3430 UNITED KINGDOM (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha) - Island of Saint Helena (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

Saint Helena is a volcanic tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean, part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is one of the most remote islands in the world and was uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese in 1502. From 1659 it has been a British possession, apart from a short Dutch interlude in 1673, and was an important stopover for ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa for centuries.

3360 CZECH REPUBLIC (Ústí nad Labem) - Žatec, the Hops Town (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

3360 The Hop Museum in Žatec

Located in the northwest part of the Czech Republic, the historic town of Žatec is famous for an over-700-year-long tradition of growing Saaz noble hops used by several breweries. The natural conditions of the site are significantly influenced by the nearby mountains. Their slopes form a natural barrier against the western winds, and create what is called rain shadow, which markedly influences the climate in and around the town. The dry and relatively warm climate, combined with plenty of ground water, was found to be very favourable to the growing of hops. Žatec produces its own beer and hosts Dočesná, its (hops related) harvest festival every year.

3348 IRELAND (Leinster) - Images of Dublin - The Historic City of Dublin (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

3348 Dublin City - Palace Bar, Molly Malone statue
and georgian doors

Untainted, unspoiled and unperturbed by the passage of time - that's what makes The Palace Bar one of Dublin's best-loved original Victorian pubs. This priceless jewel provides a very important bridge between the 19th century Victorian pub and Dublin's great traditions of literary hostelries. During the 1940's and 50's this pub became the home of international fame and intellectual refreshment under the patronage of R.M. (Bertie) Smyllie, then Editor of The Irish Times. It was the social home of the Fourth Estate playing host to to newsmen, correspondents and compositors of Dublin's three daily papers.

3317 MOLDOVA - Postcrossing Meetup, Chișinău, 23 June 2018

3317 The eighth postcard of the series
"100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (8/12)
- Old Orhei landscape.

The previous postcard of the series "100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (7/12)

Another meeting of the Romanian postcrossers in the year of the Centenary of the Great Union took place on June 23, 2018, in Chișinău. Actually it was the second Postcrossing meeting between members from Moldova and Romania, which took place on the occasion of the launch of a stamp dedicated to the Postcrossing project. Mihnea Răducu chose for the postcard a landscape from Orheiul Vechi Archaeological Landscape (about which I wrote here), submitted by Moldova to UNESCO for inclusion among the World Heritage Sites.

0549, 2030, 3253 IRELAND (Leinster) - Trinity College - part of The Historic City of Dublin (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

2030 Dublin - Trinity College

Posted on 11.03.2013, 13.11.2015, 01.02.2018
Probable that Dublin no longer looks as it was presented in Dubliners by Joyce, but certainly that Trinity College, the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin, hasn't changed much since Beckett studied there, from 1923 to 1927. Founded in 1592 as the "mother" of a new university, and modelled after the collegiate universities of Oxford and of Cambridge, it's one of the seven ancient universities of the British Isles, and was originally intended to consolidate the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, being seen as the university of the Protestant Ascendancy for much of its history.

0549 Dublin - The Long Room from
Trinity College Library (1)

Although Roman Catholics and Dissenters had been permitted to enter in college since 1793, the professorships, the fellowships and the scholarships were reserved for Protestants until 1873, and the Catholic Church forbade its adherents from attending, without permission of their bishop, until 1970. Its library is the largest research library in Ireland, and a legal deposit library for the UK and Ireland, so it receives a copy of every book published in Great Britain and Ireland, which means 100,000 new items every year. It contains circa five million books, including significant collections of manuscripts, maps, and printed music.

3253 Dublin - The Long Room from Trinity College Library (2)

The Book of Kells, created by Celtic monks ca. 800, is by far its most famous book and is located in the Old Library. As is writes on the postcard, "The main chamber of the Old Library, the Long Room, is nearly 65m in length, and houses around 200,000 of the Library's oldest books. In 1860 the roof was raised to allow the construction of the present barrel-vaulted ceiling and gallery bookcases. Marble busts are placed down either side of the room which also contains the oldest surviving harp in Ireland." It's about the Brian Boru harp, one of the three surviving medieval Gaelic harps, and a national symbol of Ireland (used also on the Irish Euro coins), received by the college in the 18th century.

3252 POLAND (Podlaskie) - The Augustów Canal (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

The Augustów Canal (Kanał Augustowski) is a cross-border canal built in the 19th century in the present-day Podlaskie Voivodeship of northeastern Poland and the Grodno Region of north-western Belarus (then the Augustów Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland). From the time it was first built, the canal was described by experts as a technological marvel, with numerous sluices contributing to its aesthetic appeal. The completed part of the canal remained an inland waterway of local significance until rendered obsolete by the regional railway network.

3056 MOLDOVA - Orheiul Vechi Archaeological Landscape (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

3056 Church of the Complex Orheiul Vechi (Old Orhei)

The Orheiul Vechi Archaeological Landscape lies along the gorge of the lower course of the Răut River, 14km upstream from its confluence with Dniester River, on the territory of the Trebujeni and Butuceni villages, and organically combines the natural landscape and vestiges of ancient civilizations. This is an extremely strategic position: the Răut links it with most of central and northern Moldova, while the Dniester is the most important trade route between northeast Carpathians and the Black Sea Basin.

2985 SOUTH KOREA (South Jeolla) - Suncheon Bay - part of Southwestern Coast Tidal Flats (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

2985 Sunset at the tidal flats of Waon Village in Suncheon Bay

The Tidal Flats on the southwest coast of Korea, distributed in Gomso Bay, Yeoja Bay, and Hamhae Bay and the Sinan archipelagos, are unique macrotidal flats where typical embayed tidal flats turn into open-coast tidal flats during the monsoons. They have no barrier islands like other tidal flats in the Yellow Sea. During winter, strong waves create sand flats, while in summer, the mud flats expand as tidal currents overpower the waves. The seasonal change is very clear along the coastlines.

0476, 2926, 2959 BELARUS (Vitebsk) - Saviour Transfiguration Church and Saint Sophia Cathedral in the town of Polatsk (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

0476 Saint Sophia Cathedral in Polatsk (1)

Located on the Dvina river, Polatsk is one of the most ancient cities of the Eastern Slavs. The Primary Chronicle listed Polotsk in 862, together with Murom and Beloozero. The town was named in accordance with the Palata river name, on the right bank of which the first settlements appeared. From 10th to 13th centuries Polatsk was the central town of the Polatsk Principality. Favorable geographical location on trade ways ("From Varengians to Greeks") promoted the rapid economical and cultural development. At that time outstanding examples of architecture of the period Saint.Sofia Cathedral and Savior Transfiguration Church were constructed.

2926 Saint Sophia Cathedral in Polatsk (2)

In the winter of 1066-1067, very angry that was excluded from the succession of Kievan Rus', because his father (even if was the nephew of Vladimir The Great, Grand Prince of Kiev) hadn't been prince in Kiev, Vseslav the Sorcerer, Prince of Polotsk, went through fire and sword the northern areas of this principality. In this campaign he pillaged and burnt Novgorod the Great, removing the bell and other religious objects from the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom and bringing them to decorate his own cathedral of the same name in Polotsk, completed by Byzantine architects even in that year. Actually here will be buried, 34 years later, and after him another 15 Polotsk princes.

2959 Savior Transfiguration Church in Polatsk
 in 1870's

Even though it was renovated many times over the centuries, and the current appearance is an example of the Vilnius Baroque style, the cathedral still retains some elements from the original construction, so it's considered the oldest church in Belarus. Named after Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) Cathedral in Constantinople, this church originally had seven domes, later reduced to five after it was rebuilt following the fire of 1447. One of the characteristic features of the cathedral is facetted apses, typically found on wooden temples.

0686, 2951 MYANMAR (Mandalay Region) - Bagan Archaeological Area and Monuments (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

0686 Bagan Archaeological Area and Monuments

Posted on 19.06.2013, 14.02.2017
Capital of the Kingdom of Pagan (the first kingdom which unified the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar) from the 9th to 13th centuries, Bagan is considered by many as equal in attraction to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. During the kingdom's height, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed here, of which the remains of over 2500 still survive to the present day. Several of these monuments are still higly venerated by the population, and attract numerous pilgrims and devotees from all over the country, particularly at festival times, but also many tourists.

2951 Ananda Temple in Bagan

The Bagan temples falls into one of two broad categories: the stupa-style solid temples and the gu-style hollow temples. The original Indic design of the stupas (zeidi or zedi in Burmese) was gradually modified first in Pyu city states, and then in Bagan, where they developed a longer, cylindrical form, become the prototypes for later Burmese stupas in terms of symbolism, form and design, building techniques and even materials. In contrast to the stupas, the hollow gu-style temple is a structure used for meditation, devotional worship of the Buddha and other Buddhist rituals.

0210, 2888 POLAND (Pomerania) - Gdansk, Town of Memory and Freedom (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

2888 Gdansk - The Main Town Hall and St. Mary's Church.

Posted on 18.05.2012, 30.11.2016

Built on the site of an early settlements associated with the Wielbark culture, which was followed in 980 by a stronghold, Gdańsk received city rights by Swietopelk II, in 1235. With permanent valences of a free city, due to its location on the Baltic Sea coast, to the mouth of the river Motława, which gives it a opening both towards the sea as well as towards central Poland, and from there towards Eastern Europe, the city belonged, successively, to the Kingdom of Poland, the Teutonic Knights, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prussia, German Empire, German Reich, and Poland, except for two brief periods, when it was a free city (1807-1814, 1920-1939).

0210 Gdansk - The crane Żuraw

The stronghold and town of Gdansk contained from its beginnings a series of individual urban components which later became distinct districts within which there are valuable examples of urban, sacral and defensive architecture. These include the Main Town (Glowne Miasto), Old Town (Stare Miasto), the Lower Town (Dolne Miasto), the Old Suburbs (Stare Prdedmiejscie), Granary Island (Wyspa Spichrzow), Olowianka, Long Gardens (Dlugie Ogrody), Bishpop's Hill (Biskupia Gorka) and Grodzisko.

2873 ETHIOPIA (Oromia) - Holqa Sof Omar: Natural and Cultural Heritage (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

With a 16km length, Sof Omar Caves is one of the most spectacular and extensive underground caverns in the world. It is situated to the east of Robe, in the Bale Zone, through which the Weyib River (Gestro River) flows. Here the river vanishes into this giant underground world with its arched portals, high eroded ceilings, and deep, vaulted echoing chambers. The approach to the caves is made through the tiny village of Sof Omar, perched on the cliffs above the Weib River.

2770, 2771 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - The Historic Centre of Sibiu and its Ensemble of Squares (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

2770 Sibiu in 1898

 
Located in Transylvania, Romania, Sibiu (German: Hermannstadt) straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt. The first official record referring to the Sibiu area comes from 1191, when Pope Celestine III confirmed the existence of the free prepositure of the German settlers in Transylvania, the prepositure having its headquarters in Sibiu, named Cibinium at that time. The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary (1141-1162), the main task of the Transylvanian Saxons being to defend the southeastern border of the Kingdom of Hungary.

2771 The Big Square in Sibiu in 1900

 

Although Sibiu is an ancient settlement dating from Neolithic, the overall form and shape of the city is medieval. Its evolving lines of strong fortifications, together with its characteristic street pattern, squares and building plots, developed and grew especially following the Tatar invasion of 1241. In the 14th century, it was already an important trade centre, and from 1366 onwards became known as Hermannstadt. In 1376, the craftsmen were divided in 19 guilds. Sibiu became the most important ethnic German city among the seven cities that gave Transylvania its German name Siebenbürgen (literally seven citadels).

2712-2716 ROMANIA (Argeș) - Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches in Curtea de Argeș (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

2712 Princely Church of Saint Nicholas in Curtea de Argeş

Located on the right bank of the Argeş River, where it flows through a valley of the lower Carpathians (the Făgăraş Mountains), Curtea de Argeş (literally The Court upon Argeş), capital of Wallachia in 14th and 15th centuries, retains Romanian representative monuments of medieval architecture. A first set consist in the Princely Church Saint Nicolas, the ruins of the Princely Court (13th-16th centuries) and the Church Saint Nicoară (15th century). The second objective is the church of the former Argeş Monastery (1512-1517), an architectural archetype for a series of monastic buildings until the 18th century.

2713 Princely Church of Saint Nicholas
in Curtea de Argeş - Deisis (detail proskynesis
- Nicholas Alexander Basarab)

Founded by Basarab I (r. 1310-1352), the founder of the independent feudal state of Wallachia, the Princely Church of Saint Nicholas was built in Byzantine style, after a plane of the type Greek cross, version Constantinople, ending with three apses to the east. The outside look is defined by the alternation of stone and brick layers. For many decades, the church was also a necropolis for the crowned heads of Wallachia, being the burial place of Vladislav I (r. 1364-1377) and Radu I (r. 1377-1383). The paintings covering the walls date back to voivode Vladislav I, but some of them are from the 18th century.

2714 Princely Church of Saint Nicholas
in Curtea de Argeş - Radu I and Lady Ana

The over 300 original painting from the 14th century represent one of the most valuable examples of Byzantine art in south-eastern Europe, the works being impossible to categorize into one school of thought or one art genre. One of the walls bears a painting unique in the world that depicts the Virgin Mary pregnant. Other frescoes presents scenes from the life of Saint Filofteia, the saint whose relics were brought to the Princely Church in 1396. The relics remained in the place of worship until 1894 when they were moved to Curtea de Arges Monastery.

2715 Cathedral of Curtea de Argeş

The Cathedral of Curtea de Argeş, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, resembles a very large and elaborate mausoleum, and was built in the Byzantine style, with Moorish arabesques. In shape the structure is oblong, with a many-sided annex at the back. A dome rises in the center, fronted by two smaller twisting and leaning cupolas, while a secondary dome springs from the annex. Each summit is crowned by an inverted pear-shaped stone, bearing a triple cross, emblematic of the Trinity. Facing the main entrance is a small open shrine, consisting of a cornice and dome upheld by four pillars.

2716 Cathedral of Curtea de Argeş - Mircea the Elder

The church was built in three years (1515-1517), by Neagoe Basarab, and the paintings inside were executed in 1526 by Master Dobromir during the reign of Radu of Afumaţi. The later damage caused by people, fired and earthquakes was mended in 1682 by Şerban Cantacuzino. Following another fire, the last restoration was made between 1875 and 1886 under the lead of the French André Lecomte du Nouy, who made questionable changes. Near the church is the well of Master Manole, the builder of the church, the hero of the ballad of the same name.

Cathedral of Curtea de Argeş - ticket

As a curiosity, the nave and the narthex are not separated by a door, but by the frame of a door, placed between two columns. In the narthex are the graves of Neagoe Basarab (d.1521), his wife, Despina (d.1554), and his daughter, Stana (d.1531), Radu of Afumaţi (d.1529). Other tombs in the monastery are the final resting places for other four important royal heads of Romania: King Carol I (d.1914) and his wife Queen Elisabeta (d.1916), King Ferdinand I (d.1927) and his wife Queen Maria (d.1938).