1151 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (Abu Dhabi) - Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Built between 1996 and 2007 in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the eighth largest mosque in the world (with a capacity for 40,000 worshippers), and is considered to be the key for worship in the country. It was initiated by the first Ra’îs (president) of the UAE, HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who wanted to establish a structure which unites the cultural diversity of Islamic world, the historical and modern values of architecture and art.

1150 MONTENEGRO (Kotor) - A couple in traditional costumes

Slavs (including Croats and Serbs) have lived in the area of Montenegro since the 6th and 7th centuries in the medieval principalities of Doclea and Zeta, and the area got its present name (Montenegrin: Crna Gora, which means Black Mountain) during the rule of the Crnojević dynasty. It was part of medieval Serbia during 13th century and first half of the 14th century, but Ottoman conquest of the Balkans resulted in separation from Serbia and re-emergence of Zeta. In the 19th century national romanticism among the South Slavs fueled the desire for re-unification. Regarding the linguistic and ethnic identity of Montenegrins, there is an ongoing controversy, some supporting the ideea that they aren't a distinct group, but only a subgroup of Serbian people. Whatever the truth, the many similarities between Serbs and Montenegrins not be questioned. The Bay of Kotor, known also as Boka, is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea, in fact a ria of the disintegrated Bokelj River which used to run from the high mountain plateaus of Orjen. The inhabitants of Boka and adjacent regions are the Bokelj or Bokez people, who are an ethnic South Slavic community, many of whom nationally identify as being Montenegrin, Serb or Croat, or others. Most are Eastern Orthodox, while some are Roman Catholics.

0398, 0509, 0862, 1148, 1149 BRAZIL (Paraná) - Iguazú Falls (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 28.11.2012, 18.02.2013, 15.11.2013, and 18.07.2014
"It is said that many years ago, there was a big and monstrous serpent which lived in the Iguazú river and its name was Boi. Once per year, the guaranies had to sacrifice a beautiful maid as an offer to Boi, by throwing her to the river. All the tribes, including the ones which lived far away, were invited for this ceremony. One year, a young boy whose name was Tarobá, became leader of the tribe. When Tarobá knew the beautiful maid Naipí was the chosen girl for the sacrifice, rebelled to elderly members of the tribe and tried in vain to convince them of not offering her. In order to save Naipí, he decided to kidnap her the night before the sacrifice."

"So he put her on a canoe and escaped by the river. But Boi knew about this; she became furious and her anger was so deep that she vent over her back, split the river forming the falls  catching Naipí and Tarobá. Boi turned Tarobá into trees, that we can observe from the upper circuit, and the long hair of the beautiful Naipí into the falls. Then Boi submerged in the Devil's  Throat and from this place she watches Naipí and Tarobá never come together again... however, on sunny days the rainbow surpasses Boi's  power and join them..."

 

Taller than Niagara Falls, twice as wide with 275 cascades spread in a horsehoe shape over 2.7 kilometres of the Iguazu River, Iguazú Falls (named also Iguassu Falls or Iguaçu Falls; in Portuguese Cataratas do Iguaçu, and in Spanish Cataratas del Iguazú, from the Guarani words for Big Water) is actually the result of a volcanic eruption which left yet another large crack in the earth. Lying on the Argentina - Brazil border, in the place where the Iguazu River tumbles over the edge of the Paraná Plateau, 23 kilometres upriver from the Iguazu's confluence with the Paraná River, it was discovered by the Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541 (do you remember the fascinating movie The Mission?). In March 1944, when she saw it,  Eleanor Roosevelt exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" It seems to be only a legend, because Eleanor Roosevelt never saw this waterfall (read here), but it is as beautiful as that from the beginning of my post.

 

The waterfall is shared by the Iguazú National Park (Argentina) and Iguaçu National Park (Brazil), the two parks being designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1984 and 1987, respectively, because "conserve one of the largest and most spectacular waterfalls in the world comprised of a system of numerous cascades and rapids and almost three kilometres wide within the setting of a lush and diverse sub-tropical broadleaf forest. The permanent spray from the cataracts forms impressive clouds that soak the forested islands and river banks resulting in a visually stunning and constantly changing interface between land and water."

 

The two parks also "forms the largest single protected remnant of the Paranaense subtropical rainforest, which belongs to the Interior Atlantic Forest. The rich biodiversity includes over 2000 species of plants, 400 species of birds and possibly as many as 80 mammals, as well as countless invertebrate species." In 2011 it was announced as one of the seven winners of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.

1147 HONDURAS - Maya Site of Copan (UNESCO WHS)

Discovered in 1570 by Diego García de Palacio, the ruins of Copán, one of the most important sites of the Mayan civilization (located now on western Honduras, near to the border with Guatemala) were not excavated until the 19th century. The first evidence of population in the Copan Valley dates back to 1500 B.C., but the first Maya-Cholan immigration from the Guatemalan Highlands is dated around 100 A.D. The Maya leader Yax Kuk Mo, coming from the area of Tikal (Petén), arrived in the Copan Valley in 427 A.D., and started a dynasty of 16 rulers that transformed Copan into one of the greatest Maya cities during the Classic Maya Period. The great period of Copán occurred during the Classical period, AD 300-900.

1146 POLAND (Lublin) - Old City of Zamość (UNESCO WHS)

Founded in the 16th century by the chancellor Jan Zamoysky on the trade route linking western and northern Europe with the Black Sea, Zamość is, in the view of UNESCO, "a unique example of a Renaissance town in Central Europe, consistently designed and built in accordance with the Italian theories of the "ideal town," on the basis of a plan which was the result of perfect cooperation between the open-minded founder, Jan Zamoyski, and the outstanding architect, Bernardo Morando. Zamość is an outstanding example of an innovative approach to town planning, combining the functions of an urban ensemble, a residence, and a fortress in accordance with a consistently implemented Renaissance concept. The result of this is a stylistically homogeneous urban composition with a high level of architectural and landscape values. A real asset of this great construction was its creative enhancement with local artistic architectural achievements."

1145 BARBADOS - Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison (UNESCO WHS)

1145 Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison

Bridgetown, the capital and largest city of Barbados, is located along the Carlisle Bay, on the southwestern coast of the island. The present day location of the city was established by English settlers in 1628 following a prior settlement under the authority of Sir William Courten at St. James Town. Historic Bridgetown is an outstanding example of British colonial architecture consisting of a well-preserved old town built in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, which testifies to the spread of Great Britain's Atlantic colonial empire. The property also includes a nearby military garrison which consists of numerous historic buildings.

1144 SWAZILAND - Mswati III

1144 King Mswati III and the Reed Dance

The Swazi are a Bantu Nguni-speaking people in southeastern Africa, chiefly in Swaziland and South Africa. The term bakaNgwane (Ngwane's people) is still used as an alternative to emaSwati, to refer to the Swazi people. They originated in South-east Africa in the 15th century, moved into southern Mozambique, and then into present-day Swaziland (sometimes called kaNgwane or Eswatini), a small, land-locked country, bordered by South Africa and by Mozambique. The first king of modern Swaziland was Ngwane III (1745-1780). In the 1840s, a substantial portion of Swazi territory was ceded to the Transvaal Boers, instead the remaining territory of Swaziland, and their king, Mswati II, were recognized by both the Transvaal and by Britain. The Pretoria Convention for the Settlement of the Transvaal in 1881 recognized the independence of Swaziland and defined its boundaries. Britain claimed authority over Swaziland in 1903, and independence was regained in 1968. Today, the number of Swazis in South Africa is slight larger than that of Swazis in Swaziland, which is approximately 1.1 million people.

1143 BAHAMAS - St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church in Nassau

 

The capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Nassau is located on the island of New Providence, and was formerly known as Charles Town. Burned by the Spanish in 1684, was rebuilt and renamed Nassau in 1695 in honour of the Dutch Stadtholder. By 1713, it had become a haven for pirates, who proclaimed Nassau a pirate republic, which survived only 5 years.

1141 ALGERIA - Women from the south of Algeria in traditional clothes

As in other Maghreb countries, the majority of people from Algeria are Berbers in origins, and many of them identifies with an Arabic-based culture. Even if nine out of ten algerians live along the northern coastal region, in the Saharan regions of the south there are still some nomadic or semi-nomadic communities. Most people speak a North African dialect of Arabic known as darja, but education and the written language are in classical Arabic.

1140 KAZAKHSTAN - Mosque Khazret Sultan in Astana

In 1997, Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Kazakhstan's leader since 1989, but found in the circles of power long before the separation of the country from Soviet Union, moved the capital from Almaty in the southeast, in the north, to the steppe town of Akmola, to which changed also the name in Astana. On 6 july 2012, to commemorate the 14th anniversary of this event, was opened in the city the biggest mosque not only in Kazakhstan, but even in the whole Central Asia. Kazakhstan is the largest economy in Central Asia, and is predominantly Muslim (followers of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam), so nothing strange this far, but was it a coincidence that July 6th was also Nazarbaev's 72nd birthday? The mosque, called Khazret Sultan, is big enough to take 5,000 worshippers and stands on a 27 acre site, roughly the size of 18 football pitches. Each of its domes is fitted with Barrisol sheets, printed with oriental patterns. The biggest dome is 28m wide and 51 m high, and the four minarets have 77m hight.

0432, 1139 JORDAN - Wadi Rum Protected Area (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 26.12.2012, 10.07.2014
Placed between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Israel, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter two, and its only port, at the Gulf of Aqaba, with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, Jordan consists of an arid plateau in the east and an highland area in the west, with arable land and Mediterranean evergreen forestry, part of the region considered to be "the cradle of civilization", the Levant region of the Fertile Crescent. Controlled by the ancient empires of Persians and Macedonian Greeks, and later by the Nabatean kingdom and Roman Empire, it became a heartland for the Arabic Islamic Empire, and in 1516 was incorporated in the Ottoman Empire. During WWI, the Transjordanian tribes fought against the Ottoman Empire as part of the Arab Army of the Great Arab Revolt, supported by the Allies. The chronicle of the revolt was written by T. E. Lawrence (in the picture, on the first postcard) who, as a young British Army officer, played a liaison role during the revolt, and become the basis for the iconic movie Lawrence of Arabia. In 1922 Transjordan came under the British Mandate, which ended in 1946.

Located at 60km to the east of Aqaba, Wadi Rum (transcribed by archaeologists as Wadi Ramm), also known as The Valley of the Moon, is the largest wadi (a dry riverbed, that contains water only during times of heavy rain) in Jordan, cut into the sandstone and granite rock. Due to its iconic desert landscape, renowned for its spectacular series of sandstone mountains and valleys, natural arches, and the range of narrow gorges, towering cliffs, massive landslides, and dramatic cavernous weathering forms displayed, but also due to the evidence of long-term patterns of pastoral, agricultural and urban human activity (25,000 petroglyphs, 20,000 inscriptions, and 154 archaeological sites, stretched over a period of at least 12,000 years), Wadi Rum Protected Area became an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. In the West, Wadi Rum is best known for its connection with T. E. Lawrence, who based his operations here during the Arab Revolt of 1917-1918, so in the 1980s one of the rock formations in this wadi (in the picture) was named The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, after Lawrence's book with the same name.

1138 DENMARK (Faroe Islands) - Kamarið Cliff in Suðuroy

Covering 163.7 square kilometres and being inhabited by 4,678 people, Suðuroy (literally South Island) is the southernmost of the Faroe Islands. It is the island which has the most islets and skerries (263), and also the only of the 18 islands of the Faroes which has a coalmine still active. The highest point of Suðuroy is the mountain Gluggarnir (610m), but the most famous peak is definitely the mountain of Beinisvørð north-west of the village of Sumba. The Beinisvørð and its scenery have been praised by the local poet Poul F. Joensen (1898–1970), as well as other Faroese poets. The western side of the island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because of its significance as a breeding site for seabirds, especially Northern Fulmars, European Storm Petrels, European Shags, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Atlantic Puffins, Common Guillemots and Black Guillemots. On the postcard is Kamarið (The Chamber), near the village Vágur, situated on the east coast of the island on the Vágsfjørður fjord.

1137 GRENADA - The carnival in Island of Spice

Located in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, and known as the Island of Spice, Grenada, a former colony of Britain and France, was built on the labour of enslaved Africans, so the vast majority of the population are of African descent (about 90%), and its culture is a combination of French and African cultures. For Christians, Carnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent (the word "carnival" comes from the Latin carne levare - farewell to meat). In colonies, the slaves were left out of their owners' fun and fanfare, so they organized their own parties, puting together costumes with what little they had. Grenada's Carnival (Spice Mas) has been celebrated on the island since the Europeans occupied it, each year before Lent, but because since 1975 in february is also celebrated the independence, it was moved several times, until it came to be celebrated in August (for 2014 it starts on the 10th of August and ends on the 14th). After months of preparation, there are many events to attend at the National Stadium: the National Queen show, the SMC/LIME Soca Monarch Competition, the Panorama Night of Pan and Soca. The pre-Carnival festivities culminates with Dimanche Gras. After four days of music and competition, the party is ready to get started with the three main events of Spice Mas.

1030, 1134 ITALY (Tuscany) - Historic Centre of Siena (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 12.03.2014, 09.07.2014
Settled for the first time by Etruscans (c. 900-400 BC), Siena was founded, according to legend, by Senius, son of Remus. Anyway, it didn't prospered under Roman rule, because it wasn't sited near any major roads. After the Lombard occupation, the situation was changed, and the city developed as a trading post. Conquered by Charlemagne in 774, the city became republic in 12th century, which existed for over 400 years. In the Italian War of 1551-1559, the republic was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown, and that ceded it to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century. In 1995, its historic centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because "the whole city of Siena, built around the Piazza del Campo, was devised as a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape."

The Siena Cathedral, dedicated on its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church, and now dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta (Holy Mary, Our Lady of the Assumption), begun in the 12th century, and is one of the great examples of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. Its main façade was completed in 1380. After the completion of the transept and the building of the east wall the money ran out and the rest of the cathedral was abandoned. In the interior the pictorial effect of the black and white marble stripes on the walls and columns strikes the eye. Black and white are the colours of the civic coat of arms of Siena. The capitals of the columns in the west bays of the nave are sculpted with allegorical busts and animals. The horizontal moulding around the nave and the presbytery contains 172 plaster busts of popes dating from the 15th and 16th centuries starting with St. Peter and ending with Lucius III. The spandrels of the round arches below this cornice exhibit the busts of 36 emperors.

1133 SPAIN (Balearic Islands) - The traditional Ibiza women dress

Placed at 79km off the coast of the city of Valencia, Ibiza (Catalan: Eivissa), the third largest of the Balearic Islands, is well known in our days for its summer club scene which attracts very large numbers of tourists. Colonized by Phoenicians in 654 BC, then ruled successively by Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Moors, Norwegians, and Aragoneses, became part of Spain, maintaining its own self-government in several forms until 1715, when King Philip V of Spain abolished the local government's autonomy.

1131 NETHERLANDS (Netherlands / North Holland) - An orange Amsterdam

I searched long time on the Internet this postcard, but I couldn't find it, so I don't know why gathered all these people on this canal in Amsterdam. Anyway, it must be something with national spirit, because so many wears orange shirts. For those who don't know, orange is the color of the Dutch Royal Family, but today it symbolizes a broader pride in the country and in being Dutch. The lineage of the current dynasty - the House of Oranje-Nassau - dates back to Willem van Oranje (William of Orange). It is possible that the photograph to have been done with the ocasion of Koningsdag (King's Day), celebrated on 27 April (26 April if the 27th falls on a Sunday) to mark the birth of King Willem-Alexander. This day is an opportunity for "orange madness" or oranjegekte, for the national colour, when the normally strait-laced Dutch let down their hair, often dyed orange for the occasion.

1128 GREECE (South Aegean) - The traditional architecture of Oia, in Santorini

Located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200km southeast of Greece's mainland, Santorini, classically Thera, and officially Thira, is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name. It is essentially what remained after an enormous volcanic eruption (which occurred some 3600 years ago) that destroyed the earliest settlements on a formerly single island, and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110km to the south, through a gigantic tsunami. A giant central, rectangular lagoon, which measures about 12 by 7km, is surrounded by 300m high, steep cliffs on three sides.

1127 FIJI - Natadola Beach

Located in the South Pacific Ocean, at about 2,000 km northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and comprising 332 islands and 522 islets, Fiji is endowed with forest, mineral, and fish resources, being a developing country with a large subsistence agriculture sector. Tourism has expanded rapidly since the early 1980s and is the leading economic activity in the islands. The largest island and also the site of the nation's capital, Suva, is Viti Levu, home to 70% of the population (about 600,000) and the hub of the entire Fijian archipelago. Its size is comparable with The Big Island of Hawaii or slightly smaller than Connecticut.

1124 TURKEY (Aegean Region) - Miletus

Situated on the western coast of Asia Minor, near the mouth of the Maeander River (from which come the word "meander") in ancient Caria, Miletus was considered the greatest and wealthiest of Greek cities before the Persian invasion in the middle of the 6th century BC. After a period of decline, it reached its greatest wealth and splendor during the Hellenistic era (323-30 BC) and later Roman times.