GERMANY

A nice UNESCO cover from Germany, depicting a set of 2 stamps issued in 2007. The stamp on the left shows the House of Blackheads in Riga, Latvia and the stamps on the right the City Hall of Stralsund, Germany. The Historic Centre of Riga is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997. Riga, founded in 1201, was a major Hanseatic city from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Not many houses remain from that period, as they were destroyed by fire or war. Later, Riga saw a rapid expansion in the 19th and early 20th century, when many Art Nouveau buildings were constructed. Riga has the highest concentration of buildings in this style in Europe. The Historic Centers of Stralsund and Wismar are also inscribed as UNESCO world hertitage sites since 2002. Like Riga, the two towns were major Hanseatic League trading centres in the 14th and 15th centuries. They then served as defensive and administrative centres for Sweden two hundred years later, notably during the Thirty Years' War. The architectural styles from both of these periods remain and are well-preserved.

POLAND

A nice cover from Poland, depicting 3 nice stamps on topic "Capital cities of the European Union". The three capitals are London (United Kingdom), Riga (Latvia) and Ljubljana (Slovenia).
The historic centre (Old Town) of Riga is also inscribed as Unesco World Heritage place since 1997.
Riga was a major centre of the Hanseatic League, deriving its prosperity in the 13th-15th centuries from the trade with central and eastern Europe. The urban fabric of its medieval centre reflects this prosperity, though most of the earliest buildings were destroyed by fire or war. Riga became an importante economic centre in the 19th century, when the suburbs surrounding the medieval town were laid out, first with imposing wooden buildings in neoclassical style and then in Jugendstil. It is generally recognized that Riga has the finest collection of art nouveau buildings in Europe.