Cityscapes

1967: International Tourist Year (Design - Cyril Bouda)

Time to take a city break and visit historic Brno. On the left is the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul on Petrov Hill which dominates the skyline and I think the building in the middle is the Town Hall clock tower. There sure are a lot of spires which I observe stamp designers particularly enjoy drawing. In this instance the designer is the illustrator and artist Cyril Bouda (1901-1984) whose own postal design life was celebrated on a stamp in 1989.  To cheat a little bit with a stamp I do not own here is a piece of Bouda's art

and who would not want to sit outside the Sans-Souci Bar in Nimes and enjoy a coffee or something stronger.

1961: Centenary of the City of Setúbal (Design - Candido da Costa Pinto)

If one wanted to combine the pleasure of city within reach of sandy beaches and a harbour front then travel to Setúbal on the Sado River Estuary and perhaps watch a pod of dolphins play nearby. The stamp features the city's coat of arms.

1994: The 1200th Anniversary of Frankfurt (Design - Ernst Kößlinger)

 Here the designer gets to combine old and new with both towers and skyscrapers in Frankfurt.

2003: German Cities (Design - Fiedler)

The beautiful facades of Görlitz town houses in Altstadt make an appearance on this German stamp.  In 1945 Görlitz had survived the destruction of the war but the redrawing of boundaries divided the city resulting in the left bank of the river being in Germany and the right bank in Poland so one can combine two countries united within the European Union in one visit.  The city has provided many film directors with locations including Wes Anderson's visual delight The Grand Budapest Hotel.

1997: Definitives - Hong Kong Skyline (Design - Kan, Tai-keung)

The lights are coming on so it is time to go out on the town.

Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is the Letter C - for Czechoslovakia, cities and centenary - See It On A Postcard