WALLIS & FUTUNA

This amazing cover came from Wallis & Futuna and it is my first one from this exotic territory. Wallis and Futuna is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast, Samoa to the east, and Tokelau to the northeast. Mata Utu is its capital and largest city. Its land area is 142.42 km2. It had a population of 11,558 at the 2018 census.

UNITED KINGDOM

A very nice cover from United Kingdom, depicting 2 different stamps, including the stamp on the right celebrating The English Lake District. The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains, and its associations with William Wordsworth and other Lake Poets and also with Beatrix Potter and John Ruskin. The Lake District National Park was established in 1951 and covers an area of 2,362 square kilometres. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

This cover from USA depicts 2 stamps (on the right corner), celebrating the Independence Hall in Pennsylvania. Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers. The structure forms the centerpiece of the Independence National Historical Park. Independence Hall was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 and as a World Heritage Site in 1979. The building was completed in 1753 as the Pennsylvania State House. It served as the first capital of both the United States and of the Province and later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was the principal meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1781, and was the site of the Constitutional Convention, at which the U.S. Constitution, the longest-standing written and codified national constitution in the world, was ratified on June 21, 1788.

TURKEY

This cover from Turkey depicts 3 different stamps, including the 2 stamps on the right corner celebrating the National Park of Göreme and Rock Sites of Cappadocia. Göreme Historical National Park is a national park in central Turkey. It occupies an area of nearly 100 km2 and is located in Nevşehir Province. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 under the name Goreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia. The park features a rocky, water- and wind-eroded landscape with a network of ancient, interconnecting underground settlements.

UN NEW YORK

This cover from United Nations (New York Office) depicts 4 stamps (2 of each type), celebrating 2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Spain: the Alhambra, Generalife and Albazín in Granada and the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida. The three sites in the town of Granad are remnants of the Moorish influence in southern Spain. The fortress Alhambra and the palace Generalife were built by the rulers of the Emirate of Granada are are part of the World Heritage List since 1984. The Albayzín district contains examples of the Moorish vernacular architecture and was added to the listing in 1994. Augusta Emerita, also called Emerita Augusta, was a Roman colonia founded in 25 BC in present day Mérida, Spain. The city was founded by Roman Emperor Augustus to resettle Emeriti soldiers from the veteran legions of the Cantabrian Wars. The theater and amphitheater are visible to the right, along the city wall. Today the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida is one of the largest and most extensive archaeological sites in Spain and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993.

BRAZIL

This cover from Brazil depicts 2 stamps, including the small stamp on the left celebrating the Pelourinho (Pillory) in the Historic Centre of Salvador de Bahia. The Historic Centre of Salvador de Bahia in Brazil, is a historic neighborhood in western Salvador, Bahia. It was the city's center during the Portuguese colonial period and was named for the whipping post in its central plaza where enslaved people from Africa were publicly beaten as punishment for alleged infractions. The Historic Centre is extremely rich in historical monuments dating from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Salvador was the first colonial capital of Brazil and the city is one of the oldest in the New World (founded in 1549 by Portuguese settlers). It was also one of the first slave markets on the continent, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations. The area is in the older part of the upper city (Cidade Alta) of Salvador. It encompasses several blocks around the triangular Largo, and it is the location for music, dining and nightlife. It has a place on the national historic register and was named a world cultural center by UNESCO in 1985.

BELGIUM

This cover came from Belgium, depicting 8 different stamps. Among the stamps are 4 stamps issued in 1998 celebrating 4 monuments which are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Belfries of Belgium and France. A total of 56 belfries are listed as World Heritage. They were built between the 11th and 17th centuries in different architectural styles: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. They symbolized the wealth and the influence of the towns. In 1999, 32 belfries in Belgium were originally listed, and in 2005, the site was expanded to include the belfries in France and the belfry in Gembloux in Belgium. Some of the belfries include: Cathedral of Our Lady & Antwerp City Hall in Antwerp, St. Rumbold's Cathedral & City Hall in Mechelen, Belfry of Bruges, Belfry of Kortrijk, Cloth Hall in Ypres, Schepenhuis in Aalst, Belfry of Ghent, Oudenaarde Town Hall, St. Peter's Church in Leuven, St. Leonard's Church in Zoutleeuw, Belfry of Mons, Belfry of Thuin, Belfry of Tournai, and Belfry of Namur.

BRAZIL

This cover from Brazil depicts 2 stamps, including the small stamp on the bottom with a picture of the Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes Between the Mountaion and the Sea.

POLAND

Joint issue Poland-Thailand (2022)

BRAZIL

A cover from Brazil with a small stamp showing a picture of the National Congress Building, in Brasilia. Brasília is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's center-western region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitschek on April 21, 1960, to serve as the new national capital. Brasilia is estimated to be Brazil's third-most populous city.Brasilia was a planned city developed by Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer and Joaquim Cardozo in 1956 in a scheme to move the capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central location. The landscape architect was Roberto Burle Marx. The city's design divides it into numbered blocks as well as sectors for specified activities, such as the Hotel Sector, the Banking Sector, and the Embassy Sector. Brasilia was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 due to its modernist architecture and uniquely artistic urban planning. It was named "City of Design" by UNESCO in October 2017 and has been part of the Creative Cities Network since then.

ITALY

A Christmas cover from Italy

SPAIN

This cover from Spain depcits a stamp issued in 2015, celebrating The Great Wall, China. Having come to symbolize China, The Great Wall owns high status like the old saying that one who fails to reach the Great Wall is not a hero, and was listed as world cultural heritage in 1987 by UNESCO. Serving as the purpose of defense mostly, it went through different dynasties for destruction and construction, especially in Qin and Ming dynasty. Now with several sections of the Great Wall survived for tourists sightseeing to marvel at the massive architecture.

SPAIN

This cover from Spain depicts a stamp celebrating the Pre-Hispanic City of Cichen-Itza, in México. The sacred site of Chichen-Itza was one of the greatest Mayan centres of the Yucatán peninsula. Throughout its nearly 1,000-year history, different peoples have left their mark on the city. The Maya and Toltec vision of the world and the universe is revealed in their stone monuments and artistic works. The fusion of Mayan construction techniques with new elements from central Mexico make Chichen-Itza one of the most important examples of the Mayan-Toltec civilization in Yucatán. Several buildings have survived, such as the Warriors’ Temple, El Castillo and the circular observatory known as El Caracol. The site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

POLAND

This cover came from Poland and depicts 3 stamps, all of them related to Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration Camp. Auschwitz concentration camp was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschwitz I, the main camp (Stammlager) in Oświęcim; Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a concentration and extermination camp with gas chambers; Auschwitz III-Monowitz, a labor camp for the chemical conglomerate IG Farben; and dozens of subcamps. The camps became a major site of the Nazis' final solution to the Jewish question. In 1947, Poland founded the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the site of Auschwitz I and II, and in 1979 it was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

SERBIA

Joint issue Serbia-Morocco (2022)

TURKEY

A cover from Turkey, depicting a miniature sheet issued in 2019 celebrating the World Heritage Site Arslantepe Mound. Melid, also known as Arslantepe, was an ancient city on the Tohma River, a tributary of the upper Euphrates rising in the Taurus Mountains. It has been identified with the modern archaeological site of Arslantepe near Malatya, Turkey. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Arslantepe Mound on 26 July 2021.

TURKEY

This cover from Turkey depicts 2 stamps, including the stamp on the right corner celebrating Ephesus. Ephesus was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, 3 kilometres southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators. Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction. In 2015, the ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

SLOVENIA

Joint issue Slovenia-Albania from 2022