Liberec, Czech Republic.

Liberec is a city in the Czech Republic. Located on the Lusatian Neisse and surrounded by the Jizera Mountains and Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge, it is the fifth-largest city in the Czech Republic.

Settled by German and Flemish migrants since the 14th century until their expulsion after World War II, Liberec was once home to a thriving textile industry and hence nicknamed the "Manchester of Bohemia".

For many Czechs, Liberec is mostly associated with the city's dominant Ještěd Tower (please see mypost dated March 06, 2010). Since the end of the 19th century, the city has been a conurbation with the suburb of Vratislavice and the neighboring town of Jablonec nad Nisou. Therefore the total area with suburbs encompasses 150,000 inhabitants. This makes Liberec the third-largest city (with suburbs) in Bohemia after Prague and Pilsen.

Thank you Petr for this nice card which shows many views of Liberec.

The Zielona Góra Wine Festival

The Zielona Góra Wine Fest (Polish: Winobranie w Zielonej Górze) is a wine festival held in the Polish town of Zielona Gora. The tradition is related to the period of harvest of grapes from the local vineyards which were then turned into wine. The first festival took place in October 1852. Nowadays it starts in the first or second week of September and lasts for nine days.

The festivities start on a Saturday with a parade through the city centre. It is preceded by a symbolic ceremony when the Roman wine god Bacchus and his Maenads receive the keys to the town from the local authorities. During the nine days a lot of cultural and sport events take place, among which the International Festival of Folklore is one of the most prominent. There are also theatre meetings (including street theatres) and music concerts.

The centre of the town turns into a big marketplace for the time of the fest, with a separate street allotted for the antiques market.

Thank you Dear Jadwiga for this nice card.

Fall Themed Cards from Finland

These two cards were also released along with this year's traditional fall-themed stamps (see my post dated 28th September,2013 in my blog www.http://letstalkstamps.blogspot.in/  

Thank you dear Ella for these lovely cards.

The Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin

The Gendarmenmarkt is a square in Berlin, and the site of the Konzerthaus and the French and German Cathedrals. In the centre of the square is a statue of Germany's poetFriedrich Schiller.The square was created by Johann Arnold Nering at the end of the seventeenth century as the Linden-Markt and reconstructed by Georg Christian Unger in 1773. The Gendarmenmarkt is named after the cuirassier regiment Gens d'Armes, which was deployed at this square until 1773.

During World War II, most of the buildings were badly damaged or destroyed. Today all the buildings have been restored to their former state.

The French Cathedral (in German: Französischer Dom) the older of the two cathedrals, was built by the Huguenot community between 1701 and 1705. The cathedral was modelled after the destroyed Huguenot church in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France. The tower and porticoes, designed by Carl von Gontard, were added to the building in 1785. The French cathedral has a viewing platform, a restaurant and a Huguenot museum.

The German Cathedral (in German: Deutscher Dom) is located in the south of the Gendarmenmarkt. It has a pentagonal structure and was designed by Martin Grünberg and built in 1708 by Giovanni Simonetti. It too was modified in 1785 by Carl von Gontard, who built the domed tower. The German Cathedral was completely destroyed by fire in 1945, during World War II. After German reunification it was rebuilt, finished in 1993 and re-opened in 1996 as a museum of German history.

Thank you Marco for this lovely card.

Angry Birds

Itella Posti Oy most probably made history by releasing the world's first official Angry Birds stamps, featuring six of the popular game characters - five birds and one pig on 9^th September, 2013. The designer of the stamps is Toni Kysenius, Art Director at Rovio Entertainment, who also designed the HockeyBird character and related stamp issue for last year's IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships. 

In order to ensure authenticity, the Angry Birds stamps feature a pattern which is only visible under UV light. In addition, an irregular perforation follows the shape of the characters. The sheet of six 1^st class stamps also includes Priority labels fitting the appearance of the stamps.

Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Entertainment. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the first game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009. Over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, including the Android, Symbian and Windows Phone operating systems. It has since expanded to video game consoles and for PCs.

Angry Birds has been praised for its successful combination of addictive gameplay, comical style, and low price. Its popularity led to versions of Angry Birds being created for personal computers and gaming consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters and even long-term plans for a feature film or television series. With nearly 2 billion downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".

Thank you Ella for this lovely Angry Birds maxi card.

Postcrossing

"Postcrossing" is an international and strongly growing hobby in which people from different parts of the world send each other traditional postcards. In the future, Finnish enthusiasts will be able to send their cards using dedicated stamps. The Postcrossing booklet released by Itella Posti Oy features four 1^st class NVI stamps and Priority labels. The layout of the stamp sheet, which can be folded in two in the middle, was made by the Helsinki-based design agency Kokoro & Moi.

The postcrossing website www.postcrossing.com currently has more than 426,000 registered users from 214 countries. The basic idea of postcrossing is that each sender of a card receives at least one card back from a random sender somewhere in the world. Globally, postcrossers send approximately 600 postcards every single hour. There are some 15,000 postcrossers in Finland, and so far they have sent more than 1.7 million cards.

Thank you Ella for these lovely cards embellished with the pretty postcrossing stamps and the first day of issue postmark.

Blue Ribbon campaign and prostate cancer research

This year's charity stamp from Åland Post focuses on the Blue Ribbon campaign and prostate cancer research. This card was issued along with the the charity stamp. You can read all about the stamp and the first day cover on my blog www.letstalkstamps.blogspot.com 
The Blue Ribbon card is designed by Åland graphic designer Håkan Sandberg, who himself was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  

Håkan Sandberg’s stamp features a garden sculpture, which he has created himself. The sculpture represents a bon vivant, who enjoys life on earth. Apart from wanting to emphasize the importance of living in the here and now, another purpose of the stamp is to challenge the taboo surrounding prostate cancer. The Blue Ribbon logo has been visibly placed on the stamp.

Thank you Dear Ella for this nice FDC.

SS Princess Anastasia

USS Lexington - The Blue Ghost

USS Lexington (CV/CVA/CVS/CVT/AVT-16), nicknamed "The Blue Ghost", is an Essex-class aircraft carrier built during World War II for the United States Navy. Originally intended to be named Cabot, word arrived during construction that the USS Lexington (CV-2) had been lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea. She was renamed while under construction to commemorate the earlier ship. This ship was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name in honour of the Revolutionary War Battle of Lexington.

Lexington was commissioned in February 1943 and saw extensive service through the Pacific War. For much of her service she acted as the flagship for Admiral Marc Mitscher, and led the Fast Carrier Task Force through their battles across the Pacific. She was the recipient of 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation. Following the war Lexington was decommissioned, but was modernized and reactivated in the early 1950s, being reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA). Later she was reclassified as an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she operated both in the Atlantic/Mediterranean and the Pacific, but spent most of her time, nearly 30 years, on the east coast as a training carrier (CVT).

Lexington was decommissioned in 1991, with an active service life longer than any other Essex-class ship. Following her decommissioning she was donated for use as a museum ship in Corpus Christi, Texas. In 2003, Lexington was designated a National Historic Landmark. Though her surviving sisterships Yorktown, Intrepid, and Hornet carry lower hull numbers, Lexington was laid down and commissioned earlier, making Lexington the oldest remaining aircraft carrier in the world.

Thank you my friend Barbara for this fine card.

JAMES BOND POSTCARD 007 Dr. No (1962) French Poster

On introducing James Bond in Dr. No, producers Broccoli & Saltzman could not have foreseen the phenomenon that the series of films would soon become. But the material already had a certain glamour. Here was an anti-hero who was terribly British, who killed in cold blood and yet was able to charm numerous beautiful women and solve the deadliest of crimes, all in a day's work. This adaptation from the novel by Ian Fleming was one of the films most faithful to the original story.

 James Bond is sent to Jamaica with a mission: to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of fellow agent John Strangways. The trail leads him to the island of Crab Key, the base of the SPECTRE headquarters of corrupt scientist Dr. No, whom Bond believes to be the murderer. Dr. No informs Bond of his aim of world domination and the destruction of the US space programme. Battle commences between Bond & Dr. No, until the villain finally falls into his own trap and dies. Mitchell Hooks painted the iconic image of Sean Connery as Bond, with a smoking pistol in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

This image was used internationally at the time, as well as in later poster campaigns. The posters featured Bond surrounded by several glamorous women, a visual shorthand that was to make the secret agent immediately recognizable to cinema audiences worldwide. Joseph Caroff designed the 007 logo, which, with a few variations, has been used throughout the series.

A word about his female partner in Dr. No, namely Ursula AUrsula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-American actress and sex symbol of the 1960s. She is known for her role as Bond girl Honey Rider in the first James Bond film, Dr. No (1962), for which she won a Golden Globe.

This card was sent to me by Barbara from Corpus Christie.  

The Taj Mahal

Surprise of surprises this card of the Taj Mahal wasn’t sent to me by someone in India. It was Marja in Finland who sent it to me.

The Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal is widely recognized as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage".

Taj Mahal is regarded by many as the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian and Indian architectural styles.

The Taj Mahal has been considered one of the Wonders of the World for a Iong time now.  1983, the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar component of the Taj Mahal, it is actually an integrated complex of structures. The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, employing thousands of artisans and craftsmen. The construction of the Taj Mahal was entrusted to a board of architects under imperial supervision, including Abd ul-Karim Ma'mur Khan, Makramat Khan, and Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. Lahauri is generally considered to be the principal designer.

The Taj looks its best on a full Moon night, and luckily, that’s when the photograph on this card was taken. 

Weapons of Victory 1945

Sevastopol was the first ship completed of the Gangut-class battleships of the Imperial Russian Navy, built before World War I. The Ganguts were the first class of Russian dreadnoughts. She was named after the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. She was completed during the winter of 1914–15, but was not ready for combat until mid-1915. Her role was to defend the mouth of the Gulf of Finland against the Germans, who never tried to enter, so she spent her time training and providing cover for minelaying operations. Her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution and joined the Bolsheviks later that year. She was laid up in 1918 for lack of manpower, but her crew joined the Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921. She was renamed Parizhskaya Kommuna after the rebellion was crushed to commemorate the Paris Commune and to erase the ship's 'betrayal' of the Communist Party.

She was recommissioned in 1925, and refitted in 1928 in preparation for her transfer to the Black Sea the following year. Parizhskaya Kommuna and the cruiser Profintern ran into a severe storm in the Bay of Biscay that severely damaged Parizhskaya Kommuna's false bow. They had to put into Brest for repairs, but reached Sevastopol in January 1930. Parizhskaya Kommuna was comprehensively reconstructed in two stages during the 1930s that replaced her boilers, upgraded her guns, augmented her anti-aircraft armament, modernized her fire-control systems and gave her anti-torpedo bulges. During World War II she provided gunfire support during the Siege of Sevastopol and related operations until she was withdrawn from combat in April 1942 when the risk from German aerial attack became too great. She was retained on active duty after the war until she became a training ship in 1954. She was broken up in 1956–57.

Thank you Anna for this nice card.

1982 EUROPA - Visit Portugal

Maxi Card with EUROPA stamp issued at Madeira on Europa 2012 theme - "Visit...", postmarked at Funchal - Capital of Madeira, Portugal on May 09, 2012. Thank you Ana for this nice maxi card.

Paquete Santa Maria was Built between 1952 - 1953 in the shipyards of the Societe Anonyme John Cockerill, in Belgium. Its maiden voyage took place in November 1953, linking Portugal to Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. It was the only Portuguese liner with regular connections to ports of the United States. In 1973, though still relatively new, she was sold to be dismantled in the Republic of China.

On January 23, 1961, a group of Portuguese and Spanish opposition movement members seized control of the Santa Maria, a 609-foot-long (186 m), 20,900-ton Portuguese luxury cruise liner. Also known as Operation Dulcinea, the code name given it by its chief architect and "leader" Henrique Galvão, it was a rebel terrorist operation against the Government of Portugal. The action has also been referred to as piracy, although it does not fit the international definition of piracy involving an attack of one vessel on another for private ends.

On January 23, 1961, the ship had 600 passengers and 300 crew members. Among the passengers were men, women, children, and 24 Iberian leftists led by Portuguese military officer and politician Henrique Galvão.

Henrique Galvão was a Portuguese military officer and political foe of Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, the head of the Estado Novo regime. Galvão had carefully planned the hijacking with the intention of waging war until Salazar was overthrown in Portugal and the overseas territories were subsequently offered independence. He planned on using the hijacking as a way to bring attention to the Estado Novo in Portugal and the related fascist regime in Francoist Spain.

The rebels boarded the ship in La Guaira harbour (Venezuela) and in Curaçao, disguised as passengers, bringing aboard suitcases. The suitcases had secret compartments to hide their weapons. The rebels, along with Henrique Galvao, seized the ship, ceased all communication, and killed one officer (3rd Pilot Nascimento Costa) and wounded several others in the process of taking complete command over the ship. The rebels forced crew members, along with the captain of the ship, Mário Simões Maia, to take the ship on a different course.

The whereabouts of the ship remained unknown for several days, until a massive United States search effort by air and sea uncovered and communicated with it in Mid-Atlantic. Thereafter, a fleet of United States naval vessels, including not less than four destroyers (some of which contained USMC infantry belonging to "G" Company, 2nd Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, NC) under the command of Rear Admiral Allen E. Smith short-circuited Galvão's plans, when his forces surrounded the "Santa Maria" some fifty miles offshore of Recife, Brazil. The following day, Admiral Smith left his flag ship the USS Gearing and proceeded via launch to the "Santa Maria" to engage in negotiations with Galvão.

Because of an anticipated change of Presidencies in Brazil (the incoming President being more sympathetic to Galvão's political interests), it was not until the very next day that the Santa Maria, surrounded by United States naval vessels, entered the harbor of Recife. There, Galvão and his 24 leftist terrorists surrendered the Santa Maria, 600 passengers and crew of 300 to Brazilian authorities in exchange for political asylum.

Galvão later announced that his intentions were to sail to Angola, to set up a renegade Portuguese government in opposition to Salazar. Galvão's stories of these accounts were translated into English and into a book as Santa Maria: my crusade for Portugal (New York, 1961).

The Kama Bridge

This card sent to me by Elena shows a View of Kama river and bridge in Perm, Russia. Perm is a city and the administrative centre of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov.

The Kama Bridge, is a bridge on the highway R239 near Soroch'i Gory settlement in Tatarstan, Russia. It is a part of the longest bridge structure in Russia if measured by the total length of elevated roadway. The structure with a total length of 13,967 m incorporates three bridges: over the Kama River(1,608 m), over the Arkharovka River (549.9 m) and over the Kurlyanka River (69.8 m).

The construction of the bridge structure began in 1992 and was completed on 18 October 2002, when it was officially opened by the President of Tatarstan. The bridge is a very important one, since it is a part of a major Kazan - Chistopol - Bugulma - Orenburg highway. The second stage of the structure is planned to be built at a later date.

Kenting National Park

Kenting National Park is a national park located in the Hengchun Peninsula of Pingtung County, Taiwan, covering Hengchun, Checheng and Manzhou Townships. Established on January 1, 1984, it is Taiwan's oldest and southernmost national park, covering the southernmost area of the Taiwan island. Administered by the Executive Yuan's Ministry of the Interior, this national park is well known for its tropical climate and sunshine, scenic mountain and beach, the Spring Scream rock-band festival held in every March, and has long been one of the most favorite resort places in Taiwan.

Thank you Janet for this nice card.

Masters of the Universe

Zoey from China sent me this card which shows He-Man and his twin sister She-Ra. To their right areSkeletor and his hench men, in other words the bad guys. To their left are their friends or the good guys.

He-Man is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Masters of the Universe franchise. In most variations, he is the alter ego of Prince Adam. He-Man and his friends defend the realm of Eternia and the secrets of Castle Grayskull from the evil forces of Skeletor.

She-Ra is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Filmation cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power, debuting in 1985. Also, a series of toys under her name were produced by Mattel. She is the alter ego of Princess Adora and the twin sister of Prince Adam/He-Man. She-Ra was intended to appeal to young girls in the same way that He-Man appealed to young boys. Filmation writer Larry DiTillio created the backstory for the property.
She-Ra was introduced in the animated movie The Secret of the Sword as Force Captain Adora, a member of the Evil Horde that rules the planet Etheria. She discovers that she is the long lost twin sister of Prince Adam of Eternia, having been kidnapped as a baby by the Horde's leader Hordak. She is granted the Sword of Protection, which parallels He-Man's Sword of Power, gaining the power to transform into She-Ra, her secret identity.

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable; following a comment by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow, he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs".

Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works; he worked with some of the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. Brahms, an uncompromising perfectionist, destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished.

Brahms is often considered both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Baroque and Classical masters. He was a master of counterpoint, the complex and highly disciplined art for which Johann Sebastian Bach is famous, and of development, a compositional ethos pioneered by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and other composers. Brahms aimed to honour the "purity" of these venerable "German" structures and advance them into a Romantic idiom, in the process creating bold new approaches to harmony and melody. While many contemporaries found his music too academic, his contribution and craftsmanship have been admired by subsequent figures as diverse as Arnold Schoenberg and Edward Elgar. The diligent, highly constructed nature of Brahms's works was a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers.

Thank you Maria for this nice maxicard from Germany.

Franconia and the River Main

This card was sent to me by Dieter during his cycling trip along the River Main (shown on the card). The area is popularly refered to as Franconia (Franken), which is a region for quality wine in Germany situated in the north west of Bavaria in the district of Franconia, and is the only wine region in the federal state of Bavaria. In 2008, vines were grown on 6,063 hectares (14,980 acres) of land in the region.

The greatest part of the wine region is situated in the county of Lower Franconia around its capital Würzburg along the Main River. There are a few areas in Middle Franconia mainly in the Steigerwald and a very small part in the area of Upper Franconia around Bamberg. The bends of Main have been used to define the region's three districts, two of which take their names from their respective geometric shape.

Norman Percevel Rockwell

The painting on this card sent to me by Mamiko from Japan was by Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978), who was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine for more than four decades. Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter, Saying Grace (1951), The Problem We All Live With, and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.

For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honour, in 1977.

Rockwell died November 8, 1978, of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.

The Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument

The Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument is a 284 ft 6 in (86.72 m)-tall neoclassical monument located on Monument Circle in the center of Indianapolis. It was designed by German architect Bruno Schmitz and completed in 1901.

The Monument was erected to honor Hoosiers who were veterans of the American Revolution, territorial conflicts that partially led up to the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the US Civil War, and the Spanish American War. In addition to its external commemorative statuary and fountains (made primarily of oolitic limestone and bronze), the basement of the monument contains the Colonel Eli Lilly Civil War Museum, a museum of Indiana history during the American Civil War.

At the top of the Monument is an observation deck that can be reached by stairs at no cost or by elevator for a $2.00 charge (elevator brings you to the level just under the observation deck, with 30 additional steps). The staircase contains 331 steps, 330 of which are numbered. In 1902 the cost to build this Monument was (US) $598,318. It has been estimated that building a similar structure today would cost over $500,000,000.

It is about 21 feet (6.4 m) shorter than the 305-foot (93 m) tall Statue of The approaches to the Monument are guarded by bronze statues of four wartime leaders: George Rogers Clark, military conqueror of the Old Northwest; William Henry Harrison, first governor of the Indiana Territory and general during the War of 1812 (and, later, 9th President of the United States); James Whitcomb, governor of Indiana during the Mexican-American War; and Oliver Morton, governor during the Civil War.

The Circle is surrounded by retail shops, including the South Bend Chocolate Factory; studios for several local radio stations; the Hilbert Circle Theatre, home of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; financial institutions; the Columbia Club, one of the oldest social clubs of Indiana; Christ Church Cathedral, a historic Episcopal church; and the IPL corporate headquarters. The Circle is the standard symbol of the city of Indianapolis, and the flag of Indianapolis is an iconic representation of Monument Circle and the two streets (Meridian and Market) that feed in and out of it.

Every Christmas season the Monument is decorated as an enormous Christmas tree. This city tradition is known as the Circle of Lights and has been done annually since 1962. The tree lighting ceremony is held the day after Thanksgiving. 

Thank you Dear Krissy for this wonderful card.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist of the Baroque period. He enriched many established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Mass in B minor, the The Well-Tempered Clavier, hiscantatas, chorales, partitas, Passions, and organ works. His music is revered for its intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty.

Bach was born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach, into a very musical family; his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the director of the town musicians, and all of his uncles were professional musicians. His father taught him to play violin and harpsichord, and his brother, Johann Christoph Bach, taught him the clavichord and exposed him to much contemporary music. Bach also went to St Michael's School in Lüneburg because of his singing skills. After graduating, he held several musical posts across Germany: he served as Kapellmeister (director of music) to Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, Cantor of Thomasschule in Leipzig, and Royal Court Composer to August III. Bach's health and vision declined in 1749, and he died on 28 July 1750. Modern historians believe that his death was caused by a combination of stroke and pneumonia.

Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the main composers of the Baroque period, and as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Thank you Maria for this card.

Oravivuori triangulation tower - 19th century research station

Sari sent me this maxicard which shows one of the many survey triangulation towers. 

In Korpilahti, at the top of Oravivuori, lies Oravivuori triangulation tower, one of Finland's six points in the Struve chain. This is a triangulation chain extending from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean that was used in the 19th century to establish the shape of the earth. On this spot a triangulation tower has been erected to commemorate the importance of the Oravivuori (or Puolakka) measuring station to the mapping of Finland.

The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through ten countries and over 2,820 km, which yielded the first accurate measurement of a meridian.

The chain was established and used by the German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve in the years 1816 to 1855 to establish the exact size and shape of the earth. At that time, the chain passed merely through two countries: Union of Sweden-Norway and the Russian Empire. The Arc's first point is located in Tartu Observatory, where Struve conducted much of his research.

In 2005, the chain was inscribed on the World Heritage List as a memorable ensemble of the chain made up of 34 commemorative plaques or built obelisks out of the original 265 main station points which are marked by drilled holes in rock, iron crosses, cairns, others.

Measurement of the triangulation chain comprises 258 main triangles and 265 geodetic vertices. The northernmost point is located near Hammerfest in Norway and the southernmost point near the Black Sea in Ukraine. This inscription is located in ten countries, the most of any UNESCO World Heritage.

Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.

Gagarin became an international celebrity, and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, the nation's highest honour. Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight, but he served as backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission (which ended in a fatal crash). Gagarin later became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow, which was later named after him. Gagarin died in 1968 when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting crashed.

Julia sent me this nice card.

St. Mary's Church in Krakow

Kraków is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic hubs. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1569; the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1596; Free City of Kraków from 1815 to 1846; the Grand Duchy of Cracow from 1846 to 1918; and Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second most important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was already being reported as a busy trading centre of Slavonic Europe in 965. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. The city has a population of approximately 760,000 whereas about 8 million people live within a 100 km radius of its main square.

The different aspects of the monument shown on this card are those of the Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven (also known as St. Mary's Church), it is a Brick Gothic church re-built in the 14th century (originally built in the early 13th century), adjacent to the Main Market Square in Kraków, Poland. Standing 80 m (262 ft) tall, it is particularly famous for its wooden altarpiece carved by Veit Stoss.

On every hour, a trumpet signal—called the Hejnał mariacki—is played from the top of the taller of St. Mary's two towers. The plaintive tune breaks off in mid-stream, to commemorate the famous 13th century trumpeter, who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before the Mongol attack on the city. The noon-time hejnał is heard across Poland and abroad broadcast live by the Polish national Radio 1 Station.

St. Mary's Basilica also served as an architectural model for many of the churches that were built by the Polish diaspora abroad, particularly those like St. Michael's and St. John Cantius in Chicago, designed in the so-called Polish Cathedral style.

The church is familiar to many English-speaking readers from the 1929 book The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly.

Thank you Kasia for a very nice card.

Presidential Palace in Helsinki

Ella my friend sent me this this card which shows The Presidential Palace in Helsinki, which is one of the official residences in Helsinki of the President of the Republic of Finland. The present resident is Mr. Sauli Niinisto who is portrayed on the stamp affixed to the card. 

It is situated on the north side of Esplanadi, overlooking Market Square.

At the beginning of 19th century, a salt storehouse stood on the site. Johan Henrik Heidenstrauch, then one of the elite of Helsinki's merchants, purchased the entire lot and erected between 1816–1820 a stately residence designed by architect Pehr Granstedt. Heidenstrauch House more resembled a palace than a merchants house. In 1837 it actually became a palace when it was purchased for the price of 170 000 roubles to be converted into a residence for the Governor-General of Finland. However, Nicholas I desired that it should become the official residence in Helsinki of the Tsar of Russia/Grand Duke of Finland, and the building became the Imperial Palace in Helsinki.

After the new Constitution was passed in 1919 it was clear that the most suitable residence for the President was the Former Imperial Palace. Complete repairs were made at speed, with the furnishings and art collections of the Palace being returned from storage in the National Museum and the Ateneum Art Museum, and also being supplemented. Since then, it has been the official residence of the President. The Palace was again refurbished and modernised by Martti Välikangas in 1938.

The Dutch Royal Family

Millions of Dutch people dressed in orange flocked to celebrations around the Netherlands Tuesday 30^th April 2013, in honour of a once-in-a-generation milestone for the country's ruling House of Orange-Nassau: after a 33-year reign, Queen Beatrix abdicated in favor of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander.

At 46, King Willem-Alexander is the youngest monarch in Europe and the first Dutch king in 123 years, since Willem III died in 1890.Like Beatrix before him, Willem-Alexander has assumed the throne at a time of social strains and economic malaise.

King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Princesses Catharina-Amalia, Alexia and Ariane on the balcony after the abdication of the former Queen Beatrix. This photograph was taken on 7^th May 2013.

This pretty card was sent to me by Dineke.