Monthly Favorite Surprise RR * February '16

Last month I've got these nice cards from Germany, Switzerland and Czech Republic. 

This card is also from Germany and it was sent by Sybille. 

The Hufeisensiedlung (Horseshoe Estate) was built according to the plans by Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner in 1925-1933, on a former manor estate in what is now the Neukölln district of Berlin. Even today, the horseshoe formation visible from the sky harks back to the site's former use. The functional and modest design gave the direction for housing estate architecture in the 1920s and 1930s. The asymmetrical architecture arranged in a staggered fashion gave way to a new form of urban design.

There are now just under 2000 flats and over 679 single family houses in the estate.

The "Tautes Heim" holiday home in the Hufeisensiedlung gives visitors the chance to feel what living was like in the 20s and the 30s. The house, which was restored under historical protection can accommodate up to four people and has three authentic rooms with furnishings which are typical of the time, as well as a bathroom, kitchen and garden with sun terrace. - in: http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/hufeisensiedlung-britz-horseshoe-estate

On July 7, 2008, it was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status as one out of six Berlin Modernism Housing Estates.

© Photoglob Zurich

I'm always looking for new castles and this one is a new one from Swizterland. It was sent by Grace.

The impressive keep of the former fortress of Oberhofen was likely built in the early 13th Century. In the 14th Century it belonged to the Habsburgs. After the Battle of Sempach, the Bernese troops occupied Oberhofen and soon afterwards the fortress and surrounding area came under the control of the Scharnachthal dynasty. Other Bernese dynasties followed. From 1652 to 1798, the castle became a bailiwick and was extended and converted into a castle. In 1801, it became a private property again. In the middle of the 19th Century, the castle was transformed under the Counts of Pourtalès whose ancestors had originated from Neuchâtel in Switzerland and migrated to Prussia. 

In 1940, the American lawyer William Maul Measey established the Oberhofen Foundation. In 1954, the Museum opened to the public as an outpost of the Historic Museum of Berne. On January 1st 2009, Castle Oberhofen became an independent foundation again. - in: http://www.schlossoberhofen.ch/en/home/history

Foto: Ivan Rillich

Radana also sent me a new castle.

Sovinec Castle rises proudly up on a rocky promontory in the mountainous valley of the Nízký Jeseník Mountains.

This was built in the 14th century and became an important Hussite fortress one hundred years later. Great danger came again during the Thirty Years War and despite the massive fortifications, it was captured by the Swedish army of General Torstenson.

Nowadays however, we can admire the castle fortifications as the most extensive preserved fortifications from the time of the Thirty Years War in our lands. During World War Two, the castle was used as a prison and base for the SS. On the contrary, it was one of the freedom cells during the period of normalisation where banned Czech artists were able to present their work. Visit a place full of the widely differing throes of Czech history, set in wonderful countryside. - in: http://www.czechtourism.com/c/sovinec-castle/