BELGIUM

This cover from Belgium depicts a single stamp in 2022, celebrating the World Heritage Site Major Mining Sites of Wallonia. During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, mining and the heavy industry that relied on coal formed a major part of Belgium's economy. Most of this mining and industry took place in the sillon industriel, a strip of land running across the country where many of the largest cities in Wallonia are located. The Major Mining Sites of Wallonia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising four sites in Wallonia in southern Belgium associated with the Belgian coal mining industry of the 19th and 20th centuries. The four sites of the grouping, situated in the French-speaking Hainaut Province and Liège Province, comprise Grand-Hornu, the Bois-du-Luc, the Bois du Cazier (showed in this stamp) and Blegny-Mine. The site was recognized by the UNESCO commission in 2012.

FRANCE - UNESCO HEADQUARTERS in PARIS

This first day cover came from the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. It features a stamp issued in 2022 with a picture of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, in the Historic Centre of Florence, Italy. The historic centre of Florence is part of quartiere 1 of the Italian city of Florence. This quarter was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. Built on the site of an Etruscan settlement, Florence, the symbol of the Renaissance, rose to economic and cultural pre-eminence under the Medici in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its 600 years of extraordinary artistic activity can be seen above all in the 13th-century cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), the Church of Santa Croce, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, the work of great masters such as Giotto, Filippo Brunelleschi, Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo.

PORTUGAL

This cover from my country, Portugal, depicts 2 stamps issued in 2018 with some views of the Historic Centre of Oporto. Porto or Oporto is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropolitan area, with an estimated population of just 232,000 people in a municipality with only 41.42 km2. Porto's metropolitan area has around 1.7 million people in an area of 2,395 km2, making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal. Located along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, and its core was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, as "Historic Centre of Porto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar". The historic area is also a National Monument of Portugal. The western part of its urban area extends to the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Its settlement dates back many centuries, when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire.

UN NEW YORK

This cover from United Nations (New York Office) depicts 4 stamps (2 of each type), celebrating 2 Natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Australia: the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Wet Tropics of Queensland. The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Parkhis is inscribed at UNESCO World Heritage List since 1987 and was chosen as an example of a landscape that is culturally sacred to Aboriginal people. The park's two massive sandstone formations, Uluṟu and Kata Tjuṯa, are spiritually important to many Aṉangu. They form part of the local tjukurpa belief system. Cave paintings found at Uluṟu date back tens of thousands of years. The Wet Tropics of Queensland is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988 which has the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforests on Earth. The forests date from the Mesozoic era when the climate of Australia (and the world) was much more tropical than today. Originally, the rain forest area covered a much wider area than today. Today it is just a narrow strip along the east coast of Queensland.

POLAND

This cover from Poland features 2 stamps, both showing some views of Warsaw, the capital and main city in Poland. The Historic Centre of Warsaw is also inscribed at UNESCO as a World Heritage place. During the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, more than 85% of Warsaw's historic centre was destroyed by Nazi troops. After the war, a five-year reconstruction campaign by its citizens resulted in a meticulous restoration of the Old Town, with its churches, palaces and market-place. It is an outstanding exemple of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century

ITALY

AUSTRIA

This cover from Austria depicts a single stamp issued in 2022, celebrating the Hallstatt-Dachstein alpine landscape, part of the Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape. UNESCO designated Hallstatt–Dachstein/Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape (Kulturlandschaft Hallstatt–Dachstein/Salzkammergut) a World Heritage Site in 1997, with the description: "Human activity in the magnificent natural landscape of the Salzkammergut began in prehistoric times, with the salt deposits being exploited as early as the 2nd millennium B.C. This resource formed the basis of the area's prosperity up to the middle of the 20th century, a prosperity that is reflected in the fine architecture of the town of Hallstatt."

AUSTRIA

A cover from Austria, depicting a single stamp issued in 2022, celebrating the "Leopold Museum", located at the Historic Centre of Vienna. Vienna, the capital of the Habsburg Empire, has long been acknowledged to be the musical capital of Europe. The historic centre is rich in architectural ensembles in various styles, including Baroque castles and gardens, as well as the late-19th-century Ringstraße. In 2001, the site was inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites.

GERMANY

This cover from Germany depicts 2 stamps, including the 70ct stamps on the right, showing views of the town of Cologne in 1947 and 2015. One of the buildings that we can see is the Cologne Cathedral. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day. At 157 m, the cathedral is the tallest twin-spired church in the world, the second tallest church in Europe after Ulm Minster, and the third tallest church of any kind in the world. It is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires. The towers for its two huge spires give the cathedral the largest façade of any church in the world. Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 but was halted in the years around 1560, unfinished. Attempts to complete the construction began around 1814 but the project was not properly funded until the 1840s. The edifice was completed to its original Medieval plan in 1880.

GERMANY

Another cover with special postmarks celebrating the 1200th. anniversary of the Princely Abbey of Corvey. The Princely Abbey of Corvey (German: Fürststift Corvey or Fürstabtei Corvey) is a former Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastical principality now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was one of the half-dozen self-ruling princely abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire from the late Middle Ages until 1792 when Corvey was elevated to a prince-bishopric. Corvey, whose territory extended over a vast area, was in turn secularized in 1803 in the course of the German mediatisation and absorbed into the newly created Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda. Originally built in 822 and 885 and remodeled in the Baroque period, the abbey is an exceptional example of Carolingian architecture, the oldest surviving example of a westwork, and the oldest standing medieval structure in Westphalia. The original architecture of the abbey, with its vaulted hall and galleries encircling the main room, heavily influenced later western Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The inside of the westwork contains the only known wall paintings of ancient mythology with Christian interpretation in Carolingian times. The former abbey church was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.

PORTUGAL

This cover from Portugal depicts a single stamp celebrating the mexican World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaelogical site of Monte Albán. Inhabited over a period of 1,500 years by a succession of peoples – Olmecs, Zapotecs and Mixtecs – the terraces, dams, canals, pyramids and artificial mounds of Monte Albán were literally carved out of the mountain and are the symbols of a sacred topography. The nearby city of Oaxaca, which is built on a grid pattern, is a good example of Spanish colonial town planning. The solidity and volume of the city's buildings show that they were adapted to the earthquake-prone region in which these architectural gems were constructed. Both sites were inscribed in 1987 at UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

VIETNAM

A nice UNESCO cover from Vietnam, featuring a miniature sheet issued in 2018 celebrating the Citadel of the Ho dinasty.
Inscribed as an universal outstanding value site since 2011, the 14th. century Ho Dinasty Citadel, built according to the feng shui principles, testifies to the flowering of neo-Confucianism in late 14th. century Viet Nam and its spread to other parts of east Asia. According to these principles it was sited in a landscape of great scenic beauty between the Ma and Buoi rivers. The citadel buildings represente an outstanding exemple of a new style of south-east Asian imperial city.

P. R. CHINA

PORTUGAL

A nice cover from my country, Portugal, depicting a stamp issued in 2022 celebrating the 100th. anniversary of the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic. The stamp shows a picture of the Tower of Belém, 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.