1055 VIETNAM - Only demons have white teeth?

The areca nut is the seed of the areca palm (Areca catechu), which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. It is commonly referred to as betel nut (even if it isn't a true nut, but rather a drupe), as it is often chewed wrapped in betel leaves, a custom which dates back thousands of years in much of the areas from South Asia eastward to the Pacific. Usually for chewing, a few slices of the nut are wrapped in a betel leaf along with lime (not to be confused with the citrus fruit named lime) and may include clove, cardamom, catechu (kattha) and/or other spices for extra flavouring. Betel leaf has a fresh, peppery taste, but it can also be bitter to varying degrees depending on the variety. This mixture is a mild stimulant, causing a warming sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness, much like a cup of coffee. Even though it seems to have some positive effects on health, the custom is suspected to be carcinogenic.

0701, 1052 ITALY (Veneto) - City of Verona (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 27.06.2013, 07.04.2014
At the time when was happening the action of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Verona reached its maximum prosperity, under the rule of the Scaliger family and particularly under Cangrande I, who protected the exiled poet Dante. Situated at the foot of Monte Lessini on the River Adige, in northern Italy, the city became important because it was at the intersection of several roads. Founded by ancient tribes and became a Roman colony in the 1st century BCE, was occupied by the Ostrogoths, by the Lombards, and by Charlemagne (774). In the early 12th century, it became an independent commune, but it fell to Venice in 1405, was part of the Austrian Empire from 1797, and joined the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. Because is an outstanding example of a town that has developed progressively and uninterruptedly over 2,000 years, incorporating artistic elements of the highest quality from each succeeding period, was designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

The core of the city consists of the Roman town, which includes the Porta Borsari, the Porta Leoni, the Arco dei Gavi, the Ponte Pietra, the Roman theatre (excavated in the mid-19th century and restored for use in spectacles), and the Amphitheatre Arena (the second-largest after the Colosseum in Rome). The Scaligers rebuilt the walls, embracing a much larger territory in the west and another vast area on the east bank of the river. The heart of Verona is the ensemble consisting of the Piazza delle Erbe (with its picturesque vegetable market) and the Piazza dei Signori, with their historic buildings, including the Palazzo del Comune, Palazzo del Governo, Loggia del Consiglio, Arche Scaligere and Domus Nova. The Piazza Bra has a number of classicist buildings.

1046 TURKEY (Aegean Region) - Didyma

1046 The ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma

Didim, a small town and a popular seaside holiday resort on the Aegean coast, on the north shore of the gulf of Güllük, is home of the antique city of Didyma with its Temple of Apollo, the Didymaion. Next to Delphi, Didyma was the most renowned oracle of the Hellenic world, first mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, and also the largest and most significant sanctuary on the territory of the great classical city Miletus. To approach it, visitors would follow the Sacred Way to Didyma, about 17 km long.

Entrance ticket to the Temple of Apollo at Didyma (2013)

Along the way, were ritual waystations, and statues of members of the Branchidae family, as well as animal figures. Some of these statues, dating to the 6th century BC are now in the British Museum, taken by Charles Newton in the 19th century. The 6th century Didymaion enclosed a smaller predecessor, its treasury being enriched by gifts from Croesus. Until its destruction by the Persians in 494 BC, the sanctuary was administered by the family of the Branchidae. The priestess, seated above the sacred spring, gave utterances that were interpreted by the Branchidae.

0092, 0171, 0534, 1004, 1005, 1044 CAMBODIA (Siem Reap) - Angkor (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 06.01.2012, 14.04.2012, 02.03.2013, 16.02.2014 and 03.04.2014
Subjected to the Indian influences, passed through filters Thai or Lao, for more than 1,000 years, the Khmer have created firstly kingdoms of Funan and Chenla, to achieve peak during the Khmer Empire (centuries 9th-15th), of which greatest material legacy is Angkor, the site of the capital city during the empire's zenith. The spiritual legacy is Theravada Buddhism, introduced to the area through monks from Sri Lanka in the 13th century, considered for centuries an esential element of the khmer's ethnic and cultural identity. If about the early days of the empire we don't know too much, after the 13th century Angkor was visited by many travelers, starting with chinese Zhou Daguan and continuing with Portuguese and Spanish missionaries. The Khmer already constructed the most important architectural masterpieces in the area known as Angkor, the largest preindustrial city in the world, with more than one million inhabitants. .Angkor, located to the north of the Great Lake (Tonlé Sap) and south of the Kulen Hills, near modern-day Siem Reap, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site from 1992.

The principal temple, Angkor Wat (in the first three postcards), was built between 1113 and 1150 by King Suryavarman II, as his personal temple mausoleum. It’s the world's largest religious building and it has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag. Very well preserved, it’s the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation - first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. The most comprehensive presentation of the temple and the most easily accessible to a wide public seems to be that of The Monuments of the Angkor Group by Maurice Glaize, published in 1944 in Saigon. I will quote only a few short, but representative fragments, a "snack" if you like:

"Angkor may be visited in all seasons. However the most favourable period extends from November to March, during the first months of the dry season, when the temperature is particularly clement. […] It is preferable, particularly in the hot season, to leave early in the morning and to return before eleven o'clock, and not to revisit in the afternoon until three or four o'clock - the light at the end of the day being generally more favourable. The majority of the monuments - and in particular Angkor Wat - lose much in being viewed against the light. […] We would especially recommend the setting of the sun at Angkor Wat, where sometimes the spectacle will include the flight of the bats in the fading light, or from the top of Phnom Bakheng or Phnom Krom, or the terrace of the Srah Srang - or else from the beach of the baray, where the bathing is delightful. Finally, if you have the opportunity, do not miss, by the light of the full moon, the second level courtyard of Angkor Wat at the foot of the central tower, or the upper terrace of the Bayon."

"Constructed to the south of the capital (Angkor Thom), Angkor Wat is sited in the south-east corner of the ancient city of Angkor - Yasodharapura - built by Yasovarman I, centred on Phnom Bakheng and which stretched between the Siem Reap river to the east and the dike of the baray to the west. […] Isolated from the forest by its moats, Angkor Wat was, of all the monuments of the group, the best placed to escape the invasion of the jungle and hence ruin. Moreover, following the establishment of Buddhism of the small vehicle, it has always sheltered pagodas, as a place of pilgrimage for the Khmer, within its enclosure - though at one time partially masking the main façade these had to be re-sited in order not to detract from the overall perspective."

 

Another very interesting work that talks also about Angkor is Voyage dans les royaumes de Siam, de Cambodge, de Laos et autres parties centrales de l'Indo-Chine (Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China, Cambodia and Laos During the Years 1858,1859, and 1860), by Henri Mouhot, published in 1863 in Paris. Mouhot is the one who popularized Angkor in the West, naming it "the work of the King of Angels."

In the fourth postcard are two Apsaras, females spirits of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist mythology (also known as Vidhya Dhari or Tep Apsar in Khmer, which means "nymph" or "celestial maiden"). Beautiful, youthful and elegant, often the wives of the Gandharvas (the court musicians of Indra), Apsaras are superb in the art of dancing, seducing equally gods and men. As caretakers of fallen heroes, they may be compared to the valkyries of Norse mythology, and as ethereal beings often depicted taking flight, to angels, but sometimes are also compared to the muses of ancient Greece. Probably due to the association with water, they are able to change their shape at will. Apsaras represent an important motif in the stone bas-reliefs of the Angkorian temples, but not all female images are considered to be apsaras, the ones who have static attitude being called devatas. Angkor Wat features both apsaras and devatas, but the devatas are the most numerous. Khmer classical dance, the indigenous ballet-like performance art, is frequently called "Apsara Dance" and reflects one of the origin myths in Cambodia, depicting the union of Mera, a celestial dancer, and Kambu, a wise man.

Built in the late 12th century or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII, the Bayon Temple (in the fifth postcard) stands at the centre of Jayavarman's capital, Angkor Thom, meaning the intersection of heaven and earth. Following Jayavarman's death, it was modified and augmented by later Hindu and Theravada Buddhist kings in accordance with their own religious preferences. Bayon is known for its huge stone faces of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, with one facing outward and keeping watch at each compass point. The curious smiling image, thought by many to be a portrait of Jayavarman himself, has been dubbed by some the "Mona Lisa of Southeast Asia." There are 51 smaller towers surrounding Bayon, each with four faces of its own. The temple is known also for two impressive sets of bas-reliefs, which present an unusual combination of mythological, historical, and mundane scenes. I have to appeal again to the book The Monuments of the Angkor Group, comprehensive and accessible:

 

"Separated by less than a century, the Bayon is the antithesis of Angkor Wat. While this latter sits at ease in its successive enclosure walls, realising according to a spacious plan a vast architectural composition through the harmonious equilibrium of its towers and its galleries, the Bayon, enclosed within the rectangle of 140 metres by 160 that constitutes its third enclosure (the gallery of the bas-reliefs), gives the impression of being compressed within a frame which is too tight for it. Like a cathedral built on the site of a village church, its central mass is crammed into its second gallery, of 70 metres by 80, in a jumbled confusion of piled blocks."[…]

1042, 1043 POLAND (Subcarpathia) - Baranów Sandomierski Castle

Located in southern Poland, on the central section of the Vistula River, the small town Baranów Sandomierski, first mentioned in 1135, was an important center of Calvinism during the Protestant Reformation, and experienced a short period of prosperity before the catastrophic Swedish invasion of Poland (1655 - 1660), when was ransacked and burned. It is well known for its picturesque Renaissance castle, surnamed as "little Wawel". Built around 1591-1606 for Andrzej and Rafał Leszczyński in Poland's Mannerism style, it is the work of the famous architect Santi Gucci, the court artist of King Sigismund II Augustus.

In 1620 the castle was surrounded by bastion fortifications and in 1625 its chambers were adorned with early Baroque decorations. On the end of the 17th century it came into the possession of the Lubomirski family. Prince Józef Karol Lubomirski added the western wing gallery and embellished the interiors with profuse late-baroque stucco decorations. The gallery housed their collection of art, destroyed in massive fires, first in 1848 and finally in 1898. Then the structure was restored by Stanisław Dolański, under the direction of the Cracovian architect Tadeusz Stryjeński. The Chapel was decorated with the impressive stained-glass windows of  Józef Mehoffer as well as an altar with the exceptional painting by Jacek Malczewski "Immaculate Mother of God". It remained in the possession of the Dolański family till the outbreak of WWII.

1039 CROATIA (Dubrovnik-Neretva) - Historical-town planning ensemble of Ston with Mali Ston, connecting walls, the Mali Ston Bay nature reserve, Stonsko Polje and the salt pans (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

The fertile fields and large protected bays of the south of isthmus of the Pelješac peninsula, where is located the municipality of Ston, favoured always the human settlements, as proved the archaeological excavations, which brought to light a variety of cultural layers since prehistory through antiquity, the Middle Ages to the present day. The sites of the Ston region, blended inseparably with the natural framework, make up a universal civilizational value and link between Nature and Man, and assert the regions and the 2000 years of its history.

1038 GUYANA - St. Georges Anglican Cathedral (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

Located on Church Street in Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana, this Anglican cathedral, designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, was consecrated in 1894. At the beginning, the architect Arthur Blomfield designed the plans of a cathedral in stone, with a central tower and two western towers, but these were rejected because of the weight and the expense. His subsequent plans for a wooden cathedral were accepted, a design that kept many of the salient features of his first plan, such as the central tower and the Latin cross formation of nave and transepts.

1037 GREECE (Crete) - Gorge of Samaria National Park (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

Crete, the largest of the Greek islands, once the center of the Minoan civilization, is mountainous and a land of gorges, the most glamorous being Samariá Gorge, the symbol of the island, which holds a unique and distinguished position in Cretan, Greek and Mediterranean history. Created by a small river running between the White Mountains (Lefká Óri), the largest mountain range of Crete, which dominate the southwest part of the island, and Mount Volakias, it is also identified with the unceasing production of the material and immaterial cultural heritage of Crete through the ages.

1035 UNITED STATES (California) - The GS-5 steam locomotive No. 4459 in 1953, in Los Angeles

This is the first postcard about which there was no need to search informations, because what it is written on its back it is more then enough:

"Four years before this great picture was taken, reproducing the glamorous, glory-days of steam, when a Lima Southern Pacific "Northern" waltzed a shiny red-orange-and-black Coast Daylight out of Los Angeles - on April 12, 1953 - just four years earlier there were trains prancing all over the Coast Route. She was then the Morning Daylight, this No. 99, this proud beauty - and acknowledged money-maker. There was also a sister train, the Noon Daylight, out of L.A. at a quarter past noon - because this service was so popular. The swank all-Pullman Park skirted the Coast Line at night. Even the well-known Coaster, Nos. 69 and 70, ran in those wonderful days. And 71 and 72, lowliest rattler of all, but once displaying those haughty numerals on the original Daylight Limited in pre-streamlining days - she sill ran.

0166, 1034 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (Dubai) - Burj Al Arab

Posted on 06.04.2012, 16.03.2014
The first postcard is very representative and suggestive for the current state of the emirates, combining in a appropriate way the past, the present, and even the future. I said here that in Dubai is the world's only Seven-Star hotel (officially rated Five-Star Deluxe). It's about Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs), which, with its 321m, it's now (2014) the fourth tallest hotel in the world. For a decade, since its opening in 1999, until the inauguration of the Rose Rayhaan by Rotana, was the tallest, being exceeded also since then by the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai (2013) and The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong (2011).

It was built on an artificial island 280m out from Jumeirah beach, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. Its shape was designed by architect Tom Wright of WS Atkins PLC to mimic the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. Two "wings" spread in a V to form a "mast", while the space between them is enclosed in a massive atrium (182m), also the tallest in the world. The wide open balconies flank two sides of te atrium. At the front of the building, and forming the third wall to the atrium, is a geometric double-skin membrane of PTFE-coated fibreglass, which both helps to insulate the atrium space and acts as a canvas for images projected onto the face of the hotel.

1033 SPAIN (Cantabria) - Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain (UNESCO WHS)

The Altamira cave, located near the town of Santillana del Mar, 30 km west of the city of Santander, was well known to locals, but had not been given much attention until in 1868, when it was "discovered" by the hunter Modesto Peres. Seven years later, the amateur archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola started its exploration, and in 1879 his daughter Maria, nine years old at the time, noticed that the ceiling was covered by images of bisons.

1032 BRAZIL - The flag of the country

The Portuguese territories in the Americas, corresponding roughly to what is now Brazil, never had their own flag, since the Portuguese imposed hoisting the flag of their kingdom in all territories of the crown. The first Brazilian vexillological symbols were private maritime flags used by Portuguese merchant ships that sailed to Brazil. In time, the armillary sphere became the unofficial ensign of Brazil. In 1815, Brazil was elevated to the rank of kingdom, and became part of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, so adopted its flag. After the Declaration of Independence, and with the coronation of Pedro I as Emperor of Brazil, the Royal Standard was modified to become the flag of the Empire of Brazil. In 1889, upon the proclamation of the republic, was adopted the flag which remained unchanged until 1992.

1031 CHINA (Hubei) - The hometown of the poet Qu Yuan

Qu Yuan (343-278 BC) was a poet who served in high offices in the ancient state of Chu, known for his contributions to the classical poetry, especially through the poems of the Chu Ci anthology (also known as The Songs of the South), written in exile. It is said that, when his king decided to ally with the powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance and even accused of treason. Twenty-eight years later, Qin captured Ying (the Chu capital), and Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River.

1029 AUSTRIA (Lower Austria) - Heiligenkreuz Abbey (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

Located in the southern part of the Vienna woods, at about 13 km north-west of Baden, Stift Heiligenkreuz (Holy Cross Abbey) is the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian monastery in the world. It was founded in 1133 by Margrave St. Leopold III of Austria, at the request of his son Otto, and in 1188 Leopold V presented the abbey with a relic of the True Cross, a present from Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem. This relic still can be seen, and since 1983 is exhibited in the chapel of the Holy Cross. Actually Heiligenkreuz was richly endowed by the founder's family, the Babenberg dynasty, and was active in the foundation of many daughter-houses.

1028 GERMANY (Saxony-Anhalt) - Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg (UNESCO WHS)

In 15th century, Eisleben, situated in the eastern foothills of the Harz Mountains, was a pretty prosperous town, due to its copper mines, exploited since the 13th century. Here was born, on 10 November 1483, Martin Luther, the son of Hans Luder, a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters. Become monk in 1505 and ordained to the priesthood in 1507, he was received into the senate of the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg in 1512, having been called to the position of Doctor in Bible. Five years later he wrote The Ninety-Five Theses (original Latin: Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum), piece of work which is regarded as the initial catalyst for the Protestant Reformation, one of the most significant events in the religious and political history of the world. The most important collaborator of Luther, and also the primary founder, alongside with him, of Lutheranism, was Philipp Melanchthon, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation. Because of the importance of Luther and Melanchthon in Protestant Reformation, some individual sites and monuments associated to their lives, located in Eisleben and Wittenberg, were designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site:

1027 CHILE (Tarapacá) - Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works (UNESCO WHS)

 

The gunpowder is only a simple mix of sulphur, charcoal and saltpeter, but it is known how much it influenced our history. Well, among the three ingredients, the last was the hardest to obtain until the 20th century. Derived as name from the Latin sal petrae (salt of the rock), the saltpeter is a nitrate salt (of calcium, potasium or sodium), used also as fertilizer and food preservative. The calcium nitrate (Norwegian saltpeter) forms an efflorescence where the manure comes in contact with the limestone in a dry environment as in stables or caverns. The potassium nitrate (niter, Chinese snow, or India salpeter) occurs also as a crust on the soil and on the surface of rocks in dry climates and in the soil of limestone caves. Both were therefore rare. In this context, you realize what it meant to Chile and Peru the discovery in the Atacama desert of some deposits of sodium nitrate (nitranite) covering immense areas. The accumulations were so big, that this mineral was named Chile saltpeter or Peru saltpeter.