STATE ART GALLERY in PERM

Now firmly recognized as the most remarkable Ural art museum the museum the STATE ART GALLERY in PERM - city houses the largest public collection of old and contemporary Russian art as well as European. Eastern and antique woks of art. It possesses 40,000 items including icons, Oil paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and objects of applied arts.

On the permanent display there are fascinating portraiture paintings, landscapes and pictures by distinguished 16-19c. Russian and foreign painters and the early 20 c. avangard paintings by the well-known Russian artists. The department of icon-painting offers visitors a superb collection of unique icons created by the outstanding masters of the well-known Stroganov's studios established in the Ural in the 16 c., the time of vigorous exploration, colonization and construction of numerous orthodox churches in the vast Ural areas in the Kama river region.

The centre piece of the collection is the permanent exhibition of invaluable wooden sculptures featuring the images of the Savior, Our Lady and saints of Russian orthodox church created by the locall professional and amateur craftsmen in the 17-18 centuries. The history and heritage of the Kama river region with Perm as the center come alive in the changing exhibition of classic and contemporary art which are complemented by the extensive archive materials of the scientific department. 

This nice card was sent to me by my friend Polina in Perm. Unfortunately, the ravages of postal transit have left their unmistakable marks on the card.

Prekmurje

Prekmurje is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region settled by Slovenes and lying between the Mur River in Slovenia and the Rába Valley (the watershed of the Rába) in the most western part of Hungary. It maintains certain specific linguistic, cultural and religious features that differentiate it from other Slovenian traditional regions.

Tanya who lives in Prekmurje sent me this nice card.

International Philatelic Exhibition STOCKHOLMIA86

Souvenir card from the International Philatelic Exhibition STOCKHOLMIA86 held in Stockholm Sweden, from August 28 to September 7, 1986.

The stamp on this card is one of four issued in 1984 to popularise Stamp Collecting and as an advertisement for STOCKHOLMIA86.

Thank you Merja.

Cries and Whispers

Cries and Whispers is a 1972 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann. The film is set at a mansion at the end of the 19th century and is about two sisters who watch over their third sister on her deathbed, torn between fearing she might die and hoping that she will. After several unsuccessful experimental films, Cries and Whispers was a critical and commercial success for Bergman, gaining nominations for five Academy Awards. These included a nomination for Best Picture, which was unusual for a foreign-language film.

Cries and Whispers returned to the traditional Bergman themes of the female psyche or the quest for faith and redemption. Unlike his previous films, Cries and Whispers uses saturated colour, especially crimson. It was for the color and light scheme that the cinematographer and long-time Bergman collaborator Sven Nykvist was awarded the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Merja gave me this maxicard the stamp of “Cries and Whispers”  from the miniature sheet commemorating Swedish Film History, issued on 10^th October, 1981.

Manly, Sydney

Manly is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 17 kilometres (11 mi) north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region.

Manly is most notable for its beaches which are popular tourist destinations. Manly features a long stretch of sand on the ocean side, that runs from Queenscliff Beach to North Steyne Beach and Manly Beach. This is followed by rock pools and sandy beaches called Fairy Bower and Shelly Beach. There are also a number of beaches on the harbour side of the peninsula. Norfolk Island pine trees are also symbolic of Manly and are a prominent feature of both the ocean and harbour beaches. On 10 March 2012, the 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) stretch between Freshwater Beach and Shelly Beach was declared the "Manly -Freshwater World Surfing Reserve". The Reserve was dedicated in a ceremony in Manly Beach by world surfing champion Kelly Slater accompanied by the Governor of New South Wales, Australia, Professor Marie Bashir.

Manly has Sydney Harbour on its western side with calm water, ferry wharf, a swimming area, the Oceanworld Manly aquarium, and sailing and yacht clubs. About 300 metres (980 ft) to the east is the Pacific Ocean and Manly Beach. There are more than 20 kilometres (12 mi) of cycle tracks that can be used to explore the area. The Manly International Jazz Festival is Australia's largest community-based jazz festival. It is held during the October long weekend public holiday, with various stages hosting continuous free public performances from midday until early evening. The BBC soap opera Out of the Blue was set in Manly.

This lovely card sent to me by Karen shows, an aerial view featuring Manly wharf in the foreground and the magnificent surfing beach in the background. I am not very sure, because, I haven't been there, but, is that the famous SCG seen towards the left of the picture?

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius  is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about 70 km to the north-east from Moscow by the road leading to Yaroslavl, and currently is home to over 300 monks.

The monastery was founded in 1345 by one of the most venerated Russian saints, Sergius of Radonezh, who built a wooden church in honour of the Holy Trinity on Makovets Hill. Early development of the monastic community is well documented in contemporary lives of Sergius and his disciples. St. Sergius was declared patron saint of the Russian state in 1422. The same year the first stone cathedral was built by a team of Serbian monks who had found refuge in the monastery after the Battle of Kosovo.

It took 26 years to construct the six-pillared Assumption Cathedral, which was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible in 1559. The cathedral is much larger than its model and namesake in the Moscow Kremlin. The magnificent iconostasis of the 16th–18th centuries features Simon Ushakov's masterpiece, the icon of Last Supper. Interior walls were painted with violet and blue frescoes by a team of Yaroslavl masters in 1684. The vault contains burials of Boris Godunov, his family and several 20th-century patriarchs.

As the monastery grew into one of the wealthiest landowners in Russia, the woods where it had stood were cut over and a village (or posad) sprang up near the monastery walls. It gradually developed into the modern town of Sergiyev Posad. The cloister itself was a notable centre of chronicle-writing and icon painting. Just opposite the monastery walls St. Paraskeva's Convent was established, among whose buildings St. Paraskeva's Church (1547), Introduction Church (1547), and a 17th-century chapel over St. Paraskeva's well are still visible.

The Lavra has a number of representative churches in its vicinity and throughout Russia. The Lavra's hieromonks have manned a number of sketes at remote locations (such as the Anzer Island in the Solovki Archipelago in the White Sea), as well as the Trinity Church on the King George Island in the Antarctic.

Thank you Marina for this nice Black and White historical card.

Chapel tomb of Paskevichs family in Gomel

The Rumyantsev-Paskevich Residence is the main place of historical importance in the city of Gomel, Belarus. The grounds of the residence stretch for 800 meters along the steep right bank of the Sozh River. An image of the residence is featured on the Belarusian 20,000-ruble bill. Other buildings on the grounds are the Russian Revival chapel with the tombs of Ivan Paskevich and his family, a winter garden (which originated as Prince Paskevich's sugar-mill), several subsidiary outbuildings, and a set of cannons captured by Paskevich's soldiers in the course of the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829). By far the most conspicuous landmark in the park is the Neoclassical church of Sts. Peter and Paul. It was commissioned by Count Nikolay Rumyantsev from architect John Clark in 1809 but was not consecrated until 1824. The church is the seat of the local Orthodox bishopric.

Thank you Kate for this pretty card.