Koblenz is located on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Mosel, where the Deutsches Eck (German Corner) are situated. As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the city celebrated its 2000th anniversary in 1992. The old city was triangular in shape, two sides being bounded by the Rhine and Mosel and the third by a line of fortifications. The Rhine is crossed by the Pfaffendorf Bridge, originally the location of a rail bridge, but now a road bridge. The Moselle is spanned by a Gothic freestone bridge of 14 arches, erected in 1344, two road bridges and two railway bridges.
In 1897, a monument to Emperor William I of Germany, mounted on a 14-metre-high horse, was inaugurated on the German Corner by his grandson William II. The architect was Bruno Schmitz, who was responsible for a number of nationalistic German monuments and memorials. The German Corner is since associated with this monument, the (re) foundation of the German Empire and the German refusal of any French claims to the area.
During WWII, the statue was destroyed by US artillery. The French occupation administration intended the complete destruction of the monument and wanted to replace it with a new one. In 1953, Bundespräsident Theodor Heuss re-dedicated the monument to German unity. A flag of Germany waved there since. On 3 October 1990, the very day the former GDR states joined, their signs were added to the monument. As German unity was considered complete, the monument lost its official active purpose, now only reminding of history.
Koblenz is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Upper Middle Rhine Valley, about which I wrote here.
About the stamps
The first stamp is part of the series Blumen, about which I wrote here. The second, depicting a Porsche 911 Targa (0.70 EUR), is part of the series Classic Cars,about which I wrote here.
References
Koblenz - Wikipedia
Sender: Anne Hippe and the German postcrossers who participated to the meetup which held in Koblenz on March 18, 2017
Sent from Koblenz (Rhineland-Palatinate / Germany), on 18.03.2017
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