Theme Week Odesa – Potemkin Stairs

22 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

© Oleksandr Malyon/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Oleksandr Malyon/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Potemkin Stairs, Potemkin Steps, or, officially, Primorsky Stairs are a giant stairway in Odesa, Ukraine. They are considered a formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea and are the best known symbol of Odesa. The stairs were originally known as the Boulevard steps, the Giant Staircase, or the Richelieu steps. The top step is 12.5 meters (41 feet) wide, and the lowest step is 21.7 meters (70.8 feet) wide. The staircase extends for 142 meters, but it gives the illusion of greater length.   read more…

Dance notation

22 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Friedrich Albert Zorn - Huster/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Friedrich Albert Zorn – Huster/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dance notation is the symbolic representation of human dance movement and form, using methods such as graphic symbols and figures, path mapping, numerical systems, and letter and word notations. Several dance notation systems have been invented, many of which are designed to document specific types of dance while others have been developed with capturing the broader spectrum of human movement potential. A dance score is a recorded dance notation that describes a particular dance.   read more…

Theme Week Odesa

21 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

The Passage galleries © Alex Levitsky & Dmitry Shamatazhi/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Passage galleries © Alex Levitsky & Dmitry Shamatazhi/cc-by-sa-3.0

Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative centre of the Odesa Raion and Odesa Oblast, as well as a multiethnic cultural centre. As of January 2021, Odesa’s population was approximately 1,010,537. On 25 January 2023, its historic city centre was declared a World Heritage Site and added to the List of World Heritage in Danger by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in recognition of its multiculturality and 19th-century urban planning. The declaration was made in response to the bombing of Odesa during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has damaged or destroyed buildings across the city.   read more…

Cradle of Humankind

21 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Maropeng Visitors Centre, Gauteng, South Africa © Olga Ernst/cc-by-sa-4.0

Maropeng Visitors Centre, Gauteng, South Africa © Olga Ernst/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Cradle of Humankind is a paleoanthropological site that is located about 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Gauteng province. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, the site is home to the largest known concentration of human ancestral remains anywhere in the world. The site currently occupies 47,000 hectares (120,000 acres) and contains a complex system of limestone caves. The registered name of the site in the list of World Heritage Sites is Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa.   read more…

Easter Bunny

20 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Walter Schweizer - Stiftung St. Jakob/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Walter Schweizer – Stiftung St. Jakob/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit—sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the “Easter Hare” originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behavior at the start of the season of Eastertide, similar to the “naughty or nice” list made by Santa Claus. As part of the legend, the creature carries colored eggs in its basket, as well as candy, and sometimes toys, to the homes of children. As such, the Easter Bunny again shows similarities to Santa (or the Christkind) and Christmas by bringing gifts to children on the night before a holiday. The custom was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau‘s De ovis paschalibus (“About Easter Eggs”) in 1682, referring to a German folk belief of an Easter Hare laying eggs hidden in garden and bushes for children to find.   read more…

Madeleines

20 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  3 minutes

Madeleine ingredients © MairieSY/cc-by-sa-3.0

Madeleine ingredients © MairieSY/cc-by-sa-3.0

The madeleine or petite madeleine is a traditional small cake from Commercy and Liverdun, two communes of the Lorraine region in northeastern France.   read more…

Made in China 2025

19 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

© gov.cn

© gov.cn

Made in China 2025 (MIC25, MIC 2025, or MIC2025) is a national strategic plan and industrial policy to further develop the manufacturing sector of the People’s Republic of China, signed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in May 2015. As part of the thirteenth and fourteenth five-year plans, China aims to move away from being the “world’s factory”—a producer of cheap low-tech goods facilitated by lower labour costs and supply chain advantages. The industrial policy aims to upgrade the manufacturing capabilities of Chinese industries, growing from labor-intensive workshops into a more technology-intensive powerhouse with more value added.   read more…

Calvary

18 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Calvary hill in Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia © panoramio.com - Jan Starec/cc-by-sa-3.0

Calvary hill in Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia © panoramio.com – Jan Starec/cc-by-sa-3.0

A calvary, also called calvary hill, Sacred Mount, or Sacred Mountain, is a type of Christian sacred place, built on the slopes of a hill, composed by a set of chapels, usually laid out in the form of a pilgrims’ way. It is intended to represent the passion of Jesus Christ and takes its name after Calvary, the hill in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified.   read more…

Vienna International Centre

17 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Brücke-Osteuropa

© Brücke-Osteuropa

The Vienna International Centre (VIC) is the campus and building complex hosting the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV; in Austrian German: Büro der Vereinten Nationen in Wien). It is colloquially also known as UNO City.   read more…

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