Floodlit in blazing white against a velvet night sky, the Palacio de Bellas Artes glows like a jewel box, its Art Nouveau marble facade mirrored in the reflecting pool as a cavalcade of 1930s automobiles crowds the boulevard — a night photograph of extraordinary drama that could only have been taken in the electric optimism of Mexico's post-revolutionary renaissance. This real photo postcard was mailed in 1934 — the very year the palace officially opened — from Mexico to Major G.H. W. at 612 Manticello Court, San Antonio, Texas, bearing a Mexican 4-centavo commemorative stamp (1910–1934 Revolution series, Scott #707). The sender, Margi, dashed off a wry message: "The awful time we had parking. Beautiful paintings. Love, Margi." The palace, designed by Italian architect Adamo Boari and completed under Federico Mariscal after decades of delays caused by the Mexican Revolution and the building's notorious sinking into the soft lakebed, had only just opened its doors when Margi visited. Her casual complaint about parking — at one of the architectural wonders of the Americas — is a delightful piece of human history.