Friday 30 July 2021

Dutch Water Defence Lines

This year UNESCO added the New Dutch Water Line to the site Defence Line of Amsterdam. The Dutch Water Line was a series of water-based defences combined with natural bodies of water that could be used to transform Holland, the westernmost region of the Netherlands and adjacent to the North Sea, almost into an island. 


Fort Pampus
This postcard was sent by Kim

Pampus is an artificial island and late 19th-century sea fort located in the IJmeer near Amsterdam. It now belongs to the municipality of Gooise Meren and is open to visitors.
The fort is built of bricks and concrete. The fort has an oval shape and the main building has three floors. On the ground floor were the troops' quarters, kitchen, laundry, two coal-fired steam engines of 20 hp, two dynamos, telegraph, first aid station, and magazines. in: wikipedia


Loevestein Castle
This postcard was sent from Australia by Helen

Loevestein Castle (DutchSlot Loevestein) is a medieval castle in the municipality of ZaltbommelGelderland, the Netherlands.
The castle was built by the knight Dirc Loef van Horne (hence "Loef's stein" (stone) house) between 1357 and 1397. Until World War II Loevestein Castle was part of the Hollandic Water Line, the main Dutch defense line that was based on flooding an area of land south and east of the western provinces. Currently the castle is used as a medieval museum and function centre. - in: wikipedia

Thursday 29 July 2021

Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape

Pergamon was an ancient Greek city. Today is Turkish territory.

Red Basilica
This postcard was sent from Poland by Natalia

The "Red Basilica" (TurkishKızıl Avlu), also called variously the Red Hall and Red Courtyard, is a monumental ruined temple in the ancient city of Pergamon, now Bergama, in western Turkey. The temple was built by the Roman Empire, probably in the time of Hadrian and possibly on his orders. It is one of the largest Roman structures still surviving in the ancient Greek world. The temple is thought to have been used for the worship of the Egyptian gods – specifically Isis and/or Serapis, and possibly also OsirisHarpocrates and other lesser gods, who may have been worshipped in a pair of drum-shaped rotundas, both of which are virtually intact, alongside the main temple. - in: wikipedia


Trajaneum
This postcard was sent by Ezgi

On the highest point of the citadel is the Temple for Trajan and Zeus Philios. The temple sits on a 2.9-metre-high (9.5 ft) podium on top of a vaulted terrace. The temple itself was a Corinthian peripteros temple, about 18 metres wide with 6 columns on the short sides and 9 columns on the long sides, and two rows of columns in antis. To the north, the area was closed off by a high stoa, while on the west and east sides it was surrounded by simple ashlar walls, until further stoas were inserted in Hadrian's reign. - in: wikipedia


Aqueduct of Pergamon
This postcard was sent by Ezgi

The inhabitants of Pergamon were supplied with water by an effective system. In addition to cisterns, there was a system of nine pipes (seven Hellenistic ceramic pipes and two open Roman channels. The system provided around 30,000-35,000 cubic metres of water per day.
The Madradağ aqueduct was a ceramic pipe with a diameter of 18 cm which already brought water to the citadel from a source over 40 kilometres away in the Madradağ mountains at 1174 m above sea level in the Hellenistic period. - in: wikipedia

Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara

Nara was the capital of Japan from 710 to 784. Seven temples and shrines of the old capital are listed as part of this site.

Great Buddha in Tōdai-ji Temple
This postcard was sent by Jennifer

Tōdai-ji (東大寺?, Eastern Great Temple) is a Buddhist temple complex, that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall (大仏殿 Daibutsuden?), houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu (大仏?). .
The beginning of building a temple where the Tōdai-ji complex sits today can be dated to 728, when Emperor Shōmu established Kinshōsen-ji (金鐘山寺) as an appeasement for Prince Motoi (ja:基王), his first son with his Fujiwara clan consort Kōmyōshi. Prince Motoi died a year after his birth.
The Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden) has been rebuilt twice after fire. The current building was finished in 1709, and although immense—57 metres (187 ft) long and 50 metres (160 ft) wide—it is actually 30% smaller than its predecessor. Until 1998, it was the world's largest wooden building. (...) The Great Buddha statue has been recast several times for various reasons, including earthquake damage. The current hands of the statue were made in the Momoyama Period (1568–1615), and the head was made in the Edo period (1615–1867). - in: wikipedia

Five Storied Pagoda of Kofukuji Temple
This postcard was sent by Chiemi

Kōfuku-ji (興福寺Kōfuku-ji) is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples in the city of NaraJapan
Kōfuku-ji has its origin as a temple that was established in 669 by Kagami-no-Ōkimi (鏡大君), the wife of Fujiwara no Kamatari, wishing for her husband’s recovery from illness. Its original site was in YamashinaYamashiro Province (present-day Kyoto). In 672, the temple was moved to Fujiwara-kyō, the first planned Japanese capital to copy the orthogonal grid pattern of Chang'an. In 710, the temple was dismantled for the second time and moved to its present location, on the east side of the newly constructed capital, Heijō-kyō, today's Nara. - in: wikipedia



Kasuga Grand Shrine
This postcard was sent by Kate with a stamp of a Swiss UNESCO site!

Kasuga Grand Shrine (春日大社 Kasuga-taisha?) is a Shinto shrine in the city of Nara, in Nara PrefectureJapan. Established in 768 AD and rebuilt several times over the centuries, it is the shrine of the Fujiwara family. The interior is famous for its many bronze lanterns, as well as the many stone lanterns that lead up the shrine.
The architectural style Kasuga-zukuri takes its name from Kasuga Shrine's honden (sanctuary).
Kasuga Shrine, and the Kasugayama Primeval Forest near it, are registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara".
The shrine became the object of Imperial patronage during the early Heian period. In 965, Emperor Murakami ordered that Imperial messengers were sent to report important events to the guardian kami of Japan. These heihaku were initially presented to 16 shrines including the Kasuga Shrine.
From 1871 through 1946, Kasuga Shrine was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha (官幣大社?), meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines. - in: wikipedia


These are the seven places of this site (in red what I already have):

  • Tōdai-ji
  • Kōfuku-ji
  • Kasuga-Taisha and Kasugayama Primeval Forest 
  • Gangō-ji 
  • Yakushi-ji
  • Tōshōdai-ji
  • Nara Palace Site



Saturday 17 July 2021

Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site

 This was the site of landing and trading of enslaved Africans for more than 20 years


Cais do Valongo
This postcard was sent by Silvia

Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site is located in central Rio de Janeiro and encompasses the entirety of Jornal do Comércio Square. It is in the former harbour area of Rio de Janeiro in which the old stone wharf was built for the landing of enslaved Africans reaching the South American continent from 1811 onwards. An estimated 900,000 Africans arrived in South America via Valongo. The site is composed of several archaeological layers, the lowest of which consists of floor pavings in pé de moleque style, attributed to the original Valongo Wharf. It is the most important physical trace of the arrival of African slaves on the American continent. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1548/