3400 GERMANY (Rhineland-Palatinate) - Postcrossing Meetup, Konz & Trier, 31 May - 3 June 2018

Between 31 May and 3 June 2018 took place at Konz and Trier a 4th International Postcrossing Meetup, occasion with which was published this postcard. The two city are only 8 km from each other, on the Moselle river. The meeting point, was at the front of Porta Nigra (UNESCO WHS), and the program was varied and interesting. Excursions took place, inside and outside Trier (for exemple to Orscholz, to the canopy pathway), BBQ, a raffle and others. Furthermore, it was offered a special 70-cent-stamp of German Post to the 200th birthday of Karl Marx (on the postcard).

3257 GERMANY (Rhineland-Palatinate) - Landau

3257 Landau - The Market Hall and
the statue of Prince Luitpold in Town Hall Square

Landau, or Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (kreisfrei) town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße (Southern Wine Route) district. It is a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the Palatinate wine region. Landau was first mentioned as a settlement in 1106, and was granted a charter in 1274 by King Rudolf I of Germany, who declared the town a Free Imperial Town in 1291.

3006 GERMANY (Rhineland-Palatinate) - Koblenz - part of Upper Middle Rhine Valley (UNESCO WHS)

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.

2990 GERMANY (Rhineland-Palatinate) - Hambach Castle

Located on the mountain Schlossberg (literally Castle mountain; elevation: 325m) in the eastern outskirts of the Palatine Forest, near the urban district Hambach of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Hambach Castle ruled both as a protection castle and as a robber baron castle over the trade roads and the northern route of the Anterior Palatinate section of the Way of St. James. In late Carolingian Dynasty times and Ottonian dynasty times a castle of refuge was built there. Probably in the first half of the 11th century, a new castle was built inside the former estate.

2894 GERMANY (Rhineland-Palatinate) - Marksburg - part of Upper Middle Rhine Valley (UNESCO WHS)

The Marksburg is a castle above the town of Braubach, the only one of the 40 hill castles which was never destroyed. The fortress was used for protection rather than as a residence for royal families. It has a striking example of a bergfried designed as a butter-churn tower, and is guarded by a series of authentic gates and drawbridges.Its Great Hall, which dates back to 1239, was constructed in the Romanesque architectural style, and its lavish state apartments now house the German Castle Association’s offices. Over two thousand years of weaponry is on display at the castle armory.

GERMANY (Rhineland-Palatinate / Hesse) - Upper Middle Rhine Valley (UNESCO WHS)

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley, popular named Rhine Gorge, is a 65 km section of the River Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites for a unique combination of geological, historical, cultural and industrial reasons. Its strategic location as a transport artery and the prosperity that this engendered is reflected in its sixty small towns, the extensive terraced vineyards and the ruins of castles that once defended its trade. It is intimately associated with history and legend and for centuries has exercised a powerful influence on writers, artists and composers.

1409 GERMANY (Rhineland-Palatinate) - Mainz Cathedral

Located on the west bank of the river Rhine, opposite the confluence of the Main with the Rhine, Mainz was an important military town throughout Roman times, and later an important center of the Carolingian Empire, and a centre for the Christianisation of the German and Slavic peoples. One of the early archbishops of Mainz was Willigis (975-1011), who began construction of the cathedral. Since those times until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Archbishops of Mainz were archchancellors of the Empire and the most important of the seven Electors of the German emperor. Besides Rome, the diocese of Mainz today is the only diocese in the world with an episcopal see that is called a Holy See (sancta sedes). The Archbishops of Mainz traditionally were primas germaniae, the substitutes of the Pope north of the Alps. Between 11th and 13th centuries not less than six monarchs were crowned in the cathedral.