2642 CANADA (Quebec) - The Cardinals Palace in Quebec City in 1930's

In 1843, Joseph Signay (1778-1850), the third archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec, acquired two properties in order to build a new episcopal palace. The plans are prepared by the architect Thomas Baillairgé (1791-1859). Built in 1844 and 1845, the building in stone has three floors and a roof topped ridges with a lantern overlooking a classical pediment spirit. A columned portico underlines the entrance.

2641 FRANCE - The sheep as symbol

Sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated by mankind (although the domestication of dogs may be over 20,000 years earlier); the domestication date is estimated to fall between 11,000 and 9,000 B.C in  Mesopotamia. Since then they spread worldwide, and nomadic and seminomadic pastoralism was an important occupation for many people, mainly in Asia and Europe. Domestication has changed sheep so much that they are almost helpless in the wild.

2640 CUBA - The Cuban tobacco

Since tobacco and sugarcane were brought to the Caribbean by conquistadores, the two plants - which thrive in the Cuba's tropical climate - have been profitable cash crops in Cuba. In fact, of all countries in the world, Cuba dedicates the second largest land area to tobacco cultivation. Despite the U.S. embargo, Cuba's international market is strong: Tobacco ranks as the third largest source of hard currency for Cuba and the "Isle of Rum" exports some 36 million liters of rum a year to 120 countries.

2639 ROMANIA (Cluj) - Saint Michael's Church in Cluj-Napoca

Located in the heart of Cluj-Napoca, the Saint Michael's Church is a Gothic-style Roman Catholic church, the second largest church (after the Black Church of Braşov) in Transylvania. The construction was begun in the first part of the 14th century, probably immediately after the settlement had officially become a town, in 1316, during the reign of Carol Robert of Anjou, and was completed between 1442 and 1447, the old tower being built between 1511 and 1545.

2638 POLAND (Lower Silesian) - Wrocław Town Hall

The Old Town Hall of Wrocław stands at the center of Market Square and is one of the main landmarks of the city. It was developed over a period of about 250 years, from the end of 13th century to the middle of 16th century. The structure and floor plan changed over this period in response to the needs of the city. The exact date of the initial construction is not known, but between 1299 and 1301 a single-storey structure with cellars and a tower called the consistory was built. The oldest parts of the current building, the Burghers' Hall and the lower floors of the tower, may date to this time.

0410-0413, 1368, 2637 GERMANY (Hesse) - Skyline of Frankfurt am Main

0410 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (1)

Posted on 12.12.2012, 21.12.2014, 25.06.2016
Grown around a fort built by the Franks in the 8th century on the site of a Roman settlement, where the River Main was shallow enough to be crossed by wading, Frankfurt am Main (Franconofurd - fort of the franks)  became one of the most important cities in Holy Roman Empire. From 855 the German kings and emperors were elected in Frankfurt and crowned at first in Aachen (until 1562), then also in Frankfurt (until 1792). The Frankfurter Messe (Frankfurt Trade Fair) was first mentioned in 1150, and in 1372 the city became a Reichsstadt (Imperial city), directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor.

0411 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (2)

It remains practically a free city until 1806, when become part of the principality of Aschaffenburg, and in 1866, after the Austro-Prussian War, Prussia annexed it. After WWII, it was incorporated in the German state of Hesse, and in the recent years, even it isn't so large in terms of population (about 700,000 inhabitants), became the financial and transport centre of Germany and the largest financial centre in continental Europe. It is also the richest city in Europe by GDP per capita, followed by Karlsruhe, Paris and Munich.

0412 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (3)

Frankfurt is one of the few European cities with a significant number of skyscrapers. Because of the city's skyline, Germans sometimes refer to Frankfurt as "Mainhattan", a portmanteau of the local Main River and Manhattan. 14 out of a total of 15 skyscapers in Germany are in Frankfurt, most of them being located in the financial district (Bankenviertel) near the city centre, around the trade fair premises (Europaviertel) and at Mainzer Landstraße between Opernplatz and Platz der Republik, which connects the two areas. In postcards can be seen almost all, but I will write only about the ones that I identified them:

0413 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (4)

● Commerzbank Tower (259m / built 1994-1997 / architect: Norman Foster). Is the tallest in the images (with a red and white antenna spire), the tallest in Frankfurt, the tallest in Germany and the second tallest in the European Union (after The Shard, in London). It had been the tallest building in Europe from 1997 until 2003 when it was surpassed by the Triumph-Palace in Moscow. Is lighted at night with a yellow lighting scheme. It was the world's first so-called ecological skyscraper: besides the use of 'sky-gardens', environmentally friendly technologies were employed to reduce energy required for heating and cooling.

1368 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (5)

● Messeturm / Trade Fair Tower (257m / built 1988-1990 / architects: Helmut Jahn and Richard Murphy). Is the one with a pyramid on the top (which brought its the nickname Bleistift - The Pencil). With only 2m shorter than Commerzbank Tower, was built postmodern architectural style, similar to Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta (Georgia) or Key Tower in Cleveland (Ohio). The tower uses numerous geometric shapes in its design such as the square footprint which is the main shape used throughout the tower. The construction of the building's foundation set a world record for the longest continuous concrete pour.

2637 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (6)

 

● Westend Tower, known also as Westendstrasse 1 (208m / built 1990-1993 / architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox). Is the one cylindrically shaped, to the left of Commerzbank Tower and it has on top a truncated cone-shaped structure, with the small base facing down, in fact a ring beam, known commonly as the crown, a reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty, but also a reminder to Frankfurt's history as the city where German emperors were crowned. Is similar in style to a later building by the same architect, 1250 René-Lévesque in Montreal.

2634 RUSSIA (Saint Petersburg) - Saint Petersburg Mosque

When was opened in 1913, the Saint Petersburg Mosque was the largest mosque in Europe outside Turkey, its minarets 49 meters in height and the dome is 39 meters high. The founding stone was laid in 1910 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the reign of Abdul Ahat Khan in Bukhara. By that time, the Muslim community of the Russian then-capital exceeded 8,000 people. The architect Nikolai Vasilyev patterned the mosque after Gur-e Amir, the tomb of Tamerlane in Samarkand. Its construction was completed by 1921.

2633 TAIWAN - An 1950's shop

Unlike the mainland China, which in 1949 became People's Republic of China, taking the road of communism, Taiwan, the Republic of China's refuge, has kept the pro-American orientation. Initially, the United States expected that Taiwan would fall to the Communists, but in 1950 the conflict between North Korea and South Korea caused it to change its attitude, and began an aid program. The products displayed in this  store from 1950's illustrate complete the American influence.

2632 UKRAINE - Vertep in Galicia

2632 Ukrainian Christmas Vertep theater group in 1948,
in village of Trostianets, Zboriv District, Ternopil Province

Vertep is a portable puppet theatre and drama predominantly in Ukraine (but also met in Russia, Belarus, Croatia and Serbia), which presents the nativity scene, other mystery plays, and later secular plots as well. The original meaning of the word is "secret place", "cave", "den", referring to the cave where Christ was born, i.e., the Bethlehem Cave in the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church. Religious Christmas carols were also sung, often in harmony.

2631 FINLAND (Uusimaa) - Motorcyclists on the Linvävaregatan in Tammisaari

Tammisaari (Ekenäs in Swedish) is a coastal town and former municipality in Southern Finland, that included the former municipalities Snappertuna and Tenala together with the town of Ekenäs. It was merged with Pohja and Karis to form the new municipality of Raseborg on January 1, 2009. The town is bilingual, with the majority being Swedish speakers (81%), and the minority Finnish speakers (17%).

2630 UNITED KINGDOM (England) - The red double decker buses of London

London's bus network is one of the largest in the world, running 24 hours a day, with about 8,500 buses, more than 700 bus routes and around 19,500 bus stops. In 2013, the network had more than 2 billion commuter trips per annum, more than the Underground. The distinctive red double-decker buses have become a national symbol of England and United Kingdom, and are an internationally recognised trademark of London transport along with black cabs and the Tube.

2629 FRANCE - Just a wave

The stamps covers almost all the back of the postcard and I couldn't find the picture on the Internet, so all I can say about it is that I received it from France. It could therefore be a wave photographed on the coast of France. The coast of the Atlantic or the coast of the Mediterranean? Who knows? I know instead that I found the same wave in a postcard depicting Rimini. So?

2626-2628 ROMANIA (Braşov) - The Pentecost in Şona

2626 The Pentecost in Şona - Lads and girls in the courtyard of the host.

For residents of Şona, a village located on the right bank of the Olt River, at 5 km from Făgăraş, in the ethnographic area of Târnava Mare, the Pentecost (the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus), celebrated by Christians at 50 days after the Easter, is the most important holiday. On this occasion, the group of lads constituted at the Christmas resumes its activity and sing carols to the householders homes, along with the village girls.

2627 The Pentecost in Şona - The cart with girls in the courtyard of the host.

The group of lads on horseback, accompanied by a cart to which, until the 1950s, were yoked the most beautiful oxen, and now the most beautiful horses, is the pride of the village. Even if the celebration has undergone in time changes, it kept some significant archaic elements. After Christmas, the lads chose another leader, named summer mayor, which coordinate the activities of the year, and designated the host (the owner of the most beautiful horses), from who will start the showiness on the day of Pentecost.

2628 The Pentecost in Şona - The showiness of lads

In the past, on the Pentecost eve, the lads gathered oak leaves and twigs of hazel in the woods, and the girls picked field flowers to decorate the cart and horses. In nowadays are made crepe paper flowers. The next morning, the lads wash the horses in the River Olt, and go to the girls, who put woolen blankets with tassels (lepedeu) under saddles, and adorn the harnesses with flowers (căpeţel). Then the lads and girls gather in the courtyard of the host, where is the adorned cart, and go to the church.

2625 UNITED STATES (Massachusetts) - Nantucket Lighthouse Map

Nantucket is an island located about 50km south of Cape Cod, nicknamed "The Little Grey Lady of the Sea", which refers to the island as it appears from the ocean when it is fog-bound. Now it is a tourist destination and summer colony, but it was, in the the first half of the 19th century, an important center of the whaling industry. The ever-shifting battalion of sandbars, or shoals, lurking beneath the waters that surround the island have caused between 700 and 800 shipwrecks in recorded history.

2624 BENIN - Peoples of Benin and their houses

About 42 African ethnic groups live in Benin. They settled in this teritory at different times and also migrated within the country. Even if they have some common features in the way of life, because sharing the same area, there are many differences, some of them essential. For instance, in southern Benin are common the rectangular huts with sloping roofs of palm or straw thatch, along the coastal lagoons houses are often built on stilts, and in northern Benin dwellings are round, with a conical roof of thatch.

0667, 2623 ITALY (Liguria) - Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto) (UNESCO WHS)

2623 Cinque Terre

Posted on 04.06.2013, 19.06.2016
The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera, to the west of the city of La Spezia, and comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Over the centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm lies in the fact that the villages are connected only by paths, trains and boats, and the cars cannot reach them from the outside.

0667 Vernazza

The first documents on the Cinque Terre date back to the 11th century. Monterosso and Vernazza sprang up first, while the other villages grew later, under military and political supremacy of the Republic of Genoa. In the 16th century to oppose the attacks by the Turks, the inhabitants reinforced the old forts and built new defence towers. From the year 1600, the Cinque Terre experienced a decline. The buildings are so vividly colorful and different for each fisherman to be able to recognize its house from offshore.

2621, 2622 ROMANIA (Prahova) - Pelişor Castle in Sinaia

Part of the same complex as the larger castle of Peleş in Sinaia, Pelişor Castle was built between 1899 and 1902 by order of King Carol I, as the residence for his nephew and heir, the future King Ferdinand and his consort Queen Marie. Actually, in Romanian Pelişor is a diminutive for Peleş, in the sense of "Little Peleş". Here grown children of Ferdinand and Mary: Carol (the future King Carol II), Marioara (the future Queen of Yugoslavia), Elizabeth (future Queen of Greece) and Nicholas.

The castle (which has only 99 rooms, towards the 160 rooms of Peleş), was designed by the Czech architect Karel Liman in the Art Nouveau style. There are several chambers, working cabinets, a chapel, and "the golden room". The furniture and the interior decorations were designed mostly by the Viennese Bernhard Ludwig, but Queen Marie herself, an accomplished artist, made many of the artistic decisions about the design of the palace, and participated in its decoration, including as a painter.