On the 20-th of October after 10 days of traveling I got this nice FDC from Luis (Portugal). Unfortunately, the English version of the Portuguese post page is under construction, so I couldn't find any information about the stamp which I can understand. As far as I can guess, it's devoted to the 100-th anniversary of the republican form of government.
Thank you very much, Luis!
On the 20-th of November after 8 days of traveling I got this nice cover from Poland, Nowy Sącz. It's devoted to the 100-th anniversary of the creating of the sport club Widzew Łódź.
Thank you very much, Andrzej!
On the 17-th of November after just 9 days of traveling I got another cover from Croatia. This time there is a series devoted to the light houses. Here is the description:
Zagreb, September 7, 2010 – Croatian Post has released today three new commemorative postage stamps from the “Lighthouses” series – Tajer, Vir and Veli rat. The face value of the stamps is HRK 3, 10. The authors of the stamps are Orsat Franković and Ivana Vučić, designers from Zagreb, while the author of the photographs is Andrija Carli, a photographer from Split. The stamps are printed in 100 000 copies per motif, in 10-stamp sheets.
One could say that lighthouses are buildings situated on the coast which aid ships in navigation. But, lighthouses are much more than that. Very few buildings have managed to capture the attention of people from all over the world by their beauty and charm as lighthouses have. Today, lighthouses still serve their purpose, but have at the same time become a favored tourist destination, while many took up photographing lighthouses as a hobby. One of them is Andrija Carli and three of his photographs served as the motif for new postage stamps from the very successful and popular series „Lighthouses“. This year Croatian Post’s stamps depict the lighthouses Tajer, Vir and Veli rat.
The tower of the lighthouse Tajer is connected to the main building by a unique stone bridge, and owing to its distinguishable red and white stripes it has become a tourist symbol of the surrounding archipelago.
The legend of a hidden treasure somewhere near the lighthouse Vir captured the imagination of many treasure seekers. During the 20th century, children of the lighthouse keepers, while playing on the beach, sometimes found gold coins and even a valuable necklace once.
Veli rat is considered to be one of the most beautiful lighthouses in the whole Mediterranean. Besides its beauty, it is also very interesting to tourists because they can rent it out and spend their vacation there, as in many other lighthouses on the Adriatic coast, and enjoy the unique peace and atmosphere a lighthouse has to offer.
Croatian Post has to date issued twelve stamps altogether in the “Lighthouses” series, started in 2007, and the interest for them has been growing ever since.
Another stamp with the beautiful ethnic tracery represents CROATIAN ETHNOGRAPHIC HERITAGE - Međimurje.
Thank you very much, Josip!
On the 8-th of November I got my first cover from the ex-Yugoslavian republic - Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information about the stamps, because at first I'm not sure if they are Bosnian since it's written on Cyrillic and says that it's Republica Serpska and the Serbian Post web page is unavailable. But as far as I understood, the first stamp on the lefet is devoted to the contemporary Serbian art, it's a picture "Zebil'eeva street" by B. Shoshra. the other stamp represents the Grachanitsa monastery in Serbia.
Thank you very much, Nebojsa!
At the same time I got the previous cover, I got this amazing FDC. This time it's Euro cept 2010. I'm a huge fun of this series so it was a very special FDC for me!
Thank you very much, Kristijan!
On the 10-th of October just after 3(!!!) days of traveling (still can't believe it!) I got this nice package from Slovenia.
There are 2 sets of stamps: first is devoted to the World Football Championship which took place in the South Africa this summer and the second one is devoted to the World Basketball Championship. I'm not a big fun of these kinds of sports, so I can't tell a lot about them but I still think that they were very important worldwide events which with no doubt deserve to be devoted to!
And the other stamp is from Euro cept series 2009. I lost this stamp, so Kristjan kindly sent me another one.
Thank you very much, Kristijan!
Now let me tell you about this nice cover from Brazil which I got this spring.
There are 2 nice stamps which I wanted to get. First is devoted to Louis Braille - the inventor of the graphics for blind people. I've already written about this kind of stamps and have them in my collection, but I'm still glad to receive such stamps! The other stamps celebrate the first flight of a Brazilian man (Cel. Marcos Pontes) to space in a Soyuz rocket with the Spacial Russian Agency.
Thank you very much, Ricardo!
On the 14-th of August after 20 days of traveling I got this amazing FDC from Poland. It was devoted to the 600-th anniversary of the Grünewald Battle. This historic events took place on the 14-th of July 1410 in Germany and was a fight between the Order of crusaders under the leadership of Ulrich von Jungingen and the united troops of several East European peoples: Polish, Lithuanians, Russians and Czech under the leadership of Władysław II Jagiełła.
On the stamp you can see the picture of J. Matejko "Bitwa pod Grunwaldem" (The Grünewald Battle) painted in 1878 and which is located in the Polish National Museum - Warsaw.
Thank you very much, Andrzej!\
On the 1-st of June after 10 days of traveling I got this beautiful cover with souvenir sheet from Poland. It celebrates the International Philatelic Exhibition "Portugal 2010". I myself have never taken part in such events, but I do hope I will one time since I consider them a very important event which help people, which are interested in philately to get to know each other, to communicate and to find out new interesting things!
Thank you, Andrzej!
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On the 18-th of May after 31 days of traveling I got this long-awaited cover from Croatia. As you can see, it's another one from Europa series. I;m always glad to get new Europa stamps!
Thank you very much, Dragan!!!!
On the 21-st of May after 24 days of traveling I got this FDC from Hong Kong. It''s devoted to the Hong Kong''s participation in Expo 2010 which took place in Shaghai China. The stamp shows us the Hong Kong''s unlimited potential in development.
Thank you, Brian!
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On the 10-th of June after 34 days of traveling I got this cover from Croatia. The stamps are devoted to the anniversaries of several things such as: 1) Franciscan church 2)FRANCISCAN ORDER 3) St. MARTIN’S HERMIT CHAPEL.
You can find more information about this events on the official page of the Croatian post. The page is just amazing - it provides us a lot information on the tamps! Here it is:
350 YEARS OF FRANCISCAN PRESENCE IN ČAKOVEC
800TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FRANCISCAN ORDER
800TH ANNIVERSARY OF St. MARTIN’S HERMIT CHAPEL IN PODSUSED
Thank you very much, Josip!
Katyn crime.
This souvenir sheet was issued in memory of the soldiers which were killed in 1940 in Katyn (Western Russia) by the order of Stalin. The crime was disgusting by itself, but even worse the truth about it was being hidden for many years! The Soviet government invented the other version of this event: the soldiers were killed by the German fascists and it was even adopted by the Polish communism authorities. Fortunately this year the situation has changed - the Russian govern
ment presented the original Stalin's order, admitted it and denounced. I do hope this acts will improve our relationships.
On the s\s you can see the buttons of the soldiers' war uniform.
Thank you very much, Andrzej!
History of Polish photography.
This cover represents the works of the "father of Polish photography" - Jan Bulhak. They were made in 1920s and show us some views of Warsaw and Krakow. The photos are located at the Muzeum Narodowy (Warsaw).
Thank you very much, Andrzej!
I'm back again after 4 months - the period of my being in the USA. Now I continue to post my covers. I'm going to upload the letters which I got during the summer shortly.
Thank you, all my exchange-friends for patiently waiting for my return!
Alexandr
On the 20-th of April after 25 days of traveling i got another Olympic 2010 stamp. I was really glad to have it - my collection of Olympiad 2010 stamps is growing!
Thank you very much, Andrzej!
On the 15-th of April after 26 days of traveling I got some nice covers from Milan where my friend Lorenzo was visiting the philatelic exhibition. He was able to put the special cancellation on the stamps - you can see it lower. This cover features the XVI Mediterranean Games. It was the first time I've ever heard of them and I consider them to be a very important even. All the sport competitions is a good way not only to show your force and achievements, but also a way to provide a great international communication and make the cross-countries relationships better.
The stamp shows the countries that face onto the Mediterranean Sea and a number of symbols representing the sports featured in the 16th Mediterranean Games; bottom left is the logo of the Games.
Thank you very much, Lorenzo!
On the 20-th of April after 31 days of traveling I got 2 just amazing covers from Canada! I was really glad to get them since Olympiad in general is one of my favorite topic and Canadian Post made really beautiful souvenir sheets this year! Except for the s\s celebrating the Olympiad, there is one devoted to the great event for the Canadian team - first Olympic gold medal won on the Canadian soil.
Canada Strikes Gold! marks a momentous event in Canadian history-in a unique way. Issued to celebrate Canada's first-ever Olympic gold medal victory on Canadian soil, this stamp captures an unforgettable moment of honour and pride that will live on for years to come. The stamp, which was designed by Naomi Broudo and Violet Finvers of the Vancouver-based firm, Tandem Design, showcases a Vancouver 2010 Olympic gold medal. Canada Strikes Gold was issued within 24 hours of the gold-medal win, making it a truly hot-off-the-presses collectible and the perfect Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games keepsake.
This exciting set of commemorative stamps was issued to celebrate the exhilaration and binding power of the Olympic spirit. The backgrounds of the stamps capture the energy of the Games with photographs of three sports: four-man bobsleigh, women’s cross-country sprint, men’s short track relay speed skating. As well, Chandra Crawford is shown accepting her gold medal at the Torino 2006 Winter Games.
Thank you very much, Chris!
On the 7-th of April after 29 days of traveling I got this awesome cover from Czech Republic. There are so many long-awaited stamps! Especially first right stamp which is devoted to two very important dates in modern Czech history. They are 1) The beginning of the German occupation (17.11.1939), which also symbolizes the period of the strong battles. 2) The date of the Velvet Revolution (17.11.1989) - when the communist party lost its power and it was the beginning of a new epoch in this country. The next stamp is devoted to the 50 anniversary of European Council which was in 1999. And the last stamp is devoted to a very important topic - struggle against cancer. That is a disgusting and very danger disease and humanity has been trying to find a solve of it for many years. I do hope that there will be a better solution! We really need to attract attention to this problem and I think issuing of stamps is a way.
Thank you very much, Milan!
On the 8-th of April after 20 days of traveling I got this nice cover from Italy. The top stamp features the St. Mark's Square (which makes up the word combination SMS that has nothing common with massages like I thought before) in Venice. The bottom stamp is devoted to the 150-th anniversary of the first Sicilian stamp.
Here is some more information:
The first stamp features a silhouette of part of Venice’s monumental St. Marks Square, enveloped in the dark of night and illuminated only by the moonlight; on the right, one can see the logo of SMS Saint Mark’s Square Venice.
The word “ITALIA” and the denomination “€ 0,60” complete the stamp.
The second stamp features, on the left, the horseshoe-shaped postal marking used to cancel stamps in the Kingdom of Sicily, and on the right, the ½-grana stamp issued on 1 January 1859, with the effigy of King Ferdinand II, which bears the impressed cancellation. In the background is a section of the customs map of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
The words “150° FRANCOBOLLI DI SICILIA” (150th anniversary stamps of Sicily), “ITALIA”, and the denomination “€ 0,60” complete the stamp.
Thank you very much, Giovanni!
On the 1-st of April after 51 days of traveling (just like from Brazil) I got this cover from Hungary. It celebrates the 100-th anniversary of the Louis Blériot's flight across the La Manche who did it for the first time ever! It was a great event in aviation and in the world history for sure! The other stamp is devoted to the Hungarian aviation history, showing the Kisrákos aviation exhibition during which an aeroplane took off the Hungary land for the first time.
More information about the stamp:
100 years ago, on 25 July 1909, the French engineer and constructor Louis Blériot (1872–1936) flew the 37 km across the English Channel between Dover and Calais in 36 minutes. In the same year, on 17 October, he also held a display in Hungary. This was the first time that an aeroplane took off in Hungary.
The first reports of the work of Hungarian aeromodellers come from the time of the first engine-powered flight (1903). However, Blériot’s flight in 1909 was a real breakthrough, inspiring the foundation of the first aeromodel clubs in Hungary. So 1909 is considered as the start of organised Hungarian aeromodelling. (Source: http://hu.wikipedia.org, http://www.dvmk.hu/tortenelem.php?magy)
One of the denominations of the pair of stamps with a label shows the moment when Louis Blériot reached the English coast at Dover on the first flight across the Channel. The other stamp captures Blériot’s demonstration flight in a small Hungarian village, Kisrákos. The label between the stamps features a constructional drawing of Blériot’s aeroplane, which is intended to symbolise and document the 100 years of Hungarian aeromodelling. The first day cover depicts Blériot as a pilot, in the cockpit of his aeroplane, while on the special postmark there is a front view of his aeroplane’s constructional drawing. The preparation of the new pair of stamps was assisted by the Budapest Transport Museum.
Thank you very much, Antal!
On the 30-th of March, after 32 days of traveling i got this FDC, celebrating the 200 anniversary of F. Chopin's birthday. I do hope that all we know and love the music of this outstanding composer. The main idea of the stamp creator - Marzanna Dąbrowska was to show him full of dynamic energy. So the prototype of the stamp is the Chopin's memorial which is located in Warsaw. I think that the author has achieved her goal.
Thank you very much, Andrzej!
I should say that this year I do have good luck with postcrossing! Another great cover was received via this project just after 13 days (good job, comparing with 2 months!). And I really like the FDC envelope, devoted to the very right stamp. This stamp celebrates the 250-th anniversary of founding of the MÁRIABESNYŐ DEVOTIONAL STATUE. There is a very interesting history of it:
In the 1750’s the third wife of the region’s count, Antal Grassalkovich became fatally ill. At this time he made a resolution that if his wife recovers he wold build a church to the honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When the work was started stonemason János Fidler saw a vision and heard the words: “If you dig among the ruins of the church where once the main altar stood you will find a beautiful object.” On the following day, on 19 April 1759 he started to search at the location spoken of, and at a depth of two spades he found the statue of the Virgin Mary, which was an 11 cm tall carved piece of ivory from the 11th-12th century.
From his family jewels Antal Grassalkovich had two crowns and a belt of precious stones, even today it is these and the gift of a gold ring from Franz Josef I that decorate the work. The statue was placed in a silver house behind crystal glass in the chapel, which was completed by 14 August 1761. Due to increasing demand the church was continuously extended and was consecrated on 17 March 1771. The news of the miraculous find of the country’s smallest devotional statue spread quickly and Máriabesnyő became a place of pilgrimage. Even today several hundred thousand people visit it every year, asking for the graces of the Holy Virgin mother. Starting from the very first times very many prayers were answered and miracles took place here. The small presents of thanks located in the area around the altar bear witness to this.
Count Grassalkovich entrusted the care of the shrine to the Capuchins in 1763. The church was renovated by the order in 1912 and then in 1942, but in 1950 when the orders were disbanded they were forced to abandon it. After the change of regime they returned to Máriabesnyő, which became the second most visited Virgin Mary shrine in Hungary in the 20th century.
Pope Benedict XVI with the decision of the Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued on 2 May 2008 raised the Máriabesnyő chapel to the rank of basilica minor, which was announced on 7 September 2008 at the festival of the Virgin Mary. Source: http://hu.wikipedia.org http://mariabesnyo.vaciegyhazmegye.hu http://uj.katolikus.hu http://ujember.katolikus.hu
The stamp includes the statue decorated with the jewellery and the basilica.
Thank you very much, Krisztina!
On the 23-rd of March after a month of traveling I got this cover from Poland. This time it was devoted to the lost works of art. It's well-known that during many wars some works of art could be stolen or lost. And that also happened during the WWII. On the souvenir sheet you can see the pictures of A. Durer, P. P. Rubens, Rembrandt which were lost from Polish museums and libraries during WWII. Of course, it's not all of them, but still it's a way to attract attention to this important problems for national heritage of every country!
Another nice and unexpected cover I got via postcrossing. This time it was the stamp, devoted to the Olympiad in Vancouver! My second one! And take a look at the card! It's a reproduction of the pictures of the painter! Now I have this signed! It really will be a special one! Thank you very much, Lindy!
