Malaysia - Penang - Kek Lok Si Temple

Georgetown's Kek Lok Si consists of temples, pagodas, monasteries, prayer halls, and stunning landscaped gardens.

Sent by Angie from Penang.

The Kek Lok Si Temple (simplified Chinese: 极乐寺; traditional Chinese: 極樂寺; pinyin: jílè sì) is a Buddhist temple in George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. Located at Ayer Itam, it is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia and an important pilgrimage centre for Buddhists from Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia. The entire complex of temples was built over a period from 1890 to 1930, an inspirational initiative of Beow Lean, the abbot. The main feature of the complex is the seven-story Ten Thousand Buddhas Pagoda commissioned by the late Thai king Rama VI, featuring 10,000 alabaster and bronze statues of Buddha and the 36.57-metre-tall (120 ft) bronze statue of Guanyin (Kuan Yin), the Goddess of Mercy. The 10,000 Buddhas concept belongs to the Chinese Mahāyāna school of Buddhism while Rama VI was king over a Theravāda country and Buddhist tradition.

Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, and traditional Chinese rituals blend into a harmonious whole, both in the temple architecture and artwork as well as in the daily activities of worshippers.

Kek Lok Si means "Sukhāvatī temple". In Hokkien (a southern Chinese language), kek-lok literally means "supreme joy", itself a translation of the Sanskrit Sukhāvatī, a Pure Land. si means "temple".

Kek Lok Si has also been translated as "heavenly temple", "Pure Land Temple", "temple of supreme bliss", and "temple of paradise" (read more).

Sweden - Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun

Falu Gruva (Falun Mine) in Falun, Sweden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sent by Maria from Älvhyttan, Sweden.

The Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun is one of the most outstanding industrial monuments in the world. The cultural landscape graphically illustrates the activities of copper production in the Dalarna region of central Sweden since at least the 9th century. Over many centuries, until production ceased in the late 20th century, the region was one of the most significant areas of mining and metals production. This culminated in the 17th century in the dominance of Sweden as the major producer of copper and exerting a strong influence on the technological, economic, social, and political development of Sweden and Europe.

The history of the mining industry can be seen in the abundant industrial and domestic remains characteristic of this industry that still survive in the natural landscape around Falun, which has been moulded and transformed by human ingenuity and resourcefulness. The enormous mining excavation known as the Great Pit (Stora Stöten) at Falun is the most striking feature of this landscape. Associated with the enormous open-cast mine and its galleries, shafts and visitors’ mine are hoisting gear, head frames, wheelhouses, winch houses, pivot and administrative buildings, housing for workers and ancillary facilities (read more).

the matching stamp

France - Occitania - Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne

Carcassonne (Aude)

Medieval city listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

Sent by Pascal from Carcassonne, France.

The city of Carcassonne is located in the Occitanie region, in the department of Aude, on a rocky outcrop dominating the course of the Aude and on the historic axis of communication linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Since the pre-Roman period, fortifications have been erected on the hill where Carcassonne is located today. In its present form, it is an outstanding example of a fortified medieval city with an enormous defensive system developed mainly in the 13th century. This system consists of two enclosures separated by barriers surrounding the houses, the streets and the superb Gothic cathedral, as well as the castle and the main buildings associated with it.

The inner ramparts comprise twenty-six circular towers and largely overlap the clearly visible Roman defenses for two-thirds of their length. The outer ramparts have nineteen round towers, three of which are barbicans. The enclosure is surrounded by moats and the two main entrances to the fortified city, the Porte Narbonnaise and the Porte de l'Aude, are particularly elaborate. The 12th century count's castle and the main buildings associated with it were built on the western part of the Roman ramparts. The basilica dedicated to Saints Nazaire and Celse has no flying buttresses, stability being ensured by the internal vaulted structure (read more).

Russia - Karelia Republic - Kizhi Pogost (4)

Kizhi. Church of the Transfiguration.

Sent by Stanislav from Saint Petersburg, Russia.

This is my fourth Kizhi Pogost postcard. My other three are here, here, and here.

Germany - Hamburg - Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus (2)

Hamburg.

Speicherstadt, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sent by Ulrike from Syke, Germany.

This is my second postcard of Speicherstadt. My other one is here.

Italy - The Dolomites

Dolomiti - Dolomites

UNESCO WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE

Sent by Chiara and family from Bolzano, Italy.

The site of the Dolomites comprises a mountain range in the northern Italian Alps, numbering 18 peaks which rise to above 3,000 metres and cover 141,903 ha. It features some of the most beautiful mountain landscapes anywhere, with vertical walls, sheer cliffs and a high density of narrow, deep and long valleys. A serial property of nine areas that present a diversity of spectacular landscapes of international significance for geomorphology marked by steeples, pinnacles and rock walls, the site also contains glacial landforms and karst systems. It is characterized by dynamic processes with frequent landslides, floods and avalanches. The property also features one of the best examples of the preservation of Mesozoic carbonate platform systems, with fossil records (read more).

Japan - Himeji-jo (2)

Himeji Castle (World Cultural Heritage) in Spring / Hyogo / Japan.

Seny by Yukino from Ōta, Japan.

Himeji-jo is the finest surviving example of early 17th-century Japanese castle architecture. It is located in Himeji City, in the Hyogo Prefecture, an area that has been an important transportation hub in West Japan since ancient times. The castle property, situated on a hill summit in the central part of the Harima Plain, covers 107 hectares and comprises eighty-two buildings. It is centred on the Tenshu-gun, a complex made up of the donjon, keeps and connecting structures that are part of a highly developed system of defence and ingenious protection devices dating from the beginning of the Shogun period. The castle functioned continuously as the centre of a feudal domain for almost three centuries, until 1868 when the Shogun fell and a new national government was created.

The principal complex　of these structures is a masterpiece of construction in wood, combining function with aesthetic appeal, both in its elegant appearance unified by the white plastered earthen walls – that has earned it the name Shirasagi-jo (White Heron Castle) – and in the subtlety of the relationships between the building masses and the multiple roof layers visible from almost any point in the city read more).

Japan - Mount Fuji (5)

Bright autumn leaves will begin to change color in the lake of Mount Fuji near fall. Of autumn leaves Mount Fuji in the superb view, many people visit to guide this landscape.

Sent by Kevin from Saga, a small city in South Japan.

My other postcards of Mount Fuji are here, here, here, and here.

Japan - Mount Fuji (4)

Majestic image of the snow-capped Mount Fuji, a prominent symbol of Japan and a UNESCO World Heritage site, with a postal stamp and a special postmark. Last eruption was in 1707.

Sent by Yuko who mentioned that she can see the Mount Fuji from her house.

My other postcards of Mount Fuji are here, here, and here.

New Zealand - South Island - Mitre Peak

Mitre Peak reflected in Milford Sound is certainly one of the most well-known scenes in New Zealand. Mitre Peak rises almost sheer to its height of 1695m from the waters of Milford Sound.

Send by Darci from Christchurch, New Zealand. Thanks for nice stamp of Eid.

Mitre Peak (Māori: Rahotu) is a mountain in the South Island of New Zealand; it is located on the shore of Milford Sound.

The mountain was named by Captain John Lort Stokes of HMS Acheron, who found its shape reminiscent of the mitre headwear of Christian bishops. The Māori name for the peak is Rahotu.

Mitre Peak is close to the shore of Milford Sound, in the Fiordland National Park in the southwestern South Island. It rises to 1,690 metres (5,560 ft) with almost sheer drops to the water. The peak is actually a closely grouped set of five peaks, although from most easily accessible viewpoints, it appears as a single point. Milford Sound is part of Te Wahipounamu, a World Heritage Site as declared by UNESCO. The imposing setting makes the peak a favourite object for painters. A painting by Charles Decimus Barraud is held by the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui (read more).

China - Xinjiang - Kizil Buddhist Caves

Kizil Buddhist Caves

The Kizil Caves were inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor.

Sent by Jingtairan from Shenyang, China.

The Kizil Caves (also romanized as Qizil or Qyzyl; Uyghur: قىزىل مىڭ ئۆي, lit. 'The Thousand Red Houses'; Chinese: 克孜尔千佛洞; lit. 'Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas') are a set of Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township (克孜尔乡; Kèzī'ěr Xiāng) in Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The site is located on the northern bank of the Muzat River 65 kilometres (75 km by road) west of Kucha. This area was a commercial hub of the Silk Road. The caves have an important role in Central Asian art and in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism, and are said to be the earliest major Buddhist cave complex in China, with development occurring between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The caves of Kizil are the earlier of their type in China, and their model was later adopted in the construction of Buddhist caves further east. Another name for the site has been Ming-oi (明屋), although this term is now mainly used for the site of Shorchuk to the east (read more).

the matching stamp

Germany - Lower Saxony - Historic Town of Goslar

Historic Town of Goslar, highlighting the market square and surrounding buildings, including the Imperial Palace of Goslar.

Sent by Günther from Goslar, Germany.

Goslar (German pronunciation: [ˈɡɔslaʁ]; Eastphalian: Goslär) is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and is located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar with over 1.500 timber houses and the Mines of Rammelsberg are UNESCO World Heritage Sites for their millennium-long testimony to the history of ore mining and their political importance for the Holy Roman Empire and Hanseatic League. Each year Goslar awards the Kaiserring to an international artist, called the "Nobel Prize" of the art world.

Goslar is situated in the middle of the upper half of Germany, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Brunswick and about 70 km (43 mi) southeast of the state capital, Hanover. The Schalke mountain is the highest elevation within the municipal boundaries at 762 metres (2,500 feet). The lowest point of 175 m (574 ft) is near the Oker river. Geographically, Goslar forms the boundary between the Hildesheim Börde which is part of the Northern German Plain, and the Harz range, which is the highest, northernmost extension of Germany's Central Uplands. The Hildesheim Börde is characterised by plains with rich clay soils – used agriculturally for sugar beet farming – interlaced with several hill ranges commonly known as the Hildesheim Forest and Salzgitter Hills. In the northeast the Harly Forest stretches down to the River Oker, in the east, Goslar borders on the German state of Saxony-Anhalt (read more).

Switzerland - Old City of Bern

Switzerland - Old City of Bern.

Sent by asega from Ashmitten, Switzerland.

The Old City of Berne, federal city of Switzerland and capital of the canton of Berne, is located on the Swiss plateau between the Jura and the Alps. Founded in the 12th century according to an innovative foundation plan, and located on a hill surrounded by the River Aar, Berne has experienced an expansion in several stages since its foundation. This development remains visible in its urban structure, mainly tributary to the medieval establishment and its clearly defined elements: well-defined wide streets, used for the market, a regular division of built sections, subdivided into narrow and deep parcels, an advanced infrastructure for water transportation, impressive buildings for the most part dating from the 18th century mainly built from sandy limestone, with their system of arcades and the facades of the houses supported by arches. Public buildings for secular and religious authorities were always located at the periphery, a principle also respected in the 19th century during the construction of the large public monuments confirming the function of Berne as the federal city from 1848 (read more).

Germany - Saxony-Anhalt - Meisterhouse

Greetings from Dessau-Roßlau

View of one of the famous Masters' House.

Sent by Lene and Diemo from Düsseldorf, Germany.

Between 1919 and 1933 the Bauhaus movement revolutionized architectural and aesthetic thinking and practice in the 20th century. The Bauhaus buildings in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau are fundamental representatives of Classical Modernism, directed towards a radical renewal of architecture and design. This property, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1996, originally comprised buildings located in Weimar (Former Art School, the Applied Art School and the Haus Am Horn) and Dessau (Bauhaus Building, the group of seven Masters' Houses). The 2017 extension includes the Houses with Balcony Access in Dessau and the ADGB Trade Union School in Bernau as important contributions to the Bauhaus ideas of austere design, functionalism and social reform (read more).

Japan - "Double Diamond Fuji"

"Double Diamond Fuji" is a phenomenon wherethe morning sun overlaps the summit of Mt. Fuji and its reflection is cast on the surface of the lake.

Sent by Eriko from Kanagawa, Japan.

As a spiritual symbol of Japan, Mt. Fuji is one of only three sacred mountains of the country and its tallest at 3,776 meters. Its designation as a UNESCO world heritage site further exemplifies its importance to not only the people of Japan but to the world as well.

When my wife and I went to Japan in the Spring of 2017, I had the opportunity to capture a widely known event called diamond Fuji — the time when the sun rises behind the apex of Mt. Fuji, creating a sparkle on top, much like a diamond would on top of a ring.

The term double diamond Fuji refers to this event and its reflection caught in a body of water in the foreground. This happens around April 20 and August 20 of every year (give or take a few days) at Lake Tanuki (read more).

Finland - Verla Groundwood and Board Mill

The World Heritage Verla.

Sent by Anu from Kouvola, Finland.

The Verla groundwood and board mill and its associated residential area is an outstanding, remarkably well-preserved example of the small-scale rural industrial settlements associated with pulp, paper and board production that flourished in northern Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Only a handful of such settlements survive to the present day (read more).

Malaysia - Malacca - Dutch Square

Tourists gathered around the Dutch Square where the major Malacca landmarks are located; the Christ Church, the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Fountain, the Malacca Art Gallery and the biggest of them all, the Stadthuys.

Sent by myself during my recent trip to Malacca City.

The focal point of the Unesco Heritage zone, this attractive and elegant square is surrounded by Dutch-era buildings that have been painted crimson, shady trees and a mass of kitschly decorated trishaws waiting for customers. Take a moment to admire the pretty fountain erected in 1904 in memory of Queen Victoria and decorated with four bas-relief images of the monarch (read more).

Malaysia - Malacca - Proclamation of Independence Memorial

Proclamation of Independence Memorial, Malacca City.

Sent by myself during my recent trip to Malacca City.

The Proclamation of Independence Memorial (Malay: Memorial Pengisytiharan Kemerdekaan) is a museum in Malacca City, Melaka, Malaysia.

The memorial building was established in 1912. The building used to house the Malacca Club which was used as the social centre of the British people in British Malaya. The memorial was set up and officiated by former Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman on 31 August 1985, 28 years after the independence of the country (read more).

Malaysia - Malacca - Melaka Islamic Museum

Melaka Islamic Museum.

Sent by myself during my recent trip to Malacca City.

The establishment of the Malacca Islamic Museum aims to make it a centre for the collection, research, conservation and exhibition of Islamic-oriented collections of materials in line with Melaka's role as one of the centres for the spread of Islam in the archipelago in the past and the development of Islam in Malaysia today.

The Malacca Islamic Museum is located in the old building of the Malacca Islamic Religious Council (MAIM) Office, Jalan Kota, Melaka . The interior design of this museum is conceptualized as a reflection of the glorious atmosphere of Islam in Melaka and the archipelago by displaying a combination of the identity of Islamic art globally and Islamic art in the archipelago, especially Melaka .
The exhibition and information presentation method is developed through eight main exhibition spaces with a clear sequence with specific themes. This is to make it easier for visitors to understand the message, historical journey and experience that is being conveyed.

Among the collections on display are replicas of the earliest Al-Quran , the history of the mosque and replicas of the sword of Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH).

Malaysia - Malacca - Flor de la Mar Maritime Museum

Flor de la Mar Maritime Museum (Muzium Samudera).

Sent by myself during my recent trip to Malacca City.

Maritime Museum (Malay: Muzium Samudera) is a museum about maritime activities in Malacca City, Malacca, Malaysia. It was officially opened to the public by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on 13 June 1994, began with phase one. The phase two of the museum is housed in the old Guthrie building and was opened by State Committee for Tourism, Culture and Environment Chairman Poh Ah Tiam on 23 May 1998.

The museum main exhibits the replica of Flor de la Mar with 34 metres high, 36 metres long and 8 metres wide; houses exhibits, artifacts and documents from the golden era of Malacca and shows how political control of Malacca was essential to the establishment of maritime dominance in the region and also displays the trading link of Malacca from the early time through the colonial era until independence (read more).