Located off the national roadway from Évora to Montemor-o-Novo, in the former-civil parish of Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe, the cromlech is situated just after the village of Guadalupe, in Herdade dos Almendres (the Almendres Estate). It is located in the southwest of the property, while the menhir is situated on the eastern limits of the estate facing the sunrise  over the Serra de Monfurado, isolated from the local community. A pedestrian trail was defined by the local municipal council, and integrated into the municipality's "megalithic route" that follows the prehistoric remnants through the region.
The complex, organized in a circular pattern, is marked by a forest of about 95 granite monoliths, deposited in small groups. The older (Early Neolithic) monoliths are formed as two or three concentric circles of smaller monoliths in the western part of the complex, while the Middle Neolithic structures consist of two ellipses (irregular but concentric) and large menhirs. In the Late Neolithic phase the earlier constructions suffered modifications, transforming it into a site for social or religious rituals. Ninety-two of the menhirs form two grounds, which were built and oriented to different directions associated with the Equinox.
Many of the stones were unearthed where they stood/fell, and were rebuilt/erected by Mario Varela Gomes, based on criteria established from research and rediscovery of the original bases.  The complex's latitudinal position is about the same as the maximum moon elongation (38.55 degrees for 1500 BC); comparably, another latitude where this occurs is associated with Stonehenge (51.18 degrees for 2000 BC).
Although there are many large solitary 2.5 to 3.5 metres rounded/elliptical stones, most are smaller and formed into groups. The cromlech occupies an area of 70 by 40 metres, oriented along an axial alignment northwest to southeast. The columns show signs of profound erosion, especially in those surfaces exposed to the elements, although decoration is still visible. These designs take the form of lines and radials, at least two on each stone.
About a dozen monoliths exhibit some form of carved drawings,  of which four exhibit only small circular holes. Monolith number 8, with a cut flat top at about breast level and showing several dimples, might have served for finer astronomical observation, specially spring equinox observation, by putting small stones on the dimples. These observations might also be made from stone 39, on the eastern focal point of the elliptic layout. Menhir 48, also exhibits a schematized anthropomorphic representation, surrounded by circles and associated with a crozier.
An isolated single menhir, approximately 4.5 metres tall and 0.9 metres in diameter is located near the residences, or 1400 metres northeast of the main complex. A line from the Almendres Cromlech to this menhir points roughly towards the sunrise in the Winter solstice.


The Almoravid Qubba is situated next to the Marrakech Museum and around 40 meters south of the Mosque of Ben Youssef. It is the only surviving example of Almoravid architecture in Marrakesh. It was built in either 1117 or, more likely, in 1125, by the Almoravid amir Ali ibn Yusuf. Most scholars today believe that it belonged to the nearby Ben Youssef Mosque, the main mosque of the city at the time, and that it was a pavilion used for ritual ablutions before prayer. The mosque itself, also originally built by Ali ibn Yusuf, has since been completely rebuilt in more recent centuries. This type of structure for providing water near a mosque was also known as a mida'a (Arabic: ميضأة; "ablutions facility") and is found in later mosques in Marrakech.
The existence of the Qubba was first documented by French scholars in 1947, with architectural historian Boris Maslow publishing notes about in 1948. In the following years, more thorough excavations and studies were carried out under the direction of Henri Terrasse and Jacques Meunié. Due to the rising ground level and the construction of other structures around it, over half of the Qubba was buried under 7-8 meters of debris. The French scholars refrained from any significant reconstruction or restoration, leaving the structure essentially as found, and published their findings in the 1950s. In the decades since its excavation it has become a historic monument and tourist attraction.


The dome (qubba) tops a rectangular building, measuring 7.35 by 5.45 meters, sheltering a water basin. The whole structure is 12 meters tall. Materials used include stone, brick, and cedar wood. The interior is richly decorated with carved floral and vegetal patterns (pine cones, palms and acanthus leaves), palmette/seashell shapes, and calligraphy. Its cupola has been compared to the domes of the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Bab al-Mardum Mosque in Toledo (both older buildings from Spanish Ummayyad architecture). In the corners, between the wings of the cupola and the rectangular outer walls, are four miniature cupolas carved with some of the earliest muqarnas decoration in Morocco. Since muqarnas decoration would have originated in Abbasid architecture in the Middle East, at least one scholar has suggested that this combination of Cordoban Ummayyad and Abbasid motifs was a deliberate stylistic choice by the Almoravid ruler to invoke a shared legacy and heritage with these caliphates. Around the interior of the pavilion is an Arabic inscription, now badly damaged, which details the foundation of the structure and cites the name of Ali ibn Yusuf and the date of construction, although the year of the date is unfortunately unreadable (leading to scholarly debate about the exact date).


Alnwick Castle guards a road crossing the River Aln. Yves de Vescy, Baron of Alnwick, erected the first parts of the castle in about 1096. Beatrix de Vesci, daughter of Yves de Vescy married Eustace Fitz John, Constable of Chestershire and Knaresborough.  By his marriage to Beatrix de Vesci he gained the Baronies of Malton and Alnwick.  The castle was first mentioned in 1136 when it was captured by King David I of Scotland. At this point it was described as "very strong". It was besieged in 1172 and again in 1174 by William the Lion, King of Scotland and William was captured outside the walls during the Battle of Alnwick. Eustace de Vesci, lord of Alnwick, was accused of plotting with Robert Fitzwalter against King John in 1212. In response, John ordered the demolition of Alnwick Castle and Baynard's Castle (the latter was Fitzwalter's stronghold), but his instructions were not carried out at Alnwick.
The castle had been founded in the late 11th century by Ivo de Vesci, a Norman nobleman from Vassy, Calvados in Normandy. A descendant of Ivo de Vesci, John de Vesci succeeded to his father's titles and estates upon his father's death in Gascony in 1253. These included the barony of Alnwick and a large property in Northumberland and considerable estates in Yorkshire, including Malton. As John was underage, King Henry III of England conferred the wardship of his estates to a foreign kinsman, which caused great offence to the de Vesci family. The family's property and estates had been put into the guardianship of Antony Bek, who sold them to the Percys. From this time the fortunes of the Percys, though they still held their Yorkshire lands and titles, were linked permanently with Alnwick and its castle and have been owned by the Percy family, the Earls and later Dukes of Northumberland since. The stone castle Henry Percy bought was a modest affair, but he immediately began rebuilding. Though he did not live to see its completion, the construction programme turned Alnwick into a major fortress along the Anglo-Scottish border. His son, also called Henry (1299–1352), continued the building. The Abbot's Tower, the Middle Gateway and the Constable's Tower survive from this period. The work at Alnwick Castle balanced military requirements with the family's residential needs. It set the template for castle renovations in the 14th century in northern England; several palace-fortresses, considered "extensive, opulent [and] theatrical" date from this period in the region, such as the castles of Bamburgh and Raby. In 1345 the Percys acquired Warkworth Castle, also in Northumberland. Though Alnwick was considered more prestigious, Warkworth became the family's preferred residence.
The Percy family were powerful lords in northern England. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland (1341–1408), rebelled against King Richard II and helped dethrone him. The earl and his son Harry Hotspur later rebelled against King Henry IV and after defeating Hotspur in the Battle of Shrewsbury, the king pursued the earl. The castle surrendered under the threat of bombardment in 1403.
During the Wars of the Roses, castles were infrequently attacked and conflict was generally based around combat in the field. Alnwick was one of three castles held by Lancastrian forces in 1461 and 1462, and it was there that the "only practical defence of a private castle" was made according to military historian D. J. Cathcart King. It was held against King Edward IV until its surrender in mid-September 1461 after the Battle of Towton. Re-captured by Sir William Tailboys, during the winter it was surrendered by him to Hastings, Sir John Howard and Sir Ralph Grey of Heton in late July 1462. Grey was appointed captain but surrendered after a sharp siege in the early autumn. King Edward responded with vigour and when the Earl of Warwick arrived in November Queen Margaret and her French advisor, Pierre de Brézé were forced to sail to Scotland for help. They organised a mainly Scots relief force which, under George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus and de Brézé, set out on 22 November. Warwick's army, commanded by the experienced Earl of Kent and the recently pardoned Lord Scales, prevented news getting through to the starving garrisons. As a result, the nearby Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh castles soon agreed terms and surrendered but Hungerford and Whittingham held Alnwick until Warwick was forced to withdraw when de Breze and Angus arrived on 5 January 1463.
The Lancastrians missed a chance to bring Warwick to battle instead being content to retire, leaving behind only a token force which surrendered the next day. By May 1463 Alnwick was in Lancastrian hands for the third time since Towton, betrayed by Grey of Heton who tricked the commander, Sir John Astley. Astley was imprisoned and Hungerford resumed command. After Montagu's triumphs at Hedgeley Moor and Hexham in 1464 Warwick arrived before Alnwick on 23 June and received its surrender next day. By the following decade, the 4th Earl of Northumberland had pledged fealty to Edward IV and the castle was returned to the Percys.
After the execution of Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, in 1572 Alnwick castle was increasingly uninhabited. The 9th Earl of Northumberland placed his distant cousin, another Thomas, in charge as constable in 1594, but just over a decade later Thomas was killed fleeing the Gunpowder Plot and the earl was imprisoned in the Tower of London, beginning over a century without a significant Percy presence at Alnwick. In 1650, Oliver Cromwell would use the castle to house prisoners following the Battle of Dunbar.
In the second half of the 18th century Robert Adam carried out many alterations, as did James Paine, Daniel Garrett and Capability Brown, all under the orders of the returning Percy family. Elizabeth Seymour and Hugh Smithson were elevated to 1st Duke and Duchess of Northumberland in 1766 by George III, whose restorations at Windsor Castle were partly inspired by the couple's work at Alnwick. The interiors were largely in a Strawberry Hill gothic style not at all typical of Adam's work, which was usually neoclassical, as seen at the Northumberlands' London home, Syon House.
However, in the 19th century Algernon, 4th Duke of Northumberland replaced much of Adam's architecture. Instead, he paid Anthony Salvin £250,000 between 1854 and 1865 to remove the Gothic additions and other architectural work. Salvin is mostly responsible for the kitchen, the Prudhoe Tower, the palatial accommodation, and the layout of the inner ward. Some of Adam's work survives, but little or none of it remains in the principal rooms shown to the public, which were redecorated in an opulent Italianate style in the Victorian era by Luigi Canina.


The River Aln flows past the north side of the Castle. There is a deep ravine to the south and east, separating the castle from the town. By the 12th century, Alnwick Castle had assumed the general layout which it retains today. It is distinguished as one of the earliest castles in England to be built without a square keep. The castle consists of two main rings of buildings. The inner ring is set around a small courtyard and contains the principal rooms. This structure is at the centre of a large bailey. As the central block was not large enough to contain all the accommodations required in later centuries, a large range of buildings was constructed along the south wall of the bailey. These two main areas of accommodation are connected by a link building. There are towers at regular intervals along the walls of the outer bailey. About a sixth of the bailey wall has been reduced almost to ground level on the bailey side to open up views into the park. Stable and service yards adjoin the castle outside the bailey; these would not have existed when the castle still had a military function.
Alnwick Castle has two parks. Immediately to the north of the castle is a relatively small park straddling the River Aln which was landscaped by Lancelot Brown ("Capability Brown") and Thomas Call in the 18th century; it is known locally as The Pastures. Nearby is the much larger Hulne Park, which contains the remains of Hulne Priory.
The castle is in good repair and used for many purposes. It provides a home for the present Duke and family and offices for Northumberland Estates, which manages the Duke's extensive farming and property holdings.
Alnwick's battlements are surmounted by carved figures. Some of these date from around 1300; historian Matthew Johnson notes that around this time there were several castles in northern England similarly decorated, such as Bothal, Lumley, and Raby. However, many of the surviving figures are from the mid-18th century, commissioned by the 1st Duke and Duchess from Stamfordham sculptor James Johnson.


The dominant economic activity is tourism. The beach is usually busy with an estimated one million visitors per day during peak season, according to a 2014 survey. There are a number of restaurants, bars, and resorts located on the left side and the right side of the beach. Many resorts offer a wide range of accommodation options with scuba and snorkeling as the most popular activities. Following the 2018 Boracay closure and redevelopment, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu ordered the demolition of structures situated along the 20 metres (66 ft) easement zone of Panglao beaches including Alona beach. Among those demolished were a two-story building and sea walls. Businesses along the beach were severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The beach is connected to the Anos Fonacier Circumferential Road. An airport bus directly connects the beach to the airport and to Tagbilaran.


The underwater ecosystem is protected and the access to the marine reserve is limited every day. From time to time, boat trips are organized as far as Oslob to see whale sharks. Some can be spotted sporadically in the vicinity of the beach. The underwater fauna and the flora are rich ; there are many healthy corals (inc. black coral), schools of fish (e.g. sardines), turtles, barracudas, lobsters and if lucky one may even spot whale sharks or dolphins. The underwater current can be quite strong from time to time, creating a lot of turbidity in the water.


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Menara Alor Setar is a telecommunication tower in Alor Setar, Kedah and a popular tourist destination in the northern region. With a total height of 165.5 metres (543 ft), it is the third tallest telecommunication tower in Malaysia (behind the Kuala Lumpur Tower, 421 m (1,381 ft) and the newly opened Kuantan 188, 188 m (617 ft), managed by Menara Kuala Lumpur Sdn. Bhd, a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), and it was surpassed by Kuantan 188 as the second tallest tower in 2020.
The design of Alor Setar Tower is inspired from the Kedah’s state nickname ‘Jelapang Padi' which refers to the geographical landscape of the state that is dominated by rows of paddy field with the structure of the tower represents 'Serumpun Padi' or the tied rice clusters, while the large pillar supporting the tower structure implies the 'Tiang Seri', symbolizes the strength of the people of Kedah Darul Aman.
Menara Alor Setar provides telecommunications and broadcasting services as well as a variety of other facilities for visitors which include the observation deck located at 88 metres (289 ft) above sea level with five sets of automated binoculars. There is also Megaview Banquet Hall at 100 metres (330 ft) height providing facilities for functions such as meetings, seminars, courses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner and more for government agencies, corporate bodies, NGOs, associations, etc.
At 94 metres (308 ft) height, there is also Menara Alor Setar's Revolving Restaurant which provides dining in the sky experience hence represents the highest restaurant in Kedah. This restaurant is a suitable place for all occasions such as wedding, dinner, lunch, anniversary celebration and many more.
Recently Menara Alor Setar introduced a unique attraction that will give visitors a new experience called ‘STAR VIEW’, two units of glass box built on the Open Deck at a height of 105 metres (344 ft) using the state's official colors; green (facing north) and yellow (facing south).
To complete the new experience for visitors, the Open Deck has been enhanced with a comfortable waiting area and a hydraulic lift to take visitors from Megaview Banquet Hall (TH03) to 'STAR VIEW' (TH04) in addition to the interesting and exclusive floor design and wall finishes.
"The initiative and idea to build the 'STAR VIEW' on the Open Deck of Menara Alor Setar has been inspired by the success of two Sky Box units built on the Sky Deck, Menara Kuala Lumpur". (*photo credit-drone_tech_imaging)


A large public beach, picnic site and campground that are part of the provincial park are located on the lake's western shore.


Alpe du Grand Serre is a ski resort located in the French Dauphine Alps in Isère département, upon the commune of La Morte, sitting at 1368m. The village itself is located at the summit of a mountain pass at the gates of the Oisans valley, between the Romanche valley and the Roizonne valley. Neighbouring mountains are the Taillefer (2857m) and the Grand Serre summit (2141m). It remains a small mountain village with traditional alpine buildings and atmosphere. Thus, it is mostly visited by local people and families from the Grenoble urban area.


The Alpena Light, also known as the Thunder Bay River Lighthouse or Alpena Breakwater Light, is a lighthouse on Lake Huron near Alpena, Michigan. Standing on the north breakwater of Alpena Harbor, the light marks the entrance to the Thunder Bay River from Thunder Bay.  The current lighthouse, built in 1914, replaced earlier wooden structures which had been in use since 1877 and 1888.  The current light is a weather-protected structure on a steel frame.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, and the state inventory list the same year.


The Alphabetic Tower was built by Spanish company CMD Domingo y Lázaro Ingenieros (Alberto Domingo Cabo and Carlos Lázaro). Construction began on 10 October 2010 with the exterior of the structure completed in December 2011. The building cost $65 million to build.


Alpirbach Abbey's plan was informed by Benedictine custom and follows after the plans of the abbeys of Cluny and Hirsau. Much of the monastery was constructed between 1125 and 1133 in the Romanesque style, with additions made between 1480 and 1494 in the Gothic style. The cloister is attached to the south side of the abbey church and is lined with the monks' living spaces. To the southeast of the abbey were offices, barns, an infirmary, and a bathhouse. No major alterations or additions were made to the monastery during the period of the Renaissance, though Renaissance-influenced murals are present in the dormitories. Following the demolitions of the 19th century, the only surviving portion of the monastery's defenses is the vogt's tower house.


The Alpstein are a subgroup of the Appenzell Alps in Switzerland. The Alpstein massif is in Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and St. Gallen.
Despite it being rather low when compared to other Alpine peaks – the highest mountain is the Säntis at 2502 metres – the Alpstein, due to their northern "outpost" position only a short distance from Lake Constance (nearly 30 km) are relatively tall when compared to the surrounding area. The range also includes the Altenalp Türm as the northernmost summit above 2,000 metres in Switzerland.


Geologically, the Alpstein massif is different from the predominantly granitic central Alps. Alpstein are predominantly limestone massif and thus represents a kind of western continuation of the eastern ranges, running between Germany and Austria.
Because of erosions, numerous cracks, caves and sinkholes which prevail in the limestone, two of the three lakes have no surface drainage: the water of the Fälensees flows by the mountain ridge southwest into the Rhine.
Morphologically, there are three main tectonic folds running from southwest to northeast. Only the Lisengrat, the connection between the two peaks Säntis Altman runs perpendicular to the main ridge. Between these mountain ranges are embedded in


Alscot Park is an English Grade I listed Georgian country house in Preston on Stour, some 3 miles (5 km) south of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. It was built in a Rococo Gothic style for James West in the early 18th century.
The house itself is built of limestone ashlar to a T-shaped plan with a hipped slate roof and has a two-storey frontage of 7 bays. It stands in 4000 acres of park and farmland, which is Grade II listed and bisected by the River Stour. Several other associated buildings, such as stables and entrance lodges, are also listed. A number of former features of the estate, such as pleasure grounds, an obelisk and a Chinese pavilion have since been lost.


In 1747 James West bought the manors, then secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the MP for St Albans. Pending his retirement from his final post as Secretary to the Treasury in 1762 he created the present house in two stages from an older house on the site. The north wing was remodelled in 1747 and the south wing added in 1762. Stables and a conservatory were added between 1762 and 1766.
A gothic entrance porch was later (1815 to 1820) designed and added to the south front. Gothic lodges at the Stratford Road entrance were built in 1838.
James West the younger, the only son of West and his wife Sarah Steavens, heiress of a wealthy timber merchant, died in 1795, predeceasing his mother. Alscot Park thereby passed to James West the younger's son, James Robert West, who died in 1838 and has passed down in the West family until the present day (2018). Currently occupied by Emma Holman-West and her family, the estate has been developed to house residential properties, offices, studios  and industrial space, winning the Bledisloe Gold Medal in 2011 from the Royal Agricultural Society for estate management.


The dilapidated ruins were scientifically examined between 1955 and 1957. The archaeological findings showed four stages of construction: 11th and 12th century, as well as from 1180 to 1330 by the House of Regensberg, and about 1350 to 1458 by the Landenberg-Greifensee family, and the fourth construction phase from 1458 to 1468 by the then first private owner. The oldest finds suggest a first construction phase in the second half of the 11th century. The still visible massive walls of up to 4 metres (13 ft) width correspond to the essential features of the state after the third building phase. The excavated portions of the ruins, down to the bedrock, correspond to the living horizon of the first inhabitants of the mid-11th-century site.


A spur castle situated on a once-strategic mountain peak, the fortress was constructed as the seat of the Counts of Eberstein perhaps as early as 1100.  The oldest part of the castle remaining intact are the ramparts.  The first historical mention of the castle occurs in 1197 as Castrum Eberstein.  In the second half of the 13th century, the Ebersteins began construction on Castle Neu-Eberstein and the older seat declined in prominence and ultimately fell into disrepair; by 1573, it was uninhabited and thereafter became a quarry used by both the Eberstein descendants and locals.  Starting in the 1800s, efforts have been made to preserve the site (which now consists solely of elements of the curtain wall and keep) and it presently one of the State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Wuerttemberg, housing a restaurant and garden open to tourists.


A fire struck the Alta House portion of the complex on June 22, 1980, doing $40,000 ($100,000 in 2020 dollars) in damage. A second fire on July 1 caused $8,000 ($0 in 2020 dollars) in damages. Both fires were later believed to be arson, although over time an electrical fault was found to be the cause of the first fire. Arsonists struck the building again twice more in the following weeks, although each blaze was small.  The cumulative effect of the fires was to force Alta House programs to use the Alta Public Library building for programming.
City officials determined that the damage to Alta House was too extensive, and condemned the structure on November 12, 1980. Alta House officials decided to tear down the structure after determining that the cost of repairs would be more than $1 million ($3,100,000 in 2020 dollars), and that no company would insure the structure.  Only the main building was razed, saving the Alta House swimming pool and gymnasium.  The Alta Public Library was undamaged.
A new structure to house Alta House opened in May 1982. This consisted of a much smaller building (essentially a wing of the library), two stories in height. Bocce courts replaced much of the site of the old building.
In 2016, the Alta Public Library received a major refurbishment. Overseen by Cleveland architect Joseph Linek, the $1.6 million ($1,700,000 in 2020 dollars) renovation (partially funded by $240,000 ($300,000 in 2020 dollars) in historic preservation tax credits) included conservation, restoration, and refurbishment of the original oak floors, window wells, windows, and cornice brickwork. The Cleveland Montessori School joined the library in taking up residence in the renovated structure.


The façade has two tall bell towers with two orders in the right one, and three (including the first in Romanesque style, in the left one, which are joined by a small loggia surmounted by a tympanum. Most portals and windows have Gothic pointed arches (as also Frederick II's Castel del Monte has). The loggia houses a small statue of the Immaculate Virgin, while two statues of Sts. Peter and Paul are located at the tympanum sides. Under the loggia is a 14th century rose window, with 15 rays and, at its center, a basrelief depicting the Agnus Dei. At the left of the rose windows are three coat of arms: the center one belonged to 16th century emperor Charles V, while the other two date from the 16th century restoration works. Further to the left is a mullioned window with Eastern art-like decorations from the original Frederick II's building.
The façade is completed by a 14th centuryl portal, included within a prothyrum supported by two columns that have, at their base, two sculpture of lions (1533). At the top is a tympanum with the coats of arms of the House of Anjou and of the princes of Taranto, rulers of Altamura in the late 14th century. The portal is decorated with numerous sculpted scenes of Biblical scenese: in the lunette is a Virgin with Child and Two Angels; in the architrave is a Last Supper: finally, the arches houses 22 scenes from the Gospels, depicting Jesus' life from the Annunciation to the Pentecost.


Altdahn was probably built in the early 13th century. Certainly in 1236 the castle was being run by Frederick of Dahn as a vassal (Lehnsmann) of the Bishop of Speyer who, at that time, was Conrad IV of Dahn and may well have been a relative. The subsequent history of the castle is characterized by many wars and frequent destruction, that was, time and again, followed by rebuilding.
Altdahn was first destroyed in 1363 in the course of a feud between the Dahns and the Fleckensteins. In the end a squire took possession of the castle and carried out temporary repairs. In 1372 it was destroyed again and the squire driven out. In 1406 the castle was destroyed in the War of the Four Lords, which played out from 1405 to 1408 especially in the Bliesgau, 40 kilometres to the west. In 1426 and 1438 the castle caught fire without being caused by any military action.
After two centuries of relative prosperity Altdahn suffered further damage during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48). And right at the start of the War of the Palatine Succession the castle was finally destroyed in 1689 by French troops under General Mélac.
On 11 May 1820 a rockfall occurred, that caused the majority of the remaining ruins to collapse.
Mendelssohn, the composer and artist, visited the ruins on 5 August 1844 in order to paint them. The originals are in Oxford, but copies may be seen in the museum, as can a medieval silver spoon engraved with the coat of arms of the lords of Dahn.


On the ridge of the Dahn castle group, which run roughly from east-northeast to west-southwest, Altdahn Castle occupies the two largest, easternmost rock outcrops, which have a total length of about 100 metres (330 ft). Its access is in the northeast, where the gateway and a small, water-filled neck ditch have survived. The lower ward is dominated on the north side by a horseshoe-shaped turret (Geschützturm) and, on the south side, by another tower of similar design.
Other notable remains of the upper ward on the western rock outcrop that have survived, include the north wall of the palas and a watchtower that, from the remains of an oriel, indicate that it may well have been used as a garderobe tower. The southern part of the palas was destroyed in the rockslide of 1820. This also opened the remains of a round cavern, in the rock in the shape of an inverted cone, that has been identified as a cistern or dungeon. On the remains of the eastern side, rusticated ashlar stonework is visible.
The isolated eastern castle rock is accessible over a narrow gangway. It used to support a small tower.


WikiWeb_Alter Botanischer Garten Hamburg_0

The Alter Botanischer Garten Hamburg (Old Botanical Garden Hamburg), sometimes also known as the Schaugewächshaus or the Tropengewächshäuser, is a botanical garden now consisting primarily of greenhouses in the Planten un Blomen park of Hamburg, Germany. Alter Botanischer Garten is located on the Hamburg Wallring at Stephansplatz and is open daily without charge.


The Alter Nördlicher Friedhof, with its light planting of trees, today represents a significant green space in the Maxvorstadt district and is used as a small park, with due respect for those long since buried here. Many benches have been installed. On fine days the grass between the ivy-covered gravestones is popular for sun-bathing. The path round the inside of the wall and the arcades is much used by joggers: a single circuit round the four hectare space is about 750 metres.
The playground that adjoins to the west is used among other things for ball games, and also for ground chess.


The Alter Südfriedhof (Old South Cemetery) also known as "Alter Südlicher Friedhof" is a cemetery in Munich, Germany. It was founded by Duke Albrecht V as a plague cemetery in 1563 about half a kilometer south of the Sendlinger Gate between Thalkirchner and Pestalozzistraße.


The Altit Fort was in great disrepair, but has recently been restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Historic Cities Support Programme and the Government of Norway. It is characterized by small rooms and low portals with exquisite wood carvings. Altit Fort is a tourist site which has been open to the public since 2007.


Altitude Montreal is a 33-storey,  124 m (407 ft) skyscraper in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1225 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard at the corner of Cathcart Street in Downtown Montreal, opposite Place Ville-Marie. This modern skyscraper was designed by some of the same architects who were behind the Louvre Pyramid.
Altitude Montreal consists of luxury condominiums and offers hotel-style services to residents such as a pool, spa, fitness centre, lounge, restaurant, business centre, conference room, security, concierge service and a valet. This location also offers famed restaurants like Zibo and Moretti at its street level.
As of 2021, it is the city's second tallest residential tower, as it was surpassed by L'Avenue upon its completion. Construction on the tower began on May 3, 2016 on what was previously a parking lot, and was topped out with the addition of the architectural tip in November.
Altitude Montreal was designed by architecture firm Jean-Pierre Lagacé Architects, Nicolet Chartrand Knoll are the structural engineers, Bouthillette Parizeau are the mechanical engineers, and interior design by Nicole Vekemans. The developer is Daca Group.


The name, like that of its sister castle, Neuleiningen 5 kilometres northeast, is derived from the Frankish noble family of Leiningen, who used to rule the territory of the Leiningerland.
The mighty hill fortress is built on rocks and was probably established around 1100 to 1110 by the Count of Leiningen, Emich I, and his son, Emich II, under the name of Leiningen Castle. The overall castle site, which follows the shape of the hilltop, has a triangular ground plan. Of the original caste, only a few wall remains on the west side have survived. The outer ward was surrounded by its own moat and by a main ditch hewn out of the rock, over which there was a drawbridge that separated it from the actual castle. Two kilometres to the south of the castle, Emich II founded Höningen Abbey around 1120.
During the peasants' uprising in 1525 the castle suffered its first destruction. The present site is based on its rebuilding in the Renaissance style, beginning in 1528, by counts Cuno II, Philip I, Louis and John Casimir. Its reconstruction required the local farmers to render socage.
Around 1600 a gallery was driven deep into the rock below the castle in order to obtain a supply of water. The 20-Pipe Well is today the biggest source of water for the Eckbach.
In 1690 the castle was destroyed again, this time for good, during the War of the Palatine Succession by French troops. Thereafter it was used as a quarry until the mid-19th century when this was banned by the government of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Until 1933 the terrain remained in the hands of the counts of Leiningen (Leiningen-Westerburg-Altleiningen line), before it was procured by the county of Frankenthal. In 1962 the ruins were listed and the schloss wing rebuilt in the six years that followed. In doing so they incorporated the wall remains on the western side.


The covered "hall of honour" (Ehrenhalle), a room separated from the arcades to the courtyard, has around 250 visitor seats. Since 1980 the amateur dramatics group, the Altleiningen Castle Players (Burgspiele Altleiningen) have offered a summer programme of theatre productions. These include both classical as well as modern productions, mostly with a historic theme, something that matches the ambience.


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The Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park is one of the oldest parks in the state of São Paulo, created by state decree 32,283 of 19 May 1958. From the 1990s it became popular for adventure sports such as climbing, rafting and cycling and for environmental education, photography and observation of nature.
São Paulo state decree 58.148 of 21 June 2012 created the Paranapiacaba Conservation Units Mosaic, consisting of the Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park, Intervales State Park, Carlos Botelho State Park, Xitué Ecological Station, Nascentes do Paranapanema State Park and the Serra do Mar Environmental Protection Area in the municipalities of Eldorado, Sete Barras, Tapiraí, Juquiá, Ribeirão Grande and Capão Bonito. The purpose was to promote integrated and participatory management of the conservation units, and to seek to guarantee conservation of the areas covered.


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There are a great many streams and rivers. Flora include the Palmito Juçara (Euterpe edulis) and many species of bromeliads and orchids. Bird species include fasciated tiger heron (Tigrisoma fasciatum) and ornate hawk-eagle (Spizaetus ornatus). Large mammals include lowland paca (Cuniculus paca), South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and howler monkeys.


The chapel located on the Aruba Island is situated close to Noord at its northeastern corner, and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the California Lighthouse. Queen Beatrix International Airport is at Oranjestad, from where the entire island is connected by a network of roads. Bike tours are also a popular way of visiting the natural wonders in the north and northeast coast, including the Alto Vista Chapel.  It is situated amidst desert environment of sand, shrubs and cactus. The village that was established by the missionaries was called Alto Vista, meaning "high view," as it was situated on a hillock overlooking the sea, providing a complete view of the island.
The church has easy access from Noord, though the roads are not paved and hence dusty. This road is winding and has a string of crosses all along its route.
Close to the chapel is the Arikok National Park with several known limestone caves, popular hiking trails covering all types of terrain from hills to gold mines, beaches, plantation ruins, Arawak Indian wall drawings, Aruba Ostrich Farm and many more.


The new chapel was redesigned and built in 1952 by the Dutch engineer J.A. Hille, deputy head of the DOW (Dienst Openbare Werken), at the same location of an old chapel that measured 50×15 feet (15.2×4.6 m) and with the same orientation. The chapel is encircled by semicircular pews. There are also stone pews on the outside in order to accommodate additional worshipers. It has a few crosses enshrined in it; the ancient Spanish one is one of the oldest European pieces of art in the Dutch Caribbean. An altar statue of Virgin Mary installed after the earlier one was vandalised has local devotees. The structure does not have any stained glass panelled windows but presents a very serene atmosphere for offering prayers. At the border of the old chapel marked by stones, a few graves are also seen. White graves with crosses marking the stations of the Cross surround the chapel. Graves of Domingo Antonio Silvestre and Miguel Enrique Albarez are located near the chapel.
When the chapel was initially built in 1752, priests visited it from Coro three times every year. People used to wait eagerly to celebrate mass and perform Catholic Services such as baptisms and marriages.


Altos de Chavón is a tourist attraction, a re-creation of a 16th century Mediterranean–style village, located atop the Chavón River in the city of La Romana, Dominican Republic. It is the most popular attraction in the city and hosts a cultural center, an archeological museum, and an amphitheater. The project was conceived by the Italian architect Roberto Copa, and the industrialist Charles Bluhdorn.


Alum Bay is the location of a classic sequence of upper Paleocene and Eocene beds of soft sands and clays, separated by an unconformity from the underlying Cretaceous Chalk Formation that forms the adjoining headland of West High Down. Due to geological folding of the Alpine orogeny, the strata in the main section of the bay are near vertical, with younger rocks with progressively lower dips to the west. The sands are coloured due to oxidised iron compounds formed under different conditions.
Alum Bay Chine begins as a small wooded valley descending eastward from the junction of the B3322 and the road to Headon Hall. It soon broadens into the clay ravine through which the path and chairlift from Needles Park descend to the beach.


A traditional product of Alum Bay, and a fixture of Isle of Wight tourist shops, was the creation of ornaments using the coloured sands layered in vials and jars. The sands were also used for sand painting pictures, a popular craft in Victorian times known as marmotinto.
In the past, visitors to the bay could climb the foot of the cliffs and dig out the sand themselves. The removal of minerals from the site is now prohibited by law under provisions laid out in notices attached to the Headon Warren and West High Down SSSI designation.
The Needles Park has a facility where people could make bottles of sand, using sand gathered from the frequent rockfalls. In the past it was possible to buy Alum Bay coloured sand by mail order and make one's own sand pictures and bottles at home.


Alum Creek State Park is in central Ohio and is surrounded by farmlands and new housing developments. The park is home to many species of plants and animals that cannot live on the surrounding farmland. The old-growth forests of beech and maple trees were cut down for farming purposes, but in the area of the park these trees have come back to form a thriving secondary forest. Wild flower species include bloodroot, wild geranium, spring beauties and trillium. The forest provides a habitat for white-tail deer, groundhogs, fox squirrels, and rabbits.


Alum Creek State Park offers year-round recreational opportunities. Park activities include camping, hunting, hiking, picnicking, mountain biking, snowmobiling and horseback riding, fishing and ice fishing, boating and ice boating, and swimming. There are 38 miles (61 km) of bridle trails, 7 miles (11 km) of hiking trails, and 14 miles (23 km) of mountain biking trails. The lake has five boat ramps with boats of unlimited horsepower permitted. The campground has 286 sites with electricity, showers, restroom, basketball courts, horseshoe pits and playgrounds. There are also cabins and a primitive camp along the bridle trail. The park's 3,000-foot (910 m) beach is the largest inland beach in Ohio and includes a beach house and beach volleyball courts. The lake is open to ice fishing during the winter months. Game fish found in the lake include large mouth and small mouth bass, bluegill, crappie, sunfish, channel catfish, saugeye, walleye and muskellunge. Saugeye and muskies are stocked by the State of Ohio, Division of Wildlife, and fishing tournaments are hosted throughout the year. Common game species at the park include white-tail deer, squirrels, and raccoons.


In contrast to many luxury apartment buildings erected at the beginning of the 20th century, which contained ornate detailing mostly on the bottom and top stories, the Alwyn Court's decoration is spread throughout all parts of the facade. The decorative terracotta details on the facade include quattrocento-style pilasters, baldachin-like canopies, and crowned salamanders representing Francis I. The Alwyn Court uses terracotta because, at the time of its construction, it cost one-third as much as other material such as stone. Since it was possible to reuse the molds that were used to bake the terracotta, the amount of decoration was limited only by the number of unique designs.
The Alwyn Court's twelve-story facade is divided into three horizontal sections: a four-story base, a five-story shaft, and a three-story crown. These sections are separated by large decorative bands. The northern facade, on 58th Street, is divided vertically into five bays while the western facade on Seventh Avenue is subdivided into four bays. The main entrance is on Seventh Avenue. Each bay has three sash windows per floor, which are separated from each other by vertical mullions and spandrels. There are decorative spandrel panels between the windows on each floor. Additionally, the bays are separated horizontally by decorative pilasters topped with Corinthian-style capitals. Above the twelfth story, a cornice projects from the roof.
The northern and western facades are joined by a rounded corner, which contains an ornately detailed, recessed entrance archway. According to architectural writer Frank Winkler, rounded corners were desirable because their "simultaneous command [...] of two streets furnishes an interior attraction which any occupier would be delighted to acquire...". The corner entrance served as the Alwyn Court's main entrance before the building's renovation in 1938, when the ground-floor corner space was reconfigured into retail space.


As the Alwyn Court's construction predated fire codes, there were no fire escapes, and only minimal space for a single staircase on each floor. The staircase created a potential fire chimney, being open to the entire building. However, the building did contain fireproof materials such as brick exterior walls, as well as concrete floors, walls, and partitions. Each story has ceilings 10.5 feet (3.2 m) tall. In addition, the basement contained a wine vault for each tenant. The original design contained two passenger elevators and a service elevator. The staircase and elevators originally opened onto the southeastern corner of the atrium. When the building was renovated in 1938, the elevators were relocated.


The main lobby on Seventh Avenue, created in 1938, replaces the original lobby at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 58th Street. It contained peppermint-green walls with white plaster ornament, as well as a foyer with glass doors. The lobby contained ornamentation themed to music, including a red-marble mantlepiece in the foyer with carvings of pipes, horns, and violins, as well as lighting fixtures shaped like lyres. Some of this decoration has since been removed. North of the lobby is a retail space, accessed from the corner entrance, which houses the Petrossian caviar bar. Petrossian contains a private residents' entrance from the lobby.
The atrium at the center of the building is octagonal, with four longer sides parallel to the main dimensions of the building, as well as four chamfered corners. The atrium was originally an air shaft, with 286 frosted windows overlooking it. Between 1979 and 1981, the air shaft was covered with a skylight, and the courtyard was landscaped with a fountain, trees, and caged birds. The atrium's facade contains a trompe l'oeil mural painted by artist Richard Haas. The mural, painted in several hues of tan, depicts imitation architectural detail resembling the facade of the exterior.


The Alwyn Court was originally laid out with up to 22 apartments, two each on the first through eleventh floors; several residents chose to combine multiple apartments for their living spaces. One of the units on each floor would occupy the southern and western sides of the floor, while the other unit would occupy the northern and eastern sides. Typical apartments had 14 rooms with five bathrooms, renting up to $10,000 per year (equivalent to $301,593 in 2021). The largest unit, comprising the space of three standard apartments, cost $22,000 (equivalent to $663,504 in 2021). The apartments had rooms of up to 18 by 30 feet (5 by 9 m), as well as entertainment spaces that could be combined to create a single space about 2,000 square feet (190 m²). The apartments were decorated throughout with carved woodwork and bronze-and-iron light fixtures, as well as ornamental plaster and imitation Caen stone by McNulty Brothers. Some residents imported their own decorations; one 34-room unit was designed as a replica of a French castle. The suites also had their own conservatories and large millinery closets. The twelfth floor contained 34 rooms for servants' quarters.
Following its 1938 renovation, the Alwyn Court has contained 75 apartments. Each floor typically has six units, and a penthouse story contained three additional apartments. The apartments contain between three and five rooms apiece.  Each unit also contains bathrooms and dining galleries, while the penthouses have roof terraces and solariums. Twelve apartments, at the rounded corner, are fitted with large oval living rooms, while some of the units contain large fireplaces. Because the atrium was still an air shaft at the time of the renovation, none of the major rooms of each apartment face the atrium. The Alwyn Court also contains storage units, a bike room, and a laundry room for residents.


Upon the Alwyn Court's opening in late 1909, its first tenants included United Cigar Stores president Jacob Wertheim, as well as Steinway & Sons president Frederick Steinway. Philip Roosevelt, John Godfrey Saxe, and Nicholas Schenck also moved to the building during the early 20th century. The building also served as the home of Maurice Wertheim, who lived in the building's 34-room unit. Humorist Fred Allen lived in the building with wife Portland Hoffa. Later in the 20th century, residents included actors Darren McGavin and Rita Gam, as well as lawyer Louis Nizer. Actors Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson, as well as Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, also lived at the building. In the early 21st century, the Alwyn Court served as the home of residents including actress Jessica Hecht and her director husband Adam Bernstein; actor Richard Thomas; and Broadway producer Susan Gallin.


The Alyscamps is a large Roman necropolis, which is a short distance outside the walls of the old town of Arles, France. It was one of the most famous necropolises of the ancient world. The name comes from the Provençal Occitan word Aliscamps, which comes from the Latin Elisii Campi (that is, in French, Champs-Élysées; in English  Elysian Fields). They were famous in the Middle Ages and are referred to by Ariosto in Orlando Furioso and by Dante in the Inferno.
Roman cities traditionally forbade burials within the city limits. It was therefore common for the roads immediately outside a city to be lined with tombs and mausoleums; the Appian Way outside Rome provides a good example. The Alyscamps was Arles' main burial ground for nearly 1,500 years. It was the final segment of the Aurelian Way leading up to the city gates and was used as a burial ground for well-off citizens, whose memorials ranged from simple sarcophagi to elaborate monuments. In 1981, the Alyscamps was classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments group.


The Alyscamps continued to be used after the city was Christianised in the 4th century. Saint Genesius, a Roman civil servant beheaded in 303 for refusing to follow orders to persecute Christians, was buried there and rapidly became the focus of a cult. Saint Trophimus, possibly the first bishop of Arles, was buried there soon afterwards. It was claimed that Christ himself attended the ceremony, leaving the imprint of his knee on a sarcophagus lid.
The area became a highly desirable place to be buried and tombs soon multiplied. As early as the 4th century there were already several thousand tombs, necessitating the stacking of sarcophagi three layers deep. Burial in the Alyscamps became so desirable that bodies were shipped there from all over Europe, with the Rhône boatmen making a healthy profit from the transportation of coffins to Arles.
The Alyscamps continued to be used well into medieval times, although the removal of Saint Trophimus' relics to the cathedral in 1152 reduced its prestige. During the Renaissance the necropolis was systematically looted, with city councillors giving sarcophagi as gifts to distinguished visitors and local people using funerary stones as building material. It was further damaged by the arrival of the railway and a canal in the 19th century, both of which sliced across the site. In late October 1888 Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin chose the Alyscamps as the first site for their expeditions where they painted side by side; by this time it was a remnant of its former self. It has since been somewhat restored as an open-air museum. In his final book Caesar's Vast Ghost, Lawrence Durrell recommends the Alyscamps for its beauty and atmosphere; he writes: "It is unique in its charm."


Amager Strandpark (Amager Beach Park) is a seaside public park in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located on the island of Amager and includes an artificial island and offers a total of 4.6 km (2.9 mi) of beaches. From the beach, the Middelgrunden wind farm can be seen on the horizon.
The park was founded in 1934 and in 2005 a 2 km-long (1.2 mi) artificial island was added. The island is separated from the original beach by a lagoon which is crossed by three bridges. The beach has two sections. The northern section has a natural beach environment with winding paths, broad sandy beaches and low dunes. The southern section offers a so-called city beach with a broad promenade and areas for ball play or picnicking. There is also a small marina and parking facilities at the southern end. The lagoon has low-water areas for children as well as a 1,000 m (3,300 ft) swimming course.


The area is used for runners, swimmers and kayakers, among many others. There is a space for outdoor fitness training and from a small headland, it is possible to go diving. A grassy area at the southern end of the park, known as Femøren (which translates to "the 5 øre coin"), is often used for open-air rock concerts in summer. It is also a popular spot for skateboarders. American pro skater Torey Pudwill has a picture-ad, where he kick-flips down double set stairs at Bunker 2.


Amagertorv dates back to the Middle Ages when Copenhagen was a small fishing village called Havn, the site was  the main corridor between the village and the beach. In 1449 it is referred to as the Fishmonger's Market and in 1472 the name Amagertorv first appears. The name derives from the Amager farmers who came into town to sell their goods.
In the 16th and 17th century the square became a setting of festivals and chivalrous tournaments. In the same time, Amagertorv continued to be the premier marketplace of the city and from 28 July 1684 all sale of fresh produce was to take place in the square. From 1656 the city's leading inn was also located on the square.

Few buildings on the square survived the Copenhagen Fire of 1795. The adjoining Højbro Plads was established after the fire.
In 1868 the market activities were moved to Christianshavn. In 1894, the Stork Fountain was constructed. It was a present to Crown Prince Frederik (later Frederik VIII) and Crown Princess Louise in connection with their silver wedding. In 1962, the square was closed to traffic with the establishment of the Strøget pedestrian zone.


Amalie Arena (officially stylized as AMALIE Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Tampa, Florida, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football, concerts, and other events. It is mainly used as the home for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League.
The building opened in 1996 and was originally known as the Ice Palace. In August 2002, the building's naming rights were sold to the St. Petersburg Times, which became the Tampa Bay Times in January 2012; accordingly, the arena was known as the St. Pete Times Forum (2002–2012) and Tampa Bay Times Forum (2012–2014). In September 2014, the arena was renamed Amalie Arena when the naming rights were transferred to Amalie Oil Company.


Amaliehaven is a rectangular park built to a stringent, symmetrical design centred on a large fountain to respect and accentuate the Frederiksgade axis which unifies the entire area. On both sides of the central fountain, the gardens continue on two levels, with shrubs and walls enclosing it from the waterfront on one side and the street on the other.


Amalienau originally contained the village Hinterhufen (further Hufen) in the western part of the Hufen region northwest of medieval Königsberg. By the middle of the 16th century it was largely deforested. As a result of the Prussian administrative reorganization following the Napoleonic Wars, the region was included within the rural district of Königsberg (Landkreis Königsberg i. Pr.), part of Regierungsbezirk Königsberg in East Prussia, on 1 February 1818.
From 1810-20 the Königsberg commerce councilor Gustav Schnell purchased the various estates around Hinterhufen and united them into a single estate named after his wife, Amalie Schnell (née Gramatzki). In 1858 Amalienau was raised to the status of an estate district (Gutsbezirk) by its owner, Anton Douglas (1817-83). Douglas was married to Charlotte Warschauer and was a brother-in-law of Eduard Simson.
On 3 June 1898 parts of Amalienau were transferred from the rural district of Königsberg (Landkreis Königsberg i. Pr.) into the urban district of Königsberg (Stadtkreis Königsberg i. Pr). The remainder of Amalienau was finally incorporated into the city of Königsberg on 1 April 1905. Neighboring quarters were Ratshof to the west and Mittelhufen to the north and east.
In 1898 Friedrich Heitmann and Joseph Kretschmann, architects and construction officials, founded the Königsberger Immobilien- und Baugesellschaft (Königsberg Real Estate and Building Company). In 1901 they began to develop Amalienau into a villa suburb (Villenvorort or Villenkolonie) for the upper class. North of Amalienau was the estate Klein Amalienau.
Public squares in Amalienau and along the border with Mittelhufen included Skagerrakplatz, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz, Luisenplatz, and Ziethenplatz. Churches in the quarter included the Protestant Königin-Luise-Gedächtniskirche (1899) and the Roman Catholic St. Adalbert's (1902).
The Zwillingsteich, consisting of two linked ponds, was created in 1909. An airship hangar was constructed in Amalienau in 1913. An old hammer forge was converted into a cafe and Gasthaus. The football club SV Prussia-Samland Königsberg played at Sportplatz Prussia-Samland on Steffeckstraße on the western outskirts of the quarter.
While most of Königsberg was heavily damaged by the 1944 Bombing of Königsberg and the 1945 Battle of Königsberg, Amalienau emerged relatively unscathed from World War II, except for some damage to the two churches. Soviet officials often used Amalienau's villas after the war, with many of the buildings maintained in modern Kaliningrad.


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The first mention of a church at this place dates from 844. In 1338 and 1486 Mary was named as altar patroness. The foundation walls of the massive choir tower date from the late Romanesque or early Gothic period. The chancel, the choir tower with its embrasures and the oldest part of the nave were probably not built until after 1450, despite the early Gothic impression created by the chancel arch. The style periods out in the country often follow those of a region's main cultural centres. According to a headstone text on the south wall, in 1500 a chapel which no longer survives was added by the Mainz canon Peter Nothaft who originated from here. The tracery windows as well as the expressive crucifix on the altar also date from the late Gothic period.

In 1590, the rectory still in use today was built behind the north wall of the church. In 1596, the entire chancel was painted with murals by the artist Jörg Herzog from Markgröningen. The murals in the nave also date from this period. In 1597 and 1607, it was reported that the cemetery could no longer accommodate the victims of the plague. As a result, in 1610 the cemetery still in use today to the east of the church was built. In 1620, a southern transept with a large gallery was added, presumably at the cost of the chapel built in 1500. Around the same time, the round tower on the south side was erected as a stairwell for the manorial lords of Beihingen. During the wars of the 17th century, i.e. the Thirty Years' War and the War of the Palatine Succession, the church lost its windows, stalls, pulpit, and the bells installed in 1631.
In the following period these losses were compensated and the church further expanded. In 1699 the abat-voix was built, and only then, following models at Ludwigsburg built at the same time, was the pulpit added below. That year the church also received its first organ. In 1703, a stucco ceiling was completed in the south nave. In 1706 the bells were replaced. In 1737, extensions were made to accommodate the growing population. On the north wall the large wooden gallery for the men of the parish was erected, together with a specially constructed outer staircase with its own stone gateway.
In the 18th century, the church was embellished in the Rococo style. The Gothic ceiling, door and window embrasures and the rector's stall were painted with ornamental imagery (German: Bandelwerk). The same artist, Hans Stiegler, painted the oils on the gallery balustrades. In 1766 the church received the organ, whose casing is preserved to this day.
In 1958 the church underwent comprehensive restoration which revealed  murals painted in medieval times and about 1600 which had been whitewashed over. Most could be recovered in subsequent years. The little altar before the organ was replaced in 1960 by a stone altar where the Gothic crucifix was placed. In 1981 the organ pipes were renewed, while the casing was preserved.


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The east wall of the church bears a large colourful medieval fresco showing a scene of the Resurrection. It was discovered during the 1958 restoration.
The coffered ceiling and the two transoms were first painted in the Middle Ages. Traces can still be seen underneath Hans Stiegler's ornamental Rococo decorations. The panels were also originally decorated with golden hemispheres.
The most striking embellishments are Stiegler’ oils covering the whole length of the gallery balustrades. On the manorial gallery to the south they show Christ, the twelve apostles and the four evangelists. On the men's gallery biblical history from the Creation to the Last Judgment and the Trinity is depicted consecutively along the west and north sides.
The Renaissance painting by Jörg Herzog in the chancel above the entrance to the vestry shows the creation of man in paradise and the story of Cain and Abel. To the left of the eastern chancel window, Moses with the ten commandments is depicted, while his brother Aaron is portrayed to the right of the window. The painting of the Creation on the chancel side of the triumphal arch could not be restored.


Since 1972, every-year on Republic Day, before the Republic Day parade, it had been customary for the Prime Minister and three service chiefs and dignitaries to place a wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti. On Independence Day, the President laid a wreath. On 16 December, Vijay Diwas, the Defence Minister laid a wreath.
From 2020 onwards the Prime Minister, on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day, placed the wreath at the National War Memorial instead of the Amar Jyoti Jawan at India Gate. The Prime Minister is accompanied by the Chief of Defence Staff, along with the Army Chief, Navy Chief, and Air Force Chief.


The Amaravathi Dam is a dam constructed across the  Amaravathi River. It is located at Amaravathinagar, 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Udumalpet on SH 17 in the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, Tirupur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The associated Amaravathi Reservoir  is 9.31 square kilometres (3.59 sq mi) in area and 33.53 metres (110.0 ft) deep. The dam was built primarily for irrigation and flood control and now also has four megawatts of electrical generating capacity installed. It is notable for the significant population of mugger crocodiles living in its reservoir and catchment basin.


There is a well laid-out park where one may climb steep steps on the dam to have a picturesque view north of the plains below and south to the Anaimalai Hills and Palni Hills above. Boating for tourists in the dam began on 14 January 2011.


The dam was built in 1957 across the Amaravathi River about 25 km (16 mi) upstream and south from Thirumoorthy Dam. Capacity of the dam has shrunk 25% from 4 tmcft to 3 tmcft due to siltation. The dam was built primarily for irrigation and flood control. In 2005 - 2006 the state reported revenue from medium commercial irrigation from the Amaravathi Reservoir Project was Rs. 43,51,000.  During 2003-04, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board proposed to increase the dams utility by installing 4 MW capacity hydro-electric power station, which is now operating.


The largest wild breeding population of crocodiles in South India live in the reservoir, and in the Chinnar, Thennar and Pambar rivers that drain into it. These broad-snouted mugger crocodiles, also known as marsh crocodiles and Persian crocodiles, are the most common and widespread of the three species of crocodiles found in India. They eat fish, other reptiles, small and large mammals and are sometimes dangerous to humans. Their total wild population here is currently estimated to be 60 adults and 37 sub-adults. Other fish predators here include: Oriental small-clawed otters, Indian cormorants and Indian flap-shelled turtles.
The Amaravathi Sagar Crocodile Farm, established in 1976, the largest crocodile nursery in India, is 1 kilometre before the Amaravathy dam site. Many adult crocodiles have been reintroduced from here into the wild. Eggs are collected from wild nests along the perimeter of the reservoir to be hatched and reared at the farm. Many crocodiles of all sizes can be seen basking in the sun and suddenly making a stride or piled up on one another. There are now 98 crocodiles (25 male  + 73 female) maintained in captivity here. Three Forest Department personnel manage and maintain the centre.,


Amarbayasgalant Monastery (Mongolian: Амарбаясгалант хийд, ᠠᠮᠤᠷ ᠪᠠᠶᠠᠰᠬᠤᠯᠠᠩᠲᠤ ᠬᠡᠶᠢᠳAmurbayasqulangtu keyid; Manchu: ᡠ᠊ᡵᡤᡠᠨ ᡝᠯᡥᡝ ᠰᡟ Urgun Elhe Sy, Chinese: 慶寧寺) or the "Monastery of Tranquil Felicity", is one of the three largest Buddhist monastic centers in Mongolia.  The monastery complex is located in the Iven Valley near the Selenge River, at the foot of Mount Büren-Khaan in Baruunbüren sum (district) of Selenge Province in northern Mongolia. The nearest town is Erdenet which is about 60 km to the southwest.
The monastery was established and funded by order of the Yongzheng Emperor (and completed under his successor the Qianlong Emperor) of Qing China to serve as a final resting place for Zanabazar (1635–1723), the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, or spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism for the Khalkha in Outer Mongolia and a spiritual mentor to both emperors' ancestor, the Kangxi Emperor. Tradition holds that while searching for an appropriate site to build the monastery, the exploratory group came across two young boys, Amur and Bayasqulangtu, playing on the steppe. They were inspired to build the monastery on that very spot and to name it after the two children, Amur-Bayasqulangtu.  More likely, the location was chosen because it stood at the place where the lama's traveling Da Khuree (his mobile monastery and prime residence) was encamped at the moment of his death. Construction took place between 1727 and 1736 and Zanabazar's remains were transferred there in 1779.
Amarbayasgalant monastery is dedicated to Zanabazar's main tutelary deity, Maitreya. Unlike Erdene Zuu Monastery, which is an ensemble of temple halls of different styles, Amarbayasgalant shows great stylistic unity. The overriding style is Chinese, with some Mongol and Tibetan influence. The monastery resembles Yongzheng's own palace Yonghegong in Beijing (converted by his son the Qianlong Emperor into a Buddhist monastery). Originally consisting of over 40 temples, the monastery was laid out in a symmetrical pattern, with the main buildings succeeding one another along a north–south axis, while the secondary buildings are laid out on parallel sides.
Amarbayasgalant was one of the very few monasteries to have partly escaped destruction during the Stalinist purges of 1937, after which only the buildings of the central section remained. Many of the monks were executed by the country's Communist regime and the monastery's artifacts, including thangkas, statues, and manuscripts were looted, although some were hidden until more fortunate times.
Today, only 28 temples remain. Restoration work began in 1988 with funds provided by UNESCO and private sources and some of the new statuary was commissioned in New Delhi, India.


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Amargosa Opera House and Hotel is a historic building and cultural center located in Death Valley Junction, in eastern Inyo County, California near Death Valley National Park. Resident artist Marta Becket staged dance and mime shows there from the late 1960s until her final show in February 2012. The Death Valley Junction Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places and is owned by the nonprofit established by Becket for the preservation of the property.
The theater was part of a company town designed by architect Alexander Hamilton McCulloch and constructed in 1923–25 by the Pacific Coast Borax Company. The U-shaped complex of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture style adobe buildings included company offices, employees' headquarters, a dormitory and a 23-room hotel with a dining room, lobby and store. At the northeast end of the complex was a recreation hall used as a community center for dances, church services, movies, funerals and town meetings.


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As the Lost Highway Hotel, it was featured in David Lynch's Lost Highway.
The exterior of the Amargosa Opera House was also shown in the movies The Hitcher and Carl Colpaert's Delusion.  The exterior of the adjacent cafe and hotel colonnade were shown in a 40 second segment of Robert Plant's video of his 1983 song, Big Log. The interior of the Opera House features in the video of the Lighthouse Family's song "Lifted".
Todd Robinson's documentary, Amargosa (2000) about Marta Becket and Amargosa won a 2003 Emmy Award for cinematographer Curt Apduhan and was a finalist for an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature, in addition to numerous festival awards and nominations.
Reports of hauntings in the buildings were investigated on the paranormal television shows Ghost Adventures in 2010 and The Dead Files in 2013.


The Shiva Lingam at the shrine is a Swayambhu lingam. The lingam is a natural stalagmite formation located at the Amarnath Mountain which has a peak of 5,186 metres (17,014 ft), and inside a 40 m (130 ft) high cave at an elevation of 3,888 m (12,756 ft). The stalagmite is formed due to the freezing of water drops that fall from the roof of the cave onto the floor resulting in an upward vertical growth of ice. There are different types of stalagmites. Here, the stalagmites considered as the lingam, a physical manifestation of Shiva, form a solid-dome-shape. Parvati and Ganesha are also present here as two smaller stalagmites.
It is mentioned in the ancient Hindu texts of Mahabharata and Puranas that Lingam represents Shiva. The lingam waxes during May to August, as snow melts in the Himalayas above the cave, and the resultant water seeps into the rocks that form the cave; thereafter, the lingam gradually wanes. As per religious beliefs, it is said that the lingam grows and shrinks with the phases of the moon, reaching its height during the summer festival. According to Hindu religious beliefs, this is the place where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine consort, Parvati.
Lidder Valley, where the cave is located, has a number of glaciers. In 2009, glaciologist Professor M. N. Koul, the former head of the geography department at Jammu University, has said that while more scientific studies are needed, contributors to change in lingam size could include changes in the pathways for water leading to the lingum. The cave is made of limestone and gypsum. Heat generated by tourists, affects the size of the stalagmite. Outside temperate changes also affect its size. To minimize artificially induced temperature changes, helicopter trips and helipad sites are regulated.  There has been talk of artificially extending the life of the stalagmite, however this has been objected to.


The book Rajatarangini (Book VII v.183) refers to Krishaanth or Amarnath. It is believed that, in the 11th century AD, Queen Suryamati gifted trishulas, banalingas and other sacred emblems to this temple. Rajavalipataka, begun by Prjayabhatta, contains detailed references to the pilgrimage to Amarnath Cave Temple. In addition, there are further references to this pilgrimage in many other ancient texts.
According to legend, Sage Bhrigu was the first to have discovered Amarnath. A long time ago, it is believed that the Valley of Kashmir was submerged underwater, and Sage Kashyapa drained it through a series of rivers and rivulets. As a result, when the waters drained, Bhrigu was the first to have darshan of Shiva at Amarnath. Thereafter, when people heard of the lingam, it became an abode of Shiva for all believers and the site of an annual pilgrimage, traditionally performed by lakhs of people in July and August during the Hindu Holy month of Savan.
François Bernier, a French physician, accompanied Emperor Aurangzeb during his visit to Kashmir in 1663. In his book Travels in Mughal Empire, he provides an account of the places he visited, noting that he was "pursuing journey to a grotto full of wonderful congelations, two days journey from Sangsafed" when he "received intelligence that my Nawab felt very impatient and uneasy on account of my long absence." The "grotto" referenced in this passage is obviously the Amarnath cave — as the editor of the second edition of the English translation of the book, Vincent A. Smith, makes clear in his introduction. He writes: "The grotto full of wonderful congelations is the Amarnath cave, where blocks of ice, stalagmites formed by dripping water from the roof are worshipped by many Hindus who resort here as images of Shiva...."
In 1895, pilgrims would first travel to Kheer Bhawani for a brief stop. Sustained by free rations given by the state, the pilgrims would then travel to Srinagar. From Srinagar, in batches, the pilgrims would then head up Lidder Valley, stopping at locations for holy dips. At Mach Bawan, local Hindus would join them. Maliks of Batok were responsible for the route during these years. Sister Nivedita, in Notes of Some Wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda, writes of Swami Vivekananda's visit to the cave in 1898.


Every year, thousands of central armed forces and state police personnel are deployed to provide security to pilgrims from potential terror threats. The forces position at various halts and also in the perimeter of the shrine. This includes CRPF, BSF, ITBP, NDRF/SDRF and state police and traffic police.


Environmentalists have expressed concern that the number of people participating in the Amarnath Yatra is having a negative impact on the area's ecology and some have expressed support for government regulated limits on the number of pilgrims permitted to make the trek. However no studies have been made nor has an environmental impact assessment done. As of date, the Government of India restricts travellers only on the basis on logistics, time window for the yatra and weather.


The Amazon Theatre (Portuguese: Teatro Amazonas) is an opera house located in Manaus, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. It is the location of the annual Festival Amazonas de Ópera (Amazonas Opera Festival) and the home of the Amazonas Philharmonic Orchestra which regularly rehearses and performs at the Amazon Theatre along with choirs, musical concerts and other performances.
More than 120 years old, it represents the city's heyday during the rubber boom. It was chosen by the magazine Vogue as one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world.


The museum collected 21 steam locomotives. Currently four locomotives are operational. Other collections of the museum include old telephones, Morse telegraph equipment, old bells and signals equipment, and some antique furniture.
Some of the steam locomotives are the 2 B25 class 0-4-2RT B2502 and B2503 which is from the original fleet of 5 supplied to the line about 100 years ago (a third locomotive, B 2501, is preserved in a park in the town nearby). The E10 class 0-10-0RT E1060 which was originally delivered to West Sumatra in the 1960s for working the coal railway, but was brought to Java, later returned again to Sawahlunto, and a conventional locomotive 2-6-0T C1218 which was restored to working order in 2006, but transferred to Solo to working as tourist train, named Sepur Kluthuk Jaladara. The museum also have a small diesel shunter D300 class 0-8-0D D300 23, previously based at Cepu, an old UH-295 crane from Semarang, and the newly restored B51 class 4-4-0 B5112 specially for Ambarawa-Tuntang line. Other locomotive collections are type C1240, C1603, C2821, and CC5029.


In the Bollywood film Youngistaan (2014) actors Jackky Bhagnani and Neha Sharma shot in Ambedkar Memorial Park and were surprised with its vast scale. After permission for shooting outside the memorial in March 2014, Aditya Roy Kapur and Parineeti Chopra shot for "Rangreli" song of film Daawat-e-Ishq. In November 2015, Ravi Kishan shot for a Bhojpuri film at Ambedkar Memorial Park. In February 2016, Mika Singh and Urvashi Rautela also shot for their new music video named Lal Dupatta Kurta Chikan Ka just outside the Memorial In 2017, the song "Jogi" from the movie Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana, starring Rajkumar Rao and Kriti Kharbanda was shot here. In 2017 small part of Movie Bareilly Ki Barfi starring Ayushman Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Sanon was also shot here.


Amberley Castle stands in the village of Amberley, West Sussex (grid reference TQ027132).
The castle was erected as a 12th-century manor house and fortified in 1377, giving it a rhomboid shaped stonework enclosure with high curtain walls, internal towers in each corner, a hall and a gateway. It was used as a fortress by the bishops of Chichester. The walls, gateway and two of the towers remain as a Grade I listed building  and are now in use as a privately owned hotel.


The site on which the castle stands was endowed to the See of Selsey by  Cædwalla of Wessex in AD 683. When the bishopric  was removed to Chichester, after the Norman conquest, it  continued to be held  by the Bishops of Chichester. The first recorded structure was a timber-framed lodge built by Bishop Ralph de Luffa in 1103. This was knocked down in 1140 by Bishop Seffrid I and replaced by a more elaborate stone hall, to which Bishop Seffrid II added the East Wing in 1200. A larger Great Hall was added by Bishop John Langton between 1305 and 1337, when the site  became known as the Bishop of Chichester's Summer Palace.
Bishop William Reade had the Great Hall knocked down and replaced by a better one and in 1377 applied for, and received, permission to fortify the site and add the gatehouse and oubliette. Walls up to 40 feet high were built round the whole site. Bishop Robert Sherborne, who died in 1536, was the last Bishop of Chichester to occupy the castle, after which it was leased by a number of tenants.
In the English Civil War the Royalist tenant caused Oliver Cromwell to order General William Waller to attack the castle, which resulted in the loss of 20 feet from the height of the walls and the destruction of the Great Hall. The castle was sold to a Mr Butler but restored to the Bishop of Chichester after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. The Butlers remained as tenants, followed by the Briscoes.
In 1872, the Castle was sold to Robert Curzon, 15th Lord Zouche, who used it as a hunting lodge before selling it to Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk in 1893. Known as ‘The Builder Duke’, the 15th Duke renovated the castle, as well as modernising Arundel Castle and building Arundel Cathedral. In 1926, the castle passed to the Emmet family, in 1982 to Hollis Baker, in 1987 to an American family and in 1988 to Joy and Martin Cummings, who converted it to an award-winning country house hotel. From 2004 to 2011 it was a member of Relais & Châteaux.
Much modified, the castle is now owned by Andrew and Christina Brownsword and operated as an hotel in the Brownsword Hotel group.


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The open-air museum is 36-acre (146,000 m²), located next to Amberley railway station and dedicated to the industrial heritage of South East England and with a special interest in aspects of the history of communications and transport.
The museum is sited in a former chalk quarry where the chalk was converted into lime for use in mortar and cement, and remaining on site are several kilns, including a De Witt set, and associated buildings including offices, bagging shed and locomotive shed.
Also to be seen is the quarry tunnel, which appeared as Mainstrike Mine in the James Bond film A View to a Kill. Additional buildings have been relocated or replicated on the site and exhibition halls added. The natural history and geology of the site can be seen from a nature trail.


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Crafts demonstrated on site include woodturning, broom-making, walking stick-making and the work of the blacksmith and potters. Special events are held regularly.


The temple is also known as the Khajuraho of Mewar. There are many fine sculptures in the temple which have been excellently preserved. This pentagonal temple, enclosed by a massive rampart wall, has 17 turrets and a pagoda-like gabled roof. Exquisite details appear high on the exterior walls of the temple, above larger sculptures of gods or goddesses, with musicians, dancers, and singers of the heavenly court, as well as countless beautiful women. The richness and arrangement of the carving often has a curling vegetal motif. The theme is of a mountain palace, a heavenly abode of the gods. The tower is covered with intricate motifs, including clouds, and is surrounded by small shikhara towers which echo the surrounding mountain peaks. The architecture of the mountain palace, as the heavenly abode of the gods, echoes the temple which is their earthly residence.


Ambleside Roman Fort is the modern name given to the remains of a fort of the Roman province of Britannia. The ruins have been tentatively identified as Galava, mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary. Dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD, its ruins are located on the northern shore of Windermere at Waterhead, near Ambleside, in the English county of Cumbria, within the boundaries of the Lake District National Park.
The fort guarded the Roman road from Brougham to Ravenglass.  There is also assumed to have been a road south to the fort at Kendal. In 2016 it was reported that LIDAR technology had revealed a Roman road running north from Ambleside fort to Carlisle, and another running northwest to Papcastle. These roads had been previously described by John Horsley in his Britannia Romana of 1732.
The ruins are a grade I listed structure. The site is open to the public, and is owned and managed by the National Trust. The site is a scheduled monument with list entry numbers of 1009348 and 1244785 (formerly RSM 13567 and RBS 450573)


Ambleside Roman Fort is situated approximately 0.8 kilometres (0.5 mi) south of Ambleside town centre, at the north end of Windermere, upon the eastern banks of the Brathay and Rothay rivers. The ruins occupy a field, known as Borrans Field, between the Brathay and Borrans Park.
The remains of the fort are situated upon a sand and gravel platform in Borrans Fields, which gently rises from the lakeshore. The fort stands less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) above the water level of the lake. The fort is bordered to the south and west by marsh, and an outcrop of rock dominates the northern section of Borrans Field. The underlying bedrock is volcanic tuff of the Lincomb Tarns Tuff Formation, overlain with alluvium. The soil is freely draining loam.


A tombstone found at Ambleside bore an inscription that translates as "killed within the fort by the enemy", indicating that at some point the fort was attacked, but that Roman control of the area continued.
Finds from the early 20th century excavations included some coins of Faustina Iunior (161-175), Iulia Domna (193-217), and Valens (364-378). Ceramic finds included Samian ware dated to approximately AD 80 and later; this included a few examples of German Samian ware. Other finds included a silver spoon, pieces of glass, a number of bronze and iron artefacts, a lead basin, and seven lead sling-bullets.
During investigations associated with a road-building project in 1982, a bracelet of twisted gold wire was recovered from contractors' spoil near the fort. A variety of ceramic fragments were recovered, with the majority dating to the Hadrianic and early Antonine periods.


Madagascar's central highlands, including the area around Ambohimanga, were first inhabited between 200 BCE–300 CE by the island's earliest settlers, the Vazimba, who appear to have arrived by pirogue from southeastern Borneo to establish simple villages in the island's dense forests. By the 15th century the Merina ethnic group from the southeastern coast had gradually migrated into the central highlands where they established hilltop villages interspersed among the existing Vazimba settlements, which were ruled by local kings. The tombs of at least four Vazimba are located on or around Ambohimanga hill and are sites of pilgrimage, including the tombs of Ingorikelisahiloza, Andriantsidonina, Ramomba and Kotosarotra. In the mid-16th century the disparate Merina principalities were united as the Kingdom of Imerina under the rule of King Andriamanelo (1540–1575), who initiated military campaigns to expel or assimilate the Vazimba population. Conflict with the Vazimba led Andriamanelo to fortify his hill town using earthen walls, stone gateways and deep defensive trenches. This fortified town model, called a rova, was propagated by the noble class throughout Imerina until French colonization of Madagascar in 1895.
The earliest settlement at the height of Ambohimanga was most likely established in the 15th century, coinciding with the arrival of the Merina in the highlands. Rice paddies took the place of the original valley forests by the 16th century, and the growing population near the valleys around Ambohimanga became known by the clan name Tantsaha ("people of the cultivated land"). According to oral history, however, the first to settle the site of the Ambohimanga rova was Andriamborona, the dethroned prince of the highland territory of Imamo, who relocated to the then-unpopulated hilltop in around 1700 accompanied by his nephew, his wife, and his mother, Ratompobe. Merina king Andriamasinavalona (1675–1710), who reigned over Imerina from his royal compound in Antananarivo, noticed a bonfire lit by the family on the southern face of the hill 24 kilometers away. The visibility of the site from his capital led Andriamasinavalona to desire Ambohimanga as a residence for his son, Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana. Andriamborona and his family agreed to shift three times to different parts of the hill, including the future site of the royal compound of Bevato, in response to consecutive requests from the king. For a short time he and the prince lived in neighboring houses at Bevato before Andriamborona and his family finally left the hill for the distant highland village of Ambatolampy, where he lived the rest of his life; the king retrieved their bodies for burial at Ambohimanga.
In 1710, Andriamasinavalona divided the Kingdom of Imerina into four quadrants, which were given to his four favorite sons to rule. Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana received the eastern quadrant, Avaradrano, and transformed his rova at Ambohimanga into its capital. As the first king of Avaradrano (1710–1730), Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana also built the site's defensive walls and its first set of seven gates. Rather than rule their respective territories peacefully as Andriamasinavalona had intended, his four sons began a series of wars to seize control of neighboring territory, causing famine and suffering among the peasant population of Imerina. Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana spent much of his reign strengthening the authority of his governance at Ambohimanga and attracting residents to settle in the surrounding villages while battling his brothers to increase the land under his control. He was succeeded by his adopted son, Andriambelomasina (1730–1770), who continued to rule Avaradrano from Ambohimanga in the Mahandrihono compound he built beside the original compound of Besakana. Andriambelomasina significantly expanded Ambohimanga and strengthened its defenses, enabling him to successfully repel an attack against the rova by a band of Sakalava warriors employed by his chief rival, the ruler of Antananarivo. He named as his successor his eldest son, Andrianjafy (1770–1787), and designated his grandson Andrianampoinimerina to follow Andrianjafy in the order of succession. Andrianjafy, a weak and unjust ruler, maintained his capital at Ambohimanga where he built a new private compound called Nanjakana, but often resided in the nearby village of Ilafy.
Andrianampoinimerina dethroned Andrianjafy in a violent conflict that ended in 1787. The king then used Ambohimanga as a launching point for a successful campaign to bring the twelve sacred hills of Imerina under his rule, including the hill city of Antananarivo, thereby reuniting the four quadrants of the divided Kingdom of Imerina under his sovereignty and putting an end to 77 years of civil war. To consolidate support for his rule, Andrianampoinimerina mobilized representatives of the numerous noble castes to participate in the most extensive effort yet to expand and fortify Ambohimanga. He ordered the construction of new city walls, gates and defensive trenches, as well as a rosewood palace called Mahandrihono, which he had built in the traditional style.
Following the conquest of Antananarivo in 1793, Andrianampoinimerina shifted the political capital of Imerina from Ambohimanga to its original site at Antananarivo, while pronouncing Ambohimanga the kingdom's spiritual capital. Important traditional rituals continued to be held at Ambohimanga, and Andrianampoinimerina regularly stayed in its Mahandrihono palace. His son, Radama I, inhabited Ambohimanga's Nanjakana compound as a youth before relocating to Antananarivo, and visited Ambohimanga frequently after the move. Radama's widow and successor, Ranavalona I, renovated the Mahandrihono compound and moved several buildings from the sister rova at Antananarivo to Ambohimanga. She also forbade swine at Ambohimanga due to their association with Europeans, who had propagated pork as a food source in the decade prior. Subsequent queens made their own mark on the site, including the reconstruction of Nanjakana by Rasoherina, and Ranavalona II's addition of two large pavilions to the Mahandrihono compound that reflected a syncretism of traditional and Western architectural styles.
Throughout much of the 19th century and particularly under the reign of Queen Ranavalona I (1828–1861), Ambohimanga was forbidden to visiting foreigners, contributing to its mystique as a "forbidden city". This status remained until 1897 when the French colonial administration transferred all the relics and significant belongings of the royal family from Ambohimanga to Antananarivo to break the spirit of resistance and ethnic identity that these symbols inspired in the Malagasy people, particularly in the highlands. In the early 20th century, the area was further changed when the French removed the sacred forests remaining on the neighboring hilltops in the early 20th century. The city nonetheless retains its symbolic significance in Imerina to this day.


A series of protective trenches (hadivory) and stone walls, typical of fortified royal cities in Imerina since the 15th century, surround the village of Ambohimanga. The trenches vary in depth to a maximum of 30 meters (98 ft). The oldest trenches at the site, called Mazavatokana, are located behind the modern-day rova and appear to predate the reign of the hill's first known king, Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana; local tradition maintains that they were dug in the early 16th century on the command of King Andrianjaka, who may have used the site as a launching point for military offensives in his war against the Vazimba. Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana was the first to systematically establish a network of defenses around the hilltop settlement. This first king of Ambohimanga dug trenches around his Bevato compound, which was initially only accessible through a gateway he named Ambavahadikely.
The settlement was expanded by the construction of trenches bordering a second adjoining space to the northeast with two additional access points named Ampanidinamporona and Ambavahaditsiombiomby, the latter a natural gateway formed by two boulders. This latter entrance was most likely used to access the space even before the formal establishment of a royal city there, and is therefore considered by archaeologists to be the oldest gateway at the site. After the establishment of the rova, this entrance was reserved for use by the sovereign, a reflection of the spiritual significance of the northeastern direction and its association with the ancestors, whose benediction and hasina provided the basis for the sovereign's power and legitimacy. It was also used to bring sacrificial cattle into the compound. Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana then expanded toward the west to a series of natural defenses, including stony cliffs and steep forested slopes that obviated the need to dig defensive trenches, and he constructed several additional gates that he named Ambavahadimahazaza, Andranomboahangy and Ambavahadiantandranomasina. Andrianampoinimerina expanded the trenches around the city using fanampoana labor. During his reign, a trench was dug that entirely encircles the hill, and a series of trenches was dug alongside existing ones to further protect the city against enemies. The current defensive wall was reconstructed around 1830 during the reign of Queen Ranavalona I. An estimated sixteen million egg whites were mixed with lime to produce the whitewash for the compound's exterior and interior walls. Until French colonization in 1897 and at least as early as the reign of Radama I, foreigners and non-residents were not allowed to enter the royal city without authorization from the sovereign.
The royal compound can be accessed through fourteen stone gateways in total. In addition to the inner seven gateways constructed by Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana in the early 18th century, there exists an exterior wall and second set of seven gates that were built before 1794 during the reign of Andrianampoinimerina, an act that symbolically marked the completion of the king's reunification of Imerina. The largest and principal gate is also the most well-preserved and is known as Ambatomitsangana ("standing stone").  Every morning and evening, a team of twenty soldiers would work together to roll into place an enormous stone disk, 4.5 meters in diameter and 30 cm thick, weighing about 12 tons, to open or seal off the doorway. This form of gate (vavahady in the Malagasy language), typical of most walled royal villages of Imerina built between 1525 and 1897, protected the villagers from marauders.The gateway is topped by an observation post. The second main entrance, called Andakana, is situated in the western wall. Its stone disk is also intact, and the path leading to it is paved with cut stones. Both Ambatomitsangana and Andakana were considered the gateways of the living; cadavers could not be transported through them, and passage was denied to anyone who had recently come into contact with the dead.  A northern gateway called Miandrivahiny retains its well-preserved stone disk and was one of two entrances used whenever it was necessary to transport corpses in or out of the site; the second gateway for corpses was called Amboara. The stone disk at the southern Andranomatsatso gateway is also in good condition. This gateway, as well as Antsolatra and Ampitsaharana, were primarily used as lookout points. In the late 18th century Andrianampoinimerina replaced the Ambavahadiantandranomasina gate with another made of wood instead of stone and renamed it Ambavahadimasina. He and his successors shaved a small piece of wood from this lintel to light the sacred hearth fire that played a ritual role in the traditional circumcision ceremony. The red soil inside the gate and a series of wooden boards that paneled the approach to the gate were both considered sacred, and soldiers or others who anticipated a voyage away from Imerina would take handfuls of the soil and pieces of the wooden boards with them before departing in the belief that it would ensure their safe return.
Several large stones are set in the ground near gates or at points outside the walls of Ambohimanga. Rulers would stand atop these stones, each identified by distinct names, to deliver speeches to the public. To the south were the stones called Ambatomasina and Ambatomenaloha, while Ambatorangotina was situated to the northwest. The latter stone was of particular importance: here the twelve leaders of the Ambatofotsy clan first declared their rejection of Andrianjafy's rule and their allegiance to his nephew, Andrianampoinimerina. Upon taking the throne, Andrianampoinimerina used this site to first declare new laws and decrees that would later be announced throughout the kingdom. This was also the main site at Ambohimanga for dispensing justice. After Andrianampoinimerina's succession to the throne, he sacrificed a black zebu whose mother had died, named Lemainty ("black one"), with repeated spear thrusts; after its death, the animal was cut into pieces and buried on the site. Lemainty was thereafter regularly invoked in royal speeches and decrees to allude to the fate of those who misguidedly sought to forsake the protection of their guardian, the sovereign, and his laws.