3284 ROMANIA (Iaşi) - Postcrossing Meetup, Iaşi, 24 March 2018

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

The previous postcard of the series "100 years since the Great Union of Romania" (3/12)

The fourth meeting of the Romanian postcrossers in the year of the Centenary of the Great Union took place on March 24, 2018, in Iaşi. However, the postcard was sent by Mihnea Răducu not from Iaşi, but from Chişinău, from the Republic of Moldova, which is proven not only by the stamp and the postmark, but also by the signatures of several Moldovan postcrossers, to whom I thanks from the bottom of my heart. The postcard depict The Palace of Culture in Iaşi, about which I wrote here.

0601, 0602, 1900, 3020, 3277 ROMANIA (Hunedoara) - Corvin Castle

0601 Hunedoara - Corvin Castle (1)

Posted on 16.04.2013, 17.09.2015, 17.04.2017, 01.12.2019
Located in Hunedoara, on a rock at the foot of which flow Zlaşti creek, a tributary of the Cerna River, Corvin Castle, known also as Hunyadi Castle or Hunedoara Castle, is one of the most important monuments of Gothic inspiration from Romania. It was originally given, in 1409, by Sigismund of Luxemburg, king of Hungary, to Vlach (Romanian) knyaz Voyk (Voicu), for his distinction in the wars against the Ottomans. On this occasion Voyk was ennobled and took the name Hunyadi (de Hunedoara) after the property name, as was the custom.

0602 Hunedoara - Corvin Castle (2)

His son, John Hunyadi (Iancu de Hunedoara), Ban of Severin (1438-1441), then Voivode of Transylvania (1441-1446), rebuilt the castle from the foundation starting with 1446, the year in which was elected as Regent-Governor of the Kingdom of Hungary by the Diet, a position which he will hold until 1453.
The castle was built mainly in Gothic style, but with Renaissance architectural elements. The walls were flanked by rectangular or circular towers, three of them (the Capistrano Tower, the Deserted Tower and the Drummers' Tower) being used as prisons, and one (the Mace Tower) was solely built for defence purposes.

1900 Hunedoara - Corvin Castle (3)

The rectangular shaped towers had large openings to accommodate larger weapons. The castle has three large areas, decorated with marble: the Knight's Hall (used for feasts), the Diet Hall (used for ceremonies) and the circular stairway. In 1456, John Hunyadi died and work on the castle has stagnated. Ladislaus Hunyadi, the elder son of John, has owned the castle just one year, because in 1457 he fall prey to intrigues. His younger brother, Matthias Corvinus, became King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458, then also King of Bohemia and Duke of Austria, and new commissions were being undergone to construct the Matia Wing of the castle.

3020 Hunedoara - Corvin Castle (4)

In 1480, the work was stopped and it was recognised as being one of the biggest and most impressive buildings in Western Europe. In 1482 Matthias donated the domain and the castle to his illegitimate son, John Corvinus (Ioan Corvin). After his death and the death of his children the Hunyadi family died out on the paternal side. In the following two centuries the castle passed through several hands, until 1724 when became the property of the Austrian State, then in 1867 to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in 1918 to the Kingdom of Romania.

3277 Hunedoara - Corvin Castle, inside

In the 17th century new additions have been made to the castle, for aesthetic and military purposes, two new towers being constructed: the White Tower and the Artillery Tower. The current castle is the result of a fanciful restoration campaign undertaken after a disastrous fire from 1854 and many decades of total neglect.

3251 SPAIN (Andalusia) - Salobreña

Located in Granada, on the Costa Tropical, Salobreña claims a history stretching back 6,000 years. The Old Town which sits atop a rocky prominence (Gran Peñón) and is a cluster of whitewashed houses and quirky steep narrow streets leading up to a 10th-century Moorish castle. Another interesting building is the parish church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, built in the 16th century on the site of an old mosque. The different districts of the town, like La Loma, La Fuente, El Brocal and el Albaycín, have medieval corners with openings for doors, arches and windows.

3214 CYPRUS - Orange seller

Because it has a subtropical climate, Cyprus offers a full range of citrus fruit available almost all year around, but mainly on winter time, from October to June, with many of the popular varieties of oranges, lemons, grapefruit and soft citrus. Though oranges are good refreshment for summer, but during winter, many Cypriot parents want their children to eat oranges during winter to protect them from colds and influenza. The main varieties of oranges that grown in Cyprus, all of high quality, are Navel, Jaffa and Valencia.

3139 GREECE (Crete) - Cretan Traditional Costumes

Located in the southern part of the Aegean Sea, separating the Aegean from the Libyan Sea, Crete has a fascinating culture and it's people can boast an amazingly varied heritage of influence from miscellaneous cultures and civilisations. Crete itself is renowned for being the home of one of the earliest, if not the earliest, civilisations of the world, the Minoan civilisation. There followed the Dorians, the Egyptians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Venetians, and the Otomans.

3118 LUXEMBOURG - International Postcrossing Meetup, July 1, 2017

This meeting, organized by Anne Hippe, brought together postcrossers from Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland. They met at 10:30 at Place d'Armes, from where they went to the post office, and then explored the postcard shops and the city centre. For lunch, but also to write and sign postcards, they stopped to the Brasserie Chiggeri, located in the old town, close to the Theatre Square. I'm sure it was a memorable meetup.

2942 UNITED STATES (Alaska) - "Try Again" wreck boat in Homer

Located on the shore of Kachemak Bay on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula, and long known as The "Halibut Fishing Capital of the World", Homer is a little city with 2,235 households, where live 1,296 families (2010). In the picture is the wreck of the boat "Try Again", surprised in 1980's.