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12. A port in the desert

Aralsk, Kazakhstan 46 ° 47'43 .92 "N, 61 ° 40'8 .96" E

Aralsk was an important fishing, now is not more than a ghost port.

Aralsk Puerto ghost

Residents of Aralsk in Kazakhstan, living in an environmental disaster zone. In the early 60's the city was a busy fishing port and terminal rail routes. Now is 100 kilometers from the northern coast of the Aral Sea, in the process of shrinkage but once ranked fourth among the largest lakes in the world and was the center of a large fishing industry.

Since the USSR started in the 30 to drain the lake to develop their oasis of cotton in the Central Asian desert, the sea has continued to diminish.

The rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which discharged its waters into the Aral, were depleted over three thousand kilometers. If the fourth largest lake in the world in 1960 (with 68,000 km2), the Aral happened in the late 90's to occupy the eighth place with 28,000 km2.

Evolution of the Aral Sea

Renaissance Island, which occupied the center of the Aral (which was authorized a secret biological weapons laboratory) is became a Peninsula in early 2001 by the relentless decline of the water.

The authorities of the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan launched three years ago a plan to fill the northern portion of the sea. They built a cement dam 14 kilometers between the two halves, so that the water entering the sea from the Sir-Darya river does not escape into the southern half of the neighboring Uzbekistan n, a phenomenon that occurs due to the difference of 11 meters between the two areas.

abandoned boat in the sea was once

Kazajstány Government Project the World Bank to Save the Ocean Aral (English) Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change (English)

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11. Los Tres Reyes Magos de Oriente

Cologne Cathedral, Germany 50 ° 56'30 .02 "N, 6 ° 57'29 .25" E

Born therefore Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, the East came to Jerusalem saying, wise men: Where is the king of the Jews has been born? -Matthew 2.1 to 2.

Cologne Cathedral

The most widespread tradition that three wise men came from the East, guided by a star (known as The star of Bethlehem) that led to the birth place of Jesus Christ. The term 'magi' owes its origin to the Greek, meaning veníaa wise men or men of science. Matthew shows us that were astronomers.

His visit to Bethlehem is a cause of a general confusion that even raises the suspicion of King Herod, whom he saw as a rival to the new Messiah. After finding

NNW, love it and presented it with gold (present given to the kings), incense (representing the divine nature as it is used in worship to God) and myrrh (embalming compound representing future suffering and death of Jesus.

For the simple fact that the biblical account indicates that they brought three gifts, it was assumed that there were three characters, although at some point the different traditions have pointed they were two, four, seven and twelve.

From this account, both the Catholic Church as the people in general have been working on a legend about the events and personalities of these three figures, including his alleged real status. Gradually

tradition has added other details in the form of symbols: they are made of representatives of the three races known in ancient times, representatives of the three ages of man and representatives of three continents (Asia, Africa and Europe).

Sarcophagus with the remains of the Three Kings

Another legend tells that after Jesus' resurrection, the Apostle Thomas found them in Saba. They were baptized and consecrated bishops. Later they were martyred in 70 and deposited in the same coffin. The remains were taken to Constantinople by St. Helena. Later, Frederick Barbarossa, in the twelfth century, moved to Cologne, where today lie with the crown that supposedly took during its existence.

Thousands of pilgrims began to arrive in Cologne to visit his remains, which led to that in 1248 began the construction of the Cologne Cathedral, which would take more than 600 years to complete (1880)

Cologne Cathedral

The Cologne Cathedral is the largest in Germany and has the largest swinging bell in the world. The total height of the cathedral to 157 m. an excellent view of the city and the surrounding landscape.

website of the Cologne Cathedral (in English)