Barcelona & Catalonia Cinderellas

Barcelona 1929 International Exhibition cinderella, issued by Rieusset Printing Works. It shows a rear view of the Palau Nacional (National Palace), on Montjuïc hill, overlooking Barcelona, that today houses the Catalan Arts National Museum.

Cinderella, issued in 1914. by the folklore scholar Joan Amades I Gelat (Barcelona, 1890 - 1959). He studied our culture and traditions, as well as being an enthusiastic Esperanto speaker, as this cinderella shows.

Sant Cugat del Vallès, is a city (83.000) close to Barcelona, dating from Roman times, when it was called "Castrum Octavianum" (Emperor Octavius' Castle). In 1971 the assembly of the Barcelona province Esperanto societies was held there, and it was issued these six cinderellas.




There, you can see:

.- A popular dance, with a bell-free on the background.
.- The arms of Sant Cugat with some harvest fruits: pine, grapes and corn.
.- A Pine Tree and some bushes with the town and the backing hills
.- The Sant Cugat Monastery Cloister.
.- The names that Sant Cugat has had along the ages.
.- A weathercock.

Although its origins can be traced back to the "Peace and Truce assemblies" (ca. AD 1000); the Catalan Parliament history birth date is considered AD 1214, with the assembly (then called "Corts") held in Lleida (Western Catalonia). Catalan Parliament and its deputies, called "Diputació del General" or "Generalitat", ruled our country up to 1714, when, after Spanish storming of (Barcelona), it was abolished together with our time-honored laws.

It was briefly restored, with very limited powers, in 1932/1939, being housed on an old early XVIII century fortress, built to secure Barcelona Spanish control(against its own people!). It can be seen on the following cinderellas:









The last one, shows the hoisting of Catalan flag on the Parliament balcony.

After the 1939/75 dictatorship, Catalan Parliament was restored in 1979.

Yesterday, January 23rd, 2013, our parliament passed an act, stating that Catalonia has the right to hold a plebiscite to decide about its own future, by asking Catalan People if we want to continue under Spanish rule or we prefer to set a Free Democratic Republic. Thus, starting our peaceful and rightful way towards Freedom.

Dr. Zamenhof Year in Sabadell, 1959. Esperanto's father centennial. A very simple design.

Recycling is nothing new on the cinderella's world. Cinderellas issued for the 17th Barcelona Esperanto Congress, in July 1956, overprinted in Sabadell for a Japanese Esperanto exhibition, to be held on October of the same year. Perhaps, the mountain looks like Fuji Yama?

Tortosa 1956 cinderella, overprinted for the 3rd stamp exhibition, held there (200 km SW of Barcelona) on September 6 to 10 1959.

Two more cinderella sheets from the Catalonia's History series, these are devoted to the Visigoth Era (V to IX centuries) and to early Middle Age centuries.

Today's finding: a cinderella issued by "Montaner y Simon" printers in 1961 to celebrate its centenary. Up to 1981, it was a very important publishing house. It was housed in a 1876 Lluis Domènech I Montaner (architect and publisher's nephew) Modernist building on downtown Barcelona's Aragó st.
It published many Ars and reference books; some prominent Catalan writers, like Pere Calders and Jesús Montcada, worked there.

Since 1984, the building is the site of the Antoni Tàpies Foundation, taking care of the legacy of the late artist.

Cursus, have you decided to pour all these informative data in a book or not yet?


Cheers

Hi James, I'm glad to have you back!

The more I learn on Catalan cinderellas, the more shy I become on trying to write about them; as I realize how little I know on this wide and never ending subject.

Paul Simon said:

"You want to be a writer, don't know how or when? Find a quiet place, use a humble pen"

Norman Vincent Peale said:

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you can't be successful or happy"

You can do it!


Cheers

I'm sorry to say that I don't see myself writing anything serious on cinderellas on the forthcoming years. If I do it, I'll do it properly; which right now I'm not able to do.

Back home from a trip to Manitoba (and thanks to Mike and Jack!)four cinderellas issued in 1936/38 by the city council of "el Masnou" (20 km NE of Barcelona). All of them have a face value of 0.05 pesseta (0.05/166 €). On the foreground there can be seen a "pagès" (Catalan countryman), sowing seeds on a field; while on the background there's a sun rising from the Mediterranean sea (very properly, as the sea is at the east of the town) and a "masia" (Catalan cottage); also, very proper as the name of the town: "el Masnou", translates as "New cottage".
On the sun it can be seen the word "Llibertat", Catalan for "Freedom".

Great stuff.
Always good to see such items in their rightful place !