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Old City or Inner City is the historical core of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The Old City is the most ancient part of Baku, which is surrounded by walls which were easily defended. In 2007, the Old City had a population of about 3000 people. In December 2000, the Old City of Baku, including the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and Maiden Tower, became the first location in Azerbaijan to be classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It is widely accepted that the Old City, including its Maiden Tower, date at least to the 12th century, with some researchers contending that construction dates as far back as the 7th century. The question has not been completely settled.

During this medieval period of Baku, such monuments as the Synyg Gala Minaret (11th century), the fortress walls and towers (11th–12th centuries), the Maiden Tower, the Multani Caravanserai and Hajji Gayyib bathhouse (15th century), the Palace of the Shirvanshahs (15th–16th centuries), the Bukhara Caravanserai and Gasimbey bathhouse (16th century) were built.

In 1806, when Baku was occupied by the Russian Empire during the Russo-Persian War (1804–13), there were 500 households and 707 shops, and a population of 7,000 in the Old City (then the only neighborhood of Baku) whom were almost all ethnic Tats. Between 1807 and 1811, the city walls were repaired and the fortifications extended. The city had two gates: the Salyan Gates and the Shemakha Gates. The city was protected by dozens of cannons set on the walls. The port was re-opened for trade, and in 1809 a customs office was established.

It was during this period that Baku started to extend beyond the city walls, and new neighborhoods emerged. Thus the terms Inner City (Azerbaijani: İçəri Şəhər) and Outer City (Azerbaijani: Bayır Şəhər) came into use. Referring to the early Russian rule, Bakuvian actor Huseyngulu Sarabski wrote in his memoirs: Wikipedia

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An image from Old City (Baku)

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The castle of Berlanga de Duero is located in the town of the same name, it belongs to the province of Soria and was built between the 15th century when it served as a stately castle, and in the 16th when it was transformed into an artillery fortress. Previously, in the 10th and 11th centuries, there was a Muslim fortress that, in the 12th, after the Castilian conquest, was expanded with the walled outer belt that is preserved.

Bordered by the Escalote river and embraced by the Duero, it is crowned by the imposing silhouette of the castle that watches over it from the Coborrón. The monumental complex is made up of the remains of the late medieval fortress (15th century), the artillery fortress from the Renaissance period (16th century), the wall that surrounds the hill at its base (12th century), and the Palace of the Dukes of Frías ( century XVI).

The set began between the years 1460 and 1480 by order of D. Luis Tovar and Mrs. María de Guzmán, who ordered the erection of the manor house, to serve as a defensive fortress and family residence, on a previous castle located on top of the hill, where the primitive town of Berlanga was located, protected by the wall located at the foot of the hill.

In the year 1512 the new castle, configured as an artillery fortress, was designed and began to be executed for military purposes. This new fortress was adapted both to the steep topography of the terrain and to the previous construction (the stately medieval castle).

The construction program of the Tovar and the Dukes of Frías lineages also included the erection of the palace in the interior enclosure of the 12th-century wall, adapted to new ways of life. This palace and its intramural gardens structured on various levels suffered, in 1811, a fire and destruction by Napoleonic troops, so that today only its main facade remains. Second.Wiki

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An image of Berlanga De Duero Castle

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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in the southern part of Central Europe, located on the Eastern Alps. It is composed of nine federated states, one of which is Vienna, Austria’s capital and largest city. Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. Austria occupies an area of 83,879 km² (32,386 sq mi) and has a population of nearly 9 million people. While Austrian German is the country’s official language, many Austrians communicate informally in a variety of Bavarian dialects.

Austria initially emerged as a margraviate around 976 and developed into a duchy and archduchy. In the 16th century, Austria started serving as the heart of the Habsburg Monarchy and the junior branch of the House of Habsburg – one of the most influential royal dynasties in history. As an archduchy, it was a major component and administrative center of the Holy Roman Empire. Early in the 19th century, Austria established its own empire, which became a great power and the leading force of the German Confederation, but pursued its own course independently of the other German states following its defeat in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. In 1867, in compromise with Hungary, the Austria-Hungary Dual Monarchy was established.

Austria was involved in World War I under Emperor Franz Joseph following the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the presumptive successor to the Austro-Hungarian throne. After the defeat and the dissolution of the Monarchy, the Republic of German-Austria was proclaimed with the intent of union with Germany, but the Allied Powers did not support the new state and it remained unrecognized. In 1919 the First Austrian Republic became the legal successor of Austria. In 1938, the Austrian-born Adolf Hitler, who became the Chancellor of the German Reich, achieved the annexation of Austria by the Anschluss. Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 and an extended period of Allied occupation, Austria was re-established as a sovereign and self-governing democratic nation known as the Second Republic.

Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy with a directly elected Federal President as head of state and a Chancellor as head of the federal government. Major urban areas of Austria include Vienna, Graz, Linz, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. Austria is consistently ranked in the top 20 richest countries in the world by GDP per capita terms. The country has achieved a high standard of living and in 2018 was ranked 20th in the world for its Human Development Index. Vienna consistently ranks in the top internationally on quality-of-life indicators.

The Second Republic declared its perpetual neutrality in foreign political affairs in 1955. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955 and joined the European Union in 1995. It plays host to the OSCE and OPEC and is a founding member of the OECD and Interpol. Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995 and adopted the euro currency in 1999. Wikipedia

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An image from Austria

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