Frauenkirche, Dresden - Germany

Since October, 30th 2005 the steeple of the Frauenkirche overtops the Dresden skyline again. The reconstruction of the Frauenkirche is an impressive symbol of international reconciliation after World War II.

 

DE-14411070, sent by Manuela.

The sacred building was erected between 1726 and 1743, following the designs of George Bähr. Its characteristic dome, called the "stone bell" owing to its shape, collapsed on February 15th, 1945 under the rain of bombs. The remaining ruins were left as a war memorial, following decisions of local East german leaders. The church was rebuilt after the reunification of Germany. The reconstruction of its exterior was completed in 2004 and its interior in 2005.

 

 The Frauenkirche is a symbol of conciliation, largely with donations from German and international foundations. The Neumarkt quarter around the church is also to regain its status as the historical heart of the city.

 

DE-3275953, sent by Olaf.

 Its barroque interior with five semi-circular galleries represents an impressive architectural unit of great beauty. It combines the concept of a centralized structure, focused on the pulpit, baptismal font and organ. 

Cáceres - Spain

Last month I was on holidays and spend a weekend in Cáceres. I really liked the city and want to go back to the region to visit other cities nearby. 

There're plenty of reasons to visit this city. Narrow cobbled streets, mansions, Renaissance palaces, churches crowned by storks’ nests and much more. Cáceres was declared a World Heritage City by UNESCO in 1986 because of the city's blend of Roman, Moorish, Northern Gothic and Italian Renaissance architecture.

Plaza Mayor is the traditional meeting point of the people of Cáceres. This space started to be used after the Reconquista as a city market centre, being urbanized starting in the fifteenth century.

The Town Hall presides over it, built in 1869 by Ignacio María de Michelena. In it, you can see  emblematic monuments like the La Hierba Tower, one of the Pulpits, and, especially, the Tower of   Bujaco next to the La Paz Hermitage. - in: https://turismo.caceres.es

 

Fotógrafo: Modesto Galán

The church of San Francisco Javier is a Baroque-style Jesuit church built in the 18th century with the fortune of a Jesuit from the Figueroa family. The works began in 1698 and concluded in 1755.

 

© Fotógrafo: Modesto Galán

St. Matthew Church was built on the ruins of an Arab mosque in the 16th century.  It was built in  late Gothic style, called Spanish Plateresque.

 Ed. Pergamiño

Right next to St. Matthew's Church, there's the Torre de Las Cigüeñas - Stork Tower, an example of a Renaissance building in the city. It was built in the late 15th century by Diego de Cáceres. The tower offers spectacular views over the city.

Photo by: Modesto Galán

I'm pretty sure Óscar chose this card because of the old lady. She's walking along one of the adarves, which are the streets adjacent to the wall. In Cáceres five streets retain the name of Adarves (Father Rosalío, Santa Ana, Estrella, Bishop Álvarez de Castro and Christ), although when speaking of "the adarves", usually refers to the first three. This one on the image is, I believe, Estrella.

PT RR - Surprise Group * June 24

No surprise groups in April and May but in June the postcards written in Portuguese returned to the mailbox.

Old ladies in Piódão washing clothes as it was done in the past. 

Card sent by Tiago.

Fotografia: Oswaldo Santos

Arte xávega in one of the Costa de Prata beaches. 

Card sent by Nídia.

 

And when you least expect it, a postcard arrives from a new UNESCO site. Atalí is from Uruguay and after some time without being in Postcrossing, she has now returned and has participated in the Portuguese community, including in this RR. She saw that I still didn't have postcards from Fray Bentos and sent me this one. The Fray Bentos Industrial Landscape was added to the World Heritage list in 2015.

Located on land projecting into the Uruguay River west of the town of Fray Bentos, the industrial complex was built following the development of a factory founded in 1859 to process meat produced on the vast prairies nearby. The site illustrates the whole process of meat sourcing, processing, packing and dispatching. It includes buildings and equipment of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company, which exported meat extract and corned-beef to the European market from 1865 and the Anglo Meat Packing Plant, which exported frozen meat from 1924. Through its physical location, industrial and residential buildings as well as social institutions, the site presents an illustration of the entire process of meat production on a global scale. - in: https://whc.unesco.org

Wengji Blang Village - China

 China adds new sites to the UNESCO WHS list almost every year and last year was no exception. The Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests on the Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er was inscribed last september, bringing the total number of the country's UNESCO World Heritage sites to 57. With this card, also sent by Johnson, I've cards from all the Chinese sites!!

The heritage site consists of five old tea forests covering an area of 1,180 hectares, nine ancient villages with a population of about 5,000 and three protective partition forests. One of those nine ancient villages is the Wengji Blang Village.

Located on Jingmai Mountain in southwestern China, this cultural landscape was developed over a thousand years by the Blang and Dai peoples following practices that began in the 10th century. The property is a tea production area comprised of traditional villages within old tea groves surrounded by forests and tea plantations. The traditional understorey cultivation of old tea trees is a method that responds to the specific conditions of the mountain’s ecosystem and subtropical monsoon climate, combined with a governance system maintained by the local Indigenous communities. Traditional ceremonies and festivities relate to the Tea Ancestor belief that spirits live in the tea plantations and in the local fauna and flora, a belief that is at the core of this cultural tradition.- in: https://whc.unesco.org

Quanzhou - China

It took me 3 years to finally have a card from Quanzhou. It was worth to wait, this card sent by Johnson is great.

 

 Quanzhou, a coastal city in southeast China's Fujian Province, is renowned for its long history and rich culture. It was once the starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road and a global maritime trade center back in the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties.
In July 2021, UNESCO listed 22 sites in the city on its World Heritage List for its role as the "Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China." - in: https://www.fujian.gov.cn

 

The serial site of Quanzhou illustrates the city’s vibrancy as a maritime emporium during the Song and Yuan periods (10th - 14th centuries AD) and its interconnection with the Chinese hinterland. Quanzhou thrived during a highly significant period for maritime trade in Asia. The site encompasses religious buildings, including the 11th century AD Qingjing Mosque, one of the earliest Islamic edifices in China, Islamic tombs, and a wide range of archaeological remains: administrative buildings, stone docks that were important for commerce and defence, sites of ceramic and iron production, elements of the city’s transportation network, ancient bridges, pagodas, and inscriptions. - in: https://whc.unesco.org

TW-3681523

 It makes sense to post a sunset card at this time of the day. 

Sanxiantai is an area containing a beach and several islands located on the coast of Chenggong Township, Taitung County, Taiwan. 

A popular tourist attraction for its rocky coastal views, the area is well known for its long footbridge in the shape of a sea dragon. - in: wikipedia

 

TW-3681523, sent by Ruby.

 In 1987, the government completed the eight cross-sea arch bridge that crosses over to the island. It was designed in the shape of waves, like a prostrate sea dragon and connects Sanxiantai with Taiwan Island. It has become the most famous landmark on the East Coast. - in: https://www.eastcoast-nsa.gov.tw

NL-5740962

 A new castle from the Netherlands, one of the largest moated castles in the country.

 

 NL-574962, sent by Linda.

 Huis Bergh Castle in 's Heerenberg dates from the 13th century. It unfolds as soon as you visit the town. It was the ancestral home to the most powerful lords and counts who play an important role in the church and state, and during the Eighty Years' War. Today it is a place where historical stories come back to life in the form of beautiful architecture and a rich art collection. - in: https://www.detweebruggen.com

DE-14223118

 It's summer but it looks and feels more like winter though. It's cold, foggy and rainy.

 

DE-14223118, sent by Melanie.

Hoherodskopf is a mountain peak in the Vogelsberg, a large volcanic mountain range  of Hesse. 

The tower in the middle is a radio tower built between 1976 and 1977 by the then German Federal Post Office as a replacement for an older steel lattice tower. For decades it was by far the tallest structure in the Vogelsberg district until it was surpassed in 2008 by two 150-meter-high wind turbines in the Fleschenbach-Neustall wind farm near Freiensteinau.

CH-725589

 A Swiss official card sent on travel mode.

 

Photoglob Zurich

CH-725589, sent by Gwenn.

Aarau is located by the southern foot of the Jura foothills in the centre of the big city triangle of Zurich, Basel and Lucerne. The central location was recognised early on which is why Aarau for a brief few months in 1798 was Switzerland's first capital and home to Switzerland's first Houses of Parliament.
The many painted eaves, the so-called "Dachhimmel" which predominantly date from the 16th century when the town underwent considerable extension, are a special feature of the old town of Aarau. It's for this reason that Aarau is regarded as the town of beautiful gables. - in: https://www.myswitzerland.com

Douamont Ossuary - France

 I'm happy to have this postcard from a UNESCO site that I was still  missing but I'd rather not have it. If there hadn't been the WWI, if there hadn't been the battle of Verdum, this place would have no reason to exist. We all know what happened and this ossuary is just 1 of the 139 funerary and memorial sites, 43 in Belgium and 96 in France, classified as UNESCO WHS last year. 

 Douaumont Ossuary is a majestic monument, which pays tribute to all the unidentified soldiers found on the battlefield of Verdun. All nationalities and all divisions are gathered there without distinction. The monument is a true symbol of peace and reconciliation.

 

 Cliché - Sylver Soles

At the end of 1918, thousands of bodies were discovered in Verdun. Charles Ginisty, Bishop of Verdun, decided to gather the bones of the unidentified soldiers in a place of remembrance. As a result, the building was inaugurated in 1932. Thus,130,000 soldiers from all walks of life are buried in the ossuary. In addition, 15,000 French soldiers were buried in the graves in front of the monument.
Today, inside the sanctuary, almost 4,000 engravings of the names of soldiers who died at Verdun cover the walls. From the top of the monument at nightfall, a light visible from 40km away watches over the thousands of soldiers who were not found on the battlefield. - in: https://www.landofmemory.eu

Tejera Negra Beech Forest - Spain

 It wasn't easy, it took me some time but I finally have cards from all the Spanish UNESCO sites. I was only missing one from the beech forests and a few weeks ago I received this one, sent by Jordi, from Tejera Negra, a forest in Castilla-La Mancha.

 

The beech trees of Tejera Negra became established in ancient times when the climate was colder and wetter. These trees now find refuge in shady valleys and on northern slopes, with fog, wind, rain and hardly any sun.

 

The Tejera Negra beech forest is one of the southernmost on the continent. It has been awarded the World Heritage designation by UNESCO in 20017.
This unique forest is delimited by the Lillas and Zarzas rivers. The microclimate and isolation of this location have enabled the preservation of the beech groves that give it its name. There are other protected species here in addition to the beech trees, including yew, holly, birch, oak, hazel and pine. The undergrowth consists of heather, broom and thickets. The most iconic fauna of the Tejera Negra beech forest are daytime birds of prey such as golden eagles, red kites and goshawks. Roe deer, foxes, wild cats, martens, badgers, weasels, wild boar and nocturnal birds of prey, such as tawny owls, long-eared owls and little owls, abound. - in: https://www.spain.info

El Puerto de Santa María - Spain

 This a Spanish card but it was signed and sent during the 17th Portuguese Postcrossing Meeting. Vitória knew that a castle card would make me happy. 

El Puerto de Santa María locally known as El Puerto, is located on the banks of the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia.

 

The castle was erected as a fortified church by King Alfonso X of Castile. It was built on the site of a mosque of which the wall of the qibla survives.

Already in the Modern Era, with the city in the hands of the nobiliary house of Medinaceli, is when another of the great reforms in the building takes place. Specifically during the dukedom of Luis de la Cerda (1479-1501) works were carried out such as the exterior wall or the sacristy of the church; coinciding with a period of splendor for the city of El Puerto due to the discovery and conquest of the American continent.
The Castle of San Marcos was key to this historical event, possibly housing such important personalities as Alonso de Ojeda, discoverer of the mouth of the Amazon River; Juan de la Cosa, who reflected the silhouette of the New Continent for the first time on a map made in the year 1500 or Christopher Columbus himself. - in: https://castillodesanmarcos.com

Tibães Monastery - Portugal

 I've been to Braga several times but I've never visited this monastery, which is situated a few kms from the city. It will be on my list next time I visit the city.

This card was also sent by Óscar.

Founded at the end of the 11th century, the São Martinho de Tibães Benedictine Monastery was granted a Charter in 1110 by Count D. Henrique and Count D. Teresa, the parents of D. Afonso Henriques, who would become the first king of Portugal.

 

Fotografia: Luís Ferreira Alves

Silence, obedience, poverty, prayer and work were part of the Benedictine Order followed by the monks. The Monastery grew in privileges and power until the 14th century and was chosen after the Council of Trent, in 1567, to be the house of Congregation of São Bento dos Reinos de Portugal. 

It reached its maximum splendour in the 17th and 18th centuries, when it was transformed into one of the largest monastic collections of Portuguese Baroque. 

The São Martinho de Tibães Monastery, consisting of the church, convent wings and the outer space enclosed by the cloistered enclosure, closed in 1834, the date that marked the extinction of Religious Orders in Portugal. With practically all the property and the building sold in public auction, in 1986 the Portuguese State began its study and restoration.

Today it is possible to see and feel the spaces and their history, in a “Monument-Museum" and in a Historical Garden that extends over some 40 hectares, right up to the fence. In this space, the Benedictine monks sought subsistence, but also a place for meditation, leisure and experimentation. - in: https://bilheteira.patrimoniocultural.gov.pt

Amarante - Portugal

I feel like visiting Amarante again. I've only been there twice. The first was many, many years ago during the Festas de São Gonçalo and I only remember the fireworks and eating cotton candy; the second was also some time ago and was precisely during the works at the Church of São Gonçalo. Photos and cranes don't mix. I want to go back to take pictures without cranes and scaffolding and I also want to go hiking there.

Fotografia: José Carvalho

PT-818230, sent by Sandra.

The green landscapes that surround the city, the São Gonçalo Bridge that unites the banks of the Tâmega with perfection and history, the Convento de S. Gonçalo imposingly located, are some of the hallmarks of a romantic, charming and welcoming setting that tourists greatly appreciate and photograph. 

The banks of the Tâmega River, in Amarante, are a unique experience. Here you can see the city perfectly reflected in a water mirror that even inspired the creation of the city's brand.  - in: https://amarantetourism.com

© Forways

One of the most iconic landmarks of the city is the Church of São Gonçalo. Built in 1540 at the behest of D. João III, the church was built in the place where it is believed that São Gonçalo was buried. In order for the altar to be above the saint's tomb, the church was built contrary to what is normal – the main entrance is on the side. The interior of the church was made in the Baroque style, and during the French Invasions it was the shelter of these troops, who pillaged and destroyed it. There are still those who say that everything burned, except the church. The effects of the French can also be seen outside, thanks to the marks from cannonballs on the walls.

This card was sent by Óscar in.... 2012!!

17th Postcrossing Meeting - Portugal

 On May 25th the 17th Portuguese Postcrossing Meeting took place in Ílhavo, where participants were able to visit the Vista Alegre Museum. Vista Alegre is a luxury Portuguese porcelain manufacturer, that celebrates 200 years this year. CTT, the Portuguese mail services, issued 4 commemorative stamps to mark this celebration. Miguel used one of those stamps on this postcard.

 

postcrossing logo is a registered trademark

Founded in 1824, the Vista Alegre Porcelain Factory was the first industrial unit dedicated to producing porcelain in Portugal. The persistence of its founder, José Ferreira Pinto Basto, was instrumental to the launch and success of this daring enterprise. A landowner, audacious merchant and distinguished figure in Portuguese society at the time, José Ferreira Pinto Basto wisely adopted the liberal ideas of the 19th century, having become “the first example of free initiative” in Portugal.
Over its long history, the Vista Alegre brand, which has always been intimately associated with Portuguese history and culture, has achieved unparalleled recognition and visibility. Public recognition, perceived quality and the company’s investment in innovation and design have turned Vista Alegre into one of the very few Portuguese luxury brands to achieve iconic status on a worldwide level. - in: https://casaalegre.com

Monthly Fav. Surprise RR * April 24

A pause on the UNESCO sites to post April's cards of the Monthly Fav. RR. I'm only posting 3 cards but I actually received 4. Marei sent me a card of the Wies Church in Germany that she had already sent in November 22.

 

Michelle says that Postcrossing brings everyone from arould the world together and it's like sending a smile though the mailbox. I coudn't agree more.

www.postcardsmarket.com

 

I really like these FOTW cards but not all the information written on them is correct, as Beatrice pointed out. On this card is said that Singapore gained independence from the British Empire on August 9 of 1965 but it was actually from Malaysia. 

Singapore has an area of 719.1 km², a population of 5.610.000 and its capital is Singapore.
Unique:
* Sarong Kebaya - Uniform for all flight stweardess of Singapore Airlines;  
* Singlish - Singapore has a colloquial form of English, known as Singlish. Words such as "kiasu", "sabo" and "shick", are added to the Oxford English Dictionary;  
Famous:  
* Changi Airport - The airport has won over 500 awars since 1981, including 28 "Best Airport" awars in just 2015 alone;
* The Merlion - A mythical creature with a lion's head and the body of a fish;
History:

* Established - In 1299 as the Kingdom of Singapura (according to the Malay Annals).

 Hotokegaura is a natural rock formation on the west coast of the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture. Facing the Tsugaru Straits, it has been carved out by the rough waves and harsh weather conditions associated with the body of water. The site consists of a series of green and white volcanic tuff spanning some two kilometers and includes bluffs up to 90 meters in height.
Surrounded by green trees and the deep blue sea, the scene brings to mind a gathering of the Rakan, the Buddha’s disciples. Many of the gigantic rocks have been named for aspects of Buddhism and the formation as a whole has come to be called Hotokegaura, or “Buddha inlet.” - in: https://www.nippon.com

Card sent by Tomoko.