0787, 2449 NEW ZEALAND (South Island) - Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand (UNESCO WHS)

0787 Aoraki/Mt Cook

Posted on 09.08.2013, 09.04.2016
Located in the south-west corner of South Island, Te Wähipounamu (Māori for "the place of greenstone") covers 10% of New Zeland's landmass, and exhibits many examples of the tectonic, climatic, and glacial processes that have shaped the earth, but is also the largest and least modified area of New Zealand's natural ecosystems. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990, the site incorporates several national parks: Aoraki/Mt Cook, Fiordland, Mt Aspiring and Westland. A Maori association with the area falls into three broad categories: mythological, traditional history and ethnological. All these values are contained within the tradition of the Ngai Tahu tribe.

2449 Westland Tai Poutini National Park - Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier

As the largest and least modified area of New Zealand's natural ecosystems, the flora and fauna has become the world's best intact modern representation of the ancient biota of Gondwana. The distribution of these plants and animals is inextricably linked to the dynamic nature of the physical processes at work in the property. The region contains outstanding examples of plant succession after glaciation, with sequences along altitudinal (sea level to permanent snowline), latitudinal (wet west to the dry east), and chronological gradients (fresh post-glacial surfaces to old Pleistocene moraines).

2449 Westland Tai Poutini National Park -
Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier (1)

Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is located near the town of Twizel, and covers over 700km². Glaciers cover 40% of the park area, which houses 19 of the New Zealand's 20 peaks over 3,000m. The mountains of the Southern Alps in general are young, less than ten million years old, and are still building. Aoraki/Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand (3,754m), and consists of three summits lying slightly south and east of the main divide, the Low Peak, Middle Peak and High Peak, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the west.

2449 Westland Tai Poutini National Park -
Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier (2)

According to Māori legend, Aoraki was a young boy who, along with his three brothers, were the sons of Rakinui, the Sky Father. On their voyage around the Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, their canoe became stranded on a reef and tilted. Aoraki and his brothers climbed onto the top side of their canoe. However, the south wind froze them and turned them to stone. Their canoe became the Te Waka o Aoraki, the South Island. Aoraki, the tallest, became the highest peak, and his brothers created the Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, the Southern Alps. 

2449 Westland Tai Poutini National Park -
Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier (3)

Westland Tai Poutini National Park covers 1,175 km² and extends from the highest peaks of the Southern Alps to a wild and remote coastline, bordering the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park along the Main Divide. Included in the park are glaciers, scenic lakes and dense temperate rainforest, as well as remains of old gold mining towns along the coast. Franz Josef Glacier (12km long), Fox Glacier (13km long) and a third glacier descends from the Southern Alps to less than 300m above sea level, into temperate rainforest.

2448 FRANCE (Saint Barthélemy) - Savaku

Located at Saint-Jean, not far from the Gustaf III Airport, the bronze statue Savaku, the work of the freelance graphic designer aged 27 years Guillaume Blanchard,  was inaugurated on August 24, 2007. It evokes the soul of St Barth, a metaphor for the island as envisioned by the artist, representing in the same time the forces of nature, including hurricanes.

2446, 2447 FRANCE (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) - Life in Faverger at early 20th century

2446 Faverger - Peasants plowing at early 20th century

Faverges is a commune (since 2016 Faverges-Seythenex) located in south-east of France, in the glacial valley which gave birth to the Lake Annecy. It has a very rich history, that extends until the end of the ice age, when the waters of the lake joined the river Isère and the people settled the lakeshores and sunny slopes. In roman times, the vicus of Viuz was an important stop along the road which ran from Turin to Geneva. In the Middle Ages, pre-industrial metalworks were renowned for their iron and copper tools and jewelry.

2447 Faverger - Mechanical sawmill with steam at early 20th century

Numerous forges were built along the rivers from which they derived some of their energy needs. In 1811, the Faverges castle (built around 1250) was turned into a cotton-weaving factory, thus launching Faverges into the Industrial Revolution. This is a fitting heritage for a town whose name derives from the Latin faber, fabricae (manufacture). Faverges now has several important factories providing some 2,500 jobs, which is remarkable in that the commune has only some 7,000 inhabitants.

2445 KOSOVO - Images of Pristina

2445 Pristina: 1. The tower clock; 2. Skanderbeg Square;
3. National Library of Kosovo; 4. Rugova Square.

Located close to the Goljak mountains, Pristina is the capital and largest city of Kosovo, a state located in the central Balkan Peninsula, which declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, recognised by 108 UN members (from 193). Southeast of the city, the remains of Ulpiana were discovered, the center of the Illyrian province of Dardania. Ulpiana was founded in the 2nd century during the rule of Roman Emperor Trajan, and renewed in the 6th century during the rule of  Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, after whom it was called Justiniana Secunda.

2443, 2444 ROMANIA (Constanţa) - The Natural Sciences Museum Complex in Constanţa

2443 Natural Sciences Museum Complex in Constanţa -
Ni Ni & Chen Chen (Tursiops truncatus) at Dolphinarium

The Natural Sciences Museum Complex opened in 1958 when the Constanţa Aquarium emerged, after the renovation of the old building on the esplanade of the sea in the proximity of the Casino. Later, in 1969 the Planetarium was built, then in 1971 the Astronomic Observatory and the Museum of the Sea, and in 1972 the Dolphinarium. In 1973 all these were merged into a unique museum, placed on the west side of the Soveja market, in the Northeast part of the town.

2444 Natural Sciences Museum Complex in Constanţa - Pelicans in Microdelta

Over time the Dolphinarium grew with the Dolphinarium 2 (covered pool), the Microdelta and the bird house - exotic and decorative birds. The Microdelta is a body of water surrounded by willows and swamp vegetation, a piece of lacustrine ecosystem where can be found a number of 46 species, with more than 170 exemplars: pelicans, swans, ducks and wild geese, peacocks, pheasants and mammals (mouflons, fallow deer).

2442 UNITED KINGDOM (Bermuda) - A ducking stool in St. George's

Cucking and ducking stools were chairs used for punishment of disorderly women,  scolds, and dishonest tradesmen in England, Scotland, and in the English colonies of North America. They were instruments of public humiliation and censure primarily for the offense of scolding and less often for sexual offenses like bearing an illegitimate child or prostitution. The cucking stool was usualy a commode or toilet, placed in public view, upon which the targeted person was forced to sit, and often while being paraded through the town.

2441 RUSSIA (Perm Krai) - The Stone Town

Located in Northern Urals, at 5-6km from Usva village, on the main peak of Rudyansky hills (526m), the Stone Town (local name - Devil Town or Cherepakhi "the tortoises") is a big rock massif composed by fine-grained quartz sandstones of Lower Carboniferous. The massif is broken by deep fissures (up to 8-12m), creating the illusion of deep and narrow perpendicularly crossed streets, side streets and lanes of an ancient deserted town.

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.

0598, 2438, 2439 BRAZIL (São Paulo) - Central Zone of São Paulo

2439 Central Zone of São Paulo

Posted on 13.04.2013, 06.04.2016

On January 25, 1554 Manuel da Nóbrega and José de Anchieta together with a group of priests founded the Jesuits' School on a flat surface of a high hill surrounded by rivers Anhangabaú and Tamanduateí. It was on this very same spot that the construction of the first mud-houses gave origin to the village of São Paulo de Piratininga. In 1560 the village became a small town, and in 1681 São Paulo was established as the main town in the Captaincy of São Paulo (administrative division in the former Portuguese colony).

0598 Central Zone of São Paulo - Copan Building and Italy Building

In 1711, the small town received the status of City. Early in the 19th century, after the independence of Brazil, São Paulo became the capital of the province. Practically, the setllement as it shown today was formed during the 20th century, growing from village to metropolis through an irregular urban sprawl. More accurate, until the mid-1950s, in São Paulo the plans were based only on the idea of "demolish and rebuild", the city reaching to have the third highest density of buildings in the world.

2438 Central Zone of São Paulo - Vale do Anhangabaú

The Central Zone of the city, one of the largest commercial and business districts in Latin America, is bounded officially by districts of Municipality Cathedral, but the social perception of it varies and may include other areas of the city. In the middle of the postcard 0598 can be seen the Edifício Copan (Copan Building), one of the largest buildings in Brazil, with the largest floor area of any residential building in the world, erected between 1957 and 1966.

2437 GERMANY (Schleswig-Holstein) - The lighthouse in Ellenbogen, on Sylt Island

Sylt, the largest North Frisian island and as well the northernmost island of Germany, nicknamed the "Queen of the North Sea", is well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. Its northernmost part looks like a bent arm, hence the name Ellenbogen, German for "elbow." The entire Ellenbogen is a bird and nature sanctuary. Its beautiful coastal landscape is dominated by a lighthouse built in 1857 and newly renovated.

2436 GERMANY (Berlin) - The Brandenburg Gate

2436 Berlin - Brandenburg Gate in 1930

The Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) is an 18th-century neoclassical triumphal arch, one of the best-known landmarks of Germany. It is built on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel. Located in the western part of the city centre within Mitte, immediately west of the Pariser Platz, it is the monumental entry to Unter den Linden, which led directly to the royal City Palace of the Prussian monarchs.

2431-2435 UNITED KINGDOM (Turks and Caicos Islands) - The former life in Turks Islands

2431 Grand Turk - Barrelling salt for export

The Turks Islands were not fully colonised until 1681, when salt collectors from Bermuda built the first permanent settlement on Grand Turk Island. They were drawn by the shallow waters around the islands that made salt mining a much easier process than in Bermuda. Since then, the salt industry sustained the Turks and Caicos Islands until in the 1960s. During the 250 years, the infrastructure and methods were gradually improved.

2432 Turks Islands - Sponges and Crowl

At the height of production in the early 1900s, about 92 hectares of salina was being utilized on Grand Turk. The average annual export of salt during the period from 1888 to 1907 was 1,630,314 bushels, of which 77,6% went to the United States, and 16,1% to Canada. In 1916 the export of salt was valued at about 100,000 USD, forming nearly three quarters of the total exports. In those times were also exported, in much smaller quantities, sponges, that grew in the shallow waters

2433 Turks Islands - Cocoanuts and Guinea Corn

In the 18th century, huge numbers of trees were felled by the Bermudians to discourage rainfall that would adversely affect the salt mining operation. This deforestation has yet to be repaired. In essence, the modern landscape is the product of human activities going back thousands of years. Among the plants introduced on the islands is Guinea grass, introduced from Africa as cattle fodder. Anyway, on early20th century, Grand Turk was one of the bleakest and barrenest islands imaginable.

2434 Grand Turk - Front Street in Cockburn Town in 1900s

Before the WWI, TCI had 5,615 inhabitants. Almost 1,700 of them lived in Grand Turk, of whom not less than 1,400 were of African descendents. The only settlement on Grand Turk was Cockburn Town, situated on the western coast and containing practically the entire population. There was no harbor, and visiting vessels were obliged to anchor in an open roadstead. As any low-lying tropical coastal settlement, the Cockburn Town was often devastated by hurricanes.

2435 Grand Turk - Saint Thomas's Anglican Church

The majority of the population of the Turks and Caicos Islands were and are Christian of different confessions. The Grand Turk's oldest church is Saint Thomas's Anglican Church, located on the edge of Town Salina in Cockburn Town, and dedicated in 1823. Built by Bermudan settlers, it was considered too far to walk to the centre of the island and Saint Mary's Anglican Church was built in 1899 on Front Street, known also as Duke Street.

2429 SENEGAL - Pirogue men

 

Senegal, a country with 500km of coastline, has more than 21,000 handmade pirogues in their ports, from Saint Louis to Ziguinchor, principally engaged in the transport of people and goods between towns, but also used for tourism. Senegalese wooden pirogue, vividly painted, can be found both along the coast, as well as on the great rivers, especially in Siné-Saloum and Casamance. In some regions are even today the main means of transport.

2427 UNITED KINGDOM (England) - Birmingham

Located in West Midlands, Birmingham is the largest and most populous British city outside London. A medium-sized market town in the medieval period, it grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide advances in science, technology and economic development. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world".

2426 MALAYSIA (Malacca) - Saint Peter's Church in Malacca City

The Portuguese occupation of Malacca ended after 130 years, when Malacca felt into the Dutch in 1641. This combined Dutch-Johor effort effectively destroyed the last bastion of Portuguese power, removing their influence in the Malay archipelago. This was followed by period of prosecutions of the Catholics. Churches were destroyed and Catholics were not permitted to have their own cemeteries or even pray in their homes. Priests were also forbidden to administer their flocks.

2424 FRANCE (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) - The circuit of Gorges de Daluis and Gorges du Cians

 

The Gorges de Daluis is a 6km-long canyon in the southeastern France, cut in red sandstone by the river Var, which starts off at the commune of Guillaumes and ends at the small commune of Daluis, where the river widens. This gorge are huge walls (in some places 300m tall), similar to those of the river Cians, but more flared. The tourists can follow the old smugglers' trail, or in the beauty of these landscapes, the marked trails, from village to village.

SPAIN - Works of Antoni Gaudí (UNESCO WHS)

Seven properties built by the architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) in or near Barcelona testify to Gaudí's exceptional creative contribution to the development of architecture and building technology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These monuments represent an eclectic, as well as a very personal, style which was given free reign in the design of gardens, sculpture and all decorative arts, as well as architecture.

2423 PANAMA - Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo and Historic District of Panamá (UNESCO WHS)

2423 Casco Viejo in Panama City - The Metropolitan Cathedral

Founded in 1519 by the conquistador Pedrarías Dávila, Panamá Viejo is the oldest European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas. It was laid out on a rectilinear grid and marks the transference from Europe of the idea of a planned town. Abandoned in the mid-17th century, it was replaced by a "new town" (the Historic District - known as Casco Viejo, Spanish for Old Quarter), which has also preserved its original street plan, its architecture and an unusual mixture of Spanish, French and early American styles.