1.
Gries am Brenner
–
Gries am Brenner is a municipality in the Wipptal in the southern district of Innsbruck-Land. The village consists of several hamlets, Gries am Brenner is located at the entrance of the Obernbergtal on the western side of the Wipptal. Here the valley widens enough to accommodate the village, the River Sill and the B182 road, the Brenner Railway runs along the eastern side, also the Lake Brennersee lies on the area of the municipality. The road was traveled by traders, travelers and pilgrims, among the various personalities who, at various times, have passed through here, remember Charlemagne, Albrecht Drauser, Goethe and Mozart. To protect the road in the territory of Gries was built a fort, meinhard, Duke of Carinthia built in 1287 at Leug, just south of Gries, a fortress for the use as customs duty. Frederick IV, Duke of Austria built nearby a small church that had, maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor was a regular visitor of Gries since the territory was full of game, during his hunting expeditions stayed at the Weißes Rößle” Inn. Gries benefited, until 1560, the created by the mines in the nearby Obernbergtal, having on its territory warehouses. After the second war, for some years, the coal mine was exploited to the Nößlachjoch. Following the completion of the Brenner Motorway, and the diversion of the traffic. The hotels, along the way, are here since centuries because of the nature of Gries as a border place, Gries am Brenner Coat-of-arms consists of three black forts on yellow background. The forts are referred to those of Leug, Schlossögg and Morhäusl, the emblem was officially January 9,1973. The presence of a church in Gries was documented in 1531 even if it was mentioned before, a church was built in 1634 nearby the am Gries Inn, which was enlarged in 1676, only in 1793 had its own curate. In 1823 began the construction of a new church, completed in 1828, in the baroque style. The church of “St. Leonard”, situated at Vinader, was built before 1000. The church underwent an enlargement and renovation, in Gothic style, Vinader, in 1550, was elevated to Vicariate to which were annexed the villages of the Sill Valley from Stafflach to Brennersee, including Obernbergtal. The church was transformed in 1802 in Baroque style, leaving the portal, the church of St. Jacob, located in the village of Nößlach, is cited for the first time in a letter dated to 1426. In 1494 the church underwent a renovation with the construction of a new altar, still in use, frederick IV Duke of Austria built at Leug, near the customs station, a small Gothic church, with a wide and squat bell tower looking like Romanesque. In 1684 the church underwent restoration with the addition of a vestibule, Gries am Brenner is the base for both winter and summer tourism
Gries am Brenner
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Gries am Brenner
Gries am Brenner
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The church "Saints Christopher and Sigismund" at Leug.
2.
Summit (topography)
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
Summit (topography)
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The highest elevation summit, Mount Everest, shown with a climber at the summit wearing an oxygen mask. The summit is 8850 m (29,035 ft) elevation. (While the cruising altitude of jetliners is roughly 10,000 m (32,808 feet), they are pressurized.)
Summit (topography)
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View from the summit of Switzerland's highest,
Monte Rosa
Summit (topography)
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The summit of
Mount Damavand,
Iran, in winter
Summit (topography)
–
Jeff Davis Peak, one of the highest peaks entirely within
Nevada
3.
European route E45
–
The European route E45 goes between Sweden and Italy, through Denmark, Germany and Austria. With a length of about 4,920 kilometres, it is the longest north-south European route, the Swedish government proposed the extension in 2005 and did not include the Finnish road in the proposal, which was accepted as it was. This extended the length of the route by about 1,690 km, the signs of road 45 was changed to E45 during the summer of 2007. The E45 has now no other national number, in Sweden the road is called Inlandsvägen. The E45 in Sweden is mostly an ordinary road, the E45 is a motorway for 6 km together with the E18 south of Grums. Between Säffle and Trollhättan several parts of it is 2+1 road with a middle barrier, between Trollhättan and Surte there is a 52 km long motorway, finished in 2012. Between Surte and Gothenburg there is a 17 km road designed equivalently to a motorway, the exception is that there are two gaps in the Trollhättan–Surte motorway and there are two traffic lights along the Surte–Gothenburg road. The speed limit is usually 100 km/h north of Mora and usually 90 km/h south thereof, there are 27 road crossings or intersections where the Swedish E45 does not follow the straight direction. There are 26 level crossings with railways, the ferry Gothenburg–Frederikshavn has about 7 daily departures and takes 2–3½ hours. In Denmark the E45 is a motorway from the south of Frederikshavn to the Denmark–Germany border, the E45 has no other national number. It connects to the E39 and E20 motorways, in 1992 it was renamed from E3 and until 2006, with the extension in Sweden, the northern endpoint was Frederikshavn. The total length in Denmark is 357 km
European route E45
–
E 45 between
Sorsele and Slagnäs in
Lappland,
Sweden. The speed limit here has been reduced to 100 km/h (62 mph) from 110 km/h (68 mph) since this picture was taken.
European route E45
–
E45
European route E45
–
Most northern exit on the continental part of E 45; just south of Frederikshavn
European route E45
–
E3 in Denmark, before 1992: Changed to E45; the number
E3 was re-attributed.
4.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
Austria
–
First appearance of the word "ostarrichi", circled in red. Modern Austria honours this document, dated 996, as the founding of the nation.
Austria
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Flag
Austria
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Venus of Willendorf, 28,000 to 25,000 BC.
Museum of Natural History Vienna
Austria
–
"Heidentor" – Remains of the
Roman military city of
Carnuntum
5.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
–
Flag
Italy
–
The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
–
Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
6.
Mountain range
–
A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
Mountain range
–
The
Himalayas, the highest mountain range on Earth, seen from space
Mountain range
–
Mountain range of
High Tatras in
Slovakia in 1865
Mountain range
–
The
Andes, the world's longest mountain range on the surface of a continent, seen from the air
Mountain range
–
Hillary and Norgay Montes on Pluto (14 July 2015)
7.
Alps
–
The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
Alps
–
Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, view from the
Savoy side
Alps
Alps
–
An "alp" refers to a high mountain pasture, often with a structure, such as this one on the south side of the Alps, where cows are taken for grazing.
Alps
–
The Alps extend in an arc from France in the south and west to Slovenia in the east, and from Monaco in the south to Germany in the north.
8.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
9.
Italian language
–
By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
Italian language
–
Dante Alighieri (above) and
Petrarch (below) were influential in establishing their
Tuscan dialect as the most prominent literary language in all of
Italy in the
Late Middle Ages
Italian language
–
The geographic distribution of the Italian language in the world: large Italian-speaking communities are shown in green; light blue indicates areas where the Italian language was used officially during the Italian colonial period.
Italian language
Italian language
–
Pietro Bembo was an influential figure in the development of the Italian language from the Tuscan dialect, as a literary medium, codifying the language for standard modern usage
10.
Mountain pass
–
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. At lower elevations it may be called a hill pass, the highest vehicle-accessible pass in the world appears to be Mana Pass, located in the Himalayas on the border between India and China. Mountain passes make use of a gap, saddle or col, a topographic saddle is analogous to the mathematical concept of a saddle surface, with a saddle point marking the highest point between two valleys and the lowest point along a ridge. On a topographic map, passes are characterized by lines with an hourglass shape. Passes are often found just above the source of a river, a pass may be very short, consisting of steep slopes to the top of the pass, or may be a valley many kilometres long, whose highest point might only be identifiable by surveying. Roads have long been built – and more recently railways – through passes, some high and rugged passes may have tunnels bored underneath to allow faster traffic flow throughout the year. The top of a pass is frequently the only ground in the area. If a national border follows a mountain range, a pass over the mountains is typically on the border, and there may be a control or customs station. For instance Argentina and Chile share the worlds third-longest international border,5,300 kilometres long, the border runs north-south along the Andes mountains, with a total of 42 mountain passes. On a road over a pass, it is customary to have a roadside sign giving the name of the pass. As well as offering relatively easy travel between valleys, passes also provide a route between two mountain tops with a minimum of descent. As a result, it is common for tracks to meet at a pass, passes traditionally were places for trade routes, communications, cultural exchange, military expeditions etc. A typical example is the Brenner pass in the Alps, some mountain passes above the tree line have problems with snow drift in the winter. This might be alleviated by building the road a few meters above the ground, there are many words for pass in the English-speaking world. In the United States, pass is very common in the West, the gap is common in the southern Appalachians, notch in parts of New England. Scotland has the Gaelic term bealach, while Wales has the similar bwlch, the roads at Mana Pass at 5,610 metres and Marsimik La at 5,582 metres, on and near the China-India border respectively, appear to be worlds two highest motorable passes. Media related to Mountain passes at Wikimedia Commons
Mountain pass
–
The saddle between
Mount Washington and
Mount Clay in
New Hampshire,
USA; the mountain pass crosses left-right in the photo.
Mountain pass
–
Idealized mountain pass represented as the green line; the saddle point is in red.
Mountain pass
–
Agua Negra Pass (Argentina/Chile).
Mountain pass
–
Pass in
Tatras (Ornak, Poland).
11.
Bolzano
–
Bolzano is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 105,713, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol, Bolzano is the seat of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, where lectures and seminars are held in English, German and Italian. The city is home to the Italian Armys Alpini High Command and some of its combat. In 2014 version of the ranking of quality of life in Italian cities. Along with other Alpine towns in South Tyrol, Bolzano engages in the Alpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention, the Convention aims to promote and achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Consequently, Bolzano was awarded Alpine Town of the Year 2009, the Romans built a settlement after the area had been conquered in 15 BC by General Nero Claudius Drusus. The military settlement, Pons Drusi, was named after this Roman General, during this time the area became part of the region Venetia et Histria of ancient Italy. In 1948, excavations of the current Cathedral led to the discovery of an ancient Christian basilica from the 4th century. Also discovered was a Roman cemetery, including the tomb of Secundus Regontius with Latin inscriptions dating to the 3rd century, making him the oldest known inhabitant of Bolzano. During the gradual decline of the Romans influence in the 7th century, Bavarian immigration took place, at that time, the Bavarians named the nearby villages around Bolzano Bauzanum or Bauzana. German populations have been present in the region of Tyrol since this time, in 1027 the area of Bolzano and the rest of the diocese was conferred, by the emperor Conrad II from the Salian dynasty, upon the bishops of Trent. In the late-12th century, the bishop founded a market town, the town therefore became an important trading post on the Transalpine Augsburg-Venice route over the Brenner Pass, elevation 1,371 metres above sea level, within the Holy Roman Empire. In 1277 Bolzano was conquered by Meinhard II, the Count of Tyrol, in 1363, the County of Tyrol fell under the influence of Habsburg Austria and the Holy Roman Empire. In 1381, Duke Leopold granted the citizens of Bolzano the privilege of a town council and this gradually eliminated the influence and power previously held by the bishops of Trent over the next few decades. In 1462, the bishops eventually resigned all their rights of jurisdiction over the town, from the 14th and 15th centuries onwards, a large market fair was organised four times per year to greet tradesmen and merchants en-route the Brenner Pass. The Mercantile Magistrate was therefore founded in 1635 by the Austrian duchess Claudia de Medici, during every market season, two Italian and two Germanic officers, who were appointed among the local tradesmen, worked in this magistrate office. The establishment of a trade organisation strengthened Bolzano as a cultural crossroad in the Alps. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Bolzano became briefly part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy and was incorporated into the Dipartimento Alto Adige
Bolzano
–
Panorama of Bolzano
Bolzano
–
Bolzano in 1898
Bolzano
–
Bolzano in 1914, at the outbreak of World War I
Bolzano
–
Bolzano Cathedral
12.
Innsbruck
–
Innsbruck is the capital city of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn valley, at its junction with the Wipp valley, Innsbruck lies about halfway between Munich in Germany and Verona in Italy. Located in the valley between high mountains, the so-called North Chain in the Karwendel Alps to the north. Innsbruck is an internationally renowned winter sports centre, and hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics as well as the 1984 and 1988 Winter Paralympics, Innsbruck also hosted the first Winter Youth Olympics in 2012. The name translates as Inn bridge, earliest traces suggest initial inhabitation in the early Stone Age. Surviving pre-Roman place names show that the area has been populated continuously, in the 4th century the Romans established the army station Veldidena at Oenipons, to protect the economically important commercial road from Verona-Brenner-Augsburg in their province of Raetia. The first mention of Innsbruck dates back to the name Oeni Pontum or Oeni Pons which is Latin for bridge over the Inn, the Counts of Andechs acquired the town in 1180. In 1248 the town passed into the hands of the Counts of Tyrol, the citys arms show a birds-eye view of the Inn bridge, a design used since 1267. The route over the Brenner Pass was then a major transport, the revenues generated by serving as a transit station enabled the city to flourish. Innsbruck became the capital of all Tyrol in 1429 and in the 15th century the city became a centre of European politics, the city benefited from the emperors presence as can be seen for example in the Hofkirche. Here a funeral monument for Maximilian was planned and erected partly by his successors, the ensemble with a cenotaph and the bronze statues of real and mythical ancestors of the Habsburgian emperor are one of the main artistic monuments of Innsbruck. A regular postal service between Innsbruck and Mechelen was established in 1490 by the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post, in 1564 Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria received the rulership over Tirol and other Further Austrian possessions administrated from Innsbruck up to the 18th century. He had Schloss Ambras built and arranged there his unique Renaissance collections nowadays mainly part of Viennas Kunsthistorisches Museum, up to 1665 a stirps of the Habsburgian dynasty ruled in Innsbruck with an independent court. In the 1620s the first opera house north of the Alps was erected in Innsbruck, in 1669 the university was founded. Also as a compensation for the court as Emperor Leopold I again reigned from Vienna, during the Napoleonic Wars Tyrol was ceded to Bavaria, ally of France. Andreas Hofer led a Tyrolean peasant army to victory in the Battles of Bergisel against the combined Bavarian and French forces, the combined army later overran the Tyrolean militia army and until 1814 Innsbruck was part of Bavaria. After the Vienna Congress Austrian rule was restored, until 1918, the town was part of the Austrian monarchy, head of the district of the same name, one of the 21 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in the Tyrol province. The Tyrolean hero Andreas Hofer was executed in Mantua, his remains were returned to Innsbruck in 1823, during World War I, the only recorded action taking place in Innsbruck was near the end of the war
Innsbruck
–
Innsbruck
Innsbruck
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View of Innsbruck by
Albrecht Dürer, 1495
Innsbruck
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Ambras Castle, 1679
Innsbruck
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Andreas Hofer with his Consultants at the Hofburg by
Franz Defregger, 1879
13.
Tabula Peutingeriana
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Tabula Peutingeriana, also referred to as Peutingers Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated itinerarium showing the layout of cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The map is a 13th-century parchment copy of the Roman original, and covers Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia. The original map which the copy is based on is thought to date to the 4th or 5th century and was itself based on a map prepared by Agrippa during the reign of the emperor Augustus. Named after the 16th-century German antiquarian Konrad Peutinger, the map is today kept at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. After Agrippas death in 12 BC, that map was engraved in marble and put on display in the Porticus Vipsania in the Campus Agrippae area in Rome, bowersock concluded that the original source is likely the map made by Vipsanius Agrippa. The original Roman map, of which this is the surviving copy, was last revised in the 4th or early 5th century. The presence of cities of Germania Inferior that were destroyed in the mid-fifth century also provides a terminus ante quem. The Tabula Peutingeriana is the known surviving map of the Roman cursus publicus. The map itself was created by a monk in Colmar in modern-day eastern France in 1265 and it is a parchment scroll,0.34 metres high and 6.75 metres long, assembled from eleven sections, a medieval reproduction of the original scroll. The map shows many Roman settlements and the roads connecting them, as well as features such as rivers, mountains, forests. The distances between settlements are also given, in total no less than 555 cities and 3,500 other place names are shown on the map. The three most important cities of the Roman Empire at the time – Rome, Constantinople and Antioch – are represented with special iconic decoration. Besides the totality of the empire, the map also shows areas in the Near East, India and the Ganges, Sri Lanka, and even an indication of China. It even shows a Temple to Augustus at Muziris on the modern-day Malabar Coast, the map appears to be based on itineraries, lists of destinations along Roman roads, as the distances between points along the routes are indicated. Travelers would not have possessed anything so sophisticated as a modern map, the Peutinger Table represents these roads as a series of stepped lines along which destinations have been marked in order of travel. The shape of the parchment pages accounts for the rectangular layout. However, a similarity to the coordinates of Ptolemys earth-mapping gives some writers hope that some terrestrial representation was intended by the unknown original compilers. The Peutinger family kept possession of the map for more than two hundred years until it was sold in 1714 and it is today conserved at the Austrian National Library at the Hofburg palace in Vienna
Tabula Peutingeriana
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Tabula Peutingeriana (section)—top to bottom: Dalmatian coast, Adriatic Sea, southern Italy, Sicily, African Mediterranean coast
Tabula Peutingeriana
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The Tabula Peutingeriana, from the reconstructed British and Iberian panel in the west to India in the east.
14.
Matrei am Brenner
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Matrei am Brenner is a small municipality in the southern part of the District Innsbruck-Land and is located approximately 17 km south of Innsbruck. Matrei has always been an important station for commerce, the village has 902 inhabitants, at 992 m. above sea level and the Sill river flows through it. In 1964 during work at Gasthof Heisenstecken a hundred urns were found, the Romans, in 200 A. D. about, built a rest site along the street as locus Matreium as mentioned in the Tabula Peutingeriana. In 995 the village used the name Matereia and in 1251 was elevated to Commune Market, the Diocese of Brixen in 1497, instituted the Court of Market that remained active until to 1810 when it was transferred to the District Court of Steinach am Brenner. The architectural structure of the Market consisted of a whole of inns, in 1447 Hans Gunther and his wife set a civil hospital with the aim of curing the sick passenger in transit. During the War of Fifth Coalition many local people took part, including Josepf Rapp who was then adviser of Andreas Hofer, Matrei, with the opening of the Brenner Railway, lost importance as more traffic was not passing through the village, but went further. After the war Matrei was rebuilt in the way and using the old techniques of construction of the site. Is the Parish church dedicated to Our Lady and it was built in 1311 in Romanesque style, transformed into a Baroque in 1754 with frescos by Joseph Adam Mölk. Inside is preserved an image of “Our Lord in pain”. The parish church, restored in 1995, is home of the deanery and is located, passed the Sill river, in the municipality of Pfons. The Church of the Holy Spirit, also called Spitalskirche is located in the part of Matrei, along the main street, was built in 1646 and rebuilt several times. The church is the Baptistery of the Parish and has mentioned in documents in 1284. Maria Waldrast is a Sanctuary located in a valley, at an altitude of 1638 meters under the Waldraster Jöchl. The statue was first noticed by a pair of boys, who called it to the attention of famers in the valley below. A woodcutter living nearby was instructed to build a chapel in honor of Mary to shelter the statue, the woodcutter resisted, but after three nights the voice prevailed. The woodcutter was shown the location of the chapel, again while he slept. Having explained his experience to his parish priest, the woodcutter was referred to the Bishop of Brixen, before St. Pankratius’s day in the year 1409, the Bishop granted permission for the chapel to be built
Matrei am Brenner
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Matrei am Brenner
15.
Sterzing
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Sterzing is a comune in South Tyrol in northern Italy. It is the village of the southern Wipptal, and the Eisack River flows through the medieval town. The town traces its roots to 14 B. C. when Nero Claudius Drusus founded a camp called Vipitenum along the road between what are now Italy and Germany. Ancient ruins found nearby include a monument dedicated to Postumia Vittorina, a milestone of the Imperator Septimius Severus period. In 550, following an invasion of Bavarii, the town of Sterzing take place and that name, which is still memorized in Wipptal, is traced back to the nearby Celto-Roman settlement *Vibidina. In 1180, the name Sterzengum appears in a document, in 1280, Duke Meinhard of Carinthia, promoted the village to the rank of city. Sterzing knew its magnificence in the 15th and 16th centuries after the 1443 fire which destroyed part of the town, in the course of the Italianization of South Tyrol, the modern Italian name of the town Vipiteno - created from the old Roman settlement of Vipitenum was made official. Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, a number of wanted Nazis stayed in Sterzing at the Hotel Goldenes Kreuz which still exists today. At different times, people like Erich Priebke, Adolf Eichmann, in 1524, the pilgrim is shown as a monk above the Tyrolean eagle. The Parish is the biggest church between Verona and Munich and was built from 1417 to 1451, the gothic altar, wood-work by Hans Multscher of Ulm, is 12 metres high and was completed in 1458. The church was enlarged from 1497 to 1525 by Hans Lutz. In 1753, the church was modified in baroque style, with paintings by Adam Mőlckh. The Holy Spirit Church is the oldest gothic church in town, built in 1399, in the same main building of the old Hospital, is located in the Town Square, the nave is painted in fresco by Giovanni of Bruneck. Saint Elisabeth Chapel is part of the Deutschhaus and was built in Baroque in 1729–33 by Giuseppe Delai and it has an octagonal plan with a rectangular sector concerning the altar and the choir. The dome frescos represent the saint and the coat-of-arms of the Teutonic Order were painted by Matthäus Günther. The church was built in 1636 and was consecrated the year to Saint Mary Magdalene, it has a rectangular apse. The image in the niche on the represent the patron saint and is a work of the 17th century. The present church was built on the initiative of the Bishop Paulinus Mayr in early Tyrolean baroque on project of Peter Delai in 1678, the old church, mentioned for the first time in 1337, was restored and enlarged between 1459 and 1463 in gothic
Sterzing
–
The Zwölferturm in Sterzing
Sterzing
–
(Aug 1912) - Sterzing - A.E.Hasse
Sterzing
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Sterzing (Aug 1912) - Zwölferturm
Sterzing
–
A close sight of the inner town
16.
Ancient Rome
–
In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
Ancient Rome
–
Senātus Populus que Rōmānus
Ancient Rome
–
Roman Republic
Ancient Rome
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According to legend,
Rome was founded in 753 BC by
Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.
Ancient Rome
–
This bust from the
Capitoline Museums is traditionally identified as a portrait of
Lucius Junius Brutus.
17.
Via Claudia Augusta
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The Via Claudia Augusta is an ancient Roman road, which linked the valley of the Po River with Rhaetia across the Alps. The project of converting a pack-animal trail to serve wheeled vehicles was completed sixty years later in 46-47 AD by the son of Drusus, thence it continued towards Maia, and over the Reschen Pass. This then important road is called by modern-day German historians Donausüdstrasse and it served to secure the Roman northern frontier, which was marked until the end of the first century by the Danube river. Two milestones have been found, one at Rabland, a frazione of Partschins, near Merano in the South Tyrol, both are inscribed with the far terminus of the Via Claudia Augusta, Augusta Vindelicorum. Some grew into settlements and were fortified during the later Empire. Others can be identified only by the findings of archaeologists, in the 2nd century AD, a second Alpine pass was opened to wheeled traffic, the Brenner Pass. Today the Via Claudia Augusta is an important route used by cyclists to cross the Alps and it starts in Donauwörth and branches near Trento into two routes. The first and historically correct route ends in Ostiglia, the second, valentin - Merano - Bolzano - Trento - Verona - Ostiglia alternatively Trento - Feltre - Altinum - Venice. The length of the trail is approximately 700 kilometres, as a special service there are bus shuttles that take bicycles and cyclists over both the Fern Pass and the Reschen Pass, which are the most demanding parts of the route
Via Claudia Augusta
–
Modern replica of a Roman
milestone on the Via Claudia Augusta near Unterdiessen, Bavaria.
Via Claudia Augusta
–
Modern signage of the revitalized track near
Unterdiessen,
Bavaria.
Via Claudia Augusta
–
Via Aemilia
18.
Verona
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Verona is a city on the Adige river in Veneto, Italy, with approximately 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third largest in northeast Italy, the metropolitan area of Verona covers an area of 1,426 km2 and has a population of 714,274 inhabitants. Three of Shakespeares plays are set in Verona, Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and it is unknown if Shakespeare ever visited Verona or Italy at all, but his plays have lured many visitors to Verona and surrounding cities many times over. The city has been awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO because of its structure and architecture. According to a theory that considers the geographical position of the city, Verona is short for Versus Romae which means In the direction of Rome because as italian people say All roads lead to Rome. The exclamation Vae Romae if understood in Latin means Alas Rome, in fact, to express distress or denounce a disgrace ancient Romans used the Latin interjection vae. So, you explain the famous poem by William Shakespeare There is no world without Verona walls, But purgatory, torture. Hence-banished is banishd from the world, And worlds exile is death, the writer would express a Roman concept through its character named Romeo, a name that invokes Rome, according to which the city of Verona was a boundary between the Roman world and barbaric one. Verona was a place of passage and to horses, for those who wanted to go and had walked the Via Claudia Augusta. So the expression Vae Romae Alas Rome would indicate spirit of the place, another theory is that it is connected to the river. Vera was a name of the river Adige before the adoption of the current name, as in many similar instances in Europe the name of the town is formed with the addition of suffix -ona which means settlement over. The city was sometimes known as Welsch-Bern in German. The precise details of Veronas early history remain a mystery, one theory is it was a city of the Euganei, who were obliged to give it up to the Cenomani. With the conquest of the Valley of the Po the Veronese territory became Roman, Verona became a Roman colonia in 89 BC, and then a municipium in 49 BC when its citizens were ascribed to the Roman tribe Poblilia or Publicia. The city became important because it was at the intersection of several roads, stilicho defeated Alaric and his Visigoths here in 403. But, after Verona was conquered by the Ostrogoths in 489, theoderic the Great was said to have built a palace there. It remained under the power of the Goths throughout the Gothic War, except for a day in 541. The defections that took place among the Byzantine generals with regard to the booty made it possible for the Goths to regain possession of the city, in 552 Valerian vainly endeavored to enter the city, but it was only when they were fully overthrown that the Goths surrendered it
Verona
–
A collage of the city of Verona, Clockwise from top left to right: View of Piazza Bra from Verona Arena, House of Juliet, Verona Arena, Ponte Pietra at sunset, Statue of Madonna Verona's fountain in Piazza Erbe, View of Piazza Erbe from Lamberti Tower
Verona
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UNESCO World Heritage Site
Verona
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Statue of
Dante Alighieri in Verona
Verona
–
Panoramic view of the city from Castel San Pietro
19.
Augusta Vindelicorum
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Augsburg is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It was a Free Imperial City for over 500 years and it is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is a district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is the third-largest city in Bavaria with a population of 286,000 citizens, after Neuss and Trier, Augsburg is Germanys third oldest city, being founded by the Romans as Augusta Vindelicorum, named after the Roman emperor Augustus. Augsburg is the only German city with its own legal holiday and this gives Augsburg more legal holidays than any other region or city in Germany. Augsburg was the home of two families that rose to great prominence internationally, replacing the Medicis as Europes leading bankers, the Fugger. Augsburg lies at the convergence of the Alpine rivers Lech and Wertach, in the south extends the Lechfeld, an Outwash plain of the post ice age between the rivers Lech and Wertach, where rare primeval landscapes were preserved. The Augsburg city forest and the Lech valley heaths today rank among the most species-rich middle European habitats, on Augsburg borders the nature park Augsburg Western Woods - a large forestland. The city itself is also heavily greened, as a result, in 1997 Augsburg was the first German city to win the Europe-wide contest Entente Florale for Europes greenest and most livable city. Augsburg is surrounded by the counties Landkreis Augsburg in the west, the neighboring towns and cities are Friedberg, Königsbrunn, Stadtbergen, Neusäß, Gersthofen, Rehling, Affing, Kissing, Mering, Merching, Bobingen, Gessertshausen und Diedorf. Augsburg has a continental climate. The city was founded in 15 BC by Drusus and Tiberius as Augusta Vindelicorum, the name means Augusta of the Vindelici. This garrison camp soon became the capital of the Roman province of Raetia, thus, Augsburg was the intersection of many important European east-west and north-south connections, which later evolved as major trade routes of the Middle Ages. Around 120 AD Augsburg became the capital of the Roman province Raetia, Augsburg was sacked by the Huns in the 5th century AD, by Charlemagne in the 8th century, and by Welf of Bavaria in the 11th century, but arose each time to greater prosperity. Augsburg was granted the status of a Free Imperial City on March 9,1276 and from then until 1803, it was independent of its former overlord, the Prince-Bishop of Augsburg. Frictions between the city-state and the prince-bishops were to remain frequent however, particularly after Augsburg became Protestant and curtailed the rights, with a strategic location as intersection of trade routes to Italy, the Free Imperial City became a major trading center. Augsburg produced large quantities of goods, cloth and textiles. Augsburg became the base of two banking families that rose to prominence, the Fuggers and the Welsers
Augusta Vindelicorum
–
View of Augsburg City Hall and other historical buildings in Augsburg
Augusta Vindelicorum
–
Territories of the Free Imperial City and the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg
Augusta Vindelicorum
–
Perlach market place in 1550.
Augusta Vindelicorum
–
A map of Augsburg in 1800.
20.
Augsburg
–
Augsburg is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It was a Free Imperial City for over 500 years and it is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is a district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is the third-largest city in Bavaria with a population of 286,000 citizens, after Neuss and Trier, Augsburg is Germanys third oldest city, being founded by the Romans as Augusta Vindelicorum, named after the Roman emperor Augustus. Augsburg is the only German city with its own legal holiday and this gives Augsburg more legal holidays than any other region or city in Germany. Augsburg was the home of two families that rose to great prominence internationally, replacing the Medicis as Europes leading bankers, the Fugger. Augsburg lies at the convergence of the Alpine rivers Lech and Wertach, in the south extends the Lechfeld, an Outwash plain of the post ice age between the rivers Lech and Wertach, where rare primeval landscapes were preserved. The Augsburg city forest and the Lech valley heaths today rank among the most species-rich middle European habitats, on Augsburg borders the nature park Augsburg Western Woods - a large forestland. The city itself is also heavily greened, as a result, in 1997 Augsburg was the first German city to win the Europe-wide contest Entente Florale for Europes greenest and most livable city. Augsburg is surrounded by the counties Landkreis Augsburg in the west, the neighboring towns and cities are Friedberg, Königsbrunn, Stadtbergen, Neusäß, Gersthofen, Rehling, Affing, Kissing, Mering, Merching, Bobingen, Gessertshausen und Diedorf. Augsburg has a continental climate. The city was founded in 15 BC by Drusus and Tiberius as Augusta Vindelicorum, the name means Augusta of the Vindelici. This garrison camp soon became the capital of the Roman province of Raetia, thus, Augsburg was the intersection of many important European east-west and north-south connections, which later evolved as major trade routes of the Middle Ages. Around 120 AD Augsburg became the capital of the Roman province Raetia, Augsburg was sacked by the Huns in the 5th century AD, by Charlemagne in the 8th century, and by Welf of Bavaria in the 11th century, but arose each time to greater prosperity. Augsburg was granted the status of a Free Imperial City on March 9,1276 and from then until 1803, it was independent of its former overlord, the Prince-Bishop of Augsburg. Frictions between the city-state and the prince-bishops were to remain frequent however, particularly after Augsburg became Protestant and curtailed the rights, with a strategic location as intersection of trade routes to Italy, the Free Imperial City became a major trading center. Augsburg produced large quantities of goods, cloth and textiles. Augsburg became the base of two banking families that rose to prominence, the Fuggers and the Welsers
Augsburg
–
View of Augsburg City Hall and other historical buildings in Augsburg
Augsburg
–
Territories of the Free Imperial City and the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg
Augsburg
–
Perlach market place in 1550.
Augsburg
–
A map of Augsburg in 1800.
21.
Raetia
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Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the west with Transalpine Gaul and on south with Venetia et Histria. It thus comprised the districts occupied in modern times by eastern and central Switzerland, southern Bavaria and the Upper Swabia, Vorarlberg, the part of Tirol. Later Vindelicia formed part of Raetia, the northern border of Raetia during the times of Augustus and Tiberius was the River Danube. Later the Limes Germanicus marked the boundary, stretching for 166 km north of the Danube. Raetia linked to Italy across the Alps over the Reschen Pass, the Romansh people living in Southeast Switzerland are believed to be direct descendants of the Raetians. However, the lineage of the Romansh people remains incomplete. Little is known of the origin or history of the Raetians, livy states distinctly that they were of Etruscan origin. The Raetians are first mentioned by Polybius, and little is heard of them till after the end of the Republic, there is little doubt, however, that they retained their independence until their subjugation in 15 BC by Tiberius and Drusus. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, Raetia was governed by the commander of the Legio III Italica, the boundary between them is not clearly defined, but may be stated generally as a line drawn eastwards from the lacus Brigantinus to the Oenus. Much of Raetia prima remained as a political unit, Raetia Curiensis, for several centuries. Some of the valleys, however, were rich and fertile, and produced wine, Augustus Caesar preferred Raetian wine to any other. Considerable trade in pitch, honey, wax, and cheese occurred, the chief towns of Raetia were Tridentum and Curia. The Rätikon mountain range derives its name from Raetia, Alpine regiments of the Roman army This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Raetia. PC von Planta, Das alte Rätien T Mommsen in Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, iii. p.706 Joachim Marquardt, P. pp.16,161,196 Mary B Peaks, The General Civil and Military Administration of Noricum and Raetia. Bagnall, R. J. Drinkwater, A. Esmonde-Cleary, W. Harris, R. Knapp, S. Mitchell, S. Parker, C. Wells, J. Wilkes, R. Talbert, M. E. Downs, M. Joann McDaniel, B. Z. Lund, T. Elliott, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list
Raetia
22.
Adige
–
The river sources near the Reschen Pass close to the borders with Austria and Switzerland above the Inn valley. It flows through the artificial alpine Lake Reschen, the lake is known for the church tower that marks the site of the former village of Alt Graun, it was evacuated and flooded in 1953 after the dam was finished. Near Glurns, the Rom river joins from the Swiss Val Müstair, the Adige runs eastbound through the Vinschgau to Merano, where it is met by the Passer river from the north. The section between Merano and Bolzano, is called Etschtal, meaning Adige Valley, the Chiusa di Salorno narrows at Salorno mark the southernmost part of the predominantly German-speaking province of South Tyrol. The Adige was mentioned in the Lied der Deutschen of 1841 as the border of the German language area. In 1922 Germany adopted the song as its anthem, although by that time Italy had taken control of all of the Adige. Near Trento, the Avisio, Noce, and Fersina rivers join, the Adige crosses Trentino and later Veneto, flowing past the town of Rovereto, the Lagarina Valley, the cities of Verona and Adria and the north-eastern part of the Po Plain into the Adriatic Sea. The Adige and the Po run parallel in the river delta without properly joining, the Adige is connected to Lake Garda by the Mori-Torbole tunnel, an artificial underground canal built for flood prevention. The Adige is a home to the Marble trout, but at far lower populations than in the past, fish stocking is one of the most significant causes of the sharp reduction in the original fish population of this subspecies. It will spawn with and interbreed with brown trout, which are stocked in the river
Adige
–
The true source of Adige inside a
bunker of the
Alpine Wall
Adige
–
Map of Adige River
Adige
–
The false source
Adige
–
Graun, the
bell tower in the
Reschensee.
23.
Reschen Pass
–
Reschen Pass is a mountain pass across the Main chain of the Alps, connecting the Upper Inn Valley in the northwest with the Vinschgau region in the southeast. Since 1919, the border between South Tyrol, Italy and Tyrol, Austria has approximately followed the watershed, the summit at a height of 1,504 metres being completely on Italian territory. Reschen is one of the passes of the Alps, located between Brenner Pass in the east and Viamala in the west. It is part of the divide between the Danube in the north and the Adige in the south. The border with Nauders, Austria runs about 2 kilometres north of the summit towards the tripoint with Valsot. Winter highs can reach around 8–10 °C, but can also be as cold as −10 °C, in summertime, maxima can be as high as 25–28 °C, or as low as single figures. However, minimum temperatures stay above 0 °C. Average number of days per month with, The above table is for the period 1990-2016, already before the Roman era, an unnamed bridle path linked the valley of the Inn River with the valley of the Adige river. The current Reschen Pass was part of the Via Claudia Augusta, unlike the wide and smooth southern side, the northern side of Reschen Pass has a steep and narrow bottleneck at Finstermünz. The Austrian engineer Carl Ritter von Ghega and Joseph Duile laid out plans for a new road from the fortress of Nauders to Cajetansbrücke near Pfunds and this road leads to Reschen Pass along the Eastern, Austrian banking of the Inn, connecting the Austrians lands on Austrian soil. Several structures for a railway connection were also built, however. List of highest paved roads in Europe List of mountain passes Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort
Reschen Pass
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Pass summit at Reschen, looking southwards
24.
Inn River
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The Inn is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. It is a tributary of the Danube and is 517 kilometres long. The highest point of its basin is the summit of Piz Bernina. The Engadine, the valley of the En, is the only Swiss valley from which its waters ends in the Black Sea, the source is located in the Swiss Alps, west of St. Moritz in the Engadine region, which is named after the river. Shortly after it leaves its source, the Inn flows through the largest lakes on its course, Lake Sils and Lake Silvaplana. It runs north-eastwards, entering Austria, and from Landeck eastwards through the Austrian state of Tyrol and its capital, Innsbruck, from here to the Danube, it forms the border between Germany and Austria. Towns on this last section of the river are Simbach on Inn, Braunau am Inn, there are numerous small towns, including Braunau am Inn in Austria, and Marktl am Inn in Bavaria, Germany. In Passau the Inn finally enters the Danube, the Inn is the only river originating in Switzerland that ends in the Black Sea.85 m, the highest recorded historic flood level since 1501. The historic centre of Passau, where the Danube, Inn, currently, there are 23 hydroelectric power plants on the Inn. 17 of them are operated by Verbund AG, the power plants are listed beginning at the headwaters, Inn in Romansh, German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
Inn River
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View of the Inn valley. In the right half of the picture is the entrance to the Ziller valley.
Inn River
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Map highlighting the Inn
Inn River
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Bridge over the Inn at
Silvaplana, Upper Engadine (CH)
Inn River
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The Inn in
Scuol, Lower Engadine (CH)
25.
Fern Pass
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Fern Pass is a mountain pass in the Tyrolean Alps in Austria. It is located between the Lechtal Alps on the west and the Mieming Mountains on the east, the highest peak in Germany, the Zugspitze is only 13.5 km away to the northeast. The pass lies between the Grubigstein on the northwest, the Wannig on the southeast, and the Loreakopf on the west. The pass was created when a huge mountain slide filled part of the valley to a height of 300–400 meters, while it was initially believed that this had happened at least 12,000 years B. P. The landscape is marked by a series of lakes, the largest of which is the Blindsee, most of these are believed to have been created by the mountain slide. The first regular road crossing the Fern Pass was the Roman Via Claudia Augusta and it had the advantage over the Arlberg that it was relatively passable even in winter. Todays road is known as the Fernpass Straße and it connects Reutte through the Lermoos tunnel with Tarrenz and Imst. Via B187 and B189, it leads to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany. It also connects the Lech River valley with the Inn River valley, therefore, it carries more traffic than almost any other pass in the eastern Alps, except the Brenner Pass. The steepest gradient is 8 percent, and the gain from Reutte to the pass is 359 m. On the other side to Telfs, the gain is 579 m. List of highest paved roads in Europe List of mountain passes Pictures from the Fern Pass
Fern Pass
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Zugspitze, seen from the Fern Pass parking lot.
Fern Pass
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Fern Pass summit
Fern Pass
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The old Fern Pass at the
Via Claudia Augusta
26.
Puster Valley
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The Puster Valley is a valley in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The municipalities of the Puster Valley constitute the Puster Valley district, East of Sillian, the Puster Valley leaves the Peradriatic Line and turns to the northeast towards Lienz. Half of the valley drains to the west to the Adriatic via the Adige river, the watershed lies in the shallow valley floor called Toblacher Feld. The Rienz river flows westwards through the Puster Valley and the Drau river flows eastwards into East Tyrol, the eastern part of the valley on the upper Drava is called Upper Puster Valley. The towns in the Puster Valley are located between 750 and 1,180 meters above sea level. The most important of these towns in the valley are Toblach, Welsberg-Taisten, Olang, and Bruneck, the most important in the eastern valley are Innichen, Sexten. The largest tributaries of the Rienz river form the Antholzer Bach, the Ahr, the Pragser Bach, the Gsieser Bach, the Gran Ega, the Pfunderer Bach, the Puster Valleys largest side valley is the Tauferer Ahrntal. The Draus largest eastern tributaries are the Sextner Bach and the Villgraten-Bach, the Puster Valley District was founded in 1969 with the merger of 26 municipalities. Its combined area is 2,071 km² and its population is over 73,000, according to the 2001 census,80. 96% of the population of the valley speak German,13. 40% Ladin, and 5. 64% Italian as their native language. The following municipalities are part of the Puster Valley District, Media related to Puster Valley at Wikimedia Commons Puster Valley District
Puster Valley
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The Upper Puster Valley in East Tyrol
Puster Valley
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Ahrntal and Bruneck
Puster Valley
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Lienzer Dolomite range in East Tyrol in the Upper Puster Valley
Puster Valley
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Innichen
27.
Wilten
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Innsbruck is the capital city of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn valley, at its junction with the Wipp valley, Innsbruck lies about halfway between Munich in Germany and Verona in Italy. Located in the valley between high mountains, the so-called North Chain in the Karwendel Alps to the north. Innsbruck is an internationally renowned winter sports centre, and hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics as well as the 1984 and 1988 Winter Paralympics, Innsbruck also hosted the first Winter Youth Olympics in 2012. The name translates as Inn bridge, earliest traces suggest initial inhabitation in the early Stone Age. Surviving pre-Roman place names show that the area has been populated continuously, in the 4th century the Romans established the army station Veldidena at Oenipons, to protect the economically important commercial road from Verona-Brenner-Augsburg in their province of Raetia. The first mention of Innsbruck dates back to the name Oeni Pontum or Oeni Pons which is Latin for bridge over the Inn, the Counts of Andechs acquired the town in 1180. In 1248 the town passed into the hands of the Counts of Tyrol, the citys arms show a birds-eye view of the Inn bridge, a design used since 1267. The route over the Brenner Pass was then a major transport, the revenues generated by serving as a transit station enabled the city to flourish. Innsbruck became the capital of all Tyrol in 1429 and in the 15th century the city became a centre of European politics, the city benefited from the emperors presence as can be seen for example in the Hofkirche. Here a funeral monument for Maximilian was planned and erected partly by his successors, the ensemble with a cenotaph and the bronze statues of real and mythical ancestors of the Habsburgian emperor are one of the main artistic monuments of Innsbruck. A regular postal service between Innsbruck and Mechelen was established in 1490 by the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post, in 1564 Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria received the rulership over Tirol and other Further Austrian possessions administrated from Innsbruck up to the 18th century. He had Schloss Ambras built and arranged there his unique Renaissance collections nowadays mainly part of Viennas Kunsthistorisches Museum, up to 1665 a stirps of the Habsburgian dynasty ruled in Innsbruck with an independent court. In the 1620s the first opera house north of the Alps was erected in Innsbruck, in 1669 the university was founded. Also as a compensation for the court as Emperor Leopold I again reigned from Vienna, during the Napoleonic Wars Tyrol was ceded to Bavaria, ally of France. Andreas Hofer led a Tyrolean peasant army to victory in the Battles of Bergisel against the combined Bavarian and French forces, the combined army later overran the Tyrolean militia army and until 1814 Innsbruck was part of Bavaria. After the Vienna Congress Austrian rule was restored, until 1918, the town was part of the Austrian monarchy, head of the district of the same name, one of the 21 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in the Tyrol province. The Tyrolean hero Andreas Hofer was executed in Mantua, his remains were returned to Innsbruck in 1823, during World War I, the only recorded action taking place in Innsbruck was near the end of the war
Wilten
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Innsbruck
Wilten
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View of Innsbruck by
Albrecht Dürer, 1495
Wilten
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Ambras Castle, 1679
Wilten
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Andreas Hofer with his Consultants at the Hofburg by
Franz Defregger, 1879
28.
Inn (river)
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The Inn is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. It is a tributary of the Danube and is 517 kilometres long. The highest point of its basin is the summit of Piz Bernina. The Engadine, the valley of the En, is the only Swiss valley from which its waters ends in the Black Sea, the source is located in the Swiss Alps, west of St. Moritz in the Engadine region, which is named after the river. Shortly after it leaves its source, the Inn flows through the largest lakes on its course, Lake Sils and Lake Silvaplana. It runs north-eastwards, entering Austria, and from Landeck eastwards through the Austrian state of Tyrol and its capital, Innsbruck, from here to the Danube, it forms the border between Germany and Austria. Towns on this last section of the river are Simbach on Inn, Braunau am Inn, there are numerous small towns, including Braunau am Inn in Austria, and Marktl am Inn in Bavaria, Germany. In Passau the Inn finally enters the Danube, the Inn is the only river originating in Switzerland that ends in the Black Sea.85 m, the highest recorded historic flood level since 1501. The historic centre of Passau, where the Danube, Inn, currently, there are 23 hydroelectric power plants on the Inn. 17 of them are operated by Verbund AG, the power plants are listed beginning at the headwaters, Inn in Romansh, German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
Inn (river)
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View of the Inn valley. In the right half of the picture is the entrance to the Ziller valley.
Inn (river)
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Map highlighting the Inn
Inn (river)
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Bridge over the Inn at
Silvaplana, Upper Engadine (CH)
Inn (river)
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The Inn in
Scuol, Lower Engadine (CH)
29.
Garmish-Partenkirchen
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Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a mountain resort town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the centre of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region. Nearby is Germanys highest mountain, Zugspitze, at 2,962 m, the town was the site of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games. Garmisch and Partenkirchen were separate towns for centuries, and still maintain quite separate identities. Partenkirchen originated as the Roman town of Partanum on the route from Venice to Augsburg and is first mentioned in the year A. D.15. Its main street, Ludwigsstrasse, follows the original Roman road, Garmisch is first mentioned some 800 years later as Germaneskau, suggesting that at some point a Teutonic tribe took up settlement in the western end of the valley. During the late 13th century, the valley, as part of the County of Werdenfels, the area was governed by a prince-bishops representative known as a Pfleger from Werdenfels Castle situated on a crag north of Garmisch. The discovery of America at the turn of the 16th century led to a boom in shipping and a decline in overland trade. The valley floor was swampy and difficult to farm, bears, wolves and lynxes were a constant threat to livestock. The population suffered from epidemics, including several serious outbreaks of bubonic plague. Adverse fortunes from disease and crop failure occasionally led to a witch hunt, most notable of these were the trials and executions of 1589–1596, in which 63 people — more than 10 percent of the population at the time — were burned at the stake or garroted. Werdenfels Castle, where the accused were held, tried and executed and it was largely torn down in the 1750s and its stones used to build the baroque Neue Kirche on Marienplatz, which was completed in 1752. It replaced the nearby Gothic Alte Kirche, parts of which predated Christianity, used as a storehouse, armory and haybarn for many years, it has since been re-consecrated. Some of its frescoes are still visible. Garmisch and Partenkirchen remained separate until their respective mayors were forced by Adolf Hitler to combine the two towns in 1935 in anticipation of the 1936 Winter Olympic games. Today, the town is casually referred to as Garmisch, much to the dismay of Partenkirchens residents. Most visitors will notice the slightly more modern feel of Garmisch while the fresco-filled, cobblestoned streets of Partenkirchen offer a glimpse into times past. Early mornings and late afternoons in pleasant weather often find local traffic stopped while the cows are herded to
Garmish-Partenkirchen
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Garmisch-Partenkirchen with Alpspitze and
Zugspitze
Garmish-Partenkirchen
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Panorama of Garmisch by Valentin Gappnigg (c. 1700)
Garmish-Partenkirchen
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18th-century map showing the County of Werdenfels with Garmisch and Partenkirchen
Garmish-Partenkirchen
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Garmisch-Partenkirchen, painting by Anton Doll
Media related to Brennerpass at Wikimedia Commons
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brenner Pass". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "
