0406, 0407 & 0906 BRAZIL (Federal District) - Brasilia (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 08.12.2012, and completed on 16.12.2013
I received the first postcard from this post on December 5 (even if the postmark is from December 4), the day that has passed away, at the age of almost 105 years, the architect Oscar Niemeyer, one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture, best known for his design of civic buildings for Brasília, among which is the one from the first picture, housing the National Congress. In the master's obituary,  The Economist wrote: "More than any other individual, Oscar Niemeyer could claim to have created Brazil's image as a self-consciously modern country. Brazil's most famous architect turned the functionalism of Le Corbusier into a sensual minimalism that was at once daring and restrained. His motto was not that form follows function but that form follows beauty. Like the functionalists he worked in reinforced concrete, but found poetry in it. He rejected right angles in favour of the liberated, sensual curves found in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman - shapes displayed in the stunning setting and bright, clear sunlight of his home city, Rio de Janeiro."

In September 1956, soon after he assumed the Brazilian presidency, Juscelino Kubitschek visited Niemeyer and spoke to the architect about his most audacious scheme: "I am going to build a new capital for this country and I want you to help me […] Oscar, this time we are going to build the capital of Brazil." Niemeyer organized a competition for the lay-out of the new capital, and the winner was the project of his master and great friend, Lúcio Costa. Following, Lúcio designed the plan of the city, and Niemeyer the buildings, such as the residence of the President (Palácio da Alvorada), the House of the deputy, the National Congress of Brazil, the Cathedral of Brasília, diverse ministries, and residential buildings.

Built ex nihilo in only four years, between 1956 and 1960, in the Brazilian Highlands, in the barren center of the country, at hundreds of kilometers from any major city, Brasilia benefited from new concepts of city planning: streets without transit, buildings floating off the ground supported by columns and allowing the space underneath to be free and integrated with nature. Initially, all the city's apartments were owned by the government and rented to its employees, so that the ministers and common laborers have shared the same building. Of course, the next presidents changed this concept.

The National Congress building (the first postcard), located in the middle of the Monumental Axis, the main avenue in Brasília, consists of two semi-spheres (the left one is the seat of the Senate, and the right one is the seat of the Chamber of the Deputies), which have between them two vertical office towers. The design suggests a balance, with two opposing sides intersected by a symbol of equality. The Congress also occupies other surrounding office buildings, some of them interconnected by a tunnel.

The JK Memorial (the second postcard) is a museum opened on September 12, 1981 and dedicated to Juscelino Kubitschek, as I say, the founder of the city of Brasilia. On site are the body of JK, many belongings as his personal library, and photos of him as both his wife Sarah. Featuring works designed by Athos in the outdoor area, a stained glass window designed by artist Marianne Peretti on the vault and a 4.5m sculpture authorship of Honorius Peçanha.

In the third postcard is the Monument to the Candango, known also as Os Guerreiros (The Warriors), a work in bronze of the Italian Brazilian sculptor Bruno Giorgi. It is the centerpiece of Brazil's governmental plaza, Praça dos Três Poderes (Three Powers Plaza), and was erected to pay homage to the thousands of workers who built Brasilia, whose nickname were "candango". The sculpture has become the symbol of the city.

0895, 0896, 0904 & 0905 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Colonial City of Santo Domingo (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 10.12.2013 and completed on 15.12.2013
Discovered by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage (1492), the Hispaniola island, located in Greater Antilles archipelago, between Cuba and Puerto Rico, was the site of the first European colony, founded in 1493, but also of the oldest European city in the Americas, Santo Domingo, dating to 1496 (officially to 1498). Expeditions which led to Ponce de León's colonization of Puerto Rico, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar's colonization of Cuba, Hernando Cortes' conquest of Mexico, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa's sighting of the Pacific Ocean were all launched from Santo Domingo, known as the "Gateway to the Caribbean". In June 1502 the city was destroyed by a hurricane, and the new Governor rebuilt it on the other side of the Ozama River. The original layout of the city can still be appreciated today throughout the Ciudad Colonial (Colonial City), declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990.

Known colloquially as Zona Colonial (Colonial Zone), the Ciudad Colonial is located on the west bank of the Ozama River, which bisects the city. The central public space of the district is Parque Colon (in the first postcard), a square that borders the cathedral and has a late-19th-century bronze statue of Christopher Columbus in its center. The Cathedral of Santa María la Menor is the oldest cathedral in the Americas, begun in 1512 and completed in 1540. It once held the title Primate of the Americas, it has since been the only Archdiocese to have held this title. The building combines elements of both Gothic and Baroque with some lavish plateresque styles as exemplified by the high altar chiseled out of silver. Of note, the remains of Christopher Columbus were once housed at the cathedral, before their final resting place in the Faro a Colon.

Calle del Conde (The Count's Street - in the second postcard), one of the oldest streets in Santo Domingo, is a pedestrian-only street that includes several notable commercial buildings of the early 20th century and connects Parque Colon with the Puerta del Conde and Parque Independencia. The name ‘El Conde’ honours the Conde (Count) of Peñalba, who defeated the English in the 17th century. This is the street where everyone comes to Promenade and it is packed with shops, cafés and restaurants, from cheap fast food to authentic local places that have a good reputation. The Conde is also lined with street vendors selling toys, paintings, split coconuts, CDs, DVDs and empanadas.

The Alcázar de Colón (Columbus Alcazar - in the third postcard) is America's first castle, once the residence of Don Diego Colón, a son of Christopher Columbus. The building houses the Museo Alcázar de Diego Colón, whose collection exhibits the Caribbean's most important ensemble of European late medieval and Renaissance works of art. It is an impressive construction of coralline blocks that once housed some fifty rooms and a number of gardens and courtyards, although what remains today is about half the size it once was. It was from here that many expeditions of conquest and exploration were planned. In 1586, the palace was sacked by Sir Francis Drake and his forces. By the mid-18th century was abandoned, being restored between 1955 and 1957.

The Museo de las Casas Reales (in the fourth postcard) is a monumental complex that includes the former Palace of the Governors and the building of the former Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo, dating back to the 16th century. The original architectural structure has undergone a number of changes through the country's history. In 1807, during the period of French sovereignty over the Eastern part of Hispaniola, the general Louis Ferrand gave the facade a classical architectural style. The building was later restored to its original 16th-century appearance, and was established in 1973 as a museum to highlight the history, life and customs of the inhabitants of the Spanish colony.

About the stamp

Frankly, I don't know if it is a stamp or just a label, as the ones used for priority mail. It looks like a stamp, was issued by Instituto Postal Dominicano (INPOSDOM), and was postmarked, but has also a bar-code and a number. Furthermore, it seems that it has an universal face value (official mail / priority mail / by air mail). I didn't find anything else about this stamp / label nor even on this institution's site and on its philatelic blog.

0903 CHRISTMAS (Australia) - Baubles

The custom of the Christmas tree developed in modern Germany (with predecessors that can be traced to the 16th century), from where it spread to Europe in the 19th century, and after WWI in many other countries worldwide. It's frequently traced to the symbolism of evergreen trees in pre-Christian winter rites. The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples (symbolizing the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil), nuts, and later candies, and in the 18th century it began to be illuminated by candles, now replaced by Christmas lights. In the modern era apples and nuts were replaced by baubles, small hollow glass or plastic spheres coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective.

0902 CHRISTMAS (Luxembourg) - Frohe Weihnachten

Frohe Weihnachten means "Merry Christmas" in German, but I believe that also in Luxembourgish, two of the three administrative languages of Luxembourg (the third is French). The vivid and bright colors delight the eye and gladden the soul, and the onion-shaped domes and the ogee arches leads my mind to the stories of One Thousand and One Nights.

0416-0418 & 0900 ROMANIA (Suceava) - Gura Humorului from summer to winter

Posted on 15.12.2012, completed on 13.12.2013
Located in the north-east of Romania, in southern Bukovina, in Humorului Depression, at the confluence of Moldova River and Humor River, between forested ridges of Obcina Mare, Obcina Voroneţului and Obcina Humorului, Gura Humorului has almost 14,000 inhabitants (declining in the last two decades). From geographically, obcina indicates in Romanian some type of relief, with prolonged ridges, not very high, separated by parallel valleys, and etymologically, it remembers of common property of the free peasants on forests and grazing from these heights. In nowadays the town administers the former village Voroneţ (which became a neighborhood - in the second postcard in right), site of Voroneţ Monastery, one of the eight which formes the UNESCO World Heritage Site named Churches of Moldavia. Another one, namely Humor Monastery, is at only 5km.

The first documentary mention of the settlement dates from 1490, in a document issued by the chancellery of Ştefan cel Mare. In 1782, seven years after the annexation of northern Moldavia by the Habsburg Empire, region called since then Bukovina (I wrote about that here), in Gura Humorului is moved Austrian military commander, which built here a fortress. After 1800, in the settlement began to establish Germans, Poles, Ukrainians, Rusyns and Hungarians, who founded in 1835 a colony named Bori. Since this year, began to settle here numerous Jews, who formed in 1869 around a third of the settlement's population. On May 11, 1899 a disastrous fire destroyed most of the settlement, but was rebuilt soon after, with donations from the United States Jewish communities, and in 1904 it received city status. On October 10, 1941 the fascist regime deported virtually all the Jewish community (2,945 people) to Transnistria, where most of them perished.

In the fourth postcard is the intersection of the road E576 (Suceava - Cluj-Napoca) and DJ177 (which leads to Humor Monastery), surprised by Marius Vasiliu in winter, exactly on December 21, 2012 (Ready for Christmas). In the distance can be seen the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos, completed in 2011, 16 years after the putting of the cornerstone. A wonderful postcard representing the map of Gura Humorului you can find here. 

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.

0894 FRANCE (Centre-Val de Loire) - Chartres Cathedral (UNESCO WHS)

Located on a hill on the left bank of the Eure River, at 96km southwest of Paris, Chartres is best known for its cathedral (Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres), widely considered to be the finest Gothic cathedral in France, for which reason was included on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979. The current cathedral, mostly constructed between 1194 and 1250, is the last of at least five which have occupied the site since the town became a bishopric in the 4th century. While the city was heavy bombed in WWII, the cathedral was spared by an American Army officer who challenged the order to destroy it, so it is in an exceptional state of preservation. The majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact (during the WWII were removed), while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century.

0893 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Elaborate make-up of Chinese Opera performer

Chinese opera together with Greece tragic-comedy and Indian Sanskrit Opera are the three oldest dramatic art forms in the world. Its roots going back as far as the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), and during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) the Emperor Taizong established an opera school with the poetic name Liyuan (Pear Garden). Since the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) it has been encouraged by court officials and has become a traditional art form. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), it became fashionable among ordinary people, and performances were watched in tearooms, restaurants, and even around makeshift stages.

0890 URUGUAY - The map and the flag of the country

Crammed between the huge Brazil and Argentina, the tiny but prosperous Uruguay is home to 3.3 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city, Montevideo, founded as a military stronghold by the Spanish in the early 18th century. The country won its independence between 1811 and 1828, following a four-way struggle between Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Brazil. It remained subjected to foreign influence throughout the 19th century, with the military playing a recurring role in politics until the late 20th century.

0889 CROATIA (Zagreb) - A girl in traditional clothes and Zagreb Cathedral

In the center of the postcard can be seen the two spires of the Zagreb Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and to kings Saint Stephen and Saint Ladislaus. It is typically Gothic, and is the tallest building in Croatia. Its construction started in 1093, but the building was destroyed by the Tatars in 1242. At the end of the 15th century, the Ottomans built fortification walls around it, and in the 17th century a fortified renaissance watchtower was erected on the south side. Severely damaged in the 1880 earthquake, was restored in the Neo-Gothic style, two spires 108m high being raised.

0888 FRANCE (Occitania) - Pont du Gard (UNESCO WHS)

Built shortly before the Christian era to allow the aqueduct of Nîmes (which is almost 50 km long) to cross the Gardon River, the Pont du Gard is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and is the best preserved with the Aqueduct of Segovia. The Roman architects and hydraulic engineers who designed this bridge, which stands almost 50 m high and is on three levels - the longest measuring 275m - created a technical as well as an artistic masterpiece, for which reason it was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1985. After the collapse of the Roman Empire and the aqueduct's fall into disuse, the Pont du Gard remained largely intact due to its importance as a toll bridge. For centuries the local lords and bishops were responsible for its upkeep in exchange for the right to levy tolls on travellers.

0887 JAPAN (Hokkaido) - Patriarch Ainu of Shinto Ritual

Ainu (in historical texts Ezo), an indigenous people living in Japan (Hokkaidō island) and Russia (Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands), is one of the most mysterious ethnic groups in the world. They are very distinct from the Japanese people and it seems that before the Tungus invasion coming from mainland Asia the whole archipelago was inhabited by Ainu. Many early investigators proposed a Caucasian ancestry, but recent genetic researches haven't shown any genetic similarity with modern Europeans, but rather with the Tungusic, Altaic and Uralic populations. While some researchers say that they are the descendants of the Jōmon-jin people (who lived 10,000 years ago), another part is of the opinion that the origins of the Ainu can go as far around 35,000-40,000 years ago, during the last major glaciation which united the Japanese islands with mainland Asia. One of their Yukar Upopo, or legends, tells that "The Ainu lived in this place a hundred thousand years before the Children of the Sun came".

0886 FRANCE (Occitania) - Episcopal City of Albi (UNESCO WHS)

Located on the River Tarn, in Languedoc, Albi was inhabited since the Bronze Age, but began to develop only in 11th century, in 1040 being built the Pont Vieux (Old Bridge), and new quarters. The city grew rich at this time, thanks to trade and commercial exchanges, and also to the tolls charged to travelers for using the Pont Vieux. In the second half of the 12th century became one of the important centers of the Cathars, a christian movement which claimed the idea of two Gods or principles, one being good (the God of the New Testament) and the other evil (Satan). Of course that the movement was declared heretical, and the repression was severe, many Cathars being burnt at the stake. The area, until then virtually independent, was reduced to such a condition that it was subsequently annexed by the French Crown.

0885 FRANCE (Guadeloupe) - Boy with lobsters in Guadeloupe

From what I understand, Guadeloupe's economy, based on tourism, agriculture, light industry and service, depends on two factors, it's true, for different reasons: France (for subsidies and imports), and the hurricanes (which periodically devastate it). The island is dependent on imported food, mainly from France, but the fishing is a traditional source of food. Among marine creatures fished in Guadeloupe waters are the Caribbean spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus), which, as any others lobsters, are hard to catch in large numbers, but their large size make them a profitable catch.

0883 FINLAND - A lake at dawn

I received this postcard thanks to a swap within a group of friends on the topic "yellow". Couldn't be a more appropriate image, with intense colors, hot, reminiscent of summer, for this gloomy winter day that I look out the window.