Global Harmony — The Musical Library of Nations

The maps of the nations

Every nation, at a single glance.

For each country, a diorama map brings together everything that defines it: its regions, its peoples in traditional dress, its architecture, its wildlife, its history, its cuisine and its traditions. A visual encyclopedia, nation by nation. Click to enlarge.

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AFGHANISTAN — The heart of Asia

There is a country where the Silk Road caravans crossed the armies of Alexander, where giant Buddhas watched over a valley for fifteen centuries, and where the mountains are so high they were named the Hindu Kush. Afghanistan is a crossroads history has never stopped crossing.

In the north, the Blue Mosque of Mazar-e-Sharif rests its turquoise domes on the plain, while Uzbek horsemen contest the buzkashi. In the centre, the cliffs of Bamiyan hold the empty niches of the Buddhas and the impossible blue lakes of Band-e Amir. In the west, the citadel of Herat raises its brick towers from Timurid times, and the Minaret of Jam stands alone at the bottom of its gorge. Everywhere, Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks weave their carpets and share kabuli pulao.

Every nation has its song. Discover Afghanistan's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Afghanistan #افغانستان #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Bamiyan #HinduKush #SilkRoad

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ALBANIA — The land of eagles

Albanians call their land Shqipëria, the land of eagles, and call themselves the sons of the eagle. Wedged between the Alps and two seas, Albania has kept a language with no cousin anywhere in the world and a polyphonic singing inscribed in the heritage of humanity.

In the north, the Albanian Alps raise their stone tower-houses, the kulla, where the kanun once ruled clan life. Descending towards the sea, Shkodra and its Rozafa castle watch over the lake. In the centre, Krujë keeps the memory of Skanderbeg, and Tirana unfolds its coloured façades. In the south, Berat lines up its thousand windows on the hillside and Gjirokastër its slate roofs, two UNESCO cities. The Riviera ends the journey between the Adriatic and the Ionian.

Every nation has its song. Discover Albania's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Albanie #Albania #Shqiperia #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Berat #Gjirokaster

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ALGERIA — Africa's largest country

A country where you can walk south for fifteen days without leaving the same desert, where eight-thousand-year-old rock paintings tell of a green Sahara, and where the Mediterranean borders twelve hundred kilometres of coast. Algeria is a continent of its own.

In the north, the Casbah of Algiers tumbles towards the bay in white staircases, and Constantine spans its gorges with suspension bridges. Tlemcen keeps its Andalusian minarets, Timgad its Roman streets laid out with a line. Further down, Ghardaïa stacks its ochre houses in the M'zab valley. Then the Sahara begins: the great ergs, the palm oases, the volcanic Hoggar and the frescoes of Tassili n'Ajjer. Kabyle, Chaoui, Mozabite and Tuareg each wear their own finery there.

Every nation has its song. Discover Algeria's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Algérie #Algeria #الجزائر #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Sahara #Casbah

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ANDORRA — The principality of the Pyrenees

A country of four hundred and sixty-eight square kilometres, ruled since 1278 by two princes who do not live there — a Spanish bishop and the French president. Andorra is the last survivor of the small Pyrenean states, and its anthem is the only one in the world where the country itself speaks in the first person.

Seven parishes share the valleys. In the north, Ordino and Canillo keep their Romanesque churches with stone bell towers and slate roofs. La Massana opens onto the peaks, Encamp onto the slopes. In the centre, Andorra la Vella shelters the Casa de la Vall, that medieval parliament turned stone house. Escaldes-Engordany brings forth its thermal waters, and Sant Julià de Lòria descends towards Spain. Everywhere, chamois and golden eagles rule the high meadows.

Every nation has its song. Discover Andorra's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Andorre #Andorra #Pyrénées #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Catala #ElGranCarlemany

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ANGOLA — Land of kingdoms and the Atlantic

Before the caravels came the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba, and a queen named Njinga who stood up to an empire for forty years. Angola carries that memory beneath its towers and oil fields, between equatorial forest and Namib desert.

On the coast, the São Miguel fortress has watched over Luanda Bay since 1576, and the Palácio de Ferro raises its metal lace. Inland, the Kalandula Falls drop like a curtain in Malanje, while the Serra da Leba unrolls its dizzying hairpins towards Namibe. In the south, Himba women wear their ochre hairstyles, and the Namib desert pushes its dunes to the ocean. In the east, elephants and giant sable antelope, the country's emblem, cross the wetlands.

Every nation has its song. Discover Angola's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Angola #AngolaAvante #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Luanda #Semba #Kalandula

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ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA — Three hundred and sixty-five beaches

They say Antigua has one beach for every day of the year. Two islands, a hundred thousand people, and a Georgian dockyard where Nelson himself fitted out his fleet. The most discreet Caribbean nation hides one of the best-preserved maritime heritages in the world.

On Barbuda, the Codrington lagoon shelters the largest frigate bird colony in the Caribbean, and pink sand beaches stretch without a footprint. On Antigua, Nelson's Dockyard lines up its restored Georgian warehouses at English Harbour, listed by UNESCO. Shirley Heights overlooks the bay, Devil's Bridge is carved into the limestone by the Atlantic, and the Betty's Hope windmills recall the age of sugar. Everywhere, steel pans ring out and racing yachts pass fishing sloops.

Every nation has its song. Discover Antigua and Barbuda's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Antigua #Barbuda #Caribbean #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #NelsonsDockyard #SteelPan

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ARGENTINA — From the tropics to the ice

The eighth largest country in the world, Argentina runs from the tropical falls of Iguazú down to the ice of Tierra del Fuego, crossing the endless plains of the Pampas. Its anthem, adopted in 1813, is one of the oldest on the continent — and probably the one with the longest orchestral introduction.

In the north, the Quebrada de Humahuaca unfolds its seven-coloured hill, and Iguazú thunders with two hundred and seventy-five waterfalls. In the centre, Buenos Aires lines up the Casa Rosada, the Obelisk and the multicoloured façades of La Boca where tango was born. The Pampas roll out grasslands where gauchos drive the herds. In the west, Aconcagua rises to nearly seven thousand metres above the vineyards of Mendoza. In the south, the Perito Moreno glacier calves into the lake, and right whales cruise off Valdés.

Every nation has its song. Discover Argentina's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Argentine #Argentina #Tango #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Patagonia #Iguazu

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ARMENIA — The first Christian nation

In 301, a mountain kingdom became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity. Seventeen centuries later, Armenia keeps its alphabet invented in 405, its monasteries carved into rock, and a people scattered across the earth who have never stopped returning.

In the south, the Khor Virap monastery looks towards Mount Ararat, left on the other side of the border but never out of heart. The Geghard monastery drives into the cliff, its halls hewn from a single block of stone. In the centre, Yerevan unfolds Republic Square in pink tuff and the monumental Cascade stairway. Lake Sevan, immense, reflects the highlands. Everywhere, khachkars — those finely carved stone crosses — mark the passing of centuries, and the duduk sounds its apricot-wood lament.

Every nation has its song. Discover Armenia's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Arménie #Armenia #Hayastan #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Duduk #Ararat

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AUSTRALIA — Sixty-five thousand years

The oldest living culture in the world has inhabited this continent for sixty-five thousand years. Australia is at once an island, a country and a continent — vast enough to hold red deserts, rainforests and the largest living structure on the planet.

At the centre, Uluru rises alone in the middle of the desert, sacred monolith of the Anangu peoples. In the north-east, the Great Barrier Reef unrolls two thousand kilometres of reef. On the east coast, the Sydney Opera House opens its white sails onto the harbour, and Melbourne lines up its laneways. In the west, the striped domes of the Bungle Bungles emerge from the Kimberley. Kangaroos, koalas and saltwater crocodiles inhabit worlds that nothing connects but immensity. Didgeridoos have sounded there for millennia.

Every nation has its song. Discover Australia's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Australie #Australia #Uluru #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Didgeridoo #GreatBarrierReef

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AUSTRIA — Land of mountains and music

A country where Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and Mahler composed, whose anthem opens with "land of mountains, land by the river", and whose melody is attributed to Mozart himself. Austria has made music into a geography.

In the east, Vienna unfolds Schönbrunn and the spire of St Stephen's, capital of an empire that ruled half of Europe. In the centre, the Hohensalzburg fortress dominates Salzburg, Mozart's birthplace, and Melk Abbey raises its gilded baroque above the Danube. In the west, Tyrol and Vorarlberg raise their Alpine summits where the ibex reigns. Styria unrolls its forests, Burgenland its Pannonian plains. Everywhere, the waltz, Christmas markets and Perchten masks mark the year.

Every nation has its song. Discover Austria's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Autriche #Austria #Osterreich #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Vienna #Mozart

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AZERBAIJAN — The land of fire

They call it the land of fire: for millennia, flames have sprung naturally from the ground on the hills of Yanar Dag, and Zoroastrian temples worshipped them. Today, three glass towers shaped like flames watch over Baku.

On the Caspian, the old city of Baku keeps the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, while the Heydar Aliyev Center unfolds its white curves designed by Zaha Hadid. In the north, the Caucasus foothills shelter Lezgin villages and leopard forests. In the west, Ganja and Shamakhi keep their ancient mosques. In the south, Lankaran opens its tea plantations onto humid shores. Mugham, that vocal art listed by UNESCO, answers there to the strings of the tar and the kamancha.

Every nation has its song. Discover Azerbaijan's in the Library of Nations.

#GlobalHarmony #GlobalHarmonyNations #Azerbaïdjan #Azerbaijan #Azerbaycan #NationalAnthem #HymneNational #WorldMusic #Baku #Mugham

The other 189 nations
will join the gallery
one by one.

The memory of the world,
set to music.

The latest nations to enter the library.

Six continents, two hundred doors.

Two hundred nations, eighteen sections, all in place.

What has been done, day after day.

Every nation, at a single glance.

AFGHANISTAN — The heart of Asia

ALBANIA — The land of eagles

ALGERIA — Africa's largest country

ANDORRA — The principality of the Pyrenees

ANGOLA — Land of kingdoms and the Atlantic

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA — Three hundred and sixty-five beaches

ARGENTINA — From the tropics to the ice

ARMENIA — The first Christian nation

AUSTRALIA — Sixty-five thousand years

AUSTRIA — Land of mountains and music

AZERBAIJAN — The land of fire

Bridges between the nations.

Not merely songs,
but a universal library.

One library, every voice.

Global Harmony — Nations

Five phases, one decade.

Anthems of the world reimagined →

Thematic series of the nations →

Launch of GlobalHarmonyNations.com

Mobile app & generative AI engine

Global Harmony+ — the musical Netflix of nations

Two hundred nations, one by one.

Fund a nation

Seven layers, one universe.

The memory of the world,set to music.

The latest nations to enter the library.

Six continents, two hundred doors.

Two hundred nations, eighteen sections, all in place.

What has been done, day after day.

Every nation, at a single glance.

AFGHANISTAN — The heart of Asia

ALBANIA — The land of eagles

ALGERIA — Africa's largest country

ANDORRA — The principality of the Pyrenees

ANGOLA — Land of kingdoms and the Atlantic

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA — Three hundred and sixty-five beaches

ARGENTINA — From the tropics to the ice

ARMENIA — The first Christian nation

AUSTRALIA — Sixty-five thousand years

AUSTRIA — Land of mountains and music

AZERBAIJAN — The land of fire

Bridges between the nations.

Not merely songs,but a universal library.

One library, every voice.

Global Harmony — Nations

Five phases, one decade.

Anthems of the world reimagined →

Thematic series of the nations →

Launch of GlobalHarmonyNations.com

Mobile app & generative AI engine

Global Harmony+ — the musical Netflix of nations

Two hundred nations, one by one.

Fund a nation

Seven layers, one universe.

The memory of the world,
set to music.

Not merely songs,
but a universal library.