Vienna's Karlskirche - Austria

 I've been to Vienna a few years ago and Karlskirche was the first church I saw in the city and Karlsplatz was the place of my very first Christmas market. These cards bring me good memories of that trip with my friend Karina.

The mighty green dome of the radiant Karlskirche (Church of St. Charles) towers over Karlsplatz. It is one of the most important sacred buildings in Central Europe and a symbol of Vienna.

 

 

 Verlag C. Bauer GmbH

AT-140257, sent by Claudia.

 The Karlskirche (Church of St. Charles) is the last great work of the eminent Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. Completed in 1739, it was built by virtue of a vow made by Emperor Charles VI during a plague. The church is dedicated to the Habsburg emperor's namesake, St. Karl Borromäus. His life and works are depicted on the two giant columns (47 meters tall) next to the entrance portal. The lavish dome frescoes by Johannes Michael Rottmayr cover 1,250 m² of magnificent color.

 

AT-827814, sent by Bettina.

(...) public open-air events are regularly held in front of the Karlskirche. The fountain, which is filled in summer and offers a breathtaking reflection of the church, is a popular social meeting point. - in: https://www.wien.info

Cerveteri and Tarquinia - Italy

The Etruscan necropolis of Cerveteri and Tarquinia in the north Lazio have been included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. 

 Back in 2011 Gisela sent me a card of Cerveteri and last week, I found a Tarquinia card in that book fair in Brescia. 

These two large Etruscan cemeteries reflect different types of burial practices from the 9th to the 1st century BC, and bear witness to the achievements of Etruscan culture. Which over nine centuries developed the earliest urban civilization in the northern Mediterranean.

The necropolis near Cerveteri, known as the Banditaccia, contains thousands of tombs organized in a city-like plan, with streets, small squares, and neighbourhoods. The 197.57 ha site dates from the 9th century BCE and contains very different types of tombs: trenches cut in rock; tumuli which often contain more than one tomb; and some, also carved in rock, in the shape of huts or houses with a wealth of structural details. The Banditaccia necropolis, among the largest in antiquity, reproduces the ‘city of the living’. Because there is little surviving written information on the Etruscans, this site provides exceptional testimony of Etruscan domestic architecture from archaic times to the Hellenic period.

 

The whole necropolis of Tarquinia, also known as Monterozzi, contains 6,000 graves cut into the rock. Covering 129.36 ha, it is one of the most extensive complexes known. Tarquinia is famous for its 200 painted tombs, the earliest of which date from the 7th century BCE. These paintings provide the only major testimony of classic artwork of pre-Roman times existing in the Mediterranean basin. - in: https://whc.unesco.org

Discovered in 1892, the Tomba dei Tori dates back to 530 BC, it stands on the east side of the Necropolis of Monterozzi.
The tomb is famous for its mid-late archaic frescoes, still deeply characterized by frontal drawings.

St. Peter's Basilica - Vatican

I haven't posted any Vatican postcards here since 2022, it's really not a place I get many postcards from. Yesterday when I got home, I found a card of St. Peters Basilica, sent as an official from USA. The other cards on this post are an official from the Netherlands and cards sent by Zé in 2015 and by Ilaria in 2010.

 

NL-5180774, sent by Caroline.

St. Peter's Basilica is a Rennaisance style church in Vatican City. 

 

US-11759744, sent by Macel.

The basilica was built according to tradition above the burial site of St. Peter, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus and the first Bishop of Rome. To maintain this tradition, Popes are now buried within the basilica. 

Servizio Fotografico de L'Osservatore Romano

Regarded as one of the holiest sites in Christendom, it was built to replace the Old St. Peter's Basilica between 1506 and 1626. It was designed by the greatest Old Masters of the time, including Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

 

Today, the church serves as a symbol of Rennaissance architecture, as well as being an integral site of pilgrimage, it is a papal basilica and not a cathedral, since it is not the seat of a bishop. The Arch Basilica of St. John Lateran is actually the cathedral church of Rome. - in: https://www.st-peters-basilica-tickets.com

Alignments of Ménec - France

 I just got home from for a trip to Italy and of course I've brought a few new cards to my collection, not all from Italy, though. In Brescia I found a book fair and guess what I found there?! A box with cards. This was the perfect way to end this trip and the best of all is that I didn't have to pay for them, they're free!! Yay. I found a few interresting cards from hard to get countries, UNESCO sites, incluing cards from my missing list. I've the list saved in my head and when I saw this card, read that it was from Carnac, immediately knew it was from a French site classified this year. Megaliths of Carnac and of the shores of Morbihan, in Brittany, features a dense concentration of megalithic structures built during the Neolithic period (c. 5000–2300 BCE).

7000 years old, the megalithic alignments of Carnac are world famous and are one of the most important centres of European prehistory in existence. The singularity of the Carnac megaliths is their extrordinary alignments and their sheer numbers, this is the largest gathering of standing stones of this type in the world.
The stones are placed in descending order and each alignment ends on a megalithic stone circle, some more visible than others.
Why were these stones erected and aligned? There are many theories that attempt to explain the origin of the alignments, including that they were religious monuments, related to the worship of the moon or sun, or to the farming calender. One legend even has it that they were a Roman army turned into stone! But their origin continues to be a mystery. The remains of this prehistoric period suggest, however, that they had a sacred and funereal function.

 

Sites are divided into three fields of menhirs. The site of Ménec is located on the West of Carnac. It is the starting point of sites, where is the “Maison des Mégalithes”, reception and information centre of the megalithic sites. 

This group is constituted of 1050 stones lined up on 11 queues. A series of more or less parallel queues where megaliths are rather regularly spaced out. Menec site stretches over 1 km and is the most representative group of menhirs. 

The site starts with a cromlech composed of 71 blocks, where the village of Ménec was built. Toul Chignan is east of the field of Ménec and collides with a surrounding wall. - in: https://www.carnactourism.co.uk

Spa - Belgium

 We all know the word spa and what it means but some people may not know that there is a place behind the name. Spa, the Belgium city in the province of Liège, whose name became an eponym for mineral baths with supposed curative properties, is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations, being renowned for its natural mineral springs, and production of "Spa" mineral water. 

Known as the “Pearl of Ardennes”, its healings springs, the pouhons, have been frequented since the 16th century and by the late 1700s Spa was a popular meeting place for the nobility and European bourgeoise, being known as the Café of Europe.

In 2021, Spa became part of the transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site the Great Spa Towns of Europe. 

I was still missing this site but I was lucky to tag Gerda again and she sent me this nice card with a matching stamp.

 

 Edit. Thill, S. A., Bruxelles

The Pouhon Pierre-le-Grand houses a mineral water source particularly famous because frequented by Tsar Peter the Great. Designed by the architect Victor Besme and built in 1880 it was renovated in 2009-2012 and now houses the tourist office spadois. - in: https://www.visitacity.com

Fraueninsel - Germany

 My penpal Tanja, from Germany, spent a few of her summer holidays in Bavaria, before heading to Croatia. In Bavaria she has been to Chiemsee lake and explored it's islands. 

With 80 km² and 64 km of shoreline, Chiemsee is the largest Bavarian lake, popularly known as the “Bavarian Sea” and is considered the most beautiful lake for swimming in Germany.

 

Huber GmbH & Co

Fraueninsel island, together with Herreninsel, forms the smallest municipality in Bavaria with approx. 230 inhabitants. With a total of 256.8 ha. it is also Bavaria’s second smallest municipality in size. Fraueninsel is a car-free area and the second largest of the three islands. It takes about 20 minutes to walk its circumference. It is densely populated, with the “islanders” predominantly living from fishing, gastronomy, crafts and holiday room rentals. The center of Fraueninsel is the 1200 years old abbey, Frauenwörth, the pilgrimage site for Irmengard, the patron saint of Chiemgau, with her convent church and the Carolingian wall-painted gatehouse, which is the oldest building in Southern Germany. - in: https://www.gstadt.de

Brno - Czech Republic

 Heidi has also been to Czech Republic, again, and she stayed in Brno 4 days. She said it was a long stay in a boring city. I kind of agree with her. I've also been to the city and I've to say that of all the places I visited in the country, Brno was the city I liked the least. At I liked the most was it's location, perfect to visit a few places nearby. 

 

Foto: Lucie Vilímovská

Kraví hora is large park with an amazing view of Brno. 

It offers quite a lot of options for relaxing not far from the city centre. A major part of this hill is covered by private gardens that you can walk among via narrow paths. The Brno Observatory and Planetarium is located on the top of the hill and features an interesting science trail with freely accessible attractions, such as a 3D scanner, telescopes, and planetary scales. The slope under the observatory is often occupied by people who come to relax, have picnics, and enjoy sports. If there’s snow, it’s a perfect place to go sledging; when the wind is blowing, a lot of locals come kite flying with their kids. There is a public barbecue set nearby and a biotope pond under the slope, not far from the functionalist Church of St Augustine. - in: https://www.gotobrno.cz