Belarus: Nesvizh Castle with Postcrossing Stamp

On 30th November I got a postcard from Belarus.

It shows the Nesvizh Castle. The Nesvizh Castle was owned by the Radziwill family since 1533 who later turned it into an impressive Baroque complex, the first in Eastern Europe. Since 2005 is the Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The third Belarusian Postcrossing stamp (issued 10-07-2021) was used on this card. It took me a while to get it.

Thank You very much Anna!

Belarus: National Art Museum

On 26th July I got two postcards: one from Belarus and one from Russia.

The card from Belarus shows the National Art Museum in Minsk. The National Art Museum was founded in 1939, but during World War II big parts of its collection were lost. Shortly after the war however new artworks were obtained and in 1957 its current building was opened. Today it is the largest art museum in Belarus.

The stamp is from a set of four about Wild Baby Animals (issued 12-01-2021) and shows a young Boar.

Thank You very much Kseniya!

Belarus: Reinhold von Bissing

On 20th February I got three postcards: one from Belarus, one from Estonia and one from Germany.

The card from Belarus shows Reinhold von Bissing, who was postmaster of Vilnius in the 17th century.

The Belarusian Year of the Ox stamp (issued 08-02-2021) was used on this card and got cancelled with the new permanent special Postcrossing postmark from Minsk. 

Thank You very much Igor!

cover from Belarus

Today I got not only two postcards but also two covers including one from Belarus.

Next to the image of a bird a stamp of a big vehicle was used.

Inside was a postcard of the Maxim Bogdanovich Literature Museum in Minsk, that was sent as official card. This is one of the many museums about Maxim Bogdanovich, who is considered as one of the founders of the modern Belarusian literature. Apparently all texts in the museum are Belarusian only without English translation.

Thank You very much Larisa!

Belarus: Postman

On 6th February I got a postcard from Belarus.

It shows a Postman from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the second half of the 18th century.

Stamp:
Year of the Rat (issued 17-01-2020)
The stamp is printed with gold foil.

Thank You very much Igor!

Belarus: Minsk

Last Thursday I got two postcards: one from Belarus and one from Japan.

The card from Belarus shows a view of Minsk.

Stamps:
Centenary of the October Revolution (issued 03-11-2017)
Postcrossing (issued 03-01-2017)

Thank You very much Yulia!

Belarus: Trinity Hill

On Saturday I got a postcard from Belarus.

It shows the Trinity Hill. The Trinity Hill is a suburb of Belarus' capital Minsk and the oldest surviving part of the city. 

Stamp:
Belarusian Ornament (from set of two) (issued 27-01-2012)

Thank You very much Antonina!

cover from Belarus

On Saturday I got not only a postcard but also a cover from Belarus.

The cover is prepaid and was added with four stamps:

Wild Animals (from set of five) (issued 10-12-2014)

National Emblem (two from set of twelve) (issued 06-07-2016)

Inside were three written and stamped postcards.

The first card shows the Marc Chagall House Museum in Vitebsk. The Marc Chagall House Museum was opened in 1997 in the house where Marc Chagall spent his childhood.

Stamp:
National Emblem (from set of twelve) (issued 06-07-2016)
with a special Postcrossing postmark from Vitebsk

The second card shows a Great Snipe. The Great Snipe is a small wader, breeding in marshes and wet meadows with short vegetation in north-eastern Europe. It is a migratory bird and winters in Africa. The European breeding population is in steep decline.

On the backside is the special Postcrossing postmark from Vitebsk.
Stamp:
National Emblem (from set of twelve) (issued 06-07-2016)
with a special postmark about the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk

The third card shows a Hawfinch. The Hawfinch is a bird in the finch family. It breeds in woodland and parkland with large trees across Europe and temperate Asia.

On the backside is the special Postcrossing postmark from Vitebsk.
Stamp:
Wild Animals (from set of five) (issued 10-06-2008)
with a special postmark about the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk

Thank You very much Elena!

Belarus: Nesvizh Castle

On Thursday I got two postcards: one from Belarus and my first card from Israel.

The card from Belarus shows the Nesvizh Castle. The Nesvizh Castle was owned by the Radziwill family from 1533 and later the family turned the castle into an impressive Baroque complex, the first in Eastern Europe. Since 2005 is the Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Stamp:
Postcrossing (issued 03-01-2017)
with a Postcrossing postmark from Minsk

Thank You very much Uladzia!

Belarus: Postcrossing

On Tuesday I got four postcards: one from Belarus, one from China and two from Germany.

The card from Belarus is a Postcrossing Maxicard with the new Belarusian Postcrossing stamp, which was issued on 3rd January 2017. 

Belarus is one of the most active countries in Postcrossing. It has the eighth highest number of members and the sixth highest amount of sent postcards. The new stamp is already the second issue about the project. The first one was issued in early 2014.

The card was sent from the Postcrossing Meet-up in Minsk.

Thank You very much Maria!

Belarus: Minsk Jubilee

On Wednesday I got two postcards: one from Belarus and one from Malaysia.

The card from Belarus shows an old painting of Minsk. Minsk was first mentioned in 1067 and in 1499 it got town privileges. Under Russian rule in the 19th century the city became a railway and manufacturing hub. In 1919 it became the capital of the Belorussian SSR, one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. Since 1991 is Minsk the capital of Belarus and the administrative centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 2014 it hosted the IIHF World Championship and in 2019 it will host the European Games.

The card was printed to commemorate the 950th anniversary of the first written reference to Minsk in 2017.

Stamp:
EUROPA (from set of two) (issued 05-04-2016)

Thank You very much Natalia!

Belarus: Wild Boar

Yesterday I got a postcard from Belarus.

It shows a Wild Boar. The Wild Boar is a suid, which was actually native to Eurasia. The human also introduced it to North America and Australia, making it today one of the widest-ranging mammals in the World. It the ancestor of most domestic pig breeds and was used as big-game animal for millennia.

Stamps:
Definitives (three from set of sixteen) (issued 06-07-2016)

Thank You very much Maria!

Belarus: National Library in Minsk

On Monday I got five postcards: one from Belarus, one from Portugal, one from Brazil, one from the Philippines and one from Japan.

The card from Belarus shows the new building of the National Library in Minsk. The National Library of Belarus was established in 1922. It houses the largest collection of Belarusian printed materials and the third largest collection of books in Russian. The new building opened in 2006.

It is an official card: BY-1825814

Stamp:
National leaders of Israel born in Belarus (from set of five) (issued 30-10-2013)

Thank You very much Anastasia!

Belarus: Illustration

This week I got fourteen postcards including one from Belarus.

It shows an illustration, which seems to be published by BELPOCHTA.

It is an official card: BY-1818526

Stamp:
75 years National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus (issued 10-11-2014)
Foil is applied to the stamp.

Thank You very much Marina!

Belarus: Białowieża Forest

Yesterday I got two postcards: one from Belarus and one from Thailand.

The card from Belarus shows a map of the Białowieża Forest. The Białowieża Forest is a large primeval forest on the Belarusian-Polish border. In 1932 a national park was established in the forest. Since the Polish-Soviet border agreement of 1945 the forest is divided. Today there are the Białowieża National Park on the Polish side of the border and the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park in Belarus. The Białowieża Forest is since 1979 on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The card also shows an European Bison. 

With a nice matching stamp:
Architectural monuments (two from set of twelve) (issued 02-03-2012)
EUROPA (from set of two) (issued 12-03-2012)
EUROPA (from set of two) (issued 14-04-2011)

Thank You very much Alexandra!

Belarus: Brest Fortress

On 14th October I got five postcards: one from Belarus, two from Singapore, one from Finland and one from Germany.

The card from Belarus shows the Brest Fortress in Brest. Brest is a city near the Polish border and the sixth largest city of Belarus. On 3rd March 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in Brest.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace between the new Bolshevik government of Russia and the Central Powers during World War I. Through the treaty Russia passed various territories to the German and Ottoman Empires and recognised the independence of Ukraine. The combat operations already ended in December 1917 and with the treaty World War I in Eastern Europe was finally over. 

The Brest Fortress was attacked by German forces at the beginning of the German-Soviet War in 1941. Today it houses a museum and is one of the most visited sights of Belarus.

Stamp:
70 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War (from set of three) (issued 10-03-2015)

Thank You very much Maksim!

Belarus: Struve Geodetic Arc

On 9th October I got three postcards: one from Belarus and two from Germany.

The card from Belarus shows a map of the Struve Geodetic Arc, Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve and a Belarusian point of the arc within a map of Belarus. The Struve Geodetic Arc runs from the Black Sea to the northern coast of Norway. It was built on the initiative of Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve between 1810 and 1865 and should measure the size and the shape of the earth. The Arc is 2820 km long and is a exceptional example for the cooperation of scientists and monarchs of different countries for a scientific aim. Since 2005 is the Struve Geodetic Arc a transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site in Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine.

Stamp:
EUROPA (from set of two) (issued 29-04-2013)

Thank You very much Maksim!

Belarus: Khatyn Memorial

On Wednesday I got three postcards: one from Belarus, one from Singapore and one from Slovenia.

The card from Belarus shows the Khatyn Memorial. Khatyn was one of the many villages in Belarus that was destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. The entire population of Khatyn was massacred in 1943. The Khatyn Memorial became national war memorial of the Belorussian SSR in 1969. Today is the memorial among the top ten of the most visited touristic sites in Belarus.

Stamp:
Edible mushrooms (from set of four) (issued 10-09-2013)

Thank You very much Maksim!

Belarus: 2014 IIHF World Championship

On 10th March I got five postcards: one from Belarus, two from Indonesia, one from Japan and my first card from Burundi.

The card from Belarus was issued for the 2014 IIHF World Championship. The 2014 IIHF World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament held in Belarus in 2014. The tournament was won by Russia.

It is an official card: BY-1549738

Stamp:
Edible mushrooms (from set of four) (issued 10-09-2013)

Thank You very much Irina!

Belarus: Corpus Christi Church at Nesvizh

On Wednesday I got two nice postcards from Belarus.

One of them shows the Corpus Christi Church at Nesvizh. The Corpus Christi Church is one of the oldest baroque structures outside Italy and was commissioned by Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwill. The house of Radziwill is a noble family of Lithuanian origin and their archives are since 2009 a part of the Memory of the World Programme of the UNESCO. The house of Radziwill built a Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex at Nesvizh which is since 2005 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Corpus Christi Church is a part of this complex.

In the upper right corner of the card is part of the miniature sheet of the actual stamp.

The nice stamp is in the bottom left corner:
Zoos in Belarus-Amur Leopard in the Minsk Zoo (from set of four) (issued 09-07-2013)
The Minsk Zoo was founded in 1984 by nature amateurs such as Fiodor Nevzin. Its collection includes both exotic animals and rare fauna of Belarus.
with the First Day Special Postmark of another stamp

Thank You very much Kate!