Azulejos

Aveiro- train station (photo)

Azulejos showing the lighthouse(photo)

One of the postcards which made my day today! Actually I recieved 3 postcerds from Portugal, 4 from Scotland and 1 from the Phillipines with a letter...That was a good day ;) Coming back to postcard... It shows azulejos- thin ceramic tiles very popular in Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries. Nowaday is one of the characteristical features of Portugal and that's where I fall in love with them! In Aveiro where I used to live there is an old train station covered with blue and white tiles- it looks amazing!  I've attached 2 photos of that building :)

Anyway the art of azulejos has been being developed for over 500 years. It was the cheapest way to make the buildings look more aesthetical and unique. Tiles are also very higyenic and they are used indoors in kitchens, bathrooms...everywhere where humidity may be a problem.

There are two theories about the origin of the term 'azulejo'.  Because it was the Moors that brought azulejos to the Iberian Peninsula it is said that the term comes from arrabic al azzelij which means 'little, smooth stone' and which was used to name the middle-easter mosaics. The second theory is that the name comes from Portuguese/Spanish word 'azul' meaning 'blue' and it reffers to the traditional blue ornaments on the white tiles. More informations soon as I'm hopefully going to recieve more postcards showing beautiful azulejos!

For your country's sake today...

Very interesting postcard recieved  by a private facebook swap with Molly. She was on holidays in Fort Sumter/Fort Moultrie in South Carolina.  It was a World War II-era recruitment poster by Steele Savage from 1944.

Here is a little bit form Wikipedia about the American posters from II WW:


The U.S. used posters more than any other method of broadcasting propaganda, and produced more propaganda posters than any other country fighting in World War II. Almost 200,000 different designs were printed during the war.


The Office of War Information (OWI) Bureau of Graphics was the government division in charge of producing and distributing these advertisements. The feature that distinguished the United States poster propaganda from British and other allied propaganda was that the advertisements remained primarily positive in their messages. The United States focused on duty, patriotism and tradition where other countries were focusing on fueling the people's hate for the enemy. These positive messages were used to increase the production of the home front instead of insuring that the "money raised was not lost". Posters rarely used images of war casualties, and battlefield scenes became less popular, being replaced by commercial images to satisfy the "consumer" need for the war.


Posters used a number of themes to encourage support for the war including conservation, production, recruiting, home efforts, and secrecy. Posters were placed in areas lacking paid advertisements. The most common areas were post offices, railroad stations, schools, restaurants, and retail stores. Smaller posters were printed for the windows of private homes and apartment buildings. These regions were places where other propaganda forms could not be deployed.


The war posters were not designed by the government but by artists who received no compensation for their work. Different government-run organizations held competitions for artists to produce their best war time design in order to enlarge the number of designs that they could choose from.

Islam in the Philippines

Islam is the oldest monoteistic religion recorded in the Phillipines. First mosques were built there in 14th century. Right now Muslims are 5-9% of the population of the country. They dominate the Autonomus Region in Muslim Mindanao who was traditional homeland for Muslims since the 15th century. That beautiful postcard recived through private swap shows one of the mosques. It's such a beautiful view!

Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system known in the world located in Edmonson Country, Kentucky. The labirynth is 591 km long and it's on UNESCO WTS since 1981. There are few lakes, rivers and waterfalls including Echo River located 110 meters under the ground. The cave is a home for various species of bats, insects, fish... I don't even want to imagine what creatures live there... brrr

Palacio de Cristal

Palacio de cristal is a builing located in the Retiro Park in Madrid. It was built in 1887 for the exotic plants from the Phillipines. It was orginally made of glass and steel, later rubber and plastic elements were added. Card recived from Facebook postcard exchange.

Mount St. Helens

The mountain that can be seen here is actually an active stratovolcano located in Washington State and it's famous for an eruption from 18th of May1980. 72 people were killed, 250 homes, 47 bridges, railways and highways were destroyed... The most destructive volcano eruption in the US ever! 

Basilica Church of St. Mary Magdalene

Beautiful postcard recieved from a private swap. I love the architecture of the building! I bet it looks amazing and very impressive in real! It's the largest Romanesque church in France and just little bit shorter than the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Another place on my list to visit :)

City of Red Light District

Amsterdam is one of those cities that I really want to visit! There are so many reasons- Dutch architecture that can be seeen on the card, museums, city athmosphere and nightlife... And Dutch people are great so if only I get a chance I'll go there!

Peterhof

I'm very behind with my blog. I've recieved tons of great postcards but I'm short on time to post it.Today another wonderful postcard from Ludmila. I love landscape architecture and my favourite epoque in gardening is Baroque. One of the examples of the style are gardens of Peterhof, located in Peterhof-city located in the federal city of Saint Petersbourg. The palace complexs consist of 20 palaces and 7 parques covering over 1000 h. One of the most interesting elements are water cascades and fountains and that can be seen on the postcard.

The Sunshine State

I really don't like multiviews, not even a bit...unless they are as charming as this one :D Beautiful postcard recieved through facebook group. This is my first postcard from Australia! 

Queensland is often reffered as the Sunshine State due to the climate. Capricorn Coast's name comes from it's location on the Tropic of Capricorn. Not all of the coast is accessable- part of it is taken by Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area. The largest town on the Capricorn Coast is Rockhampton, the area’s cattle farming centre.  Rockhampton has got some  historical buildings from the times of gold rushes.

 It looks wonderful, doesn't it?

Golden Gate again

The Mighty Task is Done

Written upon completion of the building of the Bridge in May 1937

At last the mighty task is done;
Resplendent in the western sun
The Bridge looms mountain high;Its titan piers grip ocean floor,
Its great steel arms link shore with shore,
Its towers pierce the sky.

On its broad decks in rightful pride,
The world in swift parade shall ride,
Throughout all time to be;
Beneath, fleet ships from every port,
Vast landlocked bay, historic fort,
And dwarfing all--the sea.

To north, the Redwood Empire's gates;
'To south, a happy playground waits,
in Rapturous appeal;
Here nature, free since time began,
Yields to the restless moods of man,
Accepts his bonds of steel.

Launched midst a thousand hopes and fears,
Damned by a thousand hostile sneers,
Yet ne'er its course was stayed,
But ask of those who met the foe
Who stood alone when faith was low,
Ask them the price they paid.

Ask of the steel, each strut and wire,
Ask of the searching, purging fire,
That marked their natal hour;
Ask of the mind, the hand, the heart,
Ask of each single, stalwart part,
What gave it force and power.

An Honored cause and nobly fought
And that which they so bravely wrought,
Now glorifies their deed,
No selfish urge shall stain its life,
Nor envy, greed, intrigue, nor strife,
Nor false, ignoble creed.

High overhead its lights shall gleam,
Far, far below life's restless stream,
Unceasingly shall flow;
For this was spun its lithe fine form,
To fear not war, nor time, nor storm,
For Fate had meant it so.

Aloha!

Hawai'i is the newest of the United States located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, about 4 000 km away from the main land. Capital of the state is Honolulu. Archipelago contains 137 islands but only 8 of them are inhabitated.  Hawai'i means homeland in Hawaiian language which has only by 2000 native speakers . The language is connected with Maori and Samoan- I wish I couls speak Maori one day :)

Hawaii is the only state of the United States that:

• is not geographically located in North America
• grows coffee
• is completely surrounded by water
• is entirely an archipelago
• has a royal palace
• does not have a straight line in its state boundary (found on Wikipedia)

Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Another amazing postcard from Ludmila. I was bit lazy and I just copied the text coming from St.Petersburg website. I blame my laziness on donating blood earlier :)

This church is known to Petersburgers as the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood - or even just the Church on the Blood - as it marks the spot where Alexander II was fatally wounded in an assassination attempt on March 1, 1881. Designed by Alfred Parland in the style of 16th and 17th-century Russian churches, the Church of the Resurrection provides a stark (some would say jarring) contrast to its surroundings of Baroque, Classical and Modernist architecture. Alexander II died of wounds inflicted in an attack by the terrorist group People's Will. Immediately, his heir, Alexander II, declared his intention to erect a church on the site in his father's memory, and moreover to have this church built in "traditional Russian" style - in distinction to what he saw as the contaminating Western influence of Petersburg. Eventually, after Alexander had rejected several architects' designs, Archimandrite Ignaty gave the job to Parland, but made the design himself. The church's final composition drew heavily from St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow and the Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev. Construction began in 1883, and Ignaty died shortly afterward, leaving Parland to complete the job. No baptisms, funeral services, weddings, or other traditional church services were held in the Church on the Blood, as this was not in Alexander III's plans. However, weekly requiems (for Alexander II) and sermon readings attracted large numbers of worshippers. After the Revolution, the church - despite becoming an official cathedral in 1923 - was looted. It was closed in 1932, and essentially turned into a garbage dump. Rumors abounded that the church would be torn down. Damage from World War II and the Siege of Leningrad can still be seen on the church's walls. After World War II, the church was used as a warehouse for the Small Opera Theatre. The valuable shrine was almost completely destroyed. Four jasper columns with mosaic mountings in them, and a part of the balustrade were all that remained. On July 20, 1970 the church was made a branch of the St. Isaac's Cathedral museum, and eighty percent of the church's extraordinary restoration was funded by profits from St. Isaac's. The decades of deterioration and then restoration culminated in the dramatic re-opening of the church in August 1997, when thousands of eager visitors swamped the church. The project was estimated to cost 3.6 million rubles, but ended up costing 4.6 million rubles, mainly from the extravagant collection of mosaics. The more than 7500 sq. meters of mosaics link Alexander II's murder with the crucifixion. One of the most impressive elements of the church is the extravagant shrine constructed on the spot where Alexander II was fatally wounded, which has maintained a special place within the church's interior. It was constructed to Parland's design, and completed in July 1907. Four columns of gray violet jasper serve as the base of the shrine. Rising up the shrine, small rectangular columns unite the carved stone awning and the decorated mosaic icons with images of the patron saint of the Romanov family. The columns are supported by a frieze and cornice and stone-carved pediment with vases of jasper along the corners. The church has an outstanding and varied collection of mosaic icons. Several icons were completed in the traditions of academic painting, modernist style and Byzantine icon painting. The large icon of St. Alexander Nevsky was created according to a design by Nesterov. The icons of the main iconostasis Mother of God with Child and the Savior were painted to designs by Vasnetsov. The mosaic panel Pantokrator (Almighty) which depicts Christ giving a blessing with his right hand and holding the gospels in his left, in the platform of the central cupola was painted according to a design by N. Kharlamov. Parland and Andrey Ryabushkin completed the framed icon mosaic ornaments.

Pandanggo sa Ilaw

Pandanggo sa Ilaw is folk dance from the Philippines. It have orginated from the island Mindoro, Philippines. Dancers have to balance 3 oil lamps called tinghoy- on the head and back of their palms.The lights of the lamps are said to represent fireflies that are fluttering in the night. Girl who sent it to me used to dance it when she was a kid :)

Postcard from Anne

Зимний дворец

Winter Palace- Saint Petersburg

Another set of postcards from Ludmila- I'm really glad that I got in touch with her. That beautiful building is the Winter Palace- former official residence of Russian monarchs. In 1917 it was stormed and that became the symbol of the Russian Revolution. Obviously the Palace is very monumental- the building is 250 m long and 30 m high and it has 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows, 1,500 rooms and 117 staircases.There was a huge fire in 1937 due to unknown cause, it destroyed most of the interior of the Palace.

The Winter Palace is home for The Hermitage Museum. The main Hall of the Museum is the Egyptian Hall with mummies :D  The second view  shows The Alexandrian Column which was erected after the Russian victory in the war with the Napoleon. It was named after the Emperor Alexander I who ruled in Russia in 1801-1825. The column is one of the most notable symbols of the city. It was created bu Auguste de Montferrand

Russian mailbox

Private swap from Olga

I simply love that postcard! I fell in love with it the first time I saw it and cos I'm not very patient person I've started searching for someone to swap that card with me. Lucky me I found Olga! Thank you so much for that!

Мост Петра́ Вели́кого

Another beautiful card from Ludmila showing Peter the Great Bridge across the Neva River.  The idea of constructing the bridge in that place was in the air long time before it was built but there had to be a tragedy to start working on it ( sounds like Poland to be honest ). In 1907 the passenger ship Arkhangelk transferring people from one bank to the other sank. Soon after it the construction works begun. The bridge was opened on 26th of June 1909- 200 years from the Battle of  Poltava where the triumphator was emperor Peter the Great and that's why the bridge got named after him.

Wonderful night view from Ludmila

Interesting fact: the bridge itself was manufactured in Warsaw by Rucki Bros and then transported and assembled! According to wikipedia the city rumor has it that one of the clenches in the bridge is made from pure gold, and colored to be the same color as the rest of clenches. It is impossible to verify, since the bridge has more than one million clenches :)

The U.S. project combo

private swap from Jean-Claude

Arkansas is bounded on the north by Missouri; on the east by the Mississippi River, which separates it from Mississippi and Tennessee; on the south by Louisiana; and on the west by the plains of Oklahoma and Texas. In size, it stands 27th among the states, with an area of 53,187 square miles. Of these, over 600,000 acres are lakes with 9,740 miles of streams.   The term Arkansas means south wind and is derived from a name used by some Native Americans to describe the Quapaws, an early tribe in the area. The French Jesuits pronounced the tribe name Oo-gaq-pa, which the Algonquins pronounced Oo-ka-na-sa, and Marquette wrote Arkansoa; LaSalle wrote Arkensa; DeTonti, Arkancas; and LaHarpe, Arkansas. When the state was admitted to the Union in 1836, it was spelled Arkansas. The legislature of 1881 appointed a committee to ascertain the rightful pronunciation of the last syllable, and the result was a resolution declaring the pronunciation to be Ark-an-saw.

private swap from Jean-Claude

North Carolina is the country's largest furniture, tobacco, brick and textile producer. Another important industries are metalworking, chemicals and paper. The agriculture is based on tobacco, corn, cotton, hay, peanuts and vegetable crops. For tourists the most interesting are Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Parkway, Cape Hatteras Nationa Seashores, National Military Parks...

Postcrossing official US-1112669

Michigan- Great Lakes Region. Even the name of the state means large water -mishigamaa in Ojibwe- the indigenous language. The state has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. It is also the only state consisting entirely of two peninsulas. No wonder there is a fisherman on the postcard. By the way- this is my first official postcrossing postcard :)

Postcard from my friend Ulbert 

Welcome to the mountain west! Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Arizona is noted for its desert climate, exceptionally hot summers, and mild winters. In addition to the Grand Canyon, many other national forests, parks, and monuments are located in the state, while more than a quarter of its territory is Federal Trust Land which serves as the home of the Navajo Nation, the Hopi tribe, the Tohono O'odham and Apache people and various Yuman tribes, such as the Yavapai, Quechan and Hualapai.

Sent by Dustin

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State or OSU, is a public research university located in Columbus. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States. Ohio State currently has over 425,000 living alumni located around the world. Ohio State alumni include Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, and Medal of Honor recipients, ambassadors, as well as Fortune 500 CEOs and members of the Forbes 400 list of the world's wealthiest individuals.

Saint Petersburg

Today the first of many postcards from wonderful city of Saint Petersburg, thanks to Ludmila!

Beautiful postcard from Ludmila

'The most abstract and intentional city in the world' as Dostoyevsky reffered, St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia with the population of over 4 800 000 citizens. Locals calls the city just 'Peter'

The city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great in 1703. It used to be capital of Russia in years 1713-1728 and 1732-1918. The city is located along the shores of Neva Bay and islands of the river delta.The baroccan and neo-classical buildings of the city center are well preserved. Historic City Center is listed as World Heritage Site by UNESCO

The reason why I like the city and I'd love to see it are all the refferences of the city in literature. I'm a book freak and I find russian literature the most interesting. The best book ever written is undoubtly "Master and Margarita" (of course it's my personal opinion). Another really amazing books are "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky and "Anna Karenina" by Tolsoy. 

St. Petersburg was usually claimed to be artificial, messed up, mechanical... The symbol of disorder and the city where status is the most important thing. It's hard for me to understand looking at the beautiful sights from there. Anyway since I've read "Crime and Punishment" I'm dreaming about Saint Petersburg and I hope one day in the future I'll visit it!

Tharr will be more ;)

Hello Wisconsin

Wisconsin is located in the north-central United States. It's capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee. I'm not really in writting mood so I will just tell that secret polish plan for colonizing the worldworks fine in Wisconsin because 9,3% of people there are Polish or have Polish ancestors and that's the highest percentage of  residents from my country of any state :)

Postcard from Jean-Claude

I like that postcard and there are few reasons for that. First at all it's a US card of the state I haven't had. The other reason is the map as I find map cards very interesting. This one is beautiful and I think that Wisconsin's coat of arms is awesome! And there is another reason why "Wisconsn" on the card made me smile... I used to watch a lot of  'That's '70s Show' and it takes places in fictional town in Wisconsin state ;) So I thought of recalling some memorable quotes from the TV show ;)

Fez: Cake is good, but you can not have sex with cake.
Kelso:Cause my mind is always doing stuff I don't even know aboutKitty Forman: Sex, it's not dirty.Red Forman: It's not clean either.Kitty Forman: All families are embarrassing. If they aren't embarrassing they're dead.Eric: I know when I go to hospital i like to NOT die.