1.
Bourton-on-the-Water
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Bourton-on-the-Water is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England that lies on a wide flat vale within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The village of Bourton-on-the-Water is known for its picturesque High Street, flanked by long wide greens, the river is crossed by several low, arched stone bridges. These arched bridges have led to Bourton-on-the-Water being called the Venice of the Cotswolds, Bourton-on-the-Water often has more visitors than residents during peak times of the tourist season. An electoral ward of the name exists. This ward includes Cold Aston in addition to Bourton, the total population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 3,676. The earliest evidence of activity within the Bourton-on-the-Water area was found in the Slaughter Bridge gravel-spread. Moreover, excavations of the Salmonsbury Camp give evidence of almost continuous habitation through the Neolithic period, ancient Roman pottery and coins discovered in the village itself give clear evidence of extended Roman occupation. By the 11th century a Christian church was established and the village had developed along the River Windrush much as it is today, despite the long history of habitation almost every building is now of 17th century origin. The small historic core of Bourton-on-the-Water along with associated areas along the River Windrush have been designated a UK Conservation Area, Salmonsbury Camp, a nearby Iron Age habitation, is designated a UK National scheduled monument. English Heritage designates 117 buildings within Bourton-on-the-Water as having Grade II or higher listed status, Bourton has a number of tourist attractions, During the summer, a game of medieval football is played with goalposts set up in the River Windrush itself. Two teams play with a football, and a referee attempts to keep order. Crowds line the banks of the river, and the aim is to score as many goals as possible The model village is a 1,9 replica of the village and it was built by local craftsmen in the 1930s, and opened in 1937. One such route that begins its 100-mile route north is the Heart of England Way, Bourton is also home to Bourton-on-the-Water Primary School and the Cotswold School, a co-educational comprehensive school. Bourton-on-the-Water was first served by rail with the opening of the Bourton-on-the-Water Railway in 1862, the station was situated just to the north of the village. The OWWR later amalgamated with the Great Western Railway, and in 1881, the branch was extended westwards, the station closed to passengers in 1962, and to goods in 1964. Actor Wilfrid Hyde-White was born in Bourton-on-the-Water in 1903, and is buried in the villages Water Cemetery, racing cyclist Sharon Laws, who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics, grew up in the village. Major General Dudley Johnson, British Army officer and Victoria Cross recipient, was here in 1884
Bourton-on-the-Water
2.
Gloucestershire
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Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the fertile valley of the River Severn. The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other towns include Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud. Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century, though the areas of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire originally included Bristol, then a small town. The local rural community moved to the city, and Bristols population growth accelerated during the industrial revolution. Bristol became a county in its own right, separate from Gloucestershire and it later became part of the administrative County of Avon from 1974 to 1996. Upon the abolition of Avon in 1996, the north of Bristol became a unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire and is now part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire. The official former postal county abbreviation was Glos, rather than the frequently used but erroneous Gloucs. or Glouc. In July 2007, Gloucestershire suffered the worst flooding in recorded British history, the RAF conducted the largest peace time domestic operation in its history to rescue over 120 residents from flood affected areas. The damage was estimated at over £2 billion, the county recovered rapidly from the disaster, investing in attracting tourists to visit the many sites and diverse range of shops in the area. This is a chart of trend of gross value added of Gloucestershire at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Gloucestershire has mainly comprehensive schools with seven schools, two are in Stroud, one in Cheltenham and four in Gloucester. There are 42 state secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, all but about two schools in each district have a sixth form, but the Forest of Dean only has two schools with sixth forms. All schools in South Gloucestershire have sixth forms, each has campuses at multiple locations throughout the county. Most of the old market towns have parish churches, at Deerhurst near Tewkesbury, and Bishops Cleeve near Cheltenham, there are churches of special interest on account of the pre-Norman work they retain. These are, however, adjudged to be of English workmanship, other notable buildings include Calcot Barn in Calcot, a relic of Kingswood Abbey. Thornbury Castle is a Tudor country house, the pretensions of which evoked the jealousy of Cardinal Wolsey against its builder, Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, near Cheltenham is the 15th-century mansion of Southam de la Bere, of timber and stone. Memorials of the de la Bere family appear in the church at Cleeve, the mansion contains a tiled floor from Hailes Abbey
Gloucestershire
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A campus of the
University of Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
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Flag
Gloucestershire
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Parish Church of St. Mary, Fairford
Gloucestershire
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Zoo
3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
England
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Stonehenge, a
Neolithic monument
England
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Flag
England
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Boudica led an uprising against the
Roman Empire
England
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Replica of a 7th-century ceremonial
helmet from the
Kingdom of East Anglia, found at
Sutton Hoo
4.
Canberra
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Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 381,488, it is Australias largest inland city, the city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory,280 km south-west of Sydney, and 660 km north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a Canberran, the site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nations capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australias two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being a planned city outside of any state, similar to Washington, D. C. in the United States. Following an international contest for the design, a blueprint by American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected. The Griffins plan featured geometric motifs such as circles, hexagons and triangles, the citys design was influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that have earned Canberra the title of the bush capital. Although the Australian Capital Territory is now self-governing, the Commonwealth Government retains some influence through the National Capital Authority, the Australian Armys officer corps is trained at the Royal Military College, Duntroon and the Australian Defence Force Academy is also located in the capital. The ACT is independent of any state to prevent any one state from gaining an advantage by hosting the seat of Commonwealth power, the ACT has voting representation in the Commonwealth Parliament, and has its own independent Legislative Assembly and government, similar to the states. Compared to the averages, the unemployment rate is lower. Property prices are high, in part due to comparatively restrictive development regulations. An 1830s map of the region by Major Mitchell indeed does mark the Sullivans Creek floodplain between two mountains as Nganbra. Nganbra or Nganbira could readily have been anglicised to the name Canberry, survey plans of the district dated 1837 refer to the area as the Canberry Plain. Although popularly pronounced /ˈkænbərə/ or /ˈkænbɛrə/, the pronunciation at its official naming in 1913 was /ˈkæn. brə/. Before white settlement, the area in which Canberra would eventually be constructed was seasonally inhabited by Indigenous Australians, archaeological evidence of settlement in the region includes inhabited rock shelters, rock paintings and engravings, burial places, camps and quarry sites, and stone tools and arrangements. Artefacts suggests early human activity occurred at some point in the area 21,000 years previously, European exploration and settlement started in the Canberra area as early as the 1820s. There were four expeditions between 1820 and 1824, white settlement of the area probably dates from 1823, when a homestead or station was built on what is now the Acton peninsula by stockmen employed by Joshua John Moore. He formally applied to purchase the site on 16 December 1826, on 30 April 1827, Moore was told by letter that he could retain possession of 1,000 acres at Canberry. The European population in the Canberra area continued to grow throughout the 19th century
Canberra
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Canberra, with the old and new
Parliament House in the centre, viewed from
Mount Ainslie
Canberra
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Blundells Cottage, built around 1860, is one of the few remaining buildings built by the first settlers of Canberra.
Canberra
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The opening of
Parliament House in May 1927.
Canberra
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Two of Canberra's best-known landmarks,
Parliament House and
Old Parliament House (foreground). Commonwealth Place runs alongside the lake and includes the International Flag Display.
Questacon is on the right.
5.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
Australia
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Aboriginal rock art in the
Kimberley region of Western Australia
Australia
Australia
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Portrait of Captain
James Cook, the first European to map the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770
Australia
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Tasmania's
Port Arthur penal settlement is one of eleven UNESCO World Heritage-listed
Australian Convict Sites.
6.
Summer Palace
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The Summer Palace, is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing, China. It serves as a popular tourist destination and recreational park, mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water. Longevity Hill is about 60 metres high and has many buildings positioned in sequence, the front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made, in December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design, the natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value. The origins of the Summer Palace date back to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in 1153 and he ordered the construction of a palace in the Fragrant Hills and Jade Spring Hill in the northwest of Beijing. Guos aim was to create a reservoir that would ensure a stable water supply for the palace. In 1494, the Hongzhi Emperor of the Ming dynasty had a Yuanjing Temple built for his wet nurse, Lady Luo, in front of Jar Hill, the temple fell into disrepair over the years and was abandoned, and the area around the hill became lush with vegetation. The Zhengde Emperor, who succeeded the Hongzhi Emperor, built a palace on the banks of the Western Lake and he renamed Jar Hill, Golden Hill and named the lake Golden Sea. Both the Zhengde Emperor and the Wanli Emperor enjoyed taking boat rides on the lake, during the reign of the Tianqi Emperor, the court eunuch Wei Zhongxian took the imperial garden as his personal property. In the early Qing dynasty, Jar Hill served as the site for horse stables in the imperial palace, eunuchs who committed offences were sent there to weed and cut grass. At the time, much of the water stored in the Western Lake came from the spring on Jade Spring Hill. Any disruption of the flow from Jade Spring Hill would affect the capitals water transport. Around 1749, the Qianlong Emperor decided to build a palace in the vicinity of Jar Hill, in the name of improving the capitals waterworks system, he ordered the Western Lake to be expanded further west to create two more lakes, Gaoshui Lake and Yangshui Lake. The three lakes served not only as a reservoir for the gardens, but also a source of water for the surrounding agricultural areas. The Qianlong Emperor collectively named the three lakes Kunming Lake after the Kunming Pool constructed by Emperor Wu in the Han dynasty for the training of his navy, the earth excavated from the expansion of Kunming Lake was used to enlarge Jar Hill, which was renamed Longevity Hill. The Summer Palace, whose construction was completed in 1764 at a cost of over 4.8 million silver taels, was first named Qingyiyuan. The design of the Summer Palace was based on a legend in Chinese mythology about three divine mountains in the East Sea, namely Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou, besides, many architectural features in the palace were also built to resemble or imitate various attractions around China
Summer Palace
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UNESCO World Heritage Site
Summer Palace
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Pictorial plan of the Summer Palace, c. 1888.
Summer Palace
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Longevity Hill
Summer Palace
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Standing atop the Longevity Hill, the Tower of Buddhist Incense is the highest building in the Summer Palace.
7.
Splendid China
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Splendid China Folk Village is a theme park including two areas located in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Peoples Republic of China. The parks theme reflects the history, culture, art, ancient architecture, customs and it is one of the worlds largest scenery parks in the amount of scenarios reproduced. The park is developed and managed by the travel and tourist corporation. Splendid China is situated by the Shenzhen Bay in a tourist area of Overseas Chinese Town in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and it is a 35-40 minute train ride from Luohu Station on Line 1 of the Shenzhen Metro or 30 minutes by bus. Over 100 major tourist attractions have been miniaturized and laid out according to the map of China, most attractions have been reduced on a scale of 1,15. It is divided into Scenic Spot Area and Comprehensive Service Area, the entire park covers 30 hectares. The park also hosts several shows depicting various events in Chinese History, Chinese Cultural Show, some of the shows are only performed on weekends. Asteroid 3088 Jinxiuzhonghua was named after the park, Chinese Folk Culture Village is adjacent to the park in Shenzhen. List of parks in Shenzhen Travel China Guide article Splendid China folk culture village review Official website Splendid China
Splendid China
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Miniature Great Wall of China
Splendid China
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Miniature Temple of Heaven
Splendid China
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Miniature Summer Palace
8.
Shenzhen
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Shenzhen is a major city in Guangdong Province, China and one of the five largest and wealthiest cities of China. The city is located north of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and holds sub-provincial administrative status. Shenzhen was a town of 30,000 people on the route of the Kowloon–Canton Railway. That changed in 1979 when Shenzhen was promoted to city-status and in 1980 designated China’s first Special Economic Zone. According to the Government report for 2015, Shenzhen had transformed into a city with a population of 10,778,900, Shenzhen was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world during the 1990s and the 2000s. Shenzhen is a financial center in southern China. The city is home to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as well as the headquarters of numerous high-tech companies, Shenzhen ranks 19th in the 2016 edition of the Global Financial Centres Index published by the Z/Yen Group and Qatar Financial Centre Authority. It also has one of the busiest container ports in the world, human habitation in Shenzhen dates back to ancient times. The earliest archaeological remains so far unearthed are shards from a site at Xiantouling on Dapeng Bay, from the Han dynasty onwards, the area around Shenzhen was a center of the salt monopoly, thus meriting special Imperial protection. Salt pans are still visible around the Pearl River area to the west of the city and are commemorated in the name of Yantian District, the settlement at Nantou was the political center of the area from early antiquity. In the year 331 AD, six counties covering most of modern southeastern Guangdong were merged into one province or “jun” named Dongguan with its center at Nantou. As well as being a center of the politically and fiscally critical salt trade, the main shipping route to India, Arabia and the Byzantine Empire started at Guangzhou. As early as the century, chronicles record the Nantou area as being a major commercial center. It was also as a defense center guarding the southern approaches to the Pearl River. Shenzhen was also involved in the surrounding the end of the Southern Song dynasty. The Imperial court, fleeing Kublai Khan’s forces, established itself in the Shenzhen area and he jumped off a cliff with Emperor Bing, aged 7, the last emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty strapped to his back, killing both. In the late 19th century the Chiu or Zhao clan in Hong Kong identified that Chiwan, the tomb, since restored, is still at the same location. Earliest known records that carried the name Shenzhen dates from 1410, local people called the drains in paddy fields “zhen”
Shenzhen
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Shenzhen 深圳市
Shenzhen
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Hongfa Temple, of which the first abbott was
Ben Huan.
Shenzhen
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Tin Hau Temple in Chiwan
Shenzhen
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Shenzhen airport T3
9.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
China
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Yinxu, ruins of an ancient
palace dating from the
Shang Dynasty (14th century BCE)
China
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Flag
China
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Some of the thousands of life-size
Terracotta Warriors of the
Qin Dynasty, c. 210 BCE
China
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The
Great Wall of China was built by several dynasties over two thousand years to protect the sedentary agricultural regions of the
Chinese interior from incursions by
nomadic pastoralists of the northern
steppes.
10.
Temple Mount
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The Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Haram esh-Sharif, a hill located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is one of the most important religious sites in the world. It has been venerated as a site for thousands of years by Judaism, Christianity. The present site is dominated by three monumental structures from the early Umayyad period, the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, Herodian walls and gates with additions dating back to the late Byzantine and early Islamic periods cut through the flanks of the Mount. Currently it can be reached through eleven gates, ten reserved for Muslims and one for non-Muslims, the Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, which regards it as the place where Gods divine presence is manifested more than in any other place. According to the rabbinic sages whose debates produced the Talmud, it was here the world expanded into its present form. Several passages in the Hebrew Bible indicate that during the time when they were written, the Temple Mount was identified as Mount Zion. The Mount Zion mentioned in the parts of the Book of Isaiah, in the Book of Psalms. The name later migrated for a last time, this time to Jerusalems Western Hill, according to the Bible, both Jewish Temples stood at the Temple Mount, though archaeological evidence only exists for the Second Temple. However, the identification of Solomons Temple with the area of the Temple Mount is widespread, according to the Bible the site should function as the center of all national life—a governmental, judicial and religious center. During the Second Temple period it functioned also as an economic center, according to Jewish tradition and scripture, the First Temple was built by King Solomon the son of King David in 957 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The second was constructed under the auspices of Zerubbabel in 516 BCE, in the 2nd century, the site was used for a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus. It was redeveloped following the Arab conquest, Jewish tradition maintains it is here a Third and final Temple will also be built. The location is the holiest site in Judaism and is the place Jews turn towards during prayer and it was from the Holy of Holies that the High Priest communicated directly with God. The Temple was of importance in Jewish worship, in the Tanakh. In the New Testament it remains the site of events in the life of Jesus. It was to end, proof of a biblical prophecy fulfilled and of Christianitys victory over Judaism with the New Covenant. Among Sunni Muslims, the Mount is widely considered the third holiest site in Islam, revered as the Noble Sanctuary, the location of Muhammads journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven, the site is also associated with Jewish biblical prophets who are also venerated in Islam. Muslims preferred to the esplanade as the heart for the Muslim quarter since it had abandoned by Christians
Temple Mount
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Aerial southern view of the Temple Mount
Temple Mount
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Jerusalem
Temple Mount
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The
Holyland Model of Jerusalem in the late
Second Temple period. The large flat expanse was a base for Herod's Temple, in the center. The view is from outside the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount.
Temple Mount
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The
Trumpeting Place inscription, a stone (2.43x1 m) with
Hebrew inscription לבית התקיעה להב "To the Trumpeting Place" excavated by
Benjamin Mazar at the southern foot of the Temple Mount is believed to be a part of the Second Temple
11.
Western Wall
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The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is an ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall. The Western Wall is considered due to its connection to the Temple Mount. Because of the status quo policy, the Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray, though it is not the holiest site in the Jewish faith, which lies behind it. The original, natural and irregular-shaped Temple Mount was gradually extended to allow for an ever-larger Temple compound to be built at its top, on top of this box-like structure Herod built a vast paved esplanade which surrounded the Temple. Of the four retaining walls, the one is considered to be closest to the former Temple. The term Wailing Wall is not used by Jews and increasingly many others who consider it derogatory, in a broader sense, Western Wall can refer to the entire 488 metre-long retaining wall on the western side of the Temple Mount. The wall has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries, from the mid-19th century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its immediate area were made by various Jews, but none was successful. During this period outbreaks of violence at the foot of the wall became commonplace, after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the Eastern portion of Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan. This period ended on June 10,1967, when Israel gained control of the following the Six-Day War. Three days after establishing control over the Western Wall site the Moroccan Quarter was bulldozed by Israeli authorities to create space for what is now the Western Wall plaza. The earliest Jewish use of the Hebrew term ha-kotel ha-maaravi, the Western Wall, the name Wailing Wall, and descriptions such as wailing place, appeared regularly in English literature during the 19th century. The name Mur des Lamentations was used in French and Klagemauer in German and this term itself was a translation of the Arabic el-Mabka, or Place of Weeping, the traditional Arabic term for the wall. This description stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn, at some time in the 19th century, the Arabs began referring to the wall as the al-Buraq Wall. This was based on the tradition that inside the wall was the place where Muhammad tethered his miraculous winged steed, al-Buraq. The tradition on which this is based only states that the Prophet, or the angel Jibrail, tethered the steed at the gate of the mosque, meaning, at the gate of the Temple Mount. Israeli archaeologist Meir Ben-Dov concluded that the Muslim association with Western Wall began in the nineteenth century in response to renewed Jewish identification with the site. The Western Wall commonly refers to a 187-foot exposed section of ancient wall situated on the flank of the Temple Mount
Western Wall
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Western Wall
Western Wall
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Aerial view of the Temple Mount, with Western Wall at left center.
Western Wall
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Panorama of the Western Wall with the
Dome of the Rock (left) and
al-Aqsa mosque (right) in the background
Western Wall
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The Western Wall and Dome of the Rock
12.
Mini Israel
–
Mini Israel is a miniature park located near Latrun, Israel in the Ayalon Valley. Opened in November 2002, the site contains miniature replicas of hundreds of buildings, the tourist attraction consists of about 350 large models of notable buildings. The scale of 1,25 produces skyscrapers that tower over an adult, the permanent exhibition shows the main sites and structures in Israel of importance to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The signs are in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, 95% of the visitors are Israeli. The complex covers 60,000 square metres, with the models displayed over 35,000 sq m. The park also includes a shop, a few restaurants and rest areas. An audio guide and motorised buggies are available, the slogan since its inception has been See it all - small. The designers, architects and model builder team consisted of over 100 people from all parts of Israeli society and religions, the park was the brainchild of Israeli entrepreneur Eiran Gazit who conceived the idea after visiting the famous miniature town of Madurodam in the Netherlands in 1986. Delayed by the First Intifada, Gazit began plans to build the park in 1994 and it was funded mainly by two large investing groups, Granite HaCarmel and Secom of the Shikun Ubinui Group. It cost $20 million USD, with 15% of the coming from the Israel Tourism Office. The park was built on land owned by Kibbutz Nachshon and it had 350,000 visitors in its first nine months of opening. A Google Street View of Mini Israel was completed in November 2011, all trees are real bonsai cultivated and planted by Agronoy nursery. The park is shaped like a star of David, with each of the six triangles representing an area or city, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Galil, Negev. Models were created in workshops spread throughout Israel using sophisticated computerized evaluations, most of the buildings were built in the scale of 1,25. They were painted with waterproof paint for resistance to weather conditions, many of the models include kinetic moving parts such as trains, planes, a soccer game, heavy equipment, boats, etc
Mini Israel
–
The
Western Wall and
Dome of the Rock at Mini Israel
Mini Israel
Mini Israel
–
Shrine of the Book
Mini Israel
–
Israeli Supreme Court building
13.
Model (physical)
–
Physical model is a smaller or larger physical copy of an object. The object being modelled may be small or large, the geometry of the model and the object it represents are often similar in the sense that one is a rescaling of the other, in such cases the scale is an important characteristic. However, in cases the similarity is only approximate or even intentionally distorted. Sometimes the distortion is systematic with e. g. a fixed scale horizontally, physical models allow visualization, from examining the model, of information about the thing the model represents. A model can be an object such as an architectural model of a building. Uses of a model include visualization of internal relationships within the structure or external relationships of the structure to the environment. Other uses of models in this sense are as toys, instrumented physical models are the most effective way of investigating fluid flows such as around hydraulic structures. These models are scaled in terms of geometry and important forces, for example using Froude number or Reynolds number scaling. A physical model of something large is usually smaller, and of something very small is larger, a physical model of something that can move, like a vehicle or machine, may be completely static, or have parts that can be moved manually, or be powered. A physical model may show inner parts that are not visible. The purpose of a model on a smaller scale may be to have a better overview, for testing purposes. A physical model of an animal shows the physical composition without it walking or flying away, and without danger. A soft model of an animal is popular among children and some adults as cuddly toy. some models can be used in different ways as of like prototypes for cars. A model of a person may e. g. be a doll, a statue, and in fiction a robotic humanoid, e. g. the mechas in the movie A. I. A model is a 3D alternative for a 2D representation such as a drawing or photograph, or in the case of a globe, scale model Mathematical model Model organism Model nation Metamodeling Model airplane Model car Model railway Model rocket Model house
Model (physical)
–
Model of a burning house at
Bekonscot, Beaconsfield, UK.
Model (physical)
–
A scale model of the
Singapore City Centre.
Model (physical)
–
Model of a war scene — Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
Model (physical)
–
Part of the one-ninth scale model of
Bourton-on-the-Water at Bourton-on-the-Water,
Gloucestershire,
England
14.
Bekonscot
–
Bekonscot in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, is the oldest original model village in the world. It portrays aspects of England mostly dating from the 1930s, Bekonscot has been run by the Church Army since 1978 and donates large amounts of money to charity. It has raised the equivalent of almost £5,000,000 so far and has been visited by more than 14,000,000 visitors, Bekonscot was first created by a Beaconsfield resident, accountant Roland Callingham, in the 1920s. He developed the plan for his miniature empire as an addition to his large back garden, drawing in help from his staff. Together they developed the model landscape portraying rural England at the time, the swimming pool became the first sea and the undulating rockeries were built up as hills. Bassett-Lowke, the model railway manufacturers, were commissioned to build an extensive Gauge 1 railway network for the project. Callingham named the village Bekonscot after Beaconsfield and Ascot where he previously lived and it was not conceived as a commercial visitor attraction but as a plaything to entertain Roland and his guests. It was only after 1930 that its existence became known, catching the imagination of the press. Frequent newsreels such as Pathé, international and national newspaper coverage ensured a stream of visitors. As such, it is regarded as the grandfather of the model village, the village expanded in size throughout the first half of the 20th century. Callingham sold off much of the surrounding the model village. The village is now surrounded by urban development so further expansion is impossible. Bekonscot popularised the miniature park movement, put Beaconsfield on the map and has a financial legacy in donations to charitable organisations both national and local. The site is approximately two acres of which just over half is a miniature 1,12 landscape, buildings are constructed in natural materials, concrete, or dense foamboard, many are originals from the 1920s. There are six model villages set within the miniature landscape and these are entirely fictional towns, but many buildings within them are based on UK prototypes. Successive generations of modelmakers, gardeners and craftsmen have left their mark on their subjects, currently there are 12 full-time staff who maintain the village throughout the year, during the open season a further 20 or so seasonal staff are employed. Names of shops and other features include humorous puns, such as Lee Key Plumbers Merchants, Sam and Ellas Butchers, other model villages have run with the playful nature of the miniature business names and it has become something of a model tradition. Over the last year, a project to introduce more – smaller – moving models into the village has been underway
Bekonscot
–
A view across the lake, with harbour, Bekonscot model village
Bekonscot
–
View over Bekonscot
Bekonscot
–
Watermill with Barley Corn Pub in background
Bekonscot
–
Motor garage
15.
Madurodam
–
Madurodam is a miniature park and tourist attraction in the Scheveningen district of The Hague in the Netherlands. It is home to a range of 1,25 scale model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks, historical cities, the park was opened in 1952 and has since been visited by tens of millions of visitors. The entirety of net proceeds from the go towards various charities in the Netherlands. In 2012, Madurodam celebrated its 60th anniversary, Madurodam was named after George Maduro, a Jewish law student from Curaçao who fought the Nazi occupation forces as a member of the Dutch resistance and died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. Boon-van der Starp was a member of a foundation for the Dutch Students Sanatorium, in this sanatorium students with tuberculosis could obtain treatment, and could also study. Financial support was needed to pay for their convalescent care, Mrs Boon-van der Starp heard about Bekonscot, a miniature park in Beaconsfield, England. This park generated large profits, a part of which was donated to a hospital in London each year. After a meeting with Mrs Boon-van der Starp, George Maduros parents donated the funds needed for the Madurodam project, bouma was appointed architect of Madurodam, and visited Bekonscot because Mrs Boon-van der Starp wanted the new park to be similar. After his visit he created a plan for Madurodam and came up with a theme, on 2 July 1952, the then teenage Princess Beatrix was appointed mayor of Madurodam, and was given a tour of her town. When Beatrix became Queen, she relinquished this title, after her resignation a new tradition arose, the city council would annually select a mayor from their midst. All members of the council are The Hague students. Every year schools from The Hague can nominate students to take part in the youth council, the youth council members are also members of the disbursement committee at Madurodam. The disbursement committee manages charities – Madurodam has its own fund which provides support to institutions that organize activities for young people. In 2011, research showing declining public interest prompted the management to invest in a large-scale renovation, at a cost of €8 million. For this purpose the park was closed to the public between November 2011 and April 2012, the park is now divided into three themes, water, as a friend and an enemy, historical cities and The Netherlands as an inspiration for the world. Each theme offers different activities - from light shows to mixing music, small coin slots trigger bridges, factories or an oil tanker on fire. While aesthetic improvements have made, the informative aspect has also been improved. Small television stands show brief video footage or in-depth information, visitors receive chipped cards upon entry, which can be used to trigger these
Madurodam
–
Madurodam entrance in 2007
Madurodam
–
George Maduro (1916–45) namesake of Madurodam
Madurodam
–
Madurodam in 1964
Madurodam
–
Madurodam in August 2012
16.
Tapiola
–
Tapiola is a district of the municipality of Espoo on the south coast of Finland, and is one of the major urban centres of Espoo. It is located in the part of Greater Helsinki. The name Tapiola is derived from Tapio, who is the forest god of Finnish mythology, Tapiola was largely constructed in the 1950s and 1960s by the Finnish housing foundation and was designed as a garden city. It is the location of the Espoo cultural centre, the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, the Espoo city museum, according to the Finnish National Board of Antiquities, Tapiola was the largest and most valuable example of the 1960s construction ideologies in Finland. Its architecture and landscaping that combines urban living with nature has attracted tourists ever since, Tapiola was one of the first post-war new town projects in Continental Europe. The project was conceived, built and managed by Heikki von Hertzen, under Von Hertzens leadership, the Housing Foundation bought 660 acres of forest land, six miles from the centre of Helsinki, and set out to create an ideal garden city. The role of the Housing Foundation included financing the project and overseeing the planning and building process so as to ensure consistency within different areas of the town, the Housing Foundations unique combination of various socio-political organisations facilitated the negotiation of funds with governmental bodies. Von Hertzen set out to create an urban environment that would address the housing shortage in Helsinki. Tapiola did not form part of any plan for Finland’s development other than von Hertzen’s Seven Towns Plan. The original city plans for Tapiola were made by Otto-Iivari Meurman, each member of the group designed their own part of the area and its buildings, including social housing blocks and individual houses. Tapiola is a result of teamwork in the fields of architecture, sociology, civil engineering, landscape gardening, domestic science. The name of the city itself was chosen through a public competition in 1953. The winning name was suggested by different people, which in Finnish means the home of the Tapio. Tapiola is also the centre of Espoo, as it houses the Espoo cultural centre, the city museum. The Tapiola library is located in the cultural centre, Tapiola brought worldwide fame for Finnish urban planning. From its first stages it gained both a national and international reputation for its high class architecture and landscaping, as well as an ideological experiment, Tapiolas planners aimed at demonstrating a new direction for Finnish town planning and housing. The slogan of the project was, we do not want to build houses or dwellings but socially healthful surroundings for contemporary man, Tapiola provided a utopian vision of society and an alternative to what was seen at the time as an oppressive urban environment. In this sense, Tapiola was both an experiment and a model, Tapiola was built on the principles of Ebenezer Howards garden city
Tapiola
–
Espoo cultural centre - which houses a library, gallery and theatre - and the Keskustorni (central tower), one of the oldest buildings in Tapiola
Tapiola
–
Location of Tapiola within
Espoo
Tapiola
–
WeeGee Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, designed by Aarno Ruusuvuori, 1964
Tapiola
–
Mäntytorni apartment building, designed by Aarne Ervi.
17.
Espoo
–
Espoo is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. The population of the city of Espoo was 269,802 as of 1 January 2016. It is part of the Finnish Capital Region, and most of its population lives in the urban core of the Helsinki metropolitan area, along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa. Espoo shares its border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen. The city is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, other bordering municipalities of Espoo are Nurmijärvi and Vihti in the north, and Kirkkonummi in the west. The national park of Nuuksio is situated in northwestern Espoo, Espoo encompasses 312 square kilometres, of which 312 km2 is land. Espoo has several regional centers. Espoo is thus divided into seven areas, Vanha-Espoo, Suur-Espoonlahti, Pohjois-Espoo, Suur-Kauklahti, Suur-Leppävaara, Suur-Matinkylä. Aalto University is based in Otaniemi, Espoo, along with a thriving community that includes numerous startups. The city of Espoo is officially bilingual, the majority of the population,83. 6%, speaks Finnish as their mother tongue, while a minority of 8. 3% speaks Swedish. 8% of Espoos population has a first language other than Finnish or Swedish, the name was first mentioned in 1431. The banks of the River Espoo are even today heavily populated with aspen, the first inhabitants in the area arrived about 9,000 years ago. Physical evidence indicates agriculture from ca.1000 AD, but there are no historical records, up to the 13th century, the area was a borderland between the hunting grounds of Finnish Proper and Tavastian Finns, with a sparse population. Immigrants from Sweden established permanent agricultural settlements during the 12th and 13th centuries, Espoo was a subdivision of the Kirkkonummi congregation until 1486-7. The oldest known document referring to Kirkkonummi is from 1330, Espoo as a subchapter has been dated to the 1380s, the construction of the Espoo Cathedral, the oldest preserved building in Espoo, marks the independence of Espoo. Administratively, Espoo was a part of Uusimaa, when the province was split to Eastern and Western provinces governed from the Porvoo and Raasepori castles, respectively, the eastern border of the Raasepori province was in Espoo. The 13th century road connecting the most important cities in Finland at that time, in 1557, King Gustaf Wasa decided to stabilize and develop the region by founding a royal mansion in Espoo. The government bought the villages of Espåby and Mankby and transferred the population elsewhere, the royal mansion housed the kings local plenipotentiary, and collected royal tax in kind paid by labor on the mansions farm
Espoo
–
Clockwise from top: skyline of offices in
Keilaniemi, Panorama Tower in
Leppävaara, the
Espoo Cultural Centre,
Haukilahti docks,
the Gallen-Kallela Museum,
Aalto University Otaniemi campus auditorium, and the
Fortum head office.
Espoo
–
VR Class Vk3 steam locomotive at
Kauklahti railway station in the 1920s
Espoo
–
Anti-aircraft
searchlight in
Haukilahti in 1940
Espoo
–
The
Espoo Cultural Centre
18.
Scale model
–
This enables it to demonstrate some behavior or property of the original object without examining the original object itself. The most familiar scale models represent the appearance of an object in miniature. Scale models are used in fields including engineering, architecture, film making, military command, salesmanship. While each field may use a model for a different purpose, all scale models are based on the same principles. The detail requirements vary depending on the needs of the modeler, in general a scale model must be designed and built primarily considering similitude theory. However, other requirements concerning practical issues must also be considered, similitude is the theory and art of predicting prototype performance from scale model observations. The main requirement of similitude is all dimensionless quantities must be equal for both the model and the prototype under the conditions the modeler desires to make observations. Dimensionless quantities are generally referred to as Pi terms, or π terms, in many fields the π terms are well established. For example, in dynamics, a well known dimensionless number called the Reynolds number comes up frequently in scale model tests with fluid in motion relative to a stationary surface. An example of the Reynolds number and its use in similitude theory satisfaction can be observed in the scale model testing of fluid flow in a horizontal pipe, one method to determine the dimensionless quantities of concern for a given problem is to use dimensional analysis. Practical concerns include the cost to construct the model, available test facilities to condition and observe the model, the availability of certain materials, and even who will build it. Practical requirements are very diverse depending on the purpose of the scale model. As an example, perhaps an aerospace company needs to test a new wing shape, however, if a facility such as this one cant be used, perhaps due to cost constraints, the similitude requirements must be relaxed or the test redesigned to accommodate the limitation. In this case, concessions must be made for reasons to the similitude requirements. An example of this from fluid dynamics is flow of a liquid in a horizontal pipe, possible π terms to consider in this situation are Reynolds number, Weber number, Froude number, and Mach number. For this flow configuration, however, no tension is involved. Also, compression of the fluid is not applicable, so the Mach number can be disregarded, finally, gravity is not responsible for the flow, so the Froude number can also be disregarded. This leaves the modeler with only the Reynolds number to worry about in terms of equating its values for the scale model, in general, scale models can be classified into three classes depending on the degree of similitude satisfaction they exhibit
Scale model
–
A scale model of the
Tower of London. This model can be found inside the tower.
Scale model
–
Scale model of water powered turbine
Scale model
–
L to R with 12 inch ruler at bottom: 1:64
Matchbox Chevrolet Tahoe, 1:43
Ford F-100, 1:25 Revell Monogram 1999 Ford Mustang Cobra, 1:18
Bburago 1987
Ferrari F40
Scale model
–
Model ships and castle
19.
Pendon
–
Founded by the late Roye England, the museum is run by a group of volunteers and is open to the public most weekends and holidays. The museum was founded by the artist and craftsman Roye England and he observed the destruction and modification of many historic buildings in the area and began to make model representations of them. Both the main Vale scene and others display working scale model railway scale models of typical scenes on the Great Western Railway of the 1920s, the trains are also representative in detail of those travelling that line in those years. It is not a railway layout in its usual sense as the trains run at scale speed with a realistic interval between each. The main display and ongoing project at Pendon is a representation of the Vale of White Horse as it was in the inter-war period. The topography and the layout is fictional, but every building. Some locos on the layout, GWR2900 Class No.2943 Hampton Court Built in 1912, GWR4000 Class No.4050 Princess Alice Built in 1914. GWR2251 Class No.2253 Built in 1930, LSWR N15 Class No.789 Sir Guy Built in 1925. GWR3700 Class No.3705 Mauritius LSWR S15 class No.515 Built in 1921. The main focus of the Dartmoor scene is a model of Brunels timber viaduct at Walkham in Devon built by R. Guy Williams, locos on the layout include, GWR2900 Class No.2921 Saint Dunstan Built in 1907. GWR2800 Class No.2844 Built in 1912, LSWR M7 Class No.30 Built in 1904 The museum includes displays of individual models, modelling methods and railway artefacts. The museum also displays Madder Valley, a model railway built by John Ahern. The model trains are built, to represent individual locomotives, carriages. Operation consists of a sequence of trains, showing what one could have seen passing by on a day and night. This sequence is based on timetables of the period and they are all modelled in 4 mm to 1 foot scale, and run on track of 18mm gauge, a combination known as EM gauge. The museum is located at Ordnance Survey mapping six-figure grid reference SU542935, Pendon Museum official website Static Grass specialists - DoubleO Scenics
Pendon
–
Pendon's White Horse Hill
Pendon
–
Engine shed on the Dartmoor scene
Pendon
–
John Ahern's Madderport
20.
Model railroad
–
Railway modelling or model railroading is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The earliest model railways were the railways in the 1840s. Electric trains appeared around the start of the 20th century, Model trains today are more realistic. Today modellers create model railway layouts, often recreating real locations, involvement ranges from possession of a train set to spending hours and large sums of money on a large and exacting model of a railroad and the scenery through which it passes, called a layout. Hobbyists, called railway modellers or model railroaders, may maintain models large enough to ride, modellers may collect model trains, building a landscape for the trains to pass through. They may also operate their own railroad in miniature, for some modellers, the goal of building a layout is to eventually run it as if it were a real railroad or as the real railroad did. If modellers choose to model a prototype, they may reproduce track-by-track reproductions of the railroad in miniature, often using prototype track diagrams. Layouts vary from a circle or oval of track to realistic reproductions of real places modelled to scale. Probably the largest model landscape in the UK is in the Pendon Museum in Oxfordshire, UK, the museum also houses one of the earliest scenic models – the Madder Valley layout built by John Ahern. This was built in the late 1930s to late 1950s and brought in realistic modelling, receiving coverage on both sides of the Atlantic in the magazines Model Railway News and Model Railroader. Bekonscot in Buckinghamshire is the oldest model village and includes a model railway, the worlds largest model railroad in H0 scale is the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany. The largest live steam layout, with 25 miles of track is Train Mountain in Chiloquin, Oregon, clubs often display models for the public. One specialist branch concentrates on larger scales and gauges, commonly using track gauges from 3.5 to 7.5 inches. Models in these scales are usually hand-built and powered by steam, or diesel-hydraulic. The Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT in the 1950s pioneered automatic control of track-switching by using telephone relays, the oldest society is The Model Railway Club, near Kings Cross, London, UK. As well as building model railways, it has 5,000 books, similarly, The Historical Model Railway Society at Butterley, near Ripley, Derbyshire specialises in historical matters and has archives available to members and non-members. The words scale and gauge seem at first interchangeable but their meanings are different, Scale is the models measurement as a proportion to the original, while gauge is the measurement between the rails. The size of engines depends on the scale and can vary from 700 mm tall for the largest ridable live steam scales such as 1,4, down to size for the smallest
Model railroad
–
A scale model of
Berlin 's
Bahnhof Zoo at the LOXX Berlin model railway.
Model railroad
–
The
Miniatur Wunderland in
Hamburg,
Germany is the largest model railway in the world.
Model railroad
–
One of the smallest (
Z scale, 1:220) placed on the buffer bar of one of the larger (
live steam, 1:8) model locomotives.
21.
Dollhouse
–
A dollhouse or dolls house is a toy home made in miniature. For the last century, dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children but their collection, the term dollhouse is used commonly in the United States and Canada. In the UK the term house or dollshouse is used. Todays dollhouses trace their history back about four hundred years to the house display cases of Europe. Smaller dollhouses with more realistic exteriors appeared in Europe in the 18th century, early dollhouses were all handmade, but following the Industrial Revolution and World War II, they were increasingly mass-produced and became more standardized and affordable. Dollhouses can range from simple boxes stacked together used as rooms for play, contemporary childrens play dollhouses are mostly in 1,18 scale, while 1,12 scale is common for dollhouses made for adult collectors. Miniature homes, furnished with domestic articles and resident inhabitants, both people and animals, have made for thousands of years. The earliest known examples were found in the Egyptian tombs of the Old Kingdom and these wooden models of servants, furnishings, boats, livestock and pets placed in the Pyramids almost certainly were made for religious purposes. The earliest known European dollhouses were the houses from the 16th century. Dollhouses of this period showed idealized interiors complete with detailed furnishings, the cabinets were built by hand with architectural details, filled with miniature household items and were solely intended for adults. They were off-limits to children, not because of safety concerns for the child, smaller doll houses such as the Tate house, with more realistic exteriors, appeared in Europe in the 18th century. The early European dollhouses were each unique, constructed on a basis by individual craftsmen. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, factories began mass-producing toys, German companies noted for their dollhouses included Christian Hacker, Moritz Gottschalk, Elastolin, and Moritz Reichel. The list of important English companies includes Silber & Fleming, Evans & Cartwright, by the end of the 19th century American dollhouses were being made in the United States by The Bliss Manufacturing Company. Germany produced the most prized dollhouses and doll house miniatures up until World War I, notable German miniature companies included Märklin, Rock and Graner and others. Their products were not only collected in Central Europe, but regularly exported to Britain. Germanys involvement in WWI seriously impeded both production and export, New manufacturers in other countries arose. The TynieToy Company of Providence, Rhode Island, made authentic replicas of American antique houses, other American companies of the early 20th century were Roger Williams Toys, Tootsietoy, Schoenhut, and the Wisconsin Toy Co
Dollhouse
–
Exterior of a hand-built American dollhouse
Dollhouse
–
Dutch cabinet dollhouse of Petronella de la Court, Amsterdam 1670-1690
Dollhouse
–
A 17th century
Nuremberg, Germany dollhouse
Dollhouse
–
From left: 1:24 scale, 1:16 scale, 1:12 scale, 1:10 scale
22.
Hillbrow Tower
–
The Hillbrow Tower is a tall tower located in the suburb of Hillbrow in Johannesburg, South Africa. Construction of the began in June 1968 and was completed three years later, in April 1971. The tower was known as the JG Strijdom Tower, after JG Strijdom. On 31 May 2005 it was renamed the Telkom Joburg Tower, the tower was constructed for South African Posts & Telecommunications, which later became Telkom, South Africas government run and the countrys largest telecommunications company. As the general height of buildings rose in the business district. The Hillbrow Tower has been closed to visitors since 1981, primarily due to security reasons, before the closure, the Hillbrow tower was one of the largest tourist draws in Johannesburg. The public was able to enter six public floors at the top of the tower, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a huge football was fitted to the tower to celebrate the event. In 2013, television programme Carte Blanche broadcast from what used to be the revolving restaurant, the Hillbrow Tower is one of two iconic towers that are often used to identify the Johannesburg skyline. The second tower, the Sentech Tower, is used for television, list of towers Sentech Tower Carlton Center Hillbrow Tower Hillbrow Tower at Structurae
Hillbrow Tower
–
Hillbrow Tower (right) with the
Ponte Apartment building and the skyline of Hillbrow.
Hillbrow Tower
23.
Johannesburg
–
Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa and is one of the 50 largest urban areas in the world. It is the capital of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. While Johannesburg is not one of South Africas three capital cities, it is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade. In 2011, the population of the city of Johannesburg was 4,434,827, in the same year, the population of Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area was 7,860,781. Some view the surrounding the city of Johannesburg yet more broadly than the metropolitan area, adding Ekurhuleni, West Rand and Lenasia. The land area of the city is large in comparison with those of other major cities, resulting in a moderate population density of 2. The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been a farm, the city is commonly interpreted as the modern day El Dorado due to the extremely large gold deposit found along the Witwatersrand. The name is attributed to one or all of three men involved in the establishment of the city, in ten years, the population was 100,000 inhabitants. A separate city from the late 1970s until the 1990s, Soweto is now part of Johannesburg, Soweto, although eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, had been separated as a residential area for blacks, who were not permitted to live in Johannesburg proper. Lenasia is predominantly populated by English-speaking South Africans of Indian descent, controversy surrounds the origin of the name. There were quite a number of people with the name Johannes who were involved in the history of the city. Among them are the principal clerk attached to the office of the surveyor-general Johannes Rissik, Christiaan Johannes Joubert, another was Stephanus Johannes Paulus Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic 1883-1900. Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area is another possibility, precise records for the choice of name were lost. Rissik and Joubert were members of a delegation sent to England to attain mining rights for the area. Joubert had a park in the city named after him and Rissik Street is today a street where the historically important and dilapidated Post Office, since burnt out. The region surrounding Johannesburg was originally inhabited by San people, the Sotho–Tswana practised farming and extensively mined and smelted metals that were available in the area. The most prominent site within Johannesburg is Melville Koppies, which contains an iron smelting furnace, the main Witwatersrand gold reef was discovered in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by Jan Gerritse Bantjes that triggered the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the start of Johannesburg in 1886. The discovery of gold rapidly attracted people to the area, making necessary a name, Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area is another possibility
Johannesburg
–
Clockwise, from top:
Johannesburg Art Gallery, the
Hillbrow skyline at night,
Nelson Mandela Square in
Sandton,
Johannesburg CBD looking east over the
M1 Freeway, the
University of the Witwatersrand 's East Campus and
Montecasino in
Fourways.
Johannesburg
–
The farm where gold was first discovered in 1886
Johannesburg
–
Pritchard Street c. 1940
Johannesburg
–
Street scene in Johannesburg in 1970
24.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
South Africa
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Mapungubwe Hill, the site of the former capital of the
Kingdom of Mapungubwe
South Africa
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Flag
South Africa
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Arrival of
Jan van Riebeeck, the first European to settle in South Africa, with
Devil's Peak in the background
South Africa
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Depiction of a
Zulu attack on a Boer camp in February 1838
25.
Kowary
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Kowary is a town in Jelenia Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It lies approximately 14 kilometres south-east of Jelenia Góra, and 93 kilometres south-west of the regional capital Wrocław, other possible date of the start of the town is 1355 and connects it to Ostsiedlung. Publications published in German Empire disputed the origin of Kowary and called it Schmedewerk, in 1355 year Duke Bolko II the Small, the grandson of the Polish king Władysław I the Elbow-high, the last independent Silesian Piast, granted mining privileges to the local miners. Since 1401 the village belonged to the possessions of the Schaffgotsch family, as a mining center Schmiedeberg received several privileges and was seat of a vogt since 1368. Mining flourished until the Thirty Years War, when the town was destroyed in 1633. The towns webpage states that the main partner was Poland, with record trade in 1558, it was also famous for its gunsmiths. After the war veil weaving became more and more important for the town, in the early 18th century the town became one of the biggest veil trading places in Silesia with trade relations to Bohemia, Italy, Spain, Russia and North America. Schmiedeberg, belonging to the Duchy of Schweidnitz-Jauer, remained in possession of the Schaffgotsch family until 1634, in the 16th century the population adopted the Protestant faith. Hans Ulrich von Schaffgotsch was arrested as a follower of Albrecht Wallenstein the town came under Imperial custody, in 1639 the emperor sold the town to Bohemian count Heřman of Czernin and his family kept Schmiedeberg until Prussian takeover of Silesia. After the Peace of Westphalia the town experienced Counter-Reformation, the Protestant could now practice their faith only at the church of peace in Jauer and later in Hirschberg and Landeshut Kamienna Góra. When Prussia annexed majority of Silesia in 1742 Prussian king Frederick II, immediately sold the possessions to the town, which thereby became sovereign. Prussian conquering also meant a relief for local Protestants – they received their own church, aid by the Prussian king, the settling of Saxon damask weavers, couldnt stop the downturn. Only the Industrialisation, beginning around 1850, led to a recovery of the local economy, in 1882 the town received a rail connection to Hirschberg, which further strengthened the economy. During World War II Poles were used as slave labour by Nazi Germany in local mines, as of 2006, the town had a population of 11,824. Official town website Jewish Community in Kowary on Virtual Shtetl
Kowary
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Centre of town
26.
Minimundus
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Minimundus is a miniature park in Klagenfurt in Carinthia, Austria. It displays over 150 miniature models of architecture from around the world, since its opening in 1958, more than 15 million visitors have visited the 26,000 square meters park. The proceeds benefit the childrens help organization Rettet das Kind, which owns the park, a small selection of the models, St. Madurodam Mini-Europe Minimundus website
Minimundus
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Model of St. Stephen's Cathedral
27.
Klagenfurt
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Klagenfurt am Wörthersee is the capital of the federal state of Carinthia in Austria. With a population of 99,100, it is the sixth-largest city in the country, the city is the bishops seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt and home to the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt. The city of Klagenfurt is in southern Austria, midway across the nation and it is in the middle, almost as far from Innsbruck, to the west, as from Vienna, to the northeast. Klagenfurt is elevated 446 metres above sea level and covers an area of 120.03 square kilometres and it is on the lake Wörthersee and on the Glan River. The city is surrounded by several forest-covered hills and mountains with heights of up to 1,000 m, for example, to the south is the Karawanken mountain range, which separates Carinthia from Slovenia and Italy. Klagenfurt is divided into 16 districts, It is further divided into 25 Katastralgemeinden, Klagenfurt has a typical continental climate, with a fair amount of fog throughout the autumn and winter. The rather cold winters are, however, broken by occasional warmer periods due to wind from the Karawanken mountains to the south. The average temperature from 1961 and 1990 is 7.1 °C, in Old Slovene, cviljovec is a place haunted by such a wailing female ghost or cvilya. Thus they assumed that Klagenfurts name was a made by the German settlers of the original Slovene name of the neighbouring wetland. However, the earliest Slovene mention of Klagenfurt in the form of v Zelouzi dating from 1615 is 400 years more recent and this story was reported by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, who later became Pope Pius II. In 2007, the city changed its name to Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. However, since there are no settlements by the name of Klagenfurt anywhere. The feat is commemorated by a grandiose 9-ton Renaissance monument in the city centre, historically, the place was founded by the Spanheim Duke Herman as a stronghold sited across the commercial routes in the area. Its first mention dates from the late 12th century in a document in which Duke Ulric II, exempted St. Pauls Abbey from the toll charge in foro Chlagenvurth. In the following centuries, Klagenfurt suffered fires, earthquakes, invasions of locusts, and attacks from Turks, never before had such a thing happened. The new owners, however, brought about an economic renaissance, in 1863, the railway connection to St. During the 19th century, the city developed into an important centre of Carinthian Slovene culture, the Slovene national poet France Prešeren also spent a short part of his professional career there. Several Slovene language newspapers were published in the city, among them the Slovenski glasnik
Klagenfurt
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Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt
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Klagenfurt City hall
Klagenfurt
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The Cathedral of Klagenfurt and the Domplatz
Klagenfurt
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Duke Bernhard of Spanheim, the founder of the City
28.
Mini-Europe
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Mini-Europe is a miniature park located in Bruparck at the foot of the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium. Mini-Europe has reproductions of monuments in the European Union on show, roughly 80 cities and 350 buildings are represented. Mini-Europe receives 350,000 visitors per year and has a turnover of 4 million Euros, the park contains live action models such as trains, mills, an erupting Mount Vesuvius, and cable cars. A guide gives the details on all the monuments, at the end of the visit, the “Spirit of Europe” exhibition gives an interactive overview of the European Union in the form of multimedia games. The park is built on an area of 24,000 m², the initial investment was of €10 million in 1989, on its inauguration by Prince Philip of Belgium. The monuments were chosen for the quality of their architecture or their European symbolism, most of the monuments were made using moulds. The final copy used to be cast from epoxy resin, three of the monuments were made out of stone. A computer-assisted milling procedure was used for two of the models, after painting the monument was installed on site, together with decorations and lighting. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela required more than 24,000 hours of work, many of the monuments were financed by European countries or regions. The Brussels Grand-Place model cost €350,000 to make, ground cover plants, dwarf trees, bonsais and grafted trees are used alongside miniature monuments, and the paths are adorned with bushes and flowers. Madurodam — Model village in Netherlands containing miniature famous Dutch landmarks Catalunya en Miniatura — miniature park located 17 km away from Barcelona, Mini-Europe official website Mini-Europe in Brussels Koshy, Yohann. These Photos of a Crumbling Pro-EU Theme Park Show a Europe in Existential Crisis
Mini-Europe
Mini-Europe
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Mini-Europe
Mini-Europe
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Site from the Atomium
Mini-Europe
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Brussels Square
29.
Ostrava
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Ostrava is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It is 15 km from the border with Poland, at the point of four rivers. The population was around 300,000 in 2013, Ostrava grew to prominence thanks to its position at the heart of a major coalfield, becoming an important industrial centre. Industries have been restructured, and the last coal was mined in the city in 1994. Lower Vítkovice has applied for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, since the 1990s Ostrava has been transformed into a modern cultural city, with numerous theatres, galleries and other cultural facilities. It hosts a range of cultural and sporting events throughout the year. Among the best known are the Colours of Ostrava multi-genre music festival, the Janáček May classical music festival, Ostrava is home to two public universities, the VŠB-Technical University and the University of Ostrava. In 2014 Ostrava was a European City of Sport, the city co-hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 2004 and 2015. The city’s coat of arms features a shield with a rearing silver horse standing on a green lawn. The horse wears a saddle and a red coverlet. At the top right of the shield there is a rose with green leaves. The horse in the coat-of-arms wears no bridle, the oldest known depiction of this coat-of-arms is on a seal dating from 1426, the first coloured version dates from 1728. This explanation is supported by most modern literature, in 2008, Ostrava’s new marketing logo was unveiled. Designed by Studio Najbrt, the logo “OSTRAVA. ” is used in presentations of the city both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The three exclamation marks are meant to symbolise the dynamism, energy and self-confidence of Ostrava and its people, the light blue colour of the city’s name is based on the heraldic tradition, while the exclamation marks are a contrasting darker blue. The logo is intended to be striking, provocative and above all memorable, the first written mention of Silesian Ostrava dates from 1229, when it was described as a settlement. The first mention of Moravian Ostrava describes it as a township, Ostrava grew up on the banks of the Ostrá River, from which it took its name. This river still divides the city into two parts, Moravian Ostrava and Silesian Ostrava
Ostrava
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Ostrava
Ostrava
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Ostrava’s coat-of-arms
Ostrava
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A sculpture of the city’s horse emblem outside the New City Hall
Ostrava
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Ostrava in 1728
30.
Legoland Billund
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Legoland Billund, the original Legoland park, opened on June 7,1958 in Billund, Denmark. The park is located next to the original Lego factory and Denmarks second busiest airport Billund Airport, over 1.9 million guests visited the park in 2011 and since the opening more than 50 million guests have visited the park. This makes Legoland the largest tourist attraction in Denmark outside of Copenhagen, the Legoland parks that have since been built are modelled upon Legoland Billund, most noticeably the Miniland area which is made up of millions of Lego bricks. The first Legoland was built next door to the Lego factory that was founded by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1949 and his son, Godtfred, took over the family business in 1957 when his father died and just two years later he bought out his three brothers. In 1958 Godtfred decided to open a 14-acre Legoland Park to promote his toy business, the park became an instant success and has over the years added many original rides and been divided into specific themed worlds. The now 45-acre park is divided into 9 themed areas,1, today, Legoland Billund is the most visited tourist attraction in Jylland. In 2005 the investment firm Blackstone bought a 70% controlling stake in Legoland, the parks are operated under the Merlin banner. Mini Land is the heart of any Legoland park, the Lego Top offers a nice view of the entire park. The structures were made using more than 25 million Lego Bricks, Duplo Land contains rides and attractions for young children, with the Lego Duplo brand name. The Duplo Playhouse is an area for children ages 2–6. They can build using Lego, or play on fake planes, there are also slides, stairs, interactive elements and a role-play area. The Duplo train, which is a train ride that looks like a train made of Duplo Bricks. Duplo Planes is a ride similar to Disneys Dumbo ride. Duplo driving school is a car ride for children ages 2–6 and this zone contains the Lego Studio, a purpose built 600 seat 4-D Theater, complete with special effects and a giant screen. There are 4 movies that play daily, these are Lego Racers, Spellbreaker, Bob the Builder 4D, Lego Atlantis by Sea Life was added in 2007. The attraction starts off with a movie, featuring Lego figures. There is also a Sea Life aquarium and other hands on activities with more than 800 sea creatures, numerous Lego figures and models are in and around the aquarium. LEGOREDO Town is a Western-themed land which contains the rides Lego Canoe, LEGOLDMINE, Westernride, Timber Ride, there is also an Indian camp led by the popular Chief Long Ears
Legoland Billund
Legoland Billund
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Legoland Billund
Legoland Billund
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View from the observation tower (click to enlarge).
Legoland Billund
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A
Norwegian fishing village
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