World tour guides to India Darjeeling

Darjeeling a Himalayan town in the Indian state of West Bengal is internationally renowned as a tourist destination and also for its tea industry and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the headquarters of Darjeeling district. The town is located in the Mahabharat Range or Lesser Himalaya at an average elevation of 6,710 ft (2,050 m). Darjeeling can be reached by the 88 km (55 mi) long Darjeeling Himalayan Railway from New Jalpaiguri, or by National Highway 55, from Siliguri, 77 km (48 mi) away. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is a 60 cm (24 in) narrow-gauge railway that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.

The development of the town dates back to the mid-19th century, when the British set up a sanatorium and a military depot. Subsequently, extensive tea plantation was done in the region, and tea growers developed distinctive hybrids of black tea and created new fermenting techniques. The resultant distinctive Darjeeling tea is internationally recognized and ranks among the most popular of the black teas. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway connects the town with the plains and has one of the few steam locomotives still in service in India. The present movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland is also centered in Darjeeling town.

Darjeeling is the main town of the Sadar subdivision and also the headquarters of the district. The range is Y-shaped with the base resting at Katapahar and Jalapahar and two arms diverging north of the Observatory Hill. The north-eastern arm dips suddenly and ends in the Lebong spur, while the north-western arm passes through North Point and ends in the valley near Tukver Tea Estate. The hills are nestled within higher peaks and the snow-clad Himalayan ranges tower over the town in the distance. Nepal's Kanchenjunga, the world's third-highest peak, 8,598 m (28,209 ft) high, is the most prominent mountain visible. In days clear of clouds, Nepal's Mount Everest, 29,035 ft (8,850 m) high, can be seen.

Darjeeling is a part of the Eastern Himalayan zoo-geographic zone. Flora around Darjeeling comprises sal, oak, semi-evergreen, temperate and alpine forests. Dense evergreen forests of sal and oak lie around the town, where a wide variety of rare orchids are found. The Lloyd's Botanical Garden preserves common and rare species of plants, while the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park specializes in conserving and breeding endangered Himalayan species. Wildlife in the district is protected by the wildlife wing of the West Bengal Forest Department. The fauna found in Darjeeling includes several species of ducks, teals, plovers and gulls that pass Darjeeling while migrating to and from Tibet. Small mammals found in the region include civets, mongooses and badgers.

Saltaire in England

Saltaire is a Victorian model village within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District, West Yorkshire, England by the River Aire and Leeds and Liverpool Canal. UNESCO has nominated the village as a World Heritage Site and it is also called Anchor Point of European Route of Industrial Heritage. The details of Saltaire are explained in world tour guides below.

Saltaire was founded in 1853 by Sir Titus Salt a leading industrialist in Yorkshire woollen industry. The name of village is a combination of founders surname with the name of the river. Salt moved his entire business from Bradford to this site near Shipley partly to provide better arrangements for his workers than could be had in Bradford and partly to site his large textile mill by a canal and a railway. Salt employed the Bradford firm of Lockwood and Mawson as his architects.

Sir Titus died in 1876 and was interred in mausoleum adjacent to Congregational Church. When Sir Titus Salt son likewise Sir Titus Salt died. Saltaire was taken over by a partnership which included Sir James Roberts from Haworth who had worked at mill since age of twelve and who travel to Russia every year speaking Russian fluently. James Roberts came to own Saltaire but chose to invest his money heavily in Russia losing some of his fortune at Russian Revolution. He endowed a Chair of Russian at Leeds University and bought Brontes Haworth Parsonage for nation.

Saltaire was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in December 2001. This means that government has a duty to protect site. The buildings belonging to model village are individually listed with maximum protection being given to Congregational Church which is listed in grade I. The village has survived complete but further protection is needed. Saltaire is a Conservation Area. The Victoria Hall is used for meetings and concerts and also houses Victorian Reed Organ Museum. The village is served by Saltaire railway station. The Saltaire Festival which first took place in 2003 to celebrate 150th anniversary of foundation of Saltaire is now held every year over eleven days in September.

Saltaire is surrounded by a Buffer zone established to protect context of World Heritage Site. Concerns have been raised over plans recently announced by Bradford Council and Action Airedale to run a bypass through the buffer zone either side of World Heritage Site and to tunnel beneath village itself. Within sight of mill tunnel will follow line of railway and exit behind United Reformed Church. As it then runs alongside the adjacent portion of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, it is also likely to have an impact on this Conservation Area. The current route will also impact on ancient semi-natural woodland and the Woodland Garden of Remembrance at Nab Wood Cemetery.

Salts Mill closed in February 1986, and Jonathan Silver bought it the following year and began renovating it. Today it houses a mixture of business, commerce, leisure and residential use. The New Mill on other side of canal is divided between offices for local National Health Service Trusts and residential apartments.

Diocletians Palace in Croatia

Diocletians Palace is a building in Split, Croatia that was built by Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of fourth century AD. Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from the Dalmatian coast four miles from Salona the capital of province of Dalmatia. The terrain slopes gently seaward and is typical karst consisting of low limestone ridges running east to west with marl in the clefts between them. The details of Diocletians Palace are explained in world tour guides below.

The Palace remained empty for several centuries after Romans abandoned the site. In 7th century nearby residents fled to walled palace to get away invading barbarians. Since then the palace has been occupied, with residents making their homes and businesses within the palace basement and directly in its walls. Today many restaurants and shops, and some homes, can still be found within walls. Diocletians palace was an inspiration for Adams new style of Neo classical architecture and the publication of measured drawings brought it into the design vocabulary of European architecture for the first time. A few decades later in 1782 the French painter Louis-Francois Cassas created drawings of palace which is published by Joseph Lavallee in 1802 in cronicles of his voyages.

The palace is today with main historical buildings in the centre of city of Split. Diocletians Palace far transcends local importance because of its degree of preservation. The Palace is one of the most famous and complete architectural and cultural features on the Croatian Adriatic coast. As the world's most complete remains of a Roman palace, it holds an outstanding place in Mediterranean, European and world heritage.

In November 1979 UNESCO in line with international convention on cultural and natural heritage adopted a proposal the historic city of Split built around the Palace should be included in register of World Cultural Heritage. In November 2006 the City Council decided to permit over twenty new buildings in the palace despite the fact that the palace had been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Monument. It is said that this decision was politically motivated and largely due to lobbying by local property developers. Once the public in 2007 came aware of the project, they petitioned against the decision and won. No new buildings, shopping center or the underground garage was built.

The World Monuments Fund has been working on a conservation project at the palace, including surveying structural integrity and cleaning and restoring the stone and plasterwork, expected to be completed in 2009. Much restoration is still needed, including excavating the extensive basement which was buried during the bombardment by the allies in World War II. The palace is depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 500 kuna banknote issued in 1993.

The ground plan of the palace is an irregular rectangle with towers projecting from the western, northern, and eastern facades. It combines qualities of a luxurious villa with those of a military camp, with its huge gates and watchtowers. The palace is enclosed by walls, and at times, it housed over 9000 people. Subterranean portions of the palace feature barrel vaulted stonework. The southern facade rose directly from or very near to the sea, was unshielded. The elaborate architectural composition of the arcaded gallery on its upper floor differs from the more severe treatment of the three shore facades. A monumental gate in middle of each of these walls led to an enclosed courtyard. The southern sea gate was simpler in shape and dimensions than other three and it was originally intended either as emperors private access to sea or a service entrance for supplies.

The design is derived from both villa and castrum types and this duality is also evident in the arrangement of the interior. The transverse road linking the eastern gate and western gate divided the complex into two halves. In the southern half were the more luxurious structures that is emperors apartments, both public and private and religious buildings. The emperors apartments formed a block along the sea front and were situated above a substructure because the sloping terrain demanded significant differences in level. Although for many centuries almost completely filled with refuse, most of the substructure is well preserved, and indicates the original shape and disposition of the rooms above.

The Palace is built of white local limestone and marble of high quality, most of which was from Brac marble quarries on the island of Brac of tuff taken from nearby river beds, and of brick made in Salonitan and other factories. Some material for decoration was imported Egyptian granite columns and sphinxes, fine marble for revetments and some capitals produced in workshops in the Proconnesos. Water for palace came from Jadro River near Salona. Along the road from Split to Salona impressive remains of original Roman aqueduct can still be seen. They were extensively restored in the 19th century.

Carcassonne in France

Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department which is the prefecture in the former province of Languedoc. It is separated into the fortified Cite de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. The folk etymology involving a chatelaine named Carcas a ruse ending a siege and the joyous ringing of bells though memorialized in a neo Gothic sculpture of Mme. Carcas on a column near the Narbonne Gate is of modern invention. The fortress, which was thoroughly restored in 1853 by the theorist and architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997.

Carcassonne became strategically identified when Romans fortified hilltop around 100 BC and eventually made it colonia of Julia Carsaco later Carcasum. The main part of lower courses of northern ramparts dates from Gallo Roman times. In 462 Romans officially ceded Septimania to Visigothic king Theodoric II who had held Carcassonne since 453 he built more fortifications at Carcassonne which was a frontier post on northern marches traces of them still stand. Theodoric is thought to have begun predecessor of basilica that is now dedicated to Saint Nazaire. In 508 Visigoths successfully foiled attacks by the Frankish king Clovis. Saracens from Barcelona took Carcassonne in 725 but King Pepin Short drove them away in 759-60 though he took most of south of France he was unable to penetrate impregnable fortress of Carcassonne.

The medieval fiefdom county of Carcassonne controlled city and its environs. It was often united with County of Razes. The origins of Carcassonne as a county probably lie in local representatives of Visigoths but first count known by name is Bello of time of Charlemagne. Bello founded a dynasty Bellonids which would rule many honores in Septimania and Catalonia for three centuries. In 1067 Carcassonne became property of Raimond Bernard Trencavel viscount of Albi and Nimes through his marriage with Ermengard, sister of last count of Carcassonne. In following centuries Trencavel family allied in succession either with counts of Barcelona or of Toulouse. They built Chateau Comtal and Basilica of Saint Nazaire. In 1096 Pope Urban II blessed foundation stones of new cathedral a Catholic bastion against Cathars.

Carcassonne became famous in its role in Albigensian Crusades when city was a stronghold of Occitan Cathars. In August 1209 crusading army of Simon de Montfort forced its citizens to surrender. After capturing Raymond-Roger de Trencavel imprisoning him and allowing him to die Montfort made himself new viscount. He added to fortifications. Carcassonne became a border citadel between France and the kingdom of Aragon.

Carcassonne was struck from roster of official fortifications under Napoleon and Restoration, and fortified cite of Carcassonne fell into such disrepair that French government decided that it should be demolished. A decree to that effect that was made official in 1849 caused an uproar. The antiquary and mayor of Carcassonne Jean Pierre Cros Mayrevieille and writer Prosper Merimee first inspector of ancient monuments led a campaign to preserve the fortress as a historical monument. Later in the year the architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc already at work restoring the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire was commissioned to renovate the place.

In 1853 works began with west and southwest walling followed by towers of Porte Narbonnaise and principal entrance to cite. The fortifications were consolidated here and there but chief attention was paid to restoring roofing of towers and ramparts where Viollet-le-Duc ordered the destruction of structures that had encroached against the walls, some of them of considerable age. Viollet-le-Duc left copious notes and drawings at his death in 1879 when his pupil Paul Boeswillwald and later architect Nodet continued rehabilitation of Carcassonne.

The restoration was strongly criticized during Viollet-le-Ducs lifetime. Fresh from work in north of France he made error of using slates and restoring roofs as pointed cones where local practice was traditionally of tile roofing and low slopes in a snow free environment. Viollet-le-Ducs achievement at Carcassonne is agreed to be a work of genius though not of strictest authenticity. Fortification consists of a double ring of ramparts and 53 towers. Another bridge Pont Marengo crosses Canal du Midi and provides access to railway station. Lac de la Cavayere has been created as a recreational lake and is about five minutes from the city centre.

The newer part of city on other side of Aude River manufactures shoes, rubber and textiles. It is also center of a major AOC wine growing region. A major part of its income comes from tourism connected to fortifications and from boat cruising on Canal du Midi. Carcassonne receives about 3 million visitors annually. In late 1990s Carcassonne airport started taking budget flights to and from European airports and by 2009 had regular flight connections with Bournemouth, Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt-Hahn, Stansted, Liverpool, East Midlands and Charleroi.

Peterhof Palace

The Peterhof Palace is actually a series of palaces and gardens laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the Russian Versailles. The palace ensemble along with the city centre is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The details of Peterhof Palace are explained in world tour guides below.

The dominant natural feature of Peterhof is a 16m high bluff lying less than a hundred metres from the shore. The so called Lower Gardens, at 1.02 km² comprising the better part of Peterhofs land area, are confined between this bluff and the shore stretching east and west for roughly 200m. The majority of Peterhofs fountains are contained here are several small palaces and outbuildings. East of the Lower Gardens lies the Alexandria Park with 19th century Gothic Revival structures such as the Kapella.

Atop the bluff, near the middle of the Lower Gardens, stands the Grand Palace. Behind of it are the comparatively small Upper Gardens. Upon the bluffs face below the Palace is the Grand Cascade. This and the Grand Palace are centrepiece of entire complex. At its foot begins the Sea Channel one of the most extensive waterworks of Baroque period, which bisects Lower Gardens. The Grand Cascade is modelled on one constructed for Louis XIV at his Chateau de Marly which is likewise memorialised in one of the parks outbuildings.

At the centre of cascade is an artificial grotto with two stories faced inside and out with hewn brown stone. It currently contains a modest museum of the fountains history. One of the exhibits is a table carrying a bowl of fruit, a replica of a similar table built under Peters direction. The table is rigged with jets of water that soak visitors when they reach for the fruit, a feature from Mannerist gardens that remained popular in Germany. The grotto is connected to the palace above and behind by a hidden corridor.

The fountains of Grand Cascade are located below the grotto and on either side of it. Their waters flow into a semicircular pool, the terminus of the fountain-lined Sea Channel. In the 1730s the large Samson Fountain was placed in this pool. It depicts the moment when Samson tears open the jaws of a lion representing Russia victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War, and is doubly symbolic. The lion is an element of the Swedish coat of arms and one of the great victories of the war was won on St Samson Day. From the lions mouth shoots a 20m high vertical jet of water the highest in all of Peterhof. This masterpiece by Mikhail Kozlovsky was looted by the invading Germans during the Second World War. A replica of the statue was installed in 1947.

The greatest technological achievement of Peterhof is that all of the fountains operate without the use of pumps. Water is supplied from natural springs and collects in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens. The elevation difference creates the pressure that drives most of the fountains of the Lower Gardens, including the Grand Cascade. The Samson Fountain is supplied by a special aqueduct, over four km in length, drawing water and pressure from a high-elevation source. The expanse of the Lower Gardens is designed in the formal style of a garden a la francaise of the 17th century. Although many trees are overgrown, in the recent years the formal clipping along the many allees has resumed in order to restore the original appearance of the garden.

The Chesma Hall is decorated with twelve large paintings of the Battle of Chesma, a stunning naval victory of the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774. These were painted between 1771 and 1773 by the German artist Jacob Philipp Hackert. His first renderings of great battle scenes were criticised by witnesses as not showing realistically the effect of exploding ships flying timbers, great flames, smoke, and fireballs. Catherine II assisted the artist by exploding a frigate in harbour of Livorno, Italy, for benefit of Hackert, who had never seen a naval battle first hand. Hackert also did not research actual positions of Russian and Turkish forces during battle so scenes depicted are somewhat fanciful, but do effectively convey drama and destruction of naval warfare.

The East and West Chinese Cabinets were decorated between 1766 and 1769 to exhibit objects of decorative art imported from East. The walls were decorated with imitation Oriental patterns by Russian craftsmen, and hung with Chinese landscape paintings in yellow and black lacquer. Another room positioned at the centre of palace bears the name of Picture Hall. Its walls are almost entirely covered by a series of 368 painting mostly of variously dressed women differing in appearance and even age yet most were drawn from a single model.

Schonbrunn Palace

Schonbrunn Palace is a former imperial summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs. The details of Schonbrunn Palace are explained in world tour guides below.

In the year 1569, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II purchased a large floodplain of the Wien River beneath a hill, situated between Meidling and Hietzing, where a former owner, in 1548, had erected a mansion called Katterburg. The emperor ordered the area to be fenced and put game there such as pheasants, ducks, deer and boar, in order to serve as the court's recreational hunting ground. In a small separate part of the area, "exotic" birds like turkeys and peafowl were kept. Fishponds were built too. The name Schonbrunn has its roots in an artesian well from which water was consumed by the court.

During the next century, the area was used as a hunting and recreation ground. Especially Eleonore Gonzaga, who loved hunting, spent much time there and was bequeathed the area as her widow's residence after the death of her husband, Ferdinand II. From 1638 to 1643, she added a palace to the Katterburg mansion, while in 1642 came the first mention of the name Schonbrunn on an invoice. The origins of the Schonbrunn orangery seem to go back to Eleonore Gonzaga as well. The sculpted garden space between the palace and the Neptune Well is called the Great Parterre. The French garden, a big part of the area, was planned by Jean Trehet in 1695. It contains, among others, a maze.

Lining the Great Parterre are 32 sculptures, which represent deities and virtues. The garden axis points towards a 60 meters higher hill, which since 1775 is crowned by the Gloriette structure. Maria Theresa decided Gloriette to be designed to glorify Habsburg's power and the Just War and thereby ordered to recycle otherwise useless stone which was left from the almost-demolition of Schloss Neugebaude. Same material was also to be used for the Roman ruin. The Gloriette today houses a cafe and gives the visitor a view of the city.

Originally known as the Ruin of Carthage, the Roman Ruin is a set of follies that was designed by the architect Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg and erected as an entirely new architectural feature in 1778. Fully integrated into its parkland surroundings, this architectural ensemble should be understood as a picturesque horticultural feature and not simply as a ruin, which due to lack of maintenance it had increasingly grown to resemble prior to its recent restoration. The Roman Ruin consists of a rectangular pool enclosed by a massive arch with lateral walls, evoking the impression of an ancient edifice slowly crumbling into the ground. In the pool in front of the ruin is a seemingly haphazard arrangement of stone fragments supporting a figural group which symbolizes the rivers Danube and Enns. The Palace of Schonbrunn commemorative coin.

The palace was recently selected as the main motif of a high value commemorative coin the Austrian 10 euro The Palace of Schonbrunn Silver coin, minted on October 8, 2003. The obverse shows the central part of the frontage of the palace behind one of the great fountains in the open space. Following the downfall of the monarchy in 1918 the newly founded Austrian Republic became the owner of Schonbrunn Palace and preserved, as a museum, the rooms and chambers.

After World War II and during the Allied Occupation of Austria Schonbrunn Palace, which was empty at the time, was requisitioned to provide offices for both the British Delegation to the Allied Commission for Austria and for the Headquarters for the small British Military Garrison present in Vienna. Later it was used for important events such as the meeting between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in 1961. UNESCO catalogued Schonbrunn Palace on the World Heritage List in 1996, together with its gardens, as a remarkable Baroque ensemble and example of synthesis of the arts.

The Schloss is a very popular tourist destination today with often long lines for entrance. At the official website tickets can be purchased in advance for tours. In addition to tours, many classical concerts featuring the music of W. A. Mozart and his contemporaries can be enjoyed with the added benefit of more time in the spectacular halls, Orangerie, or Schlosstheater. Concerts, dinner concerts with tours included or packages with dinner, tour, concert and cruise are available and can be booked in advance through the firm of Classictic. The gardens and palace have been the location for various movies, such as the Sissi trilogy in 1950s, in A Breath of Scandal with Sophia Loren and briefly in James Bond's The Living Daylights.

Aeolian Islands

Aeolian Islands are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus. It is also called as Lipari Islands. The locals residing on the islands are known as Eolians. The Aeolian Islands are a popular tourist destination in the summer and attract up to 200,000 visitors annually. The largest island is Lipari. The other islands include Vulcano, Salina, Stromboli, Filicudi, Alicudi, Panarea and Basiluzzo. The details of Aeolian Islands are explained in world tour guides below.

The present shape of the Aeolian Islands is the result of volcanic activity over a period of 260,000 years. There are two active volcanoes Stromboli and Vulcano. The volcanic activity of steaming fumaroles and thermal waters waiting to be tapped are on most of the islands. Only the one on Stromboli the northernmost island, is still active and puts on a brightly colored performance on most nights.

Scientifically the archipelago is defined as a volcanic arc. Geology explains the origin of the Aeolian Islands as a result of continental drift due to movement of the Earth crust. The African continental shelf is in constant movement towards Europe. The resulting collision has created a volcanic area with ruptures in the Earth's crust with consequent eruptions of magma. The Eolian Arc extends for more than 140 kms but the area of geological instability caused by the collision of Africa and Europe is very much larger. It includes Sicily, Calabria, Campania together with Greece and the Aegean islands.

The complex of the eight Aeolian Islands, covering an area of 1,600 square kms originated from a great plain at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Emissions of lava from depths of up to 3,600 metres resulted in the formation of the Eolian Islands, together with Caustic and a series of submarine volcanoes named Magnani, Vavilov, Marsili and Palinuro as well as two that are unnamed.

Curbing urban development has been a key to preserving the Aeolian Islands in a natural state. New buildings are severely restricted. Existing residences can be bought and restored but must be constructed to resemble its whitewashed houses. Traditional houses consist of modular cubes constructed from indigenous building materials stone, lava, pumice and tufo. Almost all houses have a large outdoor terrace, usually shaded by grape-vines and flowering vines. The houses, balconies and terraces are mostly decorated with brightly patterned terracotta tiles, a throwback to long-ago Spanish conquerors.

Without exception, Aeolian hotels are family affairs with home cooking and friendly service. Smouldering volcanoes, bubbling mud baths and steaming fumaroles make these tiny seven islands, north of Sicily, a truly magical destination. The Aeolian Islands with a total population of approximately 10,000 have very different characters depending on the season. The head count swells to 200,000 during the summer months. Thousands of holiday-makers visit the Aeolian Islands each year seeking a road-free idyll and a close-up view of volcanic fireworks.

The Aeolian Islands are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. However inaccuracy, the missing closure of a pumice quarry, and the oncoming building of some four harbours by the shore of the sole town of Lipari pose a threat to the islands place on the list according to the Italian UNESCO Commission.

Visoki Decani Monastery

Visoki Decani Monastery is a major Serb Orthodox Christian monastery located in Kosovo which is 12 km or 7 mi south of the town of Pec. The monastic catholicon is the largest medieval church in the Balkans containing the most extensive preserved fresco decoration. The details of Visoki Decani are explained in world tour guides below.

The monastery was established in a chestnut grove by Serbian King Stefan Uros III Decanski in 1327. Its original founding charter is dated to 1330. The following year the king died and was buried at the monastery, which henceforth became his popular shrine. Indeed, the epithet Decanski refers to the king's foundation of the monastery. The construction was continued by his son Emperor Stefan Uros IV Dusan until 1335, but the wall-painting was not completed until 1350.

The monastic church dedicated to Christ Pantocrator and built from blocks of red-purple, light-yellow and onyx marble was constructed by builders working under a Franciscan monk, Vitus of Kotor. The church is distinguished by its imposing size and Romanesque and Early Gothic structure and design. Apart from the extensive and well preserved fresco cycles the interior features the original 14th-century stone templon, the throne of the hegumen and the carved wooden sarcophagus of the founder King Stefan.

On the Crucifixion fresco, painted in 1350, objects similar to UFOs can be found. They represent two comets that looks like space ships, with two men inside of them, and are often quoted by Ufologists.

Visoki Decani was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia. In 2004, UNESCO listed the monastery on the World Heritage List, citing its frescoes as one of the most valued examples of the so-called Palaeologan renaissance in Byzantine painting and a valuable record of the life in the 14th century. In 2006, it was added to the List of World Heritage Sites in danger due to the potential for attacks by ethnic Albanian partisans it is protected by the United Nations KFOR.

On 30 March 2007 an explosion was heard near the monastery. The explosion was confirmed by Serbian and international sources in Kosovo. Bishop Teodosije, the prior of the Visoki Decani monastery, stated that the incident was a grenade attack on the monastery, with an objective of sending threatening messages to the monks and KFOR forces.

Calakmul

Calakmul is the name given to site of one of the largest ancient Maya cities ever uncovered. It is also called as Kalakmul. It is located in the 1,800,000 acre Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Peten Basin region, 30 km from the Guatemalan border. The details of Calakmul are explained in world tour guides below. Calakmul was rediscovered from air by biologist Cyrus L. Lundell of the Mexican Exploitation Chicle Company on December 29, 1931, the find was reported to Sylvanus G. Morley of the Carnegie Institute at Chichen Itza in March 1932. According to Lundell, who named the site, in Maya, ca means two, lak means adjacent, and mul signifies any artificial mound or pyramid, so Calakmul is the City of the Two Adjacent Pyramids.

Calakmul was a major Maya superpower within the northern Peten region of the Yucatan of southern Mexico. Calakmul administered a large domain marked by the extensive distribution of their emblem glyph of the snake head sign, to be read Kan. Calakmul was the seat of what has been dubbed the Serpent Head Polity. Calakmul itself is estimated to have had a population of 50,000 people and had governance, at times, to places as far away as 150 kms. There are 6,750 ancient structures identified at Calakmul the largest of which is the great pyramid at the site. Structure II is 55m high, making it the tallest of the Maya pyramids. Four tombs have been located within the pyramid. Like many temples or pyramids within Mesoamerica the pyramid at Calakmul increased in size by building upon the existing temple to reach its current size. The size of the central monumental architecture is approximately two square kilometers which is covered with dense residential structures is about twenty square kilometers.

Calakmul is one of the most structure-rich sites within the Maya region. The site contains 117 stelae, the largest total in the region. Most are in paired sets representing rulers and their wives. However, because these carved stelae were produced in soft limestone, most of these stelae have been eroded beyond interpretation. Also many elaborate murals were discovered at Calakmul. Strangely, these murals do not represent activities of the elite class. Rather, they depict elaborate market scenes of people preparing or consuming products such as atole, tamales, or tobacco as an ointment. Also items being sold were textiles and needles. These murals also have glyphs within them describing the actions occurring.

The most prominent figure in these murals is identified as Lady Nine Stone; she appears in many scenes. This brings a world of the Maya marketplace to vibrant life for archaeologists. Another highly beneficial resource to Maya archeological understanding at Calakmul is the ceramic remains. The composition of the ceramic materials identifies the region or more specifically the polity that produced them. Ceramics with the snake emblem glyph found at several sites also give more evidence to identify ties or control over that site by Calakmul.

Calakmul is located approximately 60 miles north of Tikal within the Peten, so they are relatively close to each other and inevitably were competing for the same resources. Calakmul acquired and influenced other outposts including many in the Tikal zone such as El Peru and Dos Pilas. Dos Pilas was originally created as an outpost for Tikal who implanted rulers from the royal lineage of the great city. Recently a hurricane ripped through the northern jungles of Guatemala and uncovered ten previously unknown glyph ridden stairs at the site of Dos Pilas, adding to the eight already known and deciphered steps of the hieroglyphic staircase #2, structure L5-49.

After a long period of inactivity following Morley's 1932 expedition, the city was explored by William Folan between 1984 and 1994, and is now the subject of a large-scale project of the National Institute of Anthropology and History under Ramon Carrasco.

Rila Monastery

The Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is also called as Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila or Rilski manastir. It is situated in the northwestern Rila Mountains, 117 km or 73 mi south of the capital Sofia in the deep valley of the Rilska River at an elevation of 1,147 m or 3,763 ft above sea level. The monastery is named after the famous Bulgaria saint and hermit Ivan of Rila. The details of Rila Monastery are explained in World tour guides below.

The Rila Monastery is founded in the 10th century, the Rila Monastery is regarded as one of Bulgaria's most important cultural, historical and architectural monuments and it is a key tourist attraction for both Bulgaria and Southeastern Europe as a whole. The monastery is depicted on the reverse of the Bulgarian 1 lev banknote, issued in 1999. It is traditionally thought that the monastery was founded by the hermit St. Ivan of Rila, whose name it bears, during the rule of Tsar Peter I (927-968). The hermit actually lived in a cave without any material possessions not far from the monastery's location, while the complex was built by his students, who came to the mountains to receive their education.

The Rila Monastery has been supported and respected by the Bulgarian rulers. Large donations were made by almost every tsar of the Second Bulgarian Empire up until the Ottoman Conquest, making the monastery a cultural and spiritual centre of Bulgarian national consciousness that reached its apogee from the 12th to the 14th century. The Rila Monastery was reerected at its present place by a local feudal lord named Hrelyu Dragovola during the 14th century. The oldest buildings in the complex date from this period were the Tower of Hrelyu 1334–1335 and a small church just next to it is1343. The bishop's throne and the rich-engraved gates of the monastery also belong to the time. However, the arrival of the Ottomans in the end of the 14th century was followed by numerous raids and a destruction of the monastery in the middle of the 15th century.

The Rila Monastery was rebuilt in the end of the 15th century by three brothers from the region of Kyustendil, who moved Ivan of Rila's relics into the complex. The complex acted as a depository of Bulgarian language and culture in the ages of foreign rule. During the time of the Bulgarian National Revival, it was destroyed by fire in 1833 and then reconstructed between 1834 and 1862 with the help of wealthy Bulgarians from the whole country, under the famous architect Alexi Rilets. The erection of the residential buildings began in 1816, while a belfry was added to the Tower of Hrelyu in 1844. Neofit Rilski founded a school in the monastery during the period.

The monastery complex, regarded as one of the foremost masterpieces of Bulgarian National Revival architecture, was declared a national historical monument in 1976 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Since 1991 it has been entirely subordinate to the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. On 25 May 2002, Pope John Paul II, the Slavic Pope visited Rila monastery during his pilgrimage to Bulgaria. He was greeted by the Monastery's igumen, Bishop Ioan, who had been an observer at the Second Vatican Council. The whole complex occupies an area of 8,800 m² and is rectangular in form, centred around the inner yard 3,200 m², where the tower and the main church are situated.

The main church of the monastery was erected in the middle of the 19th century. Its architect is Pavel Ioanov, who worked on it from 1834 to 1837. The church has five domes, three altars and two side chapels, while one of the most precious items inside is the gold-plated iconostasis, famous for its wood-carving, the creation of which took five years to four handicraftsmen. The frescoes, finished in 1846, are the work of many masters from Bansko, Samokov and Razlog, including the famous brothers Zahari Zograf and Dimitar Zograf. The church is also home to many valuable icons, dating from the 14th to the 19th century.

The four-storey residential part of the complex consists of 300 chambers, four chapels, an abbot's room, a kitchen, a library housing 250 manuscripts and 9,000 old printed matters, and a donor's room. The exterior of the complex, with its high walls of stone and little windows, resembles a fortress more than a monastery. The museum of the Rila Monastery is particularly famous for housing Rafail's Cross, a wooden cross made from a whole piece of wood. It was whittled down by a monk named Rafail using fine burins and magnifying lenses to recreate 104 religious scenes and 650 miniature figures. Work on this piece of art lasted not less than 12 years before it was completed in 1802, when the monk lost his sight.

Durham Castle

Durham Castle is a Norman castle in the city of Durham, England, which has been wholly occupied since 1840 by University College, Durham. It is open to the general public to visit, but only through guided tours, since it is in use as a working castle and is home to over 100 students. The castle stands on top of a hill above the River Wear on Durham's peninsula, opposite Durham Cathedral. The details of Durham Castle are explained in world tour guides below.

The castle was originally built in the 11th century as a projection of the Norman kings power in the north of England, as the population of England in the north remained wild and fickle following the disruption of the Norman Conquest in 1066. It is an excellent example of the early motte and bailey castles favoured by the Normans. The holder of the office of the Bishop of Durham was appointed by the King to exercise royal authority on his behalf: the Castle was his seat. It remained as Bishops palace for Bishops of Durham until the Bishops made Bishop Auckland their primary residence and castle was converted into a college. The castle has a vast Great Hall, created by Bishop Antony Bek in the early 14th century. It was the largest Great Hall in Britain until Bishop Richard Foxe shortened it at the end of the 15th century. However, it is still 14 m high and over 30 m long.

In 1837, the castle was donated to the newly formed University of Durham by Bishop Edward Maltby as accommodation for students. It was named University College. Architect Anthony Salvin rebuilt the dilapidated keep from the original plans. Opened in 1840, the castle still houses over 100 students, the majority of which are in the keep.

Students and staff of the college eat their meals in Bishop Beks Great Hall. The Great Hall's Undercroft, meanwhile, serves as the Junior Common Room, including its bar i.e. as the principal common room for the college's undergraduate members. The two chapels are still used, both for services and other purposes such as theatrical performances. Other facilities contained within the castle include the colleges library, the college offices, and the college's IT suite. During university vacations, the college offers rooms in the castle for conferences and as hotel accommodation. Access to the castle for the public is restricted to guided tours. Outside of these, only members of the college or vacation guests may visit the castle.

The college makes extensive use of the castle two chapels the Norman Chapel, built around 1078, and Tunstalls Chapel, built in 1540. The Norman Chapel is the oldest accessible part of the castle. Its architecture is Anglian in nature, possibly due to forced Anglian labour being used to build it. In the 15th century, its three windows were all but blocked up because of the expanded keep. It thus fell into disuse until 1841 when it was used as a corridor through which to access the keep. During the Second World War, it was used as a command and observation post for the Royal Air Force when its original use was recognised. It was re-consecrated shortly after the war and is still used for weekly services by the college.

Tunstalls Chapel is the more heavily used of the chapels, being somewhat larger. Bishop Cosin and Bishop Crewe extended it in the late 17th century. At the back of the chapel, some of the seats are 16th-century misericords. These were designed such that a person standing for long periods of time could rest on a ledge of the upturned seat.

Durham Castle is jointly designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral, a short distance across Palace Green. The following quotation is taken from the British government's nomination for the World Heritage List. Few buildings in England can boast a longer history of continuous occupation than Durham Castle. Founded soon after the Norman Conquest, the Castle has been rebuilt, extended and adapted to changing circumstances and uses over a period of 900 years.

Muskau Park

The Muskau Park is the largest and one of the most famous English gardens of Germany and Poland. The Muskau Park is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in poland. It is also called as Muskauer Park, Furst Puckler Park and Park Muzakowski. The details of Muskau Park are explained in world tour guides below.

Muskau Park is situated in the historic Upper Lusatia region, it covers 3.5 square kilometers or 1.4 sq mi of land in Poland and 2.1 km2 or 0.8 sq mi in Germany. The park extends on both sides of the Lusatian Neisse river, which constitutes the border between the countries. The 17.9 km2 or 6.9 sq mi buffer zone around the park encompassed the German town Bad Muskau in the West and Polish Lęknica in the East. While Muskau Castle is situated west of the Neisse, the heart of the park are the partially wooded raised areas on the east bank called The Park on Terraces.

On July 2, 2004, the UNESCO inscribed the park on the World Heritage List, as an exemplary example of cross border cultural collaboration between Poland and Germany. It was inscribed to the list on two criteria for breaking new ground in terms of development towards the ideal man made landscape, and its influence on the development of landscape architecture as a discipline.

A fortress on the Neisse river at Muskau was first mentioned as early as in the 13th under the rule of Margrave Henry III of Meissen. The founder of the adjacent park was Prince Hermann von Puckler Muskau, the author of the influential Hints on Landscape Gardening and owner of the state country of Muskau since 1811. After prolonged studies in England, in 1815 during the time when the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia fell to Prussia, he laid out the Park. As time went by, he established an international school of landscape management in Bad Muskau and outlined the construction of an extensive landscape park which would envelop the town in a way not done before on such a grand scale.

The works involved remodelling the Baroque Old Castle actually a former castle gate - and the construction of a Gothic chapel, an English cottage, several bridges, and an orangery designed by Friedrich Ludwig Persius. Puckler reconstructed the medieval fortress as the New Castle, the compositional centre of the park, with a network of paths radiating from it and a pleasure ground influenced by the ideas of Humphry Repton, whose son John Adey worked at Muskau from 1822.

The extensions went on until 1845, when Puckler due to his enormous debts was constrained to sell the patrimony. The next year it was acquired by Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, who employed Eduard Petzold, Pucklers disciple and a well-known landscape gardener, to complete his design. Upon his death in 1881, he was followed by his daughter Princess Marie, who sold the estates to the Arnim noble family.

During the Battle of Berlin, both castles were levelled and all four bridges across the Neisse were razed. The Arnims were dispossessed by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany and since the implementation of the Oder Neisse line in 1945, the park has been divided by the state border between Poland and Germany, with two thirds of it on the Polish side. Not before the 1960s the Communist authorities slowly accepted the legacy of the Junker Prince Puckler. The Old Castle was rebuilt by the East German administration in 1965-72, while the New Castle and the bridges are still being restored.

Bourges Cathedral in France

Bourges Cathedral is a cathedral dedicated to Saint Stephen, located in Bourges, France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Bourges. It is also called as Cathedrale Saint-Etienne de Bourges. The details of Bourges Cathedral are explained in world tour guides below.

The site occupied by the present cathedral was once the northeastern corner of the Gallo-Roman walled city has been the site of the cities main church since Carolingian times and probably since the foundation of the bishopric in the 3rd century. The present Cathedral was built as a replacement for a mid 11th century structure, traces of which survive in the crypt. The date when construction began is unknown, although a document of 1195 recording expenditure on rebuilding works suggests that construction was already underway by that date. The fact that the east end protrudes beyond the line of the Gallo-Roman walls and that royal permission to demolish those walls was only granted in 1183 shows that work on the foundations cannot have started before that date.

The main phase of construction is therefore roughly contemporaneous with Chartres Cathedral begun in 1194, some 200 km to the northwest. As with most Early- and High-Gothic cathedrals, the identity of the architect or master-mason is unknown. The choir was in use by 1214 and the nave was finished by 1255. The building was finally consecrated in 1324. Most of the west facade was finished by 1270, though work on the towers proceeded more slowly, partly due to the unfavourable rock strata beneath the site. Structural problems with the South tower led to the building of the adjoining buttress tower in the mid-14th century. The North tower was completed around the end of the 15th century but collapsed in 1506, destroying the Northern portion of the facade in the process. The North tower and its portal were subsequently rebuilt in a more contemporary style.

The cathedral suffered far less than some of its peers during the French Wars of Religion and in the Revolution. Its location meant it was also relatively safe from the ravages of both World Wars. The cathedral was added to the list of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1992. The cathedral's nave is 15m wide by 37m high; its arcade is 20m high; the inner aisle is 21.3m and the outer aisle is 9.3m high. The use of flying buttresses was employed to help the structure of the building. However, since this was a fairly new technique, one can easily see the walls were still made quite thick to take the force.

Bourges is notable for the unity of its design, seen in no other cathedral of the High Gothic era. It features two distinct horseshoe aisles that wrap around a central nave and choir. The inner aisle has a higher vault than the outer aisle, a feature which was copied at Toledo Cathedral and in the choir at Le Mans. Each ambulatory or aisle has its own portal at the west end. The five portal entrance necessitated more careful design to create a more coherent facade. This also eliminated the usual cross-shaped transept design. The gallery is absent instead the inner aisle has been raised. This gives the cathedral a pyramidal shape under the buttresses. The flying buttresses are very structurally efficient as the steep angle channels the thrust from the nave vaults and from wind loading more directly to the outer buttress piers.

The Great Tower is a copy of one found at the Louvre and symbolizes royal power. The statues on the facade smile at the tympanum of the Last Judgment, welcoming the Judgment of Christ. The Romanesque carved portals from about 1160-70, probably intended for the facade of the earlier cathedral, have been reused on the south and north doors. The profuse ornamentation is reminiscent of Burgundian work.

Bourges Cathedral retains almost all its original ambulatory glass apart from the axial chapel, dating from about 1215. The iconography used in many of these windows uses typology such as Old Testament episodes prefiguring events in the life of Christ and symbolism such as the pelican who pecks her breast to feed her young on her own blood and the lioness who licks the malformed cub into shape to communicate theological messages. Other windows show the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, the story of Dives and Lazarus, and the Apocalypse.