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Tarasp Castle
Tarasp Castle (german: Schloss Tarasp, Romansh: ''Chastè da Tarasp'') is a castle in Switzerland, near the former municipality of Tarasp (now Scuol), in Lower Engadin, Graubünden. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. History Tarasp Castle was probably built in the 11th century or possibly as early as the 10th century. The name comes from ''terra aspera'' or wild earth, which may refer to the new lands in the Inn river valley. They had adopted the name of the castle by 1089 when Ulrich von Tarasp was mentioned in a papal mandate to the Bishop of Chur. Around the same time the family founded Scuol Monastery, which later moved to Marienberg Abbey, as part of their program to carve out a barony in the formerly uninhabited high alpine valley. At this time the castle consisted of a ring wall and a chapel with a bell tower that also served as a watch tower. In 1160 Ulrich II donated his portion of the castle to the Bishop of Chur. However, his nephew and c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hill Castle
A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles are thus distinguished from lowland castles (''Niederungsburgen''). Hill castles may be further subdivided depending on their situation into the following: * Hilltop castle (''Gipfelburg''), that stands on the summit of a hill with steep drops on all sides. A special type is the rock castle or ''Felsenburg''. * Ridge castle (''Kammburg''), that is built on the crest of a ridge. * Hillside castle (''Hangburg''), that is built on the side of a hill and thus is dominated by rising ground on one side. * Spur castle (''Spornburg''), that is built on a hill spur surrounded by steep terrain on three sides and thus only needs to be defended on the one remaining side. When in the 10th and 11th centuries castles lost their pure fortress charact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert IV, Count Of Tyrol
Albert IV (or ''Albert III'', depending on the counting scheme; – 22 July 1253) was Count of Tyrol from 1202 until his death, the last from the original House of Tirol. He also served as ''Vogt'' of the bishoprics of Trent and Brixen. Life He was the son of Count Henry I (d. 14 June 1190) and Agnes of Wangen, daughter of Count Adalbero I. He was still a minor when his father died in 1190, and only began to rule independently in 1202. He inherited the office of a Vogt of Trent from his father; in 1210, Bishop Conrad also appointed him Vogt of Brixen. When in 1209 the Counts of Andechs-Merania were banned for their alleged role in the murder of the Hohenstaufen king Philip of Swabia at the wedding of Duke Otto I of Merania in Bamberg, Albert took over their sovereign rights in the Inn, Wipp, Eisack, and Gader valleys. Shaping the independent County of Tyrol, he consolidated his position by quickly recognizing the now undisputed supremacy of Philip's rival, the Wel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engadine Dolomites
The Sesvenna Alps are a mountain range located in the Alps of eastern Switzerland, northern Italy and western Austria. Geography Sesvenna Alps are considered to be part of the Central Eastern Alps. Their high dolomitic peaks overlook Scuol in the lower Engadine Valley, warranting them the name ''Engadine Dolomites''. The Sesvenna Alps are separated from the Samnaun, Silvretta and Albula Alps in the north-west by the Engadine Valley; from the Livigno Alps in the south-west by the Spöl valley; from the Ortler Alps in the south-south-west by the Ofen Pass and Val Müstair; from the Ötztal Alps in the east by the upper Adige valley and the Reschen Pass. The range is drained by the rivers Inn (the Engadine) and Adige. The highest peak is Piz Sesvenna, closely followed by the high peaks overlooking Scuol: Piz Pisoc, Piz Plavna Dadaint and Piz Lischana. Peaks The main peaks of the Sesvenna Alps are: Passes The main passes of the Sesvenna Alps are: Gallery File:PizLadFromE ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Mittelholzer
Walter Mittelholzer (2 April 1894 – 9 May 1937) was a Swiss aviation pioneer. He was active as a pilot, photographer, travel writer, as well as of the first aviation entrepreneurs. Life Born on 2 April 1894 in St. Gallen as the son of a baker, Mittelholzer earned his private pilot's license in 1917. In 1918 he completed his instruction as a military pilot. On 5 November 1919 he co-founded an air-photo and passenger flight business, ''Comte, Mittelholzer, and Co.'' In 1920 this firm merged with the financially stronger Ad Astra Aero. Mittelholzer was the director and head pilot of Ad Astra Aero which later became Swissair. He made the first north–south flight across Africa. It took him 77 days. Mittelholzer started in Zürich on 7 December 1926, flying via Alexandria and landing in Cape Town on 21 February 1927. Earlier, he had been the first to do serious aerial reconnaissance of Spitsbergen, in a Junkers monoplane, in 1923. On 08 January 1930 he became the first person ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swiss Franc
The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the federal mint Swissmint issues coins. In its polyglot environment, it is often simply referred as german: Franken, french: franc, it, franco and rm, franc. It is also designated through signes: ''Fr'' Some fonts render the currency sign character "₣" (unicodebr>U+20A3 as ligatured Fr, following the German language convention for the Swiss Franc. However, most fonts render the character as F with a strikethrough on the lower left, which is the unofficial sign of French Franc. (in German language), ''fr.'' (in French, Italian, Romansh languages), as well as in any other language, or internationally as ''CHF'' which stands for ''.'' This acronym also serves as eponymous ISO 4217 code of the currency, CHF being used by banks and financial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernest Louis, Grand Duke Of Hesse
, spouses = , issue = , house = Hesse-Darmstadt , father = Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine , mother =Princess Alice of the United Kingdom , birth_date = , birth_place = New Palace, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse , death_date = , death_place = Schloss Wolfsgarten, Langen, Hesse, Nazi Germany , burial_place = Neues Mausoleum, Park Rosenhöhe, Darmstadt, Germany Ernest Louis (german: Ernst Ludwig Karl Albrecht Wilhelm; 25 November 1868 – 9 October 1937) was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, reigning from 1892 until 1918. Early life Ernest Louis was the elder son of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was named Louis after his father. His nickname was "Ernie". One of seven siblings, two of whom died in childhood, Ernest grew up with his four surviving sisters in Darmstadt. One of his younge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth largest by area (after Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne), and the third most populous city in the area of former East Germany, after Berlin and Leipzig. Dresden's urban area comprises the towns of Freital, Pirna, Radebeul, Meissen, Coswig, Radeberg and Heidenau and has around 790,000 inhabitants. The Dresden metropolitan area has approximately 1.34 million inhabitants. Dresden is the second largest city on the River Elbe after Hamburg. Most of the city's population lives in the Elbe Valley, but a large, albeit very sparsely populated area of the city east of the Elbe lies in the West Lusatian Hill Country and Uplands (the westernmost part of the Sudetes) and thus in Lusatia. Many boroughs west of the Elbe lie in the foreland of the Ore Mounta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helvetic Republic
The Helvetic Republic (, , ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, marking the end of the ''ancien régime'' in Switzerland. Throughout its existence, the republic incorporated most of the territory of modern Switzerland, excluding the cantons of Geneva and Neuchâtel and the old Prince-Bishopric of Basel. The Swiss Confederacy, which until then had consisted of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance (and ruling over subject territories such as Vaud), was invaded by the French Revolutionary Army and turned into an ally known as the "Helvetic Republic". The interference with localism and traditional liberties was deeply resented, although some modernizing reforms took place. Resistance was strongest in the more traditional Catholic cantons, with armed uprisings breaking out in spring 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Invasion Of Switzerland
The French invasion of Switzerland (French: ''Campagne d'Helvétie'', German: ''Franzoseneinfall'') occurred from January to May 1798 as part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The independent Old Swiss Confederacy collapsed from the invasion and simultaneous internal revolts called the "Helvetic Revolution". The Swiss Ancien Régime institutions were abolished and replaced by the centralised Helvetic Republic, one of the sister republics. Background Before 1798, the modern region of Vaud belonged to the Canton of Bern, to which it had a dependent status. Moreover, the majority of Francophone Catholic Vaudois felt oppressed by the German-speaking Protestant majority of Bern. Several Vaudois patriots such as Frédéric-César de La Harpe advocated for independence. In 1795, La Harpe called on his compatriots to rise up against the Bernese aristocrats, but his appeal fell to deaf ears, and he had to flee to Revolutionary France, where he resumed his activism. In late 1797, French ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reformation In Switzerland
The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate, Mark Reust, and the population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich and spread to several other cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. Seven cantons remained Catholic, however, which led to intercantonal wars known as the Wars of Kappel. After the victory of the Catholic cantons in 1531, they proceeded to institute Counter-Reformation policies in some regions. The schism and distrust between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons defined their interior politics and paralysed any common foreign policy until well into the 18th century. Despite their religious differences and an exclusively-Catholic defence alliance of the seven cantons (''Goldener Bund''), no other major armed conflicts directly between the cantons occurred. Soldiers from both sides fought in the French Wars of Religion. Durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lower Engadine
The Engadin or Engadine ( rm, ;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna''. german: ; it, Engadina; french: Engadine) is a long high Alpine valley region in the eastern Swiss Alps in the canton of Graubünden in southeasternmost Switzerland with about 25,000 inhabitants. It follows the route of the Inn ( rm, En, links=no) from its headwaters at Maloja Pass in the southwest running roughly northeast until the Inn flows into Austria, little less than one hundred kilometers downstream. The En/Inn subsequently flows at Passau into the Danube, making it the only Swiss river to drain into the Black Sea. The Engadine is protected by high mountain ranges on all sides and is famous for its sunny climate, beautiful landscapes and outdoor activities. Name In English, the valley is either known as ''Engadin'' () ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigismund, Archduke Of Austria
Sigismund (26 October 1427 – 4 March 1496), a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria from 1439 (elevated to Archduke in 1477) until his death. As a scion of the Habsburg Leopoldian line, he ruled over Further Austria and the County of Tyrol from 1446 until his resignation in 1490. Biography Sigismund (or ''Siegmund'', sometimes also spelled ''Sigmund'') was born at the Tyrolean court in Innsbruck; his parents were the Further Austrian duke Frederick IV of Austria and his second wife , a daughter of the Welf duke Frederick I of Brunswick-Lüneburg. A minor upon his father's death in 1439, the Inner Austrian duke Frederick V, Sigismund's first cousin, acted as regent until 1446. Frederick, elected King of the Romans (as ''Frederick IV'') in February 1440, exploited all opportunities to extend his influence over the Further Austrian lands. He also interfered in the Old Zürich War in order to regain the former Habsburg territories lost to the Swiss Confederac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
