Sunday, February 9, 2025

Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China

The serial site of Quanzhou illustrates the city’s vibrancy as a maritime emporium during the Song and Yuan periods (10th - 14th centuries AD) and its interconnection with the Chinese hinterland. 
Quanzhou thrived during a highly significant period for maritime trade in Asia. 
The site encompasses religious buildings, including the 11th century AD Qingjing Mosque, one of the earliest Islamic edifices in China, Islamic tombs, and a wide range of archaeological remains: administrative buildings, stone docks that were important for commerce and defence, sites of ceramic and iron production, elements of the city’s transportation network, ancient bridges, pagodas, and inscriptions. 
Known as Zayton in Arabic and western texts of the 10th to 14th centuries AD.








Water opossum

The water opossum or yapok is a Latin American marsupial in the possum family. 
It is the only species in the genus Chironectes. 
It is the only marsupial fully adapted to life in water, and the only living marsupial in which both sexes have a pouch.








Saturday, February 8, 2025

Petroglyphs of Lake Onega and the White Sea - Russia

The site contains 4,500 petroglyphs carved in the rocks during the Neolithic period dated about 6-7 thousand years ago and located in the Republic of Karelia in the Russian Federation. 
It is one of the largest such sites in Europe with petroglyphs that document Neolithic culture in Fennoscandia. 
The serial property encompasses 33 rock art panels in two component parts 300km apart: 22 petroglyph groups at Lake Onega in the District of Pudozhsky featuring a total of over 1,200 figures and 3,411 figures in 11 groups by the White Sea in the District of Belomorsky. 
The rock art figures at Lake Onega mostly represents birds, animals, half human and half animal figures as well as geometric shapes that may be symbols of the moon and the sun. 
The petroglyphs of the White Sea are mostly composed of carvings depicting hunting and sailing scenes including their related equipment as well as animal and human footprints. 
They show significant artistic qualities and testify to the creativity of the Stone Age. 
The petroglyphs are associated with sites including settlements and burial grounds.










Temperature

The temperature is the degree of heat (or cold) expressed in degrees. 

In the past, people also spoke of temperament. 
The temperature is measured with a thermometer. 
This instrument was invented in 1593 by the Italian Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). 
The best-known scales are Fahrenheit and Celsius. 
Especially in England and the United States, the temperature is still indicated in degrees Fahrenheit, in Europe Celsius has become established. 

Measuring temperature 
At meteorological stations, the temperature of the air is measured according to international agreement. This is done in degrees Celsius at a height of one and a half meters above an open grassy area. 
The thermometer or sensor is in a white box with walls that have the shape of an open blind. 
This gives the wind free rein, but sun and precipitation cannot penetrate the instruments. 

Temperature deviations 
In an urban environment, the temperature can deviate, especially due to the buildings and paving.
It is generally warmer there than in the countryside. 

Inversion 
In general, the temperature decreases as the altitude increases. 
With dry air, the decrease is about 1 degree per 100 meters, with moist air it is about 0.6 degrees. 
After or at the end of a clear night with little wind, the temperature can also increase with altitude up to a certain height. 
This is called an 'inversion'. 
The height to which the temperature decreases is called the 'inversion height'.








Friday, February 7, 2025

Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences - Spain

Located at the urban heart of Madrid, this cultural landscape evolved since the creation of the tree-lined Paseo del Prado avenue, a prototype of the Hispanic alameda, in the 16th century. 
The avenue features major fountains, notably the Fuente de Apolo and the Fuente de Neptuno, and the Fuente de Cibeles, an iconic symbol of the city, surrounded by prestigious buildings. 
The site embodies a new idea of urban space and development from the enlightened absolutist period of the 18th century. 
Buildings dedicated to the arts and sciences join others in the site that are devoted to industry, healthcare and research. 
Collectively, they illustrate the aspiration for a utopian society during the height of the Spanish Empire, linked to the enlightened idea of democratization of knowledge, and exercised major influence in Latin America. 
The 120-hectare Jardines del Buen Retiro (Garden of Pleasant Retreat), a remnant of the 17th-century Buen Retiro Palace, constitutes the largest part of the property. 
The site also houses the terraced Royal Botanical Garden and the largely residential neighbourhood of Barrio Jerónimos with its rich variety of 19th- and 20th-century buildings that include cultural and scientific venues.








Bernina Express Hiking Trail, Switzerland

This long-distance hiking trail follows the Bernina Express route in ten stages, from north to south. 
You can take a closer look at the bridges, tunnels, viaducts and train stations for no less than 131 kilometres. 
Most people walk it from Thusis to Tirano, but this hiking trail is clearly marked in both directions. 
You follow the yellow signs with the green logo and the number '33' on them. 
The Albula/Bernina hiking trail is fun for everyone, because you follow the route of the Rhaetian Railway. You can get on or off the train in almost every village, so you can decide for yourself how long you want to walk. 
You can therefore adapt the daily stages to your fitness, experience and interests. 
The best time to walk is from June to September. 
But be careful, even during the summer months you can still come across snowfields on the higher parts.








Thursday, February 6, 2025

Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles - Italy

This property is composed of eight religious and secular building complexes, within the historic walled city of Padua, which house a selection of fresco cycles painted between 1302 and 1397 by different artists for different types of patron and within buildings of diverse functions. 
Nevertheless, the frescos maintain a unity of style and content. 
They include Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel fresco cycle, considered to have marked the beginning of a revolutionary development in the history of mural painting, as well as other fresco cycles of different artists, namely Guariento di Arpo, Giusto de’ Menabuoi, Altichiero da Zevio, Jacopo Avanzi and Jacopo da Verona. 
As a group, these fresco cycles illustrate how, over the course of a century, fresco art developed along a new creative impetus and understanding of spatial representation.








Thanh Hoa

Thanh Hoa is a province of Vietnam. 
Thanh Hoa has 3,467,609 inhabitants on an area of ​​11,168 km².








Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera - France

Nice, located on the Mediterranean, at the foot of the Alps, near the Italian border, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, reflects the development of a city devoted to winter tourism, making the most of its mild climate and its coastal situation, between sea and mountains. 
From the mid-18th century, the site attracted growing numbers of aristocratic and upper-class families, mainly British, who developed the habit of spending their winters there. 
In 1832, Nice, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, set up the “Consiglio d’Ornato” which drew up a city planning scheme and architectural requirements designed to make the city attractive to foreigners. 
Thus, the “Camin dei Ingles”, a modest path which had been created along the coastline by British winter visitors in 1824, subsequently became the prestigious Promenade des Anglais. 
After the city was ceded to France in 1860, and thanks to its connection to the European rail network, an increasing number of winter visitors from all countries flocked to the city. 
This led to successive phases of development of new districts beyond the medieval old town. 
The diverse cultural influences of the winter visitors and the desire to make the most of the weather conditions and the coastal landscape have shaped the urban development and eclectic architectural styles of these districts, contributing to Nice’s reputation as a cosmopolitan winter resort.








Train

A train in everyday meaning is a vehicle consisting of a number of shorter parts coupled together on rails, where one or more of these parts provide the drive (traction). 
The shorter parts can be a locomotive, a railway carriage, a freight wagon or a train set, which in turn consists of 'carriages' (rigid parts). 
A train also often consists of one train set.