City Gate Ramat Gan in Israel

1 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Oren Peles/cc-by-2.5

© Oren Peles/cc-by-2.5

Moshe Aviv Tower is a 235-metre-tall (771 ft) skyscraper located in the demarcated area of the Diamond Exchange District (Israel Diamond Exchange) on Jabotinsky Road (No. 7) in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. The 68-story building is commonly known as City Gate, its original name. It is the second tallest building in Israel, following Tel Aviv‘s 238-meter-high (781 ft) Azrieli Sarona Tower.   read more…

Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Tokyo

1 February 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Hanonimas/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Hanonimas/cc-by-sa-3.0

Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower (Mōdo gakuen kokūn tawā) is a 204 metres (669 feet), 50-story educational facility located in the Nishi-Shinjuku district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The building is home to three educational institutions: Tokyo Mode Gakuen (fashion vocational school), HAL Tokyo (special technology and design college), and Shuto Ikō (medical college). Completed in October 2008, the tower is the second-tallest educational building in the world and is the 17th-tallest building in Tokyo. It was awarded the 2008 Skyscraper of the Year by Emporis.   read more…

Royal Exchange in London

1 January 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, London Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - Rev Stan/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Rev Stan/cc-by-2.0

The Royal Exchange in London was founded in the 16th century by the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham on the suggestion of his factor Richard Clough to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London. The site was provided by the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers, who still jointly own the freehold. It is trapezoidal in shape and is flanked by Cornhill and Threadneedle Street, which converge at Bank junction in the heart of the City. It lies in the ward of Cornhill.   read more…

Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Reims

1 December 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

© G.Garitan/MathKnight/cc-by-sa-3.0

© G.Garitan/MathKnight/cc-by-sa-3.0

Notre-Dame de Reims (meaning “Our Lady of Reims”), sometimes known in English as Rheims Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the French city of the same name. The cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is famous for being the traditional location for the coronation of the kings of France. The cathedral church is thought to have been founded by Bishop Saint Nicasius in the early 5th century. Marking an important conversion, Clovis, King of the Franks, was baptized a Christian here about a century later. Construction of the present Reims Cathedral began in the 13th century and concluded in the 15th century. A prominent example of High Gothic architecture, it was built to replace an earlier church destroyed by fire in 1221. Although little damaged during the French Revolution, the present cathedral saw extensive restoration in the 19th century but was severely damaged during World War I. The church was again restored in the 20th century. Reims Cathedral is the seat of the Archdiocese of Reims. The cathedral, a major tourist destination, receives about one million visitors annually.   read more…

PS.Speicher Einbeck

1 November 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Dirk Godlinski/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Dirk Godlinski/cc-by-sa-3.0

The PS.Speicher is a transport museum in Einbeck, Germany. It features the world’s largest collection of German motorcycles, as well as vintage cars, and shows the development of individual transport.   read more…

Quinta da Regaleira in Portugal

1 October 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, House of the Month, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

© Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-4.0

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…

Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome in Berlin

1 September 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, House of the Month, Hotels Reading Time:  7 minutes

Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome © Beek100/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome © Beek100/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome is a luxurious hotel in the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin in the district of the same name. It belongs to the Rocco Forte Hotels, is located at Behrenstraße 37 on Bebelplatz and was opened in October 2006. The name of the hotel is reminiscent of the Grand Hotel de Rome, which until 1910 stood around 400 meters away. The St. Hedwig’s Cathedral and the State Opera Unter den Linden are in the immediate vicinity. The Hotel de Rome belongs to the hotel organization The Leading Hotels of the World.   read more…

Beijing Daxing International Airport

1 August 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  10 minutes

Model of Beijing Daxing International Airport at the Five-Year Achievements Exhibition © N509FZ/cc-by-sa-4.0

Model of Beijing Daxing International Airport at the Five-Year Achievements Exhibition © N509FZ/cc-by-sa-4.0

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…

Kontorhaus District in Hamburg

1 July 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hamburg, House of the Month, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Sprinkenhof © Dietmar Rabich/cc-by-sa-4.0

Sprinkenhof © Dietmar Rabich/cc-by-sa-4.0

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 UNESCO World 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 brick facades 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…

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