Montserrat Monastery - Spain

The Montserrat Monastery was one of the places Déa "andreaeiko" visited in Spain. This is my 1st card from this place and i've lots of spanish cards.

Santa Maria de Montserrat is a Benedictine abbey located on the mountain of Montserrat, in Monistrol de Montserrat, in Catalonia, Spain.

It hosts the Virgin of Montserrat, and the Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, a publishing house, one of the oldest presses in the world, still running, with the first book published in 1499.

The monastery is Catalonia's most important religious retreat and groups of young people from Barcelona and all over Catalonia make overnight hikes at least once in their lives to watch the sunrise from the heights of Montserrat.

Virgin of Montserrat (the black virgin), is Catalonia's favourite saint, and is located in the sanctuary of the Mare de Deu de Montserrat, next to the Benedictine monastery nestling in the towers and crags of the mountain.

The Basilica houses a museum with works of art by many prominent painters and sculptors including works by El Greco, Dali, Picasso and more.

Montserrat's highest point, Sant Jeroni, can be reached by a footpath from the topstation of the funicular Sant Jeroni. From Sant Joan, almost all of Catalonia can be seen and on a clear day the island of Majorca is visible. - in: wikipedia

Archaeological Site of Atapuerca - Spain

I finally have a card from this spanish unesco site. I've seen someone offering it on the unesco offers tags but i was always late to tag that person. But now, Fabienne "famalubel" was offering it on the Unesco thread and we arranged a trade.

The Atapuerca Mountains (Sierra de Atapuerca in Spanish) is an ancient karstic region of Spain, in the province of Burgos and near Atapuerca and Ibeas de Juarros. It contains several caves, where fossils and stone tools of the earliest known Hominins in West Europe have been found. The earliest hominids may have dated to 1.2 million years ago, representing the first in Europe. "The Archeological Site of Atapuerca" has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. - in: wikipedia

Jelling Stones - Denmark

I've also completed Denmark, that means i've the 4 danish Unesco sites. This card with the Runestone of Harald Bluetooth, the larger of the two Jelling stones. The card was sent by Steffi "Eeyore1974".

The Jelling Stones are enormous carved stones in Denmark. They are a Unesco WHS since 1994. The two stones are carved with runes. The Jelling Stones date back to the 10th century, and are located in the town of Jelling, in a churchyard. The first of the stones was raised by King Gorm the Old, and the second was raised by his son, Harald Bluetooth in memory of his parents, celebrating his conquest of Denmark and Norway, and his conversion of the Danes to Christianity. The runic inscriptions on these stones are considered the most well known in Denmark.

The inscription on the Runestone of Harald Bluetooth reads: "King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian."
The stone has a figure of Jesus Christ on one side and on another side a serpent wrapped around a lion. Christ is depicted as standing in the shape of a cross and entangled in what appear to be branches. One scholar has suggested that this imagry was used to suggest that Christ had replaced the Norse pagan god Odin, who in one myth hung for nine nights in the tree Yggdrasill. - in: wikipedia

Czech castles

These 3, also sent by Emerich, are even greater. The castles are really beautiful and those characters are so funny.

Lipnice nad Sázavou Castle was founded at the beginning of the 14th century by the Ronovci family and the most significant member of this noble family, Jindřich of Lipá, was also one of its owners. The history of the castle was influenced by renovations by the Trček family from Lípa and especially by a fire in the 19th century. Today the castle is opened to the public again; people can see monumental castle architecture, a gothic chapel and cellars with the former feast hall of Jindřich of Lipá. Many legends and mysteries are connected with this castle. - in: http://www.kudyznudy.cz/Foto-a-video/3D-Prohlidky/Hrad-Lipnice-nad-Sazavou.aspx?lang=en-GB

Loket Castle is a 12th-century Gothic style castle located on a massive rock in the town of Loket, Karlovarský kraj, Czech Republic. Once known as "the Impregnable Castle of Bohemia", because of its thick walls, it is one of the oldest and most valuable historical stone castles in the Czech lands. It is administered by the Loket Castle Foundation since 1993 and preserved today as a museum and national monument.
The town centre and castle were both used as locations in the film Casino Royale as the town in Montenegro where Bond meets his contact René Mathis. - in: wikipedia

Český Šternberk Castle is a Bohemian castle of the mid 13th century, located within the village with the same name of the Central Bohemian Region in Czech Republic. It is an early Gothic castle which was constructed, named and still owned by members of the same family. Český Šternberk Castle is today a residence that bears a long historical and architectural heritage and represents an attractive tourist destination open to the public. It is considered one of the best preserved Gothic Bohemian castles. - in: wikipedia

Czech Monasteries

These cards are great. I've 3 more of this collection. Too bad i don't understand a word of czech, i'd like to know what's written on the front and back of the cards.

The Church of the Nativity of Virgin Mary in Zeliv, a town in South Bohemia, is part of a Premonstratensians Monastery. The church was built on the foundations of the original Romanesque basilica from the first half of the 12th century. The new Gothic church was finished at the beginning of the 14th century. Its present appearance comes from the Baroque reconstruction by J. B. Santini between 1713 - 1720.

The Cistercian Vyšší Brod Monastery with fortifications was founded in 1259 by Wok von Rosenberg.

Slavonice - Czech Republic

I already have all the Unesco sites from Czech Republic and thanks to Emerich, i'm getting some of the tentative sites aswell. The Renaissance Houses at Slavonice are on the Tentative List since 2001.

Slavonice is a town situated in the southwest of Moravia.
The town has a traditional medieval renaissance city centre with Sgraffito covered buildings dating from the 14th to 16th centuries, the oldest dating to 1545. The Sgraffito are the second oldest in the Czech Republic, with older existing only in Prague from 1544. The renaissance character of the town is due to a period of extreme wealth in the 14th to 16th century when Slavonice were an important town on the route from Prague to Vienna. When the route was relocated to the north, passing through Znojmo the town's source of wealth dried up as the local farming and forestry activities could never generate enough income. The town is therefore very much preserved in its renaissance look. - in: wikipedia

Abaiang Lagoon - Kiribati

Kiribati is the newest country in my collection. The card, sent by Emerich, shows 2 local kids on the Abaiang lagoon.

Kiribati is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean, composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles).

The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. The capital of South Tarawa consists of a number of islets connected through a series of causeways, located in the Tarawa archipelago. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999. - in: wikipedia