UNITED NATIONS - VIENNA OFFICE

This cover from UNO Vienna depicts 3 stamps of the same type celebrating the World Heritage Site Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea. Sansa (mountain temple) is a term for any Korean Buddhist temple located on a mountain. Seven of these temples are designated as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites since 2018. With the country being largely mountainous and Buddhism deeply rooted in its history, there are many sansas across the country. The word sansa is composed of two words, san and sa, which mean mountain and monastery/temple respectively.

KYRGYZSTAN

A beautiful cover from Kyrgyzstan, depicting a miniature sheet celebrating The Great Silk Road, inscribed as an UNESCo site since 2009. This property is a 5,000 km section of the extensive Silk Roads network, stretching from Chang’an/Luoyang, the central capital of China in the Han and Tang dynasties, to the Zhetysu region of Central Asia. It took shape between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD and remained in use until the 16th century, linking multiple civilizations and facilitating far-reaching exchanges of activities in trade, religious beliefs, scientific knowledge, technological innovation, cultural practices and the arts. The thirty-three components included in the routes network include capital cities and palace complexes of various empires and Khan kingdoms, trading settlements, Buddhist cave temples, ancient paths, posthouses, passes, beacon towers, sections of The Great Wall, fortifications, tombs and religious buildings.

SRI LANKA

GREECE

This cover from Greece depicts the EUROPA 2025 set, celebrating the World Heritage Site Archaeological Site of Aigai (modern name Vegina. Vergina is a small town in northern Greece, part of Veria municipality in Imathia, Central Macedonia. Vergina was established in 1922 in the aftermath of the population exchanges after the Treaty of Lausanne and was a separate municipality until 2011, when it was merged with Veroia under the Kallikratis Plan. Vergina is best known as the site of ancient Aigai (Αἰγαί, Aigaí, Latinized: Aegae), the first capital of Macedon. In 336 BC Philip II was assassinated in Aigai's theatre and his son, Alexander the Great, was proclaimed king. Some important finds were made in 1977 when the burial sites of several kings of Macedon were found, including the tomb of Philip II which had not been disturbed or looted, unlike so many of the other tombs there. It is also the site of an extensive royal palace. The archaeological museum of Vergina was built to house all the artifacts found at the site and is one of the most important museums in Greece. Aigai has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, as "an exceptional testimony to a significant development in European civilization, at the transition from classical city-state to the imperial structure of the Hellenistic and Roman periods".

IRELAND

EUROPA 2025 stamps from Ireland

P. R. CHINA

BELARUS

MONACO

EUROPA CEPT 2025

SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON

My first cover from Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Saint Pierre and Miquelon, officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (French: Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, located near the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. An archipelago of eight islands, St. Pierre and Miquelon is a vestige of the once-vast territory of New France. Its residents are French citizens. The collectivity elects its own deputy to the National Assembly and participates in senatorial and presidential elections. It covers 242 km2 of land and had a population of 5,819 as of the January 2022 census.

MOROCCO

This cover from Morocco depict a single stamp issued in 2024 celebrating the Medina of Marrakesh. Marrakesh or Marrakech is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Marrakesh comprises an old fortified city packed with vendors and their stalls. This medina quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and contains the Jemaa el-Fnaa square, a large number of souks (markets), the Kutubiyya Mosque, and many other historic and cultural sites. The city serves as a major economic center and tourist destination. Real estate and hotel development in Marrakesh have grown dramatically in the 21st century. Marrakesh is particularly popular with the French, and numerous French celebrities own property in the city.

P. R. CHINA

This covers from P.R. China depicts a miniature sheet issued in 2000 celebrating the UNESCO World Heritage Site Longmen Grottoes, one of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art. Housing tens of thousands of statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples, they are located 12 kilometres south of present-day Luoyang in Henan province, China. The images, many once painted, were carved as outside rock reliefs and inside artificial caves excavated from the limestone cliffs of the Xiangshan and Longmenshan, running east and west. In 2000 the site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity," for its perfection of an art form, and for its encapsulation of the cultural sophistication of Tang China.

TIMOR LESTE