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One of the most elaborate architectural complexes is Vilnius University, founded in 1579, and which occupies a large part of the Old Town. It has even 13 courtyards. VU is the&#160;oldest university&#160;in the&#160;Baltic states&#160;and one of the oldest in&#160;Northern Europe. Moreover, it is the largest&#160;university&#160;in&#160;Lithuania.

Litomyšl Castle

The Old Town of Vilnius is full of other monuments of interests that are worth seeing and visiting. They include churches, palaces, museums and art galleries or&#160;theatres.

Newgrange

Newgrange is a 5,200 year old passage tomb located in the Boyne Valley in&nbsp;the east of Ireland. Newgrange was built by Stone Age farmers, the mound is 85 meters in diameter and 13.5 meters high, an area of about 1 acre.&nbsp; A passage measuring 19 meters leads into a chamber with 3 alcoves. The passage and chamber are aligned with the rising sun at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newgrange.com/winter_solstice.htm">Winter Solstice</a>.&nbsp; Newgrange is surrounded by 97 large stones called kerbstones some of which are engraved with megalithic art; the most striking is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newgrange.com/kerbstone-k1.htm">entrance stone</a>.&nbsp;

Newgrange is a Stone Age (Neolithic) monument in the Boyne Valley, County Meath. It is the jewel in the crown of Ireland's Ancient East. Newgrange was constructed about 5,200 years ago which makes it older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza.&nbsp;

The&nbsp;Wawel Royal Castle one of the largest in Poland, represents nearly all European architectural styles of&nbsp;medieval,&nbsp;renaissance&nbsp;and&nbsp;baroque&nbsp;periods. The Wawel Royal Castle and the&nbsp;Wawel Hill&nbsp;constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in the country. The castle is part of a fortified&nbsp;architectural complex which consists of numerous buildings, including the&nbsp;Wawel Cathedral&nbsp;where Polish monarchs were crowned and buried

The pride of the castle is the theatre from the 18th century with preserved classical scenes, of which the most interesting are exhibited on the second floor of the castle. There are only 5 theatres of this kind in the world. The English park and the French garden with statues from the 18th century are worth visiting. They are located nearby the castle.

The eruptions of Mount Etna have dramatically changed the landscape over the years, menacing the people who have lived at the base of the volcano.

The beauty of&nbsp;a lunar landscape, the views over the the seas and the volcanic activities are a must-do experience when visiting Sicily and the area of Catania.

Pilies Street is the main Old Town&#8217;s street full of cafes and where visitors can enjoy street market life.

The main street of Vilnius, Gediminas Avenue, is partially located in the Old Town.&#160;

The two main squares are the Cathedral Square and the Town Hall Square.

Sgraffito on the walls of the Litomyšl Castle

The walls of Litomyšl Castle are decorated with Renaissance sgraffito.&nbsp;In this technique, the&nbsp;plasterers&nbsp;put one layer of plaster on the wall, then they add another layer of contrasting plaster, after that the artists engrave different decorations in the top layer. Litomyšl Castle became part of the UNESCO World Heritage&nbsp;in 1999.

•&nbsp;It’s a&nbsp;stunning touristic destination with delightful quiet towns and skiing stations. • Over 1500 metres there are cultivated and forested areas because the lands are ideal for agriculture, thanks to the particular fertility of the volcanic debris. •And that’s why&nbsp;some of the&nbsp;most delicious Sicilian wines, honey varieties and mushrooms grow on the Etna’s slopes.

The Jagiellonian University is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in&nbsp;Central Europe, and one of the&nbsp;oldest surviving universities in the world.&nbsp;

Kazimierz&nbsp;is a historical district of&nbsp;Kraków&nbsp;and&nbsp;Kraków Old Town. For many centuries, Kazimierz was a place of coexistence of ethnic Polish and Jewish cultures.&nbsp; Now it is a very important tourist attraction and one of the most important centres of cultural life in Kraków.

Winter Solstice Newgrange is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newgrange.com/winter_solstice.htm">winter solstice</a>&nbsp;sun. Above the entrance to the passage at Newgrange there is a opening called a roof-box. This baffling orifice held a great surprise for those who unearthed it. Its purpose is to allow sunlight to penetrate the chamber on the shortest days of the year, around December 21st, the winter solstice. At dawn, from December 19th to 23rd, a narrow beam of light penetrates the roof-box and reaches the floor of the chamber, gradually extending to the rear of the chamber.

As the sun rises higher, the beam widens within the chamber so that the whole room becomes dramatically illuminated. This event lasts for 17 minutes, beginning around 9am. The accuracy of Newgrange as a time-telling device is remarkable when one considers that it was built 500 years before the Great Pyramids and more than 1,000 years before Stonehenge.

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The most iconic building in the Old Town is Gediminas&#8216; tower, the remaining part of the Upper Castle in Vilnius. It is an important state and historic symbol of the city of Vilnius and of Lithuania itself.

Archaeologists classified Newgrange as a passage tomb, however Newgrange is now recognised to be much more than a passage tomb.&nbsp;Ancient Temple&nbsp;is a more fitting classification, a place of astrological, spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance, much as present day cathedrals are places of prestige and worship where dignitaries may be laid to rest.&nbsp;

Newgrange is a large kidney shaped mound covering an area of over one acre, retained at the base by 97 kerbstones, some of which are richly decorated with megalithic art. The 19 meter long inner passage leads to a cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof. The amount of time and labour invested in construction of Newgrange suggests a well-organized society with specialised groups responsible for different aspects of construction.&nbsp; Newgrange is part of a complex of monuments built along a bend of the River&nbsp;

Boyne known collectively as Brú na Bóinne. The other two principal monuments are Knowth (the largest) and Dowth, but throughout the area there are as many as 35 smaller mounds.&nbsp;

Vilnius is the capital city of Lithuania. The Old Town of Vilnius is one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Northern Europe. It has an area of 3.59 square kilometres.

•A smooth street makes it possible, also for tourist buses, to arrive at 1900 metres at the mountain station rifugio sapienza

• It's possible to visit the crateri Silvestri by your own, the walk takes about 30 min. -1 hour. At the mountain station rifugio Sapienza you will also find souvenir shops, bars and restaurants.&nbsp;

ONE OF THE UNESCO SITES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC:

The intent of the Stone Age farmers who built Newgrange was undoubtedly to mark the beginning of the new year. In addition, it may have served as a powerful symbol of the victory of life over death.&nbsp;

Each year the winter solstice event attracts much attention at Newgrange. Many gather at the ancient tomb to wait for dawn, as people did 5,000 years ago. So great is the demand to be one of the few inside the chamber during the solstice that there is a free annual. Unfortunately, as with many Irish events that depend upon sunshine, if the skies are overcast, there is not much to be seen. Yet all agree that it is an extraordinary feeling to wait in the darkness, as people did so long ago, for the longest night of the year to end.&nbsp;

The outstanding features- the sgraffito decorations on the walls - cover the entire outer walls of the castle. There are more than 8 thousand of these original pictures and each of them is different. It is said that the sgraffito hide some secrets that could lead to the treasure

How to visit the volcano: the cableway

There's also the cableway station of the&nbsp;<a href="http://funiviaetna.com/">funivia dell'Etna</a>. Here it's possible to buy the simple cableway ticket (price: € 30) which will take you at 2500 METRES or the complete ticket cableway+jeep bus which will tak you at 2900 metres (price: € 60). If you decide to go up we always suggest to take a complete trip because it's more spectacular. A guide will escort you to see some active side craters: it's often possible to see the craters steaming and you will touch the warm rocks due to the volcanic activity.

Mount Etna: video reportage

Litomyšl Castle, an example of the Italian Renaissance and one of the twelve Czech UNESCO monuments, was built between 1568-1581 by Vratislav of Pernstein. Its other owners - the Trauttmansdoffs and Waldsteins - did not significantly influence the external appearance of the castle, but they did enrich the interiors with Baroque alterations, stucco and painted decoration of walls and ceilings from the 18th century. A castle tour informs the visitors about the fate, hobbies and lifestyle of its former aristocratic inhabitants. You can see the chapel, ceremonial salons, grand dining room, billiard room as well as private rooms and bedrooms.&nbsp;

•Mount Etna is the&nbsp;tallest active volcano in Europe,&nbsp;a majestic giant overlooking the city of Catania, in eastern Sicily. •It’s the highest summit in Italy, apart from the Alps; being a volcano, its size changes&nbsp;constantly during the time. &nbsp;At this time , it is around 3.343 metres with a diameter of 45 kilometres.

On Mount Etna there are several summit craters. There are two central craters, called Bocca Nuova and Voragine; the Northeast crater; and the newest Southeast crater, which was formed by an eruption in 1978

The guided tour of Newgrange orientates visitors within the ancient landscape. Dowth and some of the similar mounds are pointed out as well as the course of the River Boyne. The significance of the famous roof box is discussed with visitors before they enter the ancient tomb. Inside the chamber, the winter solstice phenomenon is explained as well as the burial ritual.

The Old Town district of Kraków is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art.&nbsp; Its rich variety of historic architecture includes &nbsp; Renaissance,&nbsp;Baroque&nbsp;and&nbsp;Gothic&nbsp;buildings.&nbsp;

Visiting the volcanic craters…

&nbsp; First, we have to decide what we want to see on the volcano. Mt. Etna is a very active volcano and when it is active the lava is visible from security distance or, at night, as a red flood, from the villages around the volcano. However it's always possible to visit the&nbsp;extinct craters. The most famous are the "crateri silvestri", located on the south side of the mountain. This is probably the most classic way to visit the volcano and it's possible to buy excursions in many hotels or local travel agencies.

Vilnius Old Town

Publication funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus + program. This publication has been funded with support from the European Commission. The publication reflects only the views of its authors and the European Commission and the Erasmus + National Agency are not responsible for its content.

UNESCO site in Poland Old City of Kraków

It's the oldest part of the city. Its centre is the Old Market. The entire medieval old town is among the first sites chosen for the UNESCO's original World's Heritage List.

by Our Best for Heritage

The Etna presents a great geological variety and&nbsp;landscapes :

forests with endemic species, deserted areas covered in volcanic rock and subject to snow conditions. This is why&nbsp;its territory has been included in the national park of the Etna.

In 2013 the Mount Etna has been declared UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE&nbsp;

In 1994, the Old Town of Vilnius was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in recognition of its universal value and originality.&nbsp;

The Old Town of Vilnius encompasses 74 quarters with 70 streets and lanes numbering 1487 buildings. Visitors can find some of the Europe&#8217;s greatest architectural styles like gothic, renaissance, baroque and neoclassical standing side by side and complementing each other here.&#160;

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