PLACE REPRESENTED: Athens (specifically the Temple of Zeus) Greece
ITEM: Wall ornament
NOTES: A vividly coloured plate depicting (what’s left of) the Temple of Zeus in Athens … it is 2000+ years old. The Acropolis and Parthenon are in the background. http://www.greeka.com/attica/athens/athens-excursions/athens-olympian-zeus.htm
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: porcelain
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 21.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Malta
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: A wall ornament depicting the airport at Malta. Airports are always a double edged sword on souvenirs … are you celebrating coming or leaving? This is a nice snapshot of a small European airport circa 1970s.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Malta probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 15cm wide x 14.5cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Trieste , Italy
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: An elaborate (as you would expect from the Italians) wall ornament depicting Miramare castle 8 km north-west of Trieste (or Trst as it is known to Croatians, well, it was an Illyrian settlement a long, long time ago). Castello di Miramare (or the Castle of Miramare), located about 8 km north-west of Trieste, with a commanding presence over the Gulf of Trieste, is a majestic castle (with a surrounding park, the Park of Miramare) built from 1856 to 1860 for Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte (the Austrian Habsburgs controlled the early 1500s until after World War 1). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miramare_Castle
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: steel , ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 29cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Innsbruck , Austria
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: The famous town of Innsbruck in Austria dates back to the 4th century. Depicted is the Goldenes Dachl building (which dates back to 1500) in the old town of Innsbruck. A perfect plate to capture the Alpine nature of the town. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldenes_Dachl
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Austria probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 18cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina
ITEM: Wall Ornament ]
NOTES: Sarajevo in Bosnia celebrated in wood craft (by pyrography – the art of decorating wood or leather by burning a design on the surface with a heated metallic point ) typical of Yugoslav folk tourist art of the 70s. Depicted here is the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque and Tower clock damaged in the war of the 1990s but repaired. Oddly, perhaps intentionally, one of the verticals in the Mosque’s dome roof leading to the roof spire looks quite like a cross. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazi_Husrev-beg_Mosque
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Bosnia and Herzegovina probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 16.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Uluru, Northern Territory , Australia
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: The famous Uluru … though probably still called Ayres Rock at the time of this travel trinket (as it was until 1993). Usually referred to as the largest rock in the world, it’s not. Mount Augustus in outback Western Australia is. Still this is pretty and, unusually, it is a night time or dusk scene of the rock as opposed to the more common daylight one.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Australia probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 28cm long x 11cm wide x 1.5cm thick. .
PLACE REPRESENTED: Grindelwald , Switzerland
ITEM: Wall Plate
NOTES: A suitably rustic wall hanging declaring Grindelwald, a village in Switzerland’s Bernese Alps in the south which had a population of about 3300 in the 1960s at the time of this souvenir (and about 4000 now). I’m no expert but the flowers could be the Mountain Avens (or maybe Edelweiss), perhaps a Dissecta and maybe an Alpine Forget-me-not (the “King of the Alps”). This is simple and pretty.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Switzerland probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 20cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Peru
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: A simple but striking wall ornament from Peru in Inca gold. Well, in Peruvian gold, namely copper. And it is understandable why the souvenir is in copper given Peru is one of the largest copper producers in the world.
The symbols, the Inca person, the mountains, the llama all say “Peru”. The “Peru” at the bottom is almost superfluous. The punched and painted metal are streetcraft with style
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: copper
MADE IN: Peru probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 19cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Kuranda, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: A large wood map of Australia (sorry, no Tasmania) depicting the Kuranda scenic railway train around Kuranda, located on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia (about 25 km from Cairns). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuranda,_Queensland
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 36cm across x 28cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: Frankfurt , Germany
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: A magnificently detailed look at Frankfurt, a Frankfurt that doesn’t exist anymore. The skyline is modern now. Here, the late 1950s or early 1960s, Frankfurt was still being rebuilt after heavy bombing during World War 2. The bridge (not sure which one) still has a steel span between the block foundations. Wonderfully evocative of a time gone by … and the Frankfurt Elvis would have seen when he was in the US Army stationed near by.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1950s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Germany probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 33cm long x 14cm wide x 1.5cm thick
