Quinta da Regaleira is a quinta located near the historic centre of Sintra, Portugal. It is classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO within the “Cultural Landscape of Sintra”. Along with the other palaces in the area such as the Quinta do Relógio, Pena, Monserrate and Seteais palaces, it is considered one of the principal tourist attractions of Sintra. The property consists of a Romantic palace and chapel, and a luxurious park that features lakes, grottoes, wells, benches, fountains, and a vast array of exquisite constructions. The palace is also known as “The Palace of Monteiro the Millionaire”, which is based on the nickname of its best known former owner, António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro. The palace was designed by the italian architect Luigi Manini. read more…
Beijing Daxing International Airport, located on the border of Beijing and Langfang, Hebei Province, is Beijing’s second international airport. The name of the airport was announced on September 14, 2018. It has been nicknamed “starfish“. The terminal building is one of the largest single-structure airport terminals in the world, with an area of more than 700,000 m² (7,500,000 sq ft). It was completed on June 30, 2019. The opening ceremony for the airport was held on September 25, 2019, and the airport opened to the public on September 26, 2019. The first commercial flight, China United Airlines KN5302 from Ordos, landed at Beijing Daxing at 10:12 (UTC+8), September 26, 2019. read more…
The Kontorhaus District is the southeastern part of Altstadt, Hamburg, between Steinstraße, Meßberg, Klosterwall and Brandstwiete. The streetscape is characterised by large office buildings in the style of Brick Expressionism of the early 20th century. The Kontorhaus District consists of 12 Kontor buildings. Since 5 July 2015, parts of the Kontorhaus district and the adjacent Speicherstadt district have been UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites. The buildings were mainly made of a reinforced concrete skeleton construction. The new buildings were to be individually designed. Characteristic features are clinker brickfacades and copper roofs. In order to make the street canyons more open at the top, the upper floors are often set back from the main front of the house. Decorative elements on the facade are also made of clinker brick; in addition, elements (often sculptures) of ceramics were used for the design, most of which have a connection to Hamburg trade and crafts. read more…
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, also known as “The Guitar Hotel”, is a casino resort near Hollywood, Florida, United States, located on 100 acres (40 ha) of the Hollywood Reservation of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The property currently has one hotel tower, a 140,000 sq ft (13,000 m²) casino, large poker room, a 4 acres (1.6 ha) lagoon-style pool facility with a center bar and many private cabanas, restaurants, shops, spa, bars and nightclubs, and the Hard Rock Event Center. A large expansion project has been completed, with new facilities open since October 2019. read more…
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel is a beachfront luxury hotel located in Waikiki in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. One of the first hotels established in Waikiki, the Royal Hawaiian is considered one of the most luxurious and famous hotels in Hawaiian tourism, and in its 90-year history has been host to numerous celebrities and world dignitaries. The bright pink hue of its concrete stucco façade with its Spanish/Moorish styled architecture and prominent location on the wide sandy beach have earned it the alliterative nickname of “The Pink Palace of the Pacific”. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. read more…
The Getty Villa is at the easterly end of the Malibu coast in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. One of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Villa is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The collection has 44,000 Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities dating from 6,500 BC to 400 AD, including the Lansdowne Heracles and the Victorious Youth. The UCLA/Getty Master’s Program in Archaeological and Ethnographic Conservation is housed on this campus. read more…
The Residence at Cape Idokopas also known as the “Palace on the Idokopas Cape”, often called “Putin’s Palace”, “Dacha Putin”, “Putin’s country cottage”, etc., is a large Italianate palace complex located on the Black Sea coast near the village of Praskoveevka in Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. While officially dismissed in 2010 by Vladimir Putin‘s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, it has been claimed that the dacha was built for the personal use of Putin, and that its construction began during his first Presidency. Detailed claims about the project, which allegedly made improper use of state resources, were made by Sergei Kolesnikov, a businessman with ties to Putin dating from his time in Saint Petersburg prior to entering Kremlin politics. read more…
