RUSSIA

A nice cover from Russia, depicting a miniature sheet issued in 2015 with a World Natural Heritage Site of Russia: the Lena Pillars Nature Park. Lena Pillars is the name given to a natural rock formation along the banks of the Lena River in far eastern Siberia. The pillars are 150–300 metres high, and were formed in some of the Cambrian period sea-basins. The highest density of pillars is reached between the villages of Petrovskoye and Tit-Ary. The Lena Pillars Nature Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2012.

BRAZIL

This cover from Brazil depicts 2 stamps issued in 2020, including the stamp on the bottom showing the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Valongo Wharf". The Valongo Wharf (Portuguese: Cais do Valongo) is an old dock located in the port area of Rio de Janeiro. Built in 1811, it was the site of landing and trading of enslaved Africans until 1831, with the blockade of Africa banning the Atlantic slave trade to Brazil (but clandestine trade continued until 1888). During the twenty years of its operation, between 500 thousand and one million slaves landed at Valongo. Brazil received about 4.9 million slaves through the Atlantic trade. In 1843, the wharf was renovated for the landing of Princess Teresa Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, who was to marry the emperor D. Pedro II. The wharf was then called Cais da Imperatriz (Empress Wharf). Between 1850 and 1920, the area around the old pier became a space occupied by black slaves or freedmen of several nations - an area that Heitor dos Prazeres called Pequena África (Little Africa). In 2011, during the excavations carried out as part of the revitalization works in the Rio de Janeiro port area, the two wharfs - Valongo and Imperatriz - were discovered, one on top of the other, and, along with them, a large number of amulets and worship objects from Congo, Angola and Mozambique. IPHAN and the city of Rio de Janeiro inscribed the wharf's archaeological site to the Unesco World Heritage Site Tentative List. The wharf was then officially designated a World Heritage Site in 2017.

CZECH REPUBLIC

This UNESCO cover depicts a miniature sheet issued in 2020 celebrating the Historic Old Centre of Prague. Prague is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, the 13th largest city in the European Union and the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated on the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 2.7 million. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with relatively warm summers and chilly winters. Prague is a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe complete with a rich history. Founded during the Romanesque and flourishing by the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque eras, Prague was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the main residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably of Charles IV (r. 1346–1378). It was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city played major roles in the Bohemian and the Protestant Reformations, the Thirty Years' War and in 20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and the post-war Communist era. Prague is home to a number of well-known cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of 20th-century Europe. Main attractions include Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, the Jewish Quarter, Petřín hill and Vyšehrad. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

KAZAKHSTAN

This cover from Kazakhstan depicts a miniature sheet issued in 2016 with a view of the Aksu-Zhabagli Nature Reserve. The Aksu-Zhabagly Nature Reserve is the oldest nature reserve in Central Asia. It is located in the southern province of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It covers the north-western mountain chains of the Tian Shan a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its name is derived from the biggest river in the area, the Aksu, and the mountain chain Zhabagly which is located in the northern part of the area. Tian-Chan World Heritage Site is shared between Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan and Uzbekistan.

GERMANY

This cover from Germany depicts a 0,80 euro stamp celebrating 500 years of the "Fuggerei" in the town of Augsburg. Augsburg is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around 50 km west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben with an impressive Altstadt (city centre). Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is the third-largest city in Bavaria (after Munich and Nuremberg) with a population of 300,000 inhabitants, with 885,000 in its metropolitan area. After Neuss and Trier, Augsburg is Germany's third oldest city, founded in 15 BC by the Romans as Augusta Vindelicorum, named after the Roman emperor Augustus. It was a Free Imperial City from 1276 to 1803 and the home of the patrician Fugger and Welser families that dominated European banking in the 16th century. The city played a leading role in the Reformation as the site of the 1530 Augsburg Confession and 1555 Peace of Augsburg. The Fuggerei, the oldest social housing complex in the world, was founded in 1513 by Jakob Fugger. In 2019, UNESCO recognized the Water Management System of Augsburg as a World Heritage Site. The water management system of the city of Augsburg has evolved in successive phases from the 14th century to the present day. It includes a network of canals, water towers dating from the 15th to 17th centuries, which housed pumping machinery, a water-cooled butchers' hall, a system of three monumental fountains and hydroelectric power stations, which continue to provide sustainable energy today. The technological innovations generated by this water management system have helped establish Augsburg as a pioneer in hydraulic engineering.

MONTENEGRO

This cover from Montenegro depicts 2 stamps of same type issued in 2012, celebrating the Tara River Gorge, at Durmitor National Park. Durmitor is a massif located in northwestern Montenegro. It is part of the Dinaric Alps. Its highest peak, Bobotov Kuk, reaches a height of 2,523 meters (8,278 ft). The massif is limited by the Tara River Canyon on the north, the Piva River Canyon on the west, and by the Komarnica River Canyon on the south. To the east, the Durmitor opens to a 1,500 m high plateau, called Jezerska površ (Plateau of Lakes). The Sinjavina mountain is located to the east of the Jezerska površ plateau. The Durmitor is for the most part located in the Žabljak municipality. The massif gives its name to the national park that comprises it. Durmitor National Park was founded in 1952, and designated as a World Heritage Site in 1980.

PORTUGAL

An amazing UNESCO cover from Portugal, depicting a miniature sheet issued in 2015 celebrating 500 years of the Belém Tower, in Lisbon. Belém Tower (Portuguese: Torre de Belém), officially the Tower of Saint Vincent is a 16th-century fortification located in Lisbon that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers and as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. It was built during the height of the Portuguese Renaissance, and is a prominent example of the Portuguese Manueline style, but it also incorporates hints of other architectural styles. The structure was built from lioz limestone and is composed of a bastion and a 30-metre four-storey tower. Since 1983, the tower has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the Jerónimos Monastery. It is often portrayed as a symbol of Europe's Age of Discoveries and as a metonym for Portugal or Lisbon, given its landmark status. It has incorrectly been stated that the tower was built in the middle of the Tagus and now sits near the shore because the river was redirected after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. In fact, the tower was built on a small island in the Tagus river near the Lisbon shore.

BELARUS

GREECE

An amazing letter from Greece, with 5 different stamps issued in 2019 celebrating the Acropolis, in Athens. The Acropolis is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Originally a fortification, it gradually developed into a religious sanctuary, associated with the cult of the goddess Athena. In the 5th century BCE, following their victory over the Persians, the Athenians under Pericles constructed a large number of monuments including the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Propylaia, and the Temple of Athena Nike. The monuments in the Acropolis have prominently inspired the Neoclassical architecture. This site of an outsanding value is inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987.

GREECE

An amazing letter from Greece, with 5 different stamps issued in 2019 celebrating the Acropolis, in Athens. The Acropolis is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Originally a fortification, it gradually developed into a religious sanctuary, associated with the cult of the goddess Athena. In the 5th century BCE, following their victory over the Persians, the Athenians under Pericles constructed a large number of monuments including the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Propylaia, and the Temple of Athena Nike. The monuments in the Acropolis have prominently inspired the Neoclassical architecture. This site of an outsanding value is inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987.

RUSSIA

A nice UNESCO cover from Russia, depicting several stamps issued in 2006 celebrating the "Western Caucasus" natural site. The Western Caucasus, extending over 275,000 ha of the extreme western end of the Caucasus mountains and located 50 km north-east of the Black Sea, is one of the few large mountain areas of Europe that has not experienced significant human impact. Its subalpine and alpine pastures have only been grazed by wild animals, and its extensive tracts of undisturbed mountain forests, extending from the lowlands to the subalpine zone, are unique in Europe. The site has a great diversity of ecosystems, with important endemic plants and wildlife, and is the place of origin and reintroduction of the mountain subspecies of the European bison. The site is inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.

RUSSIA

A cover from Russia, depicting 3 stamps issued in 2013 celebrating the Historical Centre of St. Petersburg. This area is part of the UNESCO site "Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Minuments". The 'Venice of the North', with its numerous canals and more than 400 bridges, is the result of a vast urban project begun in 1703 under Peter the Great. Later known as Leningrad (in the former USSR), the city is closely associated with the October Revolution. Its architectural heritage reconciles the very different Baroque and pure neoclassical styles, as can be seen in the Admiralty, the Winter Palace, the Marble Palace and the Hermitage. All this group of monuments were recognized by UNESCO as an World Heritage Site in 1990.

SPAIN

A nice UNESCO cover from Spain, depicting a 3,15€ stamp with the Antequera Dolmen Site. Located at the heart of Andalusia in southern Spain, the site comprises three megalithic monuments: the Menga and Viera dolmens and the Tholos of El Romeral, and two natural monuments: La Peña de los Enamorados and El Torcal mountainous formations, which are landmarks within the property. Built during the Neolithic and Bronze Age out of large stone blocks, these monuments form chambers with lintelled roofs or false cupolas. These three tombs, buried beneath their original earth tumuli, are one of the most remarkable architectural works of European prehistory and one of the most important examples of European Megalithism. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 2016.

VIETNAM

A nice UNESCO cover from Vietnam, depicting a joinmt issue with Cuba issued in 2020. This set celebrates two UNESCO sites: Santo Domingo de Atarrés Fortress in La Habana (Cuba) and Thanh Long Citadel in Vietnam. The Santo Domingo de Atarrés Fortress its part of the UNESCO site called "Old Havana and its Fortifications" - in 1982, Old Havana was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, because of its unique Baroque and neoclassical architecture, its fortifications, and its historical importance as a stop on the route to the New World. A safeguarding campaign was launched a year later to restore the authentic character of the buildings. The Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long i8s a complex of historic imperial buildings located in the centre of Hanoi, Vietnam. It was first constructed in 1011 under the reign of Emperor Lý Thái Tổ of Lý dynasty and its inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2010.

PORTUGAL

This UNESCO cover from Portugal depicts a stamp issued in 2018 celebrating the "Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Coa Valley", an open-air Paleolithic archaeological site located in northeastern Portugal, near the border with Spain. In the early 1990s rock engravings were discovered in Vila Nova de Foz Côa during the construction of a dam in the Côa River valley. They include thousands of engraved rock drawings of horses, bovines and other animals, human and abstract figures, dated from 22,000 to 10,000 years B.C. The Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998. The archaelogical site of Siega Verde, province of Salamca, Spain, was also added to the Côa Valley Paleolithic Art site in the World Heritage List in 2010.

RUSSIA

A nice UNESCO cover from Russia, commemorating Chersonesos, an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2.500 years ago in the southwestern part of the Crimean Peninsula. Chersonesus, also rendered as Chersonese (Chersonesos), in medieval Greek contracted to Cherson is an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2,500 years ago in the southwestern part of the Crimean Peninsula. Settlers from Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia established the colony in the 6th century BC. The ancient city is located on the shore of the Black Sea on the outskirts of present-day Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, where it is referred to as Khersones. The site is part of the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos. The name Chersonesos in Greek means "peninsula" and aptly describes the site on which the colony was established. It should not be confused with the Tauric Chersonese, a name often applied to the whole of the southern Crimea. During much of the classical period Chersonesus operated as a democracy ruled by a group of elected Archons and a council called the Demiurgoi. As time passed, the government grew more oligarchic, with power concentrated in the hands of the archons. In 2013 UNESCO listed Chersonesus as a World Heritage Site.

RUSSIA

a nice UNESCO cover from Russia, depicting a miniature sheet dedicated to the Church of Ascension, in Kolomenskoye. The Church of the Ascension was built in 1532 on the imperial estate of Kolomenskoye, near Moscow, to celebrate the birth of the prince who was to become Tsar Ivan IV ('the Terrible'). One of the earliest examples of a traditional wooden tent-roofed church on a stone and brick substructure, it had a great influence on the development of Russian ecclesiastical architecture. The church reaches toward the sky from a low cross-shaped podklet (ground floor), followed by a prolonged chetverik (octagonal body, and then an octagonal tent, crowned by a tiny dome. The narrow pilasters on the sides of the chetverik, the arrow-shaped window frames, the three tiers of the kokoshniks and the quiet rhythm of stair arcades and open galleries underline the dynamic tendency of this masterpiece of the Russian architecture. The whole vertical composition is believed to have been borrowed from hipped roof-style wooden churches of the Russian North. Recognizing its outstanding value for humanity, UNESCO decided to inscribe the church on the World Heritage List in 1994.

VIETNAM

VIETNAM

BOSNIA MOSTAR

A cover from Bosnia Mostar, depicting a complete set issued in 2020 on topic "EUROPA - Ancient Postal Routes".

ESWATINI

My first cover from Eswatini (former Swaziland), depicting 3 stamps issued in 2018 with several motives. A special thanks to Robert Montagne from LCC, who was able to organize this amazing cover for me from such an "exotic" country.

RUSSIA

This UNESCO cover from Russia depicts a complete set issued in 2005, celebrating the millenium of Kazan and with several pictures of Kazan Kremlin. The Kazan Kremlin is the chief historic citadel of Russia, situated in the city of Kazan. Built on an ancient site, the Kazan Kremlin dates from the Muslim period of the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. It was conquered by Ivan the Terrible in 1552 and became the Christian See of the Volga Land. The only surviving Tatar fortress in Russia and an important place of pilgrimage, the Kazan Kremlin consists of an outstanding group of historic buildings dating from the 16th to 19th centuries, integrating remains of earlier structures of the 10th to 16th centuries.It was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000.

GREECE

An amazing UNESCO cover from Greece, depiocting 5 stamps issued in 2019 celebrating the Medieval City of Rhodes. Rhodes is the principal city and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It has a population of approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Rhodes has been famous since antiquity as the site of Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The citadel of Rhodes, built by the Hospitalliers, is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe, which in 1988 was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, the city of Rhodes is an important Greek urban center and popular international tourist destination.

MONTENEGRO

A nice cover from Montenegro, depicting a singe stamps and a miniature sheet issued in 2021 on topic "EUROPA 2021 - Endangered Species".

GERMANY

This UNESCO cover from Germany depicts a single stamp issued in 2012 celebrating the "Muskau Park". Muskau Park (German: Muskauer Park, Polish: Park Mużakowski) is a landscape park in the Upper Lusatia region of Germany and Poland. It is the largest and one of the most famous English gardens in Central Europe, stretching along both sides of the German–Polish border on the Lusatian Neisse. The park was laid out from 1815 onwards at the behest of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871), centered on his Schloss Muskau residence. In July 2004, Muskau Park was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

CZECH REPUBLIC

A cover from Czech Republic, depicting a single set issued in 2021 on motive "EUROPA 2021 - Endangered Species".