Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Saint Basil's Cathedal 1890 and Now, Main Square of Krakow, Predjama Castle and Manafossen

Hello again, I'm back with another 5 card update. Today's cards are from Russia, Poland, Slovenia and Norway.
There are 2 cards from Russia and while they are different, they show the same building, although many years apart. The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, popularly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox church erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–1561. It marks the geometric center of the city and the hub of its growth since the 14th century.The church has been part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. Note that the photo of the cathedral on on left is from 1890. Both cards are from Valentina and the result of a private swap. Just as she did on an earlier card , Valentina used outstanding stamps , nothing common at all. On the 1890 card the stamps are as follows: left stamp- issued 2010, 1 of 3 in a Tsarskoe Selo souvenir sheet. The middle stamp- issued 2010, 1 0f 3 in an Anton Chekhov souvenir sheet. The last stamp on this card was issued in 2009 and is 1 of 4 in a N W Gogol multi sheet. Now the stamps on the modern card : let's look at the 3 on the left first. The top and middle stamps are from 2009 , 2 of 3 in a Regions issue. The bottom one , also a regions issue but from 2010. The stamp on the top right, was issued in 2009 and is 1 of 4 in a bridges issue. The bottom stamp , also a bridges issue , but from 2010. All in all, 2 nice cards , both with wonderful stamps. Thanks very much to Valentina. I hope we can swap again.

Card # 3 , from Poland, gives us an aerial view of the main square in Krakow. I like this view, maybe it's the colorful roofs, and the open space in the square. Look's like a neat place just to hang out and relax, watching the people. I love watching people, whether in airports, malls or any other place people roam around. This card is from another private swap, this time with Ola. Sadly, Ola used a couple of very common stamps , so I have elected not to show them this time.

On the next card we can see Predjama Castle, a Renaissance castle built within a cave mouth in the Kras region of southwestern Slovenia. The castle dates from 1274. A little aside here. Since I have been collecting postcards, these past 5 years, I have often commented about different places and building dating from this and that. Let's look at 1274. It's a little difficult for us in Canada to appreciate a date like 1274. I mean our country was only formed in 1867 and the oldest building in Canada only dates from 1637, just a baby in the eyes of Europeans and others. In my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador , the oldest building dates from 1805 and in Alberta , where I now live, it is 1799. Anyway, enough about that, it is what it is. Bilyana , a Postcrosser from Ljubljana sent this card and she used a cool snake stamp from 2010.

Today's final card comes from Norway. I don't get many from that area of the world, except for Finland. So anyone from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Aland Islands and Svalbard feel free to drop me a postcard. If you do , you'll see it here first. Moving on to today's card, it shows us Manafossen waterfall. This falls is located at the bottom of the fjorf Frafjord in Rogaland , Norway and is about 60 km from Stavanger. The falls has a total drop of 92 m. Jorg used 2 stamps here, a definitive from 2002 and a stamp from 2007, 1 of a set of 4 featuring marine Life .

Thanks to Valentina, Ola, Bilyana and Jorg for their fine contributations of cards and stamps. Without folks like you , I would be silent.
Take care.

2 comments:

Karo said...

Hi! Thank you for Your beautiful card from Canada :) I like it :)
I live near Kraków ^^
Greetings from Poland :)

Vernice Yehl said...

What a very unique hobby! The postcards are very nice, they are like a window from the past. And what amazing roofs! They totally change the landscape. Keep posting your unique collection!