Postcard
representing the ‘Riviera Adriatica’ with stamp of €0,75 commemorative of the
Inter-Cultural Year Italy-Russia posted on August, 12 2012.
(Special
thanks to my best friend Alberto Velez Grilo)
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Route of the Portuguese Cathedrals
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| Set of stamps |
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| First Day Covers with stamps |
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| Brochure |
As an heritage dating back centuries and of crucial reminiscence of
diocese life, Portuguese cathedrals play a fundamental role in the interaction
between the religious, cultural and tourist centres of cities. With a
particular importance in city growth and urban structure, cathedrals stand as
key heritage points, calling out to be shared and enjoyed. While, in some
cases, their original vocation, as Episcopal headquarters, places of learning
and pastoral activity might have become faded with time, they continue,
undoubtedly, as living witnesses of the collective memory and faith of the
people who raised them. Embodying a dedication to their valorisation and an
opportunity to place cathedrals at everyone’s disposal, the “Route of the
Cathedrals” project emerged in 2009, under the agreement of cooperation signed
between the Portuguese State and the Catholic Church. Fostering concerted
action around these monuments, amongst temples used for Catholic worship with
the canonical status of Cathedral, or Co-cathedral, as well as the official
seat of the bishop in the ancient Episcopal Sees of Elvas and Silves, the
“Route of the Cathedrals” intends, apart from its inherent material
intervention, to place Portuguese cathedrals within a cultural context, with a
view to encouraging their greater enjoyment and understanding. In this strict sense,
the project constitutes a unique opportunity for the rehabilitation and
sustainable development not only of the buildings themselves, but also of the
communities and historic centres to which they belong. It is in this
perspective that the present issue of postage stamps arises, an initiative
aimed at promoting an interlinked understanding of Portuguese cathedrals. Fostering
their discovery as a key collection of heritage, in the spirit of those
presiding over the ambitions of this project, the cathedrals are highlighted as
a coherent and profoundly indentifying whole, closely interwoven with the
priceless cultural and artistic values that make each one so very unique.
Technical Details
Date of Issue: 18 May 2012
Values: Ten stamps for Inland 20g covers (€0,32)
Designer: Atelier Acácio Santos / Helder Soares
Photos: Terra das Ideias para Secretariado Nacional
para os Bens Culturais da Igreja
Printer: Joh. Enschedé, The Netherlands
Process: Offset
Size: 40 x 30,6 mm
Perforation: Cross of Christ 13 x 13
Paper: FSC 110 g/m2
Watermark:
Sheet: sheets of 50 stamps
Friday, July 6, 2012
Welcome the 27000th Visitors
Aqui ficam as melhores saudações Filatélicas, para
os visitantes de todo o mundo, que diariamente visitam o meu blog.
(English version)
Here are the best Philatelic greetings to visitors from all over the
world who daily visit my blog.
Europe 2012 - Visit...Portugal
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| Portugal - First Day Cover with stamps |
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| Portugal - First Day Cover with souvenir sheet |
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| Brochure |
They usually arrived in the early hours of the morning
and, impressively, approached the skylines of the cities. Land was initially a
vague, distant outline. A soft watercolour printed on the rounded line of the
horizon, framed by the shades of blue of the sky and the sea. Amidst the strong
ocean smell and dispersed aromatic notes emanating from the landscape, the ships
headed towards the port. Little by little, the city grew, looming. Tones and
reliefs were defined. Finally, the typical bustle of a quay, the mythical
meeting place between those who have left and those who have remained. A
mixture of people, a thousand stories to tell, a blend of feelings. It was in
the third quarter of the twentieth century that the Portuguese merchant navy
experienced a period of splendour. A favourable economic environment
contributed to the return to the sea: dozens of new ships, remarkably advanced
for their time, were purchased. Robust, luxurious, elegant. For nearly three
decades (the 50s/60s/70s), a magnificent fleet of ships linked Portugal (both
mainland and islands) to the rest of the world. Every year, regular cruise lines
carried thousands of passengers between Europe, Africa and America. The word
paquete (steamer), of restricted use in European Portuguese, originated in the
French designation paquebot, which applied to fast mail transport ships. With
the development of long-distance steam navigation, these ships gradually began
to also ensure the transportation of passengers. In the memories reported by
those who can remember this golden era, the unparalleled excitement of reaching
the land by sea is significant. To perceive cities like huge amphitheatres, or
natural reliefs that appear to be carved in dreamy settings. It is the most
beautiful way to reach a destination, they declare. Aboard a ship, time
changes, it can be felt. And it is time that deepens the experience of the
senses, giving them a poetic texture. It is impossible to remain indifferent to
the strength of the natural elements, the impressionism of the landscapes. It
is the challenge of the capture of this other perspective on departures and
arrivals that CTT Correios de Portugal sets to the travellers of today,
regarding the launch of a stamp collection devoted to the theme “Visit...”,
which occurs under the aegis of PostEurop. The motto inspired the nostalgic
evocation of three of the most notable Portuguese steamers that ever joined the
fleet: the Príncipe Perfeito, the Santa Maria and the
Funchal. Her name suggested distinction and pride, and thus was indeed the “Príncipe Perfeito (Perfect Prince), which fulfilled 45 days of round trips, connecting the Portuguese capital to Western and Eastern Africa. This was evidenced by the perfection and harmony of its exterior architecture. Appreciated by the nobility of her features and artistic detail, the Santa Maria was received with a celebration when she first sailed the Tagus river, in 1953. Her usual route was Brazil and the Americas, through Madeira. The sole survivor of the ancient maritime fleet, later devoted to cruise travel, the Funchal intended to promote the touristic development of the islands. It was considered the best ship ever built to sail in the Azores sea. Preserved by the memory of generations and now delivered to the postal stamp, these “star” liners, icons of an era, suggest a renewal of our outlook. Reminding visitors of the 21st century that the sea is also a way to reach mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
Funchal. Her name suggested distinction and pride, and thus was indeed the “Príncipe Perfeito (Perfect Prince), which fulfilled 45 days of round trips, connecting the Portuguese capital to Western and Eastern Africa. This was evidenced by the perfection and harmony of its exterior architecture. Appreciated by the nobility of her features and artistic detail, the Santa Maria was received with a celebration when she first sailed the Tagus river, in 1953. Her usual route was Brazil and the Americas, through Madeira. The sole survivor of the ancient maritime fleet, later devoted to cruise travel, the Funchal intended to promote the touristic development of the islands. It was considered the best ship ever built to sail in the Azores sea. Preserved by the memory of generations and now delivered to the postal stamp, these “star” liners, icons of an era, suggest a renewal of our outlook. Reminding visitors of the 21st century that the sea is also a way to reach mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
Technical Details
Date of Issue: 18 May 2012
Values: Stamp of €0,68 and one souvenir sheet with two
stamps of €0,68
Designer: Atelier Acácio Santos / Helder Soares
Printer: Cartor, France
Process: Offset
Size: 40 x 30,6 mm
Perforation: Cross of Christ 13 x 13
Paper:
Watermark:
Sheet: sheets of 50 stamps
Sunday, May 27, 2012
ERASMUS 25 Years
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| Stamp |
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| Souvenir sheet |
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| First Day Cover with stamp |
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| First Day Cover with souvenir sheet |
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| Brochure |
Deixem passar quem vai na sua estrada.
(…)
Deixem passar e não lhe digam nada.
Deixem, que vai apenas
Beber água de Sonho a qualquer fonte
(…)
Miguel Torga, Santo e Senha
(…)
Deixem passar e não lhe digam nada.
Deixem, que vai apenas
Beber água de Sonho a qualquer fonte
(…)
Miguel Torga, Santo e Senha
Make way for those who follow their path.
(…)
Make way and don’t say anything to them.
Make way for they are merely going to
Drink the Dream water from some fountain
(…)
Miguel Torga, “Santo e Senha”
Erasmus
The first one, an important personality of the Renaissance, a scholar and traveller, fought for dialogue in a time of theological disputes and religious intolerance.
The second one celebrates the 25th anniversary and is “Santo-e-Senha” of a community of nearly three million people, spread across Europe, united by the identity ties of a time when the stage of life has moved from the country where it was born, to Europe. And from here, to the world. New explorers whose luggage comes down to the urge to part and learn, challenge homesickness and see there, what the television showed here, now with tastes and smells, sounds and textures and a palette of feelings whose colours time will not erase.
One parts in search of another, which in the end is finding oneself.
Why does one often part alone? Because one guesses a destination made of fortunes and adventures, seen from the couch back home; they do not anticipate the discomforts of travel, the need to develop capabilities hitherto unsuspected and minor, how to decide what and how to cook. The confrontation with different people, speakers of other languages, makes communication the first oddity.
Then the enchantment, a world that opens up to the exploration of the senses and intellect keen to know a culture, often so different from their own, a fascination that seizes those who so recently felt the hardship of homesickness.
On the curves of the road arise adversity, loneliness, being with someone you don’t know. You face the building of trust. You discover a new space and time in the mysteries of another language that unfolds in the exchange of affections that are woven, and, in that revelation, shady glimpses of the mother-tongue are perceived, which are so intimate that one would think they had no secrets.
Singularities of the place you left, deemed attributes of some silent parochialism for its modesty, they appear, by comparison, tinted by the colours of the identity of the people to which one belongs and enshrine in the soul with the tenderness with which one displays pictures of family and friends.
The new “me” is now the bearer of a cultural identity different from that in which (s)he immersed, but just as legitimate as it. A Citizen of Europe, a bigger project, a quilt of different colourful patchwork that one wishes to be interwoven with the threads of social cohesion, solidarity and tolerance based on the recognition of oneself in others and not in complacency or subservience.
In return, the transfiguration. The new “me” retraces the path that led him/her further: more secure and confident, resilient. Behind lies a time of joys and cries, of questioning and reconstruction, of teachings about genuine autonomy.
Ahead? Curiosity, restlessness, a taste for the new that is never fully satiated. The revelation of oneself, of the unity of a being in a global world, becomes the lens through which to read the events of existence. An existence unavailable to limit the now discovered freedom of being what one is, having (re)discovered oneself in the eyes of another. An existence that projects a future in love with the unknown that is not feared, equipped with the boldness of those who went and thus reinvented themselves and therefore know that they will leave, time and again, in the certainty that like so they will be more whole.
(…)
Make way and don’t say anything to them.
Make way for they are merely going to
Drink the Dream water from some fountain
(…)
Miguel Torga, “Santo e Senha”
Erasmus
The first one, an important personality of the Renaissance, a scholar and traveller, fought for dialogue in a time of theological disputes and religious intolerance.
The second one celebrates the 25th anniversary and is “Santo-e-Senha” of a community of nearly three million people, spread across Europe, united by the identity ties of a time when the stage of life has moved from the country where it was born, to Europe. And from here, to the world. New explorers whose luggage comes down to the urge to part and learn, challenge homesickness and see there, what the television showed here, now with tastes and smells, sounds and textures and a palette of feelings whose colours time will not erase.
One parts in search of another, which in the end is finding oneself.
Why does one often part alone? Because one guesses a destination made of fortunes and adventures, seen from the couch back home; they do not anticipate the discomforts of travel, the need to develop capabilities hitherto unsuspected and minor, how to decide what and how to cook. The confrontation with different people, speakers of other languages, makes communication the first oddity.
Then the enchantment, a world that opens up to the exploration of the senses and intellect keen to know a culture, often so different from their own, a fascination that seizes those who so recently felt the hardship of homesickness.
On the curves of the road arise adversity, loneliness, being with someone you don’t know. You face the building of trust. You discover a new space and time in the mysteries of another language that unfolds in the exchange of affections that are woven, and, in that revelation, shady glimpses of the mother-tongue are perceived, which are so intimate that one would think they had no secrets.
Singularities of the place you left, deemed attributes of some silent parochialism for its modesty, they appear, by comparison, tinted by the colours of the identity of the people to which one belongs and enshrine in the soul with the tenderness with which one displays pictures of family and friends.
The new “me” is now the bearer of a cultural identity different from that in which (s)he immersed, but just as legitimate as it. A Citizen of Europe, a bigger project, a quilt of different colourful patchwork that one wishes to be interwoven with the threads of social cohesion, solidarity and tolerance based on the recognition of oneself in others and not in complacency or subservience.
In return, the transfiguration. The new “me” retraces the path that led him/her further: more secure and confident, resilient. Behind lies a time of joys and cries, of questioning and reconstruction, of teachings about genuine autonomy.
Ahead? Curiosity, restlessness, a taste for the new that is never fully satiated. The revelation of oneself, of the unity of a being in a global world, becomes the lens through which to read the events of existence. An existence unavailable to limit the now discovered freedom of being what one is, having (re)discovered oneself in the eyes of another. An existence that projects a future in love with the unknown that is not feared, equipped with the boldness of those who went and thus reinvented themselves and therefore know that they will leave, time and again, in the certainty that like so they will be more whole.
Technical Details
Date of Issue: 17 April 2012
Values: Stamps of €0,68
Designer: Folk Design
Credits: Excerto de Santo e Senha, de Miguel Torga
em Diário I (1941). Coimbra, edição de autor
em Diário I (1941). Coimbra, edição de autor
Acknowledgments: Agência Nacional para a Gestão do
Programa
Aprendizagem ao Longo da Vida.
Aprendizagem ao Longo da Vida.
Printer: INCM
Process: Offset
Size of Stamp: 40 x 30,6 mm
Size
of souvenir sheet: 125 x 95 mm
Perforation: Cross of Christ 13 x 13
Paper: FSC 110 g/m2
Watermark:
Sheet: sheets of 50 stamps
Welcome the 26000th Visitors
Aqui ficam as melhores saudações Filatélicas, para
os visitantes de todo o mundo, que diariamente visitam o meu blog.
(English version)
Here are the best Philatelic greetings to visitors from all over the
world who daily visit my blog.
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