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Thursday, August 31, 2017

La Fortaleza and San Juan in Puerto Rico (United States)

Between the 16th and 20th centuries, a series of defensive structures was built at this strategic point in the Caribbean Sea to protect the city and the Bay of San Juan. 
They represent a fine display of European military architecture adapted to harbour sites on the American continent.

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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens (Turkey)

Located on an escarpment of the Upper Tigris River Basin that is part of the so-called Fertile Crescent, the fortified city of Diyarbakır and the landscape around has been an important centre since the Hellenistic period, through the Roman, Sassanid, Byzantine, Islamic and Ottoman times to the present. 
The site encompasses the Inner castle, known as İçkale and including the Amida Mound, and the 5.8 km-long city walls of Diyarbakır with their numerous towers, gates, buttresses, and 63 inscriptions. 
The site also includes the Hevsel Gardens, a green link between the city and the Tigris that supplied the city with food and water, the Anzele water source and the Ten-Eyed Bridge.

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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Mudejar Architecture of Aragon (Spain)


The development in the 12th century of Mudejar art in Aragon resulted from the particular political, social and cultural conditions that prevailed in Spain after the Reconquista. 
This art, influenced by Islamic tradition, also reflects various contemporary European styles, particularly the Gothic. 
Present until the early 17th century, it is characterized by an extremely refined and inventive use of brick and glazed tiles in architecture, especially in the belfries.

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Monday, August 28, 2017

Golden Mountains of Altai (Russia)

The Altai mountains in southern Siberia form the major mountain range in the western Siberia biogeographic region and provide the source of its greatest rivers – the Ob and the Irtysh. 
Three separate areas are inscribed: Altaisky Zapovednik and a buffer zone around Lake Teletskoye; Katunsky Zapovednik and a buffer zone around Mount Belukha; and the Ukok Quiet Zone on the Ukok plateau. 
The total area covers 1,611,457 ha. 
The region represents the most complete sequence of altitudinal vegetation zones in central Siberia, from steppe, forest-steppe, mixed forest, subalpine vegetation to alpine vegetation. 
The site is also an important habitat for endangered animal species such as the snow leopard.

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Sunday, August 27, 2017

Centennial Hall in Wrocław (Poland)

The Centennial Hall, a landmark in the history of reinforced concrete architecture, was erected in 1911-1913 by the architect Max Berg as a multi-purpose recreational building, situated in the Exhibition Grounds. 
In form it is a symmetrical quatrefoil with a vast circular central space that can seat some 6,000 persons. 
The 23m-high dome is topped with a lantern in steel and glass. 
The Centennial Hall is a pioneering work of modern engineering and architecture, which exhibits an important interchange of influences in the early 20th century, becoming a key reference in the later development of reinforced concrete structures.

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Saturday, August 26, 2017

Huka Falls (New Zealand)

The Huka Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River that drains Lake Taupo in New Zealand.
A few hundred metres upstream from the Huka Falls, the Waikato River narrows from approximately 100 metres across into a canyon only 15 metres across. 
The canyon is carved into lake floor sediments laid down before Taupo's Oruanui eruption 26,500 years ago.
The volume of water flowing through often approaches 220,000 litres per second. 
The flow rate is regulated by Mighty River Power through the Taupo Control Gates as part of their hydro system planning, with Waikato Regional Council dictating flows during periods of downstream flooding in the Waikato River catchment.

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Friday, August 25, 2017

Shiretoko (Japan)

Shiretoko Peninsula is located in the north-east of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. 
The site includes the land from the central part of the peninsula to its tip (Shiretoko Cape) and the surrounding marine area. 
It provides an outstanding example of the interaction of marine and terrestrial ecosystems as well as extraordinary ecosystem productivity, largely influenced by the formation of seasonal sea ice at the lowest latitude in the northern hemisphere. 
It has particular importance for a number of marine and terrestrial species, some of them endangered and endemic, such as Blackiston’s fish owl and the Viola kitamiana plant. 
The site is globally important for threatened seabirds and migratory birds, a number of salmonid species, and for marine mammals including Steller’s sea lion and some cetacean species.

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Thursday, August 24, 2017

Naples (Italy)

From the Neapolis founded by Greek settlers in 470 B.C. to the city of today, Naples has retained the imprint of the successive cultures that emerged in Europe and the Mediterranean basin. 
This makes it a unique site, with a wealth of outstanding monuments such as the Church of Santa Chiara and the Castel Nuovo.

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Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Khajuraho Group of Monuments (India)

The temples at Khajuraho were built during the Chandella dynasty, which reached its apogee between 950 and 1050. 
Only about 20 temples remain; they fall into three distinct groups and belong to two different religions – Hinduism and Jainism. 
They strike a perfect balance between architecture and sculpture. 
The Temple of Kandariya is decorated with a profusion of sculptures that are among the greatest masterpieces of Indian art.

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Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Monasteries of Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios (Greece)

Although geographically distant from each other, these three monasteries (the first is in Attica, near Athens, the second in Phocida near Delphi, and the third on an island in the Aegean Sea, near Asia Minor) belong to the same typological series and share the same aesthetic characteristics. 
The churches are built on a cross-in-square plan with a large dome supported by squinches defining an octagonal space. 
In the 11th and 12th centuries they were decorated with superb marble works as well as mosaics on a gold background, all characteristic of the 'second golden age of Byzantine art'.

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