Saturday 22 August 2020

Sanganeb Marine National Park and Dungonab Bay – Mukkawar Island Marine National Park

This was my very first postcard from Sudan


Sanganeb Reef

The Sanganeb Marine National Park and the Dungonab Bay – Mukkawar Island Marine National Park are located in the northern part of the Red Sea. The property is a serial site and covers 260,700 ha with a buffer zone of 504,600 ha consisting of both marine and terrestrial areas. The property’s marine systems, fauna and flora are from an Indian Ocean origin, however, due to its semi-enclosed nature, it has developed unique and different ecosystems and species. - inhttps://whc.unesco.org/en/list/262

Sunday 16 August 2020

Australian Convict Sites

This site is spread across Australia and includes 11 penal properties established by the British Empire

Darlington Probation Station
 This postcard was sent by Penny

Darlington Probation Station was a convict penal settlement on Maria IslandTasmania (then Van Diemen's Land), from 1825 to 1832, then later a convict probation station during the last phase of convict management in eastern Australia (1842–1850). - in: wikipedia

Darlington Probation Station

This postcard was sent by Krystiina

A number of the buildings and structures have survived from this earlier era relatively intact and in good condition, and of the 78 convict probation stations once built in Tasmania, the buildings and structures at Maria Island are regarded as "the most outstanding representative example". in: - wikipedia


Port Arthur Historic Site
This postcard was sent by Rosie

Port Arthur is a small town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in TasmaniaAustralia. Port Arthur is one of Australia's most significant heritage areas and an open-air museum.
The site forms part of the Australian Convict Sites, a World Heritage property consisting of eleven remnant penal sites originally built within the British Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries on fertile Australian coastal strips. - in: wikipedia

The 11 penal sites constituting the Australian Convict Sites (in red what I have):

  • Kingston and Arthur`s Vale Historic Area 
  • Old Government House and Domain
  • Hyde Park Barracks
  • Brickendon and Woolmers Estates 
  • Darlington Probation Station 
  • Old Great North Road
  • Cascades Female Factory 
  • Port Arthur Historic Site 
  • Coal Mines Historic Site 
  • Cockatoo Island Convict Site 
  • Fremantle Prison

Sunday 2 August 2020

Classical Gardens of Suzhou

This site includes nine gardens that are the most refined form of garden art

Master of the Nets Garden
This postcard was sent by Xiaomomo

The Master of the Nets Garden in Suzhou is among the finest gardens in China.
The Master of the Nets garden, then called Ten Thousand Volume Hall, was first constructed in 1140 by Shi Zhengzhi the Deputy Civil Service Minister of the Southern Song Dynasty government. Shi Zhengzhi was inspired by the simple and solitary life of a Chinese fisherman depicted in philosophical writings. After his death the garden passed through numerous ownership and subsequently fell into disarray until around 1785 when it was restored by Song Zongyuan, a retired government official of the Qing Dynasty. He drastically redesigned the garden and added multiple buildings, but retained the spirit of the site. He often referred to himself as a fisherman and renamed it the Master of the Nets Garden, as an allusion to the simple life of a fisherman. - in: wikipedia


Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty
This postcard was sent by Mathilda

The Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty is a Chinese garden located on 272 Jingde Rd., inside the Embroidery Museum in SuzhouJiangsuChina
The history of the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty may date back to the Jin dynasty (265–420), when Education Minister Wang Xun (王旬) and his brother Wang Min (王珉) donated their residential house to build Jingde Temple (景德寺).
The 2,180 m2 garden is composed along a linear axis with three main elements: a grotto called Autumn Hill, and Flying Snow Pool, fed by a waterfall called Flying Snow Spring, and a main hall. The rock work in this garden displays every technique and effect used in Chinese gardens. In addition, it is a recreation of the five important mountains of China, and shows a mastery of creating a sense of vast space in a small area. - in: wikipedia


Couple's Retreat Garden
This postcard was sent by Johnson

Couple's Retreat Garden located in Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, China is a famous classical Chinese garden.
The original garden was built by Lu Jin, prefect of Baoning district, in 1874. It was purchased by Shen Bingcheng, the magistrate of Susong. who rebuilt it in its current form. He also changed the name to the Couple's Garden Retreat. This name refers to the garden's two parts and alludes to a couple. - in: wikipedia

The nine gardens (in red what I have):
  • The Humble Administrator's Garden
  • The Lingering Garden
  • The Master-of-Nets Garden
  • The Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty
  • The Canglang Pavilion
  • The Lion Forest Garden
  • The Garden of Cultivation
  • The Couple's Retreat
  • The Retreat & Reflection Garden

Vilnius Historic Centre

The Vilnius historic centre is another of the many historic centres that I'd love to visit

Vilnius

The Vilnius Historic Centre began its history on the glacial hills that had been intermittently occupied from the Neolithic period; a wooden castle was built around 1000 AD to fortify Gedimino Hill, at the confluence of the Neris and Vilnia rivers. The settlement did not develop as a town until the 13th century, during the struggles of the Baltic peoples against their German invaders. By 1323, when the first written reference to Vilnia occured, it was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. (...) By the 15th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with its capital Vilnius, had become the largest country in Europe, stretching from the Baltic Sea in the North to the Black Sea in the South. The historic centre comprises the areas of the three castles (Upper, Lower and Curved) and the area that was encircled by a wall in the Middle Ages. The plan is basically circular, radiating out from the original castle site. The street pattern is typically medieval, with small streets dividing it into irregular blocks, but with large squares inserted in later periods.

Vilnius

The historic buildings are in Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical styles and have a distinct appearance, spatial composition, and elements of internal and external finishes. They constitute a townscape of great diversity and yet at the same time demonstrating an overarching harmony. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/541

Gediminas' Tower
This postcard was sent by Ernesta

Gediminas' Tower (LithuanianGedimino pilies bokštas) is the remaining part of the Upper Castle in VilniusLithuania.
The first wooden fortifications were built by GediminasGrand Duke of Lithuania. The first brick castle was completed in 1409 by Grand Duke Vytautas. The three-floor tower was rebuilt in 1930 by Polish architect Jan Borowski. Some remnants of the old castle have been restored, guided by archaeological research.
Gediminas' Tower is an important state and historic symbol of the city of Vilnius and of Lithuania itself. It was depicted on the former national currency, the litas, and is mentioned in numerous Lithuanian patriotic poems and folk songs. - in: wikipedia

Church of St. Johns
This postcard was sent by Paulius

The Church of St. JohnsSt. John the Baptist and St. John the Apostle and Evangelist is located at the Old Town of VilniusLithuania and dominates the university (Vilnius University) ensemble. Since the times of the Jesuit Academy professors and students used to pray here, and Vilnius theologians gave sermons.
The church was built in 1388–1426, reconstructed in the 16th and 17th centuries. The tower, separate from the church itself, was built in the 16th century. After the fire in 1737, from 1738–1748, architect Johann Christoph Glaubitz completely reconstructed the church in style of late Baroque. During the 1827-28 reconstruction, architect Karol Podczaszynski destroyed the bulk of the sumptuous Baroque interior - nearly 3000 carts with splinters of altars, sculptures and stucco works were taken to a dump; chapels suffered the least. - in: wikipedia


Vilnius Cathedral
This postcard was sent by Valdemara


The Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus of Vilnius is the main Roman Catholic Cathedral of Lithuania. It is situated in Vilnius Old Town, just off of Cathedral Square. Dedicated to Saints Stanislaus and Ladislaus, the church is the heart of Catholic spiritual life in Lithuania.

Vilnius Cathedral

This postcard was sent by Audrius 

Inside, there are more than forty works of art dating from the 16th through 19th centuries, including frescoes and paintings of various sizes. During the restoration of the Cathedral, the altars of a presumed pagan temple and the original floor, laid during the reign of King Mindaugas, were uncovered. In addition, the remains of the cathedral built in 1387 were also located. A fresco dating from the end of the 14th century, the oldest known fresco in Lithuania, was found on the wall of one of the cathedral's underground chapels. - in: wikipedia