Aleksis Kivi

Pia gave we this maxicard commemorating Aleksis Kivi, originally Alexis Stenvall, (1834-1872), was a Finnish national author and poet, creator of modern Finnish literature. His major novel, Seitsemän veljestä "The seven brothers" (1870), the classic of Finnish culture, has been translated into several languages. Aleksis Kivi was born in Nurmijärvi on the 10th of October 1834 to a rather poor family with three sons. His father Eerik Johan Stenvall was a tailor but a relatively educated man, his mother Annastiina, came from a smith's family. In 1846 Kivi went to Helsinki to continue his education and studied Swedish, which was a necessity for matriculation and for further studies.

In the house where Kivi was living, the master had a wide library and soon Kivi got to know works from authors such as Shakespeare, Cervantes and Byron. Kivi fell in love with his masters daughter Albina Palmquist, who later moved to Denmark. This relationship probably gave influence to Kivi's female characters in several of his plays. Kivi finished his secondary school in 1857 and was admitted to the University of Helsinki in 1859. The classics of literature and theatre were his interests. The same year he made his first play, Kullervo, which was based on the Kalevala, The Finnish National Epic.

In Helsinki, Kivi made friends with leading Finnish speaking personalities such as J.V. Snellman, Elias Lönnrot, Fredrik Cygnaeus and Emil Nervander, who were also his supporters, Snellman also economically. Kivi wasn't very keen on studying, and spent more time writing and drinking than in university. After winning a competition held by the Finnish Literature Society, for his play Kullervo (1859), he had enough money to continue writing in Nurmijärvi and in Siuntio. Charlotta Lönnqvist, who is considered his biggest supporter, helped him along and during that period he published 12 plays, a collection of poems and a play Nummisuutarit "The Heath Cobblers", which won the State prize in 1865. Kivi's friend and supporter, theatre director Kaarlo Bergbom, made many of his plays known to the public.

This epoch-making period, which started in 1863, dedicated Kivi to his mission in life as an author. The novel Seitsemän veljestä "Seven brothers" published in 1870, received scathing criticism from the Finnish professor August Ahlqvist, who characterized the book as a blot on the name of Finnish literature, from its realism, humor and language, which he found too offending and vulgar. With this critic and disparagement, Ahlqvist totally blackened his reputation, and became a symbolic example of oppressiveness against artistic freedom. For Kivi's susceptible nature, this critic was a prime cause for his mental collapse later on.

The last years of his life, apart from his constant financial difficulties and breakdown, Kivi also suffered from schizophrenia, and received treatment in the mental hospital of Lapinlahti in Helsinki. Aleksis Kivi died at the young age of 38 on December 31st, 1872 in Tuusula, where his brother had taken him to spend his last months. The statue of Aleksis Kivi is erected in front of the Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki, next to the railway station.

On the stamp issued on 10.10.1984 has been printed “The Song of My Heart”, a poem by Alexis Kivi.

China Town in Singapore

Singapore's Chinatown is the traditional Chinese quarters of town, and while the entire city is largely Chinese these days the area does retain some of its own charm. The area is also known as Niu Che Shui in Chinese and Kreta Ayer in Malay, both names meaning "bullock cart water", a reference to the carts that used to haul in drinking water.

The area between Pagoda Street and Smith Street has been tarted up considerably for tourists, but workaday Chinatown continues south and east, merging seamlessly into the Central Business District. Tanjong Pagar is the unofficial home of Singapore's gay community, with many watering holes in restored shop houses, while Club Street caters more to the expat and yuppie crowd with small, intimate eateries offering excellent (if pricey) Western fare.

. Chinatown's primary attraction is the town itself, composed as it is of restored shop houses full of strange little shops selling everything from plastic Buddha’s to dried seahorses. Wander at random and see what you can find! As an old Chinese told me, “IF you haven’t seen China town, you haven’t seen Singapore”. And that my friends are absolutely true.

• Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. Towering above southern Chinatown, this four-story temple was completed only in 2007. The imposing main hall hosts a 27-foot statue of Maitreya Buddha, and the scared relic itself, reputedly one of Buddha Shakyamuni's teeth,
• Chinatown Heritage Centre, 48 Pagoda St, An excellent museum chronicling how Chinatown came to be and the privation suffered by early migrants.
• Jamae Mosque. One of Singapore's oldest mosques, built in the 1830s by Tamil Muslims in an Indian style. Note the stepped minarets outside.
• Pinnacle@Duxton Skybridge, Singapore's tallest public housing project has a 50th story viewing deck that offers some of the best city views around at a fraction of the cost of the Singapore Flyer.
• Red Dot Design Museum,
• Singapore Coin and Notes Museum, Tiny little museum tucked away across the Chinatown Heritage Centre. Managed by the Singapore Mint, it features local currency, commerative coins, a history of coinage, and the coin-making process. Not exactly a must-see, but a nice little distraction if you're in the area.
• Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore's oldest and most important Hindu temple and worth a visit for the intricately carved gopuram (statuary above the entrance), which gave adjacent "Pagoda Street" its name. This is an active temple, so take off your shoes and don't disturb the worshippers. The Thimithi fire-walking festival is held here one week before Deepavali, usually Oct/Nov.
• Thian Hock Keng Temple, The oldest Hokkien temple in Singapore, dating back to 1821, although the structure was thoroughly refurbished in 2000. The brightly colored, elaborate facade was constructed with ironwork from Scotland, tiles from England and the Netherlands, and dragon-ornamented granite pillars from China.
• Singapore City Gallery (URA Gallery), 3-storey visitor gallery with large scaled models of the entire country (ground floor) as well as the city centre (incredibly life-like), which provide good orientation of the country for first-timers. The gallery tells the history of Singapore's urban planning, various planning, design, and conservation strategies adopted to create a good living environment, sustainable development, and many others. Learn the story of Singapore's transformation from 3rd to 1st world, play games on land planning, and the expanse of land reclamation done on the island country. There are also wonderful images of old-new Singapore to browse, free walking maps to unique districts like Joo Chiat to pick up.

House of Aion

The mosaics of the House of Aion date back to the fourth century A.D and lie close to the mosaics of Dionysus and Theseus. Five mythological scenes worth seeing are "The bath of Dionysus", "Leda and the Swan", "The beauty contest between Cassiopeia and the Nereids", "Apollo and Marsyas", and the "Triumphant procession of Dionysus". The House of Aion is located in the Paphos Archaeological Park and is close to all the other attractions, such as the Paphos lighthouse and the Odeon. So far only a small part of the building has been excavated by the Polish Archaeological mission of the university of Warsaw.

House of Aion is the smallest house, discovered in 1983, which basically contains one large mosaic showing five scenes. At the top left is Leda and the swan (Zeus is disguised as the swan). In the top right corner is a picture of baby nymphs with the baby Dionysos. The middle picture shows sea nymphs in a beauty contest, being judged by Aion. In the bottom row Dionysos appears again in a triumphal procession, and the final picture shows Apollo punishing the loser of a musical duel. This lovely card was given to me by Merja.

Moscow

Lena sent me this pretty card with two views of Moscow, The one above is that of The White House, also known as the Russian White House. It is a government building in Moscow. It stands on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. Construction started in 1965 and ended in 1981. Originally called The House of Soviets, it was designed by the architects Dmitry Chechulin and P. Shteller. Upon completion in 1981, the White House was used by the Supreme Soviet of Russia, which had until then held its sessions in the Grand Kremlin Palace. The Supreme Soviet of Russia remained in the building until the end of the Soviet Union, as well as during the first years of the Russian Federation. The White House was pictured on a 50 kopeck stamp in 1991, honoring the resistance to the failed coup attempt of 1991. After the end of the Soviet Union, the White House continued to serve as the seat of the Russian parliament. The White House stood damaged for some time after the 1993 crisis, and the black burns became famous, so much so that it became tradition for newlyweds to be photographed in front of its damaged facade. The reformed parliament, known thereafter by its Tsarist era title of Duma, was elected in 1994 and moved to another building on Moscow's Okhotny Ryad. The renovated White House now houses the Russian government. An inscription at the base of the tower reads, "House of the Government of the Russian Federation."

The picture below is of The Grand Triumphal Arch, which is decorated with the coats of arms from the 48 Russian provinces. To celebrate the victory over France in the war of 1812, it also includes bas-reliefs of the "Expulsion of the French". The arch was originally built in 1834, but has only been on this site since 1968. One can also see the Poklonny Hill in the background. It is a little ironic that this arch resembles the Paris Arc de Triomphe, which Napoleon built between 1806 and 1836 to celebrate his French victories.

Lighthouses in Germany

Germany has two coastlines, one facing northwest on the North Sea and the other facing northeast on the Baltic Sea. Interest in lighthouses is strong in Germany, and most of the towers are in good condition. A federal law provides blanket protection to historic lighthouses. There is concern, however, that many of the lights may be deactivated in the coming years as navigators depend less and less on them. Shown on the card are lighthouses on the North Coast.

In German, a lighthouse is a Leuchtturm ("light tower"), plural Leuchttürme. The front light is the Unterfeuer and the rear light is the Oberfeuer. Modern range lighthouses are crowned by a topmark: a large, distinctive structure that serves to mark the range clearly in the daytime. Maria sent me this card.

Merlion of Singapore

We went to the famous Fullerton Hotel and then on to the Fullerton Heritage Trail. More about the Heritage trail later. Crossing the road we sighted what we had really come for, The Merlion, a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. The Merlion is used as a mascot of Singapore. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name — Singapura — meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".

The Merlion is the most important, the most famous and the most popular tourist site in Singapore. This one near the Marina Sands is the most famous. But, there are replicas in four other places in the city. The biggest and tallest one is at a park in Sentosa Island, south of the city.

The symbol was designed by Fraser Brunner, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in use from 26 March 1964 to 1997 and has been its trademarked symbol since 20 July 1966. Although the STB changed their logo in 1997, the STB Act continues to protect the Merlion symbol. Approval must be received from STB before it can be used. The Merlion appears frequently on STB-approved souvenirs.

The merlion — occurs in a number of different artistic traditions. Lions with fishtails can be found on Indian murals at Ajanta and Mathura, and on Etruscan coins of the Hellenistic period. Merlions, or ‘heraldic sea- lions’, are an established element of Western heraldry, and have been used on the coat of arms of the cities of Portsmouth and Great Yarmouth in the United Kingdom; the City of Manila; and the East India Company.

Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore

The Sri Mariamman Temple is Singapore's oldest Hindu temple. It is an agamic temple, built in the Dravidian style. Located at No. 244 South Bridge Road, in the downtown Chinatown district, the temple serves mainly South Indian Tamil Hindu Singaporeans in the city-state. Due to its architectural and historical significance, the temple has been gazetted a National Monument and is a major tourist attraction. Sri Mariamman Temple is managed by the Hindu Endowments Board, a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

The Sri Mariamman Temple was founded in 1827 by Naraina Pillai, eight years after the British East India Company established a trading settlement in Singapore.

Pillai was a government clerk from Penang who arrived in Singapore with Stamford Raffles on his second visit to the island in May 1819. He went on to set up the island's first construction company. He also entered the textile trade. Pillai rapidly established himself in business and was identified as a leader of the Indian community.