GÖBEKLİTEPE (THE FIRST TEMPLE OF THE WORLD)-ŞANLIURFA/TÜRKİYE

Discovery That Changed The Human History

While the discovery of Göbeklitepe site took place in 1963, the first scientific excavation started in 1995, eventual findings of which added new pages to the history, changing long standing assumptions. Rather than being used as a settlement, the area actually served religious purposes and contain a number of temples. In that respect, it is not only the oldest centre of worship, but also the largest one. Although six of those temples were unearthed to date, on the basis of geomagnetic surveys, the total number of those monumental structures is believed to be twenty, with all temples sharing a resemblance to each other, making this entire region suggestive of being a centre of faith and pilgrimage during the Neolithic Age.

EDA HARP ZÜBARİ/İPEKYOLU SECONDARY SCHOOL-ŞANLIURFA/TÜRKİYE

There are six-metre-tall T-shaped stone pillars, carved with reliefs of animals, erected to form circles. Those carvings that maybe the earliest three dimensional depictions of animals carved into stone are testament to the artistic ability of our ancestors. Professor Klaus Schmidt, who had led the excavation work in the site for 20 years, firmly stated that the T-shaped stone pillars represented human figures since some of them have carvings of hands and fingers.

https://www.goturkey.com/destinations/gobeklitepe

AERSI - Portugal

PORTUGAL DOS PEQUENITOS 

The construction of the park began in 1938, an initiative of professor Bissaya Barreto, following a project developed by architect Cassiano Branco. The first phase of the project occurred between 1938 and 1940, which involved the recreation of group of structures identified as typical homes, chapels, mills and pillories located of the Trás-os-Montes and Minho region.

The second phase began in the middle of the century, in an area that illustrated many of the country's monuments and heritage sites. At the end of the 1950s, the third phase was concluded. This section included pavilions dedicated to reconstitute artefacts and symbolic structures associated with the overseas provinces at the time. In addition to buildings and motifs that included representations from Portuguese Africa, Brazil, Macau, India and East Timor, the area was circled by native flora, as well sa buildings for the Azores and Madeira.

From 1959, the site was integrated into the heritage and patrimony of the Bissaya Barreto Foundation. 

Starting in 2015, in an attempt to transform and make the site more dynamic, the board proposed new Portuguese monuments and the introduction of more regional houses to the collection. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal_dos_Pequenitos

AERSI - Portugal

UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA

is a Portuguese public university in Coimbra, Portugal. Established in 1290 in Lisbon, it went through a number of relocations until it was moved permanently to its current city in 1537, being one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world, the oldest university of Portugal, and one of the country's largest museums of higher education and research institutions. 

TOn 22 June 2013, UNESCO added the university to its World Heritage List. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Coimbra

Welcome to Ukraine!!!

There are a lot of sightseeings in my country.

Discover them, they are charming.

Secondary school of Dubechne

Ukraine

Olena Mahun

The Lutsk (or Lubart’s) Castle is the main historic monument of the capital of Volyn. It is the only castle in Ukraine seen by nearly every Ukrainian, thanks to the fact that they hold its picture in their hand with every 200 hryvnas bill. The 28 meter-high Entrance Tower of Lutsk Castle was where the idea of a united Europe was voiced for the first time. And it happened in 1429.

https://castles.com.ua/luck.html

Lets go on an excursion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R4bVGbA2dg

Khreshchatyk street

Khreshchatyk is one of the shortest (1.23 kilometres) and widest (130 metres) central streets in the world.

There are different versions as to the origin of its name. One of them is connected with Khreshchata (meaning “crossed”) Valley which stretched here back in the times of Kyivan Rus and was crossed by ravines.

The forming and building of Khreshchatyk began in the late 18th century on the spot where now is Evropeyska (European) Square. The houses were made of timber. In 1804-1806 the city’s first Municipal Theatre was built at the start of Khreshchatyk which was then called Teatralna Street. In 1851 the wooden structure of the theatre was torn down, and in its place a three-storeyed Evropeyska Hotel was erected to the design by A.Beretti.

The first stone building on Khreshchatyk Street was the landowner Holowinski’s private residence where up to 1849 was quartered the province post-office with compartment for mail-coaches.

Khreshchatyk was the first street in Kyiv where gas lighting, water-supply and sewerage appeared. Later here appeared electric lighting, and first trams (1891) and trolleybuses (1935) started running. In the middle of the 19th century, a decorative garden on Volodymyrska Hill was laid at the start of the street. In the 1870-1880s, on Khreshchatyk there were mostly three-storeyed houses, hotels, shops and administrative buildings with premises for offices, banks, cinemas, restaurants, etc. Thus it assumed significance of the central street of Kyiv. In 1904 its road surfacing was covered with granite cubes. Now it is paved with asphalt. During WWII Khreshchatyk was ruined, but the Kyivites did their best to restore their favourite street. After the reconstruction it was widened to 100 metres and acquired its present appearance.

https://kyivmaps.com/en/places/ul-kreshchatik

BEEHIVE HOUSES OF HARRAN

Şanlıurfa/TURKEY

Harran, about 50 kilometers south of Sanliurfa, is famous for its traditional mud-brick beehive style of housing, but this small town offers plenty of other attractions for visitors. Its long history of settlement has left the town with a glut of fascinating historic architecture, and the entire place is imbued with an ancient atmosphere. Due to its position, near the border with Syria, Harran is also home to a distinct culture that takes more of its influence from Syrian Arab traditions. Locals here speak Arabic, as well as Turkish, and their mud-brick architecture can also be found across the border in Syria's northeast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW9Rsa1VIm0

Harran is most famous for its links to the story of the Prophet Abraham and receives a mention in the Old Testament (Genesis 11:31 and 12) as the place where Abraham and his tribe stayed for several years on his journey from Ur to Canaan.

Harran must have existed as a settlement from around the 18th century BC. Excavations have confirmed that the site was settled in the 3rd millennium BC, and clay tablets dating from the 18th century BC mention the town and other neighboring settlements, which frequently bear the names of Abraham's relatives.

In subsequent years, Harran became a center for sun and moon worshipers. The remnants of a double temple to Sin (moon) and Shamash (sun) found here date from the 16th century BC. Domination by different nations (such as the 13th-century Assyrian Empire) did little to change Harran's status as a sky-worshiping center, and when the Babylonians arrived (556-539 BC), they also encouraged the Sin cult. Even the successors to Alexander the Great and the Romans revered the moon god.

The town was known in those days as Karrai, and later Carrhae, and was much fought over by competing empires. In 53 BC the Parthian Orodes II annihilated the army of Crassus here. While in Harran, in AD 217, Caracalla was murdered on the way from the temple to the ruler's palace.

It was AD 382 before all heathen shrines were destroyed by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius the Great and that included the Sin Temple at Harran. Interestingly, despite the flux of various rulers, some towns in the hinterland escaped the religious changeovers that swept through Harran. In nearby Sogmatar, the Sabian cult continued worshiping astral bodies at their shrines and temples up until the early Middle Ages.

The Umayyad caliph Marwan II resided in Harran from AD 744 to 750, and he is thought to have established the Ulu Camii and the oldest Islamic university here. A Mongol invasion in 1260 destroyed the town, and it did not recover until the Ottomans gained control in 1516.

Leyla DEMİR/Çamlıca College Primary School

Şanlıurfa/TURKEY