Monte San Giorgio, Switzerland (UNESCO)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1090

The pyramid-shaped, wooded mountain of Monte San Giorgio beside Lake Lugano is regarded as the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic Period (245–230 million years ago). The sequence records life in a tropical lagoon environment, sheltered and partially separated from the open sea by an offshore reef. Diverse marine life flourished within this lagoon, including reptiles, fish, bivalves, ammonites, echinoderms and crustaceans. Because the lagoon was near land, the remains also include land-based fossils of reptiles, insects and plants, resulting in an extremely rich source of fossils.

Sender: Oscar,  Sent on: 5 Jul, 2014, Received on: 19 Jul, 2014, Travel time: 14 days

Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair, Switzerland (UNESCO)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/269

 

The Convent of Müstair, which stands in a valley in the Grisons, is a good example of Christian monastic renovation during the Carolingian period. It has Switzerland's greatest series of figurative murals, painted c. A.D. 800, along with Romanesque frescoes and stuccoes.

 

 

Sender: wolga, Sent on: 22 Mar, 2014, Received on: 28 Mar, 2014, Travel time: 6 days

Abbey of St Gall, Switzerland (UNESCO)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/268

 

The Convent of St Gall, a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery, was, from the 8th century to its secularization in 1805, one of the most important in Europe. Its library is one of the richest and oldest in the world and contains precious manuscripts such as the earliest-known architectural plan drawn on parchment. From 1755 to 1768, the conventual area was rebuilt in Baroque style. The cathedral and the library are the main features of this remarkable architectural complex, reflecting 12 centuries of continuous activity.

 

 

Sender: wolga, Sent on: 22 Mar, 2014, Received on: 28 Mar, 2014, Travel time: 6 days

La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle, Watchmaking Town Planning, Switzerland (UNESCO)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1302

The site of La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle watchmaking town-planning consists of two towns situated close to one another in a remote environment in the Swiss Jura mountains, on land ill-suited to farming. Their planning and buildings reflect watchmakers’ need of rational organization. Planned in the early 19th century, after extensive fires, the towns owed their existence to this single industry. Their layout along an open-ended scheme of parallel strips on which residential housing and workshops are intermingled reflects the needs of the local watchmaking culture that dates to the 17th century and is still alive today. The site presents outstanding examples of mono-industrial manufacturing-towns which are well preserved and still active. The urban planning of both towns has accommodated the transition from the artisanal production of a cottage industry to the more concentrated factory production of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The town of La Chaux-de-Fonds was described by Karl Marx as a “huge factory-town” in Das Kapital where he analyzed the division of labour in the watchmaking industry of the Jura.

Postcard 1 : La Chaux-de-Fonds

Sender: chrizine, Sent on: 27 Jan, 2014, Received on: 31 Jan, 2014, Travel time: 4 days

Postcard 2 : Le Locle

Sender: chrizine, Sent on: 17 Feb, 2014, Received on: 24 Feb, 2014, Travel time: 7 days

Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona, Switzerland (UNESCO)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1179

The Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona in the north-eastern part of the country covers a mountainous area of 32,850 ha which features seven peaks that rise above 3,000 m. The area displays an exceptional example of mountain building through continental collision and features .excellent geological sections through tectonic thrust, i.e. the process whereby older, deeper rocks are carried onto younger, shallower rocks. The site is distinguished by the clear three-dimensional exposure of the structures and processes that characterize this phenomenon and has been a key site for the geological sciences since the 18th century. The Glarus Alps are glaciated mountains rising dramatically above narrow river valleys and are the site of the largest post-glacial landslide in the Central Alpine region.

Sender: zasa, Sent on: 22 Oct, 2013, Received on: 1 Nov, 2013, Travel time: 9 days

Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces, Switzerland (UNESCO)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1243

The Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, stretching for about 30 km along the south-facing northern shores of Lake Geneva from the Chateau de Chillon to the eastern outskirts of Lausanne in the Vaud region, cover the lower slopes of the mountainside between the villages and the lake. Although there is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the present vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area. It is an outstanding example of a centuries-long interaction between people and their environment, developed to optimize local resources so as to produce a highly valued wine that has always been important to the economy.

Sender: dannyozzy, Sent on: 30 Sep, 2013, Received on: 7 Oct, 2013, Travel time: 8 days

Old City of Berne (Marksman-fountain and Clock-tower) Switzerland (UNESCO WH Site)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/267

Founded in the 12th century on a hill site surrounded by the Aare River, Berne developed over the centuries in line with a an exceptionally coherent planning concept. The buildings in the Old City, dating from a variety of periods, include 15th-century arcades and 16th-century fountains. Most of the medieval town was restored in the 18th century but it has retained its original character.

Sender: Oscar, Sent on: 6 Sep, 2013, Received on: 23 Sep, 2013, Travel time: 17 days

Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, Switzerland (UNESCO)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1037

The extension of the natural World Heritage property of Jungfrau - Aletsch - Bietschhorn (first inscribed in 2001), expands the site to the east and west, bringing its surface area up to 82,400 ha., up from 53,900. The site provides an outstanding example of the formation of the High Alps, including the most glaciated part of the mountain range and the largest glacier in Eurasia. It features a wide diversity of ecosystems, including successional stages due particularly to the retreat of glaciers resulting from climate change. The site is of outstanding universal value both for its beauty and for the wealth of information it contains about the formation of mountains and glaciers, as well as ongoing climate change. It is also invaluable in terms of the ecological and biological processes it illustrates, notably through plan succession. Its impressive landscape has played an important role in European art, literature, mountaineering and alpine tourism.

Sender: dannyozzy, Sent on: 26 Aug, 2013, Received on: 4 Sep, 2013, Travel time: 9 days

Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes, Switzerland (UNESCO)

 http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1276

Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes, brings together two historic railway lines that cross the Swiss Alps through two passes. Opened in 1904, the Albula line in the north western part of the property is 67 km long. It features an impressive set of structures including 42 tunnels and covered galleries and 144 viaducts and bridges. The 61 km Bernina pass line features 13 tunnels and galleries and 52 viaducts and bridges. The property is exemplary of the use of the railway to overcome the isolation of settlements in the Central Alps early in the 20th century, with a major and lasting socio-economic impact on life in the mountains. It constitutes an outstanding technical, architectural and environmental ensemble and embodies architectural and civil engineering achievements, in harmony with the landscapes through which they pass.

Sender: dannyozzy, Sent on: 19 Aug, 2013, Received on: 4 Sep, 2013, Travel time: 15 days

Flag of Switzerland

Red square with a bold, equilateral white cross in the center that does not extend to the edges of the flag; various medieval legends purport to describe the origin of the flag; a white cross used as identification for troops of the Swiss Confederation is first attested at the Battle of Laupen (1339)

 

Postcard 1 :

 

 

Sender: buebemami, Sent on: 13 Apr, 2014, Received on: 8 May, 2014, Travel time: 25 days

 

 

 Postcard 2 : Flag Throwers

 

 

Sender: dannyozzy, Sent on: 2 Dec, 2013, Received on: 12 Dec, 2013, Travel time: 10 days

 

Postcard 3 :

 

 

Sender: Oscar, Sent on: 5 Aug, 2013, Received on: 15 Aug, 2013, Travel time: 10 days