0754 FRANCE (Brittany) - Dance Gwenedour of Pays Pourlet

Once, the Celts formed the largest group of peoples in Europe, covering a huge territory (from Ireland to Asia Minor, and from Iberian Peninsula to the South of Germany), and their contribution to the formation of the majority of the peoples in central and western continent was essential. Brittany (Breizh), previously a kingdom and then a duchy, united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province, is one of the six Celtic nations which have survived until nowadays. It occupies the northwest peninsula of continental Europe in northwest France, and traditionaly was divided into pays or bro ("country" in French respectively Breton). One of these is Pays Pourlet, which spans around the commune Guémené-sur-Scorff, in the area where they speak a breton dialect of low-Vannes type, Pourlet Breton.

0753 UNITED STATES (Pennsylvania) - Independence Hall (UNESCO WHS)

Probably that none of the delegates from the thirteen colonies who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 in Philadelphia, in statehouse of Pennsylvania (now known as Independence Hall), ever dreamed that the newly formed state will reach in less than two centuries one of the world's superpowers. After all it was about 1.5 million colonists (one fifth of then England's population), in overwhelming majority farmers, occupying, that's right, 2,150,000 square km (an area about 16 times the one of England).

0752 SWITZERLAND (Ticino) - Montebello Castle - part of Three Castles, Defensive Wall and Ramparts of the Market-Town of Bellinzona (UNESCO WHS)

0752 Montebello Castle

Because occupies an privileged geographic location in the Alps, with acces to the Po valley southward, to the high alpine passes of Nufenen, St. Gotthard, Lukmanier and San Bernardino northward, and to the San Jorio Pass to the eastward, Bellinzona was always coveted by the powers of the day. Ruled succesively by the Romans, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Longobards, and Franks, it became eventually part of the Holy Roman Empire, that has long disputed it with the Pope. For a while, it was divided between the Ruscas family (pro-Imperial) and the House of Visconti (pro-papacy), and in 1500 joined the Swiss Confederation, as a condominium under the joint administration of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden.

0751 GERMANY (Baden-Württemberg) - The Historical Merchants Hall in Freiburg im Breisgau

Founded in 1120 as a free market town on the western edge of the Black Forest, in the Upper Rhine Plain, on the Dreisam river, at the foot of the hill Schlossberg, Freiburg reached in 14th century one of the richest cities in Europe, due the silver mines in Mount Schauinsland. In order to protect its welfare and facilitate the commerce, it entered into an alliance alongside with Basel, Colmar, and Breisach, known as the Genossenschaft des Rappenpfennigs (Rappenpfennig Collective), which lasted until the end of the 16th century, even if meanwhile the veins of silver were dwindling.

0750 JAPAN (Kantō) - Shinjuku, Tokyo

Integrated into Tokyo City in 1920, Shinjuku (New Lodge) became in 1947 one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, that together make up the core and the most populous part of Tokyo Metropolis. It's a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the world's busiest train station (Shinjuku Station) and the administration centre for the government of Tokyo.Among its notable areas are Golden Gai (with tiny shanty-style bars and clubs frequented by artists), Kabukichō (a red-light district), Kagurazaka (once one of Tokyo's last remaining geisha districts), Shin-Ōkubo (Tokyo's historic ethnic Korean neighborhood), Shinjuku Gyoen (a large park), Shinjuku Ni-chōme (Tokyo's best-known gay district), and Nishi-Shinjuku.

0749 MOROCCO - Traditional clothes and musical instruments

Even if the 99.1% of the Moroccans have an Arab and / or Berber ethnic background (therefore the population has a high degree of homogeneity), the Moroccan folklore is very rich and diverse, and I dare to say that music and dance are keystones of Moroccan traditional culture. If I should choose a single Moroccan folk performance at that I could attend, one and only one, I would choose, without doubt, the dance, because it provides many elements of this culture: the dance itself, but also the music and musical instruments, as well as dancers and musicians costumes.

0748 GERMANY (Hesse) - Hundertwasserhaus Waldspirale in Darmstadt

If Die Grüne Zitadelle von Magdeburg (The Green Citadel of Magdeburg) has been started a year before the death of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Hundertwasserhaus Waldspirale (the Wooded Spiral) was completed even in the year of the artist's death, in 2000, so it can be interpreted as a loud testament to his hatred of straight lines (the "devil's tools", according to his opinion) and his allegiance to nature. The Waldspirale is a residential building complex located in Darmstadt's Bürgerparkviertel, and contains 105 apartments, a parking garage, a kiosk as well as a café and a bar.

0747 CROATIA (Primorje-Gorski Kotar) - Saint Vitus Cathedral in Rijeka

Founded by Celts as Tarsatica and became municipium under the Romans as Flumen, the current city Rijeka was ruled successively, from the 5th century onwards, by the Ostrogoths, the Byzantines, the Lombards, the Avars, the Franks, the Croats, the Hungarians and the Venetians before coming under the control of the Archduchy of Austria in 1466, where it remained for over 450 years, since 1723 as free port. Because of its strategic position (on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea), and of its deep-water port, the city was fiercely contested among Italy, Hungary, and Croatia, changing hands and demographics many times over centuries.

0746 CANADA (Ontario) - Rideau Canal (UNESCO WHS)

The Rideau Canal, also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa on the Ottawa River with the city of Kingston, on Lake Ontario, using sections of major rivers, including the Rideau and the Cataraqui, as well as some lakes. It was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States, but it remains in use today primarily for pleasure boating, with most of its original structures (canal, the locks, associated buildings and forts) intact. It is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, and in 2007 it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

0744 MALAYSIA (Kuala Lumpur) - Petaling Street

Petaling Street (Jalan Petaling), the Chinatown of Kuala Lumpur, is the best place to shop for counterfeit branded products and for trying out a large selection of local Chinese cuisine. This doesn't mean that exclusively offer pirated products, the genuine goods being also available. As can be seen in the postcard, the street is always crowded not only with tourists, but also with locals.

0102 & 0743 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - Cracow's Historic Centre (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 20.01.2012 and completed on 16.07.2013
To try to talk about the history of Poland in a single paragraph would be a haphazard approach and an evidence of superficiality. Few countries have known such status fluctuations in the modern era and the contemporary, from the one of high power (during the union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania stretched from the Baltic almost to the Black Sea) to the inexistence as state, at the end of the 18th century being partitioned between Prussia, Russia and Austria. In fact raising and collapse characterizes it, as well as the verticality of the attitude. As an example the Warsaw Uprising from the autumn of 1944 is undoubtedly one of the most heroic acts in WWII, even if the enormous sacrifices of the insurgents had no other result than the Soviets advance facility, which will keep Poland in their area of influence until the late '80s. 

Can't talk about the history of Poland without talking about Kraków, a city situated in Lesser Poland (Małopolska), on the Vistula River, at the foot of Wawel Hill. It’s not known when it was founded, but in 965 a merchant from Cordoba wrote about it as the bustling trade center of Slavonic Europe. Its northern neighbors of the Piasts’ dynasty incorporated the Kraków province into their principality in the 990s, and thus was born the Kingdom of Poland. In the year 1000 the city had its own bishop, and in 1038 it became Poland’s capital, and its Wawel Castle the residence of Polish kings, but the city’s Golden Age came at the end of the 15th century. For its outstanding medieval architecture, the Historic Centre of Kraków, based on four core areas (the market square; the Wawel hill, inhabited since the Palaeolithic and the site of the imperial palace; the urban district of Kazimierz; and the Stradom quarter), is among the first sites chosen for the UNESCO's original World Heritage List, in 1978.

The Main Square (Rynek Główny - shown in the first postcard) dates back to the 13th century, and is the largest medieval town square in Europe. It is surrounded by old brick buildings (kamienice), palaces and churches, its center being dominated by the Sukiennice (the Cloth Hall or Drapers' Hall - in the first postcard, in right), rebuilt in 1555 in the Renaissance style. On one side of the Sukiennice is the Town Hall Tower (Wieża ratuszowa), on the other the 10th century Church of St. Wojciech (St. Adalbert's) and 1898 Adam Mickiewicz Monument. Rising above the square are the Gothic towers of St. Mary's Basilica (Kościół Mariacki - shown in the first postcard, in center, but also in the second).

0742 CZECH REPUBLIC (Prague) - The God with hieroglyph "L"

In the postcard is a funerary urn representing the God with hieroglyph "L", discovered at Monte Albán, a large pre-Columbian archaeological site located in Mexico and designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. Then why I placed this postcard in the Czech Republic? Not only because from there was sent, but also because this piece is exhibited in the Náprstek Museum, one of the permanent exhibitions of National Muzeum at Bethlehem Square, which is located in the compound of former brewery and wine-making U Halanku in Prague, in Old Town. This is a museum of Asian, African and American art, founded, as a private museum, in 1862 by Vojtech Naprstek, a Czech patron of the arts, politician and national revitalist.

0741 INDONESIA (Java) - Prajurit Wirobrojo, the Sultan's of Yogyakarta ceremonial guards

Located on the island of Java, Yogyakarta is the capital of the region with the same name,  the only one in Indonesia still ruled by a pre-colonial monarchy, the Sultan of Yogyakarta, who serves as the hereditary governor of the region. The current Sultan is the tenth of the dinasty Hamengkubuwono, which rule the region since 1755. Yogyakarta (which means in Indonesian "the city that is fit to prosper") was the capital of Indonesia between 1945 and 1949, and one of its districts, Kotagede, was the capital of Mataram Sultanate between 1575 and 1640.

0740 SWITZERLAND (Bern) - Chästeilet in Bernese Oberland

In the 15th century, the people living north of the Alps began to use rennet (a substance from the stomach of a cow) to make hard cheeses, much more durable than the cottage cheese. This was the foundation of the Swiss cheese culture. Until the 18th century, this cheese was made only in the summer, because the cows were dry in the winter. This changed in the early 19th century, and the cheese made year-round in the valleys in the mountainous regions is now known as mountain cheese, to distinguish it from Alp cheese, which is still produced ​​only in the summer, from milk which comes from cows that spend the summer up on the Alps.

0739 MOROCCO (Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz) - Medina of Marrakesh - Majorelle Garden (UNESCO WHS)

Founded in 1062 AD by Abu Bakr ibn Umar, chieftain and second cousin of the Almoravid king Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Marrakesh remained a political, economic and cultural centre for a long period, being even the capital of the Almoravid Emirate, which stretched from the shores of Senegal to the center of Spain and from the Atlantic coast to Algiers. After a period of decline, the city was surpassed by Fes, but in the early 16th century, it again became the capital of the kingdom. Beginning in the 17th century, the city became popular among Sufi pilgrims for Morocco's seven patron saints, who are entombed here. In 1912 the French Protectorate in Morocco was established and T'hami El Glaoui became Pasha of Marrakesh and held this position nearly until the reestablishment of the monarchy in 1956.

0738 OMAN - A traditional craftsman

Oman is as much a product of geography and history as of culture and economic change, so even if it shares many of the cultural characteristics of its Arab neighbours, particularly of those in the Gulf, it is unique in the Middle East. The relatively recent and artificial nature of the sultanate means that it is difficult to describe a national culture,  its cultural diversity being much greater than that of its Arab neighbours. One of the elements that identifies it is the traditional handicrafts, which in recent years was preserved, promoted and supported by the state. If I'm not mistaken, the man shown in the postcard makes a braiding of palm leaves, a very old manual work in Oman, a lot of people working even today in this field.

0737 BELGIUM (West Flanders) - Dunes Church of Our Lady in Koksijde

Koksijde (Coxyde in French) is a municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders, on the North Sea coast, near the border with France, at only 30km from Dunkirk. Among important sights of Koksijde, alongside of the museum of the historical Abbey of the Dunes (1120-1833), the Zouave Monument (erected in 1934), the British Military Cemetery (1940–1945), and the Paul Delvaux museum (which houses the largest collection of paintings from this Belgian surrealist painter in the world), is the building depicted in the postcard, the Church of Our Lady of the Dunes (also known as Cathedral of Light), built between 1956 and 1962 after the projects of the architect Josef Lantsoght and inspired by the 'kokkel' (a kind of mussel).

0735 FINLAND (Uusimaa) - The Espoo Cathedral

This medieval grey granite church is the oldest in Espoo, the second largest city in Finland, located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Originally designed in the late 15th century by an unknown "Espoo master" and built between 1485 and 1490 under his supervision, it became cathedral in 2004, after the Diocese of Espoo was split off from the Diocese of Helsinki. Actually the only remaining parts of the medieval church are the eastern and western parts of the nave. The weapons room was removed between 1804 and 1806 and certain other parts of the church were taken apart between 1821 and 1823.

0732, 0733 SPAIN (Andalusia) - Historic Centre of Córdoba (UNESCO WHS)

0732 The Roman Bridge over the Guadalquivir and
the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba

Located on the banks of the Guadalquivir river, Córdoba was mentioned for the first time in relation with the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca (father of Hannibal), who renamed the settlement Kartuba, from Kart-Juba ("the City of Juba", a Numidian commander who had died in a battle nearby). In Roman times, but also under Byzantine Empire, and under the Visigoths, it was an important city, but it experienced its golden period under the Moors. Conquered in 711 by a Muslim army, it become firstly the capital of the independent Muslim emirate of al-Andalus, later a Caliphate itself.

0733 Interior of Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba

During the caliphate apogee (1000 AD), Córdoba was one of the the most populous and advanced cities in the world, as well as a great cultural, political, financial and economic centre. In the next centuries it fell into a steady decline, continued also after it was captured by King Ferdinand III of Castile, during the Spanish Reconquista (1236), only in the 20th century knowing a certain recovery. Today, Córdoba has the second largest Old town in Europe, the largest urban area in the world declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO (in 1984, with extension in 1994).

0729 CZECH REPUBLIC (South Moravia) - Church of Saint Thomas in Brno

The Church of Saint Thomas and the Annunciation (Kostel sv. Tomáše Apoštola a Zvěstování P. Marie), situated in Moravian Square (Moravské náměstí) in Brno, was founded in the middle of 14th century by John Henry of Luxembourg, Margrave of Moravia, originally as part of an Augustinian monastery. It was consecrated in 1356, in the presence of Emperor Charles IV, brother and suzerain of John Henry, and it should have served as the crypt for the House of the founder, but only John Henry and his son Jobst of Moravia, titular King of the Germans, are buried here. Current baroque appearance dates back to the second half of the 17th century (1665-1675), when the church was rebuilt according to the plans of Jan Křtitel Erna, after severe damage caused by the Swedish siege of Brno during the Thirty Years War.