Taman Ayun Temple | Indonesia

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Pura Taman Ayun Temple was built in 1634 by the Raja of Mengwi. Taman Ayun literally translates as ‘beautiful garden’ and is generally regarded as one of the most attractive temples of Bali.

The temple is part of the subak (complex rice-field irrigation system) sites recognised by Unesco in 2012. The complete name of this Unesco site is Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy.

Old Québec | Canada

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Québec was founded by the French explorer Champlain in the early 17th century. It is the only North American city to have preserved its ramparts, together with the numerous bastions, gates and defensive works which still surround Old Québec.

Historic District of Old Québec is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Humberstone Salpeter Works | Chile

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Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works are two former saltpeter refineries located in northern Chile in the Atacama Desert. Both are the remains of a series of over 200 saltpeter works that once existed in this region. After the mines were abandoned in the 1960s they were occupied by homeless people.

Santa Laura and Humberstone were then bought by a businessman who planned to sell off the remains for scrap. But he went bankrupt first, which actually preserved it. They were taken over by a non-profit organisation, cleaned up and made UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2005.

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On the left UPAEP (Unión Postal de las Américas, España y Portugal) issue 2016. Every year the member countries issues stamps with common theme: Olympics.

Schloss Moritzburg | Germany

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Duke Maurice of Saxony had a hunting lodge built in the Renaissance style in 1542 on a granite dome in Friedewald Forest that was rich in wildlife. Soon the castle, which later was named after him, was the center of Saxon hunting.

In 1723, major works began to convert it from a Renaissance building into a Baroque hunting and pleasure palace. The best Saxon craftsmen and artists collaborated in the providing the interior in the seven halls and more than 200 rooms.

Hansestadt Stendal | Germany

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Hansestadt Stendal is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, situated west of the river Elbe.

The Hanseatic League, also called Hanse was founded by north German towns and German merchant communities abroad to protect their mutual trading interests. The league dominated commercial activity in northern Europe from the 13th to the 15th century.

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The stamp with special postmark, commemorating the 300th birthday of Johann Joachim Winckelmann (issued 12-10-2017) is related to Stendal.  He is the father of the modern archaeology and the discipline of art history. 

thank you Dustin!

Røros Mining Town | Norway

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Røros Mining Town and the Circumference is a Unesco World Heritage site. This site is linked to the copper mines, established in the 17th century and exploited for 333 years until 1977.

Røros is a unique mining town built exclusively of wood. The wooden houses and the centre of the town are included on the list. The mining town has retained much of its original structure in the layout of the streets from the 1600s, and the wooden houses built in the1700 and 1800s.

Mykonos Island | Greece

 

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Mykonos is a Greek island with 10,500 inhabitants. The island is part of te Cyclades, a group of 220 islands in the Aegean Sea.

The Mykonos windmills are an iconic feature of this island. The windmills can be seen from every point of the village.

Sheli Pagoda | China

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The Mountain Resort (the Qing dynasty's summer palace), in Hebei Province, was built between 1703 and 1792. It is a vast complex of palaces and administrative and ceremonial buildings. Temples of various architectural styles and imperial gardens blend harmoniously into a landscape of lakes, pastureland and forests.

Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples, Chengde is a UNESCO World Heritage site. (ID-no 703) This card pictures the Sheli Pagoda, the only structure that remained remained of the Buddhist temple of Yongyou.

Prambanan Temple Compounds | Indonesia

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Prambanan is a Hindu temple compound in Central Java, Indonesia.

The temple, dating back tot the 9th century, is dedicated to the Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). 

The Madara Horseman | Bulgaria

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The Madara Rider, representing the figure of a knight triumphing over a lion, is carved into a 100-m-high cliff near the village of Madara in north-east Bulgaria.

Madara was the principal sacred place of the First Bulgarian Empire before Bulgaria’s conversion to Christianity in the 9th century. The inscriptions beside the sculpture tell of events that occurred between AD 705 and 801.

Flags of the World | United Kingdom - 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 flag of England is derived from St George's Cross. The association of the red cross as an emblem of England can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and it was used as a component in the design of the Union Flag in 1606.

Flags of the World | Georgia

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The flag of Georgia is known as the Five Cross Flag. Originally a banner of the medieval Kingdom of Georgia, it was brought back to popular use in the late 20th and early 21st centuries during periods of the Georgian national revival.

Prior to obtaining its official status in 2004, the flag was popularized by the United National Movement and served as one of the most recognizable symbols of the Rose Revolution.

Kampala, capital of Uganda

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Kampala is the capital city of Uganda. With 1,5 million inhabitants it is also the largest city.

When the British arrived in the region, they renamed it ‘Hills of the Impala’. The translation in Luganda, the language of the Buganda people, yielded Kasozi Ka Empala (Kasozi Ka meaning hill of), and Empala being the plural for impala. To the listening ear, Ka Empala sounded like one word Ka’Mpala. When the king would go hunting, the Buganda people would say Kabaka a’genze e Ka’mpala (the Kabaka has gone to Ka’mpala). Thus was born the name of the city Kampala.

Cape Coast Castle | Ghana

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Cape Coast Castle is one of about forty "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally built by the Swedes for trade in timber and gold, but later used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Ghana. One of these castles is Cape Coast Castle.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa | Italy

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Pisa is a city in the Tuscany region of Central Italy. The city is known worldwide for its leaning tower.

Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) is a UNESCO World Heritage site. This walled 8.87-hectare area is recognized by Unesco as an important center of European medieval art. The square is dominated by four great religious edifices: the Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistry, the Campanile (leaning tower), and the Monumental Cemetery.

Mount Wutai | China

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Mount Wutai is located in the southeast of Shanxi province, north China. With its five flat peaks, Mount Wutai is a sacred Buddhist mountain. The cultural landscape is home to forty-one monasteries. One of these temples is the Great White Pagoda, or Sarira Stupa of Tayuan Temple.

Mount Wutai is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The birthplace of the Lord Buddha | Nepal

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The Maya Devi Temple is an ancient Buddhist temple in Lumbini, Nepal. A site traditionally considered the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, the Lord Buddha, who was born in 623 B.C.

Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Historic Centre of Warsaw | Poland

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During the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, more than 85% of Warsaw's historic centre was destroyed by Nazi troops. After the war, a five-year reconstruction campaign by its citizens resulted in today's meticulous restoration of the Old Town, with its churches, palaces and market-place. It is an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century.

The rebuilding of the Old Town continued until the mid-1960s. The entire process was completed with the reconstruction of the Royal Castle (opened to visitors in 1984).

Historic Centre of Warsaw is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Cathedral of Our Lady in Sedlec | Czech Republic

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The UNESCO World Heritage site of Kutná Hora comprises three parts. The historical town centre, the Church of St Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec. In my previous post the focus is on the first two.

The Cathedral of Our Lady  is part of the former Cistercian monastery that was established by king Wenceslas II in the early 1300s. This was during the time of Kutná Hora's great wealth derived from silver mining. The monastery along with the church were burned down by the Hussites in 1421 and were not renovated until the early 18th century.

Kutná Hora | Czech Republic

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The church of Saint Barbara in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic, is a Gothic jewel whose interior is decorated with frescoes depicting the secular life of the medieval mining town.  The local underground chapel is renowned for its very specific decoration made of human bones, of which there are more than 40,000.

Due to the intensive mining activity, Kutná Hora for many years faced the problem of drinking water supplies. Water was brought to the town from its surroundings by a system of wooden piping several kilometers long. The piping flowed into tanks from where the water was drawn. In 1493-95, Master Brikcí built a twelve sided stone structure, richly decorated with tracery and pinnacles atop the tank. This stone fountain is a fine example of late Gothic architecture.

Kutná Hora: Historical Town Centre with the Church of St Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Parc "W" | Benin

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Most part of the W Regional Park is located in Niger around a meander in the Niger River shaped like a "W," hence its name. The park extends through the extreme northern section of Benin and into Burkina Faso.

W Regional Park is part of UNESCO World Heritage site W-Arly-Pendjari Complex. Arly National Park is located in Burkina Faso. Pendjari National Park is located in Benin. According to UNESCO, W-Arly-Pendjari Complex is the largest and most important continuum of terrestrial, semi-aquatic and aquatic ecosystems in the West African savanna belt.

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Thank you Sandd for putting such a nice lable over the stamp. Couldnt remove it without damage. Here you see what stamp is hiding underneath.

Broken Chair | United Nations - Geneva office

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Visible from the Palace of Nations’ “ambassadors' court”, Broken Chair stands in delicate balance on three legs – the fourth having been violently blown off as if by an explosive charge. A way of showing that even mutilated, victims of war violence are still standing tall, with dignity.

This 12 metres high monumental sculpture, designed by Swiss artist Daniel Berset, is made of 5.5 tons of Douglas fir wood.

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Part of a set of 8 stamps about Czech World Heritage sites. These stamps show the gardens and castle at Kromeriz and the Lednice-Valtice cultural landscape.

The heart of London | United Kingdom

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The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster, in central London.

Its name is derived from the neighbouring Westminster Abbey. The Church of St Margaret is situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square. It is the Anglican parish church of the House of Commons.

Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret’s Church is a Unesco World Heritage site.

Drottningholm Palace | Sweden

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The Drottningholm Palace, dating back to the 16th century,  is the private residence of the Swedish royal family. It is located near Stockholm, on the island Lovön.

Royal Domain of Drottningholm is a Unesco world Heritage site. With its castle, perfectly preserved theatre (built in 1766), Chinese pavilion and gardens, it is the finest example of an 18th-century north European royal residence inspired by the Palace of Versailles.

Heard Island | Australia

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The Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an Australian external territory comprising a volcanic group of barren Antarctic islands. Located about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica, these uninhabited islands are among the most remote places in the world.

Heard and McDonalds Islands is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The distinctive conservation value of Heard and McDonald – one of the world’s rare pristine island ecosystems – lies in the complete absence of alien plants and animals, as well as human impact.

Thank you very much Steve!