Relativity (M. C. Escher), 1953

Relativity (M. C. Escher, 1898 - 1972), 1953

Sent by Hiroyuki from Isehara City, Japan.

Relativity is a lithograph print by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher, first printed in December 1953. The first version of this work was a woodcut made earlier that same year.

It depicts a world in which the normal laws of gravity do not apply. The architectural structure seems to be the centre of an idyllic community, with most of its inhabitants casually going about their ordinary business, such as dining. There are windows and doorways leading to park-like outdoor settings. All of the figures are dressed in identical attire and have featureless bulb-shaped heads. Identical characters such as these can be found in many other Escher works.

In the world of Relativity, there are three sources of gravity, each being orthogonal to the two others. Each inhabitant lives in one of the gravity wells, where normal physical laws apply. There are sixteen characters, spread between each gravity source, six in one and five in each of the other two. The apparent confusion of the lithograph print comes from the fact that the three gravity sources are depicted in the same space (read more).

Czechia - Prague Castle

PRAGUE CASTLE

Sent by Svitlania from Prague, Czechia.

Prague Castle (Czech: Pražský hrad; [ˈpraʃskiː ˈɦrat]) is a castle complex in Prague, Czech Republic serving as the official residence and workplace of the president of the Czech Republic. Built in the 9th century, the castle has long served as the seat of power for kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman emperors, and presidents of Czechoslovakia. As such, the term "Prague Castle" or simply the "Castle" or "the Hrad" are often used as metonymy for the president and his staff and advisors. The Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept within a hidden room inside it.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world, occupying an area of almost 70,000 square metres (750,000 square feet), at about 570 metres (1,870 feet) in length and an average of about 130 metres (430 feet) wide. The castle is among the most visited tourist attractions in Prague, attracting over 1.8 million visitors annually (read more).

USA - New York - State Bird and State Flower

NEW YORK
State Bird : Eastern Bluebird
State Flower : Rose
Date of Statehood : July 26, 1788
Capital City : Albany
Population : 19,745,289

Sent by Victor from Schenectady in New York, USA.

My other State Bird of NY was here.

The rose was designated as the official state flower of New York in 1955 (a rose of any color or combination of colors). All State Flowers

The rose is a symbol of love and beauty (as well as war and politics) the world over. The rose is also our national flower; the state flower of Georgia is the Cherokee rose; and the wild prairie rose is the state flower of Iowa and North Dakota (read more). 

Singapore - Central Fire Station

Central Fire Station of Singapore.

Sent by ASColin from Singapore.

Central Fire Station (Chinese: 中央消防局; Malay: Balai Bomba Pusat) is a fire station in Hill Street, Singapore. The oldest fire station in Singapore, it is located in the Museum Planning Area, which is within the Central Area. The building currently houses the Civil Defence Heritage Gallery, the official museum of the Singapore Civil Defence Force. The fire station is gazetted as a national monument of Singapore in 1996 (read more).

Coca Cola Ad Card (7)

Sent by Detlef from Georgsmarienhütte in Germany.

Taiwan - Anping Sword Lions

Anping Sword Lions at Chou Long Temple, Tainan City, Taiwan.

Sent by Amy Lee from Ahongli, Taiwan. Thanks for the matching stamp.

The Sword Lion, an emblem of the menacing big cat with a long saber in its mouth guarding the doorways of homes in Tainan City’s Anping District, could become a mascot for Taiwan tourism.

District chief Lin Guo-ming said the tradition of sword lions dates back to the Ching Dynasty. Troops garrisoned in Anping in the settlement’s earliest days would carve images of a lion on their shields to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, Lin explained (read more).

USA - Missouri - State Bird

Bluebird

Sent by Joe from Springfield, Missouri, USA.

The eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) is a small North American migratory thrush found in open woodlands, farmlands, and orchards.

The bright-blue breeding plumage of the male, easily observed on a wire or open perch, makes this species a favorite of birders. The male's call includes sometimes soft warbles of jeew or chir-wi, or the melodious song chiti WEEW wewidoo. It is the state bird of Missouri and New York (read more).

USA - Michigan - Detroit's Belle Isle

Belle Isle Aquarium is the oldest aquarium in the country, built in 1904.

Sent by Taylor from Michigan, USA.

Belle Isle Park, known simply as Belle Isle (/bɛlˈaɪəl/), is a 982-acre (1.534 sq mi; 397 ha) island park in Detroit, Michigan, developed in the late 19th century. It consists of Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, as well as several surrounding islets. The U.S.-Canada border is in the channel south of Belle Isle.

Owned by the city of Detroit, Belle Isle is managed as a state park by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources through a 30-year lease initiated in 2013; it was previously a city park. Belle Isle Park is the largest city-owned island park in the United States, and Belle Isle is the third largest island in the Detroit River, after Grosse Ile and Fighting Island. Belle Isle is the second most-visited state park in the U.S., after Niagara Falls State Park in New York. It is connected to mainland Detroit by the MacArthur Bridge (read more).

Russia - Komi Republic - State Opera and Ballet Theatre

State Opera and Ballet Theatre at Syktyvkar, Komi Republic.

Sent by Sveta from Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, Russia.

Syktyvkar (/sɪktɪfˈkɑːr/, Russian: Сыктывка́р, IPA: [sɨktɨfˈkar]; Komi: Сыктывкар, IPA: [sɨktɨvˈkar]) is the capital city of the Komi Republic in Russia, as well as its largest city. It is also the administrative center of the Syktyvkar Urban Okrug. Until 1930, it was known as Ust-Sysolsk after the Sysola River (read more).

Ramadan Kareem - Morocco

Ramadan wishes from Morocco.

Sent by my friend Bouchra from Tangier, Morocco.

Diego Rivera - The Detroit Industry Murals

Diego Rivera - THE DETROIT INDUSTRY MURALS
Diego Rivera and dog on scaffolding in front of the north wall automative panel, 1932
Photograph by W.J. Stettler
@ Detroit Institute of Arts

Sent by Marc from Detroit, USA.

Diego Rivera (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈdjeɣo riˈβeɾa]; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the mural movement in Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted murals in, among other places, Mexico City, Chapingo, and Cuernavaca, Mexico; and San Francisco, Detroit, and New York City. In 1931, a retrospective exhibition of his works was held at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. That was before he completed his 27-mural series known as Detroit Industry Murals.

Rivera had four wives and numerous children, including at least one illegitimate daughter. His first child and only son died at the age of two. His third wife was fellow Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, with whom he had a volatile relationship that continued until her death. His previous two marriages, ending in divorce, were respectively to a fellow artist and a novelist, and his final marriage was to his agent.

Due to his importance in the country's art history, the government of Mexico declared Rivera's works as monumentos históricos. As of 2018, Rivera holds the record for highest price at auction for a work by a Latin American artist. The 1931 painting The Rivals, part of the record-setting collection of Peggy Rockefeller and David Rockefeller, sold for US$9.76 million (read more).

Germany - Lower Saxony - Oldenburg

Oldenburg

Sent by Ines from Oldenburg, Germany.

Oldenburg (German pronunciation: [ˈɔldn̩bʊʁk] ^ⓘ; Northern Low Saxon: Ollnborg) is an independent city in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. The city is officially named Oldenburg (Oldb) (Oldenburg in Oldenburg) to distinguish from Oldenburg in Holstein.

During the French annexation (1811–1813) in the wake of the Napoleonic war against Britain, it was also known as Le Vieux-Bourg in French. The city is at the rivers Hunte and Haaren, in the northwestern region between the cities of Bremen in the east and Groningen (Netherlands) in the west. According to Germany's 2022 census, the city's population is 172,759. Oldenburg is part of the Northwest Metropolitan Region, which is home to approximately 2.8 million people.

The city is the place of origin of the House of Oldenburg. Before the end of the German Empire (1918), it was the administrative centre and residence of the monarchs of Oldenburg (read more).

Japan - Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art

Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art in Sakura, Japan.

Sent by Dora from Saitama, Japan.

The Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art (DIC川村記念美術館, DIC Kawamura Kinen Bijutsukan) (often shortened to Kawamura Memorial Museum) was an art museum in Sakura, Japan, designed by Ichiro Ebihara (海老原一郎, Ebihara Ichiro).

The museum opened in 1990 and its collection now contains more than 1000 works collected by the Japanese resin and ink manufacturer DIC Corporation. The project was largely the brainchild of Katsumi Kawamura, the former president of DIC, founder and first director of the museum, who had been collecting art since the 1970s. The Kawamura Memorial Museum contains artwork by a wide selection of American, European and Japanese artists, including special exhibitions of the works of Mark Rothko and Frank Stella. The museum is set in a 30-hectare park with over 200 kinds of trees, 500 kinds of plants and inhabited by many wild birds and insects (read more).

USA - Virginia - The Pentagon

The Pentagon - Arlington County - VA

Sent by Jennifer from Virginia, USA.

The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase The Pentagon is often used as a metonym for the Department of Defense and its leadership.

The building was designed by American architect George Bergstrom and built by contractor John McShain. Ground was broken on 11 September 1941, and the building was dedicated on 15 January 1943. General Brehon Somervell provided the major impetus to gain Congressional approval for the project. Colonel Leslie Groves was responsible for overseeing the project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which supervised it (read more).

Germany - North-Rhine Westphalia - Gruiten

Gruiten Village - Vullage Green and Haus am Quall

Sent by Heiner from Haan, Germany.

The historic centre of Gruiten-Dorf, a district of Haan in neanderland, impresses with its well-preserved half-timbered and slate houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. The cobbled streets and the idyllic location in the valley of th.e Düssel give the village a special charm. Sights such as the Evangelical Reformed Church from 1721 and the Romanesque church tower of the old St. Nicholas Church from the 12th century bear witness to the long history of the place. Surrounded by hiking trails such as the NeanderlandSTEIG and the Kalkroute, Gruiten-Dorf is a popular destination for culture and nature lovers (read more).

United Kingdom - England - Angel of The North

Angel of The North, Gateshead, United Kingdom.

Sent by Anne from Darlington, England.

The Angel of the North is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is seen by an estimated 33 million people every year due to its proximity to the A1 and A167 roads and the East Coast Main Line. The design of the Angel, like many of Gormley's works, is based on Gormley's own body. The COR-TEN weathering steel material gives the sculpture its distinctive rusty, oxidised colour. It stands 20 metres (66 ft) tall with a wingspan of 54 metres (177 ft). The vertical ribs on its body and wings act as an external skeleton which direct oncoming wind to the sculpture's foundations, allowing it to withstand wind speeds of over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).

The sculpture was commissioned and delivered by Gateshead Council who approached Gormley to be the sculptor. Although initially reluctant, Gormley agreed to undertake the project after visiting and being inspired by the Angel's proposed site, a former colliery overlooking the varied topography of the Tyne and Wear Lowlands National Character Area (read more).

Chile - Huaso

Chilean countryman (huaso).

Sent by Nat from Santiago, Chile.

A huaso (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈwaso]) is a Chilean countryman and skilled horseman, similar to the American cowboy, the Mexican charro (and its northern equivalent, the vaquero), the gaucho of Argentina, Uruguay and Rio Grande Do Sul, and the Australian stockman. A female huaso is called a huasa, although the term china is far more commonly used for his wife or sweetheart, whose dress can be seen in cueca dancing. Huasos are found all over Central and Southern Chile while the Aysén and Magallanes Region sheep raisers are gauchos. The major difference between the huaso and the gaucho is that huasos are involved in farming as well as cattle herding (read more).

Morocco - Tangier

Tangier

Cap Spartel

Sent by Bouchra from Tangier, Morocco.

Tangier (/tænˈdʒɪər/ tan-JEER; Arabic: طنجة, romanized: Ṭanjah, [tˤandʒa], [tˤanʒa]) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Morocco.

Many civilisations and cultures have influenced the history of Tangier, starting from before the 10th century BCE. Starting as a strategic Phoenician town and trading centre, Tangier has been a nexus for many cultures. In 1923, it became an international zone managed by colonial powers and became a destination for many European and American diplomats, spies, bohemians, writers and businessmen. That status came to an end with Moroccan independence, in phases between 1956 and 1960 (read more).

Singapore - Panoramic View

View from City Hall.

Sent by Ravindra of Sri Lanka who traveled to Singapore.

Germany - Augsburg

Views of Augsburg City Center.

Sent by Ute from Augsburg, Germany.

Augsburg (UK: /ˈaʊɡzbɜːrɡ/ OWGZ-burg, also US: /ˈɔːɡz-/ AWGZ-; German: [ˈaʊksbʊʁk]  Swabian German: Ougschburg) is a city in the Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and the regional seat of the Regierungsbezirk Swabia with a well preserved Altstadt (historical city centre). Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is the third-largest city in Bavaria (after Munich and Nuremberg), with a population of 304,000 and 885,000 in its metropolitan area (read more).

Japan - Tōhoku History Museum

Tōhoku History Museum in Tagajō, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

Sent by Ayako from Tagajō, Japan.

The Tōhoku History Museum (東北歴史博物館, Tōhoku Rekishi Hakubutsukan) is a museum in Tagajō, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It houses finds from excavations at the site of Tagajō as well as from other archaeological sites in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan.
These include a Jōmon period jade axe excavated in Kizukuri, Aomori Prefecture, and designated an Important Cultural Property; and another Jōmon jade, excavated in Niisato, Iwate Prefecture, also designated an Important Cultural Property (read more).

Taiwan - Tunghai University

Tunghai University.

Sent by WSH from Taipei, Taiwan.Tunghai University (THU; traditional Chinese: 東海大學; simplified Chinese: 东海大学; pinyin: Dōnghǎi Dàxué; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tang-hái Tāi-ha̍k; lit. 'East Sea University') is a private university in Xitun District, Taichung, Taiwan, established in 1955. It was founded by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA). The university is known for its liberal arts education.

Located at the foothills of Dadu Mountain, Tunghai University spans over a hundred hectares, making it the largest private university campus in Taiwan by land area. Its early campus architecture, which embodies both architectural aesthetics and historical significance was built to include modernism, traditional Chinese architecture along with locally indigenous elements. As a result, it has been designated as a cultural landscape by the Taiwan.
On the campus, the Luce Memorial Chapel (designed by architects Chen Chi-kwan and I. M. Pei) is a local landmark.

The university shares its name with Tokai University in Japan. The two universities have since entered a partnership agreement (read more).

Classic Rock Bands - #1 KISS

KISS - THE REUNION TOUR
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, JUNE 28th 1996

Sent by Lucy from Poole, England.

Kiss (commonly styled as KISS) was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1973 by Paul Stanley (vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals, bass guitar), Ace Frehley (lead guitar, vocals) and Peter Criss (drums, vocals). Known for their face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-1970s with shock rock–style live performances which featured fire-breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits and pyrotechnics. The band went through several lineup changes, with Stanley and Simmons remaining the only consistent members. The final lineup consisted of them, Tommy Thayer (lead guitar, vocals) and Eric Singer (drums, vocals).

With their makeup and costumes, the band members took on the personas of comic book-style characters: the Starchild (Stanley), the Demon (Simmons), the Spaceman or Space Ace (Frehley), and the Catman (Criss). During the second half of the 1970s, Kiss became one of America's most successful rock bands and a pop culture phenomenon. Due to creative differences, Criss departed the band in 1980, followed by Frehley's departure in 1982. They were replaced by Eric Carr (the Fox) and Vinnie Vincent (the Wiz), respectively. The band's commercial success had declined during the early 1980s before experiencing a resurgence in 1983, when they began performing without makeup and costumes, marking the beginning of the band's "unmasked" era that would last until 1996. The first album of this era, 1983's platinum-certified Lick It Up, successfully introduced them to a new generation of fans, and its music videos received regular airplay on MTV. Vincent left the band in 1984, being replaced briefly by Mark St. John before Bruce Kulick joined the band for the next twelve years. Eric Carr died in 1991 of heart cancer and was replaced by Eric Singer (read more).

Mailbox #1 - Australia

Timeless Magic of The Post
Drawn by Christina.

Sent by Jack from Queensland, Australia. Thanks for the UPU 150 Years stamp.