1374, 3048 TANZANIA - Stone Town of Zanzibar (UNESCO WHS)

3048 Old Fort of Zanzibar

Posted on 24.12.2014, 12.05.2017
Zanzibar (name originated from the Perso-Arabic word meaning "the coast of the blacks") is the semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago, 25-50 km off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba. Its capital is Zanzibar City, located on the island of Unguja, which comprises two main parts, Stone Town and Ng'ambo.

1374 The wooden doors of Zanzibar

Stone Town, also known as Mji Mkongwe (Swahili for "old town"), is the historical core of the city, former capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate, a flourishing centre of the spice trade as well as the slave trade in the 19th century. It is a city of prominent historical and artistic importance in East Africa, and its architecture, mostly dating back to the 19th century, reflects the diverse influences underlying the Swahili culture, a unique mixture of Arab, Persian, Indian and European elements. For many centuries there was intense seaborne trading activity between Asia and Africa, and this is illustrated by the architecture and urban structure of the Stone Town.

3047 SINGAPORE (Central Region) - Sultan Mosque

Masjid Sultan, or Sultan Mosque, is the principal place of Islamic worship in Singapore, located at Muscat Street and North Bridge Road within the Kampong Glam precinct of the district of Rochor. Built between 1924 and 1928 by the architect Denis Santry of Swan and Maclaren, who adopted a Saracenic style, it has stayed essentially unchanged since then, with only repairs carried out to the main hall in the 1960s and an annex added in 1993.

0879, 0897, 0898, 3046 RUSSIA (Republic of Karelia) - Kizhi Pogost (UNESCO WHS)

0897 Kizhi Pogost in the springtime

Posted on 26.11.2013, 11.12.2013, 11.05.2017
The term pogost has several meanings in the Russian language, but initial appoint a coaching inn for princes and ecclesiastics. It is assumed that originally pogosts were rural communities on the periphery of the Russian state, as well as trading centers, but at the end of the 10th century pogosts transformed into administrative districts, and when Christianity spread, churches were built there. In 1775 the last pogosts that served as administrative districts were destroyed. In the central uyezds of 15th-16th centuries pogosts were small settlements with a church and a graveyard, like Kizhi Pogost.

0879 Kizhi Pogost in the summertime (1)

Kizhi Pogost is located on the southern part of the island with the same name, on Lake Onega, the second largest lake in Europe (after Lake Ladoga), and was built in the 17th century. It is a narrow strip of land inside a fence which includes two large wooden churches, the 22-dome Transfiguration Church (the big one) and the 9-dome Intercession of the Virgin Church (the little one), and a belfry (with conical tip). The structures were built exclusively of wood, without using a single nail, around a log of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) about 30 cm in diameter and 3 to 5 meters long. 

3046 Kizhi Pogost in the summertime (2)

It is regarded an "outstanding example of an architectural ensemble typical of medieval and post-medieval orthodox settlements in sparsely populated regions", and for this reason was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in 1990. These amazing structures, in which the science of carpentry created a bold visionary architecture, perpetuate a very ancient model of parish space. Chronicles from the 16th century are the first to explicitly mention the existence of two wooden churches there. Destroyed by lightning in 1693, they were rebuilt on the same site. The Church of the Intercession is a heated (winter) church, where services are held from October 1 until Easter.

0898 Kizhi Pogost in the falltime

As Max say, there is two legends about the building of the Church of the Transfiguration.
Legend 1 (for tourists): The church was built by master Nestor, only with a hatchet and without nails. When he had finished the construction work, he threw the hatchet into Onega Lake, saying: "There was nothing like this before and will never be again!”
Legend 2 (probably true): The architects were Peter Nevzorov and a peasant named Buniak, both elders, each of them being 80 years old. The church construction involving 63 men and 12 women.

2609, 3044 UNITED NATIONS - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

2609 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 28

Posted on 12.06.2016, 10.05.2017
The term "human rights" was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding Charter, making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization. On 10 December 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which arose directly from the experience of the WWII and represents the first global expression of what many people believe to be the rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled.

3044 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 9

The Declaration consists of thirty articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, economic transfers, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions, and other laws. UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols form the International Bill of Human Rights, which in 1976 took on the force of international law.

3043 RUSSIA (Moscow) - Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow (UNESCO WHS)

3043 Moscow Kremlin seen from the Moscow River

Inextricably linked to all the most important historical and political events in Russia since the 13th century, the Kremlin (built between the 14th and 17th centuries by outstanding Russian and foreign architects) was the place where the Russian state was formed, where the issue of succession to the throne was decided, in medieval times, where the Boyar Duma held its sessions, where the Church held its councils and where were crowned the tsars, even when the capital had been shifted to St. Petersburg.

0974, 2388, 3042 SINGAPORE (Central Region) - Gardens by the Bay

2388 Gardens by the Bay - Aerial view

Gardens by the Bay is a park found on reclaimed land in central Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir, which consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden. It is an integral part of a strategy to transform Singapore from a "Garden City" to a "City in a Garden". The final construction cost for the project, not including the price of the land but including an access road, drainage works, and soil improvement, will be within a $1.035 billion allocated budget.

0974 Gardens by the Bay - The Supertree Grove

Supertrees are tree-like structures that dominate the Gardens' landscape with heights that range between 25m and 50m. Actually they are vertical gardens that perform a multitude of functions, which include planting, shading and working as environmental engines for the gardens. They are fitted with environmental technologies that mimic the ecological function of trees - photovoltaic cells that harness solar energy, just like how trees photosynthesize; and collection of rainwater, exactly like how trees absorb rainwater for growth.

3042 Gardens by the Bay - Panoramic view (310x105mm)

Over 162,900 plants comprising more than 200 species and varieties of bromeliads, orchids, ferns and tropical flowering climbers are planted on the Supertrees. There is an elevated walkway, the OCBC Skyway, between two of the larger Supertrees for visitors to enjoy a breathtaking aerial view of the Gardens. A food and beverage outlet is planned atop the 50m Supertree. At night, the Supertrees come alive with a light and music show called the OCBC Garden Rhapsody.

3041 NORWAY - Norwegian Royal House

3041 King Harald V, Queen Sonja,
Crown Prince Haakon, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit

Norway is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. In this country there is a distinction between the Royal House and the Royal Family, i.e. the Royal House includes only the monarch and his or her spouse, the heir apparent and his or her spouse, and the heir apparent's eldest child. Therefor, in nowadays members of the Royal House are King Harald V, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and Princess Ingrid Alexandra.

3040 INDIA (Chandigarh) - Chandigarh Capitol Complex - part of The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement (UNESCO WHS)

3040 Chandigarh - Palace of Assembly

Le Corbusier's largest and most ambitious project was the design of Chandigarh, the capital city of the Haryana & Punjab State of India, created after India received independence in 1947. Le Corbusier was contacted in 1950 by Prime Minister Nehru of India, and invited to propose a project. An American architect, Albert Mayer, had made a plan in 1947 for a city of 150,000 inhabitants, but the Indian government wanted a grander and more monumental city.

3039 GERMANY (North Rhine-Westphalia) - Church of Saint Reinold in Dortmund

3039 Old market square with Church of Saint Reinold

The Lutheran Protestant Church of Saint Reinold is, according to its foundation date, the oldest extant church in Dortmund. It was built as a palatine church in the Ottonian era, between 1250 and 1270, and is dedicated to Reinold, also known as Renaud de Montauban, the patron of the city. The present building is a late Romanesque church with a late gothic quire. Located in the centre of the city, directly at the crossing of the Hellweg (a historic trade route) and the historic road from Cologne to Bremen.

3038 RUSSIA (Moscow) - Tsar Cannon - part of Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow (UNESCO WHS)

The Tsar Cannon is a large medieval artillery piece on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin, just past the Kremlin Armory. It is a monument of Russian artillery casting art, cast in bronze in 1586 in Moscow, by the Russian master bronze caster Andrey Chokhov. Mostly of symbolic impact, it was never used in a war. Per the Guinness Book of Records it is the largest bombard by caliber in the world. The very low ratio of the length of its barrel to its caliber makes it technically not a cannon, but a stylized mortar.

1611, 3037 UNITED STATES (Colorado) - Colorado map

Posted on 27.05.2015, 05.05.2017
Bordered by Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona at the Four Corners, Colorado is noted for its vivid landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers, and desert lands. It encompass most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains, being the only U.S. state that lies entirely above 1000m elevation. It owes its name to the Colorado River, whereon the Spanish travelers named so for the ruddy (Spanish: colorado) silt the river carried from the mountains.

0813, 3036 TURKEY - The map and the flag of the country

0813 Turkey map

Posted on 23.09.2013, 05.05.2017
Located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, mostly on Anatolia (in Western Asia) and on East Thrace (in Southeastern Europe), and owning the single entrance in the Black Sea, Turkey had always and still has a significant geostrategic importance. The area has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, including various Ancient Anatolian civilizations (the Hittites, Lycians, Lydians etc.) and Thracian peoples (Odrysians). 

3036 Turkey flag

Starting around 1200 BC, the coast of Anatolia was heavily settled by Aeolian and Ionian Greeks, who founded numerous important cities, such as Miletus, Ephesus, Smyrna (modern İzmir) and Byzantium (later Constantinople and Istanbul). Armenia included parts of eastern Turkey beginning in the 6th century BC. Anatolia was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire during the 6th and 5th centuries BC, and in 334 BC fell to Alexander the Great, the area being Hellenized, and continuing with the Roman rule.

1248, 3035 GUERNSEY (Guernsey) - Saint Peter Port Harbour in Guernsey Island

3035 Saint Peter Port Harbour - The Model Yacht Pond

Post on 26.09.2014, 04.05.2017

Saint Peter Port is the capital of Guernsey, one of the two british bailiwick located in the English Channel, possession of the Crown and part of the Channel Islands. It is a small town on the Island of Guernsey, with a population of about 16,500, consisting mostly of steep narrow streets and steps on the overlooking slopes. A trading post existed here since before Roman times, but its pre-Christian name hasn't survived into the modern era.

1248 Saint Peter Port Harbour at dawn

On the seaward side it faces Herm to the east, across the Little Roussel, and Sark and Brecqhou even further east across the Big Roussel between them and Herm. The Bréhon Tower sits in the Little Roussel between St Peter Port and Herm. Saint Peter Port Harbour, a natural anchorage used by the Romans, is now Guernsey's main port for passengers. The island has become a regular destination for cruise ships with over 100 ships arriving between April and October and is the largest tender port for cruise liners in Europe.

0148, 3033, 3034 UNITED STATES - The map and the flag of the country

3033 The map of the United States

Posted on 16.03.2012, 02.05.2017

The United States of America (USA) is a constitutional federal republic composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. 48 of the states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. Exceptions are Alaska (located in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada and Bering Strait) and Hawaii  (an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean). At 9.8 million km² and with over 324 million people, USA is the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total area, third-largest by land area, and the third-most populous.
 

3034 The map of the United States and the location
of the Native American tribes

The capital is Washington, D.C., founded in 1791 in the capital district, so no state or territory has any political or economic advantage relative to the others, and named in honor of George Washington, considered the "father of the country," who served as the first President of the United States. The largest city is New York City, which traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. It is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world.

 The first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 15,000 years ago. Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. After the Spanish conquistadors made the first contacts, the native population declined for various reasons, primarily from diseases. European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast.

3032 INDIA (Madhya Pradesh) - Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka (UNESCO WHS)

Located in the foothills of the Vindhyan Mountains on the southern edge of the central Indian plateau, inside the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka are an archaeological site of the Paleolithic, exhibiting the earliest traces of human life on the Indian Subcontinent, and thus the beginning of the Indian Stone Age. The name Bhimbetka (meaning "the sitting place of Bhima") is associated with Bhima, a hero-deity of the epic Mahabharata.