2669 VIETNAM (Southeast) - Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon

Following the French conquest of Cochinchina, the Roman Catholic Church established a community and religious services for French colonialists. Thus, in 1863, Admiral Bonard decided to build a wooden church on the bank of Charner canal (Kinh Lớn). The construction was completed two years later and was called Saigon Church. When the wooden church was damaged by termites, all church services were held in the guest-chamber of the French Governor's Palace.

2668 FRANCE - A farmer and his span of oxen

It seems that the cattle were first harnessed and put to work around 4000 BC, and the castration of bulls to turn them into oxen have happened at about the same time. A little later, the yoke was invented in Mesopotamia and two oxen could be bound firmly together to pull much heavier plows. Light work required just one pair of oxes, while for heavier work, further pairs were added as necessary. A team used for a heavy load over difficult ground might exceeded nine or ten pairs.

2667 SPAIN (Community of Madrid) - The monument to Cervantes in Madrid

As is well known, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He owes his fame to Don Quixote, considered to be the first modern novel, and one of the best works of fiction ever written. In Plaza de España (Spanish for Square of Spain), located in central Madrid, is a monument to Cervantes, designed by architects Rafael Martínez Zapatero and Pedro Muguruza and sculptor Lorenzo Coullaut Valera.

0652, 0653, 1120, 2666 ITALY (Tuscany) - Historic centre of Florence (UNESCO WHS)

0652 Images of Florence

Posted on 21.05.2013, 27.06.2014, 25.07.2016
Founded by Romans as a settlement for veteran soldiers and named Fluentia, because it was built between two rivers, then successively ruled by Ostrogoths, Byzantines, and Lombards, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774, but it surpassed the status of minor settlement only around 1000 A.D., after Margrave Hugo chose it as residency. From the 14th century to the 16th century, it was, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, one of the most important cities in Europe and the world, of political, economic and cultural point of view.

0653 Panorama of Florence (1)

Wealthy and brilliant, but with a turbulent history, furrowed by numerous religious and republican revolutions, Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance. It was home for the famous Medici family and Savonarola, but also for Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Giotto, Boccaccio, Dante, Machiavelli, Galileo Galilei and many others. Because Historic Centre of Florence "attests in an exceptional manner, and by its unique coherence, to its power as a merchant-city of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance", in 1982 it became an UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the postcard 0652 can be seen:

2666 Panorama of Florence (2)

 

• Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) - a Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, noted for still having shops built along it.
• A general view of Historic Centre.
• Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower), Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistry of St. John) and, in back, Campanile di Giotto (Giotto’s Campanile).
• Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross) - the principal Franciscan church in Florence, the burial place of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Foscolo, Gentile and Rossini.

1120 The Baptistery of Saint John and Giotto’s Campanile

• Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace) - the town hall of the city, built in the 13th century.
• Basilica of Santa Maria Novella - the first great basilica in Florence, and the city's principal Dominican church. Especially famous are frescoes by masters of Gothic and early Renaissance.
• San Miniato al Monte (St. Minias on the Mountain) and the Bishop's Palace - placed on one of the highest points in the city, it has been described as one of the finest Romanesque structures in Tuscany and one of the most beautiful churches in Italy.

2665 MONGOLIA - A lama boy

Buddhism in Mongolia derives much of its recent characteristics from Tibetan Buddhism (of the Gelug and Kagyu lineages), which combines elements of the Mahayana and the Tantric schools with traditional Tibetan rituals of curing and exorcism, sharing the common Buddhist goal of individual release from suffering and the cycles of rebirth. Westerners use for Tibetan Buddhism the term "lamaism" (literally, "doctrine of the lamas": lama jiao) to distinguish it from a then traditional Chinese form (fo jiao).

2663 UNITED KINGDOM (Anguilla) - Tucked-away Little Bay

Little Bay is one of Anguilla's most special and serene places, but you have to make an effort to reach its beach, surrounded by high cliffs. There are two ways to get to this most remote beach: climb down by rope, or boat over from Crocus Bay. Anyway, it worth the effort, because the scenery is fascinating. The sand on the beach a lighter contrast to the beautifully layered limestone with all shades of corals and grays, and then there is the glowing, brilliant blue of the sea.

1940, 2662, 3284 ROMANIA (Iaşi) - The Palace of Culture in Iaşi

1940 The Palace of Culture in Iaşi (1)

Posted on 05.10.2015, 22.07.2016, 05.12.2019
Recognized as an effigy of the city of Iaşi (the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1564 to 1859), the Palace of Culture hosts, since 1955, the Moldova National Museum Complex, consisting from four museums, as well as other cultural institutions, after previously served as Administrative Palace and then Palace of Justice. It was built between 1906 and 1925, partly on the old ruins of the mediaeval Royal Court of Moldavia (1434), and partly on top of the foundations of the former neoclassical style palace, dated to the time of Prince Alexandru Moruzi (1806), rebuilt by Prince Mihail Sturdza and dismantled in 1904.

2662 The Palace of Culture in Iaşi (2)

Designed in flamboyant neo-Gothic style by the Romanian architect Ion D. Berindey, the Palace has 298 large rooms, 92 windows in the front part of the building and another 36 inside the building. The wings of the building were withdrawn and decorated with statues of archers that stand sentry, and on the sides were built two entries in the form of vaulted towers. Entry into the palace is through a large dungeon tower, with battlements and alcoves dominated by an aquila with open wings.

3284 The fourth postcard of the series
"100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (4/12)
- The Palace of Culture in Iaşi

Elements of tourist interest are, at the ground floor The Gothic Hall (where can be admired a mosaic that represents a gothic bestiary), and upstairs The Voivodes Hall (which contains the portraits of the Princes of Moldavia and of the Kings of the Romanians) and The Henri Coandă Hall. The clock carillon installed in the central tower is a set of eight bells which reproduce every hour Hora Unirii (The Union Hora - a song which is sung and danced especially on January 24, when Romanian United Principalities united in 1859).

2661 UNITED STATES (New York) - The map of Westchester County

Situated in the Hudson Valley, Westchester County was established in 1683, being named after the city of Chester, England. The county seat is the city of White Plains, located at 40km north of Midtown Manhattan. The county shares its southern boundary with New York City and its northern border with Putnam County. It is bordered on the west side by the Hudson River and on the east side by the Long Island Sound and Fairfield County, Connecticut.

2660 GERMANY (Hesse) - Frankfurt Airport

Located at 12km southwest of central Frankfurt, Frankfurt Airport is operated by Fraport and serves as the main hub for Lufthansa. It has a capacity of approximately 65 million passengers per year, being the busiest airport by passenger traffic in Germany as well as the 4th busiest in Europe. Frankfurt Airport has two large main passenger terminals (1 and 2) and a much smaller dedicated First Class Terminal which is operated and exclusively used by Lufthansa.

2659 DENMARK (Faroe Islands) - The Tórshavn Fire Brigade testing a new fire engine in 1962

The inhabitants of Tórshavn, the capital city of Faroe Islands, numbered 984 in 1880. Most of them were living in the "Reyn" quarter of the town where the houses were huddled together, prompting extreme caution when people were dealing with fire. There were no fire hydrants, water pipelines being non-existent. In case of fire a fire pump was hauled to wherever the fire had broken out. Water for the fire pump was retrieved from the sea or from rivers.

2658 DENMARK (Faroe Islands) - The Toftir Lighthouse

Eysturoy (Danish: Østerø) meaning "East Island" is the second-largest of the Faroe Islands, both in size and population, separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. It is extremely rugged, with some 66 separate mountain peaks, including Slættaratindur, the highest peak in the archipelago. Toftir is a fishing port, part of a chain of villages stretching over a distance of 10km on the east side of Skálafjørður (fjord), near the southern end of the island.

2657 NORWAY (Oslo) - The Oseberg ship

Located at Bygdøy in Oslo, the Viking Ship Museum is part of the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo, and houses archaeological finds from Tune, Gokstad (Sandefjord), Oseberg (Tønsberg) and the Borre mound cemetery. The main attractions at the Viking Ship Museum are the Oseberg ship, Gokstad ship and Tune ship. The Oseberg ship (Norwegian: Osebergskipet) was discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county.

2656 RUSSIA (Republic of Karelia / Arkhangelsk Oblast) - Vodlozersky National Park

Created in 1991 to protect coniferous forests (taiga) of the Northern Russia, Vodlozersky National Park has, since 2001, the status of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The park area includes Lake Vodlozero, the river basin of the Ileksa, the main inflow of the lake, and the upper course of the Vodla, the outflow. Swamps cover about 40% of the area of the park, but the northern part is hilly, with the hills up to 20m. Almost the whole area is covered by woods. Of these, 53.5% are spruce forests, 44.1% are pine forests, and about 2% are birch (Betula pubescens and Betula pendula) and aspen forests. 

2654 SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA - The coat of arms of the Order

2654 Coat of arms of the SMOM

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (Latin: Supremus Ordo Militaris Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani Rhodius et Melitensis), also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) or Order of Malta, is a Catholic religious order traditionally of military, chivalrous and noble nature. Founded as the Knights Hospitaller circa 1099 in Jerusalem by Gerard Thom, is the world's oldest surviving chivalric order, and probably the best known.

2653 UNITED STATES (California) - The Leap Frogs navy parachute team over Coronado

2653 The Leap Frogs navy parachute team freefalls from
12.000 feet and forms a star formation over the Coronado
Bay Bridge and the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado.
The SEAL parachuting demonstration occurred on the Fourth of July.

The United States Navy Parachute Team, commonly known as the "Leap Frogs", consists of active-duty personnel drawn from parachute riggers, naval special warfare, including Navy SEALs, special warfare combatant-craft crewmen, and support personnel. The Leap Frogs are all volunteers. The team was officially commissioned as the U.S. Navy Parachute Team in 1974 by the Chief of Naval Operations and assigned the mission of demonstrating Navy excellence throughout the United States.

2652 CROATIA (Primorje-Gorski Kotar) - An old tram in Opatija

The Opatija tram line was planned in 1892 as a steam driven tramway line from Matulji to Volosko, but this concept was not accepted due to complaints by the hotel industry fearing the smoke and noise generated by steam locomotives, which would disturb their guests. The preliminary work for an electric tramway started in 1900. The concession for building this 12 kilometer long track was issued on February 9, 1906 and the tramway went into operation on February 9, 1908.

2651 UNITED STATES (Arizona) - The Hopi Snake Dance

The Snake Dance is held for 16 days in August or the early part of September, every two years, and is a ceremony to worship ancestors and to help bring rain, very important for the peaceful and humble farmers which are the Hopi people. It seams that it was originally a water ceremony, because the snakes were considered the guardians of springs. The Hopi regard snakes as their "brothers" and rely on them to carry their prayers for rain to the underworld (where they believe the gods and spirits of their ancestors live).

2649, 2650 ROMANIA (Brasov) - Junii Braşoveni (The Brasovian Lads)

2649 Braşov - Junii Braşoveni (The Brasovian Lads)

When the heavy snows of the harsh Brașovian winters are gone and spring sun shines again, it is the time for people from Şcheii Brasovului, the old  Romanian district of Braşov, to start celebrating the renewal. Yearly, they have a festival, called The Brasovian Lads - Junii Brasoveni (In Transylvania, june means unmarried young lad) which stretches over weeks, having its climax on the first Sunday after Easter (when the Orthodox Christians Romanians celebrate Duminica Tomii - The Sunday of Thomas the Apostle).

2650 Braşov -Junii Tineri in 1905

In that day, a group of horsemen from Şchei, in nowadays with ceremonial role, parade through the streets of Brașov, in specific costumes. Feast is a complex of habits that combines pre-Christian and Christian practices, to restore the myth of ritual death and rebirth of the calendar time. The oldest document recorded in which this procession is mentioned is from 26 March 1728 but it is assumed that the celebration already existed in antiquity.

CHINA (Macau) - Historic Centre of Macau (UNESCO WHS)

It's said that in the 16th century, when the Portuguese landed at the coast of South China Sea, somewhere between the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) estuary and the Xi Jiang (West River), just outside the A-Ma Temple (dedicated to Matsu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen) and asked the name of the place, the natives replied with the name of the temple, so the name of the peninsula remained Macau. And because natives have proven polite, and the port was well placed, the Portuguese decided to remain and to trade, paying an annual rent.

2648 UNITED STATES (Pennsylvania) - Philadelphia skyline

2648 The Philadelphia skyline viewed from the Ben Franklin Bridge

Philadelphia's history of tall buildings is generally thought to have begun with the 1754 addition of the steeple to Christ Church, which was one of America's first high-rise structures. Through most of the 20th century, a "gentlemen's agreement" prevented buildings from rising higher than the 167m Philadelphia City Hall. The completion of One Liberty Place in 1987 broke the agreement, and Philadelphia has since seen the construction of eight skyscrapers that eclipse City Hall in height.