3143 GERMANY (Bavaria) - The chapel of Virgin Mary in Sankt Englmar

Built in 1979 with the help of some sponsors, but also of the volunteers, this tiny and secluded chapel, located in Maibrunn district of Sankt Englmar, was dedicated to the Mother of God. It serves both locals as well as guests, and forest trek path visitors, as a place of retreat.

2987 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Catholic Church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Bad Koetzting

Located in the Bavarian Forest, near the Czech border, Bad Kötzting (before 2005: Kötzting) has the charming character of a small town. The locals pride themselves with having one of the largest mounted religious processions in the world, the Kötztinger Pfingstritt. The Church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary is the center of a fortification with an outer wall, a trench and an inner fastening ring. First mentioned in 1179, it was expanded in 1737-1738, and the chancel and the tower were rebuilt in 1766-1769. The interiors are Baroque, with the high altar from 1771 and the pulpit from 1730. Only three ceiling frescoes have been preserved from the original five ceiling frescoes and were painted in 1930 by Josef Wittmann.

2858 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Münsterschwarzach Abbey

Münsterschwarzach Abbey is a Benedictine monastery located near Kitzingen, at the confluence of the rivers Schwarzach and Main in Bavaria. Dedicated to the Holy Saviour, the Virgin Mary and Saint Felicity, it was founded before 788 as a nunnery. It was a private foundation of the Carolingian ruling house: the abbesses were daughters of the imperial family, for example Theodrada (d. 853), a daughter of Charlemagne. After the death of the last Carolingian abbess, Bertha, in 877, the nuns left the abbey and it was taken over by Benedictines from Megingaudshausen.

2810 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Mittagberg

Mittagberg (Midday mountain) is a mountain (1451m) located in the Allgäu Alps in Bavaria, just south of Immenstadt, and is part of the Naturparks Nagelfluhkette. Its vertical separation is at least 31m, with a prominence of 500m when using the Bärenköpfle as reference. When looking at the mountain from Immenstadt, the sun at noon is right on top of the peak, giving it its name "Mittag" based on the German word for noon (mid day). There are multiple hiking trails that lead up to the peak of the mountain.

2755 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Volkach

Located in Lower Franconia, on the banks of the river Main, the charming town of Volkach was founded in 906 A.D. and celebrated its 1100th anniversary in 2006. This part of Franconia is known for its vineyards, so Volkach's main tourist attraction is its annual wine festival in August (Weinfest), which is the culminating festival for the entire Franconian wine region.

2485 GERMANY / SWITZERLAND / AUSTRIA - The map of Lake Constance

Lake Constance (German: Bodensee) is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, in  Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee (Upper Lake), the Untersee (Lower Lake), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine (Seerhein). The Rhine flows into it from the south, with its original course forming the Austro-Swiss frontier. Located at an altitude of 395m, it is 63km long, and at its widest point, nearly 14km.  The greatest depth is 252m.

2412 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Nuremberg Castle

2412 The Imperial castle (Kaiserburg) in Nuremberg,
with Sinwell Tower (Sinwellturm)

Located in Middle Franconia, on the river Pegnitz, Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg) is often referred to as having been the 'unofficial capital' of the Holy Roman Empire, particularly because Imperial Diet (Reichstag) and courts met at Nuremberg Castle. The castle does not appear in any documents until 1105, but the archeological investigations during recent years indicate that the place was already settled around the year 1000.

1917 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Schwarzenberg Monastery in Scheinfeld

According to the legend, on the beginning of the 17th century, the then Countess of Schwarzenberg have set in a wooded area, not far from the chapel today, a small place for the worship of the Virgin Mary. In that time the Franciscans were stationed in the town of Scheinfeld, and in 1697 addressed a request to the Prince to be allowed to establish a monastery there.

1668 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Munich's New Town Hall

The ducal residence of Upper Bavaria, then, since 1506, the capital of reunited Bavaria, Munich became In 1806 the capital of the new Kingdom of Bavaria. By the mid 19th century, Munich was growing in leaps and bounds, and the city council determined that more space was needed to house government offices so they embarked on plans for a new town hall. A site at the Marienplatz, the city's main square since 1158, was chosen and two dozen buildings were demolished in order to make way for the grand New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus), which was designed by 24-year-old Georg von Hauberrisser. It was built between 1867 and 1908 in a Gothic Revival architecture style.

1552 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Mittenwald

Mittenwald - The spire of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul,
with Viererspitze in background

Mittenwald is located in the Valley of the River Isar, by the northern foothills of the Alps, on the route between the old banking and commercial centre of Augsburg, to the north, and Innsbruck to the south-east, beyond which is the Brenner Pass and the route to Lombardy, therefore it was for a long time an important transit centre on a relatively low transalpine route. It is also famous for the manufacture of violins, violas and cellos which began in the mid-17th century by the Klotz family of violin makers, and has been a popular stop with tourists since the boom in motorized tourism began in the 1930s.

0998 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Freight locomotive 86 260 in 1968 at Plattling depot

The DRG Class 86 was a standard goods train tank locomotive with the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) (German Imperial Railway Company), intended for duties on branch lines. They were of 2-8-2 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 1′D1′ h2 in the UIC classification, most often referred to as a Mikado, frequently shortened to Mike, but at times it was also referred as the McAdoo Mikado and, during WWII, the MacArthur. This wheel arrangement allows the locomotive's firebox to be placed behind instead of above the driving wheels, thereby allowing a larger firebox that could be both wide and deep. This supported a greater rate of combustion and thus a greater capacity for steam generation, allowing for more power at higher speeds.

0939 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Steam locomotive for local service 98 307 in 1966 at Nuremberg main station depot

The Class PtL 2/2 locomotives of the Royal Bavarian State Railways were light and very compact superheated steam locomotives for operation on branch lines (Lokalbahnen). There were three types in total, of which two were transferred to the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft as Class 98.3 tank locomotives and even survived to join the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) fleet after WWII. All the variants have the B axle arrangement (0-4-0 in Whyte notation), the semi-automatic, gravity-feed firing that enabled one-man operation, platforms with guard rails, and a large driver's cab with 3 windows per side that surrounded the entire locomotive boiler as far as the smokebox (what brought it the nickname Glaskasten - Glass Box).

0012, 0463 & 0899 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Dreams in Stone - the palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

0012 Neuschwanstein Castle (1)

Posted on 14.10.2011, 12.01.2013, 12.12.2013
With his gradual withdrawal from political life and escape into an ideal poetic world, King Ludwig II of Bavaria (r. 1864-1886) is one of the most fascinating ruling personalities of the 19th century. Prevented by foreign and domestic political constraints from putting his idealized vision of his role as king into practice, with Neuschwanstein Castle and the palaces of Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee in their unspoilt natural settings the monarch created artificial alternative worlds in which he could immerse himself in far-distant places and past eras.

0463 Neuschwanstein Castle (2)

Once crowned, eccentric but so cultivated Ludwig II simply implemented a childhood dream to build an never seen palace on the ruins of castles Vorderhohenschwangau and Hinterhohenschwangau, which he knew from his frequent trips on the hills around the village Schwangau. Unreserved admirer and devoted patron of Richard Wagner, Ludwig thought the Neuschwanstein Castle as a tribute to composer and style could not be other than the Neo-Romanesque, practically a romantic interpretation of the Middle Ages. Buildings, as imagined by the king, practically never ended, but he got to live there for two years until his suspect death in 1886, at the age of just 40.

0899 Neuschwanstein Castle (3)

At the time of Ludwig's death the palace was far from complete. The king never intended to make the palace accessible to the public, but no more than six weeks after the king's death the regent Luitpold ordered the palace opened to paying visitors, the administrators managing to balance the construction debts until 1899. Due to its secluded location, the palace survived the two World Wars without destruction, even if in WWII it served as a depot for Nazi plunder from France, and also as a depot for the gold of the German Reichsbank, and in april 1945 the SS had plans to blow up it to prevent the building itself and the artwork it contained from falling to the enemy.

0675 GERMANY (Bavaria) - The German Alpine Road at Sylvenstein Dam

The German Alpine Road (Deutsche Alpenstrasse) is a 430 km long stretch of roads snaking along the Austrian border, through the spectacular Alpine foothills of southern Bavaria, starting at Lindau on Lake Constance and ending at Berchtesgaden on Lake Königssee - just short of Salzburg. Dreamt up by Hitler in the 1920s and only recently fully completed, it is the most spectacular mountainous scenery in Germany, with ski resorts, more than 60 spa resorts, 21 mountain lakes, 25 castles, palaces and abbeys, not to mention the charming villages with their baroque, onion-domed churches, and a host of bridges, viaducts, tunnels and mountain passes.

0619, 0625, 0626 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Bad Tölz

Posted on 28.04.2013 and completed on 03.05.2013
Located in Upper Bavaria, on the Isar River, Tölz was mentioned for the first time in 1180, and in 1331 it became a market town, with an extensive Marktrechte, due to the fact that there was on a crossroads for the salt and lumber traffic on the river. A great fire destroyed large parts of the town in 1453, but soon it was reconstructed, and flourished again. It became also famous for crafts with the beautiful coloured chests, cases and beds. In 1845, iodine was found close to the town, so Markt Tölz became Bad Tölz (spa resort) in 1899. During the WWII near the town was an officers' training school for the Waffen-SS, and also a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp.

In the second postcard is the historic Marktstrasse (Market Street), with Stadtmuseum (City Museum) and Bürgerbräu, which is characterized by Lüftlmalerei, frescoes illustrating Bavarian myths, religious scenes, fairytales or architectural trompe-l'œil found on many buildings. Lüftlmalerei is common for Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria) and its name may be derived from an Oberammergau house called Zum Lüftl, which was the home of facade painter Franz Seraph Zwinck (1748-1792). On the buildings can be seen also the town's flag, with the colours black and gold, and Bavaria's flag, with the colours white and blue.

A climb to Kalvarienberg (Calvary) is rewarded not only by the wide view of the Isar valley and the city, but also by a baroque church with the double two slim towers, Krone von Tölz (Crown of Tolz). The Holy Stairs can be found inside the church; these stairs were initially built outdoors and the church was built over it later on. In addition, visitors can take a look at the Golgotha hill with its larger-than-life crucifixion ensemble, which was erected in 1735. Another cruciform church with a holy sepulcher was built at the base of the hill between 1723 and 1726.

0612 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof (UNESCO WHS)

 

Located in Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, Regensburg owes its foundation to Celts (Radasbona), but the Romans were the ones who built there a strong fort (Castra Regina). As seat of the Agilolfing ruling family, it became in 530 the capital of Bavaria, and it will maintain this status since the first half of the 13th century. Actually the 12th and 13th centuries were the Regensburg's golden age as trade center, but also as the cultural centre of southern Germany, in 1245 becoming a Free Imperial City. It adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1542, and between 1663 and 1806 it was the seat of the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire. In WWII it was home to both a Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft factory and an oil refinery, so it was severe bombed by the Allies, and between 1945 and 1949 it was the site of the largest Displaced persons (DP) camp in Germany.

0569 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Hitler’s nest

The Kehlsteinhaus (also known as Eagle's Nest) is a chalet-style structure erected on a subpeak of the Hoher Göll known as the Kehlstein. It was built as an extension of the Obersalzberg complex (formerly Hitler's home and southern headquarters) erected in the mountains above Berchtesgaden. Commissioned by Reichsleiter Martin Bormann for Hitler, it was formal presented to the Nazi leader on his 50th birthday on April 20, 1939. The road leading from Obersalzberg to the Eagle's Nest parking lot is considered to be a feat of engineering. It remained unscathed from the bombing of the Allied Forces during WWII, and since 1952 it has been open to the public as a mountain top restaurant with a spectacular view and is accessed only by special mountain buses from Obersalzberg.

0335 GERMANY (Bavaria) - The highest mountain in Germany

 

The Zugspitze, with 2,962m high, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains, as well as the highest mountain in Germany. Because of its location (now to the border between Germany and Austria), it was mentioned by name since 1590, in a description of the border between the County of Werdenfels and Austria. The first recorded ascent to the summit was accomplished by a team of land surveyors in 1820, but certainly was escalated by locals long time before.

0007 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Bavarian Zugspitze Railway

I could’t explain why, but the receiving of that postcards produced me a great pleasure. Bavarian Zugspitze Railway (German: Bayerische Zugspitzbahn) is one of four rack railways still working in Germany, runs from the Garmisch-Partenkirchen suburb of Garmisch to the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany. Built between 1928 and 1930 that railway was nominated in 2007 for an award as a Historic landmarks of civil engineering in Germany, which is not a small thing in a country with such tradition and performance engineering.

About stamp, illustrating St. Peter's Cathedral of Regensburg, I write here.

sender: Uwe Schulze / Schulze (postcrossing)
sent from Witten (Germany), on 30.09.2009