Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid dynasty. Persepolis is situated 70 km northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid (Throne of Jamshid) and Parseh. The earliest remains of Persepolis date from around 515 BC. To the ancient Persians, the city was known as Parsa, which means "The City of Persians".
Read more...Pasargadae the capital of Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC) and also his last resting place, was a city in ancient Persia, and is today an archaeological site and one of Iran's five UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The first capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Pasargadae, lies in ruins 43 kilometers from Persepolis, in present-day Fars province of Iran. The construction of the capital city by Cyrus the Great, begun in 546 BCE or later, was left unfinished, for Cyrus died in battle in 530 BCE or 529 BCE. The tomb of Cyrus' son and successor, Cambyses II, also has been found in Pasargadae. The remains of his tomb, located near the fortress of Toll-e Takht, were identified in 2006
The St. Stepanos Monastery is an Armenian monastery about 15 km northwest of Jolfa city, East Azarbaijan Province northeast Iran. It is situated in a deep canyon along the Arax river on the Iranian side of the border between Azerbaijan and Iran. It was built in the 9th century and rebuilt in the Safavid era after several earthquakes damaged it.
Read more...Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque is one of the architectural masterpieces of Safavid Iranian architecture, standing on the eastern side of Naghsh-i Jahan Square, Isfahan, Iran. It was built in 1615 by the orders of Shah Abbas I of the Safavid dynasty.
It is part of Meidan Emam UNESCO site. Naghsh-e Jahan Square, officially known as Imam Square, formerly known as Shah Square, situated at the center of Isfahan city, Iran. The square is surrounded by buildings from the Safavid era. The Shah Mosque is situated on the south side of this square. On the west side you can find Ali Qapu Palace. Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque is situated on the eastern side of this square and the northern side opens into the Isfahan Grand Bazaar. Today, Namaaz-e Jom'eh (the Muslim Friday prayer) is held in this square in front of the Shah Mosque.
Picacho Peak State Park is a park in the Arizona State Parks system, located between Casa Grande and Tucson just off Interstate 10 in Pinal County, Arizona. Its centerpiece spire, Picacho Peak, is visible for many miles rising above the desert floor. The summit rises to 3374' (1028 m) above mean sea level. Though appearing the remnant of a volcanic neck, it is now believed to be a tilted and eroded piece of rock overlain by a lava flow. Notwithstanding, the origins of the landform are apparent, as the peak is surrounded by an extensive lava field. The place name is redundant: "picacho" means "peak" in Spanish.
Read more...As per UNESCO WHS Website:
The Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli in Genoa’s historic centre date from the late 16th and early 17th centuries when the Republic of Genoa was at the height of its financial and seafaring power. The site represents the first example in Europe of an urban development project parcelled out by a public authority within a unitary framework and associated to a particular system of ‘public lodging’ in private residences, as decreed by the Senate in 1576. The site includes an ensemble of Renaissance and Baroque palaces along the so-called ‘new streets’ (Strade Nuove). The Palazzi dei Rolli offer an extraordinary variety of different solutions, achieving universal value in adapting to the particular characteristics of the site and to the requirements of a specific social and economic organization. They also offer an original example of a public network of private residences designated to host state visits.
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country.
Read more...San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several kilometers outside the town. The town also is known for the white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, grown in the area.
Read more...Toledo is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage as one of the former capitals of the Spanish Empire and place of coexistence of Christian, Jewish and Moorish cultures. Many famous people and artists were born or lived in Toledo, including Al-Zarqali, Garcilaso de la Vega, Alfonso X and El Greco. It was also the place of important historic events such as the Visigothic Councils of Toledo.
Read more...Quedlinburg is a town located north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1994 the medieval old town was set on the UNESCO world heritage list.
Read more...The belfry of Bruges, or Belfort, is a medieval bell tower in the historical center of Bruges, Belgium. One of the city's most prominent symbols, the belfry formerly housed a treasury and the municipal archives, and served as an observation post for spotting fires and other danger. A narrow, steep staircase of 366 steps, accessible by the public for an entry fee, leads to the top of the 83-meter-high building, which leans about a meter to the east.
Read more...Saint Catherine's Monastery lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of an inaccessible gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt. The monastery is Greek Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the UNESCO report (60100 ha / Ref: 954) and website hereunder, this monastery has been called the oldest working Christian monastery in the world – although the Monastery of Saint Anthony, situated across the Red Sea in the desert south of Cairo, also holds claim to that title.
Read more...Sana'a is the capital of Yemen and the center of San‘a’ Governorate. It is Yemen's largest city.
The old fortified city of Sana'a has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years, and contains a wealth of intact architectural gems. It was declared a World Heritage City by the United Nations in 1986. Efforts are underway to preserve some of the oldest buildings, some of which are over 400 years old. Surrounded by ancient clay walls which stand 6–9 metres (20–30 ft) high, the old city boasts over 100 mosques, 12 hammams (baths) and 6,500 houses. Many of the houses resemble ancient skyscrapers, reaching several stories high and topped with flat roofs. They are decorated with elaborate friezes and intricately carved frames and stained glass windows.
The Château Frontenac grand hotel is a popular attractions in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
Designed by architect Bruce Price, the Château Frontenac was one of a series of "château" style hotels built for the Canadian Pacific Railway company at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century. It opened in 1893, five years after its sister-hotel the Banff Springs. The railway company sought to encourage luxury tourism and bring wealthy travelers to its trains.
The Guimarães Castle, located in the city of Guimarães, Portugal, was ordered to be built by Dona Mumadona Dias in the 10th century in order to defend its monastery from Muslim and Norman attacks.
Guimarães is a city and municipality in northwestern Portugal in the province of Minho and in the district of Braga. In the 9th century, Vímara Peres was able to expel the Moors and founded a fortified town under his own name Vimaranis (of Vimar) which later became Guimaranis, present day Guimarães. The city is often referred to as the "birthplace of the Portuguese nationality" and also was the birthplace of Afonso I of Portugal, the first Portuguese king.
Leptis Magna, also known as Lectis Magna, also called Lpqy or Neapolis, was a prominent city of the Roman Empire. Its ruins are located in Al Khums, Libya, 130 km east of Tripoli, on the coast where the Wadi Lebda meets the sea. The site is one of the most spectacular and unspoiled Roman ruins in the Mediterranean.
Read more...Ħaġar Qim is a megalithic temple complex found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, dating from the Ġgantija phase (3600-3200 BCE). The Megalithic Temples of Malta are amongst the most ancient religious sites on Earth, described by the World Heritage Sites committee as "unique architectural masterpieces.
Read more...Axum, or Aksum, is a city in northern Ethiopia named after the Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled the region from ca. 400 BC into the 10th century. The kingdom was occasionally referred to in medieval writings as "Ethiopia".
Read more...The Church of St. Sophia is located in the city of Ohrid in the south-west of the Republic of Macedonia. The church is one of the most important monuments of Macedonia, housing architecture and art from the Middle Ages.
Read more...Lalibela is a town in northern Ethiopia. Lalibela is one of Ethiopia's holiest cities, second only to Aksum, and is a center of pilgrimage for much of the country. Unlike Aksum, the population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. Lalibela was intended to be a New Jerusalem in response to the capture of Jerusalem by Muslims, and many of its historic buildings take their name and layout from buildings in Jerusalem.
Read more...Oualata or Walata is a small oasis town in south east Mauritania that was important in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as the southern terminus of trans-Saharan trade.
It is believed to have been first settled by an agro-pastoral people akin to the Mandé Soninke who lived along the rocky promontories of the Tichitt-Oualata and Tagant cliffs of Mauritania. There, they built what are among the oldest stone settlements on the African continent.
The Jelling stones are massive carved runestones from the 10th century, found at the town of Jelling in Denmark. The older of the two Jelling stones was raised by King Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra. King Gorm was the first king of all of Denmark. The runic inscriptions on these stones are considered the most well known in Denmark.
The larger of the two stones was raised by King Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth in memory of his parents, celebrating his conquest of Denmark and Norway, and his conversion of the Danes to Christianity.
The stones lie in a Jelling churchyard between two large mounds. They represent the transitional period between the indigenous Norse paganism and the process of Christianization in Denmark. The stones are strongly identified with the creation of Denmark as a nation state.
Angra, or Angra do Heroísmo, is a city on the island of Terceira in the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores.
Angra is also the archepelago's oldest city, possibly dating as early as 1534. Some claim that Angra was founded by Álvaro Martins, who sailed with Didrik Pining on his expedition to the New World, and with Bartolomeu Dias on his voyage around the Cape of Good Hope. Others contend that Angra was founded in 1450 or 1451 by Jácome de Bruges, a Fleming in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator, who recruited farmers, fishermen, and merchants in the Low Countries to colonize the Azores.
Iguazu Falls, Iguassu Falls, or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentine province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu.
Iguazu Falls was short-listed as a candidate to be one of the New7Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation. As of February 2009 it was ranking fifth in Group F, the category for lake, rivers, and waterfalls.
In the Christian Gospels, the Last Supper (also called the Lord's Supper) was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and disciples before his death. The Last Supper has been the subject of many paintings, perhaps the most famous by Leonardo da Vinci.
The vessel which was used to serve the wine is sometimes called the Holy Chalice, and has been the one of the supposed subjects of Holy Grail literature in Christian mythology.
Santa Maria delle Grazie ("Our Lady of Grace") is a famous church and convent in Milan, included in the UNESCO World Heritage sites list.
The church is also famous for the mural of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, which is in the refectory of the convent.
The Duke of Milan Francesco I Sforza ordered to build a Dominican convent and a church in the place where a small chapel dedicated to St. Mary of the Graces was.
Itsukushima Shrine is a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima) in the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Japanese government has designated several buildings and possessions as national treasures.
The shrine is dedicated to the three daughters of the Shinto deity Susano-o no Mikoto, brother of the great sun deity, Amaterasu (the tutelary deity of the Imperial household). The first shrine buildings were probably erected in the 6th century, and the shrine has been destroyed many times. The present shrine dates from the mid-16th century, having been rebuilt in keeping with its earlier 12th century design.
The postcard says:
The photo of Leshan Buddha in 2003. And the leshan Budha was founded during 713 and 803. The stature of the Leshan Buddha is 71M.
Pingyao is a Chinese city and county in central Shanxi province. It lies about 715 km from Beijing and 80 km from the provincial capital, Taiyuan. During the Qing Dynasty, Pingyao was a financial center of China. It is now renowned for its well-preserved ancient city wall, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The card shows the imposing city wall of the city.
The city walls of Pingyao were constructed in the 3rd year of the Hongwu Emperor (1370). The walls have six barbican gates. The north and south sides have one gate each. The east and west sides have two gates each.
This postcard says:
The Photo of Leshan Buddha in 1963, he opened his eyes again.The public considered that this phenomenon to be his gladness too see our nation have got through the hard times.
Zamość is a town in southeastern Poland with 66,633 inhabitants (2004), situated in the Lublin Voivodeship.
Zamość was founded in the year 1580 by the Chancellor and Hetman (head of the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) Jan Zamoyski, on the trade route linking western and northern Europe with the Black Sea. Modelled on Italian trading cities, and built during the Baroque period by the architect Bernardo Morando, a native of Padua, Zamość remains a perfect example of a Renaissance town of the late 16th century, which retains its original layout and fortifications (Zamość Fortress), and a large number of buildings blending Italian and central European architectural traditions. The Old City quarter of Zamość has been placed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
A Famosa or "The Famous" in Portuguese, is a fortress located in Malacca, Malaysia. It is among the oldest surviving European architectural remains in Asia. The Porta de Santiago, a small gatehouse, is the only remaining part of the fortress still standing.
Malacca is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south. The state's capital is Malacca Town.
Punta del Este is an upscale resort on the southern tip of Uruguay, southeast of Maldonado and about 140 km east of Montevideo.
Although the town has a year-round population of 10,506 (2005), the summer tourist boom often boosts the population to about one million people between December and February.
