Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes

I finally got a postcard with the Italian side of this site!

Morteratsch Glaciar

The Morteratsch Glacier (Romansh: Vadret da Morteratsch) is the largest glacier by area in the Bernina Range of the Bündner Alps in Switzerland.
It is, just after the Pasterze Glacier and Gepatschferner, the third largest and by volume (1.2 km³) the most massive glacier in the eastern alps. The Morteratsch Glacier is a typical valley glacier with a pronounced ice front. The accumulation zone lies between the peaks of Piz Morteratsch, Piz Bernina, Crast' Agüzza, Piz Argient, Piz Zupò and Bellavista. From Piz Argient to the ice front in the Val Morteratsch, its horizontal extent is less than ~6 km (3.7 mi), with an altitude difference of up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft). - in: wikipedia

Brusio spiral viaduct

The Brusio spiral viaduct is a single-track nine-arched stone spiral railway viaduct.

A signature structure of the World Heritage-listed Bernina railway, it is located near Brusio, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, and was built to limit the railway's gradient at that location within its specified maximum of 7%.

The viaduct was opened on 1 July 1908, upon the opening of the Tirano–Poschiavo section of the Bernina Railway. - in: wikipedia

Landwasser Viaduct

The Landwasser Viaduct is a single-track six-arched curved limestone railway viaduct. 

It spans the Landwasser between Schmitten and Filisur, in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland.

Designed by Alexander Acatos, it was built between 1901 and 1902 by Müller & Zeerleder for the Rhaetian Railway, which still owns and uses it today. A signature structure of the World Heritage-listed Albula Railway, it is 65 metres (213 ft) high, 136 metres (446 ft) long, and one of its ramps exits straight into the Landwasser Tunnel.

The dark limestone-built viaduct forms part of the Albula Railway section between Tiefencastel and Filisur, and is at the 63.070 kilometres (39.190 mi) mark from Thusis. - in: wikipedia

Landwasser Viaduct; Morteratsch Glaciar, Lago Bianco; Brusio Viaduct

Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes, brings together two historic railway lines that cross the Swiss Alps through two passes. Opened in 1904, the Albula line in the north western part of the property is 67 km long. It features an impressive set of structures including 42 tunnels and covered galleries and 144 viaducts and bridges. The 61 km Bernina pass line features 13 tunnels and galleries and 52 viaducts and bridges. The property is exemplary of the use of the railway to overcome the isolation of settlements in the Central Alps early in the 20th century, with a major and lasting socio-economic impact on life in the mountains. It constitutes an outstanding technical, architectural and environmental ensemble and embodies architectural and civil engineering achievements, in harmony with the landscapes through which they pass. - in:  http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1276

Tirano

This postcard was sent from Germany by Holger

Tirano is a town in Valtellina, located in the province of Sondrio in northern Italy. It has 9,053 inhabitants (2016) and is adjacent to the Switzerland-Italy boundary.

Located nearby is the Catholic shrine of the Madonna di Tirano, a major tourist attraction.

The line of the Bernina Railway connects St. Moritz (Canton of Graubünden/Switzerland) with Tirano. - in: wikipedia

St Mary's Cathedral and St Michael's Church at Hildesheim

Outside St. Mary's Cathedral there's the "Thousand-year Rose", which is believed to be the oldest living rose in the world. 

St. Michael's Church

This postcard was sent by Sabine

The ancient Benedictine abbey church of St Michael in Hildesheim, located in the north of Germany, is one of the key monuments of medieval art, built between 1010 and 1022 by Bernward, Bishop of Hildesheim. St Michael’s is one of the rare major constructions in Europe around the turn of the millennium which still conveys a unified impression of artistry, without having undergone any substantial mutilations or critical transformations in basic and detailed structures.

St Michael's Church was built on a symmetrical ground plan with two apses that was characteristic of Ottonian Romanesque art in Old Saxony. Its interior, in particular the wooden ceiling and painted stucco-work, together with the treasures of St Mary's Cathedral – in particular its famous bronze doors and the Bernward bronze column – make the property of exceptional interest as examples of the Romanesque churches of the Holy Roman Empire. The harmony of the interior structure of St Michael’s and its solid exterior is an exceptional achievement in architecture of the period. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/187/

Hildesheim

This postcard was sent by Holger

St Mary's Cathedral, rebuilt after the fire of 1046, still retains its original crypt. The nave arrangement, with the familiar alternation of two consecutive columns for every pillar, was modelled after that of St Michael's, but its proportions are more slender.

The Church of St Michael and the Cathedral of St Mary with its church treasure contain an exceptional series of elements of interior decoration that together are quite unique for the understanding of layouts used during the Romanesque era. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/187/ 

Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain

The Cave of Altamira is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1985 and in 2008 the site was expanded to include 17 additional caves located in northern Spain.

Cave of Altamira

This postcard was sent by Emanuel

The Cave of Altamira (Spanish: Cueva de Altamira) located near the historic town Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain, is renowned for its numerous parietal cave paintings featuring charcoal drawings and polychrome paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands, created between 18,500 and 14,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic by Paleo human settlers. The earliest paintings in the cave were executed around 35,600 years ago. - in: wikipedia

Cueva de Candamo

This postcard was sent by Javier

La Peña Cave is located in San Román (Candamo), near the mouth of the River Nalón. The cavern boasts the westernmost examples of Paleolithic art in the entire European continent.

It is located at the base of a limestone hill and consists of a small gallery that opens into a large chamber, totalling around 70 metres in length. The area containing cave art (part of the Gravettian up until the end of the Magdalenian culture) is located in the Chamber of Engravings, with six panels. - in: https://www.turismoasturias.es/en/descubre/cultura/arte-rupestre/rupestre-cueva-de-la-pena-de-candamo