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".