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 The Great Sphinx of Egypt
Country: Egypt
City: Cairo
In a depression to the south of Chephren's pyramid sits a creature with a human head and a lion's body. The name 'sphinx' which means 'strangler' was first given by the Greeks to a fabulous creature which had the head of a woman and the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The sphinx appears to have started in Egypt in the form of a sun god. The Egyptian sphinx is usually a head of a king weari ... |
History of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and the Kunsthaus collectionCountry: Switzerland
City: Zurich
History of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and the Kunsthaus collection Founded in 1787, the Künstlergesellschaft began to collect works of art in 1794. Every member donated either one of his or her own drawings or one by an artist towards what they termed a ‘Malerbuch’ – a painting book. In 1812 they took out a loan to acquire premises, which initially functioned as a club house and bar. Thank ... |
Opera House - OpernhausCountry: Switzerland
City: Zurich
Zurich received its first permanent theatre, the “Aktientheater”, in 1834. This was also the centre of Richard Wagner’s activities during his Zurich exile. Today’s theatre, which seats 1,100, was built near Bellevue to plans by the Viennese architects Fellner and Helmer in 1891 after the 1834 building burnt down. To begin with, both music and drama were performed at what was known as the “Stadtthe ... |
History of the Swiss National MuseumCountry: Switzerland
City: Zurich
The Swiss National Museum, ZurichThe 19th century is generally regarded as the century of nations and nation states. While other countries were busily erecting memorials, monuments and institutions, though, the young federal state of Switzerland struggled with the idea of setting up a national museum.
Plans to create one met with widespread scepticism, and there were also entirely pragmatic reas ... |
Leopoldskron Castle - Schloss LeopoldskronCountry: Austria
City: Salzburg
One of Austria’s most notable Rococo buildings is Leopoldskron Castle, a beautiful piece of architecture by the little lake “Leopoldskroner Weiher”. It was ordered by Prince Archbishop Leopold Anton Firmian, who also built Schloss Klessheim, in order to accommodate him and his family. He hired the architect Pater Bernhard Stuart, who was a Benedictine monk from Regensburg in Bavaria and a Professo ... |
Mirabell GardensCountry: Austria
City: Salzburg
The world-famous Mirabell Gardens were built along a north-south axis and oriented towards the Hohensalzburg Fortress and the Salzburger Dom cathedral. The original gardens were re-modelled according to plans by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach under the reign of Prince Archbishop Johann Ernst Thun in 1689.
Only some decades later, Franz Anton Danreiter altered them again in 1730, shaping what ... |
Park Guell Country: Spain
City: Barcelona
The Park Güell is an absolute must-see when visiting Barcelona!The park was commissioned by Graf Eusebi Güell in 1900. Eusebi was very much adherent to the idea English garden cities.
However, the project failed before its completion due to financial reasons. In the run-up to the project 60 villas were supposed to be sold in order to finance the garden city. Unfortunately Gaudí’s and Güell’s ide ... |
Stonehenge Great Trilithons Country: United Kingdom
City: Barcelona
There are problems with Stonehenge not just the age old problems of interpreting Europe's best known ancient site, but modern problems of security and overwhelming visitor numbers. These mean that, at the time of writing, access to the Stonehenge themselves is forbidden. Visitors must keep outside a fence that draws a wide circle around the monument. There's an inadequate interpretive center, and ... |
Island Of LundyCountry: United Kingdom
City: Barcelona
This little, windswept, granite island lies at the mouth of the Bristol Channel where it meets the Atlantic . Only 5 kilometres (3 miles) long by 0.8 kilometre (1/2 mile) wide, with an area of just over 405 hectares (1,000 acres), it has fewer than 20 permanent residents, employed by the Landmark Trust, which manages the island for the National Trust. There are three lighthouses (two in use), one ... |
Dolphin EncountersCountry: Bahamas, The
City: Barcelona
Dolphin Encounters began in 1989 when two bottlenose dolphins from a defunct aquarium in Nassau were rescued to be relocated to a large seawater dolphin habitat on Treasure Island (a.k.a. Great Guana Cay), Abaco, Bahamas. Soon after, six more dolphins joined our marine mammal family in Abaco. This created the foundation of what is today known as Dolphin Encounters in Nassau.
The Abaco facility e ... |
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