Lowenburg at Bergpark Wilhelmshohe!

Today I have received another postcard from the UK & Ireland to the Rest of the World Tag on the Postcrossing.com Forum. This time, I received a wonderful view card of Lowenburg, or Lion's Castle in English, in the Bergpark Wilhelmshohe, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, from Staubfinger in Germany. It was inscribed onto the list in 2013, reference #1413.

Lowenburg (Lion's Castle)

Descending a long hill dominated by a giant statue of Hercules, the monumental water displays of Wilhelmshöhe were begun by Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel in 1689 around an east-west axis and were developed further into the 19th century. Reservoirs and channels behind the Hercules Monument supply water to a complex system of hydro-pneumatic devices that supply the site’s large Baroque water theatre, grotto, fountains and 350-metre long Grand Cascade. Beyond this, channels and waterways wind across the axis, feeding a series of dramatic waterfalls and wild rapids, the geyser-like Grand Fountain which leaps 50m high, the lake and secluded ponds that enliven the Romantic garden created in the 18th century by Carl’s great-grandson, Elector Wilhelm I. The great size of the park and its waterworks along with the towering Hercules statue constitute an expression of the ideals of absolutist Monarchy while the ensemble is a remarkable testimony to the aesthetics of the Baroque and Romantic periods.

Dundurn Castle!

The Postcrossing.com Forum is a great place to swap cards on themes that you like to collect. One of the themes that I enjoy is castles and palaces. I received this card today from cche in Canada via the UK & Ireland to the Rest of the World tag of a view of Dundurn Castle.

Dundurn Castle

Dundurn Castle is a historic neoclassical mansion on York Boulevard in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m) house took three years and $175,000.00 to build, and was completed in 1835.The seventy-two room castle featured the latest conveniences of gas lighting and running water. It is currently owned by the City of Hamilton, which purchased it in 1900 for $50,000. The City has spent nearly $3 million renovating the site to make 42 of the original 72 rooms open to the public. The rooms have been restored to the year 1855 when its owner Sir Allan Napier MacNab, 1st Baronet, was at the height of his career. Costumed interpreters guide visitors through the home, illustrating daily life from the 1850s. Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and wife to Charles, Prince of Wales, a descendant of Sir Allan MacNab, is the Royal Patron of Dundurn Castle. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1984.

The Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese and its Chora!

I have recently been taking part in the UNESCO tag on the Postcrossing.com forum and today received a wonderful card from Kseniya_bor in the Ukraine of a panorama of the ancient city of Tauric Chersonese. 

The Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese

The site features the remains of a city founded by Dorian Greeks in the 5th century BC on the northern shores of the Black Sea. It encompasses six component sites with urban remains and agricultural lands divided into several hundreds of chora, rectangular plots of equal size. The plots supported vineyards whose production was exported by the city which thrived until the 15th century. The site features several public building complexes and residential neighbourhoods, as well as early Christian monuments alongside remains from Stone and Bronze Age settlements; Roman and medieval tower fortifications and water supply systems; and exceptionally well-preserved examples of vineyard planting and dividing walls. In the 3rd century AD, the site was known as the most productive wine centre of the Black Sea and remained a hub of exchange between the Greek, Roman and Byzantine Empires and populations north of the Black Sea. It is an outstanding example of democratic land organization linked to an ancient polis, reflecting the city’s social organization. The site was inscribed onto the UNESCO WHS list in 2013, reference number 1411.