Aasivissuit – Nipisat. Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea

This is one of the strangest postcards I have, but this is no time to start being picky

Located inside the Arctic Circle in the central part of West Greenland, the property contains the remains of 4,200 years of human history. It is a cultural landscape which bears witness to its creators’ hunting of land and sea animals, seasonal migrations and a rich and well-preserved tangible and intangible cultural heritage linked to climate, navigation and medicine. The features of the property include large winter houses and evidence of caribou hunting, as well as archaeological sites from Paleo-Inuit and Inuit cultures. The cultural landscape includes seven key localities, from Nipisat in the west to Aasivissuit, near the ice cap in the east. It bears testimony to the resilience of the human cultures of the region and their traditions of seasonal migration. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1557/

Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests

It was difficult enough to get new UNESCO postcards, now, with this pandemic, it is even more difficult, but sometimes a gem arrives

Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests

The Mijikenda Kaya Forests consist of 10 separate forest sites spread over some 200 km along the coast containing the remains of numerous fortified villages, known as kayas, of the Mijikenda people. The kayas, created as of the 16th century but abandoned by the 1940s, are now regarded as the abodes of ancestors and are revered as sacred sites and, as such, are maintained as by councils of elders. The site is inscribed as bearing unique testimony to a cultural tradition and for its direct link to a living tradition. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1231

Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Islands

The Solovetsky archipelago comprises six islands in the western part of the White Sea. In this archipelago there are several churches dating from the 16th to the 19th century.

Solovetsky Monastery

This postcard was sent by Vadim

The Solovetsky Monastery is a fortified monastery located on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea in northern Russia. It was one of the largest Christian citadels in northern Russia before it was converted into a Soviet prison and labor camp in 1926–39, and served as a prototype for the camps of the Gulag system.

Solovetsky Monastery

This postcard was sent by Tanya

The monastery has experienced several major changes and military sieges. Its most important structures date from the 16th century, when Filip Kolychev was its hegumen (comparable to an abbot). - in: wikipedia

Solovetsky Island

This postcard was sent by Polina

The shores of the islands are very indented. They are formed of granites and gneiss. The relief of the islands is hilly (the highest point is 107 m). Most of the Solovetsky Islands are covered with Scots Pine and Norway Spruce forests, which are partially swampy. There are numerous lakes, which were joined by monks so as to form a network of canals. - in: wikipedia

Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye

If, eventually, somebody thinks that the Red Square in Moscow has not enough to see, there's always the Church of Ascension, situated just a few kilometers from the center of the Russian capital

Church of the Ascension

This postcard was sent by Masha

The Church of the Ascension was built in 1532, in the imperial estate of Kolomenskoye, near Moscow, to celebrate the birth of the prince who was to become Tsar Ivan IV "the Terrible". The church is now situated near the centre of Moscow on the steep slope that descends to the floodplain of the Moscow River. 

Church of the Ascension

The church represented a new stage in Russian architecture. It is the first tent-roofed church to be built in stone. The remarkable tent roof rises from an octagonal base crowned by small kokoshniks; the base itself also rises from a larger base formed by a series of tiered kokoshniks. Galleries reached by steps at various levels surround the church. In the eastern altar part of the gallery, facing the Moscow River, there is a "royal pew" in the form of a throne with a white-stone ciborium above it. Because of this specific construction, the walls are 2.5 to 3 metres thick, making the interior very small, although the 41-metre high ceilings create a feeling of spaciousness. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/634

Church of the Ascension

This postcard was sent by Galina