The Great Spa Towns of Europe

Austria-Belgium- Czechia- France-Germany-Italy- UK

This transnational property comprises 11 towns, located in seven European countries: Baden bei Wien (Austria); Spa (Belgium); Františkovy Lázně (Czechia); Karlovy Vary (Czechia); Mariánské Lázně (Czechia); Vichy (France); Bad Ems (Germany); Baden-Baden (Germany); Bad Kissingen (Germany); Montecatini Terme (Italy); and City of Bath (United Kingdom). All of these towns developed around natural mineral water springs. They bear witness to the international European spa culture that developed from the early 18th century to the 1930s, leading to the emergence of grand international resorts that impacted urban typology around ensembles of spa buildings such as the kurhaus and kursaal (buildings and rooms dedicated to therapy), pump rooms, drinking halls, colonnades and galleries designed to harness the natural mineral water resources and to allow their practical use for bathing and drinking. Related facilities include gardens, assembly rooms, casinos, theatres, hotels and villas, as well as spa-specific support infrastructure. These ensembles are all integrated into an overall urban context that includes a carefully managed recreational and therapeutic environment in a picturesque landscape. Together, these sites embody the significant interchange of human values and developments in medicine, science and balneology. source:whc.unesco.org

1. Austria- Baden Bei Wein- Received

2. Belgium- Spa

3. Czech Republic-Frantiskovy Lazne

4. Czech Republic- Karlovy Vary

5. Czech Republic- Marianske Lazne

6. France- Vichy- Received

7. Germany- Bad ems

8. Germany- Baden Baden

9. Germany- Bad Kissigen- Received

10. Italy- Montecatini Terme- Received

11. United Kingdom- Bath- Received

Inscribed: 2021

France- Vichy

Thanks to Ms Julie.

Austria- Baden Bei Wein

Thanks to MS Monika. 

United Kingdom -The City of Bath

Thanks to Ms Nat.

 Germany- Bad Kissingen

Thanks to Ms Svenja

Italy- Montecatini Terme

Thanks to Ms Martha Isabel

Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards

Bosnia & Herzegovina-Croatia- Montenegro- Serbia

This serial property combines 28 sites, located in Bosnia and Herzegovina, western Serbia, western Montenegro and central and southern Croatia, representing these cemeteries and regionally distinctive medieval tombstones, or stećci. The cemeteries, which date from the 12th to 16th centuries CE, are laid out in rows, as was the common custom in Europe from the Middle Ages. The stećci are mostly carved from limestone. They feature a wide range of decorative motifs and inscriptions that represent iconographic continuities within medieval Europe as well as locally distinctive traditions. source:whc.unesco.org

Inscribed: 2016

Postcard 1: Croatia

 Thanks to Ms Nikola.

Postcard 2: Montenegro

Thanks to Ms Marcel of Germany.

Mexico: Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco

The fortified town, first established in the 16th century to protect the Royal Route inland, reached its apogee in the 18th century when many of its outstanding religious and civic buildings were built in the style of the Mexican Baroque. Some of these buildings are masterpieces of the style that evolved in the transition from Baroque to neoclassical. Situated 14 km from the town, the Jesuit sanctuary, also dating from the 18th century, is one of the finest examples of Baroque art and architecture in the New Spain. It consists of a large church, and several smaller chapels, all decorated with oil paintings by Rodriguez Juárez and mural paintings by Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre. Because of its location, San Miguel de Allende acted as a melting pot where Spaniards, Creoles and Amerindians exchanged cultural influences while the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco constitutes an exceptional example of the exchange between European and Latin American cultures. Its architecture and interior decoration testify to the influence of Saint Ignacio de Loyola’s doctrine. source:whc.unesco.org

Inscribed: 2008

 

Thanks to Mr Jason for sending it from USA.

Vietnam: Trang An Landscape Complex

Situated near the southern margin of the Red River Delta, the Trang An Landscape Complex is a spectacular landscape of limestone karst peaks permeated with valleys, many of them partly submerged and surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs. Exploration of caves at different altitudes has revealed archaeological traces of human activity over a continuous period of more than 30,000 years. They illustrate the occupation of these mountains by seasonal hunter-gatherers and how they adapted to major climatic and environmental changes, especially the repeated inundation of the landscape by the sea after the last ice age. The story of human occupation continues through the Neolithic and Bronze Ages to the historical era. Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Viet Nam, was strategically established here in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. The property also contains temples, pagodas, paddy-fields and small villages. source:whc.unesco.org

Inscribed: 2014, Extn 2016

Thanks to Mr Ambarish Shenoy who was visiting Vietnam.

 

Vietnam: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

The Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2003, covered 85,754 hectares. With this extension, the site covers a total surface area of 123,326 hectares (a 46 % increase) and shares a boundary with the Hin Namno Nature Reserve in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos. The Park’s landscape is formed by limestone plateaux and tropical forests. It features great geological diversity and offers spectacular phenomena, including a large number of caves and underground rivers. The site harbours a high level of biodiversity and many endemic species. The extension ensures a more coherent ecosystem while providing additional protection to the catchment areas that are of vital importance for the integrity of limestone landscapes. source:whc.unesco.org

Inscribed: 2003

 The Postcard shows Son Doong Caves.

Thanks to Mr Ambarish Shenoy who was visiting Vietnam.

Brazil: Sítio Roberto Burle Marx

Situated in the western region of Rio de Janeiro, the property embodies a successful project developed over more than 40 years by landscape architect and artist Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994), a “landscape laboratory” to create “living works of art” using native plants and drawing on Modernist ideas. Began in 1949, the property encompasses extensive landscapes, gardens, buildings and collections, which feature the key characteristics that came to define Burle Marx’s landscape gardens and influenced the development of modern gardens internationally. The site is characterized by sinuous forms, exuberant mass planting, architectural plant arrangements, dramatic colour contrasts, use of tropical plants, and the incorporation of elements of traditional folk culture. By the end of the 1960s, the site housed the most representative collection of Brazilian plants, alongside other rare tropical species. In the site, 3,500 cultivated species of tropical and subtropical flora grow in harmony with the native vegetation of the region, notably the Atlantic Forest biome and associated ecosystems, mangrove swamp and restinga (coastal tropical sandy plain). Sítio Roberto Burle Marx exhibits an ecological conception of form as a process, including social collaboration which is the basis for environmental and cultural preservation. It comprises the first modern tropical garden to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. source:whc.unesco.org

Inscribed: 2021

 Thanks to Ms Fabiana

Oman: Land of Frankincense

The frankincense trees of Wadi Dawkah and the remains of the caravan oasis of Shisr/Wubar and the affiliated ports of Khor Rori and Al-Baleed vividly illustrate the trade in frankincense that flourished in this region for many centuries, as one of the most important trading activities of the ancient and medieval world. source:whc.unesco.org

Inscribed: 2000

 Thanks to Ms Nancy of USA.

Palestine: Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem

The inscribed property is situated 10 km south of Jerusalem on the site identified by Christian tradition as the birthplace of Jesus since the 2nd century. A church was first completed there in ad 339 and the edifice that replaced it after a fire in the 6th century retains elaborate floor mosaics from the original building. The site also includes Latin, Greek Orthodox, Franciscan and Armenian convents and churches, as well as bell towers, terraced gardens and a pilgrimage route. source:whc.unesco.org

Inscribed: 2012

Thanks to Edo from Italy.

 

Palestine: Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan

Ancient Jerico/Tell es-Sultan is located northwest of present-day Jericho in the Jordan Valley in Palestine, the property is an oval-shaped Tell, or mound, that contains the prehistorical deposits of human activity, and includes the adjacent perennial spring of ‘Ain es-Sultan. By the 9th to 8th millennium BC, Neolithic Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan was already a sizeable permanent settlement, as expressed by surviving monumental architectural attributes such as a wall with a ditch and a tower. It reflects the developments of the period, which include the shifting of humanity to a sedentary communal lifestyle and the related transition to new subsistence economies, as well as changes in social organisation and the development of religious practices, testified by skulls and statues found. The Early Bronze Age archaeological material on the site provides insights into urban planning, while vestiges from the Middle Bronze Age reveal the presence of a large Canaanite city-state, equipped with an urban centre and technologically innovative rampart fortifications, occupied by a socially complex population.

source:whc.unesco.org

Inscribed: 2023

Thanks to Edo for sending it from Italy.
 

Struve Geodetic Arc

Finland, Norway, Russia, Ukraine, Maldova, Estonia, Belarus, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania 

Missing: Lithuania

The Struve Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through 10 countries and over 2,820 km. These are points of a survey, carried out between 1816 and 1855 by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, which represented the first accurate measuring of a long segment of a meridian. This helped to establish the exact size and shape of the planet and marked an important step in the development of earth sciences and topographic mapping. It is an extraordinary example of scientific collaboration among scientists from different countries, and of collaboration between monarchs for a scientific cause. The original arc consisted of 258 main triangles with 265 main station points. The listed site includes 34 of the original station points, with different markings, i.e. a drilled hole in rock, iron cross, cairns, or built obelisks. Source whc.unesco.org

Latvia: Sestukalns and Jekabpils

Thanks to Ms Nadia for sending this card from Spain.

Moldova: Rudi Village

Thanks to Mr Tiago for send this this card from Portugal.

Estonia: Tartu Observatory

Thanks to Mr Patrik.

Norway: Hammerfest

Thanks to Jo Heggland.

Finland: Oravivuori

Thanks to Ms Sini

Finland: Alatornion Kirkko Church

Thanks to Ms Sini

Russia: Gogland Island

Thanks to Mr Vadim

Ukraine: Staraya Nekrasovka

Thanks to Ms Olesya

Belarus: Ossownitza

Thanks to Ms Katya

Belarus: Various Points

Thanks to Ms Lisa.

Sweden: Perra Vaara, Haparanda

Thanks to Ms Merja Deb. Bottom row (L-R) third box is Struve Geodetic Arc.

Poland: Centennial Hall in Wrocław

The Centennial Hall, a landmark in the history of reinforced concrete architecture, was erected in 1911-1913 by the architect Max Berg as a multi-purpose recreational building, situated in the Exhibition Grounds. In form it is a symmetrical quatrefoil with a vast circular central space that can seat some 6,000 persons. The 23m-high dome is topped with a lantern in steel and glass. The Centennial Hall is a pioneering work of modern engineering and architecture, which exhibits an important interchange of influences in the early 20th century, becoming a key reference in the later development of reinforced concrete structures. Source:whc.unesco.org

Inscribed: 2006

Thanks to Mr Sebastian.

Postcard 2

Thanks to Joanne