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Long ago when the discoverer David Livingstone first saw the waterfall from a distance, some say, he mistook it for a fire in savannah. The point is that when the water falls from the height of one hundred meters, it splits into thousands of drops that create giant clouds that can be seen from a distance of many kilometres...

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The equator, desert islands, a boat-trip in the ocean... It is not the plot of a pirate story but a plan for our expedition. By the way, as for the pirates, there are some of them in this area. The Raja Ampat archipelago, according to an advertising poster, is the "last paradise in the world"...

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Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is one of the oldest cities situated in the Far East of Russia. Its history began in 1697 when Cossacks founded a fort on the coast of Avacha Bay for warehousing animal furs - a "natural" tax paid by the peoples in Siberia and Northern regions of Russia...

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The acquaintance with the sights of the city usually begins with the oldest functioning wooden bridge in Europe - the 204-meter long Kapellbrucke Bridge originally built in 1333. It was created as a part of the urban fortifying construction on the Reuss river, and now it is the major symbol of Lucerne...

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Every season of the year tends to affect the landscape in its own way: the tenderness of spring turns into the riot of green in summer, then all this is replaced by the autumn gold and then finally falls asleep under the white blanket of winter.

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Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Avatar Mountain), China

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Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Avatar Mountain), China

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No one knows how long it would have taken the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park to reveal its beauty to the world but for the James Cameron's Avatar. Though the filming was carried out not in China, the Zhangjiajie Park was the place where the famous filmmaker was inspired to create such a movie...

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One of the brightest and most famous cities in Spain is Seville - the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Unlike many other cities of Spain, Seville was not trying to get rid of its Moorish past, so it resulted in the unique appearance of the streets...

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The Curonian Spit is stretching along the coast of the Baltic Sea: lying partly in Russia, partly in Lithuania, it has the total length of 98 kilometres. The name of this sand-dune spit, which separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea, is connected to the ancient tribe called Curonians who had been inhabiting these lands long before the colonization of Prussia by Germans...

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Most of AirPano panoramas can be described by the following: a popular and famous (or maybe not that popular and famous) place that was photographed in mid-air with the help of a drone. So, we have collected our extraordinary panoramas on different subjects that were shot from the most unpredicted points of view...

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One of the most popular natural sites of Turkey is Pamukkale. The name means "cotton castle", but actually it has no reference to the agricultural industry at all. The reason for such a name is the white scenery of landscape that is actually associated with the mentioned plant.

The water flowing down from Pamukkale hill creates the system of limestone-walled pools. The dazzling white terraces, that are actually travertine formations, appeared due to the deposition of salt that comes from springs rich with calcium. The AirPano team has already created panoramas of travertine terraces in Huanglong, China, so that now you can compare them to similar terraces on the other side of the planet.

In Pamukkale, there are 17 hot water and mud springs that have the temperature ranging from 35 C° to 100 C° and contain different minerals, making it possible to heal micro wounds and prevent a lot of different diseases. The baths that now are open for tourists are named in honour of Cleopatra. But most probably the legend of Cleopatra who is said to have enjoyed the springs of Pamukkale is the fable created by local guides: there is no historical evidence proving the fact that the Egyptian ruler actually visited this place.

However, it is reliably known that people started inhabiting this hill back in the second millennium B.C. The city was called Hierapolis (Ancient Greek for "Holy City"). Unfortunately, the earthquake that occurred in the 1st century left the city almost in ruins; but eventually Hierapolis was restored and regained its fame. It was a health resort for well-off people who were looking for medical treatment. They used to come here from all corners of the Roman Empire, but some of them actually died here. They were buried according to the traditions of their native land. As a result the necropolis of Hierapolis with its diversity of tombs and grave monuments became the biggest ancient necropolis in Turkey.

The Christian apostle Philip, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, was crucified here by the Romans in AD 80. An octagonal temple was built on the spot where he is supposed to have been buried. Pamukkale can also be proud with one of the biggest antique theatres in Turkey - it has the capacity of 10-12 thousand people. You can also witness the ruins of temples dedicated to Apollo and Pluto (the ruler of the underworld).

No wonder that such a place with a great number of historical, religious and natural monuments was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Even though you can't take a bath virtually, you may at least enjoy the beauty of these places with the help of our panoramas.

Photos by Stas Sedov and Dmitry Moiseenko

11 February 2016

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One of the most popular natural sites of Turkey is Pamukkale. The name means "cotton castle", but actually it has no reference to the agricultural industry at all. The reason for such a name is the white scenery of landscape that is actually associated with the mentioned plant...

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The history of the westernmost region of Russia and its administrative centre, now called Kaliningrad, began in the 13th century, when the King of Bohemia Premysl Otakar II wanted to make his own contribution to the Northern Crusades. In 1255 the fortress was founded at the mouth of the Pregolya River...

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Undoubtedly, Svalbard (formerly known as Spitsbergen) is one of the most unusual places on the Earth. This vast polar archipelago is located in the Arctic Ocean. It is the home for polar bears, arctic foxes, the smallest of reindeers - Svalbard reindeers, as well as whales, Greenland and bearded seals, walruses and beluga whales...

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Portovenere lies at the southern end of a peninsula, which forms the western tip of the Gulf of La Spezia, also known as the Gulf of Poets. aving been founded in the 1st century BC, the village was given the name (which can also be spelled as Porto Venere) in honour of the temple dedicated to Venus, which once had been standing there...

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Zürich is considered to be the most significant financial centre in the world: Swiss banks are as recognizable as Swiss watches, cheese or chocolate. And Zürich is the largest city of the country and the heart of its financial system.

Can this might be shown in panoramas? Of course it can, and the bright example of this is the United Arab Emirates: practically every building in Dubai is created to amaze and transcend. But Switzerland with its moderate character has other priorities. According to them, there is a much better use for a large amount of money than just to show off, and the support of the historical and cultural heritage in proper condition is one of this priorities. You will be able to see this with your own eyes as soon as you open our virtual tour.

The first mention of Zürich is dated 929, though the first settlements appeared here back in the 1st century BC. Since then the city has significantly changed, but at the same time everything that could be preserved has been preserved, and even some of the very ancient monuments have remained till nowadays. The centre of the city can reveal the buildings dated the 10th century.

The major long-liver of the city is the Church of St. Peter. In 857 Louis the German founded a temple as a gift to his daughter. Later reconstructions had changed the initial look of the church and now it is the example of the late Romanesque architecture. In 1538 a clock was installed in the church tower. With the clock face measuring 8,7 meters and the minute hand 3,95 meters, it is the largest clock face in Europe. Note that the diameter of the famous Big Ben clock is only 7 meters.

One more outstanding and ancient church of Zürich is the Grossmünster. This cathedral built in the Romanesque style was founded in 1090. According to legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees over the tombs of Felix and Regula, Zürich's patron saints. There is no means of proving this fact, but recent archaeological evidence confirms the presence of a Roman burial ground at the foot of the building.

The third most important and oldest religious construction of Zürich is the Fraumünster Church - a former abbey for aristocratic women of lower Germany. The convent was under the patronage of kings and was granted the right to mint coins that lasted till the 13th century. These facts effectively made the abbess the actual ruler of the city between 1045 and 1524. But in the course of the later reformation the abbey ceased to exist. Along with the historical importance, the church is also famous for having the stained-glass windows created by Marc Chagall in the 1970s.

The Lindenhof quarter, founded on the site of the former Roman castle, is also on the list of the greatest sights of Zürich. In the 19th century the Masonic lodge Modestia cum Libertate contributed in the creation of this quarter and its modern appearance. Zürich, as any other ancient European city, possesses the main street with shops, the opera-house, the city hall and numerous museums and squares with narrow medieval streets radiating from them. But there are some differences as well: for example, there is the Mahmood Mosque - the first purpose-built mosque in Switzerland.

One more unique feature of Zürich is the lake bearing the same name. Lake Zürich is split between the cantons of Zürich, St. Gallen and Schwyz. In the past it served for transportation, but nowadays it is a popular tourist destination with excursions and boating trips along the picturesque shores.

The surface area of the lake is 88 square kilometres. It has the elevation of 409 meters and the curved form which for some people resembles a banana. Well, you can form your own opinion about this and get acquainted with the other sights of Zürich using our panoramas.

Photos by Stas Sedov and Sergey Shandin

10 March 2016

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The first mention of Zurich is dated 929, though the first settlements appeared here back in the 1st century BC. Since then the city has significantly changed, but at the same time everything that could be preserved has been preserved, and even some of the very ancient monuments have remained till nowadays...

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The polar lights, more commonly known as the northern lights, occur as a result of solar activity: the sun throws out a great amount of its substance, and in a few days it reaches the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere, rich with nitrogen and oxygen.

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It could have never occurred to many people that holidays on a beach mean not only "sun-and-sea". Almost every place where people usually come for sunbathing and swimming, can also have many interesting sights: both historical and natural. AirPano team has created many panoramas of different resorts, which will show you the beach destinations at a different angle...

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According to the legend, the reason for creation of the Prambanan Temple was an unrequited love. Prince Bandung Bondowoso proposed marriage to a beautiful girl named Jonggrang. She cheated and agreed on an impossible condition: the prince must build a temple with one thousand statues in only one night...

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The history of the city itself began in around the year 1200: the very first governor of the Inca civilization - Manco Capac - decided to found the capital here. The name of the Inca Empire in the Quechuan language - Tawantinsuyu - literally means "Four directions, allied together", and "Cusco" is translated as "Centre of the World"...

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Dolomite Alps are the mountains of exceptional beauty. Their slopes are almost vertical making an impression that the peaks are bear the skies. Together with perfect conditions for skiing, it is a very popular alpine ski destination...

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Every sight of Sintra has its own interesting history, but this time our tour is dedicated to only one unique monument - the Pena National Palace (Palácio Nacional da Pena). The creation of the Pena Palace and Park took several decades, and it has gathered several quite different styles: Neo Gothic, Neo Manueline, Neo Muslim and Neo Renaissance...

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Golden Ring of Russia | 360 Aerial Panorama | VR Virtual Tours Around the World

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Golden Ring of Russia. Eight cities located northeast of Moscow are united into a sightseeing tour called

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My first impression of the nearest section of the Great Wall to the Bejing was disappointing. I cannot say if it was because of the drizzling rain, a massive tour bus parking lot down below, or poor steps collapsing from countless waves of tourists. Clearly those steps were laid by modern builders, and not by ancient craftsmen. Although the weather cleared the next day, it didn't improve my mood, because crowds of tourists flooded the Wall. We made several flights, caught attention of hundreds of surprised visitors, and left the "tourist paradise" as quickly as possible.

A friend of our interpreter Elena suggested an interesting section of the Wall few tens of kilometers to the East - Huanghuacheng. According to him, a man-made lake flooded part of the Wall in this region. This is where we arrived by the end of the day. Despite of the rather strong wind, we managed to make a couple of flights over the lake bathing in rays of the evening sun.

Later at night, while going through our footage, I finally realized what a World Wonder we are about to photograph. On our panoramas the Wall stretched from horizon to horizon, rolling down into chasms then climbing up to crests of surrounding mountains. It is so beautiful and inexplicable...one wonders how people managed to build such a monumental structure.

We spent the following day in attempts to climb up the section of the Wall located West of the lake. It was closed for tourists, because this part underwent restoration just recently. Finally we found a ladder left by construction workers, and used it to get to the top through one of neglected watchtowers. To tell you the truth, the restored section of the Wall doesn't make such an impact as it lacks the ancient spirit. A bit later, when we reached the top of the hill, we saw the old section of the Wall: there were no restored handrails, and grass was growing between stones. In my opinion, these passes of the Wall look much more interesting, although they are less suitable for tourist masses. Perhaps this is why Chinese gradually cleaned up and "civilized" this place.

Few days later, at the different pass of the Wall - Mutianyu, we met a girl from Ukraine. What a brave person! Irina was traveling solo, speaking no Chinese. She managed to get to China by hitchhiking through Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan. Once in China, Irina decided to dedicate several days of her trip to the Great Wall. On her photographs we saw a completely different Wall: thick shrubs, crumbling steps, and areas so steep that one would have to crawl there instead of walking. Amazing, how such a petit fragile girl managed to concur these obstacles alone, sleeping in ruins of old watchtowers, freezing at night, and suffering from thirst during afternoon heat.

We wished Irina good luck, and focused on finding "the other Wall". Our quest led us to two locations of magical beauty: Jinshanling and Gubeikou.

Controversial beauty of Jinshanling originates from several factors. Although restoration efforts and civilization has already reached this pass of the Wall (there were few maintained paths and a zip-line), it has not been restored completely. A lot of watchtowers and parts of the Wall remain untouched. The second factor is the unique landscape: the Wall follows picturesque lines of the mountains making this place a true paradise for professional photographers. If you look at a postcard with the Great Wall of China, chances are that it was shot in Jinshanling.

When we came to Gubeikou pass of the Wall, located near Jinshanling, I had an impression that restoration crews have not set their foot here yet. Only strips of metal hugged tops of few watchtowers slowing down the decay, and lightning rods appeared here and there reducing risk of a lightning damage.

In my opinion, this is the most meditative pass of the Great Wall. Distance and time flow differently here. Not like in the outside world. There is no rush, not fluster. It seems like you walk rather slowly, but kilometers keep passing by. You don't get tired because there are almost no steps. You keep on walking along the grassy trail, along half-broken sections of the Wall, where you can see the finest details of the Wall's structure. One watchtower, then another, and another... It is very difficult to stop. At some point we realize that all we want is to keep on walking further and further, without stopping. But the sun is going down, and it is time to return to a village where we left our car with a driver.

We had our share of luck on this trip as well. One day we left Beijing to shoot Badaling, one of the most visited sections of the Great Wall. I expected nothing special from this photo shoot, but I was still very disappointed when it turned out that we mistakenly came to the wrong spot. The sunset was supposed to be shot from the opposite slope of the mountain, and there was no way to get there in time. The sun set over the horizon and we went to one of the local restaurants. After dinner we stepped outside and were surprised by the glorious look of the Wall in its holiday illumination! Apparently they turn on night illumination only during holidays. However, tonight was a special occasion - a VIP guest arrived to the Wall and the lights were turned on especially for him. Naturally, we decided to fly! I must give credit to the local security guards - they kept the lights on even after VIP guest departed, giving us a chance to finish our photo shoot.

We spent last day of our Chinese trip in our favorite Jinshanling. I left my helicopter in the car because of the non-flying weather. Dima shot panoramas and I wondered around looking for interesting Instagram angles. We went into the main watchtower, which was closed off last time for a film crew. Near the tower we found a little shop with photographs and coffee. Flipping through pages of a book I looked at the seller and realized to my surprise that in front of me was Zhou Wanping, the author. Mr Zhou, a self-taught photographer, lives in a nearby village. His photographs of the Wall in different seasons won numerous awards in international photo contests and made him famous. We admired winter views of the Wall, received an autograph from the author, and slowly went towards the park exit.

Although during our first day of the photo trip I couldn't even imagine it, on my way back to the car I caught myself thinking that I didn't want to leave, and that perhaps I would return here again...

And now a few facts about Great Wall of China.

The Great Wall of China can be easily called a world landmark: there is hardly a person who doesn't know about it or its location, and it not just because of its obvious name. The Great Wall of China is the most famous monument, unparalleled in its glory.

Its construction began in the 3rd century BC. After the unification of China Emperor Qin Shihuang ordered to build a solid wall to cover the north-western border of the empire from the attacks of nomadic people.

The construction of the wall was very challenging. The main problem was the lack of appropriate infrastructure: there were no roads and not enough water or food for a 300,000 army of workers, not to mention that it was extremely difficult to build such a big construction on the given terrain.

According to the plan the wall was supposed to run along the mountain chain, rounding all the spurs and covering high rises and deep gorges. This feature, along with its length, is what makes the Great Wall of China unique: it seamlessly blends in with the landscape.

The first sections of the wall were made from mud; later it was replaced by stone slabs laid on top of each other on the layers of soil. In order to bind these parts, as well as to control the growth of weeds in the joints of plates, the Chinese invented a unique sealer: a mixture of thick and sticky rice porridge with hydrated lime. However, this innovative technology was a subject to criticism in southern China, where entire crop of rice was exported by the order of the Emperor.

During its long history the wall repeatedly changed its appearance: some parts were destroyed, while others were rebuilt from scratch. If we ask about the length, the usual answer will be that the total length of the Great Wall of China with all of its branches is 8,850 km. So this landmark of China is made up of 6,259 km of an actual wall, 359 km of trenches, and 2,232 km of natural protective barriers such as hills and rivers. Meanwhile, archaeological survey concluded that the wall used to be much longer - 21,196 km.

The average height of the Great Wall of China is 6.6 m, although some parts are lower or higher, reaching up to 10 meters high. Throughout the wall you can see protective vaults and guard towers, as well as fortresses at the main mountain passes.

In 1987 the Great Wall was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in July of 2007 it was listed as one of the new Wonders of the World. Over the past decade the monument was seriously damaged: some of its parts were destroyed to make way for the road construction and other buildings. Some destruction was caused by the weather conditions (heavy rains and sandstorms) and by other factors.

There were some cases of unfortunate mix ups: several generations of local farmers from Suizhong County have been building their homes using stones found in the mountains. And only recently it was discovered they were using stones from the legendary monument. And this remained unknown by local authorities and archaeologists.

It is believed that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the moon or at least from the low earth orbit. Both of these statements are unsubstantiated: even Chinese astronaut wasn't able to see the largest monument of China; in its attempt to prove the wall's visibility from space, the European Space Agency published a certain photograph only to embarrass itself: the picture showed one of the rivers.

We take our panoramas way below Earth orbit, which will allow you to admire the Great Wall of China in all its glory.

Photo and text by Dmitry Moiseenko and Stanislav Sedov

4 December 2013

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The Great Wall of China can be easily called a world landmark: there is hardly a person who doesn't know about it or its location, and it not just because of its obvious name. The Great Wall of China is the most famous monument, unparalleled in its glory.