Cesky Krumlov - A Pearl of European Renaissance

Vitkovki, a Czech noble clan which also include the residents of the famous House of Rosenberg started the construction of the castle and their settlement in 1240 at a site in the South Bohemian Region of the then Czechoslovakia chosen due to its location on an important trade route of the region which was traditionally known as Chrumbenowe and now as Český Krumlov which literally means a crooked meadow in German. Gold was found at a site near to the settlement in the 15th century which attracted the German miners to come and settle here which eventually led to a shift in the ethnic characteristics of the region to an extent that the natives became a small minority. 

Rudolf II, the then emperor of the present regions of Croatia, Hungary and Austria who is also led responsible for the deadly Thirty Years War period of European religious war history bought Český Krumlov in 1602 and gifted it to his son. The castle which is now identified as a World Heritage site since 1992 then went into the hands of House of Schwarzenberg in 1719 whose current head Karel served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic & remained in their hands up till the onset of the twentieth century. After the first world war, the city became part of the Bohemian Forest Region & was declared a part of German-Austria though it didn’t lasted very long & the Czechoslovakian army occupied it by the end of 1918. The town experienced a phase of decay since the completion of both the world wars until 1989 when it restored its historic beauty as a result of Velvet Revolution and is now one of the important tourist destinations of the Czech Republic. 

Český Krumlov lies in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic along the meanders of River Vltava which is the longest river of the nation. The population of the town in 2007 was around 14,000 which is approximated to be around 8,000 in 1910 just before the first world war. The architecture of the Castle and the town is a mix of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque schools of Architecture and the period of Renaissance had a huge impact in the making of it. There are various festivals like the five petaled rose festival & the International Music festival which are organised by the local society. This human settlement beholds in itself the rich medieval European Architectural Expression Style preserved and conserved for centuries along with a culture that started off around the lifestyle of the royal families to the theatrical tradition of contemporary times that got enriched after the second world war especially with the onset of the South Bohemian Theatre Festival in the mid parts of the twentieth century. 

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Isertoq - A Small Glacial Settlement in GreenLand

Nuuk the capital & the largest city of Greenland lies in the municipal region of Sermersoog which is a newly constructed municipality in Greenland in operations from 2009 formed after merging former municipalities of Easter and South-Western Greenland. Isertoq lies in the same region and is a very small human settlement with a population of 93 in 2010 which has decreased to nearly half from 1991 when it was 171 and by 27 per cent if compared with the levels of 2000. It has a maritime influenced tundra type of climate with temperature limits ranging from -16 degrees in winters to a maximum of around 7 degrees in summers. The conditions must be tough to live at times but the natural beauty around showcasing its ever present serenity would have made it a bit easier, comfortable & meaningful for the local population. 

Images from youramazingplaces, nationalgeographic, toulaho, larslyn, ytimg, panoramio & project-pressure

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Undredal - A Norwegian Fjord Village Known For Its Goat Cheese

The history of Undredal can be traced up from 1147 AD in the form of an existing church built out of staves lying along the Aurlandsfjord between Flam and Gudvangen in Norway which was for the most part of its human settlement history was only accessible by boats until 1988 when the village saw its connection with the outer world in the form of roadways. The introduction of roadways opened it for more prominent outer exchanges in the form of the locally produced distinctly famous as Undredal Cheese and in the form of tourism when people outside of the community started visiting them very often. The population of the village is around 100 while that of the goats is 500. Eight goat farms produce around 10,000 kgs of cheese every year which is exported along with the locally produced goat sausage. This small human settlement imbibes in itself the natural scenic beauty along with a distinct human culture which developed and flourished in a close knit system for the most part of its developmental story. 

AurlandsFjord

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Cinque Terre - The Colourful Set of Five Villages Overloaded with Visitors

Monterosso and Vernazza were the first two villages which sprang up in the 11th century among the set of five in present times connected by narrow cliffside natural trails which are collectively known as Cinque Terre literally meaning five towns lying across the Ligurian Riviera which wasn’t connected externally till recently by vehicular road and were dependent on only mules & water at first and through railways at a later stage of its development. The other three human settlements (Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore) shaped themselves during the military and political supremacy of the Republic of Genoa which are also responsible for the development of Corsica from around 1300 to 1700. The attacks of the Turks in the 16th century forced the local population to reinforce their old forts and built new defence towers which subsequently also led to the decline of the settlement on a comparative scale till the 19th century when railways connected it with other parts of the region which allowed people to escape the isolation of their region on one hand leading eventually towards the abandonment of the local traditional activities in some healthy manner on the other. 

The Cinque Terre saw its modern rejuvenation in the 1970’s when the village’s economic activity turned inward than from being outward to the spheres of tourism after the concerned authorities decided to develop the region as a tourism destination. Houses were painted in the same colourful fashion which can be found today and the reason behind it must have been the same - impart it with a distinct flavour to attract people from other landforms. The locals previously were dependent on vineyard and olive cultivation besides on fishing which used to be the main industry of Monterosso in particular. The Cinque Terre was declared as the UNESCO’s Mankind’s World Heritage in 1997 and became a part of Italy’s list of National Parks and Protected Marine area at a later stage with the objective of protecting this distinct human cultural heritage along with conserving the natural beauty which has provided it with a platform to flourish. In 2015, around 2.5 million tourist visited Cinque Terre which is a huge number for a comparatively smaller site and the administration henceforth decided to put a limit to it which came in the form of 1.5 million to preserve locally lying rich heritage both natural and cultural. 

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Colmar - The Capital of The Alsatian Wine

In the 9th century a human settlement named Colmar got its birth under the patron-ship of the Carolingian Empire, it was granted a free imperial city status in 1226 by Emperor Frederick II, took over by the Swedish Army in 1632 during the Thirty Years War period, it was annexed by the German Empire along with the region lying across in 1871, handed over to France after World War I in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles, annexed again for a short span of time during Word War II by the Nazi Empire in 1940 until the battle of the Colmar Pocket in 1945 before becoming one of the last towns in France to get freed after the Second World War. 

Colmar lies in the Alsace region of North Eastern France across the famous Alsatian Wine Route commonly termed to as the capital of the Alsatian Wine. The population of Colmar Metropolitan Area was around 1,25,000 in 2009. The Architecture which evolved over the human settlement is a mix of German and French School of Architecture with numerous secular and religious buildings, museums, fountains, etc built over different phases of its developmental history providing architectural diversity along with a sense of locality in this beautiful town of Colmar. The lifestyle of the local people can be termed to as a very customised one and denotes the significances of the society’s cultural identity in shaping a human settlement and in showering upon a human collective space with its distinct flavour and smell. 

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Alberobello - An Italian Medieval Town Built To Look Like An UnInhabited Settlement

A trullo is a small dwelling unit with a cylindrical base and a conical limestone tiled roof. Its design is often remarked as an outcome of the stint performed by the local feudal lord, Count Acquaviva who moved his peasant workers here to clear the land and cultivate it thereafter - to evade the state’s taxation he thought of a distinct design which wouldn’t be considered as an uninhabited settlement. This continued till 1797, when Alberobello was given a status of being a town. The Trulli of Alberobello have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996 especially due to their exemplary display of various ancient construction techniques like drywall construction that has survived till present times and is in a functional state. Alberbello is a small medieval town in the metropolitan city of Bari in Puglia region of Italy which is also known as the ascendant region of the nation. It currently inhabits around 10,000 human beings and beholds in itself the rich heritage of our collective self. 

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