Vilnius 1926

Aušros Vartai / Ostrabrama / Gate of the Dawn

This is a postcard sent in 1926 from Wilno (now Vilnius. Lithuania) during the Polish rule to Argentan in the department of Orne in France. The church in the picture is the Church of the Holy Spirit / Šventosios Dvasios bažnyčia which belongs to the Dominican monastery in Vilnius. There is a hand stamped letter "T" in the back which is the abbreviation for Taxe Perçue in French meaning postage paid, this is because the postage stamp has been franked on the other side. The fact that the postcard has been sent from the post office Wilno 2 but the sender's return address is in Oszmiany (now Ашмяны / Ashmiany, Belarus) is interesting. The illustration on the brown one grosz stamp is the Gate of Dawn / Aušros Vartai in Vilnius also known as Ostrabrama in Polish.

Vilnius 1910

Gate of Dawn / Aušros Vartai / Ostra Brama

A very nice postcard of the Gate of Dawn (Aušros Vartai in Lithuanian and Ostra Brama in Polish) sent in 1910 from Вильна / Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania) to München/Munich, Germany. The description of the postcard is in Polish which was the major local language back in that time. The gate has a famous pilgrimage chapel in the upper floor so it is often described as Kaplica Ostrobramska in Polsih (Kaplica is chapel in Polish).

Vilnius-Warszawa Railway post 1927

This is a cancellation of the Polish railway post (Poczta Peronowa) track number 117, the line between Wilno/Vilnius and Warszawa/Warsaw. Vilnius has been occupied by the Poles during the interwar period and used regular polish stamps after the annexation of "Central Lithuania/Litwa Środkowa" in 1922. The stamp depicts the Aušros vartai/Ostra Brama in Vilnius. It has been issued in 2 denominations, 1 grosz and 24 grozsy (pluriel of "grosz"). The 24 groszy stamp has 2 color variations.

Vilnius 1938

A postcard during the Polish occupation sent to Cieszyn, Silesia/Śląsk in Poland. Wilno is the Polish name for Vilnius. There is a machine cancellation with an advertisement of the post encouraging companies to advertise on their cancellations. the picture on the card is the Aušros Vartai/Ostra Brama.