1023, 3358 POLAND (Greater Poland) - Traditional Bamberka costume

1023

Posted on 06.03.2014, 15.01.2020
Located on the Warta river, Poznań was an important cultural and political centre with centuries before the Christianization of Poland, becoming later the capital of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland), and, for a short time, even the capital of the kingdom. After a long time of prosperity, in the 17th and 18th centuries the city was severely affected by a series of wars, plagues and floods, which practically depopulated it. Following, in area were brought, in several waves, Dutch and Bambergian settlers, exclusively Catholics, as ordered in 1710 August II the Strong, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.

3358

 

The polonisation of the latter ones, subsequently named Bambrzy, was a voluntary act and happened very quickly. In the late 19th century, the meaning of the word Bamber (singular form) became wider, designating all the people living in those villages, regardless of their ethnic or cultural background. Of course that the settlers had their own folk costume, quite modest, but in the second half of the 19th century this was changed into a rich impressive outfit full of decorative pieces. So it must be emphasized that the folk dress of the descendants of these immigrants it wasn't brought by them from Bamberg, but was developed here. It should be also noted that it is about women's dress, the men adopting quickly the typical clothes of the locals.

3350 UNITED KINGDOM (Scotland) - Greyfriars Bobby Fountain

Greyfriars Bobby (1855 - 1872) was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died himself. The story continues to be well known in Scotland, through several books and films. A prominent commemorative statue and nearby graves are a tourist attraction. A year later, the English philanthropist Lady Burdett-Coutts was charmed by the story and had a drinking fountain topped with Bobby's statue (commissioned from the sculptor William Brodie) erected at the junction of George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row (opposite the entrance to the churchyard) to commemorate him.

2079, 3343 UNITED STATES (New York) - Central Park

3343 Horsedrawn carriage by the park

Posted on 29.11.2015, 09.01.2020
Located in middle-upper Manhattan, Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States as well as one of the most filmed locations in the world. Opened in 1857, it was expanded and improved after the plans of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux until 1873, when it reached its current size. While planting and land form in much of the park appear natural, it was almost entirely landscaped during the 1850s and 1860s. It contains seven lakes and ponds that have been created artificially by damming natural seeps and flows, several wooded sections, in addition to lawns, the "meadows", and many minor grassy areas.

2079 The Bethesda Fountain in Central Park

Main attractions of the park include landscapes such as the Ramble and Lake, Hallett Nature Sanctuary, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, and Sheep Meadow; amusement attractions such as Wollman Rink, Central Park Carousel, and the Central Park Zoo; formal spaces such as the Central Park Mall and Bethesda Terrace; and the Delacorte Theater, which hosts Shakespeare in the Park programs in the summertime. The park also has sports facilities, including the North Meadow Recreation Center, basketball courts, baseball fields, and soccer fields.

3320 CZECH REPUBLIC (South Bohemia) - Postcrossing Meetup, České Budějovice, 4 November 2017

Located in the center of a valley of the Vltava River, at the confluence with the Malše, České Budějovice, the political and commercial capital of the South Bohemian Region, is famous for Budweiser.The beautiful Otakar II Square, named for the Czech King who founded the city over 750 years ago, is famous for its regular square shape (133m by 137m). Around are 48 historical buildings, including the 3-spired Town Hall, and in the centre is the baroque-styled Samson's Fountain, built between 1721-1726 by Zachariáš Horn, with biblical sculptures were created by Josef Dietrich.

0379, 1129, 3117 CROATIA (Dubrovnik-Neretva) - Old City of Dubrovnik (UNESCO WHS)

0379 View of the Dubrovnik walls from the South

Posted on 09.11.2012, 07.07.2014, 05.08.2017
Located in the southern Dalmatian coast, Dubrovnik, named official Ragusa until 1918,  and known as Pearl of the Adriatic or even Thesaurum mundi,  "is a remarkably well-preserved example of a late-medieval walled city, with a regular street layout", reason for which it was designated by UNESCO a World Heritage Site in 1979 (with an extension in 1994), under the name Old City of Dubrovnik. Until recently, it was believed that the city was founded about 614 AD by a group of refugees from Epidaurum (today's Cavtat), who fled of the Slavs and Avars and established a settlement to an island, and named it Laus (lausa means rock in latin), which will become Ragusa or Rausa.

1129 Stradun, the main street of Dubrovnik 

Opposite that location, at the foot of Srđ Mountain, the Slavs developed their own settlement, under the name of Dubrovnik (from dubrava, which means oak woods). In the 12th century the channel that separated these two settlements was filled (in present is Placa or Stradun, the main street of the city) and they were united. But recent archaeological discoveries have pushed the city's history before the Common Era, there being evidence that Dubrovnik was established by Greek sailors.

3117 The Church of Saint Blaise and the statue of the saint,
the patron saint of the city

Being first under the protection of the Byzantine Empire, Ragusa came, after the infamous Fourth Crusade, under the sovereignty of Venice (1205-1358), then became part of the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom, and since 1458 paid a tribute to the Ottoman Empire, but was effectively a free state between 1358 and 1808, named Respublica Ragusina (Ragusan Republic). Its motto, Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro (Latin for "Liberty is not well sold for all the gold"), says everything about its principles, as also the fact that the republic abolished the slave trade early in the 15th century, and its official language was Latin until 1472, and thereafter the Ragusan dialect of the Romance Dalmatian language.

3099 GERMANY (Saxony) - Dresden

Situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic, Dresden is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. Although it is a relatively recent city of Germanic origin followed by settlement of Slavic people, it has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque and rococo city centre.

1267, 1327, 1906, 2964, 2972 ITALY (Sicily) - Arab-Norman Palermo and the cathedral churches of Cefalù and Monreale (UNESCO WHS)

1906 Sicily - Church of San Cataldo in Palermo

Posted on 03.10.2014, 08.11.2014, 19.09.2015, 27.02.2017, 05.03.2017
Located on the northern coast of Sicily, Arab-Norman Palermo includes a series of nine civil and religious structures dating from the era of the Norman kingdom of Sicily (1130-1194): two palaces, three churches, a cathedral, a bridge, as well as the cathedrals of Cefalú and Monreale. Collectively, they are an example of a social-cultural syncretism between Western, Islamic and Byzantine cultures on the island which gave rise to new concepts of space, structure and decoration. They also bear testimony to the fruitful coexistence of people of different origins and religions (Muslim, Byzantine, Latin, Jewish, Lombard and French).

1267 Sicily - The Cathedral-Basilica of Cefalù

Located on the central Piazza Bellini in Palermo, the Church of San Cataldo is annexed to that of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio. Founded around 1160 by admiral Majone di Bari, in the 18th century the church was used as a post office. In the 19th century it was restored and brought back to a form more similar to the original Medieval edifice. It has a rectangular plan with blind arches, partially occupied by windows. The ceiling has three characteristics red, bulge domes (cubole) and Arab-style merlons. The interior has a nave with two aisles. The naked walls are faced by spolia columns with Byzantine style arcades.

2972 Sicily - The cloister of the abbey of Monreale (1)

Located on the northern coast of Sicily, Cefalù deserves noted mainly for its Cathedral, begun in 1131, in a style of Norman architecture, which would be more accurately called Sicilian Romanesque. According to tradition, the building was erected after a vow made to the Holy Saviour by the King of Sicily, Roger II, after he escaped from a storm. The Cathedral was consecrated in 1267. The exterior is well preserved, and is largely decorated with interlacing pointed arches. On each side of the façade is a massive tower of four storeys.

1327 Sicily - The cloister of the abbey of Monreale (1)

 

The interior of the cathedral was restored in 1559, though the pointed arches of the nave, borne by ancient granite columns, are still visible; and the only mosaics preserved are those of the apse and the last bay of the choir; they are remarkably fine specimens of the Byzantine art of the period (1148) and, though restored in 1859-1862, have suffered much less than those at Palermo and Monreale from the process. The figure of the Christ Pantocrator gracing the apse is especially noteworthy.

2964 Sicily - Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator
in the apse of the Cathedral of Monreale

 

Located 15km south of Palermo, on the slope of Monte Caputo, overlooking the very fertile valley called La Conca d'oro (the Golden Shell), Monreale was for a long time a mere village, and started its expansion when the Norman Kings of Sicily chose the area as their hunting resort. Under King William II the large monastery of Benedictines coming from Cava de' Tirreni, with its church, was founded. The Cathedral of Monreale, one of the greatest extant examples of Norman architecture in the world, was begun in 1174 by William II, and in 1182 the church was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan cathedral.

2565 ITALY (Lazio) - Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura (UNESCO WHS)

Founded, according to legend, by Romulus and Remus in 753 BC in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, along the shores of Tiber river, Rome was first the centre of the Roman Republic, then of the Roman Empire, and it became the capital of the Christian world in the 4th century. Regarded as one of the birthplaces of Western civilization, it is referred to as Roma Aeterna (The Eternal City) and Caput Mundi (Capital of the World), two central notions in ancient Roman culture.

2451 AUSTRIA (Upper Austria) - The Town Square of Steyr in interwar period

2451 The Town Square of Steyr in interwar period

Situated in the Traunviertel region, with the two rivers Steyr and Enns flowing through it and meeting near the town centre beneath Lamberg Castle and St Michael's Church, Steyr is an ancient town which celebrated the anniversary of 1,000 years in 1980. In 11th and 12th centuries the Otakar dynasty controlled the iron mining at Erzberg and made their residence at Steyr a centre of medieval courtly culture and Middle High German poetry.

2440 BELGIUM (Brussels) - Manneken Pis

2440 Manneken Pis in Brussels

Manneken Pis ("Little man Pee" in Dutch) is a landmark small bronze sculpture (61cm) in Brussels, depicting a naked little boy urinating into a fountain's basin, designed by Hiëronymus Duquesnoy the Elder and put in place in 1618 or 1619. It is dressed in costume several times each week, according to a published schedule. His wardrobe consists of several hundred costumes, many of which may be viewed in a permanent exhibition inside the City Museum.

2319 UNITED STATES (Illinois) - Buckingham Fountain in Chicago

Built in a Rococo wedding cake style and inspired by the Latona Fountain at the Palace of Versailles, Buckingham Fountain in the center of Grant Park in Chicago is one of the largest fountains in the world. It represents Lake Michigan, with four sea horses symbolizing the four states (Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana) that border the lake, and was designed by beaux arts architect  Edward H. Bennett. The statues were created by the French sculptor Marcel F. Loyau.
 

1876 ITALY (Sicily) - Syracuse & the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica (UNESCO WHS)

1876 Syracuse - 1. Fountain of Diana; 2. The Cathedral;
3. Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco.

This site, designated an UNESCO WHS in 2005, consists of two separate elements: the Necropolis of Pantalica (which contains over 5,000 tombs cut into the rock, most of them dating from the 13th to 7th centuries BC), and the ancient Syracuse, which includes the nucleus of the city’s foundation as Ortygia by Greeks from Corinth in the 8th century BC. The site of the city, which Cicero described as ‘the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of all’, retains vestiges such as the Temple of Athena (5th century BC, later transformed to serve as a cathedral), a Greek theatre, a Roman amphitheatre, a fort and more.

1868 UNITED STATES (Florida) - Lightner Museum in St. Augustine

Founded in 1565 by Spanish admiral and Florida's first governor, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States. Among the points of interest of the city is Lightner Museum, a museum of antiquities, mostly American Gilded Age pieces, housed within the historic Hotel Alcazar. This 1887 Spanish Renaissance Revival style building was commissioned by Henry M. Flagler to appeal to wealthy tourists who traveled south for the winter on his railroad, the Florida East Coast Railway.

1108 SAUDI ARABIA (Makkah) - King Fahd's Fountain and Water Tower in Jeddah

Jeddah is the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, with a population of 5.1 million. It is also the principal gateway to Mecca (Islam's holiest city, which able-bodied Muslims are required to visit at least once in their lifetime), and a gateway to Medina (the second holiest place in Islam). Probably the main landmark of the city is King Fahd's Fountain, built in the 1980s and listed by the Guinness World Records organization as the highest water jet in the world at 312m. The fountain was donated to the City of Jeddah by the late King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, after whom it was named.

1013 CROATIA (Zagreb) - Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb

As the largest city of Croatia, Zagreb occupy, of course, leading economic position in the country, making it a global and cosmopolitan metropolis. This thing, but mostly its status as the capital, its history and its cultural tradition, are all reasons to consider it not only an important centre of Croatian culture, but also of Europe and the world. In addition to museums, galleries, schools and places of worship, there are about 20 permanent or seasonal theaters and stages in Zagreb, the most important being the Croatian National Theater, built in 1895 and opened by emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.

0938 UNITED STATES (Nevada) - Bellagio in Las Vegas

Bellagio is a luxury hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, in Paradise (part of Las Vegas Township), built between 1996 and 1998 on the site of the demolished Dunes hotel and casino. Inspired by the Lake Como town of Bellagio in Italy, it is famed for its elegance, but also for the fountains with the same name, actually a large dancing water fountain synchronized to music. Inside Bellagio is Fiori di Como, a work by the glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, composed of over 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers, which covers 190 square metres of the lobby ceiling.

0669 MEXICO (Chiapas) - Parachicos in the traditional January feast of Chiapa de Corzo (UNESCO ICH)

Located in the Grijalva River valley of the Chiapas highlands, Chiapa de Corzo is a small city, important of the archaeological point of view, because here were found the earliest inscribed date, the earliest form of hieroglyphic writing and the earliest Mesoamerican tomb burial. It's also the first Spanish city founded in Chiapas (1528), but after a while, because of the climate, many of the Spaniards moved into what is now San Cristóbal de las Casas. Chiapa was left for indigenous and Dominicans and called Chiapa de los Indios, San Cristobal being known as Chiapa de los Españoles.