Historic Centre of Salvador de Bahia

It's sad that such a colorful city has such a strong connection with slavery... It is the kind of thing that mankind must be ashamed of but should never forget

Colonial Houses of Pelourinho

This postcard was sent by Livia

The Historic Center of Salvador de Bahia in Brazil, also known as the Pelourinho (Portuguese for "Pillory") or Pelo, is a historic neighborhood in western Salvador, Bahia. It was the city's center during the Portuguese colonial period and was named for the whipping post in its central plaza where African slaves received punishment for various infractions, as well as for disciplinary purposes. The Historic Center is extremely rich in historical monuments dating from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Salvador was the first colonial capital of Brazil and the city is one of the oldest in the New World (founded in 1549 by Portuguese settlers). 

Typical Baiana at Pelourinho

This postcard was sent by Luzia

It was also the first slave market on the continent, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations. This area is in the older part of the upper city (Cidade Alta) of Salvador. It ecompasses several blocks around the triangular Largo, and it is the location for music, dining and nightlife. In the 1990s, a major restoration effort resulted in making the area a highly desirable tourist attraction. It has a place on the national historic register and was named a world cultural center by UNESCO in 1985. Easily walkable, Pelo has something to see along every street, including churches, cafes, restaurants, shops and the pastel-hued buildings. - in: wikipedia

Purnululu National Park

The Purnululu National Park is particularly famous for the sandstone domes of the Bungle Bungle Range

Bungle Bungle Range

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The 239,723 ha Purnululu National Park is located in the State of Western Australia. It contains the deeply dissected Bungle Bungle Range composed of Devonian-age quartz sandstone eroded over a period of 20 million years into a series of beehive-shaped towers or cones, whose steeply sloping surfaces are distinctly marked by regular horizontal bands of dark-grey cyanobacterial crust (single-celled photosynthetic organisms). These outstanding examples of cone karst owe their existence and uniqueness to several interacting geological, biological, erosional and climatic phenomena. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1094

Bungle Bungle Range

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Bungle Bungle Range is the landform that is the major component of the Purnululu National Park in Western Australia.

Bungle Bungle Range

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The distinctive beehive-shaped towers are made up of sandstones and conglomerates (rocks composed mainly of pebbles and boulders and cemented together by finer material). These sedimentary formations were deposited into the Red Basin 375 to 350 million years ago, when active faults were altering the landscape. The combined effects of wind from the Tanami Desert and rainfall over millions of years shaped the domes. Weathering also helped create this marvel. Water seeps into the rock, and at night it expands as it gets colder. This creates small cracks which eventually wears out the rock. - in: wikipedia

Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi

The Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long is situated at the heart of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam

Imperial Citadel of Thang Long

This postcard was sent by Australia by Helen

The Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long is located in the centre of Hanoi, Vietnam. It is also known as Hanoi Citadel.

The royal palaces and most of the structures in Thăng Long were in varying states of disrepair by the late 19th century with the upheaval of the French conquest of Hanoi. By the 20th century many of the remaining structures were torn down. Only in the 21st century are the ruin foundations of Thăng Long Imperial City systematically excavated. - in: wikipedia

Archaeological Site of Mystras

The site of Mystras includes a fortress, a palace, churches and monasteries, like this one in the postcard. 

Pantanassa Monastery in Mystras

This postcard arrived from Germany sent by Svenja

Mystras, the ‘wonder of the Morea’, lies in the southeast of the Peloponnese. The town developed down the hillside from the fortress built in 1249 by the prince of Achaia, William II of Villehardouin, at the top of a 620 m high hill overlooking Sparta. The Franks surrendered the castle to the Byzantines in 1262, it was the centre of Byzantine power in southern Greece (...)

Mystras, as the centre of Byzantine power, quickly attracted inhabitants and institutions; the bishopric was transferred there from Sparta, with its cathedral, the Metropolis or church of Hagios Demetrios, built after 1264. Many monasteries were founded there, including those of the Brontochion and the monastery of Christos Zoodotes (Christ the Giver of Life). Under the Despots, Mystras reached its zenith with the building of churches, outstanding examples of Late Byzantine church architecture, such as Hagioi Theodoroi (1290-1295), the Hodegetria (c. 1310), the Hagia Sophia (1350-1365), the Peribleptos (3rd quarter of the 14th century), the Evangelistria (late 14th – early 15th century) and the Pantanassa (c. 1430).  - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/511/

Canaima National Park

The Canaima National Park includes the world's highest waterfall 

Angel Falls

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Angel Falls is a waterfall in Venezuela. It is the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 979 metres (3,211 feet) and a plunge of 807 metres (2,368 feet). The waterfall drops over the edge of the Auyán-tepui mountain in the Canaima National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Canaima), a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State. The height figure 979 metres (3,211 feet) mostly consists of the main plunge but also includes about 400 metres (1,300 ft) of sloped cascade and rapids below the drop and a 30-metre (98 ft) high plunge downstream of the talus rapids. - in: wikipedia

Hanseatic Town of Visby

Visby is a former Viking site and is the best-preserved medieval city in Scandinavia. A place I'd love to visit

Visby City Wall

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The Visby city wall (Swedish: Visby ringmur, sometimes Visby stadsmur) is a medieval defensive wall surrounding the Swedish town of Visby on the island of Gotland. As the strongest, most extensive and best preserved medieval city wall in Scandinavia, the wall forms an important and integral part of Visby World Heritage Site.

Built in two stages during the 13th and 14th century, approximately 3.44 km (2.14 mi) of its original 3.6 km (2.2 mi) still stands. Of the 29 large and 22 smaller towers, 27 large and 9 small remain. A number of houses that predate the wall were incorporated within it during one of the two phases of construction. During the 18th century, fortifications were added to the wall in several places and some of the towers rebuilt to accommodate cannons. - in: wikipedia

Visby Cathedral

This postcard was sent by Doris

Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor. - in: https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/970/visby-cathedral/

Skogskyrkogården

The natural landscape was used in this cemetery to create an environment of tranquil beauty. It was an influence on cemetery design throughout the world.

Skogskyrkogården

Skogskyrkogården (Swedish for "The Woodland Cemetery") is a cemetery located in the Enskededalen district south of central Stockholm, Sweden. Its design, by Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz, reflects the development of architecture from Nordic Classicism to mature functionalism.

Resurrection sculpture by John Lundqvist

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The architects designed the entire complex, from the landscape to the smallest lamp, though there are also integrated sculptures by Carl Milles. Lewerentz's contribution mainly concerned the landscape but also the main entrance and the classical "Uppståndelsekapellet" or Resurrection Chapel, which was built in 1925. Asplund devoted himself mainly to the buildings, and the small Woodland Crematorium — built in 1935–40 — has been regarded as a central work in his oeuvre as well as the Nordic Classicism style of that period. The small chapel, set on a Tuscan peristyle and featuring a gold statue on the roof by Carl Milles, was in fact derived from a "primitive hut" that Asplund had happened to see in a garden at Liselund. The crematorium, with its Faith, Hope, and Holy Cross Chapels, was Asplund's final work of architecture, designed in a rational modernist style typical for his later work, opened shortly before his death in 1940. - in: wikipedia