3112, 3275 FRANCE (Saint Barthélemy) / THAILAND - A Thai spot in Gustavia

3275

Posted on 16.07.2017, 30.11.2019
Located right in the heart of Gustavia, the main town and capital of the island of Saint Barthélemy, the restaurant Black Ginger serves authentic Thai cuisine, concocted by a trio of Thai chef. Its unique interior courtyard opens on the starry sky, matched only by its contemporary design combining a palette of red and black colors, max domes spreading a soft light,and minimalist furniture, including Charles Eames chairs.

3112

The walls are decorated with photographic portraits by Serge Anton, French-Belgian photographer and designer. His collaboration with prestigious magazines around the world, as well as its exhibitions and books, and not least his accomplishments of permanent photographic installations for various restaurants and hotels, earned him international recognition. The portraits from the postcards were realised in Thailand in 2014.

3273 ROMANIA - Second Train Postcrossing Meetup, Bucharest-Ploieşti, 24 February 2018

3273 The third postcard of the series
"100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (3/12)
- The electric-diesel locomotive 92 53 0 641179-2

The previous postcard of the series "100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (2/12)

The third meeting of the Romanian postcrossers in the year of the Centenary of the Great Union took place on February 24, 2018, and was actually the second train Postcrossing meetup between Bucharest and Ploieşti (the first took place on February 29, 2016). On the postcard is the 6-axis electric-diesel locomotive 92 53 0 641179-2 (GM 1179), considered the most beautiful locomotive of the Sibiu depot, and nicknamed the Blue Fury.

3272 UNITED KINGDOM (England) - Lincoln Cathedral

 

Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, in Lincoln (Lincolnshire in the East Midlands of England), is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. It is one of the few English cathedrals built from the rock it is standing on, and has owned the existing quarry, on Riseholme Road, since 1876. This quarry is expected to run out of stone in 2021, because the stonemasons use more than 100 tonnes of stone per year for maintenance and repairs.

3271 UNITED STATES (Texas) - Alamo Mission in San Antonio - part of San Antonio Missions (UNESCO WHS)

3271 The chapel of the Alamo Mission,
known as the "Shrine of Texas Liberty".

The San Antonio Missions are a group of five frontier mission complexes situated along a stretch of the San Antonio River basin in southern Texas, as well as a ranch located 37 kilometres to the south. It includes architectural and archaeological structures, farmlands (labores), cattle grounds (ranchos), residencies, churches, workshops, kilns, wells, perimeter walls and granaries, as well as water distribution systems. The complexes were built by Franciscan missionaries in the 18^th century and illustrate the Spanish Crown’s efforts to colonize, evangelize and defend the northern frontier of New Spain.

3270 GREECE (Eastern Macedonia and Thrace) - The map of Thassos

Lying close to the coast of Eastern Macedonia, Thassos, the northernmost major Greek island, is geographically part of the North Aegean Sea, but administratively belongs to the Kavala regional unit. It is formed mainly by gneisses, schists and marbles of the Rhodope Massif, and is of generally rounded shape. The terrain is mountainous but not particularly rugged, rising gradually from coast to centre. Pine forest covers much of the island's eastern slopes. Thassos is also the name of the largest town (officially known as Limenas Thassou, "Port of Thassos"), situated at the northern side, opposite the mainland and about 10 kilometres from Keramoti.

3269 UKRAINE (Autonomous Republic of Crimea) - Tarkhankut Lighthouse

The Tarkhankut Lighthouse is located in Crimea (so to the Black Sea) at the Tarkhankut Cape 5 km southwest of the resort village of Olenivka. The construction of the this lighthouse and its twin tower on the Khersones peninsula started in 1816 to ensure safe sailing in the area. The Inkerman stone, of which the building is made, was mined near Sevastopol and transported by barges. At the end of the year, it looked like a conic 36-metre-high stone tower with a wooden 3.3-metre-high decagonal lantern. The lighthouse became operational in 1817 after its lighting system had been repaired.

3268 ISRAEL (Jerusalem) - Dome of the Rock - part of The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls (UNESCO WHS)

The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was initially completed in 691-692 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik during the Second Fitna on the site of the Second Jewish Temple, destroyed during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The original dome collapsed in 1015 and was rebuilt in 1022-1023, being in its core one of the oldest extant works of Islamic architecture, even if it was patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces.

2056, 2519, 3267 ROMANIA (Hunedoara / Alba) - Sarmizegetusa Regia - part of Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains (UNESCO WHS)

2056 Sarmizegetusa Regia (1)

Posted on 21.11.2015, 03.05.2016, 26.11.2019
Emperor Trajan announced 123 days of celebrations throughout the Roman Empire, after the defeat of the Dacians and the death of King Decebalus in 106 A.D. Very normal, since a dangerous enemy was eliminated, fabulous riches entered in the treasury, and 100,000 male slaves were sent to Rome. Dacia then contributed 700 million Denarii per annum (about 2.5 billion USD in nowadays) to the Roman economy, providing finance for future campaigns and assisting with the rapid expansion of Roman towns throughout Europe.

2519 Sarmizegetusa Regia (2)

Even if the Romans destroyed the defensive system of the Dacian Kingdom, its extensive and well-preserved remains, standing in spectacular natural surroundings, give even today a dramatic picture of a vigorous and innovative civilization. Built in the 1st centuries B.C. and A.D., these fortresses show an unusual fusion of military and religious architectural techniques and concepts from the classical world and the late European Iron Age.

3267 Sarmizegetusa Regia (3)

Six of these fortresses (Sarmizegetusa Regia, Costeşti-Cetăţuie, Costeşti-Blidaru, Piatra Roşie, Bănița and Căpâlna), built in murus dacicus style in the Orăştie Mountains, were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Murus Dacicus (Latin for Dacian Wall) is a mix between Dacian construction methods and methods imported from Greek and Roman architecture and masonry, with some peculiarities that make it unique.

3266 GERMANY (Saxony) - Dresden Frauenkirche

The Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) is a Lutheran church in Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony. An earlier church, building in the 11th century in a Romanesque style, was Catholic until it became Protestant during the Reformation. The original Baroque church was built between 1726 and 1743, and was designed by Dresden's city architect, George Bähr. Bähr's distinctive design captured the new spirit of the Protestant liturgy by placing the altar, pulpit, and baptismal font directly centre in view of the entire congregation.

ISRAEL (Jerusalem) - The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls (UNESCO WHS)

The Old City of Jerusalem is a walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem. Until 1860, when the Jewish neighborhood Mishkenot Sha'ananim was established, this area constituted the entire city of Jerusalem. According to the Hebrew Bible, before King David's conquest of Jerusalem in the 11th century BCE the city was home to the Jebusites. It was identified southeast of the Old City walls, outside the Dung Gate. In the Bible, David's son, King Solomon, extended the city walls to include the Temple and Temple Mount.

1180, 1181, 3265 ROMANIA (Tulcea) - Danube Delta (UNESCO WHS)

3265 Danube Delta - Flying birds

Posted on 13.08.2014, 24.11.2019
The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part lies in Romania (Tulcea county), while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine (Odessa Oblast). The modern Danube Delta began to form after 4000 BCE in a bay of the Black Sea, when the sea rose to its present level. A sandy barrier blocked the Danube bay where the river initially built its delta. Probably 40 percent of the Delta was built in the last 1000 years. The reserve is vast, with numerous freshwater lakes interconnected by narrow channels featuring huge expanses of aquatic vegetation. 

1181 Birds of Danube Delta

 

This is the largest continuous marshland on Europe, which includes the greatest stretch of reedbeds in the world, which form floating or fixed islands of decaying vegetation. The Razelm-Sinoe complex to the south comprises several large brackish lagoons separated from the sea by a sandbar. The higher ground supports stands of willow, popular, alder and oak. There are also sandy areas covered with feather grass and other steppe species. Forest elements are best observed in Letea Forest (in the postcard 1180) where a series of bands occur along dunes up to 250 m long and 10 m wide.

1180 Danube Delta - Letea Forest

Situated on major migratory routes, and providing adequate conditions for nesting and hatching, the Danube Delta is a magnet for birds from six major eco-regions of the world, including the Mongolian, Arctic and Siberian. There are over 320 species of birds found in the delta during summer, of which 166 are hatching species and 159 are migratory. Over one million individuals (swans, wild ducks, bald coots, etc.) winter here. An interesting ethologic aspect appearing enhanced by the conditions of the Danube Delta (especially by the floods) is represented by egg laying in common nests. Thus, as a consequence of the general lack of egg-laying places, especially at flood time when a great part of the aquatic-species nests are flooded, the birds this way affected go on laying eggs in alien nests either belonging to the same species or to species of the same families.

1172, 1365, 3264 SWEDEN - Swedish Royal Family

1172 Swedish Royal Family on Sweden's National Day.
From left to right: Prince Daniel, Crown Princess Victoria,
Prince Carl Philip, Queen Silvia of Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf,
Princess Madeleine, Christopher Paul O'Neill.

Posted on 31.07.2014, 20.12.2014, 24.11.2019
The current royal house of Sweden is the House of Bernadotte, which has reigned since 1818, and between 1818 and 1905 was also the royal house of Norway. Its founder, Charles XIV John of Sweden (r. 1818-1844), was adopted by Charles XIII of Sweden (r. 1809-818), the last member of the House of Holstein-Gottorp. In the postcard 1172 are several members of the Swedish royal family. In the middle are King Carl XVI Gustaf (full name: Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus, born 30 April 1946), and his spouse, Queen Silvia of Sweden (née Silvia Renate Sommerlath; born 23 December 1943).

3264 Swedish Royal Family after the Nobel awards ceremony, 2015.
From left to right: Christopher Paul O'Neill, Princess Madeleine, Prince Daniel,
Queen Silvia of Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf, Crown Princess Victoria,
Prince Carl Philip, Princess Sofia.

On 15 September 1973, Carl Gustaf succeeded his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf. He is the only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 2011, Silvia (the daughter of Walther Sommerlath and his Brazilian wife Alice, née Soares de Toledo) became the longest serving queen consort of Sweden, a record previously held by Sophia of Nassau. In the left of the royal couple is Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland (Carl Philip Edmund Bertil; born 13 May 1979), the only son of the King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.

1365 King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia in a carriage.

On 13 June 2015 Carl Philip and former glamour model Sofia Hellqvist married in Stockholm's Royal Palace chapel. On 19 April 2016, Princess Sofia gave birth to a son, Prince Alexander, Duke of Södermanland (Alexander Erik Hubertus Bertil). Their second child, also a son, was born on 31 August 2017, titled Prince Gabriel, Duke of Dalarna (Gabriel Carl Walther).

0281, 3263 BULGARIA (Shumen) - Madara Rider (UNESCO WHS)

0281 - Madara Rider (1)

Posted on 18.07.2012, 23.11.2019
Because of the richness of archaeological monuments discovered in this zone,  Madara, a village in northeastern Bulgaria, which lies at the western foot of the Madara plateau, is called "the Bulgarian Troy". The Madara National Historical and Archaeological Reserve, located near to the village, includes Neolithic and Eneolithic findings, a Thracian settlement, Ancient Roman villa and fortress from the 2nd-5th century, medieval Bulgarian palace, pagan sanctuaries, Christian churches and monasteries, fortresses from the First Bulgarian Empire, and a cave monastery from the 12th–14th century. Most importantly, Madara is the location of the famous Madara Rider, an early medieval rock relief carved by the Bulgars, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979.

3263 - Madara Rider (2)

Madara Rider, the only monumental stone bas-relief in Europe, dated to about 710 AD, is hewn into sheer cliffs at a height of 23m, and presents a horseman who has speared a lion, with an eagle flying in front and a dog running after him, the carving being surrounded by three inscriptions in Greek, which are a short chronicle of the Bulgarian-Byzantine relations in those times. The image is obvious a scene of triumph, incarnating the grandeur of the Bulgars ruler and the power of the Bulgar state. If the bas-relief was carved during the rule of the Bulgar Khan Tervel (r. 700–721), and is probably a portrayal of the khan himself, a part of the inscriptions (of which content can be found here) were made later, describing events  that occurred during the reigns of Krum (803–814), Omurtag (r. 814–831), and Malamir (r. 831–836).

1824, 3181, 3262 THAILAND (Bangkok) - Wat Arun in Bangkok

1824 Wat Arun (1)

Posted on 15.08.2015, 28.10.2017, 23.11.2019
Wat Arun (Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan, "Temple of Dawn") is a Buddhist temple in  Bangkok Yai district of Bangkok, on the Thonburi west bank of the Chao Phraya River. The temple derives its name from the Hindu god Aruna, often personified as the radiations of the rising sun. Although the temple had existed since at least the 17th century, its distinctive prang (spires) were built in the early 19th century during the reign of King Rama II.

3181 Wat Arun (2)

A Buddhist temple (Wat Makok) had existed on this site since the time of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which was renamed Wat Chaeng by King Taksin when he established his new capital of Thonburi, near the temple. It enshrined the Emerald Buddha before it was transferred to Wat Phra Kaew in 1785. The temple was located in grounds of the royal palace during Taksin's reign, then it was abandoned until Rama II, who restored it and extended the pagoda to 70m.

3262 Wat Arun (2)

The main feature of Wat Arun is its central prang (Khmer-style tower) which is encrusted with colourful porcelain. The corners are surrounded by four smaller satellite prang, decorated by seashells and bits of porcelain which had previously been used as ballast by boats coming from China. Construction of the five prang was started by King Rama II during 1809-1824 and completed by King Rama III (1824-1851). The central prang is topped with a seven-pronged trident, referred to by many sources as the "Trident of Shiva". Around the base of the prang are various figures of ancient Chinese soldiers and animals. Over the second terrace are four statues of the Hindu god Indra riding on Erawan.