1492 ROMANIA (Constanţa) - The Barque Mircea

Throughout history, the Romanians didn't have to much to do with the seas and oceans of the world, so they haven't developed special qualities of navigators and explorers as other peoples, such as the Greeks, the Spaniards, the Portuguese or the English. Romania has a stretch of coast of the Black Sea, but the Romanian Principalities, which formed Romania by their union, were landlocked for long periods, so the Romanian navigation history isn't so rich. Mircea is probably the best known Romanian ship and also the one with the longest history. In fact Mircea is the name of two ships in Romanian Navy, the first of them, a barque type ship built entirely of wood, operating from 1882 to 1944, and the second, made of metal, fitted with both sails and Diesel engine, was released in September 22, 1938 and is still in operation today as training ship.

The current Mircea is a sailing ship A-class, bark type, with three masts, height of 44m, with 23 mainsails summing up 1,750 sqm, built between 1938 and 1939 in Hamburg at the Blohm & Voss shipyard. Her design is based on the successful plans of the Gorch Fock, being the last of a series of five sister ships (the other four being: Eagle, ex. Horst Wessel - USA; Gorch Foch I, ex. Tovarisch, ex. Gorch Foch - museum ship - Germany; Gorch Foch II - Germany; and Sagres, ex. Albert Leo Schlageter - Portugal). The ship was named after the Wallachian Prince Mircea the Elder. After WWII she was temporarily taken over by the USSR, but later returned to Romania.

About the stamp

The stamp is the one which was issued on March 12, 2015 by Romfilatelia to celebrate the Easter, Holy Easter 2015. This year the stamp was focused on two very important moments in Jesus Christ's life: the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. It illustrates the iconographic image of the Weeping Mother, in a manner specific to the Lancram painting centre in Sebeş county. This icon dates back to the mid-19th century and is currently found at the Nicula Monastery, one of the oldest monastic settlements and an important centre of spirituality and culture in Transylvania, known both for its pilgrimages to the Miracle-Working Icon, and for the painting of icons on glass.

About the postmark

On the postcard is the postmark "the first day of issue - Holy Easter 2015".

References
Mircea (ship) - Wikipedia
Bricul Mircea (rom) - The official website

Sender: Eugen Mihai (direct swap)
Sent from Bucureşti (Bucureşti / Romania), on 12.03.2015
Photo: Eugen Mihai / 15.08.2006