Author: Jan Haenraets

Genius of Place: The National Parks, Olmsted & Landscape Urbanism (Lecture Report)

As part of The Friends of Fairsted Lecture Series for 2015-16 Ethan Carr (University of Massachusetts Amherst) presented a talk on ‘Our National Parks and the “Fairsted School”: An Enduring Legacy’. The 2015-16 Lecture Series is organised in Recognition of the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service. Tom Woodward (President, The Friends of Fairsted) gave …

A Landscape of Memory: Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, is a sacred place, a burial place, a pleasure ground, a work in progress. Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 and became a model for the American ‘rural’ cemetery movement. The idea to create suburban landscaped cemeteries goes back to ideas by architects such as Sir Christopher Wren …

Watching the Royals Die: The plight of the Chinar Tree in Kashmir

Greater Kashmir, one of the main newspapers in Kashmir, published the article ‘Watching the Royals Die’ by Jaasindah Mir and Jan Haenraets about the plight of the endangered Chinar trees in Kashmir. To view the full text as Pdf, go to this LINK (790 KB). These royals are the Chinar trees, the booyn, of our Kashmiri land. …

Hiking & climbing amongst sandstone rocks in Berdorf, Luxembourg

For some beautiful Summer hiking and tranquil nature in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, the small town of Berdorf is a great spot. Berdorf (Bäerdref in Luxembourgish) is located on a plateau that overlooks the valleys of the Black Ernz, the Sure and the Aesbach. On the plateau areas much farmland is located, while the valleys are densely forested. Berdorf is …

Busking at Iguazu Falls, Argentina (Music Video)

My favourite chant at the Iguazu Falls, on the Argentine side, by a troupe of local buskers. They were jolly, but visibly tired at the end of a warm day. Visiting the Iguazu Falls, experiencing the scale of the falls and cataracts and the thundering sounds, together with the natural setting of the subtropical Alto Paraná Atlantic forest, is …

Island Hopping on the Shinan Islands, South Korea

The Shinan Islands – or the ‘1,004 Islands’ – are located in the southwest of South Korea, in Sinan County (Sinan-gun), which is a part of the South Jeolla Province. In the fall, as tourism slows down on the islands, the harvest season sets in. It becomes a wonderful contemplative environment during that time, with a …