UA-98082

This is my 2nd official card from Ukraine. The card shows the Church of Resurrection and the monument to the three bags in Sumy, a city of Northern Ukraine, situated on the beautiful banks of the rivers Psel and its tributary Sumka.

UA-98082, sent by Ann.

Resurrection Church was started by the city's founder Gerasim Kondratiev and was finished by his son Andrew in 1702. It served both as a place of worship and a defensive structure.

"The threes bags monuments is associated to an old legend. According to it "migrants from Stavyshche that is situated in Kyiv region, led by ataman Herasym Kondratyev in summer of 1655 found three hunter bags with coins on the place where little river Sumka merged with calm and spellbound-like river Psel.

This event found its reflection in the name of the city and the emblem of Sumy. ("Sumy" can be translated as "Bags").

This legend is still alive in hearts and souls of Sumy citizens. These bags are a fascinating attraction for all guests of our city that desire to touch them in order to entice happiness and wealth to their homes." - in: http://meria.sumy.ua/en/sumy/culture/culture_general

FI-1078084 & FI-1085016

I've been received a lot of officials in the last days. These two are from Finland.


FI-1078084, sent by Maikki.
This is a card from Lapland, as we can read on the card, the land of the midnight sun.

"The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous 24 hours, mostly north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. The number of days per year with potential midnight sun increases the farther poleward one goes.

There are no permanent human settlements south of the Antarctic Circle, so the countries and territories whose populations experience it are limited to the ones crossed by the Arctic Circle, e.g.. Canada (yukon, Northwest Territorries and extremities of Iceland. A quarter of Finland's territory lies north of the Arctic Circle and at the country's northernmost point the sun does not set for 73 days during summer.

Since the Earth's axis is tilted with respect to the ecliptic by approximately 23 degrees 27 minutes, the sun does not set at high latitudes in (local) summer. The duration of the midnight sun increases from one day during the summer solstice at the polar circle to approximately six months at the poles. At extreme latitudes, it is usually referred to as polar day. The length of the time the sun is above the horizon varies from couple of days at the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle to 186 days at the poles." - in: wikipedia

FI-1085016, sent by Siv.

Jakobstad is a town in Ostrobothnia, west coast of Finland.
The town was founded in 1652. Since the town was founded, the refining of wood runs like a red thread: there are the sawmills, the shipbuilding with its associated shipping industry, the export of tar, pitch and products from the sawmills. At the end of the 19th century, the town rapidly became an industrial town. In the 20th century there was also the pulp industry and the plastic industry.

In 1835 a devastating fire destroyed approximately half of the city.
Today, Jakobstad is the centre of an economic region that has about 50,000 inhabitans and the town has an industry that is still focussed on wood, pulp, boat building, food products and metal products.

BE-98157

Another great official card, not only because it was one of my favorites but also because it was sent by a forum member, in this case, a portuguese member that lives in Belgium.

The card descipts St. Rumbold's Cathedral towering over the Market Square in Mechelen, Dutch-speaking city in the province of Antwerp.

BE-98157, sent by Raquel "ferro".

"The cathedral was built in honor of Saint Rombout (Rumbold), a 17th century irish missionary, and it is rumored that his remains are buried inside the cathedral. State-of-the-art examination of the relics assumed to be St. Rumbold's, showed a death date between 580 and 655, while tradition had claimed 775. Twenty-five paintings in the choir illustrate the life of the saint.

The construction was started shortly after 1200, and during the final phase in 1452-1520, the tower of the cathedral itself was built.

The flat-topped silhouette of the cathedral's tower is easily recognizable and dominates the surroundings. The original design called for a 77-meter spire, but only 7 meters of it were ever actually built, hence the unusual shape. Despite its characteristic incompleteness, this World Heritage monument is 97.28 metres high and has 514 stairs which are visited by thousands of tourists every year." - in: wikipedia

NL-639847

This official from the Netherlands arrived yesterday and i like it a lot. The sender got married in this castle ;)

This castle is located in Helmond, a city in the province of North Brabant in the southern Netherlands.

"Helmond Castle was built in 1402 by a member of the Van Berlaer family as a replacement for the family’s first castle, which originally stood just a few hundred meters to the southwest of the newer building. The castle was built to a similar design to the Muiden and Radboud Castles, although the Helmond Castle has much thinner walls, and relies more on its double moats for defence. The castle now houses a small museum and an art gallery, and is open to the public all year round." - in: http://www.anetherlandsattraction.com/netherlands-attractions-eh/helmond-castle.htm

DE-900389

Another german church but on an official card.


DE-900389, sent by Silvia.

This is the interior of a church in Zöblitz, a city in Saxony.

Darmstadt - Germany

Almost time to sleep, someone has to work tomorrow.
While i was signing thousands of cards in Köln i saw this one and loved it. I asked Ninta if she could send me a copy of it and the card arrived a few weeks ago.

This beautiful russian chapel is located in Darmstadt, a city in the federal state of Hesse, west-central Germany.

The chapel was built as a private chapel by the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, whose wife Alexandra was born in Darmstadt.

Czech cards

After the polish cards now i've 3 czech card, also sent by Emerich.

"Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic.

Its history and growth have been largely affected by exploitation and further use of the high quality black coal deposits discovered in the locality, giving the town a look of an industrial city and a nickname of the “steel heart of the republic” during the communist era of Czechoslovakia. Many of the heavy industry companies are being closed down or transformed." - in: wikipedia

The Ostrava industrial complex was listed in the tentative UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001.

Třebíč is already a Unesco site. "The city was once a centre of Jewish culture in Moravia and the uniquely preserved Jewish Quarter bears silent witness to the cohabitation between Jews and Christians in this city. When we take our tour we will go to the Jewish quarter and the Basilica of St. Prokop, which were inscribed in the UNESCO list in 2003.
Třebíč dates from 1101 when a Benedictine monastery was established here. Thanks to its position on the banks of the River Jihlava and the munificence of its founders the city became an important centre for religious life and education. Today it is an important economic, administrative, political and cultural centre in south-west Moravia. The city offers a wide range of active recreation opportunities in the picturesque environment of the foothills of the Czech-Moravian Vysočina (Highland) region." - in: http://en.czech-unesco.org/trebic/introduction/

Broumov is a town in the Czech Republic, in the Náchod District of the Hradec Králové Region near the Polish border.
On the card there's the Peace Square, with Mary Column.