Casa de Colón (Columbus House)

Historic City-Centre of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

UNESCO tentative

Date of Submission: 27/04/2007

The Casa de Colón is one of Las Palmas most attractive buildings with ornate doorways, beautiful latticed balconies, large courtyards and carved wooden ceilings, representing numerous aspects of the island’s architecture. This palace was the residence of the first governors of the island and it is claimed that Christopher Columbus stayed there in 1492 while one of his ships was repaired, hence the name Casa de Colón (Columbus House). 

This charming building was rebuilt in 1777 and since 1952 has housed a museum comprising 13 permanent exhibition rooms, a library and study centre as well as several spaces reserved for temporary activities, such as lectures, seminars and exhibitions. On display are pre-Columbian artefacts, ship models, a replica of a cabin of La Niña, one ship of Columbus’ fleet, navigation instruments, nautical maps and charts, paintings as well as many other artefacts related to voyages made by the famous navigator and the history of the Canaries and their relationship with the Americas.

This house was also the birthplace of the celebrated opera tenor, Alfredo Kraus (1927-99). Of more interest to younger visits will be the pair of parrots in the courtyard, especially as they’re particularly talkative.

UNESCO the tentative list, Belarus

This card comes from Ciemna in Brest with happy postcrossing stamp.

Distance: 1,181 km

Travel time: 12 days

The SS. Boris and Gleb (Kalozha) Church Grodno

This comes from Olga in Minsk.

Distance: 1,014 km

Travel time: 47 days

Catholic University library, Leuven

Catholic University library, Leuven, Belgium

The library building was designed by Whitney Warren and built from 1921–1928. 

The Catholic University of Leuven was considered the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. 

The University of Leuven was founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V as the first university in the Low Countries, and soon became one of the largest and well-known universities in Europe.

Some of the scholars and lecturers associated with the university were the humanist Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), the cartographer Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594), whose map projection is still in use, Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), one of the founders of modern anatomy, and many more.

This card comes from Marie-Paule, Belgium

Distance: 1,669 km

Travel time: 9 days

Ilmen Nature Reserve, Russia

Direct swap from Nikolai, St. Petersburg

Ilmen Nature Reserve  that was created by decree of Vladimir Lenin, in 1920 as a mineralogical nature reserve. It is the site of deposits of many rare-earth minerals - 16 minerals were first discovered here, including Ilmenite (named for the site), Monazite, Cancrinite, and Samarskite. There have been over 400 mines in the area over the years. The Reserve's geological museum is one of the largest in Russia. The forest cover is pine and larch forest on low hills of the Ilmen mountains and foothill ridges on east side of the south Ural Mountains. The reserve is situated just north and east of the city of Miass, in the Chebarkulsky District of Chelyabinsk Oblast.

The Ilmensky Mountains. UNESCO tentative, Date of Submission: 11/08/2008

Tanssijoita

Recieved on:  21 Feb, 2013

Distance: 1,017 km (632 miles)

Travel time: 12 days

Thank you Valeria from Minsk  for this happy card.

Valeria sent this card of people dancing in national costumes and celebrating Belorussian holiday.

At the back is the ancient tower of Kamenets. It was buit in 13th century and it is the oldest standing building in Belarus. The walls of the 300-metre tower are two and a half metres thick. The outside diameter is 13.5 metres. The tower rests on a robust foundation made from crushed stone. The height of the foundation is nearly 2.3 metres, its outside diameter is about 16 metres. 

 

View Larger Map