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EUROPA stamp 2025

FRANCE

This cover from France features 2 stamps of the same type, celebrating the Lascaux Cave. Lascaux cave, in Montignac, was discovered in 1940. It is filled with around 600 polychrome paintings from about 17,000 years ago. It was opened to the public in 1948, but closed again in 1963 when it became clear that the paintings were being damaged by fungus and lichen growth caused by the changes in atmosphere brought along by the thousands of visitors. Exact reproductions can be visited since 1983 (Lascaux II, covering the two main chambers) and in 2016 Lascaux IV was opened, showing nearly all the paintings. Lascaux cave is a part of Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in France since 1979.

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This cover from France features a joint issue with P.R. China, both stamps celebrating two UNESCO sites: the Mount Tai in China and the Mont Saint Michel in France. Mount Tai is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an. It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the Jade Emperor Peak, which is commonly reported as being 1,545 meters.Mount Tai is known as the eastern mountain of the Sacred Mountains of China. It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal, and is often regarded the foremost of the five. Mount Tai has been a place of worship for at least 3,000 years and served as one of the most important ceremonial centers of China during large portions of this period. Because of its sacred importance and dramatic landscape, it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey is an abbey located within the city and island of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, in the department of Manche. The abbey is an essential part of the structural composition of the town the feudal society constructed. On top, God, the abbey, and monastery; below this, the Great halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom (outside the walls), fishermen's and farmers' housing. The abbey has been protected as a French monument historique since 1862. Since 1979, the site as a whole – i.e., the Mont-Saint-Michel and its bay – has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux. The abbey is among the most visited cultural sites in France.

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EUROPA 2023 from France

FRANCE

This amazing cover from France depicts 10 stamps, including 2 stamps of same type celebrating the Lascaux cave, in France. The Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in France since 1979. It specifically lists 15 prehistoric sites in the Vézère valley in the Dordogne department, mostly in and around Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, which has been called the "Capital of Prehistory". This valley is exceptionally rich in prehistoric sites, with more than 150 known sites including 25 decorated caves, and has played an essential role in the study of the paleolithicum and its art. Three of the sites are the namesakes for prehistoric periods; the Micoquien (named after La Micoque), Mousterian (after Le Moustier), and Magdalenian (after Abri de la Madeleine). Furthermore, the Cro-Magnon rock shelter gave its name to the Cro-Magnon, the generic name for the European early modern humans. Many of the sites were discovered or first recognised as significant and scientifically explored by the archaeologists Henri Breuil and Denis Peyrony in the early twentieth century, while Lascaux, which has the most exceptional rock art of these, was discovered in 1940.

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This cover came from France and depicts 2 stamps. The stamp on the left is part of a set issued in 2016 celebrating the Netherlands capital, Amsterdam. It shows a picture of Le béguinage. A beguinage (from the French béguinage) is an architectural complex which was housing beguines. They were mainly built in Flanders and the Netherlands, but there are few in North-East France and North-West Germany. A beguinage usually included an inner court, houses facing this garden and a church, or a chapel. There were often walls surrounding the entire complex, separating it from the rest of the town and one or two gates to get in. Some would also include a convent or an infirmary. Beguinages were built around the XIII century and generally abandoned in the XIX-XX century. They are nowadays almost always UNESCO sites (inscribed in 1998). Their maintenance and look is protected and conserved as pieces of art. And their houses are often considered trendy areas where artists live. Amsterdam beguinage is an architectural jewel. It was originally surrounded not only by walls, but by the canals too. The entrance used to be a bridge, but nowadays there’s a more handy gate to give access to the inner garden and the church. This beguinage has an interesting history. In 1578, when Amsterdam turned Calvinist, practicing any other religion was forbidden. But since its houses were actually private properties, the beguinage had a special status of freedom. Its real churchwas officially closed down, but in 1671 two of the houses were reshaped into a chapel. It perfectly worked as a well hidden underground church thanks to the fact that all those buildings had no windows towards the city but only to the inner courtyard. .

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FRANCE

This cover from France depict a miniature sheet issued in 2021 with a detail of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The monument is part of the World Heritage Site Paris, Banks of the Seine. Paris is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Paris, Banks of the Seine, is a collection of properties that cover cultural importance to France and its neighboring areas. Hence, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. The total area covered includes Paris and those that are along the banks of the Seine, which is about 365 hectares in land area.

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A nice cover from France, depicting one single stamp with a first day cancellation on motive "EUROPA 2021 - Endangered species".

FRANCE

A nice cover from France, depicting one single stamp with a first day cancellation on motive "EUROPA 2021 - Endangered species".

FRANCE

A nice cover from France, depicting 1 UNESCO stamp celebrating the "Via Turonensis". In medieval times, the "Via Turonensis" (Tours Route) was the most westerly of the four traditional pilgrim routes. It was a fairly movable feast, with several strands running roughly parallel in a southerly direction. It catered for pilgrims from the Low Countries, Paris and Britain, and converged with two of the others at Saint-Palais in the Pyrénées, before crossing into Spain for the final push to Compostela. The Tours Route is one of the four medieval pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela in France. All this 4 routes have been designed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. The routes pass through the following regions of France: Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Midi-Pyrénées, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. UNESCO cites the routes' role in "religious and cultural exchange", the development of "specialized edifices" along the routes, and their "exceptional witness to the power and influence of Christian faith among people of all classes and countries in Europe during the Middle Ages". UNESCO designated 71 structures along the routes and seven stretches of the Chemin du Puy. The structures are largely monuments, churches, or hospitals that provided services to pilgrims headed to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Some are places of pilgrimage in their own right. Other structures include a tower, a bridge, and a city gate.

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A nice cover from France, depicting 2 stamps with UNESCO sites: Paris and Via Tolosana (Arles Route). The Arles Route is one of the four medieval pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela in France. All this 4 routes have been designed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. The routes pass through the following regions of France: Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Midi-Pyrénées, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. UNESCO cites the routes' role in "religious and cultural exchange", the development of "specialized edifices" along the routes, and their "exceptional witness to the power and influence of Christian faith among people of all classes and countries in Europe during the Middle Ages". UNESCO designated 71 structures along the routes and seven stretches of the Chemin du Puy. The structures are largely monuments, churches, or hospitals that provided services to pilgrims headed to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Some are places of pilgrimage in their own right. Other structures include a tower, a bridge, and a city gate.

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