Barcelona & Catalonia Cinderellas

Just to end with Petritxol St. cinderellas, I'm showing the same item on the three colours: Olive-green, Carmin-red and Blue.

1929 Barcelona Exposition.



The Australian Press of the day wrote:
Barcelona :World Fair Opens : The modernist German pavilion by Mies van der Rohe causes a stir!

Half a world away, in contrast to the 200,000 people
attending the expostion, on that day, Australia issued its
first ever air mail stamp of 3d, showing a rural scene
with sheep and gum trees, illustrating the remoteness of the
Great Southern Land.

Sheet of the cinderella avatar of CURSUS (50) and a single with the estelada (social republic)

Once, Catalonia was Europe's "Far West", as its first city "Empuries" (from the Greek "Emporion" = market) was the westernmost Greek colony. Remains of the VII BC century Greek city, on a around 1925 cinderella.





Cinderellas issued in April 1980 for Barcelona's Car show. You can see the V BC century Asklepios (Greek god of medicin)statue, found in 1909 on the Greek colony of Empuries (NE Catalonia). Not so long ago, Asklepios arms were discovered, and now the sculpture is more complete than it looks on the 1980 cinderella.
From the same site is the Aphrodita (Greek godess of beauty) head, from the IV BC century.











For me, it's very funny that the people that once were Classical Europe's Far West, were the same that 2,100 years later discovered America's Far West. As Catalans were Gaspar de Portolà, California's discoverer, Fra Juniper Serra, (from the Catalan speaking Mallorca), founder of most California missions and Pere Fages one of the first California governors, circa 1780. Also, most soldiers that went alongside Gaspar de Portolà, were Catalan volunteers.

As next monday is Barcelona's great yearly day, the Verge de la Mercè (Virgin of Mercy) holiday. I'm showing three cinderellas with BArcelona city house. The first one, shows the old (14th century) façade, on the carrer de la Ciutat("City street") and the two others the "new one" on Plaça de Sant Jaume (Saint Jame's Square)...Dating from 1845...

Cinderellas, issued on 1956 for the Philatelic and Numismatic exhibitions of the Sants-Hostafrancs (two Barcelona neighbourhoods) branch of Barcelona Philatelic and Numismatic Circle. They show Spain's Sq. fountain (Josep Maria Jujol, 1929) and (on the background) one of the two "Venetian" towers of the Exposition Av. (Ramon Raventós, 1928).







I wish to point that, text is written on six languages: Spanish, French, German, English, Italian and Esperanto. But not in Catalan, our language and the one organizers of the exhibition spoke (as I've told by a friend who knew them). This was because, for political reasons, Catalan was banned from public life by Spanish from 1939 to 1975.
Perhaps, our predecessors used this subtle way to point a fact: You could use any language... Except Catalan!

Cinderellas, issued on April 1980 showing some Iberic items. Ibers, were the people living on Catalonia before Roman times.

I wasn't aware of that, but wondered the genesis.
I spent some time fossicking around the Iberian Peninsular
(In the Atlas) when I was following the life of Arthur Wellesley.

Congratulations CURSUS for thr 10000 visits of your theme,ypu know that at other site,that is impossible.I´m very happy for you!

Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Malamute, for your congratulations. And thank you to all the friends who have shown your interest for the cinderellas issued by an small (just 7.5 million people), not yet free, European country. I started about a year ago encouraged by LB1, Rod, James (where should he be?) and many others, who have followed the thread with encouraging words.

But, this is not my thread. It belongs to all our SCF friends and, above all, to our fellow countrymen (and women!), who for more than 100 years, have kept the flame of our Catalan Nationhood alive; sometimes taking great risks, drawing, issuing, buying and keeping the cinderellas shown here.

Just to illustrate this answer, I'm showing two contemporary cinderellas, asking for Catalonia and Catalan Speaking Countries' freedom.

As for Rod's comment. Ibers actually lived on from which nowadays is Southern France to the Southeast of Iberian Peninsula. Mainly on the Mediterranean coast and about 200 km inland; as well as along the river Ebre (then, known as "Iber") valley up to where their cousins, the forefathers of present Basques lived. In he Basque language "Iber" still means river.
For centuries, it was said that Ibers came from Africa. Currently, we believe that they were indigenous people, that developed a culture out of their contact with more developed Mediterranean nations (mainly, Greeks and Phoenicians). Iberian civilisation lasted up to the full Roman colonisation, around the turn of Christian Era. We have many Iberic remains (hill fortifications and artifacts) all around Catalonia.
We can read Iberian inscriptions but not to translate them, as we lack a proper "Rosetta stone".
The names of Iberian tribes are known through Roman sources (they fought them!). On the area on today's Barcelona, lived the Laietani tribe, on Western Catalonia, the powerful Ilergetes, Lacetani in Central Catalonia...

The cinderellas shown above overprinted "mostra", "sample".

INDIVIL & MANDONI history (leaders ilergetes)Indivil, ilergeta leader of the second half of the third century B.C. , and Mandonio, head of the Ausentanos, fought for the independence of their territories against the invasion of Carthaginians and Romans. The ilergetas had to Iltirta as main settlement, while the Ausetanos were established in Vic.
Both were killed fighting for their freedom,by their enemy.2300 years later history is repeating itself .... Catalunya wants to be free!

The Ilerget city of "Iltirta" was on the uppermost area of today's Lleida (the capital of Inner Catalonia); where, Julius Caesar defeated Pompeius' lieutenants Petreius and Afranius on 50 BC and on the 13rd century the Old Cathedral ("Seu Vella") was built.






On the other hand, lets hope that history "doesn't repeat so much" and, this time, we manage to win our freedom.

Interesting to read that, I had read history some 6 years ago,
the books title fails me, but it was based on the history
of Phoenecia, and I was going to mention that, in my comments,
I was sure the Phoenecians were trading south of the peninsular,
but when I looked at the Atlas Catalonia looked too far North,
so I held my breath. :)

I recall it reasonably well, because Southern Spain was
to me, a "point of no return" for the Phoenecians,
when they must have headed West.
They evidently traded in my part of the world, Southern England
and the tin mines of Cornwall.

You're quite right Rod. Greek influence was great North of river Ebre, while Phoenicians prevailed South of it. But I spoke of Ibers as a whole, not just related to the land that was to be Catalonia. Anyway, there's a small part of Catalonia lying South of river Ebre and there are also our Catalan Speaking sister lands of Valencia (East of the peninsula) and Balearic Islands: Menorca, Majorca, Eivissa, Formentera...
The island of Eivissa (Iviza, in English), was "Ebusus" a thriving Phoenician trading post.

1999 Cinderella, showing the map of Catalan Speaking Countries (Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia) cancelled with a bogus postmark depicting "the Three Branches Tree" a pine tree with three trunks that are said to represent the three sister lands. On the left, the four stripped flag from Barcelona's counts, that once ruled over all these lands.