. Today, the park sees about half a million visitors annually, and contains the majority of the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave system, with some portions of the system extending east of the park’s boundaries under privately-owned land.
Closest to the palace lies "the parterre de broderi" which originally had an intricate embroidery pattern of box-wood hedges and coloured gravel. Today, these have been replaced by a large lawn with box-wood hedges on the outer edges as well as a band of crushed brick and black hyperit.
www.kungahuset.se/royalcourt/royalpalaces/drottningholmpa...
Imagine a time 1000s of years ago, when Travellers carrying goods to trade stopped over this mysterious, well hidden, prosperous and magnificent city to rest, feed their camels and trade. My photos don't do justice to the history of these people, seeing it in reality will surely mesmerize you and lead you to think how they did it all. There are water channels cut through these limestone hills to gather rainwater and channel it down to collection ponds. There are still excavations going on for more discoveries to be unearthed.
Please do enjoy these photos.
Petra originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system, Petra is also called the "Rose City" because of the colour of the sandstone from which it is carved; it was famously called "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a poem of 1845 by John Burgon. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jabal Al-Madbah, in a basin surrounded by mountains forming the eastern flank of the Arabah valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Access to the city is through a famously picturesque 1.2-kilometre-long (3⁄4 mi) gorge called the Siq, which leads directly to the Khazneh (treasury).
Cliffs near Petra, View over Wadi Arabah
The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC, and the Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of their kingdom as early as the 4th century BC. Archaeological work has only discovered evidence of Nabataean presence dating back to the second century BC, by which time Petra had become their capital. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who invested in Petra's proximity to the incense trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub.
The trading business gained the Nabataeans considerable revenue and Petra became the focus of their wealth. Unlike their enemies, the Nabataeans were accustomed to living in the barren deserts and were able to repel attacks by taking advantage of the area's mountainous terrain. They were particularly skillful in harvesting rainwater, agriculture, and stone carving. Petra flourished in the 1st century AD, when its Al-Khazneh structure, possibly the mausoleum of Nabataean king Aretas IV, was constructed, and its population peaked at an estimated 20,000 inhabitants. They developed a complex system of cisterns, channels, and dams to collect and store rainwater, allowing them to thrive in the arid desert environment. Most of the famous rock-cut buildings, which are mainly tombs, date from this and the following period. Much less remains of the free-standing buildings of the city.
Although the Nabataean kingdom became a client state of the Roman Empire in the first century BC, it was only in 106 AD that it lost its independence. Petra fell to the Romans, who annexed Nabataea and renamed it as Arabia Petraea. Petra's importance declined as sea trade routes emerged, and after an earthquake in 363 destroyed many structures. In the Byzantine era, several Christian churches were built, but the city continued to decline and, by the early Islamic era, it was abandoned except for a handful of nomads. It remained unknown to the western world until 1812, when Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra
@2021-2099 Copyright Rudr Peter. All rights reserved under the International Copyright laws. This picture and portions of this image should not be used in any print and electronic form without permission from me.
Planning of the Iglesia El Sagrario (Tabernacle Church) in Cuenca, which is also known as Catedral Vieja (Old Cathedral) began when the city was founded in 1557. Work began in 1567; its foundations were built with stones from the destroyed Inca city of Tomebamba. The organ was added in 1739, and the clock was set in the tower in 1751. During the colonial era, it was the main church in Cuenca, but it was reserved to residents of Spanish descent. It was elevated to the rank of cathedral with the establishment of the Bishopric of Cuenca in 1787. The basic Renaissance and Baroque styles are still dominant in spite of several renovations made in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. After the construction of the new cathedral, it was converted into a museum, and it also serves as a concert hall.
The bridge was 29 metres long, 24 metres high and 4 metres wide. It had two fortified towers for defence on each side. That bridge stood in perfect shape for 427 years. During the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was destroyed on 9 November 1993.
View of the Pitons from ship. I had my telephoto mounted on my camera for whales, so I took this with my video camera.
Two convicts walking up Devine Hills, Old Great North Road as part of the outdoor preformance Convict footprints.
The Tripitaka Koreana (lit. Goryeo Tripitaka) or Palman Daejanggyeong ("Eighty-Thousand Tripitaka") is a Korean collection of the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures, and the Sanskrit word for "three baskets"), carved onto 81,258 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century. It is the world's most comprehensive and oldest intact version of Buddhist canon in Hanja script, with no known errors or errata in the 52,382,960 characters which are organized in over 1496 titles and 6568 volumes. Each wood block measures 70 centimeters in width and 24 centimeters in length. The thickness of the blocks range from 2.6 to 4 centimeters and each weighs about three to four kilograms. The work is stored in Haeinsa, a Buddhist temple in South Gyeongsang province, in South Korea.
HISTORY
The name "Goryeo Tripitaka" comes from "Goryeo", the name of Korea from the 10th to the 14th centuries. It served as reference for the edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon.
The Tripitaka Koreana was first carved in 1087 during the Third Goryeo-Khitan War. The act of carving the woodblocks was considered to be a way of bringing about a change in fortune by invoking the Buddha's help.
The original set of woodblocks were destroyed by fire during the Mongol invasions of Korea in 1232, when Goryeo's capital was moved to Ganghwa Island during nearly three decades of Mongol incursions, although scattered parts of its prints still remain. To once again implore divine assistance with combating the Mongol threat, King Gojong thereafter ordered the revision and re-creation of the Tripitaka; the carving took 16 years, from 1236 to 1251, with support from the Choe House and involving monks from both the Seon and Gyo schools. This second revision is usually what is meant by the Tripitaka Koreana. In 1398, it was moved to Haeinsa, where they have remained housed in four buildings.
EVALUATION
The Tripitaka Koreana is the 32nd national treasure of Korea, and the Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon, the depository for Tripitaka Koreana, has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The UNESCO committee describes the Tripitaka Koreana as one of the "most important and most complete corpus of Buddhist doctrinal texts in the world." Not only is the work invaluable, it is also aesthetically valuable and shows a high quality of workmanship.
The historical value of the Tripitaka Koreana comes from the fact that it is the most complete and accurate extant collection of Buddhist treatises, laws, and scriptures. The compilers of the Korean version incorporated older Northern Song Chinese, Khitan, Goryeo versions and added content written by respected Korean monks. Scholars can get an idea of the older Chinese and Khitan versions of the Tripitaka from the Korean version today. The quality of the wood blocks are attributed to the National Preceptor Sugi who carefully checked the Korean version for errors. Because of the accuracy of the Tripitaka Koreana, the Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese versions of the Tripitaka are based on this Korean version.
Each block is made of birch wood from the southern islands of Korea and was treated to prevent the decay of the wood. They were soaked in sea water for three years, then cut, then boiled in salt water. Then, the blocks were placed in the shade and exposed to the wind for three years at which point they were finally be ready to be carved. After each block was carved, it was covered in a poisonous lacquer to keep insects away and was framed with metal to prevent warping.
Every block was inscribed with 23 lines of text with 14 characters per line, Therefore, each block, counting both sides, contained a total of 644 characters. The consistency of the style, and some sources, suggests that a single man carved the entire collection but it is now believed that a team of thirty men did the job.
The largest known cave system in the world, the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System, as of 2022, has 426 miles of documented passages, and sits beneath the ground in Mammoth Cave National Park, established in 1941, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, the only designation in the state of Kentucky. The park is also an International Biosphere Reserve, designated in 1990, and an International Dark Sky Park, designated in 2021. The Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System formed in Mississippian Limestone rock underneath a Big Clifty Sandstone cap, which has formed several stable arched passages of varying sizes from the intrusion of water into the rock layers, with the less porous sandstone cap preventing water intrusion at most locations, which have kept the caverns beneath intact and stable for eons. The water that passes through the cave system drains into the adjacent Green River, and has continuously eroded deeper into the rock along with the river. The cave is home to endemic species of organisms that have adapted to the dark conditions within the cave system. The cave system was known to indigenous people, whom mined gypsum from the walls of the caves and explored the caves, with human remains, signs of human activity, and artifacts from their presence in the cave. The cave became known to European settlers in the 1790s, and it started being mined by Valentine Simon for saltpeter to create gunpowder in 1798, with the mining activities intensifying around the time of the War of 1812, and becoming an industrial-scale operation under the ownership of Charles Wilkins and Hyman Gratz, whom used slave labor to exploit the cave’s resources. In 1838, with the decline in value of saltpeter, the cave was sold to Franklin Gorin, whom operated the cave as a tourist attraction, but was sold to Doctor John Croghan the following year. Under Gorin and Croghan, Black slaves served as tour guides for visitors, with Stephen Bishop being the most notable of these guides. Bishop made many maps of the caves during the 1840s and 1850s, and was the first known person to cross Bottomless Pit and discover the River Styx and Mammoth Dome on the other side. Croghan attempted to run a Tuberculosis Hospital within the cave in 1842-1843, believing the stable temperatures and air would assist patients, but this was short lived. In 1886, the Mammoth Cave Railroad was built between Park City and the historic Mammoth Cave Hotel, which operated until 1931. The caves were mapped more accurately by German visitor Max Kämper in 1908, whom mapped the surface topography and used instruments to document the cave, allowing for the opening of new entrances to the caverns from the surface and being the most accurate maps of the caves until the 1960s. Sadly, this was not appreciated by the Croghan family, whose historic cavern entrance was threatened in status by these maps, and Kämper returned to Germany, where he died as a soldier during World War I’s Battle of the Somme in 1916. Starting in the 1920s, the land around the caves was purchased by the private Mammoth Cave National Park Association, with the park being officially authorized in 1926. Between 1933 and 1942, the park’s landscape was reforested and infrastructure was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), part of the New Deal. Between 1954 and 1972, the cave system was further explored, culminating in the connection between the longer Flint Ridge System and wider Mammoth Cave being found, making it the longest known cave system in the world. Today, the park sees about half a million visitors annually, and contains the majority of the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave system, with some portions of the system extending east of the park’s boundaries under privately-owned land.