CHINA

POLAND

CROATIA

An amazing UNESCO cover from Croatia, with a miniature sheet issued in 2019 dedicated to "Plitvice Lakes National Park". Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of the oldest and largest national parks in Croatia. In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage register. The national park was founded in 1949 and is in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The important north–south road that passes through the national park area connects the Croatian inland with the Adriatic coastal region.

NETHERLANDS

This UNESCO cover from Netherlands, depicting 2 stamps of the same type issued in 2021, celebrates the "Canal Ring Area" of Amsterdam. Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, has more than 100 kilometers of grachten (canals), about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The three main canals (Herengracht, Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht), dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age, form concentric belts around the city, known as the Grachtengordel. Alongside the main canals are 1550 monumental buildings. The 17th-century canal ring area, including the Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht, Herengracht and Jordaan, were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, contributing to Amsterdam's fame as the "Venice of the North".

CROATIA

Another nice UNESCO cover from Croatia, depicting 3 stamps celebrating the Historic City of Trogir. Trogir is a historic town and harbour on the Adriatic coast in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia, with a population of approximately 11,000. The historic city of Trogir is situated on a small island between the Croatian mainland and the island of Čiovo. It lies 27 kilometres west of the city of Split. Since 1997, the historic centre of Trogir has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites for its Venetian architecture.

CROATIA

A UNESCO cover from Croatia, depicting 2 stamps dedicated to the Old City of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik (historically Ragusa) is a city on the Adriatic Sea in southern Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Its total population is 42,615 (census 2011). In 1979, the city of Dubrovnik joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites. The history of the city probably dates back to the 7th century, when the town known as Ragusa was founded by refugees from Epidaurum (Ragusa Vecchia). It was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire and later under the sovereignty of the Republic of Venice. Between the 14th and 19th centuries, Dubrovnik ruled itself as a free state. The prosperity of the city was historically based on maritime trade; as the capital of the maritime Republic of Ragusa, it achieved a high level of development, particularly during the 15th and 16th centuries, as it became notable for its wealth and skilled diplomacy. At the same time, Dubrovnik became a cradle of Croatian literature. The entire city was almost destroyed when a devastating earthquake hit in 1667. During the Napoleonic Wars, Dubrovnik was occupied by the French Empire forces, and then the Republic of Ragusa was abolished and incorporated into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy and later into the Illyrian Provinces. Later on in the early 19th to mid 20th century, Dubrovnik was a part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia within the Austrian Empire, and later part of the Banovina of Zeta which later became part of Banovina Croatia in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and SR Croatia in SFR Yugoslavia. In 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence, Dubrovnik was besieged by the Yugoslav People's Army for seven months and suffered significant damage from shelling. After undergoing repair and restoration works in the 1990s and early 2000s, it re-emerged as one of the Mediterranean's top tourist destinations, as well as a popular filming location.

SERBIA

A nice UNESCO cover from Serbia, depicting a complete set issued in 2016 celebrating the "Stecci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards", inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2016. Stećci or the medieval tombstones are the monolith stone monuments found in the regions of the present Bosnia and Herzegovina, parts of Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro. They first appeared in the 12th century and reached their peak in the 14th and 15th century. There are three sites inscribed in Serbia, at Perućac, Rastište, and Hrta.

GERMANY

A nice UNESCO cover from Germany, depicting a joint issue Germany-Japan with 2 Unesco World Heritage sites: the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara in Japan and the Old Town of Regensburg in Germany. The Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara encompasses eight places in the old capital Nara in Nara Prefecture, Japan. Five are Buddhist temples, one is a Shinto shrine, one is a Palace and one a primeval forest. The properties include 26 buildings designated by the Japanese Government as National Treasures as well as 53 designated as Important Cultural Properties. All compounds have been recognized as Historic Sites. The Nara Palace Site was designated as Special Historic Site and the Kasugayama Primeval Forest as Special Natural Monument. UNESCO listed the site as World Heritage in 1998. 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.

INDIA

A beautiful UNESCO cover from India, with a complete set released in 2020 depicting the following five cultural sites: Group of Monuments in Pattadakal, The Historic City of Ahmedabad, Churches and Convents of Goa, Qutb Minar and its Monuments and Khajuraho Group of Monuments. 1) The Group of monuments in Pattadakal designated under UNESCO World Heritage List, in 1987, cover a remarkable series of nine Hindu temples, as well as a Jain sanctuary in northern Karnataka. In this group of temples, the Virupaksha Temple, built c. 740 by Queen Lokamahadevi to commemorate her husband's (King Vikramaditya II) victory over the Pallava kings from the south, is considered the most outstanding architectural edifice (This is different from the Virupaksha Temple at Hampi.) These are a remarkable combination of temples built by the Chalukya Dynasty in the 6th to the 8th century at Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal, the latter city was known as the "Crown Rubies". The temples represent a remarkable fusion of the architectural features of northern (Nagara) and southern (Dravida) India. Pattadakal is considered a Hindu holy city and within the heritage complex are eight temples dedicated to Shiva, a ninth shaivite sanctuary called the Papanatha Temple, and a Jain Narayana temple. 2) Historic City of Ahmedabad - The walled city of Ahmedabad, founded by Sultan Ahmad Shah I in the 15th century, on the eastern bank of the Sabarmati River, presents a rich architectural heritage from the sultanate period, notably the Bhadra citadel, the walls and gates of the Fort city and numerous mosques and tombs as well as important Hindu and Jain temples of later periods. The urban fabric is made up of densely-packed traditional houses (pols) in gated traditional streets (puras) with characteristic features such as bird feeders, public wells, and religious institutions. The city continued to flourish as the capital of the State of Gujarat for six centuries, up to the present. Ahmedabad is inscribed on World Heritage List since 2017. 3) Churches and Convents of Goa - The Churches and Convents of Goa are monuments inscribed by UNESCO under the World Heritage List in 1986 as cultural property, which were built by the Portuguese colonial rulers of Goa between the 16th and 18th centuries. 4) Qutb Minar - The Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi, located to the south of Delhi, is a complex with the Qutb Minar as the centre piece, which is a red sandstone tower of 72.5 metres (238 ft) height with a base of 14.32 metres (47.0 ft) reducing to 2.75 metres (9.0 ft) diameter at the top. It was inscribed under the UNESCO World Heritage List under category iv for its unique representation of the Islamic architectural and artistic excellence. 5) Khajuraho Group of Monuments - The Khajuraho Group of Monuments attributed to the Chandela dynasty which, under sovereignty of Gurjar Pratihars reached its glory. The ensemble of monuments that have survived belong to the Hindu and Jain Religious practices with striking fusion of sculpture and architecture; the best example of this outstanding feature is seen in the Kandariya Temple. Of the 85 temples built, only 22 temples have survived in an area of 6 km2, which represents the Chandela period of the 10th century. Located in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, it was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, a cultural property on October 15, 1982, for its unique original artistic creation and proof of the Chandela Culture that existed prior to the Muslim invasion of India in the early 12th century.

GERMANY

Another UNESCO cover from Germany, with 2 stamps celebrating the "Upper Middle Rhine Valley". The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in June 2002 for a unique combination of geological, historical, cultural and industrial reasons.

GREENLAND

A nice cover from Greenland, celebrating the World Heritage UNESCO site known as "Aasivissuit Nipisat Inuit - Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea". Nipisat Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. The island is notable for its well preserved Saqqaq culture archaeological site, containing some stone artifacts that were previously unknown from the Saqqaq culture. The Saqqaq people are not the ancestors of modern Kalaallit people, rather they are related to modern Chukchi and Koryak peoples. The site, named after the island, was discovered in 1989 by Finn Kramer, curator of the Sisimiut Museum. It lies approximately 50 m from the present coastline, situated on raised beaches with a southeastern slope. The area elevation ranges between 9 m and 13 m above mean sea level. This part of the island that contains the archaeological site, did not show signs of later occupation by Dorset culture or Thule culture. However, it does show signs of pre-Dorset, and of Arctic small tool tradition. During the five year evacuation period of 1989–1994, over 70,000 bone fragments and approximately 1,000 artifacts were recovered, including 314 tools. On 30 June 2018, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

SOUTH GEORGIA & South Sandwich Islands

This is my first cover from South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 165 kilometres (103 mi) long and 35 kilometres (22 mi) wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres (430 mi) southeast of South Georgia. The territory's total land area is 3,903 km2 (1,507 sq mi). The Falkland Islands are about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) west from its nearest point. No permanent native population lives in the South Sandwich Islands, and a very small non-permanent population resides on South Georgia. There are no scheduled passenger flights or ferries to or from the territory, although visits by cruise liners to South Georgia are increasingly popular, with several thousand visitors each summer. The United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and the South Sandwich Islands in 1908. The territory of "South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands" was formed in 1985; previously, it had been governed as part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies. Argentina claimed South Georgia in 1927 and claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938.

BELARUS

GREENLAND

A cover from Greenland, featuring a stamp with an UNESCO natural site - the Ilulissat Icefjord (6.00 stamp, on the right). Ilulissat Icefjord is a fjord in western Greenland, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. Ilulissat Icefjord is one of the few places where the Greenland ice sheet meets the sea, in the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier. This is one of the most active glaciers in the world, which annually calves over 35 cubic kilometres (8.4 cu mi) of ice. It has been studied for over 250 years, providing insight into icecap glaciology and climate change.

AUSTRALIA

An amazing UNESCO cover from Australia with a complete set issued in 2020 celebrating 4 Heritage sites: The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, Cascades Female factory and the Sydney Opera House. 1) The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage-listed building in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, built in 1879-80 as part of the international exhibition movement, which presented over 50 exhibitions between 1851 and 1915 around the globe. The building sits on approximately 26 hectares (64 acres), is 150 metres (490 ft) long and is surrounded by four city streets. It received restoration throughout the 1990s and in 2004 became the first building in Australia to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 2004, being one of the last remaining major 19th-century exhibition buildings in the world. It is the world's most complete surviving site from the International Exhibition movement 1851–1914. It sits adjacent to the Melbourne Museum and is the largest item in Museum Victoria's collection. Today, the building hosts various exhibitions and other events and is closely tied with events at the Melbourne Museum. 2) Budj Bim, also known as Mount Eccles, is a dormant volcano near Macarthur in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It lies within the geologically-defined area known as the Newer Volcanics Province, which is the youngest volcanic area in Australia and stretches from western Victoria to south-eastern South Australia. It is situated within the Budj Bim National Park. The Budj Bim heritage areas include the Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Area (declared December 2003), the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape (added to the National Heritage List in July 2004), and the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape (designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2019). 3) The Cascades Female Factory, a former Australian workhouse for female convicts in the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land, is located in Hobart, Tasmania. Operational between 1828 and 1856, the factory is now one of the 11 sites that collectively compose the Australian Convict Sites, listed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO since 2010. 4) The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre at Sydney Harbour located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the 20th century's most famous and distinctive buildings. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, but completed by an Australian architectural team headed up by Peter Hall, the building was formally opened on 20 October 1973 after a gestation beginning with Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The Government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph Cahill, authorised work to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate resignation. On 28 June 2007, the Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

MALTA

A nice UNESCO cover from Malta with a single stamp where we can see the Burana Tower in Kyrgyzstan. The Burana Tower is a large minaret in the Chuy Valley. The tower, along with grave markers, some earthworks and the remnants of a castle and three mausoleums, is all that remains of the ancient city of Balasagun. The Burana Tower is included on the silk road of Chang'an-Tanshan Corridor, 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.

MALTA

A nice UNESCO cover from Malta with 1 stamp celebrating La Valleta, the capital and most populated town of Malta. Inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1980, the city of Valletta was founded in 1566. The Knights of St John conceived and planned the city as a single, holistic creation of the late Renaissance, with a uniform grid plan within fortified city walls. Although experiencing renovations and an extensive damage during World War II, a high proportion of the urban fabric has been preserved or restored. Some of the Valletta's 320 monuments include Saint John's Co-Cathedral, the Grandmaster's Palace, the Auberge de Castille, the Auberge de Provence, the Auberge d'Italie, the Auberge d'Aragon, and the churches of Our Lady of Victory, St. Catherine and il Gesù, as well as the 18th century constructions such as the Auberge de Bavière, the Church of the Shipwreck of St Paul, and the Manoel Theatre.

ROMANIA

A nice cover from Romania, featuring 2 stamps with 2 UNESCO natural sites: Retezat National Park and the Danube Delta. Retezat National Park is inscribed as an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1979. This biosphere reserve is situated in the southern Carpathian Mountains and has an altitude range from low mountain ranges to alpine landscape. Peak Peleaga with 2,509 meters above sea level is the highest elevation in the biosphere reserve. The Retezat Massif is a well-defined upland block, separated on most sides from the rest of the range by deep valleys and to the north overlooking the Tertiary Hateg basin. The area was glaciated in the quaternary and has many landforms caused by glacial erosion. This biosphere reserve is significant for the conservation of European mountain forest diversity. The vegetation is very diverse due to the varied relief and the junction of three floristic regions in this area. The Danube Delta is also a Biosphere Reserve (since 1998) and it's the Europe’s largest wetland and reed bed, and functions as its most important water purification system. The delta has wet soils temporarily covered with water, with plants adapted to living in wet conditions. The Danube Delta also includes fixed and mobile sand dune areas home to psamophilic plants. Grassland ecosystems are located on higher parts of riverine bars and on the edges of reef beds, adjacent to coastal bars. The water ecosystems of the reserve are very diverse, including the freshwater ecosystems of watercourses, limans and numerous lakes and bays, and brackish water ecosystems in the delta of the Kiliya Arm.