UNESCO World Heritage – Jordan –Petra 26.11.2005

Petra, originally known to the Nabataeans as Raqmu, is a historical and archaeological city in southern Jordan. The city is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the colour of the stone out of which it is carved.

Established possibly as early as 312 BC as the capital city of the Arab Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan, as well as Jordan's most-visited tourist attraction.^[4] The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who took advantage of Petra's proximity to regional trade routes to establish it as a major trading hub. The Nabataeans are also known for their great ability in constructing efficient water-collecting methods in the barren deserts and their talent in carving structures into solid rocks.  Petra lies on the slope of Jebel al-Madhbah (identified by some as the biblical Mount Hor ) in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.

The site remained unknown to the western world until 1812, when it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was described as "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a Newdigate Prize-winning poem by John William Burgon. UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage".  Petra was named amongst the New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007 and was also chosen by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of the "28 Places to See Before You Die".

World Heritage of Humanity 10.12.1980

Ávila is a Spanish town located in the autonomous community of Castile and León, and is the capital of the Province of Ávila. It is sometimes called the Town of Stones and Saints, and it claims that it is one of the towns with the highest number of Romanesque and Gothic churches (and bars and restaurants) per capita in Spain. (Zamora, a town of similar size, claims the greatest number of Romanesque churches in Europe.) It is notable for having complete and prominent medieval town walls, built in the Romanesque style. The town is also known as Ávila de los Caballeros,Ávila del Rey and Ávila de los Leales (Ávila of the Knights, the King and the Loyalists), each of these epithets being present in the town standard.

The writer José Martínez Ruiz (Azorín), in his seminal book El alma castellana (The Castilian Soul), described it as "perhaps the most 16th-century town in Spain", and it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Oviedo: Asturian: Uviéu) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located approximately 20 km (12 mi) south of neighbouring cities Gijón and Avilés, which lie on the shoreline of the Bay of Biscay; its proximity to the ocean causes Oviedo to have a maritime climate, in spite of it not being located on the shoreline itself.

Thank You Merja.

Finland - FDC Bronze Age burial site 8.92004

Sammallahdenmäki is a Bronze age burial site in Finland in Lappi municipality. It was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1999, and includes 36 granite burial cairns dating back more than 3,000 years, to 1,500 to 500 BC. It is located on a hill in a remote area off the road between Tampere and Rauma. Originally, it was near the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, but the land has risen so it is now 15 kilometers from the sea. It is one of the most important Bronze Age sites in Scandinavia. Four of the cairns were excavated by archaeologist Volter Högman in 1891, including Kirkonlaattia ("Church Floor"), an unusual rectangular cairn covering 16 x 19 metres with a flat top, and Huilun pitkä raunio ("long ruin of Huilu"), which is surrounded by an ancient stone wall. This beautiful cover was given to me by Merja.