Request

To my cover-exchanging friends, please try as much as possible to
(1) WRITE THE ADDRESSES USING YOUR OWN HANDWRITING
as these give a more personal touch to the cover
(2) PLEASE DO NOT USE TAPE OR STICKERS ON THE REVERSE;
the Philippine postal service damages the cover with scribbling that highly devalues the aesthetic value of the cover, which is what I am after
(3) PLEASE TRY TO USE COMPLETE SETS
or at least same themes when sending covers, but it is okay if this is not possible or if this would be expensive, and
(4) PLEASE USE SMALL ENVELOPES,
not too small, but maybe around 4"x6" or something like that; big envelopes are not very attractive unless they have many stamps.
Thank you!

14.2.09

Roma, il capitale d'Italia



Many thanks to Enzo from Venezia for this very nice piece of philatelic stationery. Sadly, however, the Philippine postal workers wrought havoc on the beautiful postcard once again!

The part of Rome shown in this postcard and stamp is the Imperial Forums area. The Imperial Forums a series of public squares that were constructed between 46 BC and 113 AD. For many decades, they were the center of city life and important figures gathered there to discuss the economy or expound upon their beliefs about politics or any other hot subjects of the era.

The forums were built under four rulers, namely Caesar, Augustus, Nerva, and Trajan. The forum shown here was built during the time of Trajan and is the largest and greatest of the Imperial Forums. It was built to honor the conquest of Dacia in southeastern Europe (now Romania).

Much excavation had to be done to complete this forum, which consisted of several parts: a public square, a large temple (the Temple of Divius Traianus), two libraries and the immense Basilica Ulpia. For some time this particular civic building moved the center of political life from the Roman Forum to the Imperial Forums. Many of its marble columns (seen in the post card depiction) still stand today.

The 42 meter tall Trajan’s Column, located between the Basilica Ulpia and the Temple of Trajan indicated the exact height of the hill that was excavated for the construction of the forum.

1 comment:

lefung said...

post worker is not reliable, just like in Malaysia, same thing will happen!