- published: 13 Aug 2009
- views: 40940
- author: Peter Schibli
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- Aar
- Aarau
- Aarbergergasse
- Aare
- Aargau
- Abbey of Saint Gall
- Abkhazia
- Adliswil
- Adolf Wölfli
- Agnosticism
- Albania
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- All-four
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- Archaeological
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- Arni, Bern
- Astana
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A1 (Switzerland)
The A1 is a motorway in Switzerland. It follows Switzerland's main east-west axis, from St. Margrethen in northeastern Switzerland's canton of St. Gallen through to Geneva in southwestern Switzerland. The motorway spans over 200 kilometres (120 mi) through Switzerland.
With the build of the third Baregg Tunnel tube,[clarification needed] the traffic jams in this area were reduced, but the Gubrist Tunnel remains with the old capacity as a new point of heavy traffic.[clarification needed][citation needed]
Media related to A1 (Switzerland) at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 47°01′53″N 7°31′38″E / 47.031437°N 7.527266°E / 47.031437; 7.527266
Template:Portal:Switzerland/Stub
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Aar
The Aar (German Aare), a tributary of the High Rhine, is the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland.
Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about 295 km (183 miles), during which distance it descends 1,565 m (5,135 ft), draining an area of 17,779 km2 (6,865 sq mi), including the whole of central Switzerland.
The Aar rises in the great Aar Glaciers of the Bernese Alps, in the canton of Bern and west of the Grimsel Pass. It runs east to the Grimsel Hospice, below the Finsteraarhorn, and then northwest through the Haslital, forming on the way the magnificent Handegg Waterfall, 46 m (151 ft), past Guttannen, and piercing the limestone barrier of the Kirchet by a major canyon, before reaching Meiringen, situated on a plain. A little past Meiringen, near Brienz, the river expands into Lake Brienz where it becomes navigable. Near the west end of the lake it receives its first important tributary, the Lütschine. It then runs across the swampy plain of the Bödeli between Interlaken and Unterseen before flowing into Lake Thun.
wn.com/Aar -
Aarbergergasse
The Aarbergergasse ("Aarberg Lane") is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It was originally the most important of the five streets that were part of the Äussere Neustadt, which was the section outside the city walls. One fountain, the Ryfflibrunnen on the Aarbergergasse is listed on the Swiss inventory of heritage site of national significance and it is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Aarbergergasse was originally one of the most important streets in the unwalled Äussere Neustadt. Originally the street ran from the Golatenmatt tower, which was part of the outer city wall, to the Waisenhausplatz. The lane is divided into two different sections, one running west from Sternengässchen to the western end and the other running east from Sternengässchen to Waisenhausplatz. The western section is narrow, curved and lined with arcades. The houses were built with no central plan or unifying style. The eastern section is wider and straight with arcades only on the Schattseite (shadow side or southern side of the road).
wn.com/Aarbergergasse -
Abbey of Saint Gall
The Abbey of Saint Gall (German: Fürstabtei Sankt Gallen) is a religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The Carolingian-era Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13th century, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was founded by Saint Othmar on the spot where Saint Gall had erected his hermitage. The library at the Abbey is one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. Since 1983 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Around 613 an Irish monk named Gallus, a disciple and companion of Saint Columbanus, established a hermitage on the site that would become the Abbey. He lived in his cell until his death in 646.
Following Gallus' death, Charles Martel appointed Othmar as custodian of St Gall's relics. During the reign of Pepin the Short, in the 8th Century, Othmar founded the Carolingian style Abbey of St. Gall, where arts, letters and sciences flourished. Several different dates are given for the foundation of the Abbey, including 719, 720, 747 and the middle of the 8th century. Under Abbot Waldo of Reichenau (740–814) copying of manuscripts was undertaken and a famous library was gathered. Numerous Anglo-Saxon and Irish monks came to copy manuscripts. At Charlemagne's request Pope Adrian I sent distinguished chanters from Rome, who propagated the use of the Gregorian chant.
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Abkhazia
Abkhazia (Abkhaz: Аҧсны́ Apsny, IPA /apʰsˈnɨ/; Georgian: აფხაზეთი Apkhazeti; Russian: Абхазия Abkhaziya) is a disputed territory on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.
Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny. This status is recognised by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu and also by the partially recognised states of South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Georgian government and the majority of the world's governments consider Abkhazia a part of Georgia's territory. Under Georgia's official designation it is an autonomous republic, called the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi. On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution declaring Abkhazia a "Russian-occupied territory".
The status of Abkhazia is a central issue of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict. The wider region formed part of the Soviet Union until 1991. As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate towards the end of the 1980s, ethnic tensions grew between Abkhaz and Georgians over Georgia's moves towards independence. This led to the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia that resulted in a Georgian military defeat, de facto independence of Abkhazia and the mass exodus and ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population from Abkhazia. In spite of the 1994 ceasefire agreement and years of negotiations, the status dispute has not been resolved, and despite the long-term presence of a United Nations monitoring force and a Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peacekeeping operation, the conflict has flared up on several occasions. In August 2008, the sides again fought during the South Ossetia War, which was followed by the formal recognition of Abkhazia by Russia, the annulment of the 1994 cease fire agreement and the termination of the UN and CIS missions.[citation needed]
wn.com/Abkhazia -
Albania
Albania (
i/ælˈbeɪniə/ al-BAY-nee-ə, Albanian: Shqipëri/Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia), officially known as the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë pronounced Albanian pronunciation: [ɾɛpuˈblika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːs]), is a country in Southern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 72 km (45 mi) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
Albania is a member of the UN, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founding members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Albania has been a potential candidate for accession to the European Union since January 2003, and it formally applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009.
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Albula Railway
The Albula Railway is a single track metre gauge railway line forming part of the so-called core network of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It links Thusis on the Hinterrhein (697 m (2,287 ft) above sea level) with the spa resort of St. Moritz in Engadine (1,774 m (5,820 ft) above sea level).
Construction of the Albula Railway was begun in September 1898, the opening took place on 1 July 1903, and the extension to St. Moritz commenced operations on 10 July 1904. With its 55 bridges and 39 tunnels, the 61.67 km (38.32 mi) long line is one of the most spectacular narrow gauge railways in the world.
On 7 July 2008, the Albula Railway and the Bernina Railway, which also forms part of the RhB, were jointly recorded in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, under the name Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes.
The best known trains operating on the Albula Railway are the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express.
Up until 1890, the south east of Switzerland was extremely poorly served by railways. Alpine transit traffic was drawn to the Gotthard Railway, so that the construction of transcontinental railways in Graubünden appeared not to be economically viable. Only the success of the Landquart-Davos-Bahn (LD) led to a turning point. In 1895, the LD changed its name to Rhaetian Railway (RhB). Two years later, the people of Graubünden decided, in a referendum, that the RhB would come under state ownership. These two changes created suitable conditions for a rapid construction of further RhB lines, which were intended to open up large parts of the Canton.
wn.com/Albula_Railway -
Amsterdam
Amsterdam (English /ˈæmstərdæm/; Dutch: [ˌɑmstərˈdɑm] (
listen)) is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The city's status as the capital of the nation is governed by the constitution. Amsterdam has a population of 790,654 within city limits, an urban population of 1,209,419 and a metropolitan population of 2,289,762. The city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. It comprises the northern part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe, with a population of approximately 7 million.
Amsterdam's name is derived from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin: a dam in the river Amstel. Settled as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age, a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading center for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were formed. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam (in Dutch: 'Grachtengordel'), located in the heart of Amsterdam, were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2010.
wn.com/Amsterdam -
Amthausgasse
The Amthausgasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Innere Neustadt which was built during the expansion of 1255 to 1260. One building, a Burgher house at Amthausgasse 5 is listed on the Swiss inventory of heritage site of national significance and it is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Coordinates: 46°56′50.08″N 7°26′48.71″E / 46.9472444°N 7.4468639°E / 46.9472444; 7.4468639
Template:Portal:Switzerland/Stub
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Andorra
Andorra (i/ænˈdɔrə/; Catalan pronunciation: [ənˈdorə], locally: [anˈdɔra]), officially the Principality of Andorra (Catalan: Principat d'Andorra), also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, (Catalan: Principat de les Valls d'Andorra), is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of 468 km2 (181 sq mi) and an estimated population of 84,082 in 2009. Its capital, Andorra la Vella, is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres (3,356 ft) above sea level. The official language is Catalan, although Spanish, Portuguese, and French are also commonly spoken.
The Principality was formed in 1278. The role of monarch is exercised jointly by the two co-princes, the Catalan Bishop of Urgell and the President of France (the whole state is a part of Diocese of Urgell).
Andorra is a prosperous country mainly because of its tourism industry, which services an estimated 10.2 million visitors annually, and also because of its status as a tax haven. It is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is the de facto currency. The people of Andorra have the 4th highest human life expectancy in the world — 82 years at birth.
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Andorra la Vella
Andorra la Vella (Catalan pronunciation: [ənˈdorə ɫə ˈβeʎə], locally: [anˈdɔra la ˈβeʎa]) is the capital of the Principality of Andorra, and is located high in the east Pyrenees between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parish that surrounds the capital.
As of 2011, the city has a population of 22,256, and the urban area, which includes Escaldes-Engordany plus satellite villages, has over 40,000 inhabitants.
The principal industry is tourism, although the country also earns foreign income from being a tax haven. Furniture and brandies are local products. Being at an elevation of 1,023 metres (3,356 ft), it is the highest capital city in Europe and a popular ski resort.
The site of Andorra la Vella (literally, "Andorra the Old") has been settled since prior to the Christian era—notably by the Andosin tribe from the late Neolithic. The state is one of the Marca Hispanica created and protected by Charlemagne in the eighth century as a buffer from the Moorish settlers in the Iberian Peninsula.
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Ankara
Ankara (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈan.ka.ɾa]; historically known as Angora) is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of 938 metres (3,077 ft), and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million.
Centrally located in Anatolia, Ankara is an important commercial and industrial city. It is the center of the Turkish Government, and houses all foreign embassies. It is an important crossroads of trade, strategically located at the centre of Turkey's highway and railway networks, and serves as the marketing centre for the surrounding agricultural area. The city was famous for its long-haired Angora goat and its prized wool (mohair), a unique breed of cat (Angora cat), Angora rabbits and their prized wool (Angora wool), pears, honey, and the region's muscat grapes.
The historical center of Ankara is situated upon a rocky hill, which rises 150 m (492 ft) above the plain on the left bank of the Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the Sakarya (Sangarius) river. The city is located at 39°52'30" North, 32°52' East (39°52′30″N 32°50′00″E / 39.875°N 32.8333°E / 39.875; 32.8333Coordinates: 39°52′30″N 32°50′00″E / 39.875°N 32.8333°E / 39.875; 32.8333), about 450 km (280 mi) to the southeast of Istanbul, the country's largest city. Although situated in one of the driest places of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation except for the forested areas on the southern periphery, Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, which is 72 m2 per head.
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Armenia
Armeniai/ɑrˈmiːniə/ (Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan [hɑjɑsˈtɑn]), officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun, [hɑjɑstɑˈni hɑnɾɑpɛtuˈtʰjun]), is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion, in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301 AD). The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrob Mashtots in 406 AD.
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Astana
Astana (Russian/Kazakh: Астана, formerly known as Akmola (Kazakh: Ақмола / Aqmola, until 1998), Целиноград / Tselinograd until 1992) and Akmolinsk (Russian: Акмолинск, until 1961), is the capital and second largest city (after Almaty) of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010. It is located in the north-central portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Province, though administrated separately from the province as a federal city area.
The current mayor of Astana is Imangali Tasmagambetov. He was appointed on 4 April 2008.
The word Astana in Kazakh literally means Capital but the word itself originates from Persian Astane (Persian: آستانه means "sublime threshold," "royal porte" implying a royal capital city or a holy shrine town, (from the Persian verb Istadan (آستان) 'to stand' (in respect)), and literally means "threshold" (royal or sacred, where people stand in respect or awe),[citation needed] implying where the court is seated (the capital city) or the body of a sacred person is interred (a shrine town). The city of Turkistan in Kazakhstan that hosts the body of the saint Ahmad Yasavi is also called the "astana" as is the city of Mashhad in Iran that is the burial place of the 8th Shiite Imam Reza. In fact, long before becoming the new capital of Kazakhstan, the city was "an astana," a burial ground of a saint, hence the old name of the city, Ak Mola (Ақмола), "white mausoleum."
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: 
Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (
i/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ AZ-ər-by-JAHN; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası) is the largest country in the Caucasus region located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest.
Azerbaijan has an ancient and historic cultural heritage. Aside from having been the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theater and plays, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim-majority countries where support for secularism and tolerance is the highest. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh, continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and the region is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war. Azerbaijan has come under repeated international criticism for its record on human rights.
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Bahnhofplatz
The Bahnhofplatz (Train Station Plaza) is a plaza in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It was built following the destruction of the Christoffelturm which had been part of the third city wall. It is located north of Bubenbergplatz and surrounds the Heiliggeistkirche and Bern's central train station. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Following the destruction of the third city wall and the Christoffelturm in 1830-32, a plaza was opened up between the Burgerspital and Neuengasse. Initially the plaza was known as Kasernenplatz (Barracks Plaza) due to the neighboring cavalry barracks, though the name quickly changed to Spitalplatz (Hospital Plaza) due to the nearby Burgerspital. The plaza was the site of the cabbage market in Bern.
In June 1857, the SCB (German: Schweizerische Centralbahn, or Swiss Central Train Line) completed a line between Basel and Bern. Then, two years later the Bern-Thun line opened and on 2 July 1860 another line reached Thörishaus, now part of Köniz. While the rail lines were being built, a central train station was built on the northern end of the plaza. During the construction of the new station, the plaza was renamed Bahnhofplatz. On 1 January 1901, the SCB was nationalized and the Bern station went over to the newly formed Swiss Federal Railways.
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Baku
Baku (Azerbaijani: Bakı, IPA: [bɑˈcɯ]), sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal parts: the downtown and the old Inner City (21.5 ha). Baku's urban population at the beginning of 2009 was estimated at just over two million people. Officially, about 25 percent of all inhabitants of the country live in the metropolitan city area of Baku.
Baku is divided into eleven administrative districts (raions) and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on islands in the Baku Bay and the town of Oil Rocks built on stilts in the Caspian Sea, 60 km (37 mi) away from Baku. The Inner City of Baku along with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. According to the Lonely Planet's ranking, Baku is also among the world's top ten destinations for urban nightlife.
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Belarus
Belarus (i/bɛləˈruːs/ bel-ə-ROOSS; Belarusian: Беларусь, Russian pronunciation: [bʲɛlaˈrusʲ] Russian: Беларусь, Белоруссия, Belarus', Belorussiya), officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno (Hrodna), Gomel (Homiel), Mogilev (Mahilyow) and Vitebsk (Vitsebsk). Over forty percent of its 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) is forested, and its strongest economic sectors are agriculture and manufacturing.
Until the 20th century, the lands of modern-day Belarus belonged to several countries, including the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Belarus became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR). The borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939 when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were incorporated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland. The nation and its territory were devastated in World War II, during which Belarus lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945 the Belorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR.
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Belgium
Belgium (i/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish (about 60%), and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons (about 40%), plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
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Belgrade
Belgrade ( /ˈbɛlɡreɪd/; Serbian: Београд; [beǒɡrad] ( listen); names in other languages) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. Its name in English translates to White city. The city proper has a population of over 1.1 million, while its metropolitan area has over 1.6 million people, making it one of the largest cities in Southeast Europe.
One of the largest prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved around the area Belgrade in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city, naming it Singidūn. It was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid 2nd century. It was settled by the Slavs in the 520s, and changed hands several times before it became the capital of King Stephen Dragutin (1282–1316). In 1521 Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of a the Sanjak of Smederevo. It frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841. The north of Belgrade remained a Habsburg outpost until 1918, when it was merged into the capital city. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times. Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia (in various forms of governments) from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006.
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Berlin
Berlin ( /bɜrˈlɪn/; German pronunciation: [bɛɐ̯ˈliːn] ( listen)) is the capital city of Germany and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.5 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city and is the second most populous city proper and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union. Located in northeastern Germany, it is the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has 5.9 million residents from over 190 nations. Located in the European Plains, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.
First documented in the 13th century, Berlin was the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945).Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world. After World War II, the city became divided into East Berlin—the capital of East Germany—and West Berlin, a West German exclave surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989). Following German reunification in 1990, the city regained its status as the capital of Germany, hosting 147 foreign embassies.
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Bern Theatre
Bern Theatre, known in the city as Stadttheater Bern, is an opera house and theatre in Bern, Switzerland.
Famous past performers include Agnes Baltsa, Inge Borkh, Renato Bruson, Grace Bumbry, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Salvatore Fisichella, Käthe Gold, Alexander Moissi, Jessye Norman, Liselotte Pulver, Will Quadflieg, Nello Santi, Christine Schäfer, Maria Schell, and Rolf Schimpf.
Coordinates: 46°56′56″N 7°26′49″E / 46.949°N 7.447°E / 46.949; 7.447
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Bernese Alps
The Bernese Alps are a group of mountain ranges in the western part of the Alps, in Switzerland. Although the name suggests that they are located in the Bernese Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are in the adjacent cantons of Valais, Lucerne, Obwalden, Fribourg and Vaud. The latter being informally named Fribourg Alps and Vaud Alps respectively.
The Rhône valley separates them from the Chablais Alps in the west and from the Pennine Alps in the south; the upper Rhône valley separate them from the Lepontine Alps in the south-east; the Grimsel Pass and the Aar valley separates them from the Urner Alps in the east; their northern edge is not so well defined, describing a line roughly from Lake Geneva to Lake Lucerne.
The Bernese Alps are drained by the river Aar and its tributary Saane in the north, the Rhône in the south and the Reuss in the east.
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Bernese Jura
Bernese Jura (French: Jura Bernois) is the name for the French-speaking area of the Swiss canton of Bern, and from 2010 one of five administrative divisions of the canton.
Comprising the three French-speaking districts in the northern part of the canton, it contains 49 municipalities with an area of 541.75 km2 (209.17 sq mi) and a population (as of December 2010[update]) of 51,668 . More than 90% of the population of the three districts speak French.
The Bernese Jura of today comprises only three out of a total of seven districts which were known as the Bernese Jura during the period of 1815–1979. Of the remaining four, three seceded as the canton of Jura in 1979, while the fourth, the Laufen district, joined the canton of Basel-Landschaft in 1994.
Most of the territory of the Bernese Jura was passed from the County of Burgundy to the Bishopric of Basel in AD 999. It was annexed by France during the Napoleonic period, 1798-1814. In 1814, the Congress of Vienna accorded it to the canton of Bern to compensate for the loss of the new canton of Vaud.
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Bernina Railway
Coordinates: 46°24′32″N 10°1′11″E / 46.40889°N 10.01972°E / 46.40889; 10.01972
The Bernina Railway is a single track metre gauge railway line forming part of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). It links the spa resort of St. Moritz, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, with the town of Tirano, in the Province of Sondrio, Italy, via the Bernina Pass. It also ranks as the highest adhesion railway in the Alps, and - with inclines of up to 7% - as one of the steepest adhesion railways in the world.
On 7 July 2008, the Bernina Railway and the Albula Railway, which also forms part of the RhB, were recorded in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, under the name Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes. The whole site is regarded as a cross border joint Swiss-Italian heritage area.
The most famous trains operating on the Bernina Railway are known as the Bernina Express.
In the year following the completion of the Albula Railway in 1904, the Bernina-Bahngesellschaft (BB) was established, with the objective of opening a railway line between St Moritz and Tirano, via the Bernina Pass. After obtaining a concession for such a line in 1906, the BB opened it from 1908 onwards, in several sections: on 1 July 1908 between Pontresina and Morteratasch, and between Tirano and Poschiavo; on 18 August of the same year between Pontresina and Celerina; and on 1 July 1909 between Celerina and St Moritz, and between Morteratsch and Bernina Suot. It was only on 5 July 1910 that the whole line could be opened, upon completion of the most difficult section, between Bernina Suot and Poschiavo. From the beginning, the line was electrically operated with DC current, although in 1935 the voltage was increased from 750 V to 1000 V.
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Brussels
Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [ˈbrʏ.səɫ] ( listen); German: Brüssel, pronounced [ˈbʁyː.səl]), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale (help·info), Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.
Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants. The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.
Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.
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Bubenbergplatz
The Bubenbergplatz (Bubenberg Plaza, named after Adrian von Bubenberg) is a plaza in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the area outside the third city walls. It is located south-west of Bahnhofplatz and is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Since the construction of the Obertor in 1625/26, the area between the Obertor and the Christoffelturm was known as Zwischen den Toren (between the gates). From 1858 until 1898 the plaza was known as Christoffelplatz. Then, in 1898 it was renamed after Adrian von Bubenberg, the mayor (Schultheiss) of Bern in 1468-1469, 1473–1474 and 1477–1479 and the hero of Battle of Murten. The Bubenberg memorial and fountain was built by Max Leu in 1897 and originally stood at the entrance to Bubenbergplatz. In 1930 the plaza was rebuilt with a new tram station and the memorial was moved to the west. The new location of the fountain and memorial was at the entrance of Hirschengraben road with the statue facing north.
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Bucharest
Bucharest (Romanian: București pronounced [bukuˈreʃtʲ] ( listen)) is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E / 44.4325°N 26.10389°E / 44.4325; 26.10389Coordinates: 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E / 44.4325°N 26.10389°E / 44.4325; 26.10389, and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River.
Bucharest was first mentioned in documents as early as 1459. Since then it has gone through a variety of changes, becoming the state capital of Romania in 1862 and steadily consolidating its position as the centre of the Romanian mass media, culture and arts. Its eclectic architecture is a mix of historical (neo-classical), interbellum (Bauhaus and Art Deco), Communist-era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of "Little Paris" (Micul Paris). Although many buildings and districts in the historic centre were damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes, and Nicolae Ceaușescu's program of systematization, many survived. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic and cultural boom..
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Budapest
Budapest ( /ˈbuːdəpɛst/, /ˈbuːdəpɛʃt/ or /ˈbʊdəpɛst/; Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbudɒpɛʃt] ( listen); names in other languages) is the capital and the largest city of Hungary, the largest in East-Central Europe and the seventh largest in the European Union. It is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre, sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. According to 2011 Census, Budapest had 1.74 million inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2.1 million due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter Area is home to 3.3 million people. The city covers an area of 525 square kilometres (202.7 sq mi) within the city limits. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with a unification on 17 November 1873 of west-bank Buda and Óbuda with east-bank Pest.
The history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia.Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century. Their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241-42. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture in the 15th century. Following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, development of the region entered a new age of prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Budapest became a global city after the 1873 unification. It also became the second capital of Austria-Hungary, a great power that dissolved in 1918. After the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, when Hungary lost 72% of its former territory, culturally and economically the country became wholly Budapest-dominated. The capital dominates the country both by the size of its population—which dwarfs those of Hungary's other cities Budapest was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, Operation Panzerfaust in 1944, the Battle of Budapest of 1945, and the Revolution of 1956.
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Bulgaria
Coordinates: 42°45′N 25°30′E / 42.75°N 25.5°E / 42.75; 25.5
Bulgariai/bʌlˈɡɛəriə/ (Bulgarian: България, IPA: [bɤ̞ɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and the Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 14th-largest country. Its location has made it a historical crossroad for various civilisations and as such it is the home of some of the earliest metalworking, religious and other cultural artifacts in the world.
Prehistoric cultures began developing on Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history was marked by the presence of the Thracians, and later by the Greeks and Romans. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian ethnicity and state dates back to the First Bulgarian Empire, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavic peoples during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five hundred years. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 resulted in the Third Bulgarian State, recognised in 1908. The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both World Wars. In 1946 it became a Communist republic with a single-party system until 1989, when the Communist Party allowed multi-party elections. After 1990 Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a market-based economy.
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Bundesplatz (Bern)
The Bundesplatz is the Government Plaza in Bern, the capital city of Switzerland. It is situated at the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Innere Neustadt which was built during the second expansion in 1255 to 1260, though the plaza was not built until much later. It is located in front of the Bundeshaus', the Swiss Parliament Building, and it is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
The western third of the modern Bundeshausplatz was originally part of the ditch around the second city wall. In 1765, a plaza was built in the area between the Ballenhaus and the Holzwerkhof.Ballenhaus was demolished in 1820 to make way for the Casino and was located on the site of the modern east wing of the Parliament at Bundesplatz 15. The Holzwerkhof was demolished to make way for the Bundeshaus West and was located at Bundesgasse 1. The new plaza construction was overseen by Niklaus Hebler, who planted Linden trees on the plaza and fenced in the southern side with a balustrade which overlooked the lower city and Aare river. Between 1894 and 1900, the new Bundeshaus was built, and a number of buildings were demolished which increased the size of the plaza. Until 1909, it was known as Parlamentplatz.
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Bärengraben
Coordinates: 46°56′52.87″N 7°27′34.66″E / 46.9480194°N 7.4596278°E / 46.9480194; 7.4596278
The Bärengraben, or Bear Pit, is a well-known tourist attraction, an enclosure housing bears at the eastern edge of the Old City of Bern, next to the Nydeggbrücke and the Aare River. The bear is a symbol of Bern, both the city and canton, and is featured in Bern's coat of arms.
The first records of the bears existing in the city come from 1441. This particular site is the fourth such enclosure and was first opened in 1857. In 1925, a smaller pit was added to raise the young bear cubs. Today, the Bärengraben is part of the city zoo (Dählhölzli) and a heritage site of national significance.
Currently, the historical Bärengraben is empty. Its last two bears were put down in 2008 and 2009 due to old age and ill health. As a replacement, the nearby BärenPark (bear park), an open-air park next to the Aare river has been opened in October 2009.
The Mary Plain series of fourteen children's books are partly set in the Bear Pits At Bern, with the story's main character, Mary Plain and her family living in the pits.
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Bärenplatz
The Bärenplatz (Bear Plaza) is a plaza in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Innere Neustadt which was built during the second expansion from 1255 to 1260. It is located north of Bundesplatz, west of Käfigturm and south of Waisenhausplatz. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
In 1256, the area that became Bärenplatz was a ditch that was part of the second city wall. In 1513 the northern section was walled off to become the Bärengraben (Bear Pits). Then, in 1578 the bridge into the Käfigturm was demolished and in the next year, the southern section was filled in. The southern part of the plaza was used from the hay and wood market. Then in 1668/69 it became home to the Rossmarkt or horse market. When the Bärengraben were moved, the northern section was filled in and came to be known as Holzmarkt (Wood Market). The middle section was then known as Viehmarkt (Cattle Market). The plaza is first mentioned as Bärenplatz in the mid-19th Century.
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Bümpliz
Bümpliz-Oberbottigen is a Stadtteil (district) of the city of Bern, Switzerland. It is situated to the west of the city center and consists of the Quartiere (quarters) Bümpliz, Oberbottigen, Stöckacker, Bethlehem and Brünnen.
As the most recently developed district of Bern, Bümpliz-Oberbottigen is an amalgamation of Bümpliz, a formerly independent suburban municipality, with rural hamlets such as Oberbottigen and Riedbach and modern highrise housing developments. The tower blocks of Gäbelbach, Tscharnergut and Stöckacker, a heritage from the 1960s and 70s, are a prominent part of Bethlehem's cityscape. The most recent quarter, Brünnen, was formally established in September 2008 as part of an ongoing major urban development programme.
In 2006, the district had 31,343 inhabitants, 30% of which were foreigners, mostly South Eastern European nationals. This constitutes more than a third of Bern's entire foreign population. The apartment rents are the city's lowest, and 8.8% of the population received social welfare benefits in 2006, as compared to 4.6% in the city as a whole.
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Bümpliz-Oberbottigen
Bümpliz-Oberbottigen is a Stadtteil (district) of the city of Bern, Switzerland. It is situated to the west of the city center and consists of the Quartiere (quarters) Bümpliz, Oberbottigen, Stöckacker, Bethlehem and Brünnen.
As the most recently developed district of Bern, Bümpliz-Oberbottigen is an amalgamation of Bümpliz, a formerly independent suburban municipality, with rural hamlets such as Oberbottigen and Riedbach and modern highrise housing developments. The tower blocks of Gäbelbach, Tscharnergut and Stöckacker, a heritage from the 1960s and 70s, are a prominent part of Bethlehem's cityscape. The most recent quarter, Brünnen, was formally established in September 2008 as part of an ongoing major urban development programme.
In 2006, the district had 31,343 inhabitants, 30% of which were foreigners, mostly South Eastern European nationals. This constitutes more than a third of Bern's entire foreign population. The apartment rents are the city's lowest, and 8.8% of the population received social welfare benefits in 2006, as compared to 4.6% in the city as a whole.
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Chişinău
Chișinău (Romanian pronunciation: [kiʃiˈnəw]; historically also known as Kishinev, from Russian: Кишинёв) is the capital and largest city of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc. According to January 2012 official estimates, Chișinău proper has a population of 723,500 and the municipality of Chișinău is home to 794,800 residents.
Chișinău is the most economically prosperous locality in Moldova, and its largest transportation hub. As the most economically and socially important municipality in Moldova, the city has a broad range of educational facilities.
The origin of the city's name is unclear. In one version, the name comes from the archaic Romanian word chișla (meaning "spring", "source of water") and nouă ("new"), because it was built around a small spring, located at the corner of Pushkin and Albișoara streets.
An alternative version, by Ștefan Ciobanu, Romanian historian and academician, holds that the name was formed the same way as the name of Chișineu (alternative spelling: Chișinău) in Western Romania, near the border with Hungary. Its Hungarian name is Kisjenő, from which the Romanian name originates. Kisjenő in turn comes from kis "small" + the "Jenő" tribe, one of the seven Hungarian tribes that entered the Carpathian Basin in 896 and gave the name of 21 settlements.
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Christoffelturm
The Christoffelturm was a tower built between the years 1344 and 1346. It was located in the old part of the Swiss city of Bern, in the upper section of Spitalgasse, near Holy Spirit Church.
After a political decision on December 15, 1864, the Christoffelturm was removed by Gottlieb Ott, a Swiss building contractor. Ott began the destruction of the tower in spring of the following year.
The decision to remove the tower, which had become a landmark of sorts, was not met without opposition, and the motion of removal succeeded only by a 415 to 411 vote.
During an extended period of time, other statues existed near or actually on the site where the tower used to stand. These included a statue of King David, both as a boy holding a slingshot, and as a man. The tower also featured a statue of Saint Christopher. An early 20th century plan to erect a figure of the Bernese knight Rudolf von Erlach was never realised.
Bern's other medieval guard towers are the Zytglogge and the Käfigturm. These towers still stand today.
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City of San Marino
The City of San Marino, also known simply as San Marino, is the capital city of the Republic of San Marino on the Italian peninsula, near the Adriatic Sea. The city has a population of 4,493. It is on the western slopes of San Marino's highest point, Monte Titano.
Although the capital, most of the businesses are in Borgo Maggiore. It is the third largest city in the country, after Dogana and Borgo Maggiore. It borders the San Marino municipalities Acquaviva, Borgo Maggiore, Fiorentino, and Chiesanuova and the Italian municipality San Leo.
Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino is centered here.
Due to its being the capital and previously the only city in San Marino, the history of this city is almost the same as the History of San Marino. For more information on that topic, see that article.
The city was founded by Saint Marinus and several Christian refugees in the year 301. From then on the city became a center of Christian refugees who fled from Roman persecution. As a result, the city become the oldest republic in Europe, for the republic's territory at that time only included the single city of San Marino.
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Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (German: Wiener Kongress) was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.
This objective resulted in the redrawing of the continent's political map, establishing the boundaries of France, the Duchy of Warsaw, the Netherlands, the states of the Rhine, the German province of Saxony, and various Italian territories, and the creation of spheres of influence through which Austria, Britain, France and Russia brokered local and regional problems. The Congress of Vienna was the first of a series of international meetings that came to be known as the Concert of Europe, which was an attempt to forge a peaceful balance of power in Europe, and served as a model for later organizations such as the League of Nations and United Nations.
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Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( /ˈkoʊpənheɪɡən/ or /ˈkoʊpənhɑːɡən/; Danish: København pronounced [kʰøb̥m̩ˈhɑʊ̯ˀn] ( listen), Latin: Hafnia) is the capital of Denmark and its most populous city, with an urban population of 1,213,822 (as of 1 January 2012 (2012 -01-01)[update]) and a metropolitan population of 1,935,746 (as of 1 April 2012 (2012 -04-01)[update]). With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region. Within this region, Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö are growing into a combined metropolitan area. Copenhagen is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager.
First documented in the 11th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the beginning of the 15th century. During the 17th century, under the reign of Christian IV, it became a significant regional centre.
Copenhagen is a major regional centre of culture, business, media, and science, as indicated by several international surveys and rankings (see International rankings below). Life science, information technology and shipping are important sectors, and research & development plays a major role in the city's economy. Its strategic location and excellent infrastructure, with the largest airport in Scandinavia,Kastrup, located 14 minutes by train from the city centre, have made it a regional hub and a popular location for regional headquarters and conventions.
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Croatia
Croatia (i/kroʊˈeɪʃə/ kroh-AY-shə; Croatian: Hrvatska pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː]), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska listen (help·info)), is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles) and has diverse, mostly continental and Mediterranean climates. Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The country's population is 4.29 million, most of whom are Croats, with the most common religious denomination being Roman Catholicism.
In the early 7th century the Croats arrived in area of present-day Croatia. They organised the state into two dukedoms by the 9th century. Tomislav became the first king by 925 AD, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Peter Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir. Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs that declared independence from Austria–Hungary and co-founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. A Croatian state briefly existed during World War II as a fascist puppet state. After the war, Croatia became a founding member and a federal constituent of the Second Yugoslavia, a socialist state. In June 1991, Croatia declared independence, which came into effect on 8 October of the same year. The Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration.
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Crown Dependencies
The Crown Dependencies are self-governing possessions of the British Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.
Being independently administered jurisdictions, none forms part of the United Kingdom nor of the European Union.
"The Crown" is defined differently in each Crown Dependency. In Jersey, statements in the 21st century of the constitutional position by the Law Officers of the Crown define it as the "Crown in right of Jersey", with all Crown land in the Bailiwick of Jersey belonging to the Crown in right of Jersey and not to the Crown Estate of the United Kingdom. Legislation of the Isle of Man defines the "Crown in right of the Isle of Man" as being separate from the "Crown in right of the United Kingdom". In Guernsey, legislation refers to the "Crown in right of the Bailiwick", and the Law Officers of the Crown of Guernsey submitted that "The Crown in this context ordinarily means the Crown in right of the république of the Bailiwick of Guernsey" and that this comprises "the collective governmental and civic institutions, established by and under the authority of the Monarch, for the governance of these Islands, including the States of Guernsey and legislatures in the other Islands, the Royal Court and other courts, the Lieutenant Governor, Parish authorities, and the Crown acting in and through the Privy Council." This constitutional concept is also worded as the "Crown in right of the Bailiwick of Guernsey".
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Cyprus
Cyprusi/ˈsaɪprəs/ (Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros, IPA: [ˈcipɾos]; Turkish: Kıbrıs, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs]), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [cipɾiaˈci ðimokɾaˈtia]; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs dʒumhuɾijeˈti]), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria, Lebanon, northwest of Israel and north of Egypt. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the European Union.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site with an "enhanced protection" status in the event of armed conflict by UNESCO, along with the archaeological sites of Paphos and the Painted Churches of the Troodos Region. Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world.
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Czech Republic
The Czech Republic (i/ˈtʃɛk/ CHEK;Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the north, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. Its capital and largest city, with 1.3 million inhabitants, is Prague.
It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire (which reached its greatest territorial extent during the reign of Svatopluk I from the House of Mojmír). After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. During the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). Life in the country was significantly affected by the Hussite wars, during which it faced economic embargo and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) led to the further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. During radical reforms in the 18th century the Bohemian Crown was even de facto abolished (1749). In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I.
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Denmark
The Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark, pronounced [ˈkɔŋəʁiːəð ˈdanmɑɡ̊] ( listen)) is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting the country of Denmark in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America. The kingdom is a unitary state with some power being devolved from Denmark proper to Greenland and the Faroe Islands; this polity is referred to as the Danish Realm. Denmark proper is the hegemonial area, where judicial, executive, and legislative power resides. The Faroe Islands are defined to be a community of people within the kingdom, and the Greenlandic people are defined as a separate people with the right to self-determination.
Denmark is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland and many islands, most notably Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago.
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Douglas, Isle of Man
Coordinates: 54°08′43″N 4°28′54″W / 54.14521°N 4.48172°W / 54.14521; -4.48172
Douglas (Manx: Doolish) is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people (2006). It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping bay of two miles. The River Douglas forms part of the town's harbour and main commercial port.
Douglas is home to the High Courts and the Isle of Man Government.
The town serves as the Island's main hub for business, finance, legal services, shipping, transport, shopping, and entertainment.
The discovery of a bronze weapon in central Douglas, and the large Ballaquayle Viking treasure hoard on the outskirts, both in the 1890s, hint at the early importance of the site now occupied by Douglas. Scholars agree that the name of the town derives from Early Celtic 'Duboglassio' meaning 'black river'. Douglas is twice referred to in the Monastic 'Chronicle of the Kings of Man and the Isles'; first in 1192, when the monks of St Mary's Abbey at Rushen, were transferred there for a four-year stay, then again in 1313, when Robert (Bruce), King of Scotland, spent the night at the 'monastery of Duglas' on his way to seize Castle Rushen. These may be references to the site of the later Nunnery, a little upstream from the port.
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Dublin
Dublin ( /ˈdʌblɨn/; locally /ˈdʊbᵊlən/; Irish: Baile Átha Cliath, meaning "town of the hurdled ford", pronounced [blʲaˈklʲiə] or Áth Cliath, [aː klʲiə], occasionally Duibhlinn) is the capital and most populous city of Ireland. The English name for the city is derived from the Irish name Dubhlinn, meaning "black pool". Dublin is situated near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and the centre of the Dublin Region.
Originally founded as a Viking settlement, it evolved into the Kingdom of Dublin and became the island's principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century; it was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire and the fifth largest in Europe. Dublin entered a period of stagnation following the Act of Union of 1800, but it remained the economic centre for most of the island. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, the new parliament, the Oireachtas, was located in Leinster House. Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State and later the Republic of Ireland.
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Eastern Switzerland
Eastern Switzerland (German: Ostschweiz) is the common name of the region situated to the north of Glarus Alps, with the cantons of Schaffhausen, Thurgau, St. Gallen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. The north of canton Graubünden (with the city of Chur) is sometime considered to be part of Eastern Switzerland.
Eastern Switzerland is also defined as one of the NUTS-2 regions of Switzerland. In this case, it includes the cantons of Glarus, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, St. Gallen, Thurgau, and Graubünden.
Coordinates: 47°18′N 9°18′E / 47.3°N 9.3°E / 47.3; 9.3
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Einsteinhaus
The Einsteinhaus (Einstein House) is a museum and a former residence of Albert Einstein. It is located on Kramgasse No. 49 in Bern, Switzerland.
A flat on the second floor of the house was occupied by Albert Einstein, his wife Mileva Marić and their son Hans Albert Einstein from 1903 to 1905. The Annus Mirabilis papers, which contributed substantially to the foundation of modern physics, were written by Einstein in 1905, while he worked at the Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.
The living conditions of Einstein and his family are shown accurately in the apartment on the second floor with furniture from that time. Einstein’s biography and his life’s work are presented on the third floor.
A larger permanent exhibition is located at the Historical Museum of Bern.
Coordinates: 46°56′52″N 7°27′00″E / 46.9479°N 7.4499°E / 46.9479; 7.4499
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Espace Mittelland
Espace Mittelland is the common name of the region of Switzerland encompassing the cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Jura, Neuchâtel and Solothurn. It is one of the NUTS-2 regions of Switzerland.
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Faroe Islands
Coordinates: 62°00′N 06°47′W / 62°N 6.783°W / 62; -6.783
The Faroe Islands (Faroese: Føroyar pronounced [ˈfœɹjaɹ], Danish: Færøerne Danish pronunciation: [ˈfæɐ̯øːˀɐnə]) are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Norway and Iceland. The islands form a self-governing country under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark. The total area is approximately 1,400 km² (540 sq mi) with a 2010 population of almost 50,000 people.
The Faroe Islands has been a self-governing dependency of Denmark since 1948. Over the years, the Faroese have taken control of most domestic matters. Areas that remain the responsibility of Denmark include military defence, police, justice, currency and foreign affairs. The Faroe Islands also has representatives in the Nordic Council as members of the Danish delegation.
The Faroe Islands were associated with and taxed by Denmark and Norway up to 1814, when Norway fell under the rule of Sweden. Scandinavia was in political turmoil following the Sixth Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars, when the Treaty of Kiel granted Denmark control over the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland in 1814. The Danish trade monopoly ended in 1856.
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Finland
Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E / 65; 027
Finlandi/ˈfɪnlənd/ ( Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities, and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.
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France
France (Englishi/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
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Georgia (country)
Georgiai/ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ (Georgian: საქართველო Sakartvelo, IPA: [sɑkʰɑrtʰvɛlɔ] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is almost 4.7 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
During the classical era independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 11th–12th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s. This lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, after which the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms.
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Gerechtigkeitsgasse
The Gerechtigkeitsgasse ("Justice Alley") is one of the principal streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. Together with its extension, the Kramgasse, it is the heart of the inner city.Hans Gieng's most famous fountain figure, the statue of Lady Justice on the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen, commands the view of the street's gentle slopes and curves.
The Gerechtigkeitsgasse and its buildings are a heritage site of national significance and part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
The Gerechtigkeitsgasse is 260 meters (850 ft) long. It is the eastern half and the oldest part of the central East-West axis of the city's oldest neighbourhood, the Zähringerstadt, built right after the founding of the city in 1191. It continues to the west as the Kramgasse after being crossed by the Kreuzgasse. In the west, the Gerechtigkeitsgasse bifurcates as it enters the Nydegg neighbourhood: the Nydeggstalden leads to the Untertorbrücke, and the Nydeggasse to the more recent Nydeggbrücke. Several narrow alleys and passageways connect the Kramgasse to the parallel Postgasse in the north and the Junkerngasse in the south.
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Germany
Germany (i/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.
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Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( /dʒɨˈbrɒltər/) is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. It has an area of 6.8 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi) and a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region. At its foot is the densely populated city area, home to almost 30,000 Gibraltarians and other nationalities.
An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It was an important base for the Royal Navy; today its economy is based largely on tourism, financial services, and shipping.
The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum and again in 2002. Under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the UK Government.
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Glarus thrust
Coordinates: 46°55′0″N 9°15′0″E / 46.916667°N 9.25°E / 46.916667; 9.25
The Glarus thrust (German: Glarner Überschiebung) is a major thrust fault in the Alps of eastern Switzerland. Along the thrust the Helvetic nappes were thrusted more than 100 km to the north over the external Aarmassif and Infrahelvetic complex. The thrust forms the contact between older (Helvetic) Permo-Triassic rock layers of the Verrucano group and younger (external) Jurassic and Cretaceous limestones and Paleogene flysch and molasse.
The Glarus thrust crops out over a relatively large area in the cantons Glarus, St. Gallen and Graubünden, due to its horizontal orientation and the high local relief. Famous outcrops include those at Lochsite near Glarus (the town) and in a mountain cliff called Tschingelhörner between Elm and Flims (in the same cliff is a natural hole called the Martinsloch).
Thrust faults of this kind are not uncommon in many mountain chains around the world, but the Glarus thrust is a well accessible example and has as such played an important role in the development of geological knowledge on mountain building. For this reason the area in which the thrust is found was declared a geotope, a geologic UNESCO world heritage site, under the name "Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona." The area of this "tectonic arena" encompasses 32,850 hectares of mainly mountainous landscape in 19 communities between the Surselva, Linthtal and Walensee. In the arena are a number of peaks higher than 3000 meters, such as Surenstock (its Romansh name is Piz Sardona, from which the name comes), Ringelspitz and Pizol.
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Greece
Greecei/ˈɡriːs/ (Greek: Ελλάδα, Ellada, IPA: [eˈlaða] ( listen) historically in Katharevousa and Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellas, IPA: [eˈlas] and [helːás] respectively), officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Elliniki Dimokratia, IPA: [eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia]), is a country in Southern Europe, politically considered part of Western Europe.Athens is the capital and the largest city in the country (its urban area also including Piraeus). The population of the country is around 11 million.
Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited), including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islands among others. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570 ft).
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Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey ( /ˈɡɜrnzi/ GURN-zee; French: Bailliage de Guernesey, IPA: [bajaʒ də ɡɛʁnəzɛ]), is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, and Lihou. Furthermore, the Bailiwick includes Alderney and Sark, which each has its own parliament.
Although its defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom, the Bailiwick of Guernsey is not part of the UK; and while it participates in the Common Travel Area, it is not part of the European Union.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey is included (along with the Bailiwick of Jersey) in the grouping known as the Channel Islands.
The name of Guernsey, as well as that of neighbouring Jersey, is of Old Norse origin. The second element of Guernsey (-ey) is the Old Norse for "island". Guern similar to Spanish "Cuerno", French "Coi(r)n", Dutch "Hoorn", Frisian "Hoarn", Swedish "Hörn", Swiss "Gorn" means "Corner". - Corner Island.
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Helsinki
Helsinki ( listen (help·info); Swedish: Helsingfors, listen (help·info)) is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 596,233 (31 January 2012), making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is located some 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of St. Petersburg, Russia and 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia. Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities.
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area includes the city of Helsinki and three other cities: Espoo and Vantaa, which immediately border Helsinki to the west and north, respectively; and Kauniainen, which is an enclave within the city of Espoo. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the world's northernmost urban area among those with a population of over one million people, and the city is the northernmost capital of a EU member state. Altogether 1.1 million people, approximately one in five Finns, live in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
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Herrengasse (Bern)
The Herrengasse ("Nobles' Lane") is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It was the southern most street of the old Zähringerstadt (Zähringer town) of Bern and ended at the first city wall. Three buildings on the Herrengasse are listed on the Swiss inventory of heritage site of national significance and it is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Herrengasse, like most streets in the Old City, runs east to west. However due to the increasing width of the Aare peninsula the street only runs a short distance from the Münsterplatz (the plaza in front of the Münster of Bern) to the Casinoplatz. The Herrengasse is divided into 2 sections along the center of the street. The Sonnseite (Sunny Side) was originally the southern flank of the 1191 Zähringerstadt. The Schattseite (Shady Side) was built later as the original city expanded within the city walls from 1191. In addition to the division along the street, there is also a division in the middle of the street. Along both sides of the street there are two separate rows of buildings, with a small passageway between them which runs north and south. South of the Herrengasse the Aare peninsula drops away sharply toward the Aare River. Near the Herrengasse, at Casinoplatz, the modern Kirchenfeld Bridge crosses the river to the heights of Kirchenfeld.
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Hungary
Hungaryi/ˈhʌŋɡəri/ (Hungarian: Magyarország [ˈmɒɟɒrorsaːɡ] ( listen)) is a country, which is located in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The country's capital, and largest city, is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian, also known as Magyar, which is part of the Finno-Ugric group and is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
Following a Celt (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (AD 9 - c. 430) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th century by the Hungarian prince Árpád, whose great-grandson Saint Stephen I was crowned with a crown sent by the pope from Rome in 1000 AD. The Kingdom of Hungary lasted for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centres of the Western world. After about 150 years of partial Ottoman occupation (1541–1699), Hungary was integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy, and later constituted half of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867–1918).
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Iceland
Icelandi/ˈaɪslənd/ (Icelandic: Ísland, IPA: [ˈislant]) is a Nordic European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The country has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Reykjavík, with the surrounding areas in the southwestern region of the country being home to two-thirds of the country's population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior mainly consists of a plateau characterised by sand fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle.
According to Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in AD 874 when the chieftain Ingólfur Arnarson became the first permanent Norse settler on the island. Others had visited the island earlier and stayed over winter. Over the following centuries, Norsemen settled Iceland, bringing with them thralls (slaves) of Gaelic origin. From 1262 to 1918 Iceland was part of the Norwegian and later the Danish monarchies. Until the 20th century, the Icelandic population relied largely on fisheries and agriculture, and the country was one of the poorest and least developed in the world. Industrialisation of the fisheries and aid from the Marshall Plan brought prosperity in the years after World War II, and by the 1990s it was one of the world's wealthiest countries. In 1994, Iceland became party to the European Economic Area, which made it possible for the economy to diversify into economic and financial services.
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Isle of Man
The Isle of Man ( /ˈmæn/; Manx: Ellan Vannin, pronounced [ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn]), otherwise known simply as Mann (Manx: Mannin, IPA: [ˈmanɪn]), is a self-governing Crown Dependency of the United Kingdom, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. The island is not part of the United Kingdom, but its foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of the UK Government. Although the United Kingdom does not usually interfere in the island's domestic matters, its "good government" is ultimately the responsibility of the Crown (that is, in practice, the Government of the United Kingdom).
The island has been inhabited since before 6500 BC. Gaelic cultural influence began in the 5th century AD, and the Manx language, a branch of the Gaelic languages, gradually emerged. In the 9th century, the Norse began to settle there. A Norse-Gaelic culture arose and the island came under Norse control. In 1266, the island became part of Scotland as formalised by the Treaty of Perth. After a period of alternating rule by the kings of Scotland and England, the island came under the feudal overlordship of the English Crown in 1399. The lordship revested into the British Crown in 1764 but the island never became part of Great Britain or its successor the United Kingdom and retained its status as an internally self-governing Crown dependency.
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Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, French: Bailliage de Jersey ( /ˈdʒɜrzi/, French: [ʒɛʁzɛ]; Jèrriais: Jèrri), is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and other rocks and reefs.
Jersey is a self-governing parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its own financial, legal and judicial systems.
The island of Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands. Although the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as 'the Channel Islands', they are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a separate relationship to the British Crown from the other Crown Dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an international identity separate from that of the UK but the United Kingdom is constitutionally responsible for the defence of Jersey. Jersey is not a part of the European Union but has a special relationship with it, being treated as part of the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods.
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Junkerngasse
The Junkerngasse ("Nobility Lane") is a street in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It connects the tip of the Aar peninsula (the Nydegg neighbourhood) to the Münster.
The Junkerngasse is the Old City's best-preserved street. The riverfront of its palatial houses with their late Baroque façades and extensive garden terraces has been described in an art history guidebook as "one of Europe's most magnificent cityscapes".
The Junkerngasse connects to the generally parallel Gerechtigkeitsgasse and to the Nydegggasse in the east, and continues as the Münstergasse to the west. It is connected to the Gerechtigkeitsgasse by small alleyways leading north (Oberes and Unteres Gerechtigkeitsgässchen). The Bubenbergrain descends through the Bubenbergtor, a former city gate, towards the river Aare in the south.
The street was called Kilchgasse ("Church Lane") up until the 16th century, and was renamed from Edle Gasse ("Noble Lane") to Junkerngasse in the 17th century. The latter names reflect the street's character as a residential area almost exclusively used by Bern's leading patrician families. Only a few houses (nos. 7–15) were originally craftsmen's houses.
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Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan (i/ˌkɑːzəkˈstɑːn/ or /ˌkæzəkˈstæn/) (Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, pronounced [qɑzɑqstɑ́n]; Russian: Казахстан [kəzɐxˈstan]), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Europe. The ninth largest country in the world by land area, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of 2,727,300 square kilometres (1,053,000 sq mi) is larger than Western Europe. It is neighbored clockwise from the north by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea. Although Kazakhstan does not share a border with Mongolia, its most easterly point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Mongolia's western tip. The terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.6 million people (2011 estimate) Kazakhstan has the 62nd largest population in the world, though its population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.). The capital was moved in 1998 from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, to Astana.
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Kindlifresserbrunnen
The Kindlifresserbrunnen (German for Child Eater Fountain) is a fountain at the Kornhausplatz (Granary Place) in Bern, Switzerland. It is one of the Old City of Bern's fountains from the 16th century.
It was created in 1545/46 by Hans Gieng in place of a wooden fountain from the 15th century. The new fountain's original name was Platzbrunnen (Place Fountain); the current name was used first in 1666. Kindli is a Swiss German diminutive for the German word Kind, meaning child. A literal translation of the name Kindlifresserbrunnen therefore would be "Fountain of the Eater of Little Children".
The fountain sculpture is a sitting ogre devouring a naked child. Placed at his side is a bag containing more children. Because the ogre is wearing a pointed hat resembling a Jewish hat, it has been speculated about the possibility of the ogre being the depiction of a Jew as an expression of blood libel against Jews. According to other theories it is a depiction of the Greek god Cronus. Probably, however, it is just a carnival character intended to frighten disobedient children.
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Kochergasse
The Kochergasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Innere Neustadt which was built during the expansion of 1255 to 1260. It runs in front of the Bundeshaus East and it is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Until 1740, Kochergasse was known as Judengasse (Jewish Lane) after the Judentor (Jewish Gate). The Judentor was originally a fortified tower on the western city wall. The tower was built between 1458 and 1473. It was demolished around 1678 to make way for the Ballenhaus. It was originally located about 20 m (66 ft) from the modern Federal Palace of Switzerland building at Bundesplatz 15..
Between 1740 and 1917 it was known as Inselgasse after the Inselspital (Island Hospital). It was changed in 1917, in memory of Emil Theodor Kocher..
Coordinates: 46°56′48.59″N 7°26′49.1″E / 46.9468306°N 7.446972°E / 46.9468306; 7.446972
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Kornhausplatz
The Kornhausplatz is a plaza in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is on the edge of the Zähringerstadt which was built during the founding of the city in 1191, though the plaza wasn't built until later. It is located near the Kornhausbrücke (Kornhaus bridge) and the Zytglogge clock tower. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Kornhausplatz was originally the ditch around the first city wall. Following the Great Fire of 1405 the ditch (known as the Steininbrügg-Graben) was filled in to form a plaza. For about 3 centuries, it was known as Platz (literally: The Plaza or The Place). In 1545/46 the Kindlifresserbrunnen (Bernese German for Child Eater Fountain) was built by Hans Gieng in place of a wooden fountain on the Platz. Originally it was known as Platzbrunnen (Place Fountain), though the current name was used first in 1666.
In 1711-1715 the Kornhaus (German for granary) was built on the western side of the Platz. Following construction of the Kornhaus, the Platz was known as Kornhausplatz or Kornmarkt (Grain market).
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Kosovo
Kosovo ( /ˈkɒsəvoʊˌ ˈkoʊsəvoʊ/; Albanian: Kosovë, Kosova; Serbian: Косово or Косово и Метохија or Космет, Kosovo or Kosovo i Metohija or Kosmet) is a region in southeastern Europe. In antiquity, it was known as the independent kingdom, and later Roman province, of Dardania. Part of the medieval Serbia, it was then conquered by the Ottoman Empire, later incorporated into Serbia after the First Balkan War and before the constitution of Yugoslavia, later still it became the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (Serbian: Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo i Metohija) within Serbia (Serbia then being one of the constituent republics of Yugoslavia). Long-term severe ethnic tensions between Kosovo's Albanian and Serb populations have left Kosovo ethnically divided, resulting in inter-ethnic violence, including the Kosovo War of 1999. Following the Kosovo War, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) relinquished governance of this territory, whose governance was taken over by the United Nations, Kosovo remained legally the sovereign territory of the FRY after the transfer of authority. The partially recognised Republic of Kosovo (Albanian: Republika e Kosovës; Serbian: Република Косово, Republika Kosovo), a self-declared independent state, has de facto control over most of the territory, while North Kosovo, the largest Kosovo Serb enclave, is under the control of institutions of the Republic of Serbia.Serbia does not recognise the unilateral secession of Kosovo and considers it a UN-governed entity within its sovereign territory.
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Kramgasse
The Kramgasse ("Grocers Alley") is one of the principal streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It was the center of urban life in Bern until the 19th century. Today, it is a popular shopping street. Its length, slight curve and long line of Baroque façades combine to produce Bern's most impressive streetscape.
The Kramgasse and its buildings are a heritage site of national significance and part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
The Kramgasse is some 330 meters (1,080 ft) long and lies at the center of the old city. It is the western half of the central axis of the city's oldest part, the Zähringerstadt, built right after the founding of the city in 1191. It is bounded to the west by the Zytglogge, Bern's iconic clock tower that served as the city's main gate tower in the 12th century. In the east, the Kreuzgasse, literally a "crossroads", separates it from the other half of the old main street, the Gerechtigkeitsgasse. Several narrow alleys and passageways connect the Kramgasse to the parallel Rathausgasse in the north and the Münstergasse in the south.
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Lake Geneva region
Lake Geneva region (French: Région lémanique) is the common name of the region of Switzerland encompassing the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Valais. It is one of the NUTS-2 regions of Switzerland.
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Latvia
Latviai/ˈlætviə/ (Latvian: Latvija), officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika), is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia (border length 343 km), to the south by Lithuania (588 km), to the east by the Russian Federation (276 km), to the southeast by Belarus (141 km), and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden. With 2,067,887 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi) it is one of the least populous and least densely populated countries of the European Union. The capital of Latvia is Riga. The official language is Latvian and the currency is called Lats (Ls). The country has a temperate seasonal climate.
The Latvians are a Baltic people, culturally related to the Lithuanians. Together with the Finno-Ugric Livs (or Livonians), the Latvians are the indigenous people of Latvia.Latvian is an Indo-European language and along with Lithuanian the only two surviving members of the Baltic branch. Indigenous minority languages are Latgalian and the nearly extinct Finno-Ugric Livonian language. In terms of geography, territory and population Latvia is the middle of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Latvia and Estonia share a long common history: historical Livonia, times of German (Teutonic Order), Polish-Lithuanian, Swedish, Russian, Nazi German and Soviet rule, 13th century Christianization and 16th century Protestant Reformation. Both countries are home to a large number of ethnic Russians (26.9% in Latvia and 25.5% in Estonia) of whom some are non-citizens. Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant, except for the region of Latgalia in the southeast which is historically predominantly Roman Catholic.
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Lavaux
The Lavaux is a region in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, in the district of Lavaux. Although there is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the actual vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area. The Lavaux consist of 830 hectares of terraced wineyards that stretch for about 30 km along the south-facing northern shores of Lake Geneva. It benefits from a temperate climate, but the southern aspect of the terraces with the reflection of the sun in the lake and the stone walls gives a mediterranean character to the region. The main wine grape variety grown here is the Chasselas.
Under cantonal law, the vineyards of the Lavaux are protected from development. Since July 2007, the Lavaux is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Lavaux is the subject of an eponyme song by American musician Prince, in his album "20Ten".
Coordinates: 46°29′31″N 06°44′46″E / 46.49194°N 6.74611°E / 46.49194; 6.74611
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Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (i/ˈlɪktənstaɪn/ LIK-tən-styn; German: Fürstentum Liechtenstein, German pronunciation: [ˈfʏʁstn̩tuːm ˈlɪçtn̩ʃtaɪn]) is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 square kilometres (62 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan. Liechtenstein has the highest gross domestic product per person in the world when adjusted by purchasing power parity, and has the world's lowest external debt. Liechtenstein also has the second lowest unemployment rate in the world at 1.5% (Monaco is first).
Liechtenstein is the smallest yet the richest (by measure of GDP per capita) German-speaking country in the world and the only country to lie entirely within the Alps. It is known as a principality as it is a constitutional monarchy headed by a prince. Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities. Much of its terrain is mountainous, making it a winter sports destination. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the south (Oberland, upper land) and in the north (Unterland, lower land). The country has a strong financial sector located in the capital, Vaduz, and has been identified as a tax haven. It is a member of the European Free Trade Association and part of the European Economic Area, the Schengen Area but not of the European Union.
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Lithuania
Lithuania (i/ˌlɪθuːˈeɪniə/ or /ˌlɪθjuːˈeɪniə/; Lithuanian: Lietuva), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe, the largest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and a Russian exclave (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 3.2 million as of 2011, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The Lithuanians are a Baltic people, and the official language, Lithuanian, is one of only two living languages (together with Latvian) in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
For centuries, the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea was inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, who was crowned as King of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first Lithuanian state, on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe: present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
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Ljubljana
Ljubljana (locally: [lʲubˈlʲana] (
listen); German: Laibach, Italian: Lubiana, Latin: Labacum or Aemona) is the capital of Slovenia and its only centre of international importance. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. With approximately 272,000 inhabitants, it classifies as the only Slovenian large town. Throughout its history, it has been influenced by its geographic position at the crossroads of the Slavic world with the Germanic and Latin cultures.
For centuries, Ljubljana was the capital of the historical region of Carniola. Now it is the cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative centre of Slovenia, independent since 1991. Its transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and cultural tradition are contributing factors to its leading position.
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London
Londoni/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City and has the fifth-largest city GDP in the world (and the largest in Europe). London has been described as a world cultural capital. It was the world's most visited city during 2011 and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport by number of international passengers. London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe. In 2012 London will become the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.
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Longyearbyen
Coordinates: 78°13′N 15°39′E / 78.22°N 15.65°E / 78.22; 15.65
Longyearbyen is the largest settlement and the administrative center of Svalbard, Norway. As of 2008, the town had a population of 2,040. Longyearbyen is located in the valley of Longyeardalen and on the shore of Adventfjorden, a bay of Isfjorden located on the west coast of Spitsbergen. Since 2002, Longyearbyen Community Council has had many of the same responsibilities of a municipality, including utilities, education, cultural facilities, fire department, roads and ports. The town is also the seat of the Governor of Svalbard and is the world's northernmost town.
Known as Longyear City until 1926, the town was established by and named after John Munroe Longyear, whose Arctic Coal Company started coal mining operations in 1906. Operations were taken over by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK) in 1916, which still conducts mining. The town was almost completely destroyed by the German Kriegsmarine on 8 August 1943, but was rebuilt after the Second World War. Traditionally, Longyearbyen was a company town, but most mining operations have moved to Sveagruva since the 1990s, while the town has seen an large increase in tourism and research. This has seen the arrival of institutions such as the University Centre in Svalbard, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and Svalbard Satellite Station. The community is served by Svalbard Airport, Longyear and Svalbard Church.
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Luxembourg
Luxembourg (i/ˈlʌksəmbɜrɡ/ LUKS-əm-burg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg, Dutch: Groothertogdom Luxemburg), is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland ("good country") in the south. Luxembourg has a population of over half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi). A representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is ruled by a grand duke. It is now the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the world's highest GDP (nominal) per capita according to the IMF. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish Road when Spain was the principal European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 16th–17th centuries.
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Luxembourg (city)
The city of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuerg, German: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City (Luxembourgish: Stad Lëtzebuerg, French: Ville de Luxembourg, German: Stadt Luxemburg), is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg. The city contains the historic Luxembourg Castle, established by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages, around which a settlement developed.
Luxembourg City lies at the heart of Western Europe, situated 213 km (132 mi) by road from Brussels, 372 km (231 mi) from Paris, 209 km (130 mi) from Cologne, and 65 km (40 mi) from Metz in northeast France.
As of 2011, the commune of Luxembourg City had a population of 94,034, which was almost three times the population of the country's second most populous commune. The city's metropolitan population, including that of surrounding communes of Hesperange, Sandweiler, Strassen, and Walferdange, is 103,973.
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Madrid
Madrid (English /məˈdrɪd/, Spanish: [ma'ðrid]) is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third largest in the European Union after London and Paris. The city spans a total of 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi).
The city is located on the Manzanares river in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid (which comprises the city of Madrid, its conurbation and extended suburbs and villages); this community is bordered by the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political centre of Spain. The current mayor is Ana Botella from the People's Party (PP).
Madrid urban agglomeration has the 3rd largest GDP in the European Union and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, environment, media, fashion, science, culture, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Due to its economic output, high standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial centre of Southern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula; it hosts the head offices of the vast majority of the major Spanish companies, such as Telefónica, Iberia or Repsol. Madrid is the most touristic city of Spain, the fourth-most touristic of the continent, and is the 10th most livable city in the world according to Monocle magazine, in its 2010 index. Madrid also ranks among the 12 greenest European cities in 2010. Madrid is currently a Candidate City for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
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Malta
Maltai/ˈmɒltə/, officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya, with Gibraltar 1,755 km (1,091 mi) to the west and Alexandria 1,508 km (937 mi) to the east. Malta covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi) in land area, making it one of the world's smallest states. It is also one of the most densely populated countries worldwide. The de facto capital city of Malta is Valletta; the largest town, Birkirkara. The main island comprises many towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with a population of 368,250 according to Eurostat. The country has two official languages, Maltese (constitutionally the national language) and English.
Throughout history, Malta's location has given it great strategic importance, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Habsburg Spain, Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and in 2008 it became part of the eurozone.
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Mariehamn
Mariehamn (Finnish: Maarianhamina) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. Like all of Åland, Mariehamn is unilingually Swedish-speaking and around 88% of the inhabitants speak it as their native language.
The town was named after Maria Alexandrovna, the Empress consort of Alexander II of Russia. Mariehamn was founded in 1861, around the village of Övernäs, in what was at the time part of the municipality of Jomala. The city has since expanded and incorporated more of Jomala territory. The city is located on a peninsula, and has two important harbours, one located on the western shore and one on the eastern shore. The Western Harbour is an important international harbour with daily traffic to Sweden and mainland Finland. A powerful incentive for Baltic ferries to stop at Mariehamn is that, with respect to indirect taxation, Åland is not part of the EU customs zone and so duty-free goods can be sold aboard. Mariehamn Airport is located in the neighbouring municipality of Jomala, some 3 kilometres (2 mi) north-west of Mariehamn city centre.
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Marktgasse
The Marktgasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Innere Neustadt which was built during the 13th Century. It runs from the Käfigturm between Waisenhausplatz and Bärenplatz in the west to the Zytglogge between Kornhausplatz and Theaterplatz in the east. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Marktgasse was first mentioned in 1286 as nova civitas bernensis. After the construction of the 3rd city wall the street was known as Innere Neuenstadt. This was shortened and until the early 19th Century, the street was known unofficially as Neuenstadt. The name Wybermärit (märit is Swiss-German for the German word markt which means market) is mentioned in the 18th Century. Officially it was shortened into Marktgasse in 1798, but this only became common in the early 20th Century.
Coordinates: 46°56′52.61″N 7°26′50.14″E / 46.9479472°N 7.4472611°E / 46.9479472; 7.4472611
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Marzilibahn
The Marzilibahn, officially the Drahtseilbahn Marzili–Stadt Bern (Funicular Marzili–City of Bern) is a very short funicular in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Its 105 meters of track lead from the Marzili neighbourhood to the Bundeshaus, the seat of the Swiss federal government and parliament, in the Old City of Bern.
The Marzilibahn was proposed by a committee of seven Bernese entrepreneurs, who received an 80-year operating license by the Swiss Federal Assembly on 13 December 1884. Construction began in March 1885 and was hastily completed to allow a start of operations on 19 July 1885, to coincide with the opening of the Eidgenössisches Schützenfest, the Swiss marksmen's festival, in Bern. As originally built, the tracks had a length of 112 metres (122 yd) and spanned a height difference of 31 metres (34 yd).
The cars were water-powered: a tank in the upper car was filled with up to 3.5 tons of water from the city stream (Stadtbach). This car, being heavier, then pulled the other one up the slope, after which the water would be drained and the process repeated with the other car. Up to thirty persons could be transported upwards in this manner. The descent was controlled by an operator on the forward platform on the upper car, who communicated with his colleague in the lower car by means of bell signals.
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Mattequartier
The Mattequartier is a historic section in the Old City of Bern in Bern, Switzerland.
The first expansion of Bern occurred as the city was founded in 1191. The central and oldest neighbourhood was known as the Zähringerstadt (Zähringer town) after the founder, Duke Berthold V of Zähringen. While the Zähringerstadt grew, the area below the Zähringerstadt along the banks of the Aare river developed into the Mattequartier.
Situated in the southeast of the Aare peninsula, the Mattequartier, together with the Nydegg, constitute medieval Bern's smallest neighbourhood. Workshops and mercantile activity prevailed in this area, and medieval sources tell of numerous complaints about the ceaseless and apparently nerve-wracking noise of machinery, carts and commerce. The Matte area at the riverside features three artificial channels, through which Aare water was diverted to power three city-owned watermills built in 1360. In the early 20th century, a small hydroelectric plant was built in that location. Nearby, the busy Schiffländte (ship landing-place) allowed for the reloading of goods transported by boat up and down the river.
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Minsk
Coordinates: 53°54′N 27°34′E / 53.9°N 27.567°E / 53.9; 27.567
Minsk (Russian: Минск, [mʲinsk]; Belarusian: Мінск, pronounced [minsk]) is the capital and largest city in Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Niamiha rivers. Minsk is also a headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus; it is also the administrative centre of Minsk Region (voblast) and Minsk raion (district). It has a population of 1,836,808 inhabitants (2009).
The earliest historic references to Minsk date to the 11th century (1067), when it was noted as a provincial city within the principality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers. In 1242, Minsk became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499.
From 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, as a consequence of the Second Partition of Poland. From 1919–1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union.
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Moldova
Moldovai/mɒlˈdoʊvə/, officially the Republic of Moldova (Moldovan/Romanian: Republica Moldova pronounced [reˈpublika molˈdova]) is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991 as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On 29 July 1994, the new constitution of Moldova was adopted. A strip of Moldova's internationally recognized territory on the east bank of the river Dniester has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990.
The nation is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. Moldova is a member state of the United Nations, Council of Europe, WTO, OSCE, GUAM, CIS, BSEC and other international organizations. Moldova currently aspires to join the European Union, and has implemented the first three-year Action Plan within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).
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Monaco
Monacoi/ˈmɒnəkoʊ/, officially the Principality of Monaco (French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque: Principatu de Múnegu; Italian: Principato di Monaco; Occitan: Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city state, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. Bordered by France on three sides, with one side bordering the Mediterranean Sea, its center is about 16 km (9.9 mi) from Italy, and is only 15 km (9.3 mi) north east of Nice, France. It has an area of 1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi), and a population of 35,986, making Monaco the second smallest and the most densely populated country in the world. Monaco has a land border of only 4.4 km (2.7 mi), a coastline of 4.1 km (2.5 mi), and a width that varies between 1.7 km (1.1 mi) and 349 metres (382 yards). The highest point in the country is a narrow pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires district, which is 161 metres (528 feet) above sea level. Monaco's most populated Quartier is Monte Carlo, and the most populated Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins. After a recent expansion of Port Hercules, Monaco's total area is 2.05 km2 (0.79 sq mi), with new plans to extend the district of Fontvieille, with land reclaimed from the Mediterranean Sea.
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Monte San Giorgio
Monte San Giorgio is a wooded mountain (1,097 m above sea level) located between the south of canton Ticino in Switzerland and the region of Lombardy in Italy. Monte San Giorgio became a UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2003, because it "is the single best known record of marine life in the Triassic period, and records important remains of life on land as well." The Italian side of the mountain was added as an extension to the World Heritage Site in 2010.
Media related to Monte San Giorgio at Wikimedia Commons
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Montenegro
Montenegro (i/ˌmɒntɨˈneɪɡroʊ/ or /ˌmɒntɨˈniːɡroʊ/; or /ˌmɒntɨˈnɛɡroʊ/; Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора [tsr̩̂ːnaː ɡɔ̌ra] ( listen), meaning "Black Mountain") is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Prijestonica (Пријестоница), meaning the former Royal Capital City.
In the 10th century, there existed three Slavic principalities on the territory of Montenegro: Duklja, roughly corresponding to the southern half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia, the north. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in independence of Duklja and the establishment of the Vojislavljević dynasty. Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislav's son, Mihailo (1046–81), and his son Bodin (1081–1101). By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm, which at the time was part of the Serbian Grand Principality of the Nemanjić dynasty.
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Moscow
Moscow (
/ˈmɒskaʊ/ or /ˈmɒskoʊ/; Russian: Москва́, tr. Moskva; IPA: [mɐˈskva] ( listen)) is the capital and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center of Russia and the continent. Moscow is the northernmost megacity on Earth, the most populous city in Europe, and the 6th largest city proper in the world. Its population, according to the results of the 2010 Census, is 11,503,501. Based on Forbes 2011, Moscow has the largest community of billionaires in the world.
Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia. In the course of its history the city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Soviet Union. Moscow is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, an ancient fortress that is today the residence of the Russian President and of the executive branch of the Government of Russia. The Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in Moscow.
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Münster (Bern)
The Münster of Bern (German: Berner Münster) is a Swiss Reformed cathedral, (or minster) in the old city of Bern, Switzerland. Built in the Gothic style, its construction started in 1421. Its tower, with a height of 100.6 m (330 ft), was only completed in 1893. It is the tallest cathedral in Switzerland and is a Cultural Property of National Significance.
The Münster of Bern is located on the southern side of the Aare peninsula. The cathedral is oriented east and west like the rest of the Old City of Bern. To the north, Münstergasse runs along the side of the building. The west facade of the Münster dominates Münsterplatz. On the south side of the cathedral is the Münsterplattform.
It is a three nave basilica without a transept. The entire cathedral is 84.2 meters (276 ft) long and 33.68 m (110.5 ft) wide. The central nave is 39.37 m (129.2 ft) long by 11.10 m (36.4 ft) wide and is 20.70 m (67.9 ft) high. The two side naves are very similar in dimensions, the north nave is 52.50 m (172.2 ft) long, while the southern one is slightly longer at 52.72 m (173.0 ft). They are both 6.45 m (21.2 ft) wide and 10.40 m (34.1 ft) high. The altar house and choir together are 25.20 m (82.7 ft) long, 10.92 m (35.8 ft) wide and 19.40 m (63.6 ft) high. The cathedral has a single tower in the west, which is 100.60 m (330.1 ft) high. Below the tower, there is a 10.15 m (33.3 ft) long by 10.46 m (34.3 ft) wide, tower hall.
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Münster of Bern
The Münster of Bern (German: Berner Münster) is a Swiss Reformed cathedral, (or minster) in the old city of Bern, Switzerland. Built in the Gothic style, its construction started in 1421. Its tower, with a height of 100.6 m (330 ft), was only completed in 1893. It is the tallest cathedral in Switzerland and is a Cultural Property of National Significance.
The Münster of Bern is located on the southern side of the Aare peninsula. The cathedral is oriented east and west like the rest of the Old City of Bern. To the north, Münstergasse runs along the side of the building. The west facade of the Münster dominates Münsterplatz. On the south side of the cathedral is the Münsterplattform.
It is a three nave basilica without a transept. The entire cathedral is 84.2 meters (276 ft) long and 33.68 m (110.5 ft) wide. The central nave is 39.37 m (129.2 ft) long by 11.10 m (36.4 ft) wide and is 20.70 m (67.9 ft) high. The two side naves are very similar in dimensions, the north nave is 52.50 m (172.2 ft) long, while the southern one is slightly longer at 52.72 m (173.0 ft). They are both 6.45 m (21.2 ft) wide and 10.40 m (34.1 ft) high. The altar house and choir together are 25.20 m (82.7 ft) long, 10.92 m (35.8 ft) wide and 19.40 m (63.6 ft) high. The cathedral has a single tower in the west, which is 100.60 m (330.1 ft) high. Below the tower, there is a 10.15 m (33.3 ft) long by 10.46 m (34.3 ft) wide, tower hall.
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Münstergasse
The Münstergasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Zähringerstadt which was built during the foundation of the old city in 1191. However, until 1967 it was parts of several other streets. It runs along the Cathedral and it is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
On 1 November 1967 the Münstergasse was created from several other streets. Portions of Kesslergasse (Nr. 34-78 and 31-61), the northern section of Münsterplatz (Nr. 26-32) and the Kirchgasse (Nr. 2-24) were merged into Münstergasse.
Kesslergasse was first mentioned in 1576 as the new name of the western portion of Kirchgasse. The western most section, between Finstergässchen and Hotelgasse, was known as Vor den Barfüssern around 1600 and in the 19th Century was known as Bei der Ankenwaag or Ankenlaube or Salzlaube. Kesslergasse was the fur processing marketplace in the 15th Century. In 1514 it became the butter market and in 1778 it became the butchers' market.
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Münsterplatz (Bern)
The Münsterplatz is a plaza in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Zähringerstadt which was built during the foundation of the old city in 1191. It is located in front of the Cathedral and it is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
On 11 March 1421 construction began on the cathedral of Bern. Nine years later, in 1430, the church yard of St. Vinzenzen's Church was demolished to make way for a grand plaza in front of the new cathedral. At some time before 1506, two houses on Herrengasse were demolished to allow the plaza to expand westward. It expanded again, at some time before 1528, when three houses in what would become Münstergasse were demolished. The name Münsterplatz was commonly used in the 19th Century and became official in 1881.
Coordinates: 46°56′50.08″N 7°27′3″E / 46.9472444°N 7.45083°E / 46.9472444; 7.45083
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Netherlands
The Netherlands (i/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdə(r)lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯də(r)lɑnt] ( listen); West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").
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Neuengasse
The Neuengasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Äussere Neustadt which was built during the third expansion of the city in 1344 to 1346. It runs from Waisenhausplatz in the east toward the main train station. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
The street has been known as Neuengasse since its construction in the 14th Century when the 3rd city wall was built. The name Neuengasse means New Lane.
Coordinates: 46°56′55.49″N 7°26′36.5″E / 46.9487472°N 7.443472°E / 46.9487472; 7.443472
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Nicosia
Nicosia (/ˌnɪkəˈsiːə/ NIK-ə-SEE-ə), known locally as Lefkosia (Greek: Λευκωσία, Turkish: Lefkoşa), is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Nicosia remained the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line. It is located near the center of the island, on the banks of the Pedieos River.
Nicosia is the capital and seat of government of the Republic of Cyprus. The northern part of the city functions as the capital of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a disputed breakaway region whose independence is recognized only by Turkey, and which the rest of the international community considers as occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus since the Turkish Invasion in 1974.
Despite the division Nicosia has managed to become a sophisticated and cosmopolitan city, rich in history and culture that combines its historic past with the amenities of a modern city.
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North Carolina
North Carolina (i/ˌnɔrθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the Southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 10th most populous of the 50 United States.
North Carolina is comprised of 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte. In the past five decades, North Carolina's economy has undergone a transition from heavy reliance upon tobacco and furniture making to a more diversified economy with engineering, biotechnology, and finance sectors.
North Carolina has a wide range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet (2,037 m) at Mount Mitchell, the highest point in the Eastern US. The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles (500 km) from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate.
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North Nicosia
North Nicosia or Northern Nicosia (Turkish: Lefkoşa Greek: Λευκωσία), is the capital and largest city of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It is the northern half of Nicosia, and governed by the Nicosia Turkish Municipality. Located on the River Pedieos and situated almost in the center of the island, it is the host for the seat of the government as well as the main business center.
Following the intercommunal violence of the 1960s, the capital of Republic of Cyprus was divided between the island's Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in the south and north respectively in 1963. An attempted coup by the Greek military-junta to unite the island with Greece in 1974 led to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
84,893 people live in North Nicosia. North Nicosia is important commercially with many shops, two modern shopping malls, restaurants and entertainment. The city is a trade centre and manufactures textiles, leather, pottery, plastic, and other products. Nicosia is the seat of two Turkish Cypriot Universities.
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Northern Cyprus
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (Turkish: Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti), commonly called Northern Cyprus, is a self-declared state that comprises the northeastern part of the island of Cyprus. Recognised only by Turkey, Northern Cyprus is considered by the international community to be occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the north east, westward to Morphou Bay and Cape Kormakitis (the Kokkina/Erenköy exclave marks the westernmost extent of the area), and southward to the village of Louroujina/Akıncılar. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both states.
Tensions between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot populations in Cyprus culminated in 1974 with a coup d'état, an attempt to annex the island to Greece, and an invasion by Turkey in response. This resulted in the partitioning of the island, the resettlement of many of its inhabitants, and a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
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Norway
Norwayi/ˈnɔrweɪ/ (Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål) or Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and the subantarctic Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 5 million. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.
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Nydegg
The Nydegg is a historic section in the Old City of Bern in Bern, Switzerland.
The first expansion of Bern occurred as the city was founded in 1191. At the east end of the central and oldest neighbourhood, the Zähringerstadt (Zähringer town), was the Nydegg castle near the banks of the Aare river. The houses that grew up around the castle were the start of the Nydegg section. Around 1268 Nydegg Castle was destroyed, and the city expanded into the area formerly occupied by the castle.
Situated in the northeast of the Aare peninsula, the Nydegg together with the Mattequartier in the southwest constituted medieval Bern's smallest neighbourhood. Workshops and mercantile activity prevailed in this area, and medieval sources tell of numerous complaints about the ceaseless and apparently nerve-wracking noise of machinery, carts and commerce. The Matte area at the riverside features three artificial channels, through which Aare water was diverted to power three city-owned watermills built in 1360. In the early 20th century, a small hydroelectric plant was built in that location. Nearby, the busy Schiffländte (ship landing-place) allowed for the reloading of goods transported by boat up and down the river.
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Nydeggbrücke
The Nydeggbrücke is a bridge in Bern, Switzerland which connects the eastern part of the old city to the new part. It crosses over the Aare River and is located very close to the Bärengraben. It was built in parallel to the Untertorbrücke in 1840, which until then had been the only bridge crossing the Aare. The Nydeggbrücke is in total 190 meters long and took three years to build.
Coordinates: 46°56′54.60″N 7°27′30.63″E / 46.9485°N 7.4585083°E / 46.9485; 7.4585083
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Nydeggkirche
The reformed Nydeggkirche (from the Bernese German expression for "Lower corner") is located on the eastern edge of the Old City of Bern, in the Nydegg section.
The old town is situated on a peninsula in a loop of the Aare and developed in several expansion stages. The first occurred in 1191, as an existing settlement was expanded in the area of Nydeggkirche to the Clock Tower (Zytglogge). In 1190 Duke Berchtold V von Zähringen had built the castle Nydegg. After the extinction of the House of Zähringen, it came under the control of the city and was razed in 1268/70 by the inhabitants of Berne, in order to develop the Nydegg section. It possessed four corner towers and was located about where the current choir of the church stands.
The original small church was built from 1341 to 1346 to replace the old fortress. This early church featured a roof turret. From 1480 to 1483 the city added a tower and from 1493 to 1504, a new nave was added. After the Protestant Reformation in 1529, the Nydeggkirche was transformed into a warehouse for barrels, timber and grain, but in 1566 again served as worship space, and until 1721 it was a branch church of the Münster of Bern.
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Nydeggstalden
The Nydeggstalden is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Nydegg which was part of the medieval industrial section of Bern. It is a semi-circular road running from Gerechtigkeitsgasse toward the Aare river and the Untertorbrücke (German: Lower Gate bridge). It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Originally Nydeggstalden was the eastern route from the Aare to Gerechtigkeitsgasse. In 1759 the road was smoothed and repaired. In 1956/58 the Schattseitigen (Shadow or southern side) of the street was rebuilt under the direction of H. Weiss.
Coordinates: 46°56′57.6″N 7°27′27.45″E / 46.949333°N 7.457625°E / 46.949333; 7.457625
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Old City of Bern
The Old City of Bern is the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. Built on a narrow hill surrounded on three sides by the Aare River, its compact layout has remained essentially unchanged since its construction during the 12th to the 15th century. Despite a major fire in 1405, after which much of the city was rebuilt in sandstone, and substantial construction efforts in the 18th century, Bern's old city has retained its medieval character.
The Old City is home to Switzerland's tallest cathedral as well as other churches, bridges and a large collection of Renaissance fountains. In addition to many historical buildings, the seats of the federal, cantonal and municipal government are also situated in the Old City. It is a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site since 1983 due to the compact and generally intact medieval core and is an excellent example of incorporating the modern world into a medieval city. Numerous buildings in the Old City have been designated as Swiss Cultural Properties of National Significance, as well as the entire Old City.
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Old Town of Bern
The Old City of Bern is the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. Built on a narrow hill surrounded on three sides by the Aare River, its compact layout has remained essentially unchanged since its construction during the 12th to the 15th century. Despite a major fire in 1405, after which much of the city was rebuilt in sandstone, and substantial construction efforts in the 18th century, Bern's old city has retained its medieval character.
The Old City is home to Switzerland's tallest cathedral as well as other churches, bridges and a large collection of Renaissance fountains. In addition to many historical buildings, the seats of the federal, cantonal and municipal government are also situated in the Old City. It is a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site since 1983 due to the compact and generally intact medieval core and is an excellent example of incorporating the modern world into a medieval city. Numerous buildings in the Old City have been designated as Swiss Cultural Properties of National Significance, as well as the entire Old City.
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Oslo
Oslo (English pronunciation: /ˈɒzloʊ/, OZ-loh,Norwegian pronunciation: [²ʊʃlʊ] ( listen) or [²ʊslʊ]) is the capital of and most populous city in Norway. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814 and with Sweden from 1814 to 1905 reduced its influence. After being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Castle during the reign of King Christian IV and renamed Christiania in his honour. It was established as a municipality (formannskapsdistrikt) on 1 January 1838. Following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, when its original Norwegian name was restored.
Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway. The city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for maritime industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to many companies within the maritime sector, some of which are amongst the world's largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and maritime insurance brokers. Oslo is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme.
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Peter Bieri (author)
Peter Bieri (born 23 June 1944 in Bern), better known by his pseudonym, Pascal Mercier, is a Swiss writer and philosopher.
Bieri studied philosophy, English studies and Indian studies in both London and Heidelberg. From there he was awarded a doctoral degree by Dieter Henrich and Ernst Tugendhat for his work on the philosophy of time. After the conferral of his doctorate, Bieri worked as a scientific assistant at the Philosophical Seminar at University of Heidelberg.
Bieri co-founded the research unit "Cognition and Brain" at the German Research Foundation. The focuses of his research were the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics. From 1990 through 1993, he was a professor of the history of philosophy at the University of Marburg; from 1993 he taught philosophy at the Free University of Berlin while holding the chair of analytic philosophy, succeeding his mentor, Ernst Tugendhat.
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Pfeiferbrunnen
The Pfeiferbrunnen is a fountain near Spitalgasse 21 in Bern, Switzerland. It is one of the Old City of Bern's 16th Century fountains and is part of the list of Swiss heritage sites of national significance.
The Pfeiferbrunnen was built in 1545/46 by the Swiss Renaissance sculptor Hans Gieng, based on the 1514 Albrecht Dürer woodcut of the Bagpiper. Originally, it stood in front of the Gasthaus (hotel and restaurant) zum Kreuz, which was a hotel for traveling minstrels. In 1594 the building was renamed to Gasthof zum Storchen. Which led to the alternate name for the Pfeiferbrunnen, the Storchenbrunnen. This alternative name was popular until the end of the 19th Century. During the renovation of 1874, an inscription was placed on the back of the statue, and the figures on the pillar were damaged. The current basin was built in 1889. Then, in 1919 the fountain was moved to the east from its original spot between Ryffli- and Storchengässchen, to its current location in front of Spitalgasse 21.
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Poland
Polandi/ˈpoʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska; Kashubian: Pòlskô Repùblika; Silesian: Polsko Republika), is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous post-communist member. Poland is a unitary state made up of 16 voivodeships. Poland is a member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Economic Area, International Energy Agency, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, International Atomic Energy Agency, G6, Council of the Baltic Sea States, Visegrád Group, Weimar Triangle and Schengen Agreement.
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Portugal
Portugali/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.
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PostFinance Arena
Coordinates: 46°57′31″N 7°28′07″E / 46.958618°N 7.468611°E / 46.958618; 7.468611
PostFinance Arena (originally known as Eisstadion Allmend and Bern Arena) is an arena in Bern, Switzerland. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of SC Bern. It was built in 1967 and holds currently 17,131 people. A characteristic trait of the PostFinance Arena is the world's biggest standing room grandstand in an arena with a capacity of 10,422 people.[citation needed]
The PostFinance Arena was the main arena for the 2009 IIHF World Championships, and has already hosted the inaugural Victoria Cup.
PostFinance Arena holds a Europe-wide record, having a 16,203 spectator average in the 2008/2009 season.
Due to its age and with an eye towards the 2009 IIHF World Championships, the arena was renovated. The holder invested about CHF 100 million (~$100 million) into the extension and restoration of the building. The modification was finished by April 24, 2009, when the World Championships started. The interior of the arena is nearly obtained, especially the steep standing room stand, which is very popular with the fans. However the VIP-zone was entirely rebuilt and the capacity there was extended by about 500. The total capacity is now 17,131 spectators.
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Postgasse
The Postgasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Zähringerstadt which was built during the foundation of the city in 1191. It runs from Nydeggstalden near the Aare river in the east to the transverse Kreuzgasse, where the name changes to Rathausgasse. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Starting in 1300, the street that would become Rathausgasse and Postgasse was known as Hormansgasse or Hormatsgasse. The Horman family, the origin of the name, lived in Bern from 1224-1326. Since 1619 the upper section (now Rathausgasse) was known as Metzgergasse (Butcher's Lane), while the lower section was first called Postgasse in 1798. In 1675, in the house at Nr. 64/66, the Fischer'sche Post was first built which was the origin of the name in the following century. However, while the name was official in 1798, it wasn't until about 1870 that it became common. In the mean time, the Post moved from Postgasse in 1832.
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Prague
Prague ( /ˈprɑːɡ/; Czech: Praha pronounced [ˈpraɦa] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and fourteenth largest city in European Union. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of nearly 2.0 million. The city has a temperate oceanic climate with warm summers and chilly winters.
Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its 1,100 year existence. Founded during the Romanesque and flourishing by the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was the seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus then also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. It was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire and after World War I became the capital of Czechoslovakia. The city played major roles in the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, and in modern history generally as the principal conurbation in Bohemia and Moravia whose second city is Brno.
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Pristina
Pristina, also spelled Prishtina listen (help·info) and Priština (Albanian: Prishtinë or Prishtina, Serbian: Приштина or Priština; Turkish: Priştine) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district.
Preliminary results of the 2011 census put the population of Pristina at 198,000. The city has a majority Albanian population, alongside other smaller communities including Bosniaks, Roma and others. It is the administrative, educational, and cultural centre of Kosovo. The city is home to the University of Pristina and is served by the Pristina International Airport.
The name of the city is derived from a Slavic form *Prišьčь, a possessive adjective from the personal name *Prišьkъ, (preserved in the Kajkavian surname Prišek, in the Old Polish personal name Przyszek, and in the Polish surname Przyszek) and the derivational suffix -ina 'belonging to X and his kin'.[citation needed] The name is most likely a patronymic of the personal name *Prišь, preserved as a surname in Polish Przysz and Sorbian Priš, a hypocoristic of the Slavic personal name Pribyslavъ. A false etymology[citation needed] connects the name Priština with Serbo-Croatian prišt (пришт), meaning 'ulcer' or 'tumour', referring to its 'boiling'. However, this explanation cannot be correct, as Slavic place names ending in -ina corresponding to an adjective and/or name of an inhabitant lacking this suffix are built from personal names or denote a person and never derive, in these conditions, from common nouns (SNOJ 2007: loc. cit.). The inhabitants of this city call themselves Prishtinali in local Gheg Albanian or Prištevci (Приштевци) in the local Serbian dialect.
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Rathausgasse
The Rathausgasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Zähringerstadt which was built during the foundation of the city in 1191. It runs from the transverse Kreuzgasse, where the name changes to Postgasse to Kornhausplatz. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Starting in 1300, the street that would become Rathausgasse and Postgasse was known as Hormansgasse or Hormatsgasse. The Horman family, the origin of the name, lived in Bern from 1224-1326. Since 1619 the upper section (now Rathausgasse) was known as Metzgergasse (Butcher's Lane), while the lower section was first called Postgasse in 1798. From 1880 until 1975 Rathausgasse was the name of just the northern section of Kreuzgasse. The upper section of what would become Rathausgasse 82 and 84 were known before the 19th Century as Nägeligässli and in the 19th Century as Statthaltergässli. Since 1898 those two houses became part of the Metzgergasse. Then, on 1 November 1971, Metzgergasse was renamed to Rathausgasse.
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Republic of Ireland
Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ or /ˈɑrlənd/; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the state was 4.59 million in 2011. It is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy, with an elected president serving as head of state. In the 1937 constitution, the name of the state is given as simply "Ireland". The Constitution of Ireland (Article 4) and the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provides that the "Republic of Ireland" (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is "the description of the state".
Ireland is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. A developed country with the seventh highest Human Development Index, Ireland is also highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom and democracy and political freedom.
The modern Irish state was established in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion within the British Empire, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty which brought an end to the Irish War of Independence. The partition of Ireland had already been provided for in previous British legislation in 1921 in response to opposition to Irish Home Rule or independence by Unionists, who formed a majority in the north-eastern part of the country. Six of the nine counties in the northern province of Ulster were established under that legislation as Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, with which the Irish state shares its only land border. The state is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south east, and the Irish Sea to the east.
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Reykjavík
Reykjavík (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈreiːcaˌviːk] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city in Iceland.
Its latitude, at 64°08' N, makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay. With a population of around 120,000 (and over 200,000 in the Greater Reykjavík Area), it is the heart of Iceland's economic and governmental activity.
Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established around 870 C.E. Until the 18th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was founded in 1786 as an official trading town and grew steadily over the next decades, as it transformed into a regional and later national centre of commerce, population, and governmental activities.
The first permanent settlement in Iceland by Norsemen is believed to have been established in Reykjavík by Ingólfur Arnarson around AD 870; this is described in Landnámabók, or the Book of Settlement. Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have decided the location of his settlement using a traditional Viking method; by casting his high seat pillars (Öndvegissúlur) into the ocean when he saw the coastline, then settled where the pillars came to shore. Steam from hot springs in the region is said to have inspired Reykjavík's name, which loosely translates to Smoke Cove (the city is often referred to as the Bay of Smokes or Bay of Smoke) The original name was Reykjarvík with an additional "r" that vanished around 1300.[citation needed]
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Rhaetian Railway
Coordinates: 46°24′32″N 10°1′11″E / 46.40889°N 10.01972°E / 46.40889; 10.01972
The Rhaetian Railway (German: Rhätische Bahn, Italian: Ferrovia Retica, Romansh: Viafier Retica, abbreviated RhB) is a Swiss transport company, owning the largest network of all the private railways in Switzerland. The company operates most of the railways in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as the Swiss federal railway company SBB-CFF-FFS extend only a few kilometres over the cantonal border to the capital at Chur. Almost the entire network is in Graubünden, with one station at Tirano in Italy.
The Rhaetian Railway serves a number of major tourist centres, including St Moritz and Davos. One of the lines, the Berninabahn, crosses the Bernina Pass to the Italian border and on to Tirano, Lombardy, where there is a link to the Italian railways.
In 2008 the Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes (the part from Thusis to Tirano, including St. Moritz) was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. On October 20, 2011 Google announced that the Albula-Bernina line would be the first rail line in the world to be photographed and put on Google Street View.
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Riga
Riga (Latvian: Rīga, pronounced [riːɡa] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 657,424 inhabitants ( 2011) Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltic Sea region.[citation needed] The city lies on the Gulf of Riga, at the mouth of the river Daugava. Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) and lies between 1 and 10 metres (3.3 and 33 ft) above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain.
Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. The city will be the European Capital of Culture in 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden. The city hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 and the 2006 IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. It is home to the European Union's office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). Riga is served by Riga International Airport, the largest airport in the Baltic states.
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Romania
Romania (i/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.
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Rome
Rome (/ˈroʊm/; Italian: Roma pronounced [ˈroːma] ( listen); Latin: Rōma) is a city and special comune ("Roma Capitale") in Italy. Rome is the capital of Italy and the capital of Lazio (Latin: Latium). With 2.8 million residents in 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi), it is also the country's largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. Between 3.2 and 3.7 million people live in the Rome metropolitan area. The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.
Rome's history spans two and a half thousand years. It was the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, which was the dominant power in Western Europe and the lands bordering the Mediterranean for over seven hundred years from the 1st century BC until the 7th century AD and the city is regarded as one of the birthplaces of western civilization. Since the 1st century AD Rome has been the seat of the Papacy and, after the end of Byzantine domination, in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. In 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic.
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Russia
Russiai/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
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Saint Helier
Saint Helier (French language: Saint-Hélier, Jèrriais: Saint Hélyi) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St. Helier has a population of about 28,000, roughly 31.2% of the total population of Jersey, and is the capital of the Island (although Government House is situated in St. Saviour). The urban area of the parish of St. Helier makes up most of the largest town in Jersey, although some of the town area is situated in adjacent St. Saviour, with suburbs sprawling into St. Lawrence and St. Clement. The greater part of St. Helier is predominantly rural.
The parish covers a surface area of 4.1 square miles (10.6 km2), being 9% of the total land area of the Island (this includes reclaimed land area of 494 acres (2.00 km2) or 200 ha).
The parish crest is two crossed gold axes on a blue background, symbolising the martyrdom of Helier and the sea.
It is thought that the site of St. Helier was settled at the time of the Roman control of Gaul.
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Saint Peter Port
Saint Peter Port is the capital of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2001 was 16,488. In Guernésiais and in French, historically the official language of Guernsey, the name of the town and its surrounding parish is St Pierre Port. The "port" distinguishes this parish from Saint Pierre Du Bois.
As well as being a parish, St. Peter Port is a small town consisting mostly of steep narrow streets and steps on the overlooking slopes. It is known that a trading post/town has existed here since before Roman times, the pre-Christian name of which has not survived into the modern era.
The post code for addresses in this parish starts with GY1.
People from St. Peter Port, were nicknamed "les Villais" (the townspeople) or "cllichards" in Guernésiais.
St. Peter Port is located on the East coast of Guernsey. It borders St Sampson's in the North, The Vale in the North-West, St Andrew's in the West and St Martin's in the South.
The land in the North and by the harbour is low lying but in the South, the land gets much higher (but not as high as St Martin's or the Forest). This means that there are quite a few cliffs on the coast between Havelet and Fermain.
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San Marino
San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino (i/sæn məˈriːnoʊ/ san-mə-REE-noh; Italian: Repubblica di San Marino) and also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Italian: Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino), is a state situated on the Italian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. It is an enclave surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over 61 km2 (24 sq mi) with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino. San Marino has the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe.
San Marino is the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world, as the continuation of the monastic community founded on 3 September 301, by stonecutter Marinus of Rab. Legend has it that Marinus left Rab, then the Roman colony of Arba, in 257 when the future emperor, Diocletian, issued a decree calling for the reconstruction of the city walls of Rimini, which had been destroyed by Liburnian pirates.
The constitution of San Marino, enacted in 1600, is the world's oldest constitution still in effect. The country's economy mainly relies on finance, industry, services and tourism. It is one of the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP (per capita), with a figure comparable to some of the more developed Italian regions, such as Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. San Marino is considered to have a highly stable economy, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, no national debt and a budget surplus.
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Sarajevo
Sarajevo (Cyrillic: Сарајево) (pronounced [sǎrajɛʋɔ]) is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with an estimated population of over 311,161 people within its administrative limits. It is also the capital of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity, as well as the center of the Sarajevo Canton, which has a population of 438,757. Nestled within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans.
Sarajevo is the leading social and cultural center of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its region-wide influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts contribute to its status as Bosnia and Herzegovina's major economic center.
The city is historically famous for its traditional cultural and religious diversity, with adherents of Islam, Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Judaism coexisting there for centuries. Due to this long and rich history of religious and cultural variety, Sarajevo is often called the "Jerusalem of Europe" or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It was, until recently in the 20th century, the only major European city to have a mosque, cathedral, Orthodox church and synagogue within the same neighborhood.
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Schauplatzgasse
The Schauplatzgasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Äussere Neustadt which was built during the third expansion from 1344 to 1346. It runs from Bundesplatz in front of the Bundeshaus to Bubenbergplatz and is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
The street is first mentioned in 1347 as Schoulanzgasse, after a local noble family. After the Schoulant family died out, the street was known by a number of different names. The current name is first mentioned in 1732.
Coordinates: 46°56′50.56″N 7°26′31.87″E / 46.9473778°N 7.4421861°E / 46.9473778; 7.4421861
Template:Portal:Switzerland/Stub
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Serbia
Serbiai/ˈsɜrbiə/, officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: Република Србија / Republika Srbija, pronounced [rɛpǔblika sř̩bija]), is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans. Serbia borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; the Republic of Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the west; additionally, it borders Albania through Kosovo, whose status as part of Serbia is disputed. Serbia covers an area of 88,361 km2 and has a population of just over 7.1 million, while the capital and largest city is Belgrade.
The arrival of the Serbs to the Balkans in the 7th century, established several states, eventually forming the Serbian Empire in the 14th century. By the 16th century, Serbia was conquered and occupied by the Ottoman Empire, at times interrupted by the Habsburgs. In the early 19th century the Serbian revolution re-established the country as the region's first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory and pioneered the abolition of feudalism in the Balkans. The former Habsburg crownland of Vojvodina united with Serbia in 1918. Following World War I, Serbia formed Yugoslavia with other South Slavic peoples which existed in several forms up until 2006, when the National Assembly of Serbia declared independence and the legal succession to the former State Union. In February 2008 the parliament of UNMIK-governed Kosovo, Serbia's southern province, declared independence, with mixed responses from international governments.
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Skopje
Skopje (Macedonian: Скопје, [ˈskɔpjɛ] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. It was known in the Roman period under the name Scupi.
The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992. From 1282 the town was part of the Serbian realm and its capital city since 1346. In 1392 the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who called the town Üsküp. The town stayed under Ottoman control over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküb and later the Vilayet of Kosovo. At that time the city was famous for its oriental architecture. In 1912 the city was conquered by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars and after the First World War the city became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of Yugoslavia). In the Second World War the city was conquered by the Bulgarian Army, which was part of Axis powers. In 1944 it became the capital city of Democratic Macedonia (later Socialist Republic of Macedonia), which was a federal state, part of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (later Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). The city developed rapidly after World War II, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake. In 1991 it became the capital city of independent Macedonia.
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Slovakia
The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakiai/sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ or /sləˈvækiə/; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava, and the second largest is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, United Nations, OECD and WTO among others. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.
The Slavs arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries during the migration period. In the course of history, various parts of today's Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire (the first known political unit of Slavs), Principality of Nitra (as independent polity, as part of Great Moravia and as part of Hungarian Kingdom), Great Moravia, Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Habsburg Empire, and Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak state briefly existed during World War II, during which Slovakia was a dependency of Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1944. From 1945 Slovakia once again became a part of Czechoslovakia. The present-day Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
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Slovenia
Slovenia (i/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, Slovene: Slovenija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija]) is a Slavic nation state, situated in South-Central Europe, at the crossroad of main European cultural and trade routes. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic, member of the European Union and NATO. Relative to its geography, history, economy, culture, and language, it is a very diverse country distinguished by a transitional character. It is characterised by a high economic and social level. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
The territory of Slovenia is mainly hilly or mountainous and has an exceptionally high landscape and biological diversity and a mosaic structure, which are a result of natural attributes and the long-lasting presence of humans. Four major European geographic units interweave here: the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Mediterranean, with a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and the Pannonian Plain. The climate is temperate and significantly influenced by the variety of territory, with a strong interaction of the continental climate, the sub-Mediterranean climate and Alpine climate across most of the country. The country is one of the water-richest in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest.
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Sofia
Sofia (Bulgarian: София, pronounced [ˈsɔfijɐ] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 15th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.2 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.
Prehistoric settlements were excavated in the centre of the present city, near the royal palace, as well as in outer districts Slatina and Obelya. The well-preserved town walls (especially their substructures) date back before the 7th century BC, when Thracians established their city around a mineral spring, which exists to the present day. Sofia has had several names in the different periods of its existence. Its ancient name, Serdika or Serdica, derives from the local Celtic tribe of the serdi who inhabited the region since the 1st century BC. Serdica was a Roman capital during the tetrarchic system of government. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the major commercial centres of the Bulgarian Empire, along with Tarnovo. Sofia's population remained small until 1879, when it was declared a capital of the Principality of Bulgaria after the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.
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South Ossetia
South Ossetia ( /əˈsɛtiə/ə-SET-ee-ə or /ɒˈsiːʃə/o-SEE-shə; Ossetic: Хуссар Ирыстон, Xussar Iryston; Georgian: სამხრეთ ოსეთი, Samxret Oseti; Russian: Южная Осетия, Yuzhnaya Osetiya) or Tskhinvali Region (Georgian: ცხინვალის რეგიონი, Tsxinvalis regioni; Russian: Цхинвальский регион, Tskhinvalskiy region) is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
South Ossetians declared independence from Georgia in 1990, calling themselves the Republic of South Ossetia. The Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetia's autonomy and trying to retake the region by force. This led to the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War. Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The last conflict led to the 2008 South Ossetia war, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full, de facto control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast.
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Spain
Spain (i/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.
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Spitalgasse
The Spitalgasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Äussere Neustadt which was built during the third expansion from 1344 to 1346. The eastern end is at Waisenhausplatz and Bärenplatz while the western end is at Bahnhofplatz near the Church of the Holy Ghost. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Shortly before 1228, the Holy Ghost hospital and abbey were founded outside the city walls of Bern. While the hospital name changed to Oberer Spital (Upper Hospital) in 1307, when the Niedern Spital (Lower Hospital) was founded in what would later become Gerechtigkeitsgasse 2-10, the abbey and chapel retained the original name. As the city expanded it began to surround the hospital and abbey. Then, in the third expansion of the city from 1344 to 1346, the old Bümpliz road, which ran by the abbey, became part of the main road through Bern. In 1344 it was known as nüwe stat zem heiligen Geist for the abbey's name. However, by 1359 it was known as Spitalgasse after the Oberer Spital. Spitalgasse was an extension of the old Roman road from the east gate of Aventicum to Bümpliz In 1715 the Oberer and Niedern Spital merged into the Grossen Spital (Grand Hospital). The buildings on Spitalgasse were demolished in 1726/31 after the new Burgerspital was built.
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Stepanakert
Stepanakert (Armenian: Ստեփանակերտ; called Khankendi (Azerbaijani: Xankəndi) by Azerbaijan) is the largest city and capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a de facto independent republic, though is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan. The city population comprises about 53,000 ethnic Armenians.
According to medieval Armenian sources, the settlement was first mentioned as Vararakn (Վարարակն, meaning "rapid spring" in Armenian) which it remained until it was renamed Khankendi in 1847. Azerbaijani sources generally say that the settlement was founded in the late eighteenth century by a Karabakh khan, and was thus called Khankendi (Turkic for "the khan's village").
In 1923 Khankendi was renamed Stepanakert by the Soviet government to honor Stepan Shahumyan, ethnic Armenian leader of the 26 Baku Commissars, and, after the Shusha pogrom had resulted in major destruction at Shusha, the former regional capital, Stepanakert was made the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. In time, Stepanakert grew to become the region's most important city (a status it received in 1940). Its population rose from 10,459 in 1939 to 33,000 in 1978.
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Stockholm
Stockholm (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈstɔkːˈhɔlm, ˈstɔkːˈɔlm, ˈstɔkːɔlm]( listen to the second one)) is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 864,324 in the municipality (2010), 1.4 million in the urban area (2010), and around 2.1 million in the 6,519 km2 (2,517.00 sq mi) metropolitan area (2010). As of 2010, the Stockholm metropolitan area is home to approximately 22% of Sweden's population.
Founded no later than c. 1250, possibly as early as 1187, Stockholm has long been one of Sweden's cultural, media, political, and economic centres. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the south-central east coast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm has been nominated by GaWC as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-. In The 2008 Global Cities Index, Stockholm ranked 24th in the world, 10th in Europe, and first in Scandinavia. Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant clean and open water, and its many parks. It is sometimes referred to as Venice of the North.
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Sukhumi
Sukhumi (Abkhaz: Аҟәа, Aqwa; Georgian: სოხუმი, Sokhumi; Russian: Сухум or Сухуми, Sukhum or Sukhumi) is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.
In Abkhaz, the city is known as Аҟәа (Aqwa) which according to native tradition signifies water. In Georgian, the city is known as სოხუმი (Sokhumi) or აყუ (Aqu), in Megrelian as აყუჯიხა (Aqujikha), and in Russian as Сухум (Sukhum) or Сухуми (Sukhumi).
The etymology of the name Sokhumi is disputed. The medieval Georgian sources knew the town as Tskhumi (ცხუმი). Later, under the Ottoman control, the town was known in Turkish as Suhum-Kale, which can be derived from the earlier Georgian form Tskhumi or can be read to mean 'water-sand fortress'. Tskhumi in turn is supposed to be derived from the Svan language word for 'hot', or the Georgian word for 'hornbeam tree'. The competing etymologies have been used as putative evidence in the argument over the ethnicity of Sukhumi's historical inhabitants.[citation needed]
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Svalbard
Svalbard (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈsʋɑlbɑɖ]) is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude (inside the Arctic Circle), and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the largest island, followed by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. The administrative center is Longyearbyen, and other settlements include the Russian mining community of Barentsburg, the research community of Ny-Ålesund and the mining outpost of Sveagruva. The archipelago is administered by the Governor of Svalbard.
The islands were first used as a whaling base in the 17th and 18th centuries, after which they were abandoned. Coal mining started at the beginning of the 20th century, and several permanent communities were established. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 recognizes Norwegian sovereignty, and the 1925 Svalbard Act made Svalbard a full part of the Kingdom of Norway. This act also established Svalbard as a free economic zone and a demilitarized zone. The Norwegian Store Norske and the Russian Arktikugol are the only mining companies remaining on the islands. Research and tourism have become important supplementary industries. Two major research facilities are the University Centre in Svalbard and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. No roads connect the settlements; instead snowmobiles, aircraft and boats serve inter-community transport. Svalbard Airport, Longyear serves as the main gateway to the rest of Europe.
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Sweden
Sweden (i/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.
At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city.
Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th century. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, practicing "non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and neutrality during wartime". However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.
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Swiss Alpine Museum
The Swiss Alpine Museum (German: Schweizerisches Alpines Museum; French: Musée Alpin Suisse) is a museum dedicated to the nature and culture of the Swiss Alps. It is located at Helvetiaplatz 4 in Bern.
The Swiss Alpine Museum was founded in 1905 by the Bernese section of the Swiss Alpine Club in the Rathaus zum Äusseren Stand on Zeughausgasse. The museum moved into its current premises on Helvetiaplatz in 1933. Built by architects Klauser and Streit in the Neues Bauen style, the building responds to the 1918 Kunsthalle Bern across the road. The museum underwent a renovation and restoration from 1990 to 1993.
Since 1933, the museum has been constituted as a foundation supported by the Swiss Alpine Club, the University of Bern, swisstopo, the Federal Office of the Environment, and the Office of Culture of the Canton of Bern. Its annual budget of some CHF 1.8 million is funded to approximately 60 percent by public subsidies. In 2008, the museum's continued existence was threatened by a dispute between federal agencies about the responsibility for its funding, until the federal parliament intervened by mandating the required expenditures.
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Swiss Alps
The Swiss Alps (German: Schweizer Alpen, French: Alpes suisses, Italian: Alpi svizzere, Romansh: Alps svizras) are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps. The highest summit in the Swiss Alps is Monte Rosa (4,634 metres) near the Swiss-Italian border. The highest mountain which lies entirely on Swiss territory is the Dom (4,545 metres). Other main summits can be found in the list of mountains in Switzerland.
Since the Middle Ages, transit across the Alps played an important role in history. The region north of the St. Gotthard Pass became the nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the early 14th century.
The Alps cover 65% of Switzerland's surface area (41,285 km²), making it one of the most alpine countries. Despite the fact that Switzerland covers only 14% of the Alps total area (192,753 km²), many alpine four-thousanders (48 of 82) are located in the Swiss Alps and the remaining few are within 20 km of the country's border.
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Swissmint
Swissmint is the official mint of the Swiss Confederation. It is responsible for manufacturing Swiss franc coins, both of the currency and bullion variety. Apart from making coins for the government, Swissmint also manufactures medals and commemorative coins for private customers.
Swissmint is an agency of the Swiss federal government. It is part of the Federal Finance Administration, which in turn belongs to the Federal Department of Finance. Since 1998, the Official Mint of the Confederation operates as an independent business unit under the name Swissmint. As of 2005, Swissmint has 21 employees.
The mint's building is a heritage site of national significance. It was built in 1903–06 based on designs by Theodor Gohl to replace an older building at the Gerberngraben. The sober, industrial-style yellow brick building is fronted by a Neo-Renaissance façade in marble and sandstone.
Coordinates: 46°56′26″N 7°26′54″E / 46.940614°N 7.448269°E / 46.940614; 7.448269
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Switzerland
Switzerland (German: die Schweiz[ˈʃvaɪts]; French: Suisse [sɥis(ə)]; Italian: Svizzera [ˈzvit͡sːɛra]; Romansh: Svizra [ˈʒviːtsrɐ] or [ˈʒviːtsʁːɐ]), in its full name the Swiss Confederation (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, hence its abbreviation CH), is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.
Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2 (15,940 sq mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two global cities and economic centres of Zurich and Geneva.
The Swiss Confederation has a long history of armed neutrality—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and did not join the United Nations until 2002. It pursues, however, an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to a large number of international organizations, including the second largest UN office. On the European level, it is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association and is part of the Schengen Area – although it is notably not a member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area.
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Tallinn
Tallinn (/ˈtɑːlɪn/ or /ˈtælɪn/,Estonian pronunciation: [ˈtɑlʲˑinˑ]) is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of 159.2 km2 (61.5 sq mi) with a population of 416,470. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, 80 km (50 mi) south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is ranked as a global city and has been listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world. The city was a European Capital of Culture for 2011, along with Turku, Finland.
Tallinn is the oldest capital[clarification needed] in Northern Europe. The city was known as Reval from the 13th century until the 1920s.
In 1154 a town called Qlwn or Qalaven (possible derivations of Kalevan or Kolyvan) was put on the world map of the Almoravid by the Muslim cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi, who described it as a small town like a large castle among the towns of Astlanda. It has been suggested that the Quwri in Astlanda may have denoted the predecessor town of today's Tallinn.
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Tbilisi
Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისი [tʰb̥ilisi] ( listen)) is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi (ტფილისი) and it was officially known as Tpilisi (in Georgian) or Tiflis (in Russian) until 1936. The city covers an area of 726 km2 (280 sq mi) and has 1,480,000 inhabitants.
Founded in the 5th century by Vakhtang Gorgasali, the monarch of Georgia's precursor Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has served, with various intervals, as Georgia's capital for nearly 1500 years and represents a significant industrial, social, and cultural center of the country. Located near the southeastern edge of Europe, Tbilisi's proximity to lucrative east-west trade routes often made the city a point of contention between various rival empires throughout history and the city's location to this day ensures its position as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects. Tbilisi's varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, and Soviet structures.
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Tirana
Tiranai/tɨˈrɑːnə/ (indefinite form in Albanian: Tiranë, in the region sub-dialect of Gheg Albanian: Tirona) is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of 400,000 , with metro area population of 763,634 . The city is host to public institutions and private universities, and is the center of the political, economical, and cultural life of the country.
The Municipality of Tirana is located at (41.33°N, 19.82°E) in Tirana District, Tirana County on the river Ishëm, about 32 kilometers (20 mi) inland. Tirana's average altitude is 110 meters (360 ft) above sea level and its highest point measures 1,828 m (5,997.38 ft) at Mali me Gropa. The city is mostly surrounded by hills, with Dajti Mountain on the East and a slight valley opening on the North-West overlooking the Adriatic Sea in the distance. The Tiranë river also runs through the city, whereas the Lanë river is a brook. The city borders the surrounding municipalities of Paskuqan, Dajt, Farkë, Vaqarr, Kashar, and Kamëz. It also contains a total of four artificial lakes: the Tirana Artificial Lake around which was built the Big Park, Paskuqani Lake, Farka Lake, and Tufina Lake. Tirana is on the same parallel as Naples, Madrid, Istanbul, and New York, and on the same meridian as Budapest and Kraków.
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Tiraspol
Tiraspol ( /tɪˈræspəl/, Romanian pronunciation: [tiˈraspol]; Russian and Ukrainian: Тирасполь) is the second largest city in Moldova and is the capital and administrative centre of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria). The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River. Tiraspol is a regional hub of light industry, such as furniture and electrical goods production.
The modern city of Tiraspol was founded by the Russian generalissimo Alexander Suvorov in 1792, although the area had been inhabited for thousands of years by varying ethnic groups. The city celebrates its anniversary every year on October 14.
The toponym consists of two words: Τύρας, Tyras — the ancient Greek name for the Dniester River, and polis, i.e., a city.[citation needed]
Tyras, also spelled Tiras, was a colony of the Greek city Miletus, probably founded about 600 BCE, situated some 10 km. from the mouth of the Tiras River (Dniester). Of no great importance in early times in the 2nd century BCE, it fell under the dominion of indigenous kings whose names appear on its coins. It was destroyed by the Getae about 50 BCE.
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Transnistria
Transnistria (also called "Trans-Dniestr" or "Transdniestria") is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine. Since its declaration of independence in 1990, and especially after the War of Transnistria in 1992, it is governed as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR, also known as "Pridnestrovie"), a state with limited recognition which claims the territory to the east of the river Dniester, the city of Bender and its surrounding localities located on the west bank. The Republic of Moldova does not recognize the secession and considers the territories controlled by the PMR to be part of Moldova's autonomous region of Stînga Nistrului ("Left Bank of the Dniester").
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Tskhinvali
Tskhinvali (also spelled Cchinvali or Cxinvali; Georgian: ცხინვალი [t͡sxinvali]; Ossetic: Цхинвал or Чъреба listen (help·info), Tskhinval or Ch'reba; Russian: Цхинвал(и)), is the capital of South Ossetia, a disputed region which has been recognised as an independent Republic by Russia and another four UN members, and is regarded by Georgia and all other UN member states de jure as a region within Georgian sovereign territory.
It is located on the Great Liakhvi River approximately 100 km (62 mi) northwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
The name of Tskhinvali is derived from the Georgian Krtskhinvali (Georgian: ქრცხინვალი), literally meaning "the land of hornbeams", which is the historical name of the city. From 1934 to 1961, the city was named Staliniri (Georgian: სტალინირი), after Joseph Stalin. Modern Ossetians call the city Tskhinval (leaving off the final "i", which is a nominative case ending in Georgian); the other Ossetian (unofficial) name of the city is Chreba.
The area around the present-day Tskhinvali was first populated back in the Bronze Age. The unearthed settlements and archaeological artifacts from that time are unique in that they reflect influences from both Iberian (east Georgia) and Colchian (west Georgia) cultures with possible Sarmatian elements.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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Tórshavn
Tórshavn (IPA: [ˈtʰɔuʂhaun]; Danish: Thorshavn) is the capital and largest town of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the north west of the town lies the 347-metre (1,138 ft) high mountain Húsareyn, and to the southwest, the 350-metre (1,150 ft) high Kirkjubøreyn. The city proper has a population of 13,000 (2008), and the greater urban area a population of 19,000.
The Vikings established their parliament on the Tinganes peninsula in 850 CE, thus Tórshavn was made capital of Faroe Islands and has remained so ever since. All through the Middle Ages the narrow peninsula jutting out into the sea made up the main part of Tórshavn. Sources do not mention a built-up area in Tórshavn until after the Protestant Reformation in 1539. Early on, Tórshavn became the center of the monopoly trade, thereby being the only legal place for the islanders to sell and buy goods. In 1856, the trade monopoly was abolished and the islands were left open to free trade. The town has grown rapidly ever since the turn of the 20th century into the undisputed administrative, economic and cultural center of the Faroes.
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Ukraine
Ukraine (i/juːˈkreɪn/ yew-KRAYN; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ]; Russian: Украина; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after the Russian Federation.
According to a popular and well established theory, the medieval state of Kievan Rus was established by the Varangians in the 9th century as the first historically recorded East Slavic state which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages until it disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. A chaotic period of incessant warfare ensued, with several internationally recognized attempts at independence from 1917 to 1921, following World War I and the Russian Civil War. Ukraine emerged from its own civil war, and on December 30, 1922 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian SSR's territory was enlarged westward during the civil war shortly before, and after World War II, and further south in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
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University of Bern
The University of Bern (German: Universität Bern, French: Université de Berne, Latin: Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a broad choice of courses and programmes in eight faculties and some 160 institutes. The university is an international leader in certain fields of research, such as space research. Teaching and research activities are conducted on an interdisciplinary basis. For instance, the University of Bern is home to four of the National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) Climate (climate change research), North-South (sustainable development), Trade Regulation (international trade) and TransCure (membrane biology). With around 15,400 students, the University of Bern is a medium-sized Swiss university. Aside from the programmes and courses on offer, the attractions of the university include Bern's central location and quality of life, which is rated as one of the highest in the world.
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Vaduz
Vaduz (German pronunciation: [faˈduːts] or [faˈdʊts]) is the capital of the principality of Liechtenstein and the seat of the national parliament. The town, located along the Rhine, has about 5,100 inhabitants (as of 2009[update]), most of whom are Roman Catholic. Its cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vaduz.
Although Vaduz is the best-known town internationally in the principality, it is not the largest: neighbouring Schaan has a larger population.
Vaduz is said to be mentioned in historic 12th-century manuscripts as Farduzes. It is, however, commonly believed to have been founded circa 1322 by the Counts of Werdenberg. In 1322 a mention of the castle is made, which was sacked by the Swiss in 1499 during the Swabian War. The entire town was also destroyed.
In the 17th century the Liechtenstein family was seeking a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag. However, since they did not hold any territory that was directly under the Imperial throne, they were unable to meet the primary requirement to qualify.
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Valletta
Valletta is the capital of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt (English: The City) in Maltese. It is located in the central-eastern portion of the island of Malta, and the historical city has a population of 6,966. The name "Valletta" is traditionally reserved for the historic walled citadel that serves as Malta's principal administrative district. However, Valletta, like many historical city centres, forms part of a larger continuous urban agglomeration; this is often referred to as "Greater Valletta."
Valletta contains buildings from the 16th century onwards, built during the rule of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, also known as Knights Hospitaller. The city is essentially Baroque in character, with elements of Mannerist, Neo-Classical and Modern architecture in selected areas, though World War II left major scars on the city. The City of Valletta was officially recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.
The city is named for Jean Parisot de la Valette, who succeeded in defending the island from an Ottoman invasion in 1565. The official name given by the Order of Saint John was Humilissima Civitas Valletta — The Most Humble City of Valletta, or Città Umilissima in Italian. The bastions, curtains and ravelins along with the beauty of its Baroque palaces, gardens and churches, led the ruling houses of Europe to give the city its nickname Superbissima — 'Most Proud'.
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Vatican City
Vatican Cityi/ˈvætɨkən ˈsɪti/, or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano (pronounced [ˈstaːto della t͡ʃitˈta del vatiˈkaːno]), is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and a population of just over 800. This makes Vatican City the smallest independent state in the world by both area and population.
Vatican City State was established in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri, on behalf of Pope Pius XI and by Prime Minister and Head of Government Benito Mussolini on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Vatican City State is distinct from the Holy See, which dates back to early Christianity and is the main episcopal see of 1.2 billion Latin and Eastern Catholic adherents around the globe. Ordinances of Vatican City are published in Italian; official documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin. The two entities have distinct passports: the Holy See, not being a country, issues only diplomatic and service passports, whereas Vatican City State issues normal passports. In each case very few passports are issued.
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Verona
Verona (Italian pronunciation: [veˈroːna] ( listen); Venetian Verona (pron. Veròna); German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of northeast Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona covers an area of 1,426 km2 (550.58 sq mi) and has a population of 714,274 inhabitants. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy, owing to its artistic heritage, several annual fairs, shows, and operas, such as the lyrical season in the Arena, the ancient amphitheatre built by the Romans.
The city has been awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture.
The precise details of Verona's early history remain a mystery. The origin of the name Verona is also unknown. One theory is it was a city of the Euganei, who were obliged to give it up to the Cenomani (550 BC). With the conquest of the Vaecame Roman (about 300 BC) Verona became a Roman colonia in 89 BC, and then a municipium in 49 BC; Verona had the franchise in 59.
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Vienna
Vienna ( /viːˈɛnə/; German: Wien (help·info) [viːn]) is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million (2.4 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 9th-largest city by population in the European Union. Until the beginning of the 20th century it was the largest German speaking city in the world, and before the first world war and the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian empire the city had 2 million inhabitants. Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city lies in the east of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region. Along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Vilnius
Vilnius ([ˈvʲɪlʲnʲʊs] ( listen); see also other names) is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 554,060 (838, 852 together with Vilnius County) as of 2011. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County. The first known written record of Vilnius as the Lithuanian capital is known from Gediminas' letters in 1323. Vilnius is classified as a Gamma global city according to GaWC studies.
The name of the city originated from the Vilnia River. The city has also been known by many derivate spellings in various languages throughout its history. The most notable non-Lithuanian names for the city include: Polish: Wilno, Belarusian: Вiльнюс, Вiльня, German: Wilna, Latvian: Viļņa, Russian: Вильнюс, Yiddish: ווילנע (Vilne). An older Russian name was Вильна / Вильно (Vilna/Vilno), although Вильнюс (Vilnius) is now used. The names Wilno, Wilna and Vilna have also been used in older English, German, French and Italian language publications. The name Vilna is still used in Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hebrew.
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Waisenhausplatz
The Waisenhausplatz (Orphanage Plaza)is a plaza in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is on the edge of the Innere Neustadt which was built during the second expansion from 1255 to 1260, though the plaza wasn't built until later. It is on the north of the peninsula, and divided from Bärenplatz by Marktgasse. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Waisenhausplatz was first used to describe three formerly separate plazas in the 19th Century. The southern portion (Nr. 2-14) was built over the ditch in front of the second city wall in the 16th Century. Originally known as Viehmarkt (Cattle Market), then Holzmarkt (Wood Market), later as Weinplatz (Wine Plaza) and finally in the 18th and 19th Centuries as Schweinemarkt (Pork Market). The middle section of Waisenhausplatz (Nr. 16-28) was also built over the protective ditch, the Tachnaglergraben, and was known as Zeughausplatz (Armory Plaza). The northern section (Nr. 29/30) was built in 1784 and was always known as Waisenhausplatz.
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Warsaw
Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa [varˈʂava] ( listen); see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly 260 kilometres (160 mi) from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most populous city proper in the European Union. The area of the city covers 516.9 square kilometres (199.6 sq mi), while the city's agglomeration covers 6,100.43 square kilometres (2,355.39 sq mi).
Warsaw is an Alpha- global city, a major international tourist destination and an important economic hub in Central Europe. It is also known as the "phoenix city" because it has survived many wars throughout its history. Most notably, the city had to be painstakingly rebuilt after the extensive damage it suffered from World War II, during which 80% of its buildings were destroyed. On 9 November 1940 the city was awarded Poland's highest military decoration for heroism, the Virtuti Militari, for the Siege of Warsaw (1939).
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Yerevan
Coordinates: 40°11′00″N 44°31′00″E / 40.183333°N 44.516667°E / 40.183333; 44.516667
Yerevan (Armenian: Երևան, Armenian pronunciation: [jɛɾɛˈvɑn]) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country. It has been the capital since 1918, the thirteenth in the history of Armenia.
The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC by king Argishti I at the western extreme of the Ararat plain. After World War I, Yerevan became the capital of the Democratic Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors of the Armenian Genocide settled in the area. The city expanded rapidly during the 20th century as Armenia became one of the fifteen republics in the Soviet Union. In fifty years, Yerevan was transformed from a town of a few thousand residents within the Russian Empire, to Armenia's principal cultural, artistic, and industrial center, as well as becoming the seat of national government.
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Zagreb
Zagreb (Croatian pronunciation: [zǎːɡrɛb]) is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately 122 m (400 ft) above sea level. In the last official census of 2011, the population of the settlement of Zagreb was 686,568, while the total population of its administrative area was 792,875. The wider Zagreb metropolitan area includes the City of Zagreb and the separate Zagreb County with a population of 317,642, bringing the total metropolitan area population up to 1,110,517. It is the only metropolitan area in Croatia with a population of over one million.
Its favourable geographic position in the southwestern part of the Pannonian Basin, which extends to the Alpine, Dinaric, Adriatic and Pannonic regions, provides an excellent connection for traffic between Central Europe and the Adriatic Sea. The transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and industrial tradition underlie its leading economic position in Croatia. Zagreb is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies and almost all government ministries.
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Zagreb Funicular
The Zagreb Funicular (Croatian: Zagrebačka uspinjača) is the funicular in Zagreb operated by ZET, situated in Tomić Street, connecting the Ilica Street (Donji Grad) with Strossmayerovo šetalište (Strossmayer promenade) to the north (Gornji Grad). Its 66-metre (217 ft) track makes it one of the shortest public-transport funiculars in the world. The funicular was built in 1890 and has been in operation since April 23, 1893. Initially it had steam engines, which were substituted with electrical in 1934. Having in mind that it kept its original shape, constructional and most of the technical properties, it was given legal protection as a monument of culture.
It has two cars for 28 passengers each (16 seated and 12 standing places). The cars are 5640 mm long, and weigh 5,05 tons when empty. Each can carry 2240 kg. The electrical engine is in the northern (upper) station. It has a power output of 28.5 kW, operates on 400 V direct current, at 720 revolutions per minute. The funicular runs on 1200 mm gauge rails, track length is only 66 m, but height difference is 30.5 m and inclination 52%. This makes it one of the shortest, but also one of the steepest funiculars in the world. It runs at a speed of 1.5 m/s, needing 55 seconds to cross the distance.
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Zeughausgasse
The Zeughausgasse (Armory lane) is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Innere Neustadt which was built during the second expansion in 1255 to 1260. The eastern end is at Kornhausplatz while the western end is at Waisenhausplatz. It is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.
Zeughausgasse was originally called vor den Predigern after the nearby Prediger Abbey. The Dominican abbey was built throughout the 13th and 14th Centuries. In 1527 the abbey was secularized and the street changed names to Beim Totentanz after a Dance of Death painting cycle by Niklaus Manuels on the abbey wall. The 107.5 m (353 ft) long wall was painted with the fresco in 1520 which remained until the demolition of the wall in 1660. Even though the painting was destroyed in the 17th Century, the street remained Beim Totentanz until the 18th Century. In 1745 it was renamed Zeughausgasse and widened. The Zeughaus or armory, that the street was named after, had originally been a workhouse for the abbey and occupied what would become Zeughausgasse 18-28, Nägeligasse 4-6 and 7-13. In 1876 the old armory was demolished and in 1880 the street was widened.
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Zähringerstadt
The Zähringerstadt is a historic section in the Old City of Bern in Bern, Switzerland.
The first expansion of Bern occurred as the city was founded in 1191. This central and oldest neighbourhood was known as the Zähringerstadt (Zähringer town) after the founder, Duke Berthold V of Zähringen. Most likely the first city started at Nydegg Castle on the Aare river and reached west on the narrow peninsula to the Zytglogge (Swiss German: clock tower). The city was divided by three longitudinal streets, which stretched from the Castle to the city wall. Both the position of the town church and the shape of the eaves were typical for a Zähringer city.
During the first half of the 13th Century two additional streets (Brunngasse and Herrengasse) were added. Brunngasse was a semi-circular street on the north edge of the city, while Herrengasse was on the south side of the city. A wood bridge was built over the Aare River which allowed increased trade and limited settlements on the east bank of the river.
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Åland Islands
The Åland Islands (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈoːland], Finnish: Ahvenanmaa) form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea. They are situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and form an autonomous, demilitarised, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland. The islands collectively constitute the smallest region of Finland, with only 0.49% of its land area, and 0.50% of its population.
Åland comprises Fasta Åland (the "Main Island," with 90% of the population), together with an archipelago to the east that comprises over 6,500 skerries and islands. Fasta Åland is separated from the coast of Sweden by 38 kilometres (24 mi) of open water to the west. In the east, the Åland archipelago is contiguous with the Finnish Archipelago Sea. Åland's only land border is located on the uninhabited skerry of Märket, which it shares with Sweden.
Because of the autonomous status of the Åland Islands, the powers exercised at the provincial level by representatives of the central state administration in the rest of Finland are largely exercised by the Government of Åland in Åland.
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Adolf Wölfli
Adolf Wölfli (February 29, 1864 – November 6, 1930) (occasionally spelled Adolf Woelfli or Adolf Wolfli) was a Swiss artist who was one of the first artists to be associated with the Art Brut or outsider art label.
Wölfli was born in Bern. He was abused both physically and sexually as a child, and was orphaned at the age of 10. He thereafter grew up in a series of state-run foster homes. He worked as a farm labourer and briefly joined the army, but was later convicted of attempted child molestation, for which he served prison time. Sometime after being freed, he was arrested for a similar offense and was admitted in 1895 to the Waldau Clinic in Bern, Switzerland, a psychiatric hospital where he spent the rest of his adult life. He was very disturbed and sometimes violent on admission, leading to him being kept in isolation for his early time at hospital. He suffered from psychosis, which led to intense hallucinations.
At some point after his admission Wölfli began to draw. His first surviving works (a series of 50 pencil drawings) are dated from between 1904 and 1906.
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Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( /ˈælbərt ˈaɪnstaɪn/; German: [ˈalbɐt ˈaɪnʃtaɪn] ( listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics. While best known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation"), he received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory within physics.
Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led to the development of his special theory of relativity. He realized, however, that the principle of relativity could also be extended to gravitational fields, and with his subsequent theory of gravitation in 1916, he published a paper on the general theory of relativity. He continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the thermal properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, Einstein applied the general theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe as a whole.
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Albrecht von Haller
Albrecht von Haller (16 October 1708 – 12 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist and poet.
He was born of an old Swiss family at Bern. Prevented by long-continued ill-health from taking part in boyish sports, he had the more opportunity for the development of his precocious mind. At the age of four, it is said, he used to read and expound the Bible to his father’s servants; before he was ten he had sketched a Chaldee grammar, prepared a Greek and a Hebrew vocabulary, compiled a collection of two thousand biographies of famous men and women on the model of the great works of Bayle and Moréri, and written in Latin verse a satire on his tutor, who had warned him against a too great excursiveness. When still hardly fifteen he was already the author of numerous metrical translations from Ovid, Horace and Virgil, as well as of original lyrics, dramas, and an epic of four thousand lines on the origin of the Swiss confederations, writings which he is said on one occasion to have rescued from a fire at the risk of his life, only, however, to burn them a little later (1729) with his own hand.
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha (meaning "the awakened one" in Sanskrit and Pāli). The Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end ignorance (avidyā), craving (taṇhā), and suffering (dukkha), by recognizing dependent origination and sunyata, and attain Nirvana.
Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized: Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana is found throughout East Asia and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, Tiantai (Tendai) and Shinnyo-en. In some classifications, Vajrayana—practiced mainly in Tibet and Mongolia, and adjacent parts of China and Russia—is recognized as a third branch, while others classify it as a part of Mahayana. There are other categorisations of these three Vehicles or Yanas.
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Celts
The Celts (usually pronounced /ˈkɛlts/ but sometimes /ˈsɛlts/, see pronunciation of Celtic) or Kelts were an ethno-linguistic group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Medieval Europe who spoke Celtic languages and had a similar culture.
The earliest archaeological culture that may justifiably be considered as Proto-Celtic is the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of central Europe from the last quarter of the second millennium BC. Their fully Celtic descendants in central Europe were the people of the Iron Age Hallstatt culture (c. 800-450 BC) named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria. By the later La Tène period (c. 450 BC up to the Roman conquest), this Celtic culture had expanded over a wide range of regions, whether by diffusion or migration: to the British Isles (Insular Celts), France and The Low Countries (Gauls), much of Central Europe, the Iberian Peninsula (Celtiberians, Celtici and Gallaeci) and northern Italy (Golaseccans and Cisalpine Gauls) and following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC as far east as central Anatolia (Galatians).
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Ferdinand Hodler
Ferdinand Hodler (March 14, 1853 – May 19, 1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the 19th century.
Hodler was born in Berne, the eldest of six children. His father, Jean Hodler, made a meager living as a carpenter; his mother, Marguerite (née Neukomm), was from a peasant family. By the time Hodler was eight years old, he had lost his father and two younger brothers to tuberculosis. His mother remarried to a decorative painter, but in 1867 she too died of tuberculosis. Eventually the disease killed all of Hodler's remaining siblings, instilling in the artist a powerful consciousness of mortality.
Before he was ten, Hodler received training in decorative painting from his stepfather, and was subsequently sent to Thun to apprentice with a local painter, Ferdinand Sommer. Hodler's earliest works were conventional landscapes, which he sold in shops and to tourists. In 1871, at the age of 18, he traveled on foot to Geneva to start a career as a painter.
The works of Hodler's early maturity consisted of landscapes, figure compositions and portraits, treated with a vigorous realism. He made a trip to Basel in 1875, where he studied the paintings of Hans Holbein—especially Dead Christ in the Tomb, which influenced Hodler's many treatments of the theme of death. In the last decade of the 19th century his work evolved to combine influences from several genres including symbolism and art nouveau. He developed a style which he called Parallelism, characterized by groupings of figures symmetrically arranged in poses suggesting ritual or dance.
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Germania Superior
Germania Superior ("Upper Germania"), so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon (Besontio), Strasbourg (Argentoratum), Wiesbaden (Aquae Mattiacae), and Germania Superior's capital, Mainz (Mogontiacum). It comprised the Middle Rhine, bordering on the Limes Germanicus, and on the Alpine province of Raetia to the south-east.
The terms "Upper Germania" and "Lower Germania" do not appear in the Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar, yet he describes the people who lived in those regions very well.[citation needed] Lower Germania was occupied by the Belgae. Upper Germania was occupied by Gaulish tribes including the Helvetii, Sequani, Leuci, and Treveri, and, on the north bank of the middle Rhine, the remnant of the Germanic troops that had attempted to take Vesontio under Ariovistus, but who were defeated by Caesar in 58 BC.
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Helvetii
The Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Julius Caesar, the Helvetians were divided into four subgroups or pagi. Of these Caesar only names the Verbigeni and the Tigurini, while Poseidonios mentions the Tigurini and the Toygenoi (Τωυγενοί). They feature prominently in the Commentaries on the Gallic War, with their failed migration attempt to southwestern Gaul (58 BC) serving as a catalyst for Caesar's conquest of Gaul.
The endonym Helvetii may be derived from the root elw that is seen in Welsh, meaning "gain" or "profit," and the Old Irish prefix il-, meaning "many" or "multiple." The name has also been interpreted as meaning "rich in land," from elu-, "numerous," and *etu-, "terrain, grassland."
The name of the national personification of Switzerland, Helvetia, and the country's Neo-Latin name, Confoederatio Helvetica, are both derived from the name of the Helvetii.
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Mani Matter
Mani Matter (August 4, 1936, Herzogenbuchsee, Canton of Bern – November 24, 1972, officially Hans-Peter Matter) was a popular Swiss singer-songwriter. He grew up in Bern, and performed his own chansons in contemporary Bernese German at local venues and on the radio; he accompanied himself on the guitar. Mani Matter was an active Boy Scout in the Pfadicorps Patria in Bern and he performed his first own songs during Boy Scout evenings. Mani Matter also performed together with the Berner Troubadours (Bernese troubadours). He was killed in a car accident on his way to a concert and is buried in the Bremgartenfriedhof in Bern.
His Bernese German songs remain very popular in the German speaking part of Switzerland, and Matter is a great influence on the dialect music scene in Bern, and his songs are frequently covered. A collection of cover-versions was published in 1992 on the album Matter Rock. Mani Matter's chansons are often taught at school (including classes for adults wanting to learn Bernese German) and are famous for their soft irony.
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Mark Streit
Mark Streit (born December 11, 1977) is a Swiss professional ice hockey defenceman for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is the captain of both the Islanders and the Swiss national team. He is presently one of eight players in the NHL from Switzerland (the others are his Islander teammate Nino Niederreiter, goaltender Jonas Hiller, Sven Baertschi, defensemen Raphael Diaz, Luca Sbisa, Yannick Weber and Roman Josi).[citation needed] Streit is one of the few swingmen in the NHL who is able to play both as a defenceman and as a forward. He was featured on the front cover of the Swiss versions of the NHL series of hockey games, from NHL 08 to NHL 11 and was replaced by Jonas Hiller for NHL 12.
Streit began his career in the Swiss Nationalliga A with HC Fribourg-Gottéron in 1995–96 as an 18-year-old. The following year, he transferred to HC Davos and improved to a 25-point campaign in 44 games in 1998–99, his third season with the team.
Garnering attention from North America, but undrafted by an NHL team, he bounced around the minor leagues in 1999–00, playing the majority of the season with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL.
wn.com/Mark_Streit -
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (Russian: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Баку́нин; IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil ˌbaˈkunʲin]; 30 May [O.S. 18 May] 1814 – 1 July 1876) was a well-known Russian revolutionary and philosopher, theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up in Premukhino, a family estate near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists, leading to enthusiasm for the philosophy of Fichte. From Fichte, Bakunin went on to immerse himself in the works of Hegel, the most influential thinker among German intellectuals at the time. That led to his wholehearted embrace of Hegelianism, as he became bedazzled by Hegel's famous maxim; "Everything that exists is rational". In 1840 Bakunin traveled to St. Petersburg and Berlin, preparing himself for a professorship in philosophy or history at the University of Moscow.
Bakunin moved from Berlin, in 1842, to Dresden. Eventually he arrived in Paris, where he met George Sand, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Karl Marx. He was eventually deported from France for speaking against Russia's oppression of Poland. In 1849 he was apprehended in Dresden for his participation in the Czech rebellion of 1848. He was turned over to Russia where he was imprisoned in Peter-Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg. He remained there until 1857, when he was exiled to a work camp in Siberia. Escaping to Japan, the USA and finally ending up in London for a short time, he worked with Herzen on the journal Kolokol ("The Bell"). In 1863, he left to join the insurrection in Poland, but he failed to reach his destination and spent some time in Switzerland and Italy. Despite his criminal status, Bakunin gained great influence with the youth in Russia, and all of Europe. In 1870, he was involved in the insurrection in Lyon, which foreshadowed the Paris Commune.
wn.com/Mikhail_Bakunin -
Paul Emmert
Paul Emmert (1826-1867) , who is also known as Paul Emert, was an artist born near Berne, Switzerland in 1826. By 1845, he had become an established artist in New York. He joined the gold rush to California in 1849. The following year he exhibited in Brooklyn a panorama of the gold mining activities before making his second trip to California late in 1850. While in California, he operated the Bear Hotel in Sacramento and exhibited the panorama in San Francisco and other communities. In 1853 he moved to Hawaii where he resided until his death in 1867 in Honolulu.
The Amon Carter Museum (Fort Worth, Texas), the Hawaii Historical Society and the Honolulu Museum of Art are among the public collections holding works by Paul Emmert.
wn.com/Paul_Emmert -
Peter Bieri (author)
Peter Bieri (born 23 June 1944 in Bern), better known by his pseudonym, Pascal Mercier, is a Swiss writer and philosopher.
Bieri studied philosophy, English studies and Indian studies in both London and Heidelberg. From there he was awarded a doctoral degree by Dieter Henrich and Ernst Tugendhat for his work on the philosophy of time. After the conferral of his doctorate, Bieri worked as a scientific assistant at the Philosophical Seminar at University of Heidelberg.
Bieri co-founded the research unit "Cognition and Brain" at the German Research Foundation. The focuses of his research were the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics. From 1990 through 1993, he was a professor of the history of philosophy at the University of Marburg; from 1993 he taught philosophy at the Free University of Berlin while holding the chair of analytic philosophy, succeeding his mentor, Ernst Tugendhat.
wn.com/Peter_Bieri_(author) -
Roman Josi
Roman Josi (born June 1, 1990) is a Swiss professional ice hockey defenceman who currently plays for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League. Josi began playing professionally with Bern in 2006. He was selected by the Nashville Predators in the second round, 38th overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Josi is considered one of the top Swiss prospects.
Josi was selected to play for the Switzerland men's national ice hockey team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He previously represented Switzerland at the 2007 and 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships, the 2007, 2008, and 2009 IIHF World U20 Championship, and the 2009 Ice Hockey World Championship.
Josi scored his first NHL goal on December 10, 2011 against Dan Ellis of the Anaheim Ducks.
wn.com/Roman_Josi -
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party (German: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (French: Union démocratique du centre, UDC), is a national conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 54 members of the National Council and 5 of the Council of States.
The SVP was founded in 1971 by the merger of the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB) and the Democratic Party, while the BGB in turn had been founded on the background of the emerging local farmers' parties in the late 1910s. The SVP initially didn't witness any increased support beyond that of the BGB, remaining at around 11% of the vote through the 1970s and 1980s. This changed however during the 1990s, when the party underwent deep structural and ideological changes under the influence of Christoph Blocher, turning the party to become the strongest party in Switzerland by the 2000s.
wn.com/Swiss_People's_Party -
World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.
wn.com/World_War_I
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Urban Swimming in Bern, Switzerland
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:21
- Updated: 28 Aug 2012
You might know Switzerland for its snow-capped mountains, but on a hot summer's day people take to the rivers and lakes to cool down. Take the plunge in the lovely River Aare, and float through Bern. (Raffaella Rossello, swissinfo.ch, 12.08.2009)
http://wn.com/Urban_Swimming_in_Bern,_Switzerland
You might know Switzerland for its snow-capped mountains, but on a hot summer's day people take to the rivers and lakes to cool down. Take the plunge in the lovely River Aare, and float through Bern. (Raffaella Rossello, swissinfo.ch, 12.08.2009)
City of Bern
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:12
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
Berne the capital city of Switzerland lies in the Swiss plateau within the Canton of Berne, somewhat west of the center of Switzerland and 20 km north of the Bernese Alps. Berne's city center is largely medieval and has been recognised by UNESCO as a Cultural World Heritage Site. Perhaps its most famous sight is the Zytglogge, an elaborate medieval clock tower with moving puppets. Thanks to 6 kilometers of arcades, the old town boasts one of the longest covered shopping promenades in Europe.
http://wn.com/City_of_Bern
Berne the capital city of Switzerland lies in the Swiss plateau within the Canton of Berne, somewhat west of the center of Switzerland and 20 km north of the Bernese Alps. Berne's city center is largely medieval and has been recognised by UNESCO as a Cultural World Heritage Site. Perhaps its most famous sight is the Zytglogge, an elaborate medieval clock tower with moving puppets. Thanks to 6 kilometers of arcades, the old town boasts one of the longest covered shopping promenades in Europe.
- published: 31 Jan 2009
- views: 66913
- author: swisslowrider
Bern 93A
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 21:36
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
train from Lucerne to Bern, walk in Old Town on main street, Clock Tower, open market, parks, arcade streets, street trams.
http://wn.com/Bern_93A
train from Lucerne to Bern, walk in Old Town on main street, Clock Tower, open market, parks, arcade streets, street trams.
- published: 10 Aug 2009
- views: 27389
- author: denniscallan
Shopping in Bern+CHOCOLATE Heaven!!! Day in the Life
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:06
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
The reason I speak quietly in many of the stores is because I do not have official permission to film there and many stores don't like random people filming inside, so I try to do it discretely so no one notices. I have been kicked out and been asked to stop filming before! Haha - that won't stop me from Youtubing! This means the sound is hard to hear, so please just turn up the volume a bit. :) Add me on Twitter and Facebook for sneak previews, giveaways, questions, updates, pictures, and much more! It's so much fun :) twitter.com www.facebook.com apps.facebook.com
http://wn.com/Shopping_in_Bern+CHOCOLATE_Heaven!!!_Day_in_the_Life
The reason I speak quietly in many of the stores is because I do not have official permission to film there and many stores don't like random people filming inside, so I try to do it discretely so no one notices. I have been kicked out and been asked to stop filming before! Haha - that won't stop me from Youtubing! This means the sound is hard to hear, so please just turn up the volume a bit. :) Add me on Twitter and Facebook for sneak previews, giveaways, questions, updates, pictures, and much more! It's so much fun :) twitter.com www.facebook.com apps.facebook.com
- published: 21 Apr 2011
- views: 31809
- author: TheThirdShift
Trip to Bern, the Capital City of Switzerland
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:38
- Updated: 07 Nov 2012
- Bern's charming Bears - Gorgeous view of the Aare river - Overlooking the scenic Old Bern waterfront - Spectacular view of the Bern Cathedral - Tour of famous Beatrice von Wattenwyl House.
http://wn.com/Trip_to_Bern,_the_Capital_City_of_Switzerland
- Bern's charming Bears - Gorgeous view of the Aare river - Overlooking the scenic Old Bern waterfront - Spectacular view of the Bern Cathedral - Tour of famous Beatrice von Wattenwyl House.
- published: 02 Aug 2006
- views: 63474
- author: SacFamFed
Oranje (Holland) Invasion in Bern
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:49
- Updated: 02 Aug 2012
I like Holland and people there, so its a pleasure they are here in Bern. Welcome Oranjes!
http://wn.com/Oranje_Holland_Invasion_in_Bern
I like Holland and people there, so its a pleasure they are here in Bern. Welcome Oranjes!
- published: 10 Jun 2008
- views: 177397
- author: gorehouse
Bern Switerland Just Say Go Episode
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:49
- Updated: 01 Sep 2012
justsaygo.com and http Who we are... JustSayGo.com is a premiere web travel e-zine, which publishes travel and travel-related articles. JustSayGo.com premiered in 1995, originally published online as Zone451.com. The 'zine was the first-ever online e-zine to be published from Montreal, Canada, and has since evolved into an Internet destination with contributors from around the world. The e-zine is currently based in the United States. Readers enjoy stories as diverse as trekking New Mexico's Gila Mountains to catching a show in Las Vegas. Other articles have focused on rafting trips in Colorado, the best golf courses in British Colombia, skydiving in Texas and crossing Canada by train. Whether you're interested in cruising the Nile River in Egypt or visiting monasteries in Tibet, you'll find it all at JustSayGo.com. The site offers an interactive forum where readers can always find fresh, unique stories about destinations both familiar and off the beaten path.
http://wn.com/Bern_Switerland_Just_Say_Go_Episode
justsaygo.com and http Who we are... JustSayGo.com is a premiere web travel e-zine, which publishes travel and travel-related articles. JustSayGo.com premiered in 1995, originally published online as Zone451.com. The 'zine was the first-ever online e-zine to be published from Montreal, Canada, and has since evolved into an Internet destination with contributors from around the world. The e-zine is currently based in the United States. Readers enjoy stories as diverse as trekking New Mexico's Gila Mountains to catching a show in Las Vegas. Other articles have focused on rafting trips in Colorado, the best golf courses in British Colombia, skydiving in Texas and crossing Canada by train. Whether you're interested in cruising the Nile River in Egypt or visiting monasteries in Tibet, you'll find it all at JustSayGo.com. The site offers an interactive forum where readers can always find fresh, unique stories about destinations both familiar and off the beaten path.
- published: 19 Mar 2010
- views: 1054
- author: justsaygotv
Top 5 Travel Attractions, Bern (Switzerland) - Travel Guide
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:01
- Updated: 30 Nov 2012
Take a tour of Top 5 Travel Attractions of Bern, Switzerland - part of the World's Greatest Attractions series by GeoBeats. Hey, it is your host, Naomi. I would like to give you a tour of the top five attractions of Bern, Switzerland. #5: Old Town - Bern's picturesque Old Town is a UNESCO world heritage site. Albert Einstein lived in this area from 1903 to 1905. #4: Fountains - An unusual attraction of Bern is its colorful medieval fountains spread throughout the city. #3: Parliament Building - Completed in the early 20th century, this impressive building with its green dome is an iconic feature of Bern. #2: Oberhofen Castle - Located a short distance from Bern, this visually stunning medieval castle is located on a picturesque lake. #1: Clock Tower - one of the city's most popular landmarks, an ornate clock dating back to the 16th century still retains original parts. Thank you for watching our travel video series. See you next time.
http://wn.com/Top_5_Travel_Attractions,_Bern_Switzerland_Travel_Guide
Take a tour of Top 5 Travel Attractions of Bern, Switzerland - part of the World's Greatest Attractions series by GeoBeats. Hey, it is your host, Naomi. I would like to give you a tour of the top five attractions of Bern, Switzerland. #5: Old Town - Bern's picturesque Old Town is a UNESCO world heritage site. Albert Einstein lived in this area from 1903 to 1905. #4: Fountains - An unusual attraction of Bern is its colorful medieval fountains spread throughout the city. #3: Parliament Building - Completed in the early 20th century, this impressive building with its green dome is an iconic feature of Bern. #2: Oberhofen Castle - Located a short distance from Bern, this visually stunning medieval castle is located on a picturesque lake. #1: Clock Tower - one of the city's most popular landmarks, an ornate clock dating back to the 16th century still retains original parts. Thank you for watching our travel video series. See you next time.
- published: 13 Jul 2010
- views: 21539
- author: geobeats
Bern, capital of Switzerland
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:44
- Updated: 12 Nov 2012
Wonderful Movie about the beauty of the capital of switzerland. Bern Super schönes Video zur Hauptstadt der Schweiz, Bern.
http://wn.com/Bern,_capital_of_Switzerland
Wonderful Movie about the beauty of the capital of switzerland. Bern Super schönes Video zur Hauptstadt der Schweiz, Bern.
- published: 13 Apr 2007
- views: 70660
- author: bernertom
Dan Bern - Chelsea Hotel
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:57
- Updated: 09 Nov 2012
Dan Berns, Chelsea Hotel I still smell tobacco on my fingers My breath reeks of pot and wine and sex My eyes open up like they haven't in years So I won't miss whatever happens next You call me a thief All right, I'm a thief Grab a summons Come and ring my bell I'll be making love with my baby In the Chelsea Hotel I told you to meet me at eight o'clock I said I'll be drinking at the bar I drove between Newark and Laguardia Trying to return a rented car We keep missing connections today But tomorrow would be just as well I gotta go make love with my baby In the Chelsea Hotel I've been walking all around your neighborhood My former love You seem as far away and as sad to me As those rain clouds above I hope you're happy and whatever you're doing I hope you're doing well And please don't try to contact me At the Chelsea Hotel I was starting to think The world was going to end when the calendar turns But now you're here I see the future, baby And they can let the calendar burn New love is beautiful But new love is sad New love brings back all the old loves That you've ever had I put out a casting call And you cast a spell And we're practicing for the millennium Making love at the Chelsea Hotel So who knows what tomorrow brings But I know where I'll be waking up Let's just listen to our breath tonight And the breeze through the window that you opened up Can you feel our hearts beating Which one's yours Which one's mine Y' can't tell Just another day of making love At the ...
http://wn.com/Dan_Bern_Chelsea_Hotel
Dan Berns, Chelsea Hotel I still smell tobacco on my fingers My breath reeks of pot and wine and sex My eyes open up like they haven't in years So I won't miss whatever happens next You call me a thief All right, I'm a thief Grab a summons Come and ring my bell I'll be making love with my baby In the Chelsea Hotel I told you to meet me at eight o'clock I said I'll be drinking at the bar I drove between Newark and Laguardia Trying to return a rented car We keep missing connections today But tomorrow would be just as well I gotta go make love with my baby In the Chelsea Hotel I've been walking all around your neighborhood My former love You seem as far away and as sad to me As those rain clouds above I hope you're happy and whatever you're doing I hope you're doing well And please don't try to contact me At the Chelsea Hotel I was starting to think The world was going to end when the calendar turns But now you're here I see the future, baby And they can let the calendar burn New love is beautiful But new love is sad New love brings back all the old loves That you've ever had I put out a casting call And you cast a spell And we're practicing for the millennium Making love at the Chelsea Hotel So who knows what tomorrow brings But I know where I'll be waking up Let's just listen to our breath tonight And the breeze through the window that you opened up Can you feel our hearts beating Which one's yours Which one's mine Y' can't tell Just another day of making love At the ...
- published: 29 Aug 2008
- views: 22517
- author: SoiledtheBand
YRU - Song for everyone (Free Hugs Campaign, Bern, Switzerland)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:16
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
Like YRU on Facebook to get News and Concert Dates: www.facebook.com This video was made inspired by the "Free Hugs Campaign". It was recorded in autumn 2006. Please also check out my band "YRU" at www.myspace.com and yrumusic.restorm.com New Album "Punkrock and Butterflies" available on iTUNES, AmazonMP3, 7Digital and all other major distributors
http://wn.com/YRU_Song_for_everyone_Free_Hugs_Campaign,_Bern,_Switzerland
Like YRU on Facebook to get News and Concert Dates: www.facebook.com This video was made inspired by the "Free Hugs Campaign". It was recorded in autumn 2006. Please also check out my band "YRU" at www.myspace.com and yrumusic.restorm.com New Album "Punkrock and Butterflies" available on iTUNES, AmazonMP3, 7Digital and all other major distributors
- published: 24 Sep 2008
- views: 21912
- author: Philipp Beyeler
Bern, Switzerland #26 Restaurant Rosengarten
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:09
- Updated: 17 Sep 2012
davidsbeenhere.com Here David finds himself in the city of Bern, Switzerland where he visits one of the citys best restaurants, Restaurant Rosengarden. Located on a hillside rose garden, the Restaurant Rosengarden offers delicious international cuisine, along with some of the best views of the city of Bern. www.youtube.com Travel with me at blog.davidsbeenhere.com
http://wn.com/Bern,_Switzerland_26_Restaurant_Rosengarten
davidsbeenhere.com Here David finds himself in the city of Bern, Switzerland where he visits one of the citys best restaurants, Restaurant Rosengarden. Located on a hillside rose garden, the Restaurant Rosengarden offers delicious international cuisine, along with some of the best views of the city of Bern. www.youtube.com Travel with me at blog.davidsbeenhere.com
- published: 11 Feb 2011
- views: 1540
- author: Davidsbeenhere
Oranje in Bern! dutch invasion
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:26
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
Oranjebus en feest in Bern, straten lopen vol met oranjefans! en Nederland-Frankrijk! Brabant10
http://wn.com/Oranje_in_Bern!_dutch_invasion
Oranjebus en feest in Bern, straten lopen vol met oranjefans! en Nederland-Frankrijk! Brabant10
- published: 15 Jun 2008
- views: 96294
- author: Markloonen
Street Party Bern 11.05.2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:01
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
http://wn.com/Street_Party_Bern_11052012
- published: 12 May 2012
- views: 32222
- author: moizel1
Dan Bern - Jerusalem
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:47
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
Dan Bern live at Puck in Doylestown, Bucks County, PA December 12, 2009
http://wn.com/Dan_Bern_Jerusalem
Dan Bern live at Puck in Doylestown, Bucks County, PA December 12, 2009
- published: 23 Feb 2010
- views: 35309
- author: Dawnskiable
Rendezvous Bundesplatz Lightshow Bern
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:04
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
Jeden Abend um 19:00 Uhr und 20:30 Uhr auf dem Bundesplatz Bern.
http://wn.com/Rendezvous_Bundesplatz_Lightshow_Bern
Jeden Abend um 19:00 Uhr und 20:30 Uhr auf dem Bundesplatz Bern.
- published: 17 Oct 2011
- views: 44773
- author: rendezvousbundeshaus
AK72 feat. Fresh L - Für mis Bern (Official Video)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:46
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
Vorabtrack von TBMB II: AK72 feat. Fresh L (New Jack) - Für mis Bern freedownload uf: www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch
http://wn.com/AK72_feat_Fresh_L_Für_mis_Bern_Official_Video
Vorabtrack von TBMB II: AK72 feat. Fresh L (New Jack) - Für mis Bern freedownload uf: www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch www.ak72.ch
- published: 25 Jul 2011
- views: 49588
- author: VajdaBeats
Ausflug nach Bern
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:18
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
In der Schweizer Hauptstadt Bern gibt es viel zu sehen und entdecken. Dank dem ausserordentlich gut erhaltenen Stadtbild wurde die Hauptstadt 1983 von der UNESCO mit dem Titel „Weltkulturerbe" ausgezeichnet. Beim Bummel durch die Altstadt begegnet man auf Schritt und Tritt den Zeugen mittelalterlicher Baukunst. Überhaupt ist Bern mit über 100 historischen Brunnen bekannt für viele eindrückliche Sehendwürdigkeiten.
http://wn.com/Ausflug_nach_Bern
In der Schweizer Hauptstadt Bern gibt es viel zu sehen und entdecken. Dank dem ausserordentlich gut erhaltenen Stadtbild wurde die Hauptstadt 1983 von der UNESCO mit dem Titel „Weltkulturerbe" ausgezeichnet. Beim Bummel durch die Altstadt begegnet man auf Schritt und Tritt den Zeugen mittelalterlicher Baukunst. Überhaupt ist Bern mit über 100 historischen Brunnen bekannt für viele eindrückliche Sehendwürdigkeiten.
- published: 04 Aug 2011
- views: 4144
- author: blsLoetschberger
Complet Genesis Counting out time live Bern 1975
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:25
- Updated: 11 Sep 2012
The lamb lies down on broadway live, bern 1975. Counting out time.
http://wn.com/Complet_Genesis_Counting_out_time_live_Bern_1975
The lamb lies down on broadway live, bern 1975. Counting out time.
- published: 23 Dec 2007
- views: 57940
- author: ikhnaton
Skyguide Bern-Belp - Flugverkehrsleiter @work
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:42
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
Begleite einen Flugverkehrsleiter einen Tag lang auf dem Flughafen Bern-Belp.
http://wn.com/Skyguide_Bern-Belp_Flugverkehrsleiter_@work
Begleite einen Flugverkehrsleiter einen Tag lang auf dem Flughafen Bern-Belp.
- published: 31 Aug 2012
- views: 1922
- author: Skyguide Skyguide
Motown Maurice - Bern Nadette Stanis aka Thelma from Good Times
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:13
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
Motown Maurice interviews Bern Nadette Stanis better known as Thelma from Good Times. The first season of The first season of The Motown Maurice Show is sponsored by The Law Offices of Pamela Y. Robinson www.AskMsRobinson.com
http://wn.com/Motown_Maurice_Bern_Nadette_Stanis_aka_Thelma_from_Good_Times
Motown Maurice interviews Bern Nadette Stanis better known as Thelma from Good Times. The first season of The first season of The Motown Maurice Show is sponsored by The Law Offices of Pamela Y. Robinson www.AskMsRobinson.com
- published: 27 Apr 2010
- views: 24006
- author: MotownMaurice
Airbus A319 Adria Airways take off in Bern-Belp!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:13
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
ATC Clearance / taxi & take off in Bern-Belp (Belpmoos) Switzerland! Enjoy the reflection from the morning sun & the great engine sound! ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by matthiashaenni ©
http://wn.com/Airbus_A319_Adria_Airways_take_off_in_Bern-Belp!
ATC Clearance / taxi & take off in Bern-Belp (Belpmoos) Switzerland! Enjoy the reflection from the morning sun & the great engine sound! ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by matthiashaenni ©
- published: 14 Feb 2011
- views: 13482
- author: matthiashaenni
euronews le mag - Chinese surrealism in Bern
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:59
- Updated: 29 Nov 2012
A collection of hitherto-unseen modern art from China features in a new exhibition 'Big Draft - Shanghai' in Bern, Switzerland. The man responsible for bringing these works to Europe is Uli Sigg who used to be the Swiss ambassador to Beijing. He is widely considered to be the one of the most influential foreigners in China and was the first to discover Chinese surrealism. The exhibition includes the work of 14 artists and the subject matter ranges from 9/11 to the cult of celebrity. ... www.euronews.net
http://wn.com/euronews_le_mag_Chinese_surrealism_in_Bern
A collection of hitherto-unseen modern art from China features in a new exhibition 'Big Draft - Shanghai' in Bern, Switzerland. The man responsible for bringing these works to Europe is Uli Sigg who used to be the Swiss ambassador to Beijing. He is widely considered to be the one of the most influential foreigners in China and was the first to discover Chinese surrealism. The exhibition includes the work of 14 artists and the subject matter ranges from 9/11 to the cult of celebrity. ... www.euronews.net
- published: 05 Jan 2011
- views: 347
- author: Euronews
photo: UN / Shareef Sarhan
02 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Guest Writer Gilad Atzmon. Israel suffered a humiliating defeat at The UN recently. The nations of the world stood up and said NO to the Jewish state - NO to Israeli occupation, NO to Israeli human rights abuse, NO to Jewish racism. In effect, they stood up and confessed to serious Zio-fatigue ... This is a very good news indeed. But interestingly, this united opposition to Israel is not in response to Israeli strength ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)
photo: AP / Karlos Manlupig
05 Dec 2012
The death toll from a powerful storm that hit the southern Philippines is continuing to rise, as rescue teams headed for affected areas. Typhoon Bopha struck Mindanao island on Tuesday, bringing rain and high winds. Tens of thousands were evacuated ahead of the storm, which is now passing over the western island of Palawan ... Water and mud rushed down mountainous slopes to engulf a school and a village hall serving as evacuation centres ... ....(size: 2.4Kb)
photo: AP / Bassem Tellawi
04 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) â President Barack Obama warned Syria on Monday that the use of chemical weapons would be "totally unacceptable" and that the country's leaders would be held accountable ... Obama stopped short of detailing those consequences....(size: 6.7Kb)
photo: AP / Nasser Nasser
05 Dec 2012
Police in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, have clashed with protesters angry at what they say is the rushed drafting of a new constitution and by President Morsi's recent extension of his powers. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the presidential palace. The police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, some of whom managed to cut through barbed wire around the palace ... Press action ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)
photo: NATO
05 Dec 2012
BRUSSELS. NATO on Tuesday approved member state Turkey's request for Patriot missiles to defend its border against Syria following a series of blunt warnings to Damascus not to use chemical weapons ... "We say to anyone who would want to attack Turkey -- don't even think about it," he remarked, announcing the decision after the first day of a two-day meeting in Brussels ... ....(size: 4.9Kb)
The News & Observer
06 Dec 2012
Email Print Order Reprint Share This. Text. tool name. tool goes here. From staff reports. The News and Observer. Tags. . .. DURHAM -- A Durham man is wanted in connection with a Nov. 5 home invasion that left a Durham man hospitalized with serious injuries ... Inges, 27, was arrested on Nov ... Anyone with information on Jones’ location should call 919-560-4415, ext ... A man attempted to rob the Bojangles restaurant located at 4621 New Bern Ave ... ....(size: 11.4Kb)
The News & Observer
06 Dec 2012
Email Print Order Reprint Share This. Text. tool name. tool goes here. Tags. . .. The N.C ... There also was a vote on whether to create a separate playoff division for charter schools ... Cheerleading ... There are 12 categories ... Jac Watkins’ 2-yard touchdown run with 26 seconds left gave New Bern a 39-38 victory over Indian Trail Porter Ridge on Friday night in the Class 4A North Carolina High School Athletic Association championship game ... ....(size: 13.4Kb)
Houston Press
05 Dec 2012
In response to the new Facebook guidelines, I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, status updates, messages, photos, videos,videos, and all other personal content that I post on line (as a result of the Berne Conventions) on my personal profile page, anyone else's page, or any business page ... Berne Convention, Facebook, Privacy Policy ....(size: 3.2Kb)
Huffington Post
05 Dec 2012
Looking for the world's most livable city? According to the Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Survey, Europe may be your destination ... New Zealand's Auckland, Canada's Vancouver and Australia's Sydney (which tied with Bern in Switzerland for 10th place) also made the report's top 10 ... Singapore bagged the top spot for this distinction, followed by Frankfurt and Munich in second place ... Bern, Switzerland. View of downtown Bern on June 8, 2008 ... ....(size: 5.5Kb)
The Charlotte Observer
05 Dec 2012
Porter Ridge Football ... 4A championship in the final seconds, on a 2-yard run from New Bern’s Jac Watkins, Porter Ridge’s players understandably were upset. But after losing in the state final for a second straight year, by a score of 39-38, the Pirates applauded as a team when New Bern got its championship awards ... ....(size: 1.7Kb)
Reuters
05 Dec 2012
BeKB also declined to comment further ... Founded in 1997 and based in Bern, Valiant, whose biggest shareholders include Zuercher Kantonalbank and Norges Bank Investment Management, has about 1,000 staff and more than 400,000 clients. BeKB was founded in 1834 and has about 1,450 staff and 500,000 customers largely in the cantons of Bern and Solothurn ... Company. Price ... ....(size: 1.8Kb)
The News & Observer
05 Dec 2012
Email Print Order Reprint Share This. Text. tool name. tool goes here. From staff reports. The News and Observer. Tags. .. RALEIGH -- A man attempted to rob the Bojangles restaurant located at 4621 New Bern Ave ... He was last seen running west along New Bern Avenue, toward Raleigh’s downtown ... having a fade style haircut and wearing big glasses ... Text. tool name ... A man attempted to rob the Bojangles restaurant located at 4621 New Bern Ave ... 1 ... ....(size: 10.9Kb)
Huffington Post
05 Dec 2012
PARIS -- Residents of a sleepy French village in Bordeaux have been left dumbfounded after discovering their local 18th-century chateau was completely bulldozed "by mistake." ... "The Chateau de Bellevue was Yvrac's pride and joy," said former owner Juliette Marmie. "The whole village is in shock. How can this construction firm make such a mistake?" ... ___ Loading Slideshow. 10 ... Bern, Switzerland. View of downtown Bern on June 8, 2008 ... 8, 2010 ... ....(size: 5.0Kb)
PR Newswire
05 Dec 2012
Google. , Dec. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue.. . Global and China Electronic Glass Industry Report, 2012 ... 1 ... The top 3 players are Fuji Crystal (Bern Optical), LENS Technology and G-Tech Optoelectronics Corp ... Major bases of Bern Optical are located in and . For Apple, around 45% cover glass products are offered by Bern Optical ... 5.8 Bern Optical ... ....(size: 26.5Kb)
Indian Express
05 Dec 2012
The Times of India
05 Dec 2012
Huffington Post
05 Dec 2012
Looking for the world's most livable city? According to the Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Survey, Europe may be your destination ... New Zealand's Auckland, Canada's Vancouver and Australia's Sydney (which tied with Bern in Switzerland for 10th place) also made the report's top 10 ... Visit Mercer's website for more on the rankings ... Also on HuffPost. ... ....(size: 3.3Kb)
The Guardian
05 Dec 2012
Dec 5 (Reuters) - Xherdan Shaqiri, given his first Champions League start for Bayern Munich, scored one and set up another to help last season's runners-up beat BATE Borisov 4-1 with a mainly second-string side on Wednesday ... Both teams finished with 10 men ... BATE finished third and qualified for the Europa League ... Yegor Filipenko pulled one back for the visitors in the 89th minute. Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; Editing by Ed Osmond....(size: 11.2Kb)
For other uses of Bern or Berne, see Bern (disambiguation).
"Bernese" redirects here. For the dog breed, see Bernese Mountain Dog.
| Bern | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Population | 133,920 (Dec 2010)[1] | |||||||||
| - Density | 2,595 /km2 (6,722 /sq mi) | |||||||||
| Area | 51.62 km2 (19.93 sq mi)[2] | |||||||||
| Elevation | 542 m (1,778 ft) | |||||||||
| - Highest | 864 m - Gurten | |||||||||
| - Lowest | 480 m - Aare | |||||||||
| Postal code | 3000 | |||||||||
| SFOS number | 0351 | |||||||||
| Mayor (list) | Alexander Tschäppät SPS/PSS | |||||||||
| Demonym | Berner | |||||||||
| Surrounded by | Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen | |||||||||
| Twin towns |  Kryvyi Rih |
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| Website | www.bern.ch SFSO statistics |
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 Bern
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Location of Bern
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The city of Bern or Berne (German: Bern, pronounced [ˈbɛrn] ( listen); French: Berne [bɛʁn]; Italian: Berna [ˈbɛrna]; Romansh: Berna [ˈbɛrnə]; Bernese German: Bärn [b̥æːrn]) is the Bundesstadt (federal city, de facto capital) of Switzerland, and, with (as of December 2010) a population of 133,920,[3] the fourth most populous city in Switzerland.[4] The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities,[5] has a population of 349,000.[6] The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000.[7] Bern is also the capital of the Canton of Bern, the second most populous of Switzerland's cantons.
The official language of Bern is German, but the main spoken language is the Alemannic dialect called Bernese German.
In 1983 the historic old town in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Bern is ranked among the world’s top ten cities for the best quality of life (2010).[8]
Contents |
Name[link]
Main article: History of Bern
The etymology of the name Bern is uncertain. According to the local legend, based on folk etymology, Berchtold V, Duke of Zähringen, the founder of the city of Bern, vowed to name the city after the first animal he met on the hunt, and this turned out to be a bear. It has long been considered likely that the city was named after the Italian city of Verona, which at the time was known as Bern in Middle High German. As a result of the find of the Bern zinc tablet in the 1980, it is now more common to assume that the city was named after a pre-existing toponym of celtic origin, possibly *berna "cleft".[9] The bear was the heraldic animal of the seal and coat of arms of Bern from at least the 1220s. The earliest reference to the keeping of live bears in the Bärengraben dates to the 1440s.
History[link]
Early History[link]
No archaeological evidence that indicates a settlement on the site of today′s city centre prior to the 12th century has been found so far. In antiquity, a celtic oppidum stood on the “Engehalbinsel” north of Bern, fortified since the 2nd century BC (late La Tène period), thought to be one of the twelve oppida of the Helvetii mentioned by Caesar. During the Roman era, there was a Gallo-roman vicus on the same site. The Bern zinc tablet has the name Brenodor "dwelling of Breno". In the Early Middle Ages, there was a settlement in Bümpliz, now a city district of Bern, some 4 km (2 mi) from the medieval city.
The medieval city is a foundation of the Zähringer ruling family, which rose to power in Upper Burgundy in the 12th century. According to 14th century historiography (Cronica de Berno, 1309), Bern was founded in 1191 by Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen.
In 1218, after Berthold died without an heir, Bern was made a free imperial city by the Goldene Handfeste of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Old Swiss Confederacy[link]
In 1353 Bern joined the Swiss Confederacy, becoming one of the "eight cantons" of the formative period of 1353 to 1481. Bern invaded and conquered Aargau in 1415 and Vaud in 1536, as well as other smaller territories, thereby becoming the largest city-state north of the Alps, by the 18th century comprising most of what is today the canton of Bern and the canton of Vaud.
The city grew out towards the west of the boundaries of the peninsula formed by the river Aare. Initially, the Zytglogge tower marked the western boundary of the city from 1191 until 1256, when the Käfigturm took over this role until 1345, which, in turn, was then succeeded by the Christoffelturm (located close to today's train station) until 1622. During the time of the Thirty Years' War two new fortifications, the so-called big and small Schanze (entrenchment), were built to protect the whole area of the peninsula.
After a major blaze in 1405, the original wooden buildings were gradually replaced by half-timbered houses and later the sandstone buildings that came to be characteristic for the Old Town. Despite the waves of pestilence that hit Europe in the 14th century, the city continued to grow mainly due to immigration from the surrounding countryside.[10]
Modern history[link]
Bern was occupied by French troops in 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars, when it was stripped of parts of its territories. It regained the Bernese Oberland in 1802, and following the Congress of Vienna of 1814 newly acquired the Bernese Jura, once again becoming the largest canton of the confederacy as it stood during the Restoration, and further until the secession of the canton of Jura in 1979. In 1848 Bern was made the Federal City (seat of the Federal Assembly) of the new Swiss federal state.
A number of congresses of the socialist First and Second Internationals were held in Bern, particularly during World War I when Switzerland was neutral; see Bern International.
The city's population rose from about 5,000 in the 15th century to about 12,000 by 1800 and to above 60,000 by 1900, passing the 100,000 mark during the 1920s. Population peaked during the 1960s at 165,000, and has since decreased slightly, to below 130,000 by 2000. As of 31 December 2009, the resident population was at 130,289 of which 101,627 were Swiss citizens and 28,662 (22%) resident foreigners. Another estimated 350,000 people live in the immediate urban agglomeration.[11]
Geography[link]
Bern lies on the Swiss plateau in the Canton of Bern, slightly west of the centre of Switzerland and 20 km (12 mi) north of the Bernese Alps. The countryside around Bern was formed by glaciers during the most recent Ice Age. The two mountains closest to Bern are the Gurten with a height of 958 m (3,143 ft) and the Bantiger with a height of 947 m (3,107 ft). The site of the old observatory in Bern is the point of origin of the CH1903 coordinate system at 46°57′08.66″N 7°26′22.50″E / 46.9524056°N 7.439583°E / 46.9524056; 7.439583.
The city was originally built on a hilly peninsula surrounded by the river Aare, but outgrew the natural boundaries by the 19th century. A number of bridges have been built to allow the city to expand beyond the Aare.
Bern is built on very uneven ground. There are several dozen metres in difference of height between the inner city districts on the Aare (Matte, Marzili) and the higher ones (Kirchenfeld, Länggasse).
Bern has an area, as of 2009[update], of 51.62 square kilometers (19.93 sq mi). Of this area, 9.79 square kilometers (3.78 sq mi) or 19.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 17.33 square kilometers (6.69 sq mi) or 33.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 23.25 square kilometers (8.98 sq mi) or 45.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 1.06 square kilometers (0.41 sq mi) or 2.1% is either rivers or lakes and 0.16 square kilometers (0.062 sq mi) or 0.3% is unproductive land.[12]
Of the built up area, 3.6% consists of industrial buildings, 21.7% housing and other buildings, and 12.6% is devoted to transportation infrastructure. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.1% of the city, while another 6.0% consists of parks, green belts and sports fields. 32.8% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 14.3% is used for growing crops and 4.0% is designated to be used as pastures. The rivers and streams provide all the water in the municipality.[12]
Climate[link]
| Climate data for Bern | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 2.2 (36.0) |
4.6 (40.3) |
8.5 (47.3) |
12.6 (54.7) |
17.2 (63.0) |
20.6 (69.1) |
23.5 (74.3) |
22.7 (72.9) |
19.4 (66.9) |
13.7 (56.7) |
7.1 (44.8) |
3 (37) |
12.9 (55.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −1.2 (29.8) |
0.5 (32.9) |
3.7 (38.7) |
7.3 (45.1) |
11.5 (52.7) |
14.9 (58.8) |
17.3 (63.1) |
16.4 (61.5) |
13.3 (55.9) |
8.6 (47.5) |
3.1 (37.6) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
7.9 (46.2) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −3.7 (25.3) |
−2.4 (27.7) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
3 (37) |
6.9 (44.4) |
10.1 (50.2) |
12.1 (53.8) |
11.7 (53.1) |
9 (48) |
5.3 (41.5) |
0.5 (32.9) |
−2.6 (27.3) |
4.2 (39.6) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 66 (2.6) |
58 (2.28) |
70 (2.76) |
84 (3.31) |
108 (4.25) |
121 (4.76) |
104 (4.09) |
113 (4.45) |
84 (3.31) |
73 (2.87) |
81 (3.19) |
67 (2.64) |
1,028 (40.47) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 10 | 9.8 | 11.3 | 11.6 | 13.7 | 11.8 | 10 | 10.9 | 8.1 | 8 | 10.1 | 10.2 | 125.5 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 57 | 86 | 127 | 150 | 174 | 198 | 233 | 209 | 172 | 119 | 65 | 49 | 1,638 |
| Source: MeteoSchweiz [13] | |||||||||||||
Subdivisions[link]
The municipality is administratively subdivided into six districts (Stadtteile), each of which consists of several quarters (Quartiere).
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Demographics[link]
Bern has a population (as of December 2010[update]) of 133,920.[1] As of 2010[update], 23.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 0.6%. Migration accounted for 1.3%, while births and deaths accounted for -2.1%.[14]
Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (104,465 or 81.2%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (5,062 or 3.9%) and French is the third (4,671 or 3.6%). There are 171 people who speak Romansh.[15]
As of 2008[update], the population was 47.5% male and 52.5% female. The population was made up of 44,032 Swiss men (35.4% of the population) and 15,092 (12.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 51,531 Swiss women (41.4%) and 13,726 (11.0%) non-Swiss women.[16] Of the population in the municipality, 39,008 or about 30.3% were born in Bern and lived there in 2000. There were 27,573 or 21.4% who were born in the same canton, while 25,818 or 20.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 27,812 or 21.6% were born outside of Switzerland.[15]
As of 2000[update], children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 15.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 65% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 19.9%.[14]
As of 2000[update], there were 59,948 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 49,873 married individuals, 9,345 widows or widowers and 9,468 individuals who are divorced.[15]
As of 2000[update], there were 67,115 private households in the municipality, and an average of 1.8 persons per household.[14] There were 34,981 households that consist of only one person and 1,592 households with five or more people. In 2000[update], a total of 65,538 apartments (90.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 5,352 apartments (7.4%) were seasonally occupied and 1,444 apartments (2.0%) were empty.[17] As of 2009[update], the construction rate of new housing units was 1.2 new units per 1000 residents.[14]
As of 2003[update] the average price to rent an average apartment in Bern was 1108.92 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$890, £500, €710 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 619.82 CHF (US$500, £280, €400), a two room apartment was about 879.36 CHF (US$700, £400, €560), a three room apartment was about 1040.54 CHF (US$830, £470, €670) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 2094.80 CHF (US$1680, £940, €1340). The average apartment price in Bern was 99.4% of the national average of 1116 CHF.[18] The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010[update], was 0.45%.[14]
Historic Population[link]
The historical population is given in the following chart:[19] <timeline> Colors=
id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8)
ImageSize = width:800 height:500 PlotArea = top:10 left: 100 bottom:90 right:100 Legend = columns:3 left:220 top:70 columnwidth:160 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:170000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:30000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:6000 start:0 Colors=
id:TO value:yellowgreen legend:Total id:GE value:teal legend:German_Speaking id:FR value:green legend:French_Speaking id:PR value:lightpurple legend:Protestant id:CA value:oceanblue legend:Catholic id:SW value:red legend:Swiss
PlotData=
color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:29670 text:"29,670" color:TO bar:1880 from:start till:44087 text:"44,087" color:TO bar:1910 from:start till:90937 text:"90,937" color:TO bar:1930 from:start till:111783 text:"111,783" color:TO bar:1950 from:start till:146499 text:"146,499" color:TO bar:1970 from:start till:162405 text:"162,405" color:TO bar:1990 from:start till:136338 text:"136,338" color:TO
LineData =
points:(213,188)(307,286) color:GE points:(307,286)(400,331) color:GE points:(400,331)(493,395) color:GE points:(493,395)(587,405) color:GE points:(587,405)(680,349) color:GE points:(213,94)(307,101) color:FR points:(307,101)(400,105) color:FR points:(400,105)(493,114) color:FR points:(493,114)(587,109) color:FR points:(587,109)(680,102) color:FR points:(120,156)(213,184) color:PR points:(213,184)(307,274) color:PR points:(307,274)(400,315) color:PR points:(400,315)(493,370) color:PR points:(493,370)(587,362) color:PR points:(587,362)(680,278) color:PR points:(120,93)(213,98) color:CA points:(213,98)(307,113) color:CA points:(307,113)(400,121) color:CA points:(400,121)(493,145) color:CA points:(493,145)(587,187) color:CA points:(587,187)(680,176) color:CA points:(120,156)(213,185) color:SW points:(213,185)(307,281) color:SW points:(307,281)(400,337) color:SW points:(400,337)(493,418) color:SW points:(493,418)(587,419) color:SW points:(587,419)(680,355) color:SW
</timeline>
| Historic Population Data [19] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total Population | German Speaking | French Speaking | Protestant | Catholic | Jewish | Christian Catholic | Other or no religion given | No religion given | Swiss | Non-Swiss |
| 1700 | 14,219 | ||||||||||
| 1730 | 15,932 | ||||||||||
| 1764 | 14,515 | ||||||||||
| 1798 | 12,186 | ||||||||||
| 1818 | 18,997 | ||||||||||
| 1837 | 24,362 | ||||||||||
| 1850 | 29,670 | 27,986 | 1,478 | 206 | 28,009 | 1,661 | |||||
| 1880 | 44,087 | 41,784 | 1,875 | 39,948 | 3,456 | 387 | 296 | 40,463 | 3,624 | ||
| 1910 | 90,937 | 83,144 | 4,566 | 78,234 | 9,650 | 1,056 | 1,997 | 81,335 | 9,602 | ||
| 1930 | 111,783 | 102,444 | 6,378 | 95,600 | 13,280 | 854 | 2,049 | 104,864 | 6,919 | ||
| 1950 | 146,499 | 129,781 | 10,262 | 118,823 | 23,295 | 1,089 | 792 | 2,500 | 139,367 | 7,132 | |
| 1970 | 162,405 | 133,737 | 8,041 | 115,779 | 41,374 | 635 | 561 | 4,056 | 139,873 | 22,532 | |
| 1990 | 136,338 | 110,279 | 5,236 | 79,889 | 36,723 | 335 | 334 | 19,057 | 10,006 | 112,599 | 23,739 |
Politics[link]
.jpg)
See also: List of mayors of Bern
Bern is governed by the Gemeinderat, an executive council with five members, one of them the elected mayor (Stadtpräsident). The parliament has 80 members and is called Stadtrat. Both the legislative and the executive are elected in general elections for a term of four years. The last elections were held in November 2008 with a 43.48% participation.
The executive council has a left-green majority with two representatives, including the mayor Alexander Tschäppät, of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SPS) and one representative of the leftist Green party Grünes Bündnis (GB). It also has a majority of three women against two men.
The seat of the Gemeinderat is the Erlacherhof.
The 80 members of the legislative council belong to 18 different political parties, the strongest being the Social Democratic Party with 20 representatives, followed by the conservative Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (FDP) with 10 and the moderate Green party Grüne Freien Liste (GFL) with 9 seats. Both the far right Swiss People's Party (SVP) and the leftist Green party Grünes Bündnis have 8 seats each.
The Stadtrat meets on Thursday evenings at the Rathaus (Town Hall).
The representatives of the Social Democratic Party and of the Green Parties, collectively referred to as "Red-Green-Center" (Rot-Grüne-Mitte), hold a majority in both councils and mostly determine City policy, although no formal coalition agreement exists and, under the system of direct democracy that prevails in Switzerland, most important issues are settled by general vote.
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SPS which received 29.12% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Green Party (24.88%), the SVP (16.73%) and the FDP (15.7%). In the federal election, a total of 43,783 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 51.5%.[20]
Main sights[link]
The structure of Bern's city centre is largely medieval and has been recognised by UNESCO as a Cultural World Heritage Site. Perhaps its most famous sight is the Zytglogge (Bernese German for "Time Bell"), an elaborate medieval clock tower with moving puppets. It also has an impressive 15th century Gothic cathedral, the Münster, and a 15th century town hall. Thanks to 6 kilometres of arcades, the old town boasts one of the longest covered shopping promenades in Europe.
Since the 16th century, the city has had a bear pit (the Bärengraben). The extended and renewed pit off the far end of the Nydeggbrücke actually contains four bears, including two young. During his visit in Bern in 2009, the Russian president and his wife gave two more young bears as a private present.[21] They are actually in Dählhölzli, Bern's zoo.
The Federal Palace (Bundeshaus), built from 1857 to 1902, which houses the national parliament, government and part of the federal administration, can also be visited.
Albert Einstein lived in an apartment at the Kramgasse 49, the site of the Einsteinhaus, from 1903 to 1905, the year in which the Annus Mirabilis Papers were published.
The Rose Garden (Rosengarten), from which a scenic panoramic view of the medieval town centre can be enjoyed, is a well-kept Rosarium on a hill, converted into a park from a former cemetery in 1913.
Bern's most recent sight is the set of fountains in front of the Federal Palace. It was inaugurated on August 1, 2004.
Bern features many heritage sites of national significance.[22] Apart from the entire Old Town and many sites within it, these include the Bärengraben, the Gewerbeschule Bern (1937), the Eidgenössisches Archiv für Denkmalpflege, the Kirchenfeld mansion district (after 1881), the Thunplatzbrunnen, the Federal Mint building, the Federal Archives, the Swiss National Library, the Historical Museum (1894), Alpine Museum, Museum of Communication and Natural History Museum.
The Universal Postal Union is situated in Bern.
Heritage sites of national significance[link]
Fountains and bridges Anna Seiler, Gerechtigkeits, Kindlifresserbrunnen, Kreuzgassbrunnen, Läuferbrunnen, Felsenau Viadukt, Halenbrücke, Kirchenfeldbrücke, Kornhausbrücke, Mosesbrunnen, Neubrügg (bridge) (shared with Kirchlindach), Nydeggbrücke, Pfeiferbrunnen, Ryfflibrunnen, Schützenbrunnen, Simsonbrunnen, Untertorbrücke and Felsenburg castle on the far side of the Aare river, Vennerbrunnen and Zähringerbrunnen
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Anna Seiler Fountain
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Felsenau Viadukt
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Gerechtigkeits Fountain
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Halenbrücke Bridge
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Kindlifresserbrunnen (fountain)
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Kirchenfeldbrücke (bridge)
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Kornhausbrücke (bridge)
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Kreuzgassbrunnen (fountain)
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Läuferbrunnen (fountain)
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Neubrügg (bridge) (shared with Kirchlindach)
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Nydeggbrücke (bridge)
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Pfeiferbrunnen (fountain)
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Ryfflibrunnen (Fountain)
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Schützenbrunnen (fountain)
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Simsonbrunnen (fountain)
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Untertorbrücke (bridge) and Felsenburg castle on the far side of the Aare river
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Vennerbrunnen (fountain)
Museums and libraries Bernische Stiftung für angewandte Kunst and Gestaltung, Bibliothek am Guisanplatz, Bundeskunstsammlung (Federal Art Collection), Former Kornhaus, Historic Archive and Library of the PTT, Historisches Museum, Kunstmuseum und Kunsthistorisches Seminar (Art Museum and Art History Center of Bern), Museum für Kommunikation, Naturhistorisches Museum der Burgergemeinde Bern, Historic collection of the SBB-CFF-FFS, Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek Swiss National Library, Schweizerische Theatersammlung, Swiss Alpine Museum, Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv Federal Archives of Switzerland, Staatsarchiv des Kantons Bern, University Library (Former City and University Library) and Zentrum Paul Klee
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Bibliothek am Guisanplatz (Former Confederation Military Library)
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Former Kornhaus (Former Granary, now a Museum)
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Historic Archive and Library PTT
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Kunstmuseum und Kunsthistorisches Seminar (Art Museum and Art History Center of Bern)
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Naturhistorisches Museum der Burgergemeinde Bern
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Historic collection of the SBB-CFF-FFS
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Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek Swiss National Library
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Schweizerische Theatersammlung
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Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv Federal Archives of Switzerland
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Public and government buildings Altenbergsteg, the entire Old City of Bern, the Bärengraben, Bundeshaus, Burgerspital, Casino, Former Rathaus des Äusseren Standes (Council House of the Outer Territories), Federal Alcohol Department Building, Eidgenössische Münzstätte (Federal Mint), Federal Tariff Department Building, Erlacherhof, Fischer’sche Post House, Head Offices of the Swiss Federal Railway, Gesellschaftshaus zu Pfistern at Kramgasse 9, the Hauptwache at Theaterplatz 13, Hôtel de Musique (Café du Théâtre), Käfigturm, Lichtspiel-Kinemathek, Loryspital, Rathaus (Town council house) with City-State's Kanzlei, Wittigkofen Castle, Holligen Castle, Schweizerische Nationalbank Swiss National Bank, Schweizerischer Gewerkschaftsband (SGB), SRG SSR idée suisse Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, Stadttheater Bern City Theater, Viktoria-Spital, Waldau (formerly a Quarantine Building), Wasserschloss am Thunplatz, Zeitglockenturm (Clock Tower) and Zunfthaus zu Kaufleuten (Merchants' Guild House)
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Altenbergsteg
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Old City of Bern
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Federal Alcohol Department Building
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Fischer’sche Post House
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Head Offices of the Swiss Federal Railway
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Loryspital
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Rathaus (Town council house) with City-State's Kanzlei
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Schweizerische Nationalbank Swiss National Bank
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Stadttheater Bern City Theater
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Viktoria-Spital
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Waldau, formerly a Quarantine Building
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Zeitglockenturm (Clock Tower)
Houses Burgerhaus at Amthausgasse 5, Diesbach House at Münstergasse 2, House at Bim Zytglogge 1, Houses at Gerechtigkeitsgasse 33, 40, 42, 44, 52 and 81, Houses at Herrengasse 4 and 23, Houses at Junkerngasse 32 and 39, House at Kramgasse 7, Houses at Münstergasse 26 and 30, House at Spitalgasse 36, Kirchberger House, Oberes Mayhaus (Erkerhaus), Suva House at Laupenstrasse 9, Tscharner House at Kramgasse 54, Tscharner House at Münsterplatz 12, Unteres Mayhaus at Münstergasse 6, The Villas on Thunplatz, Von Wattenwyl House (also known as Frisching House) and Zeerleder House
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Burgerhaus
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Diesbach House
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House at Gerechtigkeitsgasse 33
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House at Gerechtigkeitsgasse 40
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House at Gerechtigkeitsgasse 52
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House at Herrengasse 4
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House at Herrengasse 23
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House at Junkerngasse 39
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House at Münstergasse 26
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House at Münstergasse 30
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House at Spitalgasse 36
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Tscharner House
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Unteres Mayhaus
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Von Wattenwyl House (also known as Frisching House)
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Zeerleder House
Churches and places of worship Christ-Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul, Catholic Church of Bruder Klaus, Swiss Reformed Französische Church, Swiss Reformed Heiliggeist Church, Swiss Reformed Paulus Church, Münster (Cathedral) and Stift (college of canons)
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Christ-Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul
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Swiss Reformed Französische Church
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Swiss Reformed Heiliggeist Church
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Swiss Reformed Paulus Church
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Münster (Cathedral)
Schools Reitschule (Former Municipal School), Gewerbeschule, Hochschule der Künste (Liberal Arts University) Archive and Musical Collection, Kantonale Militäranstalten (Cantonal Military Institute), Primarschule Stapfenacker Primary School of Stapfenacker, the University of Bern Main Building, Institute and Institute for Medical History
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Reitschule (Former Municipal School)
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Gewerbeschule
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Kantonale Militäranstalten (Cantonal Military Institute)
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University of Bern, Main Building
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University of Bern, Institute
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University of Bern Institute for Medical History
Parks and historic sites Botanical Garden of the Universität Bern, Elfenau Park, Garden of Villa Bomonti, KA-WE-DE (Open Air Swimming Pool), Engehalbinsel an Iron Age Oppidum and Roman Vicus, Münster (Cathedral) Platform
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Botanical Garden of the Universität Bern
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Elfenau Park
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Münster (Cathedral) Platform
Culture[link]
See also: List of museums in Bern
Theatres[link]
- Bern Theatre[23]
- Narrenpack Theater Bern[24]
- Schlachthaus-theater[25]
- Tojo Theater
- The Theater on the Effinger-Street[26]
- Theater am Käfigturm[27]
Cinemas[link]
Bern has several dozen cinemas. As is customary in Switzerland, films are generally shown in their original language (e.g., English) with German and French subtitles. Only a small number of screenings are dubbed in German.
Film festivals[link]
- Queersicht – gay and lesbian film festival, held annually in the second week of November.
- SHNIT International Short Film Festival
Festivals[link]
- BeJazz Summer and Winter Festival
- Buskers festival
- Gurtenfestival
- Internationales Jazzfestival Bern
- Queersicht – Queer Filmfestival, annually held second week of November.
- SHNIT International Short Film Festival
- Taktlos-Festival
Fairs[link]
- Zibelemärit – The Zibelemärit (onion market) is an annual fair held on the fourth Monday in November.
- Bernese Fassnacht (Carnival)
Sport[link]
Bern was the site of the 1954 Football (Soccer) World Cup Final, a huge upset for the Hungarian Golden Team, who were beaten 3–2 by West Germany.
The football team BSC Young Boys is based in Bern at the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf, which also was one of the venues for the European football championship 2008.
The Stade de Suisse hosted three matches during the 2008 UEFA Euro Cup tournament.
SC Bern is the major ice hockey team of Bern who plays at the PostFinance Arena.
The PostFinance Arena was the main host of the 2009 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, including the opening game and the final of the tournament.
The PostFinance Arena was also the host of the 2011 European Figure Skate Championships.
Bern Cardinals is the baseball and softball team of Bern, which plays at the Allmend
Bern Grizzlies is the American football club in Bern and plays at Sportanlage Schonau.
Bern was a candidate to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, but withdrew its bid in September 2002 after a referendum was passed that showed that the bid was not supported by locals. Those games were eventually awarded to Vancouver, Canada.
RC Bern is the local rugby club (since 1972) and plays at the Allmend. The ladies team has been founded in 1995.
Economy[link]
As of 2010[update], Bern had an unemployment rate of 3.3%. As of 2008[update], there were 259 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 59 businesses involved in this sector. 16,413 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 950 businesses in this sector. 135,973 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 7,654 businesses in this sector.[14]
In 2008[update] the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 125,037. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 203, of which 184 were in agriculture and 19 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 15,476 of which 7,650 or (49.4%) were in manufacturing, 51 or (0.3%) were in mining and 6,389 (41.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 109,358. In the tertiary sector; 11,396 or 10.4% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 10,293 or 9.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 5,090 or 4.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 7,302 or 6.7% were in the information industry, 8,437 or 7.7% were the insurance or financial industry, 10,660 or 9.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 5,338 or 4.9% were in education and 17,903 or 16.4% were in health care.[28]
In 2000[update], there were 94,367 workers who commuted into the municipality and 16,424 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 5.7 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving.[29] Of the working population, 50.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 20.6% used a private car.[14]
Religion[link]
From the 2000 census[update], 31,510 or 24.5% were Roman Catholic, while 60,455 or 47.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 1,874 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.46% of the population), there were 229 individuals (or about 0.18% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 5,531 individuals (or about 4.30% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 324 individuals (or about 0.25% of the population) who were Jewish, and 4,907 (or about 3.81% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 629 individuals who were Buddhist, 1,430 individuals who were Hindu and 177 individuals who belonged to another church. 16,363 (or about 12.72% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 7,855 individuals (or about 6.11% of the population) did not answer the question.[15]
Education[link]
The University of Bern, whose buildings are mainly located in the Länggasse quarter, is located in Bern, as well as the University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule) and several vocations schools.
In Bern about 50,418 or (39.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 24,311 or (18.9%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 24,311 who completed tertiary schooling, 51.6% were Swiss men, 33.0% were Swiss women, 8.9% were non-Swiss men and 6.5% were non-Swiss women.[15]
The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.[30]
During the 2009-10 school year, there were a total of 10,979 students attending classes in Bern. There were 89 kindergarten classes with a total of 1,641 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 32.4% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 40.2% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 266 primary classes and 5,040 students. Of the primary students, 30.1% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 35.7% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 151 lower secondary classes with a total of 2,581 students. There were 28.7% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 32.7% have a different mother language than the classroom language.[31]
Bern is home to 8 libraries. These libraries include; the Schweiz. Nationalbibliothek/ Bibliothèque nationale suisse, the Universitätsbibliothek Bern, the Kornhausbibliotheken Bern, the BFH Wirtschaft und Verwaltung Bern, the BFH Gesundheit, the BFH Soziale Arbeit, the Hochschule der Künste Bern, Gestaltung und Kunst and the Hochschule der Künste Bern, Musikbibliothek. There was a combined total (as of 2008[update]) of 10,308,336 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 2,627,973 items were loaned out.[32]
As of 2000[update], there were 9,045 students in Bern who came from another municipality, while 1,185 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[29]
Transport[link]
Bern is well connected to other cities by several motorways (A1, A12, A6).
Public transport works well in Bern, with the Bern S-Bahn, Bern tramway network, Bern trolleybus system and a bus network forming an integrated all-four style scheme connecting the different parts of the City.
Bern railway station connects the City to the national and international train network.
A funicular railway leads from the Marzili district to the Bundeshaus. This funicular is, with a length of 106 m (348 ft), the second shortest public railway in Europe after the Zagreb Funicular. Several Aare bridges connect the old parts of the city with the newer districts outside of the peninsula.
Bern is also served by Bern Airport, located outside the city near the town of Belp. The regional airport, colloquially called Bern-Belp or Belpmoos, is connected to several Swiss and European cities.
Notable people[link]
File:Einsteinhausberne.jpg
Albert Einstein's house
- Mikhail Bakunin died in Bern on 1 July 1876
- Albert Einstein worked out his theory of relativity while living in Bern, employed as a clerk at the patent office
- Albrecht von Haller
- Louise Elisabeth de Meuron, a famed eccentric and noble lady
- Paul Emmert, painter
- Ferdinand Hodler, painter
- Mark Streit, ice hockey player
- Christoph von Graffenried, founder of New Bern in the US state of North Carolina
- Peter Bieri, philosophy professor and novelist
- Adolf Wölfli, visual artist
- Roman Josi, ice hockey player
- Mani Matter, songwriter
- Léon Savary, Swiss writer and journalist
- Hans Urwyler, Christian minister
External links[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bern |
 |
Book: Bern |
| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |
- City of Bern
- Bern (Gemeinde) in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- GIS City of Bern
- Bern Public Transportation Website (BernMobil)
- Bern travel guide from Wikitravel
- CityHunter Bern
- Gurtenfestival
References[link]
- ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB, online database – Datenwürfel für Thema 01.2 - Bevölkerungsstand und -bewegung (German) accessed 29 September
- ^ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
- ^
- ^ "Stadt Bern - Aktuelles" (in (German)). Bern.ch. http://www.bern.ch/leben_in_bern/stadt/statistik/in_kuerze. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
- ^ Stadt Bern : Medienmitteilung : 19 May 2003 : Eidgenössische Volkszählung 2000: Neue Definition der Agglomeration Bern (in German)
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office : Population Size and Population Composition : Agglomerations : Permanent Resident Population in Urban and Rural Areas
- ^ "Office fédéral du développement territorial ARE - B3: Les aires métropolitaines". Are.admin.ch. 2006-06-07. http://www.are.admin.ch/themen/agglomeration/00641/03373/index.html?lang=fr. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
- ^ Quality of Living global city rankings – Mercer survey
- ^ Andres Kristol (ed.): Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen. Huber, Frauenfeld 2005, ISBN 3-7193-1308-5, p. 143.
- ^ Bern: Development of the settlement and the population in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ municipal statistics,[1] includes 6,816 weekend commuters not included in the federal statistics of 123,466.[2]
- ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
- ^ "Average Values-Table, 1961–1990" (in German, French, Italian). Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss. http://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/web/de/klima/klima_schweiz/tabellen.html. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 23-January-2012
- ^ a b c d e STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 (German) accessed 2 February 2011
- ^ Statistical office of the Canton of Bern (German) accessed 4 January 2012
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen (German) accessed 28 January 2011
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Rental prices 2003 data (German) accessed 26 May 2010
- ^ a b Bern in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton (German) accessed 28 May 2010
- ^ "City of bears receives Russian bruins". swissinfo.ch. 16 September 2009. http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/City_of_bears_receives_Russian_bruins.html?cid=1008832.
- ^ Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance (1995), p. 103–105.
- ^ "Stadttheater Bern". http://www.stadttheaterbern.ch/. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
- ^ "Narrenpack Theatre Bern". http://www.narrenpack.ch/. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
- ^ "Schlachthaus Theatre Bern". http://www.schlachthaus.ch/. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
- ^ "Das Theatre an der Effingerstrasse". http://www.dastheater-effingerstr.ch/. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
- ^ "Theater am Käfigturm". http://www.theater-am-kaefigturm.ch/. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3 (German) accessed 28 January 2011
- ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb (German) accessed 24 June 2010
- ^ EDK/CDIP/IDES (2010). Kantonale Schulstrukturen in der Schweiz und im Fürstentum Liechtenstein / Structures Scolaires Cantonales en Suisse et Dans la Principauté du Liechtenstein (Report). http://edudoc.ch/record/35128/files/Schulsystem_alle.pdf. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
- ^ Schuljahr 2009/10 pdf document(German) accessed 4 January 2012
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, list of libraries (German) accessed 14 May 2010
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Dan Bern | |
|---|---|
 Bern in August 1999. |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Daniel Bern |
| Also known as | Bernstein Cunliffe Merriwether |
| Born | (1965-07-27) July 27, 1965 (age 46) Mount Vernon, Iowa, U.S. |
| Genres | Folk, rock, pop |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter, author, visual artist |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, harmonica |
| Labels | Messenger, Cooking Vinyl, Work |
| Website | danbern.com |
Dan Bern (also known as Bernstein; born 27 July 1965) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, novelist and painter. His music is often compared to that of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Ochs and Elvis Costello.[1][2][3]
He is a prolific composer, having written hundreds of songs[4] [5]. He also wrote the novel Quitting Science (2004) under the pen name Cunliffe Merriwether and wrote the preface under his own name.
Contents |
Themes[link]
Bern's song "Talkin' Woody, Bob, Bruce, and Dan Blues," from the album Smartie Mine, offers a joking take on this influence, presented in the style of a Guthrie or Dylan talking blues song, and containing a spoof of a Springsteen song as well. When asked about the similarity between himself and Dylan, he once quipped, "I guess Bob Dylan was sort of the Dan Bern of the '60's." Bernstein has also toured with Ani DiFranco. He is known for sardonic, literary lyrics, a range of musical styles, and a folk music style paired with rock instrumentation.
Although a vein of social and political humor runs through even his earliest work, Bern's songs became more explicitly political during the 2004 US presidential election campaign, with songs such as "Bush Must Be Defeated" and "President" highlighting his sometimes surreal political takes. His work also often deals with his Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, as in such songs as "Lithuania." The name Bernstein is a reference to this ancestry; on a trip to Lithuania, he learned it was his family's name before immigration to the United States.[6]
Many of his tours and recordings between 1997 and 2003 featured a regular cast of backup musicians which he began calling the International Jewish Banking Conspiracy or IJBC. When asked why he chose that name, Bern said it was a tribute to the book Nigger by Dick Gregory.
New American Language, The Swastika EP, Fleeting Days and My Country II were all released under the "Dan Bern & the International Jewish Banking Conspiracy" name. The IJBC featured longtime Bern producer and collaborator Wil Masisak on keyboards, drums, guitar and bass; Eben "Eby Brown" Grace on guitar and pedal steel; Brian "Slim Nickel" Schey on bass and guitar; Paul Kuhn on cellocaster; Anna Phoebe on electric violin; and drummers Colin "Spanky" Mahoney and Jake Coffin.
In early 2007, Bern's Breathe won in The 6th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Album.[7]
In 2009 and 2010, Bern often played with Common Rotation, a musical group out of Los Angeles, California that consists of vocals, guitar, banjo, trumpet, saxophone, and other instruments. Playing a concert in September 2009 at the M Bar in Los Angeles, Bern and Common Rotation recorded their show and released a live album in the spring of 2010 called "Live in Los Angeles." Approximately half the songs are Dan Bern playing solo and the other half include Common Rotation.
Bern's songwriting skills were used in the biopic parody film Walk Hard where he helped write 16 songs for the movie. Many of these songs made the theatrical cut of the film including the Dylanesque "Royal Jelly," and the melodic "(Have You Heard the News) Dewey Cox Died." He continues to write songs for films, including Get Him to the Greek and Father's Day [8].
Discography[link]
Studio albums[link]
- Dog Boy Van (EP; 1996)
- Dan Bern (1997)
- Fifty Eggs (1998)
- Smartie Mine (double album; 1998)
- New American Language (2001)
- World Cup (EP; 2002)
- The Swastika EP (EP; 2002)
- Fleeting Days (2003)
- My Country II (EP; 2004)
- Anthems (EP; 2004)
- Breathe Easy (EP; 2006)
- Breathe (2006)
- Moving Home (2008)
- Two Feet Tall (2009)
- Live in Los Angeles (2010)
- Live in New York (2011)
Albums available on iTunes and eMusic[link]
- Divine and Conquer (1994; released 2007)
- The Burbank Tapes (1998; released in 2007)
- Macaroni Cola (2000–2001; released in 2007)
References[link]
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p27213
- ^ http://folkmusic.about.com/od/artistspotlight/p/DanBern_profile.htm
- ^ http://www.carnegiehall.org/textSite/box_office/events/evt_7009.html
- ^ http://home.earthlink.net/~usablues/archive/archive.html
- ^ http://danbern.redacorn.net/lyrics/
- ^ http://www.anchoragepress.com/archives/documentee59.html
- ^ Independent Music Awards - 6th Annual Winners
- ^ Fear Net news
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dan Bern |
- Dan Bern's website
- Messenger Records Dan Bern website
- Official Bernstein Lyric Archive
- Dan Bern at Allmusic
- Dan Bern collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bern, Dan |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 27 July 1965 |
| Place of birth | Mount Vernon, Iowa, U.S. |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Dan_Bern
Related pages:
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http://nl.wn.com/Dan Bern
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Bern
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
 |
This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2012) |
| Bern Nadette Stanis | |
|---|---|
 Stanis in Chicago, 2010 |
|
| Born | Bernadette Stanislaus (1953-12-22) December 22, 1953 (age 58) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | BernNadette Stanis |
| Occupation | actress, author |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Spouse | Kevin Fontana (1981–present) Tom Fauntleroy (1975–1980) |
Bern Nadette Stanis (born December 22, 1953) is an American actress best known for her role as the strong-willed Thelma Evans on the CBS sitcom, Good Times.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Stanis was born Bernadette Stanislaus in Brooklyn, New York. She studied at the Juilliard School,[1] but left during her sophomore year when she accepted the role of Thelma on Good Times and moved to California.[2][3]
Career[link]
Stanis played the role of middle child Thelma Evans on Good Times from 1974 to 1979. After Good Times ended, she made appearances on several television shows, including The Cosby Show and What's Happening Now!!. She and former co-star Jimmie Walker lent their voices to a radio spot for AT&T. Stanis was most recently seen in a Nationwide Insurance commercial.
Stanis has been featured in several promotions for the TV One network. She appeared in a "Thelma" promotion that aired on September 19, 2009 alongside actress Anna Maria Horsford in the "Battle of the Thelmas" that specifically aired their weddings from their prospective TV series (Horsford portrayed "Thelma Frye" in the TV series Amen). During the "Way Black Then" promotions in February 2010 (in honor of Black History Month), both she and Walker appeared on a 30 minute program titled "Color TV" to share their memories and thoughts on "Good Times."
In April 2010, Stanis starred in Marlon Campbell's Momma and Me situation comedy, which is now being shopped to cable and broadcast television networks.[citation needed]
One of Stanis' most recent television appearances was on the UPN sitcom Girlfriends, where she played the cousin of Maya Wilkes. In the episode, William Dent (Reggie Hayes) expresses a strong desire to meet Thelma from Good Times. Maya reveals that Stanis is her cousin and agrees to arrange a date.
Personal life[link]
Stanis presently lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Kevin Fontana, whom she married in 1981. They have two daughters, Dior and Brittany.
She is the author of two books, Situations 101: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and a collection of her poetry entitled, For Men Only.
Filmography[link]
- N-Secure (2010)
- In the Midnight Hours (2009) as Cheryl
- The Adventures of Umbweki (2009) (post-production) as Usahnisa
- CAUTION! Heartache Ahead (2009) as Vera
- The Engagement: My Phamily BBQ 2 (2006) as Mrs. Clark
- Still 'Bout It (2004) (V) as Aunt Tee Dee
- Land of the Free? (2004) as Psychiatrist
- Girlfriends as Herself (1 episode, 2003)
- Hidden Blessings (2000) (TV) as Jackson's lawyer
- The Parent 'Hood as L'Tonya, T.K.'s Mother (1 episode, 1999)
- The Wayans Bros. as Thelma (1 episode, 1997)
- The Good News (1 episode, 1997)
- The Cosby Show as Carolyn Thompson (1 episode, 1991)
- What's Happening Now!! as Marcie (1 episode, 1985)
- The Love Boat as Jane Reeves (1 episode, 1980)
- Good Times as Thelma Evans (132 episodes, 1974–1979)
References[link]
- ^ Bern Nadette Stanis interview
- ^ Witbeck, Charles (May 30, 1975). "'Good Times' Teen No Longer Hiding". Boca Raton News. KFS. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uRBUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=w4wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6065,4013487.
- ^ Markoutsas, Elaine (January 5, 1976). "Thelma Of 'Good Times' Moving Ahead". Toledo Blade. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gApPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SgIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7269,1742044. (originally published in the Chicago Tribune, December 28, 1975)
External links[link]
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bern Nadette Stanis |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Stanis, Bern Nadette |
| Alternative names | Stanis, BernNadette |
| Short description | American actress |
| Date of birth | December 22, 1953 |
| Place of birth | Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
