| EPELSA
/ MOBBA ISSUES 1999 |
| Sta.
María la Real de la Almudena. Madrid |
| Click
on the image to enlarge it |
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Date
of issue :
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April 1999 |
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Size
:
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47 x 27 mm. |
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Paper
:
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Thermal self
adhesive - multicoloured |
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Imprint
:
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Thermal on
black |
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Design
:
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FNMT |
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Printer
:
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FNMT. Fábrica
Nacional de Moneda y Timbre |
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Printing
:
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50.000.000
of labels |
|
 |
The
origin of the Virgin image arrives, according to the tradition, until the
time of the Apostles and, with her, the devotion that always it has had
between the inhabitants of Madrid.
The existence of one visigotical
first image is well known, called "La Virgen de
la Villa" ( the Virgin of the town ). Later she was well known
with the names of "Santa María de la Vega"
and "La Concepción Admirable".
Hidden in a section of the
Madrid city walls at the beginning of VIII Century because of the Muslim
invasion, it was not found again until the 1805. Enthroned into its new
altar she becomes the Patron Saint of Madrid with the name of Santa
María la Real de la Almudena.
It's possible that the primitive
image disappeared during a fire happened towards half full of XV century.
The present image, of pine
wood from Soria of a precious hazelnut colour, grown dark by the passage
of time, could be carved by Diego Copín
de Holanda, that worked in Toledo, at the end of XV century
or beginning of the XVI.
A restoration conducted
in 1993 discovered inside the head of the image a bag containing precious
stone and gold fragments, all mixed it with ashes, without a doubt everything
what it was after the fire of the first image.
During all these centuries
it has undergone different modifications and restorations, perhaps most
important in the middle of the XVII century in which it was sawn by different
parts to be able to dress it in the numerous dresses and mantles that to
him the Royalty offered.
The November 10, 1948 the
Coronación
Canónica de la Virgen de la Almudena (
solemn Canonical Coronation of the Virgin of the Almudena ) is celebrated
. |
The Cathedral
of Nuestra Señora la Real de la Almudena begins
to be developed the December 22, 1868, when the Congregación
de esclavos de la Virgen de la Almudena(
Congregation
of slaves of the Almudena's Virgin ) asks the Archbishop of Toledo for
the permission to construct a new church dedicated to the Virgin.
King Alfonso XII places
the first stone in 1883 and the construction begins according to a Marqués
de Cubas project. In 1884, Pope Leon XIII erects Madrid in diocese
and the project of the old Parochial Church is transformed into a great
Cathedral of Neogothical style with Latin cross plant, with a central nave
and two lateral.
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The
initial project and the construction bore diverse reforms throughout the
years. The great crypt finishes in 1911. In 1944 a national architectonic
competition summons to give to the Cathedral a good architectonic solution,
because the neogothic original project is considered that it did not fit
with the neo-classic style of the neighbouring Royal Palace.
The works continue the 1950,
this time according to the new project of the architects Fernando
Chueca Goitia and
Carlos Sidro, in different stages and also long periods in which
the works become paralysed.
Between 1984 and 1993, the
final stage of the construction of the temple, different and important
works were made, like the arrangement of presbytery because the new liturgy
or the creation of the Altar of Santa María
de la Almudena, in which the image is placed in the central
niche of an impressive altarpiece painted at the end of XV - beginnings
of the XVI century by Juan de Borgoña.
The most important part of
works finalized in June 1993 and was consecrated by the Pope Juan Pablo
II the June 15 of the same year, although the works continued until
the 1999. |
| Chapel
and altarpiece where is the image of the Virgen de la Almudena. |
| Source
of information and images : Diocese of Madrid |
 |
Spanish Postal
services issued in 1954 a set commemorating the Año Santo
Mariano and in one of the stamps it appears the image for the first
time of the
Virgin of the Almudena. |
| Edifil
1139 / Yvert 850 / Michel 1035 |
|