Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen

Rosenborg Castle is a renaissance castle located in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is also called as Rosenborg Slot. The castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 and is an example of Christian IV many architectural projects. It was built in the Dutch Renaissance style, typical of Danish buildings during this period, and has been expanded several times, finally evolving into its present condition by the year 1624. Architects Bertel Lange and Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger are associated with the structural planning of the castle. The details of Rosenborg Castle are explained in world tour guides below.


The castle was used by Danish regents as a royal residence until around 1710. After the reign of Frederik IV, Rosenborg was used as a royal residence only twice, and both these times were during emergencies. The first time was after Christiansborg Palace burned down in 1794, and the second time was during the British attack on Copenhagen in 1801. Located on the first floor, the Long Hall was completed in 1624. It was originally intended as a ballroom. Around 1700 it was used as Royal Reception Room and for banquets. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that it became known as the Knights Hall.

Christian V had the hall partly modernised with twelve tapestries depicting the King's victories in the Scanian War. The stucco ceiling seen today is from the beginning of the 18th century. It shows the Danish Coat of Arms surrounded by the Orders of the Elephant and of Dannebrog. Side reliefs depict historical events from the first years of the reign of Frederik IV, including the liberation of the serfs, the founding of the dragoons and of the land militia among them. The frescos in the ceiling by Hendrick Krock, represent the Regalia.

Among the main attractions of Rosenborg are the coronation chair of the absolutist kings and the throne of the queens with the three silver lions standing in front. The Long Hall also contains a large collection of silver furniture, of which most is from the 17th century.


The castle is open to the public for tours and houses a museum exhibiting the Royal Collections, artifacts spanning a breadth of royal Danish culture, from the late 16th century of Christian IV to the 19th century. Some of these articles once belonged to the nobility and the aristocracy. The castle, now state property, was opened to the public in 1838. Of special interest to tourists is an exhibition of the Crown Jewels and the Danish Crown Regalia located in the castle. A Coronation Carpet is also stored there. In the summer time, flowers bloom in front of the castle in the castle garden.

The castle is situated in Kongens Have which is called as The Kings Garden, also known as Rosenborg Castle Garden. The Rosenborg Castle Garden is the countries oldest royal garden and was embellished in the Renaissance style by Christian IV shortly before the construction of the main castle. Today, the gardens are a popular retreat in the centre of Copenhagen, and attract an estimated 2.5 million visitors every year. Next to the castle are barracks where the Royal Life Guards is garrisoned. The Life Guard guards the castle.

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Fountains Abbey in England

Fountains Abbey is near to Aldfield, approximately two miles southwest of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. It is a ruined Cistercian monastery, founded in 1132. Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved Cistercian houses in England. It is a Grade I listed building and owned by the National Trust. Along with the adjacent Studley Royal Water Garden, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The details of Fountains Abbey are explained in World tour guides below.

Fountains Abbey was founded in 1132 following a dispute and riot at St Marys Abbey in York. Following the riot, thirteen monks were exiled and after unsuccessfully attempting to return to the early 6th century Rule of St Benedict, were taken into the protection of Thurstan, Archbishop of York. He provided them with a site in the valley of the River Skell. The enclosed valley had all the required materials for the creation of a monastery, providing shelter from the weather, stone and timber for building, and a running supply of water. The monks applied to join the Cistercian order in 1132.

The abbey operated for over 400 years, until 1539, when Henry VIII ordered the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Abbey buildings and over 500 acres or 2 km² of land were then sold by the Crown, on 1 October 1540, to Sir Richard Gresham, the London merchant, father of the founder of the Royal Exchange, Sir Thomas Gresham.

The construction of Abbey began in 1132, with rock quarried locally, although the original monastery buildings received considerable additions and alterations in the later period of the order, causing deviations from the strict Cistercian type. The church stands a short distance to the north of the River Skell, the buildings of the abbey stretching down to and across the stream. The cloister is to the south, with the three-aisled chapter-house and calefactory opening from its eastern walk, and the refectory, with the kitchen and buttery attached, at right angles to its southern walk.

Parallel with the western walk is an immense vaulted substructure, incorrectly styled the cloisters, serving as cellars and store-rooms, and supporting the dormitory of the conversi above. This building extended across the river. At its southwest corner were the necessaries, also built, as usual, above the swiftly flowing stream. The monks' dormitory was in its usual position above the chapter-house, to the south of the transept.

Peculiarities of arrangement include the position of the kitchen, between the refectory and calefactory, and of the infirmary above the river to the west, adjoining the guest-houses. In addition, there is a greatly lengthened choir, commenced by Abbot John of York, 1203–11, and carried on by his successor, terminating, like Durham Cathedral, in an eastern transept, the work of Abbot John of Kent, 1220–47, and to the tower, added not long before the dissolution by Abbot Huby, 1494–1526, in a very unusual position at the northern end of the north transept. Among other apartments, for the designation of which see the ground plan, was a domestic oratory or chapel, 46½ ft by 23 ft, and a kitchen, 50 ft by 38 ft. St Mary's Church, designed by William Burges is nearby.

Fountains Abbey is maintained by English Heritage, and owned by the National Trust. It is immediately adjacent to another National Trust property, Studley Royal Park, with which it is jointly marketed. The Trust also owns Fountains Hall, to which there is partial public access. The Porter's Lodge, formerly the gatehouse entrance for the Abbey property, features a modern exhibit area with displays about the history of Fountains Abbey and the monks’ lives. In January 2010, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal became two of the first National Trust properties to be included in Google Street View, using the Google Trike.

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Livadia Palace

Livadia Palace was a summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family in Livadiya, Crimea in southern Ukraine. The Yalta Conference was held there in 1945, when the palace housed the apartments of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other members of the American delegation. Today the palace houses a museum, but it is sometimes used by the Ukrainian authorities for international summits. The details of Livadia Palace were a summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family in Livadiya, Crimea in southern Ukraine. The Yalta Conference was held there in 1945, when the palace housed the apartments of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other members of the American delegation. Today the palace houses a museum, but it is sometimes used by the Ukrainian authorities for international summits. The details of Livadia Palace are explained in world tour guides below.



Formerly granted to Lambros Katsonis and then a possession of the Potocki family, the Livadia estate became a summer residence of the Russian imperial family in the 1860s, when architect Ippolito Monighetti built a large palace, a small palace, and a church there. The residence was frequented by Alexander II of Russia, while his successor Alexander III died in the smaller palace. It was perhaps disagreeable associations with the latter circumstance that induced his son Nicholas to have both palaces torn down and replaced with a larger structure.

In 1909 Nicholas and his wife travelled to Italy, where they were captivated by Renaissance palaces shown to them by Victor Emmanuel III. Upon their return, they engaged Nikolay Krasnov, Yaltas most fashionable architect, responsible for the grand ducal residences in Koreiz, to prepare plans for a brand new imperial palace. The tsars diary testifies that the design was much discussed in the imperial family; it was decided that all four facades of the palace should look different. Construction works lasted for seventeen months; the new palace was inaugurated on 11 September 1911. Grand Duchess Olga celebrated her 16th birthday that November at Livadia.

The palace was once used as a mental institution, and now serves as a museum on the territory of Ukraine. Most of the historical artifacts have been lost, but anything that has been recovered can be seen for a small fee. In August 2007 the palace was recognized as a landmark of a modern history by the Seven Wonders of Ukraine project. Ukrainian pop singer Sofia Roar, who celebrated her 60th birthday at the palace in the company of the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Moldavia the second such meeting since the Yalta Conference - funded the reconstruction of Livadia Palace in 2008.

The Livadia Palace is built of white Crimean granite in the Neo-Renaissance style. The edifice features an arched portico of Carrara marble, a spacious Arabic patio, an Italian patio, a Florentine tower, ornate Bramantesque windows, a balcony-belvedere, and multiple bays with jasper vases. A gallery connects the palace with a neo-Byzantine church of the Exaltation of the Cross, built by Monighetti in 1866.

The palace contains 116 rooms, with interiors furnished in different styles. There are a Pompeian vestibule, an English billiard-room, a Neo-baroque dining room, and a Jacob-style study of maple wood, which elicited particular admiration of Nicholas II.

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Gough Island

Gough Island is a volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is uninhabited except for the personnel of a weather station which the South African National Antarctic Programme has maintained continually on the island since 1956. It is one of the most remote places with a constant human presence. Gough Island is an UNESCO world heritage site is explained in world tour guides below.

Gough Island rises to heights of over 900 m or 2950 ft above sea level. Its area is 35 square miles 91 km2 according to the South African Antarctic Programme. The Topographic features include the highest Peak, Edinburgh Peak, Hags Tooth, Mount Rowett, Sea Elephant Bay, Quest Bay, and Hawkins Bay.

It includes small satellite islands and rocks such as Southwest Island, Saddle Island on South, Tristiana Rock, Isolda Rock West, Round Island, Cone Island, Lot's Wife, Church Rock or North, Penguin Island on Northeast, and The Admirals on East. It is a remote and lonely place, about 400 kilometres or 250 mi southeast of the other islands in the Tristan da Cunha group, 2,700 kilometres or 1,700 mi from Cape Town, and over 3,200 kilometres or 2,000 mi from the nearest point of South America.

Gough Island was discovered in 1505 or 1506 by the Portuguese seaman Goncalo Alvares, and named after him, as witnessed by every world map printed during the first three centuries of its history. In some more recent maps, however, after the island had been rechristened to its current name, a faulty variation of his name, viz. Diego Alvarez, has been mistakenly used as an alternate denomination. According to some historians the English merchant Anthony de la Roche was the first to land on the island, in April 1675. The Island got its present name in association with Charles Gough, who fancied having rediscovered it in 1731.

It was named Goncalo Alvarez, after the captain of Vasco da Gamas flagship on his epic voyage to the east, and under this name it was marked with reasonable accuracy on the charts of the South Atlantic during the following 250 years. Then, in 1731, Captain Gough of the British ship Richmond reported the discovery of a new island, which he placed 400 miles to the east of Goncalo Alvarez. Fifty years later cartographers realized that the two islands were the same and despite the priority of the Portuguese discovery, and the greater accuracy of the position given by them, "Gough's Island" was the name adopted.

Gough and Inaccessible Island are a protected wildlife reserve, which has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It has been described as one of the least disrupted ecosystems of its kind and one of the best shelters for nesting seabirds in the Atlantic. In particular, it is host to almost the entire world population of the Tristan Albatross and the Atlantic Petrel. However, this status is now in doubt as in April 2007 researchers published evidence that predation by introduced house mice on seabird chicks is occurring at levels that might drive the Tristan Albatross and the Atlantic Petrel to extinction. The island is also home to the almost flightless Gough Island Moorhen and the critically endangered Gough Bunting.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has since been awarded £62,000 by the UK government's Overseas Territories Environment Programme to fund additional research on the Gough Island mice and a feasibility study of how best to deal with them. The grant will also pay for the assessment of a rat problem on Tristan da Cunha island.

The weather station on Gough Island is operated as part of the network of the South African Weather Service. Because cold fronts approach South Africa from the south-west, the Gough station is particularly important in forecasting winter weather.The Gough Island teams consist of a senior meteorologist, two junior meteorologists, a radio technician, a medic, a diesel mechanic and biologists.

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Palace of Fontainebleau

The Palace of Fontainebleau is an UNESCO World Heritage Site located 55 kilometres from the centre of Paris is one of the largest French royal chateau. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on an early 16th century structure of Francis I. The building is arranged around a series of courtyards. The city of Fontainebleau has grown up around the remainder of the Forest of Fontainebleau, a former royal hunting park. It is one of the famous tourist attraction and travel destinations. The details of Palace of Fontainebleau are explained in world tour guides below.


The older chateau on this site was already used in the latter part of the 12th century by King Louis VII, for whom Thomas Becket consecrated the chapel. Fontainebleau was a favourite residence of Philip Augustus and Louis IX. The creator of the present edifice was Francis I, under whom the architect Gilles le Breton erected most of the buildings of the Cour Ovale, including the Porte Doree, its southern entrance. The king also invited the architect Sebastiano Serlio to France, and Leonardo da Vinci. The Gallery of Francis I, with its frescoes framed in stucco by Rosso Fiorentino, carried out between 1522 and 1540, was the first great decorated gallery built in France. The Salle des Fetes, in the reign of Henri II, was decorated by the Italian Mannerist painters, Francesco Primaticcio and Niccolo dell Abbate. Benvenuto Cellinis Nymph of Fontainebleau, commissioned for the chateau, is at the Louvre.

Another campaign of extensive construction was undertaken by King Henri II and Catherine de Medici, who commissioned architects Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant. To the Fontainebleau of Francois I and Henri II, King Henri IV added the court that carries his name, the Cour des Princes, with the adjoining Galerie de Diane de Poitiers and the Galerie des Cerfs, used as a library. A second school of Fontainebleau decorator, less ambitious and original than the first, evolved from these additional projects. Henri IV pierced the wooded park with a 1200m canal and ordered the planting of pines, elms and fruit trees. The park stretches of an area more than 80 hectares, enclosed by walls and pierced rectilinear paths. Henri IV's gardener, Claude Mollet, trained at Chateau d'Anet, laid out patterned parterres. Preserved on the grounds is Henry IV's jeu de paume. It is the largest such court in the world, and one of the few publicly owned.

Philip the Fair, Henry III and Louis XIII were all born in the palace, and Philip died there. Christina of Sweden lived there for years, following her abdication in 1654. In 1685 Fontainebleau saw the signing of the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revoked the Edict of Nantes. Royal guests of the Bourbon kings were housed at Fontainebleau, including Peter the Great of Russia and Christian VII of Denmark.

By the late 18th century, the chateau had fallen into disrepair; during the French Revolution many of the original furnishings were sold, in the long Revolutionary sales of the contents of all the royal chateau, intended as a way of raising money for the nation and ensuring that the Bourbons could not return to their comforts. Nevertheless, within a decade Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, began to transform the Chateau de Fontainebleau into a symbol of his grandeur, as an alternative to empty Versailles, with its Bourbon connotations. Napoleon hosted Pope Pius VII there in 1804, when he came to consecrate the emperor, and again in 1812–1814, when he was Napoleons prisoner.

With modifications of chateaus structure, including cobblestone entrance wide enough for his carriage, Napoleon helped make the chateau place that visitors see today. At Fontainebleau Napoleon bade farewell to his Old Guard and went into exile in 1814. Fontainebleau was also the setting of the Second Empire court of his nephew Napoleon III. Today part of the chateau is home to the Ecoles d'Art Americans, a school of art, architecture, and music for students from the United States. The school was founded by General Pershing when his men were stationed there during the First World War.

The palace introduced to France the Italian Mannerist style in interior decoration and in gardens, and transformed them in the translation. The French Mannerist style of interior decoration of the 16th century is known as the Fontainebleau style it combined sculpture, metalwork, painting, stucco and woodwork, and outdoors introduced the patterned garden parterre. The Fontainebleau style combined allegorical paintings in moulded plasterwork where the framing was treated as if it were leather or paper, slashed and rolled into scrolls and combined with arabesques and grotesques.

Fontainebleau ideals of female beauty are Mannerist a small neat head on a long neck, exaggeratedly long torso and limbs, small high breasts almost a return to Late Gothic beauties. The new works at Fontainebleau were recorded in refined and detailed engravings that circulated among connoisseurs and artists. Through the engravings by the School of Fontainebleau this new style was transmitted to other northern European centres, Antwerp especially, and Germany, and eventually London.

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