UNO VIENNA

This cover from UNO Vienna depicts 2 stamps of the same type celebrating the World Heritage Site Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple. The Buddhist complex was founded in the 8th century under the Silla kingdom. The Seokguram Grotto, an artificial grotto constructed of granite, is a masterpiece of East Asian Buddhist art and contains a large statue of Buddha. The Bulguksa Temple was completed in 774. It comprises several wooden buildings on stone terraces. Both the temple and the grotto have been renovated several times, in line with traditional techniques. In 1995, Seokguram was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List together with the Bulguksa Temple. It exemplifies some of the best Buddhist sculptures in the world.

VIETNAM

P. R. CHINA

KAZAKHSTAN

This cover from Kazakhstan depicts 3 stamps issued celebrating the UNESCO World Heritage site Petroglyphs within the Archaeological Landscape of Tamgaly. Petroglyphs in the Tanbaly Gorge in Chu-Ili mountains depict humans, animals, and religious figures. They date from the second half of the second millennium BC to the beginning of the 20th century and provide insight into the life of pastoral communities that lived in the region. A number of tombs, kurgans, and enclosures from Bronze and Iron Age have also been found in the area. Tamgaly became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. Tamgaly is located 170 km (by road) northwest of Almaty.

FRANCE

This cover from France features 2 stamps of the same type, celebrating the Lascaux Cave. Lascaux cave, in Montignac, was discovered in 1940. It is filled with around 600 polychrome paintings from about 17,000 years ago. It was opened to the public in 1948, but closed again in 1963 when it became clear that the paintings were being damaged by fungus and lichen growth caused by the changes in atmosphere brought along by the thousands of visitors. Exact reproductions can be visited since 1983 (Lascaux II, covering the two main chambers) and in 2016 Lascaux IV was opened, showing nearly all the paintings. Lascaux cave is a part of Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in France since 1979.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

A beatiful cover from Russia, featuring a block issued in 2024 celebrating 500 years of the Novodevichy Convent. The Ensemble of the Novodevichy Convent, also known as Bogoroditse-Smolensky Monastery, is probably the best-known cloister of Moscow. Its name, sometimes translated as the New Maidens' Monastery, was devised to differ from the Old Maidens' Monastery within the Moscow Kremlin. Unlike other Moscow cloisters, it has remained virtually intact since the 17th century. In 2004, it was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

GIBRALTAR

EUROPA CEPT 2020

SRI LANKA

This nice cover from Sri Lanka features a joint issue Sri Lanka-France issued in 2023, both stamps showing pictures of Worl Heritage Sites: the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey in France and Sigiriya in Sri Lanka. The Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey is an abbey located within the city and island of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, in the department of Manche. The abbey is an essential part of the structural composition of the town the feudal society constructed. On top, God, the abbey, and monastery; below this, the Great halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom (outside the walls), fishermen's and farmers' housing. The abbey has been protected as a French monument historique since 1862. Since 1979, the site as a whole – i.e., the Mont-Saint-Michel and its bay – has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux. The abbey is among the most visited cultural sites in France. Sigiriya or Sinhagiri is an ancient rock fortress located in the northern Matale District near the town of Dambulla in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is a site of historical and archaeological significance that is dominated by a massive column of granite rock approximately 180 m. According to the ancient Sri Lankan chronicle the Cūḷavaṃsa, this area was a large forest, then after storms and landslides it became a hill and was selected by King Kashyapa (AD 477–495) for his new capital. He built his palace on top of this rock and decorated its sides with colourful frescoes. On a small plateau about halfway up the side of this rock he built a gateway in the form of an enormous lion. The name of this place is derived from this structure; Sīnhāgiri, the Lion Rock (an etymology similar to Sinhapura, the Sanskrit name of Singapore, the Lion City). The capital and the royal palace were abandoned after the king's death. It was used as a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century. Sigiriya today is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site (since 1992). It is one of the best preserved examples of ancient urban planning.

GERMANY

This cover from Germany depicts 4 definittive stamps celebrating the Old Town of Regensburg. Regensburg is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the fourth-largest city in the State of Bavaria after Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg. From its foundation as an imperial Roman river fort, the city has been the political, economic and cultural centre of the surrounding region. Later, during portions of the Holy Roman Empire rule it housed the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg. The medieval centre of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site sice 2006.

GERMANY

This cover from Germany depicts 2 stamps of the same type and a stamp of 110 (on the left) celebrating the Schwerin Residence Ensemble. Schwerin Castle, also known as Schwerin Palace, is a 19th-century Schloss built in the historicist style located in the city of Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state, Germany. It is situated on an island in the city's main lake, Lake Schwerin. For centuries, the castle on the present site was the home of the dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg and later Mecklenburg-Schwerin, although few parts of the pre-19th-century castle have survived. Today, parts of the castle serve as the residence of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliament (German: Landtag) while other parts are used for the palace museum, a restaurant, and cultural events, like open-air theatre in the courtyard. Significant parts of the current palace were built between 1845 and 1857 as a collaboration between the eminent historicist architects Gottfried Semper, Friedrich August Stüler, Georg Adolf Demmler, and Ernst Friedrich Zwirner. The castle is regarded as one of the most important works of Romantic historicism in Europe, and is nicknamed the "Neuschwanstein of the North". In 2023, Schwerin Castle was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

HUNGARY

KAZAKHSTAN