Mongolia

 

1987: Traditional Equestrian Sports

The romance of Mongolia's wide open spaces and horses too. One could sleep easy in those yurts after days in the fresh air of the grasslands. 

1981: 50th Anniversary of Graf Zeppelin Polar Flight

Stamp on stamp, a zeppelin and animals, what more could one want. The 20 features a white tailed sea eagle whose nesting grounds can be found in the north of Mongolia. No walrus in Mongolia I think but we have had one this year visiting Ireland and Wales, a long long way from home. He became quite a celebrity and gained an alliterative name - Wally Walrus, It is thought this juvenile adventurer is now making his way back up to the arctic after spending spring and summer in the Irish Sea. 

Returning to the stamps which feature the adventure of flying a zeppelin over the polar region with the 1931 German zeppelin stamps. One would need a generous stamp fund to buy the original German series of stamps today..

An arctic fox with the German zeppelin stamp and a polar bear which features the Russian stamp of 1931 featuring the  '|Icebreaker Malygin in the Arctic'. The icebreakers mission was to locate a suitable place for a float-plane base in Franz Josef Land and incredibly also made a rendezvous with Graf Zeppelin there. If today one flew the polar route from North America to Hong Kong then a sight from the window would be flying over Mongolia. 

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Asia - travel to See It On A Postcard 

    

Modern Architecture

 

2006: Modern Architecture

I like how this set concentrates on the detail of buildings. The 1st - St Mary Axe, London, more commonly know as is nickname - The Gherkin (for its shape), 42p - Maggie's Centre Dundee. Maggie's is a charity providing cancer support who have beautiful buildings across the UK, 44p - the retailers Selfridges, Birmingham. 50p - Downland Gridshell, Chichester - the Weald and Downland Living Museum. 64p - An Turas (Gaelic for 'A Journey) on the  Isle of Tiree, a shelter with a view for those waiting for the ferry. 72p - The Deep - an aquarium built on the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary.

1987: Europa - British Architects in Europe

One of the big beasts of British Architecture - Norman Foster - the Willis Building in Ipswich - which he designed with his wife Wendy who died quite young.

The Pompidou Centre in Paris created by Richard Rogers ,known for his pioneering 'inside out' buildings such as this and also his belief in the importance of sustainability, his buildings dot the world. As I have now arrived via stamps into continental Europe I will move on

2016: Definitive - Swiss Railway Stations

to Switzerland and the railway station in Lucerne located in the centre of the city near the waterfront. The original 19th Century building that stood here was destroyed by fire, all that remains is the entrance portal which was moved and re-erected facing the lake. The stamp shows the frontage of the modern station which opened in 1991.

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - post war architecture - See It On A Postcard

Artists in Germany

 

The baroque Charlottenberg Palace in Berlin is where this painting can be seen, a perfect match to its rococo interior.  It is a portrait of the Italian dancer Barbara Campanini known as La Baborina and was created in 1745 by the painter to the Prussian Court, Antoinne Pesne.

1983: 300th Birth Anniversary of Antoine Pesne

The cancel which rather disappears into the painting shows the palace entrance.

1978: Impressionist Paintings

Heading to the great outdoors at Lake Walchen. The artist Lovis Corinth divided his time between Berlin and the family chalet by the lake and mountains. He must have loved this place for he painted it obsessively. The painting is 'Easter at Walchensee' (1922) showing the melting winter snows on the mountain tops.

Both these two paintings, Horseman Turning Left on the Shore and Lady with a Cat are held by the Landesmuseum, Hanover whose current special exhibition is Plein Air Paintings 1850-1930 based around 4 themes, one of which is By the Sea so the horse will be there. As for the Lady with the Cat I can't decide if that would be 'In the Garden' or  'In the Country' but maybe can rule out In the City but one can never guess where a cat will make its home.

1992: 20th Century German Paintings

'Landscape with Horse' by Franz Marc. Horses were his favourite animal to paint and he also viewed animals as more innocent and beautiful than human beings.  He died at the Battle of Verdun in 1916, which may somehow prove his point.

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Art/Painting - view more at See It On A Postcard

Industry

1991: Iron Mining

I am taking a trip around the history of Swedish Iron Ore Mining. The first stamp shows the iron ore mine in Norberg and the following stamp a Walloon forge at Forsmarks Bruk, a 18th Century mining village although pig iron had been produced here since the 16th century.

Top row -Bar iron forging at Svarta and welding at the rolling mill at Smedjebacken part of which I think has been turned into a cultural and industrial heritage centre..

Bottom row - Mine in the old mining town of Dannemora and The Blast Furnace at Pershyttan, a small mining town, this is now a working museum

1974: 25th Anniversary- Founding of PRC

From the blue of Sweden to the red of China and someone who seems to be a happy steel worker.  I hope he is not forgetting

1970: Health and Safety at Work (Design - Beat Mader)

his safety equipment, goggles

hard hat

and perhaps a respirator.  As the stamps say - Work Safely. 

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Workers and Industry - more at  See It On A Postcard.

.

.