Olympic Games - Sunday Stamps

We are continually being advised that it is less than a year to London 2012. The first Olympics I remember were those in London in 1948. Unfortunately I do not have the set of Great Britain stamps issued then

In 1960 my wife and I were living in a flat in Wolverhampton and we hired our first TV to watch the games in Rome when a boxer named Cassius Clay won a gold. I have two stamps commemorating the Rome games but not from a country that I associate with the Olympics. I'll post them both because I like the shape of one in particular.

Rome Olympics 1960 - Mongolia

Rome MCMLX - Mongolia

I was surprised to find that I do have one Olympic stamp from Great Britain so I have decided to include that as well.

Barcelona 1992 - Great Britain

I could post stamps from other games but there are too many for a single post. Perhaps I can use them another time.

For other posts on Viridian's open them check out: Sunday-stamps-30

Temenos

Temenos has been described as a giant net-stretched stocking, a trawler net in the sky and as a real jewel in the crown of the area, a signature of what Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley is about.

The 48m high sculpture is the first of the planned five Tees Valley Giants to be completed. It spans a corner of the dock at the Middlehaven site in Middlesbrough and was officially handed over to the town’s Mayor Ray Mallon in June 2010.

The 32m diameter circular ring weighing 56 tonnes is joined to a 28m x 16m elliptical, 24 tonne ring at the other by steel cabling. The supporting mast weighs in at 56 tonnes and the whole 110m long structure at 156 tonnes. While these dimensions are impressive so is the £2.7m cost of this public work of art.

Giant works of art are also intended as regeneration projects in each of the other for Tees Valley’s boroughs. It will be interesting to see if in the present economic times whether they are built to form the biggest public art project in the world.

Temenos is the result of cooperation between artist Anish Kapoor and engineer Cecil Balmond who are also to design and build the Arcelor Mittal Orbit tower at the 2012 Olympic Park. The pair has worked together on other large public works of art including the Cloud Gate in Chicago and the Sky Mirror in New York.

Temenos which in Greek means sacred ground or a place apart sits a stone’s throw from Middlesbrough’s Riverside football stadium and in sight of the iconic Transporter Bridge opened in 1911 for a cost of £84,000.

 Meanwhile the old dock clock tower stands guard.