Home Posts tagged "puzzle" (Page 19)

Tag: puzzle

Puzzle: Sacré-Coeur Basilica, Paris, France


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 51.12cm x 66.52cm
Producer: Big Ben, MB Puzzles
Notes: Once again the puzzle producer failed to be informative regarding the building depicted on the puzzle, titling it only as “Paris, France”. Thanks to my Parisian friend, the building was identified as the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Monmartre.

Sacré-Cœur Basilica is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city. Sacré-Cœur is a double monument, political and cultural, both a national penance for the supposed excesses of the Second Empire and socialist Paris Commune of 1871 crowning its most rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment of conservative moral order, publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Christ. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Hidden Arbor by Thomas Kinkade


Size: 300 pieces (oversized)
Dimensions: 46cm x 61cm
Producer:  Ceaco
Artist: Thomas Kinkade
Painting: “I often seek out a quiet place to meditate and pray; a special retreat like Hidden Arbor. This marvelous waterfall, with its myriad rivulets and streams; the climbing flowers on a romantic arbor is a little touch of heaven.” [Thomas Kinkade site]

A pergola, arbor or arbour is a garden feature  forming a shaded walkway, passageway or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. As a type of gazebo, it may also be an extension of a building, or serve as protection for an open terrace or a link between pavilions. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Portland Head Lighthouse


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26 cm x 35.56 cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Images, #43270-10
Notes: Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine that sits at the entrance of the shipping channel into Casco Bay. The headlight was the first built by the United States government, and is now a part of Fort Williams Park.

Construction began in 1787 at the directive of George Washington, and was completed on January 10, 1791. Whale oil lamps were originally used for illumination. In 1855 a fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed; that was replaced by a second-order Fresnel lens in which was replaced by an aero beacon in 1958 . That lens was replaced with an DCB-224 aero beacon in 1991. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Traditional Village, The Czech Republic


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73.5cm x 49cm
Producer: Wonderful World
Location: The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.

The Czech state, known as Bohemia and later as the Bohemian Crown, was formed in the late 9th century. The country reached its greatest territorial extent during the 13th and 14th century, under the rule of the Přemyslid and Luxembourg dynasties. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Kingdom of Bohemia was integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside Austria and Hungary. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Kota Bharu Market


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.4cm x 35.5cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, Wonderful World series, #42210-38
Notes: Kota Bharu is a city in Malaysia, is the state capital and Royal City of Kelantan. It is also the name of the territory (jajahan) in which Kota Bharu City is situated. The name means ‘new city’ or ‘new castle/fort’ in Malay. Kota Bharu is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia, and lies near the mouth of the Kelantan River.

This northeastern Malaysian city is close to the Thai border, and is home to many mosques. Also of interest are various museums and the unique architecture of the old royal palace (still occupied by the sultan and sultanah and off-limits to visitors but viewable from outside) and former royal buildings (which can be visited) in the center of town. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Zinalrothorn, Wallis, Switzerland


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 68 cm x 47 cm
Producer: Castorland Puzzle
Notes: The Zinalrothorn (4,221 m) is a mountain in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland. Its name comes from the village of Zinal lying on the north side and from the German word Rothorn which means Red Peak. When it was first climbed in 1864 the mountain was known locally as Moming. [Wiki]

The Valais (German: Wallis) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton of Valais lies in the southwest of Switzerland. To its south lies Italy, to the southwest France. To the north the canton is bounded by the Swiss cantons of Vaud and Bern; the cantons of Uri and Ticino lie to its east.

The wide, glacial Rhône valley dominates the area. There are many side valleys which branch off the main valley. These vary from narrow and remote to reasonably populous and popular. At the head of the Mattertal valley lies Zermatt, a pretty tourist village dominated by views of the Matterhorn (4,478 m). Fifty of the mountains exceed 4,000 m with the highest, Monte Rosa, reaching to 4,638 metres, and there are numerous glaciers including several of the largest in the Alps. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Cortona Tuscany, Italy


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.4cm x 35.5cm
Producer: Sure-Lox, Wonderful World series
Notes: Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.

Originally an Umbrian city, it was conquered and enlarged by the Etruscans, who called it Curtun. Cortona eventually became a Roman colony under the name Corito. During the barbarian invasions of the 553, Cortona was sacked and destroyed by the Goths. Cortona became a Ghibellinian city state in the 13th century, with its own currency. From 1325 to 1409 the Ranieri-Casali family successfully ruled the town. After being conquered by Ladislaus of Naples in 1409, Cortona was sold to the Medici in 1411. In 1737, the senior branch of the Medici line went extinct and Cortona came under the authority of the House of Lorraine. Following the Italian Wars of Independence, Tuscany – Cortona included – became part of the Kingdom of Italy. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Scene in Switzerland


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.5cm x 33cm
Producer: RoseArt, Encore series
Notes: Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

Switzerland comprises three main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, and Italian, to which the Romansh-speaking valleys are added. The Swiss therefore do not form a nation  in the sense of a common ethnic or linguistic identity. The strong sense of belonging to the country is founded on the common historical background, shared values (federalism, direct democracy, neutrality) and Alpine symbolism. [Wiki]

Puzzle: The Pleasures of Winter by Wendy Edelson


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 40.64cm x 40.64cm
Producer:  Hasbro, MB Puzzle, Big Ben series
Artist: Wendy Edelson – A completely self-taught artist, Wendy creates warm and joyful multi-media pictures bursting with details. She has illustrated over 35 children’s flat and pop-up books. [Morgan Gaynin site]
Painting: photo
Notes: “Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, musicians extraordinaire, have just come out with a brand new CD, Pleasures of Winter , music for Winter and the Holiday Season featuring Jay & Molly’s live performances from their annual Public Radio program with a variety of great musicians making guest appearances in the house band including: Harry Aceto, David Bromberg, Peter Davis, Peter Ecklund, Laurel Masse, Brian Melick, Michael Merenda, Ruth Ungar Merenda, Steve Rust, Butch Thompson, Tony Trischka and Sam Zucchini.

I was so delighted when they decided to use a painting of mine for the cover, I think ( hope! ) the spirit of the painting matches the spirit of the music really well.” [Wendy Edelson on Eleven Lemons blog]

Puzzle: Cottage Thatch, County Limerick, Ireland


Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 68.58cm x 48.26cm
Producer: Mega, Windows to the World series
Notes: Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland’s Mid-West Region. Population wise, it is the fifth largest city in all of Ireland.

A limerick is a type of humorous verse of five lines with an AABBA rhyme scheme: the poem’s connection with the city is obscure, however, the name is generally taken to be a reference to Limerick City or County Limerick, sometimes particularly to the Maigue Poets, and may derive from an earlier form of nonsense verse parlour game that traditionally included a refrain that included “Will [or won’t] you come (up) to Limerick?” [Wiki]

Puzzle: Colourful Bug


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26 cm x 35.56 cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Impressions series
Notes: The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle and Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003. With over 21 million manufactured in an air-cooled, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive configuration, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured automobile of a single design platform anywhere in the world.

Like its contemporaries, the Mini, the Citroen 2CV, and the Fiat 500, the Beetle has long outlasted predictions of its lifespan. It has been regarded as something of a “cult” car since its 1960s association with the hippie movement and surf culture; and the obvious attributes of its unique and quirky design. (For example, the Beetle could float on water thanks to its sealed floor pans and overall tight construction, as shown in the 1972 Volkswagen commercial). [Wiki]

Puzzle: Villa Coastline by Ming Feng


Size: 550 pieces
Dimensions: 61cm x 46cm
Producer: Hasbro, Milton Bradley, Picture Perfect series
Artist: Ming Feng was born on June 14, 1957 in Guangzhou (formerly Canton), China. Guangzhou, known as the “Flower City,” is situated in a subtropical area surrounded by lush trees, crisscrossing rivers and babbling brooks. “Nature’s beauty stirred my longing for art and its colorfulness gave wings to my imagination. I could not help but attempt to capture its beauty on paper. Perhaps that was the burgeoning of my passion for art. I was twelve.”

In 1988, Ming immigrated to the United States with his parents and settled in New York. The diversity of art there broadened his horizon while the market offered him more opportunities to show his paintings. He lived near New England’s Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, which today still remain his favorite places and the sources of his inspiration. [Framing Box site]
Notes: Beautiful puzzle cut with gaps being nearly invisible. Pieces fit together perfectly and there is no paper dust. A pleasure to assemble, glue, and display.

Puzzle: Die Jungfrau by Gustav Klimt


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 68cm x 48cm
Producer: Educa, Golden Art series, 7.127
Artist: Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects. Klimt’s primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism—nowhere is this more apparent than in his numerous drawings in pencil. [Wiki]
Painting: photo
Notes: The Virgin (Due Jungfrau) was painted by Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt in 1913. It depicts a woman, The Virgin, lying on a bed of flowers, surrounded by a number of other women. They are covered in cloth decorated in different patterns and symbols. As is often the case with Klimt, round shapes and symbols are used for females, which in this case means all the subjects. The flowerbed itself is surrounded by empty darkness, thus drawing our eyes to the women at the center of the painting.

Klimt partner, Emilie Flöge, is the blank face of the woman at the center of the painting. [Art-Reproductions.net site]

Puzzle: Black or White by Marino Degano


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 68cm x 48cm
Producer: Heye
Artist: Marino Degano (born 22 June 1960 in Udine in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy ) is an author, cartoonist and illustrator in Italy.

He is the creator of the comic strip La Cucaracha, published monthly in Science et Vie Junior. He is the author of drawings for the European press as well as numerous published by Heye puzzles in Munich.

Born in Italy, Marino Degano arrived in Germany at the age of two years. He grew up in Baden Baden in southern Germany, and studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg. He published his first book “Focus on dragons” in 1986 by Glénat. He works as a freelance illustrator since 1985. [Wiki translation]
Notes: Degano has produced a very interesting chess game. The Statue of Liberty, a Trojan horse, a few machine guns and Knights that have some problems staying horsed. [Southwest Puzzles site]

Puzzle: Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Spain


Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 73cm x 48.57cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Classic Treasures series
Notes: The Plaza de Cibeles is a square with a neo-classical complex of marble sculptures with fountains that has become an iconic symbol for the city of Madrid.

The fountain of Cibeles is found in the part of Madrid commonly called the Paseo de Recoletos. This fountain, named after Cybele (or Ceres), Roman goddess of nature, is seen as one of Madrid’s most important symbols. The Cibeles fountain depicts the goddess, sitting on a chariot pulled by two lions. The fountain was built in the reign of Charles III and designed by Ventura Rodriguez  between 1777 and 1782. The goddess and chariot are the work of Francisco Gutierrez and the lions by Roberto Michel. The fountain originally stood next to the Buenavista Palace, and was moved to its present location in the middle of the square in the late 19th century. Up until the 19th century both the fountain of Neptune and Cibeles looked directly at each other, until the city council decided to turn them round to face towards the centre of the city. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Tulip Town, Mount Vernon, WA, U.S.A.


Size: 1000 pieces, 1 missing
Dimensions: 48.10cm x 67.96cm
Producer: Kodacolor
Location: The Degoede Brothers immigrated from Holland, eventually starting their own businesses, in 1948. Henry, the eldest, started DeGoede Bulb Farm in the Skagit County, and later moving to Mossyrock, WA. John DeGoede moved to Sumner and started the Windmill Gardens’ Nursery greenhouse and show gardens. Both Henry and John have retired, passing respective flower businesses on to their sons who now own and operate them.

Anthony Degoede, owner of the Skagit Valley Bulb Farm, immigrated from Holland to Canada in 1956, then moved to Mount Vernon in 1957 where he joined his brothers Henry and John. Anthony also helped his oldest brother Henry establish Chuckanut Show Gardens. He managed the Neal Noorlag Bulb Farm until 1983, then purchased his business which now is known as ‘Lil Tulip Town which he started twenty years ago. The family operates their bulb farm together. Their goal is to keep this farm in good agricultural production, which includes beautiful apple tree hedging which serve as car dividers. [Tulip Town site]

Puzzle: Fruitful Bounty


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 33.02cm x 48.26cm
Producer: 2005 Warren Industries, Kodacolor, #20500
Location: A bounty (from Latin bonitās, goodness) is a payment  or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money. By definition bounties can be retracted at any time by whomever issued them.

The term bounty is used in the mathematics, computer science, and free culture communities to refer to a reward offered to any person willing to take on an open problem in that domain; for instance, implementing a feature or finding a bug in an open source software program. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Neuschwanstein Castle


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26 cm x 35.56 cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Images
Notes: Neuschwanstein Castle (German: Schloss Neuschwanstein) is a 19th-century Gothic Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Fussen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner.

The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle and later, similar structures. Neuschwanstein embodies both the contemporaneous architectural fashion known as castle romanticism (German: Burgenromantik), and Ludwig II’s immoderate enthusiasm for the operas of Richard Wagner. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Venetian Masks


Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26 cm x 35.56 cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox
Notes: Venetian masks are a centuries-old tradition of Venice, Italy. The masks are typically worn during the Carnevale (Carnival of Venice), but have been used on many other occasions in the past, usually as a device for hiding the wearer’s identity and social status. The mask would permit the wearer to act more freely in cases where he or she wanted to interact with other members of the society outside the bounds of identity and everyday convention. It was useful for a variety of purposes, some of them illicit or criminal, others just personal, such as romantic encounters.

Venetian masks are characterized by their ornate design, featuring bright colours such as gold or silver and the use of complex decorations in the baroque style. Many designs of Venetian masks stem from Commedia dell’arte. They can be full-face masks (e.g. the bauta) or eye masks (e.g. the Columbina). [Wiki]

Puzzle: Rio dela Martha by Vadik Suljakov


Size: 305 pieces
Dimensions: 42.86 cm x 50.48 cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Mosaics series, #75300-2
Artist: Vadik Suljakov
Painting: photo
Notes: Unique Pieces Create a Mosaic Effect. Real Cork. [Puzzle box]

Rio is the Portuguese word for river. [Wiki]

Martha of Bethany is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to Jesus’ resurrection of her brother, Lazarus. The name Martha is a Latin transliteration of the Koine Greek, itself a translation of the Judæo-Aramaic Martâ, “The mistress” or “the lady”. [Wiki]