Mirabell Palace and Gardens in Salzburg

1 November 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

Mirabell Palace and Gardens © Steveurkel/cc-by-sa-3.0

Mirabell Palace and Gardens © Steveurkel/cc-by-sa-3.0

Mirabell Palace is a historical building in the city of Salzburg. The palace with its gardens is a listed cultural heritage monument and part of the Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg UNESCO World Heritage Site. The palace was built about 1606 on the shore of the Salzach river north of the medieval city walls, at the behest of Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau. The Archbishop suffered from gout and had a stroke the year before; to evade the narrow streets of the city, he decided to erect a pleasure palace for him and his mistress Salome Alt. Allegedly built within six months according to Italian and French models, it was initially named Altenau Castle. When Raitenau was deposed and arrested at Hohensalzburg Castle in 1612, his successor Mark Sittich von Hohenems expelled Salome Alt and her family from the premises. Mark Sittich gave the palace its current name from Italian: mirabile, bella: “amazing”, “wonderful”. It was rebuilt in a lavish Baroque style from 1721 to 1727, according to plans designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt.   read more…

Wine Quarter in Lower Austria

26 May 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Vino Versum Poysdorf © Werner Kraus/cc-by-sa-3.0

Vino Versum Poysdorf © Werner Kraus/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Weinviertel (“wine quarter”) or Viertel unter dem Manhartsberg (“area below the Manhartsberg“) is located in the northeast of Lower Austria. In the east, the Weinviertel borders Slovakia at the March River. In the south, it borders Mostviertel and Industrieviertel, its limits being the Wagram, the Danube and the Marchfeld. Its western neighbor is Waldviertel, the traditional border being the Manhartsberg. In the north, the Weinviertel is adjacent to the Czech Republic, more specifically Moravia. The river Thaya runs back and forth across the border.   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – Historic Centre

8 March 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Neue Hofburg © Bwag/cc-by-sa-3.0-at

Neue Hofburg © Bwag/cc-by-sa-3.0-at

In 2001, Vienna‘s city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Vienna developed from early Celtic and Roman settlements into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, as well as the late-19th-century Ringstrasse lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.

The urban and architectural qualities of the Historic Centre of Vienna bear outstanding witness to a continuing interchange of values throughout the second millennium. Three key periods of European cultural and political development – the Middle Ages, the Baroque period, and the Gründerzeit – are exceptionally well illustrated by the urban and architectural heritage of the Historic Centre of Vienna. Since the 16th century Vienna has been universally acknowledged to be the musical capital of Europe.   read more…

Bad Gastein in the Hohe Tauern National Park

20 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Grand Hotel de l'Europe © Pressemappe/cc-by-sa-3.0

Grand Hotel de l’Europe © Pressemappe/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bad Gastein is a spa town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it is known for the Gastein Waterfall and a variety of Belle Époque hotel buildings. Bad Gastein is located in the historic Pongau region, the municipal area of about 171 square kilometres (66 sq mi) is the largest in St. Johann im Pongau District. It stretches along the uppper Gastein Valley following the course of the Gastein Ache creek, a right tributary of the Salzach river. The valley separates the Hohe Tauern Ankogel Group in the east from the Goldberg Group in the west. The town centre is located at the Gastein Falls, about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level. It is characterised by numerous historic multi-story hotel buildings erected on the steep slopes.   read more…

Seefeld in Tyrol

7 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Tom McCall

© Tom McCall

Seefeld in Tyrol is a municipality of the Innsbruck-Land District in the Austrian state of Tyrol, located about 17 km (11 mi) northwest of Innsbruck. With more than one million overnight stays each year, it is one of the most popular Tyrolean tourist destinations especially for skiing in winter, but also for walking holidays in the summer.   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – A city with a high quality of life

28 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Donau UNOcity © Omnidoom 999

Donau UNOcity © Omnidoom 999

Vienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria’s primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million (2.3 million within the metropolitan area, more than 25% of Austria’s population), and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by population in the European Union. Vienna is host to many major international organizations such as the United Nations and OPEC.   read more…

NASA and ESA

12 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

NASA

© nasa.gov

© nasa.gov

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.   read more…

Judenburg – The Styrian market place for over 900 years

11 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Seen from Reifling © David Bauer

Seen from Reifling © David Bauer

Judenburg is a historic town in the state of Styria in Austria, the capital of the Murtal district. It is located on the western end of the Aichfeld basin at the banks of the Mur river. The municipality also comprises the Katastralgemeinden of Tiefenbach and Waltersdorf. The town was first mentioned in 1074 near Eppenstein Castle, the ancestral seat of the Eppensteiner noble family, who ruled as Styrian margraves in the 11th century. The name literally means “Jews’ Castle”, referring to the town’s origin as a trading outpost on the route across the Alps, in which Jews played an important role, being represented in the city’s coat of arms.   read more…

Braunau on the Inn

26 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

City center © Stadtamt Braunau am Inn/cc-by-sa-3.0

City center © Stadtamt Braunau am Inn/cc-by-sa-3.0

Braunau am Inn (English: Braunau on the Inn) is a town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria, the capital of Braunau am Inn District. Located on the border with Germany, it is the largest town in the Upper Austrian Innviertel region. The population of Braunau am Inn is at 16,000. The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Braunau am Inn, Osternberg, and Ranshofen.   read more…

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