Dorsten

This postcard made my day! Such lovely greetings from Polish Ladies Abroad Club co-member.....
Besides, I learned about a city in Germany which I had never been to.

Country: Germany
City: Dorsten
From: Polish Ladies Abroad Club
Year: 2016

Dorsten is a city in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia), situated by the Lippe River and the Wesel-Datteln Canal. It was granted city rights in the year 1251. These days Dorsten has about 80 thousand inhabitants. It sure looks lovely in the pictures!

Stamps

Theme: nature/flowers - tulip and marigold
Theme: winter/ snowman
Country: Germany

Gdańsk, Poland & Flowers

Quite unexpectedly I received a postcard from

Country: Poland
City: Gdańsk
Year: 2016
From: Pen-pal exchange

The old town hall and Długa Street (Long Street)

Gdansk is a city in northern Poland, situated by the Baltic Bay/ Baltic Sea.
The city was founded in the seventh century - at first it was just a small village which was home to fishermen and various craftsmen. It was granted the city rights in 1263.

The Neptune Fountain

The old town - part of it you can see in the above picture - is a place famous for its beautiful architecture. That is why it is popular with tourists and the people who live in the area as well.

We used to quite often meet there  with my great friend Krystyna. We enjoyed walks along Dluga Street (and in some other places). Among others, we also sometimes visited a great ice cream cafe which is situated there.

By The Motlawa River

 Gdańsk and its old market is very much worth visiting at any time of the year.

Stamps

Theme: Nature / flowers

Country: Poland

The Rose & The Sunflower

Design: M. Dąbrowska

Year: 2015

Frigate of Elfenbein

Theme: Art/Sculpture
Country: Germany:
Year: 2016

The frigate was created by Jacob Zeller, German sculpture and ivory carver, in 1620. The artist finished his work in the summer, a few months before his death in December.

Material used: ivory, gold and iron.

The sculpture includes carved names of the princes of Saxony, beginning with Harderich, who supposedly lived shortly after the birth of Christ, up to Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony. There are also tiny sailors, guns, chains, nails, ropes and anchors made of gold. The picture of the artist's wife, Magdalena Sibylla of Brandenburg and the crest of Johann Georg I are parts of the relief carving.

The base resembles the fountain in Rome, sculptured by Gian Lorenzo Bernini - figures of Neptune standing on a ball, Fortuna, the goddess of changing destiny and sea horses.

Johannes Jessenius

Theme: People/ doctor
Country: Poland
Design: V. Rostoka, F. Horniak, A. Sancewicz
Year: 2016

The stamp was issued to commemorate the 450th birthday anniversary of Johannes Jessenius/ Jan Jessenius - philosopher, physician and politician.

Jessenius was born to a noble family on Dec. 27, 1566 in Wroclaw, Poland. He studied in Wittenberg, Leipzig (Germany) and in Padva (Italy).

At first, Jessenius worked as a physician in Wroclaw. Later he became personal doctor of prince Wilhelm in Dresden and was anatomy, surgery and botany professor at the Wittenberg university.

When in Prague (1600), he carried out the first ever autopsy in that part of the world.

Jessenius' professional career developed steadily - he was personal physician of king Matthias (king of Bohemia); in 1616 the scientist was elected rector of Prague university. At that time Jessenius started his interest in politics. As a result of the political involvement, Jessenius was imprisoned, and finally, executed on June 21, 1621. His head was buried beneath the flooring of Church of Our Lady before Týn (Prague).