US-9480883

With 65 historical lighthouses still standing and spread out along 5,000 miles of coastline, inlets, and islands, Maine is commonly referred to as The Lighthouse State. 

Located on Egg Rock, this lighthouse is one of coastal Maine's architecturally unique lighthouses and  was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Egg Rock Light Station in 1988.

Egg Rock has been known as a home for seabirds and bald eagles also are often spotted there. Today it is part of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge and administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. No humans are allowed on the island between April 1st and August 31st, during the nesting season.

 

Photographer: Robert Thayer

US-9480883, sent by Catherine.

The lighthouse, with its 40-foot tower that flashes red every five seconds, was built in 1875 to help control the increasing summer ferry traffic in the area. After 101 years of being manned, it was automated in 1976. It is still active today and is owned and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

The 1.5 story wood keeper's house, also built in 1875, is actually an integrel part of the tower. The fog signal house, oil house, boathouse, and generator house were built later in 1904.

Ibirapuera Park - Brazil

More cards from Brazil, all from Ibirapuera Park in São, which I visited in 2016.

Ibirapuera Park is a major urban park in São Paulo, Brazil. It has a large area for leisure, jogging and walking, as well a vivid cultural scene with museums and a music hall. Its importance to São Paulo is often comparable to that of Central Park to New York City, Golden Gate Park to San Francisco, or Ueno Park to Tokyo. Ibirapuera is one of South America's largest city parks, together with Chapultepec Park, in Mexico City and Simón Bolívar Park in Bogota.

Inaugurated in 1954 for the 400th anniversary of the city, with buildings designed by famous architect Oscar Niemeyer and landscape by agronomist Otávio Agusto de Teixeira Mendes. Ibirapuera Park covers an area of almost 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi). It is the second largest park in the city. - in: wikipedia

BR-61696, sent by Ilona. 

Ibirapuera Parks offers several cultural attraction, such as Biennial Pavilion, Japanese Pavilion, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Afro-Brazil Museum, etc. 

And also areas for fitness, bicycle path, 13 courts, playgrounds and three artificial lakes.

 

Monument to the Bandeiras is a large-scale granite sculpture by the Italian-Brazilian sculptor Victor Brecheret (1894-1955). It was commissioned by the government of São Paulo in 1921 and completed in 1954. It commemorates the 17th-century bandeiras, or settling expeditions into the interior of Brazil, and the bandeirantes that participated in them. - in: wikipedia

Obelisk is a symbol of the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932, and the biggest monument of the city of São Paulo. The height of the monument is 72 meters. The construction of the monument was started in 1947 and completed in 1970.

Festa Junina Meetings - Brazil

In Brazil, June is a month of festivities and for Brazilian postcrossers this is the perfect excuse for a meeting. Even though these cards are from different years, I think it makes sense to post them together. They were sent by Luzia and Valéria.

Postcard design by freepik.com and Paloma Miranda 

Festa Junina, or the June Festival, is a Catholic tradition that was introduced to Brazil during the country’s colonization by Portugal (from 1500 to 1822). Its events are based on the European Midsummer festivities, which celebrate the harvest and the saints, mainly Saint Anthony, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Peter. 

Postcard design and layout: Léia Guimarães. Illutrations source: Freepik

 All of Brazil celebrates this annual event. The largest festivities happen in the northeast of Brazil where the scale of celebrations is similar to Carnival.

Because this festival celebrates the harvest, events can take on a rural theme, as do the costumes, which resemble a typical countryside style and conjure images of farmers. Dancing is also an important part of the celebrations and is centered around the quadrilha, a typical Festa Junina dance accompanied by a music genre called forró. 

The food of Festa Junina is comforting and uses local ingredients—as you would expect of dishes made in the countryside. Typical foods include bolo de fubá (corn cakes made from finely ground rice or corn flour), curau (corn mixed with condensed milk and peanuts, then topped with cinnamon), cocada de colher (shredded coconut mixed with condensed milk and butter), pé-de-moleque (a type of sweet treat made with hard toffee and peanuts), and paçoca (candy made out of crushed peanuts).

 

 Design and art - Danieli Dagnoni

After Carnival, Festa Junina is the largest celebration in Brazil. As with Carnival, some cities have bigger festivities and events than others. The largest of all the celebrations happen in Campina Grande, in the state of Paraiba, and in Caruaru, in the state of Pernambuco—both in the northeast. Each region attracts millions of visitors each year and the parties there continue well into July. The state of Bahia also has large-scale celebrations, especially in Porto Seguro. - in: https://theculturetrip.com

BR-611994

Two years after beeing added to the UNESCO WHS list, I finally got a card from Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, the last site I was still missing from Brazil. I've just realized that this site was classified exactly 2 years ago, on July 27th, 2021!!

This card is an official sent by Renata. I think we never swapped cards before but she's a member of the Postcrossing forum and I've seen her in the Portuguese speaking community. 

Situated in the western region of Rio de Janeiro, the property embodies a successful project developed over more than 40 years by landscape architect and artist Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994), a “landscape laboratory” to create “living works of art” using native plants and drawing on Modernist ideas.

Foto de @thefuturistics - flickr

BR-611994, sent by Renata.

Began in 1949, the property encompasses extensive landscapes, gardens, buildings and collections, which feature the key characteristics that came to define Burle Marx’s landscape gardens and influenced the development of modern gardens internationally. The site is characterized by sinuous forms, exuberant mass planting, architectural plant arrangements, dramatic colour contrasts, use of tropical plants, and the incorporation of elements of traditional folk culture. By the end of the 1960s, the site housed the most representative collection of Brazilian plants, alongside other rare tropical species. In the site, 3,500 cultivated species of tropical and subtropical flora grow in harmony with the native vegetation of the region, notably the Atlantic Forest biome and associated ecosystems, mangrove swamp and restinga (coastal tropical sandy plain). Sítio Roberto Burle Marx exhibits an ecological conception of form as a process, including social collaboration which is the basis for environmental and cultural preservation. It comprises the first modern tropical garden to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. - in: https://whc.unesco.org

Twyfelfontein - Namibia

Getting a new African UNESCO site is always wonderful, getting a new African UNESCO written and sent from there is even better. Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//aes is one of the two UNESCO sites in Namibia. The card was sent by Marcel.

Twyfelfontein officially known as ǀUi-ǁaes, is a site of ancient rock engravings in the Kunene Region of north-western Namibia. This site has one of the largest concentrations of [...] petroglyphs, i.e. rock engravings in Africa.

 

 © 2022 by Suaithai

Most of these well-preserved engravings represent rhinoceros, . The site also includes six painteelephant, ostrich and giraffe, as well as drawings of human and animal footprintsd rock shelters with motifs of human figures in red ochre. The objects excavated from two sections, date from the Late Stone Age. The site forms a coherent, extensive and high-quality record of ritual practices relating to hunter-gatherer communities in this part of southern Africa over at least 2,000 years, and eloquently illustrates the links between the ritual and economic practices of hunter-gatherers. - in: https://whc.unesco.org

Sanchi Stupas - India

Sanchi known for its "Stupas" is a small village in Raisen District of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the location of several Buddhist monuments dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 12th CE and is one of the important places of Buddhist pilgrimage.
It is the oldest Buddhist sanctuary in existence and was a major Buddhist centre in India until the 12th century A.D. Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi are on the World Heritage List since 1989.

Archaeological Survey of India

 

Stupas are hemispherical structures typically containing relics of the Buddha or his followers. The Stupas of Sanchi were constructed on the orders of Emperor Ashoka to preserve and spread the Buddhist philosophy. Sanchi has been protecting these beautiful and sacred architectural wonders, just the way these wonders have been safeguarding ancient history and art of the Mauryan period.  in: https://www.mptourism.com

 

The Great Stupa at Sanchi is one of the features of Sanchi since it is believed to be the oldest Buddhist stone structure in India which was built by Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great in 3rd Century BCE. The present Stupa is twice the size of the original size of the stupa built in 3rd Century. The stupa in present is 16m in height and 36m in diameter for the pedestal. The nucleus of Stupa is simple hemispherical brick structure said to be built on the relics of Lord Buddha. It was said that the construction work of this Stupa was overseen by Ashoka’s wife, Queen Devi. 

Four elaborately carved toranas/ornamental gateways were built in 1st Century BCE. - in: https://www.originalbuddhas.com

RU-9627968

Feodosia, also called in English Theodosia, is a town on the Crimean coast of the Black Sea.

 

RU-9627968, sent by Sasha.

Church of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God is an Eastern Orthodox Church in a resort town of Feodosiya. Current temple was built in the early 20th century, but its history starts in 1887 when Count Nicholas Heiden gave away his private residence or dacha Kafa in Feodosiya to Toplovsky Monastery of Saint Paraskevi. In 1891 a wooden church was constructed and dedicated to Saint Panteleimon the Healer. In 1907 a new bigger stone Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was built. It became one of the most beautiful and largest buildings in Feodosiya. Architect of the cathedral G.L. Cale designed his cathedral in the Russian- Byzantine style. it was completed and consecrated in 1911. - in: https://ermakvagus.com