0197 BELARUS (Vitebsk) - The cathedral of Saint Anthony of Padua

0197 The cathedral of Saint Anthony of Padua

Pastavy is located on the bank of the river Myadelka, 250km away from Vitebsk, on the railway which connect this city and Vilnius. Initially the settlement was called Posadnik, and in 996 it was owned by Danut Zenovich. The name of the town was changed in 1409 by Lithuanian Prince Vitovt. The town is connected with the noble family of the Tizengauzs, in particular the famous elightener Antony Tizengauz who built here a number of dwelling homes and 35 factories that used to make stamp paper, carpets, canvasses, hats, belts and even stagecoaches.

During 16-18th centuries Pastavy was part of Ashmyany Povet (Vilna voevodstvo) in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, since 1793 became part of Russian Empire, between 1921 and 1939 was a part of Polish State, and since 1939 - Soviet. Most of the first stone buildings in Postavy were designed by Italian architect Giuseppe Sakko in 1760-1780. These included a shopping arcade, a hostel, a restaurant, several bureaus. An Uniate church was built in Postavy in 1713, which was replaced by an Orthodox Christian church in the early 20th century.

The neogothic Cathedral of Saint Anthony of Padua with a 43-metre tower, built in Postavy between 1898 and 1904, was severely damaged during WWI, but it was restored in the 1920s. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231), saint patron of the church, was Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order

About the stamps
The first 3 stamps belongs to the 12th series of definitive stamps Garden flowers, about which I wrote here.

The last one is part of the 11th series of definitive stamps Wild Animals series, designed by Ivan Lukin, and issued on June 10, 2008:
• Raccoon dog, Magnut or Tanuki - Nyctereutes procyonoides (10 BYR)
• European Mink - Mustela lutreola (200 BYR)
• Hare - Lepus eumpaeus (300 BYR) - It's on the postcad 0245
• Grey Wolf - Canis Iupus (400 BYR) - It's on the postcad 0245
• European Pine Marten - Martes martes (1000 BYR) - It's on the postcard 0197

Sender: Margarita Savostyuk (direct swap)
Sent from Minsk (Belarus), on 03.03.2012
Photo: A. Kliashchuk