#595 Slovakia...Thanks Robert!

#594 Slovakia...Thanks Robert!

#529 Slovakia...Thanks Robert!

These two stamps are Slovak 2010 Art series showing Gothic Mural Painting and Gothic Madonna from Ľubica.

Gothic Mural Painting
The history of Cathedral church of St. Martin bishop in Spišská Kapitula (Spiš Canonry) dates back to the 13th century. Its contemporary appearance is the result of several reconstructions. The original Roman period is represented by the space in the western part – pillars with berry head capitals under gallery, two preserved portals and the lion statue from the original Western portal. Radical reconstructions in the second third of the 15th century turned the church into a hall three-nave basilica with high spaces with star and tracery vaults. Building up a mortuary chapel of the Zápolya family to the southern side of the church nave completed the reconstruction.
The wall painting of Karl Robert Coronation represents the remains of the decoration dating back to the period before the Gothic reconstruction in the 15th century. The motif of the painting under the northern portal is a ceremonial scene which is dominated by the Mother of God with Jesus on her knees. Her throne, Jesus’ white robe and the ornaments of the whole painting relate to the Byzantine art mediated by Italian paintings at the turn of the 13th and 14th century. By blessing gestures, Mary and Jesus are turning to the king wearing a crown on his head. Behind the king, separated by the shield with red and white beams and with Anjou family lilies, a Spiš castellan Frantisek Thomas Semsay is kneeling.
To the right of the Mary Enthroned, two church dignitaries are depicted – an Esztergom archbishop Thomas with another crown in his hands and a Spiš provost Henrik who is behind him. The scene represents hierarchical vision of the reign derived from the Christ and guaranteed by the local authorities. Considering thoroughly highlighted details of the clothes and insignia it can be assumed that the painter comes from courtly environment.
The last complex reconstruction (Ladislav Szekély 2005) proved secondary of the historical signs and also the dating on one of them. Considering the iconography, the painting could have been created shortly after Karl Robert from Anjou was coronated the Hungarian king by the Esztergom archbishop for the last time in 1310.

Gothic Madonna from Ľubica

The Parish church of Assumption of Virgin Mary in Ľubica is the largest church from the group of so-called double-nave Spiš churches and its architecture integrates several reconstructions. After the second half of the 14th century the nave of the older church was vaulted with a cross vault on three slender columns. From the era of the older, still gothic period, two portals but especially one of few preserved round windows of Slovak Gothic – rosette are worth mentioning. The church interior underwent fundamental alterations in the 17th and 18th century. After 1764, the walls and the vault were decorated with rococo ornaments. Baldachin altar in sanctuary (1680) is older and was created by baroque sculptor Olaf Engelholm from Levoča. A niche of the older still gothic altar with the statue of the Virgin Mary from the beginning of the 16th century is also integrated in this monumental work.
Madonna, wearing bright gold cloak, accompanied with little statues of four saints on the sides represents the type of so-called Apocalyptic Mary standing on the half moon with two angels by her feet. The moon represents the devil that was humiliated by the Mother God. Both angels raising her cloak serve the purpose of sending the message face to face to the spectators. The method of the coat shaping but mainly the facial features of the Virgin Mary and the angels reveal the origin of the statue as well as the whole original gothic altar in the workshop of Master Paul of Levoča.
The preservation of the older statue, even the whole cabinet of the gothic retable in the new baroque altar in Ľubica is not such a big exception. In the 17th century similar phenomenon is observed in the baroque altar of the Minorities church in Levoča that is also the work of Olaf Engelholm. Gothic Madonna could be found in the baroque altar of the Parish church in Podolínec. In 1696, the whole gothic cabinet with eight original statues was integrated into the altar in the Parish church in Prešov. Such a historicism surely relates to the former recatholization atmosphere and its effort to emphasize religious and cultural tradition continuity of the period before the reformation. Artistic monuments became significant argumentative means in religion disputes in the 17th century.

#528 Slovakia...Thanks Robert!

The 0.70€ stamp was issued on 03.12.2010 for the Postage Stamp Day honoring Karol Ondreička.

Karol Ondreička (1944 – 2003) a painter, a graphic, an illustrator, a postage stamp creator, a significant artist and a teacher, professor at Academy of Fine Arts and Design and at Faculty of Education of Comenius University in Bratislava. In 1989 – 1990 he was the Chancellor of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design. As the first pupil and member of the artistically strong Brunovský’s graphic school, in his artistic creation, Ondreička continued with the activity of Professor Albin Brunovský. His works are specific for rich imagination, marked drawing skills, redrawing of the details and using classical graphic techniques.

The 0.40€ stamp in the middle is the 2010 Christmas issue showing the Initial with the Birth of Christ from Bratislava Mass-book.

Liturgical manuscript of the Bratislava missal I from the beginning of the 14th century is preserved in several fragments. It can be found in the Bratislava Archive, in the Town Museum in Bratislava and in the St. Adalbert Association in Trnava. Originally having 366 sheets, nowadays there are 303 altogether. There are painted figural illuminations mainly as initials with biblical motifs on some of these parchment sheets of the Codex. One of these paintings, on the parchments sheets in the Town Museum, is the Nativity initial. The scene is placed in the shape of letter P.

The 0.40€ stamp:Fight Against HIV on the right was issued on 01.12.2010.

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that causes AIDS disease. It completely disrupts and destroys the human immunity. It is not a commonly contagious virus. We do not get infected by touch or by common social contact. Infection may occur by transfer of bodily fluids, blood or during sexual intercourse; moreover, by using the same needle among drug addicts. To find out whether a person is infected can be recognized by medical examination after three months, sometimes after six months. The period during which a person is a virus carrier and by the time the symptoms appear could last for years. During this period the afflicted person can unconsciously spread the virus. How to prevent spreading the virus? It is important to inform people how we can become HIV positive and how important it is to have safe sex with a stranger and not to switch partners. Drugs are addictive substances. Drug addiction frequently blocks our sober consideration of risks of the infection. One of the very sensitive routes of the infection is the transmission of the virus from mother to her baby during pregnancy or breast feeding. In the past, blood transfusion was also considered one of the feared contagious routes; however, nowadays there are sufficient medical examinations to prevent the infection.

What should one do when meeting a person infected by HIV virus either by his own fault or by other´s fault? When we realize what he realizes at any time he could get seriously ill, he must be careful and not to take unnecessary risks, his health is weakened.what is important for such a person? The important thing is to have somebody by his side and not to have people turn against him for him not to have to fight against scorn. A lot of people just then realize the value of life, the value of attitudes of people around them and their own value.

We can fight against HIV virus, we can resist it. Yet, it is not possible to cure it. Therefore, it is very important to talk about it in families, to inform about it in media and to speak about it mainly with young people.

#450 Slovakia...Thanks Robert!

The 1.10€ stamp was issued in March,2010 commemorating 400th Anniversary of the Žilina Synod.

Ideas of religious Reformation had quickly spread in the 16th century also in our country in Slovakia. After the patriciate of Eastern Slovak royal towns and Medieval mining towns, the Hungarian nobility gradually inclined to Reformation and so at the beginning of the 17th century, a significant part of today´s Slovakia territory was Protestant. At the Country council in 1609 Count Juraj Thurzo from Betlanovce (1567 – 1616) became the Hungarian Palatine, a follower of the reformation of Augsburg confession which he supported and efficiently promoted by means of his authority. An important milestone was the synod, convened for March 28 – 30, 1610 to Žilina under the patronage of the Palatine Thurzo. The Žilina Synod meant constitution and creation of separate church organisation of the Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession. The church congregations represented there defined basic symbolic issues and adopted the Formula of harmony. An important role in its preparation and wording of conclusions was played by Eliáš Láni, Bytča pastor and Thurzo´s advisor who was appointed to be one of the first Evangelical superintendents.

A unique authentic monument of those times is the Thurzo altar Speculum Justificationis dated in 1611. Monumental wooden altar from the chapel at the Orava castle preserved today in the Evangelical church of Augsburg confession in Necpaly, is extraordinary in its form and contents. The form of the altar unit with nine pictures is based on an older graphic model from the workshop of Jost Amman, a Nuremberg engraver and publisher, designed by the Evangelical theologian Caspar Melissander. Smaller panel paintings on fixed wings, in the dividing line and altar extension depict Bible scenes. Complicated composition of the spacious central painting painted on canvas is the visualisation of the key symbolical questions of which it is expression. Presented motives and notices in one composition interpret topics of excusing the sinful man in front of God for the faith itself in the Protestant perception.

The value of Thurzo altar is extraordinary – due to the personality of the customer as well as due to challenging and unique idea programme and last but not least, due to its artistic quality exceeding the average level of works of Protestant art of the 17th century in our country. Its iconography is the expression of professional and confessional identity of noble customer and apart from representation, it is also its "pictorial expression of faith".

#449 Slovakia...Thanks Robert!

The 0.70€ stamp was issued in March,2010 commemorating 750 years of birth of Matthew Czak of Trenčín.

The uncrowned king of Upper Hungary (today’s Slovakia) Matthew Czak was born in about 1260. His father Peter and his uncle Matthews held the office of Marshall Palatine during the reign of the incompetent king Ladislav IV. Cuman, and as a result, they were obtaining large properties in the south-western Slovakia. The young Matthew Czak became their sole heir. In the early 1290s he acted as a loyal courtier of Andrew III who appointed him a Palatine in 1296. However, shortly after, Matthew seized the King’s castle Trenčín under unclear circumstances and he rebuilt it to his residence. At the end of the 13th century, extending of his possessions was beyond control. Many nobles took willingly (but also under pressure) service with him. In the Přemysl-Anjou fight for a succession he first supported the Czech crown prince Wenceslas, who in 1302 bestowed him with counties Nitra and Trenčín. Toward the end of the following year he changed sides and became a supporter of Charles Robert, but despite his several promises he never recognized him as his king in public. In spite of this, Charles Robert appointed him a palatine in 1309 and at the beginning of the following year also treasurer (the person in charge of royal income). As Matthew Czak was visibly misusing these positions for his own benefit, the king deposed him from his office. In these times Matthew already acted as an independent ruler, and kept the same dignitaries as the king at his court in Trenčín. The bases of his power became a whole system of stone castles. He owned more than 60 stone castles, of which 50 in the area of today’s Slovakia. The status of Matthew was undermined to a certain extent by the loss of a part of his army in the Battle of Rozhanovce in 1312. However, in 1315 he managed to beat back the attack of the Czech king Jan Luxemburg on the castle of Holíč. Later, due to his older age, he was not developing any activities of a greater importance and determined Stephen Czech from the family of Moravian Sternbergs as his heir. He died naturally on March 18th, 1321 in Trenčín castle. King’s army took possession of all his castles in stages. His contemporaries called his possessions "Terra Matthei" (The Land of Matthew). Its territorial scope corresponds almost precisely with the territory belonging to Pribina’s Principate in Nitra.

#448 Slovakia...Thanks Robert!

The 0.40€ stamp on the left was issued on Apr.16,2010 honoring DR. MILAN HODŽA (1878 Sučany –1944 Clearwater, USA),the most significant Slovak journalist, politician and political scientist, Czechoslovakian statesman of European importance of the first half of the 20th century.

A son of a Slovak patriot, Evangelical priest O. Hodža and a nephew of Michal Miloslav Hodža. He obtained his university education by studying law, philosophy and history at universities in Budapest, Cluj and in Vienna. He had wide knowledge and actively spoke seven languages. He entered the political scene as an already known journalist. He wrote for several newspapers, he founded and edited Slovenský denník (Slovak Daily) on his own, and later Slovenský týždenník (Slovak Weekly) (1903 – 1918). He continued in political and journalist work of Ľ. Štúr. In 1905 – 1910 he acted as a member of the Hungarian parliament, stood against Hungarian nationalism, fought for civil rights and economic progress in co-operation with representatives of non-Hungarian nations (mainly Serbians, Croatians and Romanians). He got into high politics thanks to his contacts with the throne successor Franz Ferdinand and his attempts to federalize the empire. During World War I he became the leading figure of the so-called Vienna Group of Slovaks who started to cooperate with the Czech Resistance with the aim to build a common state. He participated on the Declaration of the Slovak Nation in Turč. st. Martin in October 1918 and became a member of the Slovak National Council. After the formation of Czechoslovakia, he continued in his political activity with short breaks until September 1938 as one of prominent pro-governmental agrarian politicians. He was the Minister for Unification of laws twice, the Minister of Agriculture twice (1922 – 1926; 1932 – 1935); the Minister of Education (1926 – 1929) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1935 – 1936). In 1935 he became the Prime Minister as a first Slovak and remained in this position until September 1936, when the government resigned. At the end of 1938 he went to exile (Switzerland, France, Great Britain, and USA). In 1940 he founded the Slovak National Council in Paris. He spent the last years of his life in the USA (1941 – 1944), cooperated with American Slovaks on renewal of a democratic, nationally just Czecho-Slovakia, with equality of Slovaks and with a vision of a federation in Central Europe. He also worked here on his most significant political work called Federation in Central Europe, published in English in 1941. Historical and political studies and studies on political science were a part of his work. They were published in 7 volumes under the name Články, reči a štúdie. On June 27, 2002 his remains were transported to Slovakia and buried in the National Cemetery in Martin.

The other two 0.40€ stamps were both issued in 2010 in the Sights of Our Homeland series featuring Castle Betliar and Castle of Topoľčianky.

Originally a hunting castle, with its permanent specialized exhibition of Housing Culture of the Nobility in the 18th and 19th Century, the Castle Betliar has belonged to the administration of the Slovak National Museum – Museum Betliar since 1996. From the point of view of attractiveness, it belongs to the most visited ones and from the point of view of monument preservation, it belongs to the most preserved cultural historical monuments of Slovakia. It has been included into the network of Slovak museums since 1952. The origins of the castle history date back to the first half of the 15th century and they are connected with the Hungarian family of Bebek. František Bebek built a small fortification in the period of the approaching Turkish threat. The greatest construction for the castle was noted in the period of the Transylvanian-Hungarian noble family of Andrássy which played an important part not only in the life of Gemer but the entire Hungary. The castle experienced several reconstructions over some centuries. The biggest and most extensive was the reconstruction of 1880 – 1886 under the control of the count Emanuel Andrássy and the castle obtained its present look. Previous owners furnished the castle with luxury and gathered a lot of works of art and craft there creating a present-day precious artistic and historic collection fund of the museum. What is really valuable is the movables of the exhibit of domestic and foreign provenance dated in the 16th to 19th centuries. Interiors are supplemented with gallery collections, ceramics collections, china and porcelain from various European manufactures. The greatest treasure of the Betliar Castle is the historical library founded by the count Leopold Andrássy in the mid-18th century. It currently contains 15 000 volumes of historic literature. Around the Castle there is a large natural and landscape historic park with the area of 57 ha which belongs to the most preserved and most precious parks in Slovakia. The park was included by the international committee ICOMOS/IFLA (International Council on Monuments and Sites) into the list of artistically and culturally valuable parks of the world recorded by UNESCO in 1978. In 1988 – 1994 the Castle was reconstructed as far as building and interior. In 1994 it was awarded the prestigious international award EUROPA NOSTRA for its example monument conservation.

Picturesque scenery of a large English-style park with a monumental classicist chateau is situated in the northern part of the municipality Topoľčianky. Archaeological research was carried out in 1990 in the courtyard of the chateau and uncovered the foundations of the oldest stone architecture from the 13th century. Already in the mid-16h century Topoľčianky was in the reach of Turkish raids and as a result, it was burnt down many times and the fortification was damaged. Ján Topoľčiansky, a lord of the chateau, also known as “Turk Fighter”, had the chateau rebuilt on its original foundations The last major reconstruction of the renaissance chateau was made halfway through the 17th century by the Earl Ladislav Rákoczi, together with his wife Elisabeth Rákoczi, born Bánffy who had part of the chateau rebuilt into a chateau chapel in 1662 in the north-western bastion. Since 1686, the chapel has been a significant sacred site in Slovakia. Halfway through the 18th century the chateau and the entire estate were mastered by the Keglevich earls who owned it up to 1890. At the beginning of the 19th century, the third earl of the Keglevich family, Ján Keglevich, ordered the southern renaissance wing to be demolished and replaced it in 1818 – 1825 with a classicist tract built. This classicist wing of the chateau is considered to be the nicest and cleanest demonstration of classicism in Slovakia.
The last noble owner of the castle was the Archduke Joseph August Habsburg with his wife the Archduchess Augusta after 1890. This couple had lived in the castle until 1918 when the first Czechoslovak Republic was established. The castle was nationalized and became the summer residence of the Presidents of the Republic. The first President of the Czechoslovak Republic, T. G. Masaryk, visited Topoľčianky almost every year during his presidency. Klement Gottwald was the last president to stay in the pleasant environment of the Topoľčianky chateau. In 1957 the Castle came under the administration of ROH for the purpose of superior holiday and in 1970 it was declared to be the National cultural monument for its beauty, artistic and historic value.
At present the castle is owned by the Joint Property Fund of the Trade Unions in the Slovak Republic (JMF ZOO v SR). The classicistic wing is used as a museum. Three renaissance wings of the chateau are currently used as a hotel with a restaurant.

#099 Slovakia...Thanks Milos!

This miniature sheet is from Cultural Heritage of Slovakia series issued in 2009 depicting The Church of St. Cross in Hamuliakovo.

Hamuliakovo is a village situated in Podunajska nížina in the west side of Žitný ostrov, 20km from Bratislava.

The Roman - Catholic Church of St. Cross was built in Romanesque style from the 13th century.It's a precious cultural heritage from the Middle Ages, tower of the Church leans from its vertical axis by 76 cm toward the north.

#059 Slovakia...Thanks Milos!

This nice cover features Slovakia 0.70 Euro Louis Braille stamp issued in 2009 to commemorate his 200th birthday.

Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809 in France and he was the inventor of braille,a worldwide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing. Braille is read by passing the fingers over characters made up of an arrangement of one to six embossed points. It has been adapted to almost every known language.

Louis Braille became blind at the age of 3, when he accidentally poked himself in the eye with a stitching awl, one of his father's workshop tools. The injury wasn't thought to be serious until it got infected. Braille's other eye went blind because of sympathetic ophthalmia.

He died in Paris of tuberculosis in 1852 at the age of 43; his body was disinterred in 1952 (the centenary of his death) and honored with re-interment in the Panthéon in Paris. His system was finally officially recognized in France two years after his death, in 1854.

#006 Slovakia...Thanks Milos

This cover features a souvenir sheet jointly-issued by Austria and Slovakia on Sept.11,2009.The title is:Limes romanus & Gerulata

During the Roman period, the Limes romanus was a system of military strongholds along the Danube which protected Roman provinces against attacks of German tribes.

The left stamp "Carnuntum" shows the most significant Roman stronghold in the Pannonia province,situated next to the present-day village of Petronell in Austria.The best known Roman monument in Carnuntum is the “Heidentor” – the “Heathen Gate” built outside the town in 4 A.D. by Roman emperor Constantinus II. (337–361). Originally this gate consisted of four cross-vaulted pillars (tetrapylons), with huge columns overshadowing the emperor’s statue beneath the vault.

The right stamp "Gerulata" is the nearest Roman camp to the east from Carnuntum,in Rusovce, a part of Bratislava.This castel was built in the second half of 1 A.D. under the Flavians.The name of the stronghold Gerulata is known from a medieval copy of a Roman map of 4 A.D. – the Tabula Peutingeriana. The map shows roads in the territory of the Roman Empire from Spain to India. In the 18th century, it was bought by the Austrian prince, Eugene of Savoy, who gifted it to the imperial court library in Vienna (now the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek). The map is included in the UNESCO List of World Heritage.