3163 TAIWAN - Dadaocheng Wharf in Taipei

3163 Dadaocheng Wharf in Taipei at sunset

Located in Twatutia, Datong district, on the banks of the Tamsui River, near the No. 5 Water Gate, Dadaocheng was originally settled by Pingpu people that migrated there after a fierce fight with settlers in Mengjia (current day Wanhua District) from Tongan in Fujian Province. Over the years, it developed with shops and homes rising up along the river. After Tamsui Port opened, Dadaocheng became the main entrepot in Taipei under the administration of Liu Ming-chuan.

1067-1070, 1541, 2735, 3162 UNITED STATES (New York) - Statue of Liberty (UNESCO WHS)

1067 - Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty

Posted on 28.04.2014, 25.04.2015, 04.08.2016, 08.10.2017
The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in the middle of New York Harbor, in Manhattan. The statue, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi built by Gustave Eiffel and dedicated on October 28, 1886, was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet.

1068 - The Statue of Liberty with Manhattan in the background (1)

The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad. Bartholdi was inspired by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye, who is said to have commented in 1865 that any monument raised to American independence would properly be a joint project of the French and American peoples. He may have been minded to honor the Union victory in the American Civil War and the end of slavery.

1069 - Aerial view of the Statue of Liberty

 

This masterpiece of the human spirit, which brings together art and engineering in a new and powerful way, is composed of thinly pounded copper sheets over a steel framework, designed by the French engineer Gustave Eiffel. Its symbolic value lies in two basic factors. Presented by France with the intention of affirming the historical alliance between the two nations, it was financed by international subscription in recognition of the establishment of the principles of freedom and democracy.

3162 - The Statue of Liberty with Manhattan in the background (2)
Postcard made exclusively for Statue of Liberty Museum

The Statue also soon became and has endured as a symbol of the migration of people from many countries into the United States in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. The torch-bearing arm was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, in 1876, and in New York's Madison Square Park from 1876 to 1882. Fundraising proved difficult, especially for the Americans, and by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened due to lack of funds.

1070 - New York Harbor at dusk

 Publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World started a drive for donations to complete the project that attracted more than 120,000 contributors. The statue was constructed in France, shipped overseas in crates, and assembled on the completed pedestal on what was then called Bedloe's Island. In 1956, Bedloe's Island was renamed Liberty Island, and nearby Ellis Island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument by proclamation of President Lyndon Johnson in 1965.

1541 - Statue of Liberty

In 1972, the American Museum of Immigration, in the statue's base, was opened in a ceremony led by President Richard Nixon. The museum's backers never provided it with an endowment to secure its future and it closed in 1991 after the opening of an immigration museum on Ellis Island. In 1984, the statue was closed to the public for the duration of the renovation. The torch, found to have been leaking water since the 1916 alterations, was replaced with an exact replica of Bartholdi's unaltered torch. It reflects the sun's rays in daytime and lighted by floodlights at night.

2735 The 130th Anniversary of
the Statue of Liberty

The entire puddled iron armature designed by Gustave Eiffel was replaced. Low-carbon corrosion-resistant stainless steel bars that now hold the staples next to the skin are made of Ferralium, an alloy that bends slightly and returns to its original shape as the statue moves. In 1984, the Statue of Liberty was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because is a "masterpiece of the human spirit" that "endures as a highly potent symbol - inspiring contemplation, debate and protest - of ideals such as liberty, peace, human rights, abolition of slavery, democracy and opportunity."

3161 UNITED KINGDOM (England) - HMS Victory

3161 Starboard side of H.M.S. Victory

HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and one of the most famous warships ever launched. Ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765, she was placed in active service after France joined the American War of Independence in 1778. Over time she served as Keppel's flagship at Ushant, Howe's flagship at Cape Spartel, and Jervis's flagship at Cape St Vincent, but she is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

3160 SWEDEN (Skåne) - Kristianstad

Located in Scania, the southernmost province of Sweden, on the river Helgeå (lit. "The Holy river"), Kristianstad has gone during the last 15 years from a garrison town to a developed commercial city, which today attract visitors in the summertime. Sweden's lowest point, at 2.41m below sea level, is located in Kristianstad. Because of this, parts of the city have to be protected from flooding by a system of levees and water pumps, but on other hand, the wetlands around the city are starting to be regarded as an asset, not least thanks to the creation of Kristianstads Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve, a Unesco biosphere reserve.

3159 BRAZIL - Ants from Brazil

Insects are, by far, the largest group of animals on the Earth (well over 1,000,000 species), representing 95% of the arthropods and 65% of the animal kingdom. Of these, 10,000 species are of ants (Formicidae), living on all continents except Antarctica. It is believed that the biomass of all the ants in the world equates to the biomass of all humans, and represents about 10% of the biomass of all animals. In Brazil were identified 1484 species and subspecies of ants, of which 529 are endemic.

2425, 2738, 3158 NETHERLANDS (Sint Maarten) - Maho Beach

2425 Sint Maarten - An Air France Airbus over Maho Beach

Posted on 01.04.2016, 05.08.2016, 07.10.2017
The island of Saint Martin is served by many major airlines that daily bring in large jet aircraft, including Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s carrying tourists from across the world. The short main runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, and its position between a large hill and a beach, causes some spectacular approaches. Aviation photographers flock to the airport to capture pictures of large jets just a few metres above sunbathers on Maho Beach.

2738 Sint Maarten - Aircraft over Maho Beach

Located in Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of the island, the Princess Juliana International Airport is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, St. Barthélemy and St. Eustatius. It is named after Juliana of the Netherlands, who as crown princess landed here in 1944, the year after the airport opened. Started as a military airstrip in 1942, it was converted to a civilian airport in 1943. Despite the reputed difficulties in approach, there have been no records of major incidents at the airport.

3158 Sint Maarten - Aircraft over Maho Beach (3D lenticular postcard)

3157 VIETNAM (South Central Coast) - A friendly smile from Hội An

In almost the entire 20th century, Vietnam was the scene of military conflicts, not seldom atrocious. The more precious is the gentle and warm smile of this old woman from Hội An, who bears on the head the traditional nón lá.

3156 PHILIPPINES (National Capital Region) - Feast of the Black Nazarene

The Black Nazarene is a life-sized image of a dark-skinned, kneeling Jesus Christ carrying the Cross enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in the Quiapo district of the City of Manila. It was carved by a unknown Mexican from a dark wood in the 16th century, and arrived in Manila via galleon from Acapulco, on May 31, 1606. It depicts Jesus en route to his crucifixion, and was housed in several churches near Manila in the early decades, arriving in Quiapo Church in 1787 where it has been enshrined ever since.

3155 ROMANIA (Bucharest) - The 5th Meetup of the group Postcrossing & Philately, Bucharest, 16 September 2017

The 5th meeting of this group of collectors passionate by postcrossing and philately alike had in teh program a visit to a less common place: the Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest. Officialy named Şerban Vodă cemetery (because it is located on the Şerban Vodă Avenue) is the largest and most famous cemetery in Bucharest, and an authentic cultural attractions, especially because of the many notable Romanian personalities in all fields who have found eternal rest here.

3154 MEXICO (Guanajuato) - San Miguel de Allende - part of Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco (UNESCO WHS)

The city of San Miguel de Allende sits at a high elevation (1910m) on the Central Mexican Plateau, which is a large arid-to-semi-arid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. A series of low mountains, the Sierra Central, surround San Miguel and are part of the Sierra Madre Occidental. The entire city is located within the national Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Before the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century, San Miguel was an indigenous Chichimeca village called Izcuinapan.

3153 POLAND (Podlaskie) / BELARUS (Grodno / Brest) - Białowieża Forest (UNESCO WHS)

The Białowieża Forest World Heritage site, on the border between Poland and Belarus, is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. Situated on the watershed of the Baltic Sea and Black Sea, this transboundary property is exceptional for the opportunities it offers for biodiversity conservation. It is home to the largest population of the heaviest land animal of the continent, the European bison (Bison bonasus) (almost 25% of the total world's population).

3152 VIETNAM (Red River Delta) - Millennial Anniversary of Hanoi

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city by population (7.7 million people in 2015). In 1010, Lý Thái Tổ, the first ruler of the Lý Dynasty, moved the capital of Đại Việt (literally Great Viet) to the site of the Đại La Citadel. Claiming to have seen a dragon ascending the Red River, he renamed the site Thăng Long (Soaring Dragon) - a name still used poetically to this day. This is considered the birth date of Hanoi. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam.

3151 FRANCE (Saint Barthélemy) - Islets at sunset

Around the Saint Barthélemy island are several small satellite islets, generally rocky, uninhabited. Some of them are part of a marine nature reserve that covers 1.200 ha, and is divided into 5 zones all around the island to form a network of protected areas, established with the objective of conserving coral reefs, sea grass beds and marine life.

3150 MYANMAR (Mon State) - Kyaiktiyo Pagoda

Also known as Golden Rock, Kyaiktiyo Pagoda is a well-known Buddhist pilgrimage located in the northern part of the Tenasserim coast, at an elevation of 1,100 m above mean sea level, on top of the Kyaiktiyo hill, on the Paung-laung ridge of the Eastern Yoma mountains. It is a small pagoda (7.3m) built on the top of a granite boulder covered with gold leaves pasted on by its male devotees. Presently, women are not allowed into the inner sanctuary of the rocks vicinity, but are permitted in the outer balcony and the lower courtyard of the rock.

0433-0436, 1597, 3149 ITALY (Lombardy) - Milan

1597 Milan: 1. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II;
2.  Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral); 3. Teatro alla Scala; 4. Sforza Castle

Posted on 27.12.2012, 21.05.2015, 16.09.2017
Strategically placed at the gateway to the Italian peninsula, in the fertile Po Valley, Milan and the surrounding region of Lombardy have been the subject of constant disputes over the centuries. Celts, Romans, Goths, Lombards, Spaniards, French and Austrians have all ruled the city at some stage of its history and for the most part, the city has capitalised on its position and has emerged today as the undisputed industrial, commercial, financial and cultural powerhouse of Italy, and a leading global city, part of the so-called Blue Banana.

3149 Milan: 1.  Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral); 2. Teatro alla Scala;
3. Sforza Castle; 4. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II; 

The city is a major world fashion and design capital, and its museums, theatres and landmarks attracts over 6 million annual visitors. Because Milan has always been a rich city, it has been also a place full of famous artists and offers a particular assortment of buildings and monuments. There was a change of culture and art in the Renaissance with big a contribution in the period of the Neoclassicism.

0433 Milan - Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square)

 

The most important church is the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral), dedicated to Saint Mary Nascent, the third largest church in the world. It occupies the most central site in Roman Mediolanum. Saint Ambrose's 'New Basilica' was built on this site at the beginning of the 5th century, with an adjoining basilica added in 836. The old baptistery, constructed in 335, still can be visited under the cathedral, being one of the oldest Christian buildings in Europe. When a fire damaged cathedral and basilica in 1075, they were later rebuilt as the Duomo.

0434 Milan - Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral)

In 1386, Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo began construction of the cathedral, following the newest trends in European architecture. A French chief engineer, Nicolas de Bonaventure, was appointed, adding to the church its Rayonnant Gothic, a French style not typical for Italy, and in 1399 another French architect, Jean Mignot, was called from Paris. Many others have contributed to the construction, because the cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete, the last gate being inaugurated in 1965. The plan consists of a nave with four side-aisles, crossed by a transept and then followed by choir and apse. The height of the nave is about 45m, the highest Gothic vaults of a complete church. The roof of the cathedral is renowned for the forest of openwork pinnacles and spires, set upon delicate flying buttresses.

0435 Milan - Aerial view of Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square)

The Duomo is located, of course, in Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square), the main piazza (square) of the city, created in the 14th century and gradually developed ever since. Its current plan is largely due to architect Giuseppe Mengoni, and dates back to the second half of the 19th century. The buildings that mark its sides, with the exception of the Duomo itself and the Royal Palace, were introduced by Mengoni's design, the most notable addition being the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade. In the centre of the piazza was placed in 1896 the statue of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of the united Italy. The last major change to the piazza occurred during the Fascist era.

0436 Milan - Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is the oldest shopping mall in Italy, originally designed in 1861 and built by the same Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877. The structure is formed by two glass-vaulted arcades intersecting in an octagon covering the street connecting Piazza del Duomo to Piazza della Scala, more accurate The Duomo and the Teatro Alla Scala. The central octagonal space is topped with a glass dome. On the ground of the central octagonal, there are four mosaics portraying the coat of arms of the three Capitals of the Kingdom of Italy (Turin, Florence and Rome) plus the Milan's. The Galleria is often nicknamed il salotto di Milano (Milan's drawing room), due to its numerous shops and importance as a common Milanese meeting and dining place.