FRANCE – Cover from Paris, France to Braga, Portugal

Cover with parcel of the Sandro Botticelli souvenir sheet posted on December, 6 2010.
(A very special thanks to my friend Fatwa Abd)

(Christmas postcard)

(Portuguese 1996 Christmas postcard)

Among the works of Botticelli that is attributed to the period known icons of the Renaissance figure Printemps, a work created around 1482. He was placed in a surreal nature that allegory of spring whose figures are taken from classical mythology, Venus in the center, the Zephyr wind nymph Chloris and Flora right, Mercury to the left, the three Graces .... A work whose symbolism is more complex than it seems.

Date of Issue: 08-11-2010
Type: Commemorative souvenir sheet
Denomination: 0.87€ and 1.40€
No. of Stamp in Set: 2
Size: 143 x 105 mm
Perforation:
Color: Multicolor
Process of Printing: photogravure
Protection of the stamp:
Printer: La Poste, France
Designer:

ÅLAND – Postcard from Mariehamn, Åland to Braga, Portugal

Official Christmas greetings card posted on October, 8 2010.

SINGAPORE – Cover from Singapore to Braga, Portugal

Cover with Christmas stamp from the Festivals in Singapore stamps issue posted on December, 6 2010.
(A very special thanks to my best friend Terence Wong)

(Stamps issue brochure)

(Promotional postcards)

MONACO – Postcard from Monte Carlo, Monaco to Braga, Portugal

Official Christmas greetings card posted on December, 10 2010

SINGAPORE – Postcard from Singapore to Braga, Portugal

Postcard posted on November, 5 2010.
(Special thanks to my friend Terence)

LATVIA – Cover from Riga, Latvia to Braga, Portugal

Commemorative postmark of the 100 year of Latvia Republic over Latvian Christmas stamps from 1995 and 2008, in a winter scenario cover posted on November, 12 2010.
(Special thanks to my friend Juris Tarvids)

GERMANY – Cover from Ruhr, Germany to Braga, Portugal

Cover with a pair of stamps of 0.55€ from the ‘200 years of the Oktoberfest’ stamp issue, posted on September, 9 2010.
(A very special thanks to my friend Igor Adolph)

Typical Munich figures on a carousel
On 12 October 1810 was held in Munich, the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig, later King Ludwig I, instead of to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The official celebrations for the wedding lasted five days. Shiny and popular at the same time the celebrations were staged. The parade of protecting the national guard and protect the civil societies, illuminations and music, food and drink, trumpets and drums - a big party and bustle of the busy city center of Munich.

Even then as the "festival" designated event ended on 17 October 1810 with a horse race on a meadow near Munich, which was named in honour of the bride "Therese's Meadow".

In deciding that the audience-horse race the following year to repeat at the same time, there arose the tradition of "October-Festivals". Today the festival of the City of Munich is the largest folk festival in the world. Munich beer and hospitality, high tech rides and nostalgic carnival attractions invite you to celebrate.

The Bavarian Oktoberfest celebration and also a major international event. It reminds us of the execution and is open to new developments. Therein lies his secret of success for 200 years.

Date of Issue: 09-09-2010
Type: Commemorative stamp
Denomination: 0.55€
No. of Stamp in Set: 1
Size: 35 x 35 mm
Perforation:
Color: Multicolor
Process of Printing: offset
Protection of the stamp:
Printer: Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, Leipzig
Designer: Michael Kunter, Berlin

CROATIA – Cover from Zagreb, Croatia to Braga, Portugal

Cover with stamps from the 2010 Croatian Christmas stamp issue. The two versions of the stamp are included – the traditional gummed stamp and the self-adhesive stamp from the 10 stamps booklet. Cover and Christmas postcard was posted on November, 25 2010.
(Special thanks to my friend Željko Vasilik)

Adoration of the Shepherds, Josip Biffel, Gallery “Šimun” of the Franciscan Monastery of St. Anthony, Dubrave near Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina Christmas lasts. Already for 2010 years the Child is born into its death and resurrection. Ever since the world has been counting time from this birth, the scene of birth was being complemented and enriched. Apart from the main characters, there appear and exchange also the episodists; metaphors gain bodies and the warm muteness of animals completes the human register. The spirit of time arranges the story, lavishing presents and deducing the story to essentials. The styles and epochs have been exchanging round the stall, but never disregarded it. Many painters and sculptors have brought the goodness of their lives, dear lineaments of their wives and children, their next of kins and even their own into the scene of birth. By one’s own experience or longing anyone could settle in this scene. It survived also the chase of narration in modern times. A new, sometimes stiff emotion has carried over the torches of Bethlehem into our time. The painter Josip Biffel (born in 1933, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1959 in the class of Đuro Tiljak, professor at the same Academy) is among many who bowed in front of the stall. He did it in a modern way, renouncing the tiny details and filling out the space of great extensibility by the magic of light. The blue darkness of the sky and the little cave, the caring Joseph and animals in it, the reflection of light across the distant country, the night behind the shoulders of modest characters who had heard the call and have come to admire the new life, the shine on the mother and child, on the crown of a magical tree dialoguing with heavenly voices and the unusual purple sent off by the night – so could maybe Biffel’s painting be translated into word. Biffel has not taken that much with him from his professor at the Academy, much more has he exchanged with his contemporaries, with Ivančić, Stančić, Lesiak…
A great part of his work he devoted to sacral motifs and especially to sacral spaces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Creation of space, investigation of its dimensions, rotating of horizons, compression or extension of deepnesses are main features of his poetics. Exactly his paintings concerned with space are probably his most own and finest works. And this space is filled with colours that carry light and darkness, that replace the description by their shine and glowing. The Gallery “Šimun”, housing Biffel’s painting together with seven hundred and twenty other Croatian modern works of art, from which also this year’s Christmas stamp comes, is the collection of the great Franciscan collector, Fra Stjepan Pavić. It is also one of the most beautiful collections of Bosnia and Herzegovina and also Croatia which contributes to understanding and defining of not only our but also universal homeland.
Željka Čorak

Date of Issue: 25-11-2010
Type: Commemorative stamp
Denomination: 3.10 kn No. of Stamp in Set: 1 Size: 35.5 x 29.82 mm
Perforation: 14 x 14
Color: Multicolor
Process of Printing: offset
Protection of the stamp:
Printer: "Zrinski" - Čakovec
Designer: Tomislav Vlainić
(Source : Hrvatska Pošta)

AUSTRIA – Cover from Wien, Austria to Braga, Portugal

First Day Cover of the Austrian Christmas 2010 stamp issue, inspired this year by the valuable manuscript document from Cistercian Abbey Rein Monastery, posted on November, 19 2010.
(Special thanks to my friend Edna Chin)

This year’s Christmas stamp issued by Austria shows part of an antiphonal of the Cistercian monastery at Rein in Styria.
The choral manuscript with precious initials dates from the second half of the 15th century and once served as a liturgical book for the hourly prayers of the local monks. The stamp shows the “classical scene” of the birth of Christ in the artistic interpretation of the early Renaissance. The history of Rein monastery dates back to 1129. St Bernard was still alive when the monastery was founded in what was at the time a densely forested valley, and Margrave Leopold the Strong brought the first monks here from Ebrach in Franconia. Monks of the Cistercian Order have lived here without interruption since this time, pursuing, alongside their spiritual work, agriculture and pisciculture. In addition, they were in high demand as craftsmen and industrious writers; over 400 manuscripts, numerous incunabula (including Johannes Kepler’s calendar table from 1607!) are carefully stored in the monastery library. Starting out from Rein, the oldest Cistercian monastery in the world, four further abbeys were founded: Wilhering, Schlierbach, the New Monastery in Wiener Neustadt and Sticna in Slovenia. Numerous Styrian princes are buried in Rein monatery. The basilica itself is without doubt one of the largest and most attractive churches in Styria. The originally three-nave Romanesque church was consecrated in 1138, and subsequently, particularly in the 18th century, further embellished by renowned artists and magnificent craftsmen – such that the Baroque basilica today radiates a beauty that is an invitation to celebrate and meditate. In summer 2006, restoration work on the Chapel of St Mary revealed the foundations of the former Romanesque chapter house. An extraordinary discovery was also made, the grave of Margrave Leopold, the benefactor of Rein and the founder of Styria. The oldest Madonna in the monastery was given a new worthy home here, where the monks of Rein gather several times a day to pray together.

Date of Issue: 19-11-2010
Type: Commemorative stamp
Denomination: 0.55€
No. of Stamp in Set: 1
Size:
Perforation:
Color: Multicolor
Process of Printing: offset
Protection of the stamp:
Printer: Österreichische Staatsdruckerei
Designer: Adolf Tuma
(source: Austria Post)

Beautiful Christmas card

TAIWAN – Cover from Taipei, Taiwan to Braga, Portugal

Cover posted on November, 18 2010.
(Special thanks to my friend George Wu)

FINLAND – Cover from Kälviä, Finland to Braga, Portugal

First Day Cover of the Antiques IV: POP 1st class – the Golden time of plastic stamp issue, posted on September, 13 2010.
(Special thanks to my best friend Sini Linnanmäki)

The golden time of plastic!
60's and early 70's was the period when in the Nordic countries the main material for the innovative design products was plastic. Furnitures and even clothes were maid of different kind of plastic. Graphic designer Pekka Piippo has fitted this all in one stamp - a chair, a telephone, wall paper, Hifi Stereo by Salora, Go-go boots and the Palaset -shelf unit by Ristomatti Ratia.

Date of Issue: 13-09-2010
Type: Commemorative stamp
Denomination: 0.75€
No. of Stamp in Set: 1
Size: 34.5 x 24.5 mm
Perforation:
Color: Multicolor
Process of Printing: offset
Protection of the stamp:
Printer: Posti
Designer: Pekka Piippo
(Source: Posti)

Torronsuo National Park
Finnish new series of stamps depicting national parks will show different aspects of nature and the seasons of the year.
In the second issue in the series we travel to the Torronsuo National Park in the southern Finland.
Torronsuo Mire landscape has looked the same for thousands of years. Have a half-day hiking trip around Kiljamo or a one day trip to the southern parts of the park and outside the National Park in the traditional agricultural landscape of the village of Torro. Especially in the spring and the autumn, Torronsuo is a good place to observe the migrating birds, many of which stop to rest on the mire, for example cranes and geese.
In the stamp there is a wonderful, typical picture of a pine tree.
On the sheet there are ten (10) stamps.
The first issue in the series of Finnish National Parks was Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park representing the fjeld scenery.

Date of Issue: 13-09-2010
Type: Commemorative stamp
Denomination: 0.75€
No. of Stamp in Set: 1
Size: 34.5 x 24.5 mm
Perforation:
Color: Multicolor
Process of Printing: offset
Protection of the stamp:
Printer: Posti
Designer: Teemu Ollikainen
(Source: Posti)

Autumn
Miniature sheet of three self-adhesive stamps, depicting a well-cooked crab, a pair of mallard and the king of the Northern forests - an elk! On the background there is a typical Finnish lake landscape.

Date of Issue: 13-09-2010
Type: Commemorative stamp
Denomination: 2.25€
No. of Stamp in Set: 3
Size: 35.0 x 30.0 mm
Perforation:
Color: Multicolor
Process of Printing: offset
Protection of the stamp:
Printer: Posti
Designer: Asser Jaaro
(Source: Posti)

POLAND - Cover from Warsaw, Poland to Braga, Portugal

Cover posted on October, 20 2010.

LATVIA – Cover from Riga, Latvia to Braga, Portugal

First Day Cover of the Lighthouses of Latvia stamp issue, depicting the Uzava's lighthouse posted on October ,15 2010.
(Special thanks to my friend Juris Tarvids)

Stamps booklet

MALAYSIA - Cover from IPOH, Malaysia to Braga, Portugal

Cover posted on November, 01 2010.
(Special thanks to my friend Khor Kok Keong)

INDONESIA - Postcard from Bali, Indonesia to Braga, Portugal

Postcard with stamps from the 2009 Indonesian joint issue with Singapore, posted on August, 20 2010.
(A very special thanks to my friend Edna Chin)

Legong Keraton
The most graceful of Balinese dances, this is the epitome of classical Balinese female dancing. A legong, as the dancer is known, is often a young girl of eight or nine years, rarely older than her early teens.
It was first created in the 18th Century and is usually the first dance to be taught to beginners.
There are many forms of Legong, the most frequently performed dance being the Legong Keraton or Legong of the Palace.
The story of the Legong is very stylized and symbolic and one should know the story before actually watching the performance.
The Legong involves three dancers - two legongs and their 'attendant', the condong.
The legongs are identically costumed in gold brocade, which is bound so tightly that it is a mystery such agitated and rapid moves could be made.
With elaborately made-up faces, plucked eyebrows that are boldly repainted, and hair decorated with frangipanis, the dancers relate the story with captivating movements. A king takes the maiden Rangkesari captive.
When her brother comes to release her, Rangkesari begs the king to free her rather than go to war. The king refuses and chances upon a bird carrying ill omens on his way to battle. However, he ignores the bird, meets Rangkesari's brother, and was thus killed in the fight.
The roles of the dancers may change according to the narration.
However, the dance usually begins with the king's preparations for battle and ends with the bird's appearance.

2009 Indonesia-Singapore joint stamps issue miniature sheet

TURKEY - Postcard from Alanya, Turkey to Braga, Portugal

Postcard posted on October, 28 2010.
(A very special thanks to my friend Sini)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alanya

IRELAND - Postcard from Kilkee, Ireland to Braga, Portugal

Postcard posted on October, 13 2010.
(A very special thanks to my friend Kevin Whelan)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilkee

GEORGIA - Cover from Tbilisi, Georgia to Braga, Portugal

Cover posted on October, 20 2010.

(Very special thanks to my friend Khatuna)

2002 - Ballet stamps issue

Kutaisi postcard

Kutaisi (Georgian: ქუთაისი), was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Colchis, is the second largest city in Georgia and capital of the western region of Imereti.

Kutaisi is one of the most important educational and scientific centers in Georgia, hosting the Gelati Academy of Sciences, established in the 12th century by King David IV. Here is also one of the most important educational centers in modern Georgia, Ak'ak'i Ts'ereteli State University, established in 1930. Besides these two, there are many other universities, institutes, colleges and schools in Kutaisi.
The landmark of the city is the ruined Bagrati Cathedral, built by Bagrat III, king of Georgia, in the early 11th century. The Bagrati Cathedral, and the Ghélati Monastery a few km east of the city, are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

DENMARK - Cover from Søborg, Denmark to Braga, Portugal

Cover with Denmark’s 2008 Nordic Mythology – Mythical Places stamps posted on October, 20 2010.
(Special thanks to my friend Peter Gørtz-Christiansen)

Many places in the Danish landscape are steeped in myth and legend, such as Lindholm Hoje and Feggeklit in the Liim Fjord area. Both appear on the stamps in "Mythical Places", the third and final part of the series on Nordic mythology. The series began in 2004 with the theme "World of the Gods" and continued in 2006 with "Mythical Creatures".
The eight Nordic countries taking part in the stamp issue – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Aland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland – published their stamps and miniature sheets on 27 March 2008.

UKRAINE - Cover from Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine to Braga, Portugal

First Day Cover with of the Locomotive Engineering in Ukraine’ 2010 stamps issue and two definitive stamps of 2.00 UAP from the ‘Seventh definitive stamps issues of Ukraine‘ posted on October, 13 2010. (Special thanks to friend Volodymyr Sulyma)

Locomotive Engineering in Ukraine
Date of Issue: 04-09-2010
Type: Commemorative stamps
Denomination: 1.00, 1.50, 2.00 and 2.00 UAH
No. of Stamp in Set: 11 + coupon
Size: 52x25 mm
Perforation: 13 ¾ by 14 1/4
Color: Multicolor
Process of Printing: offset
Protection of the stamp: microprint "В. Руденко";
fragments of locomotives luminesce under UV-light
Printer: “Ukraina” for production of securities”
Designer: Valerii Rudenko and Viktoriia Savchenko for the postmarks

Bernardine Church, Lviv

for more information about click here: Dnipropetrovsk