The massive Gothic buttresses and soaring flint-stone chevet of the Collegiate Church of Sainte-Waudru loom over a quiet Mons street in this sepia real-photo view — one of Belgium's finest examples of Brabantine Gothic architecture, begun in 1450 and still unfinished when Napoleon suppressed its chapter, its impossibly delicate pinnacles piercing a pale sky as a horse-drawn cart rounds the far corner. Mons, the capital of Hainaut province, had been devastated in the opening days of World War I (the first British action of the war, the Battle of Mons, was fought here in August 1914), and this postcard — mailed just five years after the Armistice — carries a quiet dignity, the ancient church having survived the conflict intact. On the reverse, dated 7/XI/1923 in a clean hand, uncle Rudolf sends "viele Grüße und noch mehr küsse" (many greetings and even more kisses) to his niece Stefanie in Wien (Vienna), Austria — a tender family note mailed from occupied Belgium to post-Imperial Vienna during the turbulent early years of both the Weimar and Austrian republics. Belgian King Albert I stamps frank the card.