Tirano - Italy

Another card sent by Joanna and also from a UNESCO missing site, this one from Italy. Now I'm only missing Castel del Monte to have all the italian sites.

Tirano  is a town in Valtellina, located in the province of Sondrio in northern Italy. 

© Nous srl foto © Alex Perathoner

Tirano has two neighboring railway stations. The metre gauge station, is operated by the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). The line of the Bernina Railway connects St. Moritz (Canton of Graubünden/Switzerland) with Tirano. The complete line was opened in 1910. In 2008 the Bernina Railway as well as the Albula Railway were recorded from UNESCO in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. - in: wikipedia

Convent of Müstair - Switzerland

Thanks to Joanna, I finally have a card from this swiss UNESCO site. To have all the swiss sites, I'm only missing a card with a Le Corbusier work. 

The Convent of Müstair, which stands in a valley in the Grisons, in the extreme south-eastern part of Switzerland, is a UNESCO WHS since 1983. 

Foto: E. Tscholl

It was founded around 775, probably on the orders of Charlemagne. At the beginning of the 9th century it was noted as being an establishment of religious Benedictines, and became a women’s abbey in the first half of the 12th century. Religious activities have continued uninterrupted until the present day, with the abbey becoming a priory in 1810. Today, the convent ensemble comprises the Carolingian conventual church and the Saint Cross Church, the residential tower of the Abbess von Planta, the ancient residence of the bishop, including two rectangular courtyards. To the west the courtyard is surrounded by cloisters, two entrance towers and agricultural buildings.

The property reflects both the history of its construction and the political and socio-economic relations in this region and throughout Europe over more than 1200 years, and thus provides a coherent example of Carolingian conventual architecture over time.

The conventual ensemble is one of the most coherent architectural works of the Carolingian period and High Middle Ages, with the most extensive cycle of known paintings for the first half of the 9th century. The figurative paintings of the Roman era, and especially the Carolingian period, are particularly important for understanding the evolution of certain iconographic Christian themes, such as the Last Judgement. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/269

Long-eared Owl

This cute little one is a long-eared owl, a species which breeds in Europe, Asia, and North America. 

The card was sent from Switzerland by Óscar.

Long-eared Owls are medium-sized, slender owls with long ear tufts. The head, roughly as wide as it is long, looks squarish. The facial disks are long and narrow.

Photo: Bernard Bellon

Long-eared Owls are fairly dark birds with buff or orange faces and intricate black, brown, and buff patterning on its feathers. The ear tufts are black with buff or orange fringes, the face has two vertical white lines between the eyes, and the eyes are yellow.

They are are nocturnal and generally spend days roosting in dense parts of trees, often near the trunk where their plumage provides excellent camouflage. The species is quite vocal, and makes an incredible variety of hoots, squeals, barks, and other noises. They hunt by making low, coursing passes over open ground, but they rarely hunt before true dark. In winter, the species often roosts communally.

These owls require a combination of grassland or other open country for foraging, and dense tall shrubs or trees for nesting and roosting. Pine stands and windbreaks or shelterbelts are favored winter roost habitat. - in: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Long-eared_Owl/id

Vals - Switzerland

Not all my cards from Switzerland are sent by Óscar. Every now and then someone else sends me cards from there. This one was sent by Caroline. 

Vals is located in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.

The Vals Valley owes its wilderness and diversity in a tiny area to the forces of water. In millions of years ice and rain shaped the deeply-cut mountain valley.

Quartiers Modernes Frugès - France

Quartiers Modernes Frugès, a housing development located in Pessac, France, is one of the 17 projects designed by the architect Le Corbusier, classified as UNESCO WHS last summer. I already have a card from the Capitole Complex in India, now I'm missing cards from any of his works in Switzerland, Belgium, Argentina, Germany and Japan. 

This card was sent by Marina in Italy and bought by her mother in France.

Ville de Pessac - Direction de la Communication 

Quartiers Modernes Frugès contained some 70 housing units, built as experimental housing for workers.

Le Corbusier took into account prevailing social and economic factors, and was determined to build the plan to provide people with low-cost, predetermined, homogeneous cubist structures.

The project originated in 1920 with 10 houses built at Lege, near Pessac, for the father of Henry Fruges. Following this initial phase, the project was extended to 200 houses. Only a quarter of this number were built by 1926. L-C painted panels of brown, blue, yellow and jade green in response to the clients request for 'decoration'.

The layout consists of a terrace of about 8 three storey houses with roof gardens. Behind them is a terrace of houses connected to each other with a concrete arch which provides a sheltered garden. In the middle of the development are the interlocking houses. - in: wikipedia

Hôtel des Invalides, Paris - France

I've been to many places in Europe, want to go to many places but Paris has never been and is not on the top of my long list of places to visit. I'll go one day, just don't know when. 

Susana was there in October 2011 to celebrate her birthday, très chic!! I don't know when Damien visited his capital city for the last time but he also wanted to send me a postcard of the Hôtel des Invalides.

 Editions A. Leconte

In 1670, no foundation existed to house wounded and homeless veterans who had fought for France. Louis XIV, who was anxious about what would happen to soldiers that had served during his numerous campaigns, decided to build the Hôtel Royal des Invalides. Constructed from 1671 to 1676 by Libéral Bruant, then by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Robert de Cotte, it is one the most prestigious monuments in Paris. Today, under the Ministry of Defence but also occupied by numerous organizations that are part of other ministries, the Hôtel National des Invalides still retains its original function as a hospital and hospice for badly injured and disabled war veterans. 

Photo © Paris - Musée de l'Armée, Dist. RMN - Grand Palais / Emilie Cambier

As well as the Musée de l'Armée, it comprises the Musée des Plans-Reliefs and the Musée de l'Ordre de la Libération as two churches: the Eglise du Dôme, which houses the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte designed by Visconti in 1843, and the Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides. During the second half of the 20th century, the entire site of the Hôtel National des Invalides was opened up to the public after small buildings were knocked down and a ditch created around the site. In 1981, a huge restoration project was undertaken at the Hôtel National des Invalides under the instigation of an interdepartmental commission co-directed by the Ministries of Defence and Culture to restore this exceptional site to its former glory. - in: http://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71310/Hotel-national-des-Invalides

Masca - Spain

A spanish card from Masca, on Tenerife island, send from France by Damien. 

Masca is a small mountain village on the island of Tenerife. The village is home to around 90 inhabitants. The village lies at an altitude of 650 m in the Macizo de Teno mountains, which extend up to the northwesternmost point of Tenerife.

Forests including cypresses and palm trees abound. The village lies at the head of the Masca Gorge. The trail from the village down the gorge to the beach on the Atlantic Ocean is a popular, though strenuous, hiking route, which takes about 3 hours each way. - in: wikipedia