Modern Art in Austria

This maxi card commemorates Modern Art in Austria. It was sent to me by  Björn from Berlin. The card depicts a painting by Ernst Fuchs.

Ernst Fuchs (February 13, 1930 in Vienna). Ernst Fuchs is an Austrian painter, draftsman, print maker, sculptor, architect, stage designer, composer, poet, singer and one of the founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism.

Battle of the Chios Channel

This painting depicts the duel between the Turkish flagship Real Mustafa (84 guns) and Russian admiral Spiridov’s ship Svyatoy Evstafiy(68). During the boarding action the burning debris of the Turkish ship set the Russian flagship on fire and soon she blew up. The Russian admiral escaped the explosion just minutes before. Ten minutes later Real Mustafa exploded too. The Turkish squadron retreated to the Bay of Chesma only to be destroyed there in the next two days in what later to be called Battle of Chesma.

Ivan Aivazovsky was a Russian world-renowned painter living and working in Crimea, most famous for his seascapes, which constitute more than half of his paintings. Ivan Aivazovsky dedicated a number of his works to the Battle of the Chios Channel on the 24^th of June 1770. This one was painted in 1848.

Thank you Polina for this lovely card.

Oldenburg Palace

Oldenburg is an independent city in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. During the French annexation (1811–1813) in the wake of the Napoleonic war against Britain, it was also known as Le Vieux-Bourg in French. The city is situated at the Rivers Hunte and Haaren, in the northwestern region between the cities of Bremen in the east and Groningen (Netherlands) in the west. It has a population of 162,173 (as of 2010), which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig and Osnabrück. In German, the formal name isOldenburg (Oldenburg) or Oldenburg (Oldb) (spoken: Oldenburg in Oldenburg) to distinguish it from the city of Oldenburg in Holstein.

The city is the place of origin of the House of Oldenburg. Before the end of the German Empire (1918), it was the administrative centre and residence of the monarchs of Oldenburg.

The site of the splendid Oldenburg palace used to be the location of a moated castle. The palace as it now stands was built by Count Anton Günther (1583-1667). From 1607 to 1615 he had the medieval-style castle converted into a splendid Renaissance-style palace. From then on it served as the residence of all counts and grand dukes of the city.

The appearance of the palace also changed frequently in the following centuries. During the period of Danish rule from 1737 to 1753 the palace underwent a great deal of conversion work: The shape of the roof was changed, the tower entrance was closed and a main gate was built instead. In addition a north-east wing was built from 1774 to 1778. It served to house the Danish governor and minister Friedrich Lewin Graf Holmer. Duke Friedrich August probably named this wing the "Holmerflügel" after him. His successor Duke Peter Ludwig had the two-floor "library wing" built and had the inside of the palace refurbished by the court painter Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829) in a classicist style. In 1894 the dilapidated "Kanzlei-Flügel" was torn down.

Since 1921 the Oldenburg palace has been part of the Federal State Museum for Art. The square in front of the castle is often used as a meeting place for different cultures as depicted on the card. Thank you Marco.

Historic Post Offices

On 3^rd February 1987 the GDR issued four stamps commemorating four historic post offices in East Germany. Along with the stamps a maximum card depicting each of these post offices was also issued. The maxi cards shown here portray the post offices atWeimar which was established in 1888/89, and the one at Kirchau in 1924/26. The other two post offices were at Freiberg and Perleberg.

Marco sent me these nice maxicards.

 

Struve chain

In Korpilahti, at the top of Oravivuori, lies 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 Oravavuori (or Puolakka) measuring station to the mapping of Finland. Struve's chain gained inclusion on the UNESCO world heritage list in 2005. Thank you dear Ella for this interesting card.

Christina Alexandra - Queen regnant of Sweden

Christina (18 December 1626 – 19 April 1689), later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Sweden from 1633 to 1654, using the titles of Queen of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. As the heiress presumptive, at the age of six she succeeded her father on the throne of Sweden upon his death at the Battle of Lützen. Being the daughter of a Protestant champion in the Thirty Years' War, she caused a scandal when she abdicated her throne and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1654. She spent her later years in Rome, becoming a leader of the theatrical and musical life there. As a queen without a country, she protected many artists and projects. She is one of the few women buried in the Vatican grotto.

Christina was moody, intelligent, and interested in books and manuscripts, religion, alchemy and science. She wanted Stockholm to become the Athens of the North. Influenced by the Counter Reformation, she was increasingly attracted to the Baroque and Mediterranean culture that took her away from her Protestant country. Her unconventional lifestyle and masculine dressing and behaviour would feature in countless novels and plays, and in opera and film.

These two cards show two views of the coronation pageantry. The First card shows Mars with his three knights in a tableau vivant. And the second card depicts Amor and Venus in a self-propelling carriage. The original paintings are in the National Museum in Finland. Thank you Dear Merja for these very interesting cards.

Dutch Fleet at Anchor

A lovely painting of the Dutch Fleet of the 1800's at anchor.