Virtuoso Insights - October/November 2008 - (Page 24) fortifications of vauban (france) Named for King Louis xiv’s military engineer, the Fortifications of Vauban consist of 13 groups of fortified buildings and sites along France’s western, northern, and eastern borders. According to the UNESCO committee, they represent the “finest examples” of the work of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (16331707) and the peak of classic Western military architecture. Vauban, who oversaw the building of the citadels, bastion, towers, and mountain and sea forts — even a mountain battery and two mountain communication structures — was also considered the greatest military strategist of his era, having devised new combat methods and the idea for the bayonet. His fortifications reached far beyond France, from the Americas to East Asia. Ramparts of the Besançon citadel – Doubs. berlin modernism housing estates (germany) Described as “an outstanding example of the building reform movement that contributed to improving housing and living conditions for people with low incomes,” the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates represented a pioneering approach to social housing and, subsequently, urban planning. Constructed between 1913 and 1934, a particularly progressive period in Berlin’s Urban ideal: Siemensstadt’s history, the six housing estates — Falkenberg Garden City, Ring Housing Estate. Schillerpark, Hufeisensiedlung, Carl Legien, Weisse Stadt, and Siemensstadt — were designed by such influential architects as Bruno Taut, Martin Wagner, and Walter Gropius, and featured light, airy apartments, gardens, and other technical and aesthetic innovations. While many flats have been sold to private tenants and others, the estates still stand as excellent examples of classical Modernism and models for the urban ideal. Also of note . . . among the natural properties in europe added to the uNescO World heritage list were the lagoons of New caledonia, reef Diversity and associated ecosystems in france; surtsey, iceland; and the swiss tectonic arena sardona in switzerland. extensions of european properties already on the World heritage list included the cave of altamira and Paleolithic cave art of Northern spain and the frontiers of the roman empire (united Kingdom, germany). virtuOsO travel aDvisOrs caN iNtrODuce YOu tO a culture Of cONNectiONs, viP treatment, and exclusive, lifetransforming experiences. contact yours today to create incomparable visits to these and other unesco sites across europe. 24 Virtuoso insights
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