UNITED KINGDOM

This cover from United Kingdom depicts 3 different stamps, all celebrating UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and Purnululu National Park, both in Australia and the Hearth of Neolitic Orkney in Scotland, United Kingdom.

HUNGARY

THis beatiful cover from Hungary depicts 1 cover and a joint issue Hungary-Japan, featuring 2 world heritage places: the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, and the Fusijan (Mount Fuji), in Japan. The Parliament Building in Budapest is part of the Unesco site Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue and the Mount Fuji is also a Unesco World Heritage Site, inscribed as Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration.

P. R. CHINA

RUSSIA

This UNESCO cover from Russia depicts a miniature sheet issued in 2009 celebrating the Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. Situated on the ancient trade route between Central Asia and northern Europe, Novgorod was Russia's first capital in the 9th century. Surrounded by churches and monasteries, it was a centre for Orthodox spirituality as well as Russian architecture. Its medieval monuments and the 14th-century frescoes of Theophanes the Greek (Andrei Rublev's teacher) illustrate the development of its remarkable architecture and cultural creativity. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia. The city lies along the Volkhov River just downstream from its outflow from Lake Ilmen and is situated on the M10 federal highway connecting Moscow and Saint Petersburg. UNESCO recognized Novgorod as a World Heritage Site in 1992.

SPAIN

This UNESCO cover from Spain depicts a miniature sheet issued in 2022 celebrating Almadén and Idrija. Heritage of Mercury. Almadén and Idrija is a joint UNESCO World Heritage Site in Almadén, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, and Idrija, Slovenia. The property encompasses two mercury mining sites. In Almadén mercury has been extracted since Antiquity, while in Idrija it was first found in 1490. The sites bear testimony to the intercontinental trade in mercury which generated important exchanges between Europe and America over the centuries. The two sites represent the two largest mercury mines in the world and were operational until recent times. Mercury played an important role in extracting gold and silver from ores, dug in American mines. In addition, both sites illustrate the various industrial, territorial, urban and social elements of a specific sociotechnical system in the mining and metal production industries. At the heart of the Almadén site is a Mining Park, where the public can go underground. There are also buildings relating to the town's mining history, including Retamar Castle, the San Rafael Mining Hospital (now an archive), and eighteenth-century dwellings which form a hexagonal bullring.The site in Idrija notably features mercury stores and infrastructure, as well as miners’ living quarters, and a miners’ theatre.

POLAND

This cover from Poland depicts a complete set issued in 2022 on topic "Tourist places in Poland". The stamp on the top celebrates the Old City of Zamosc, the oldest historic district of the city of Zamość. It is one of World Heritage Sites in Poland (added in 1992). According to UNESCO, this monument value lies in it being "an outstanding example of a Renaissance planned town of the late 16th century, which retains its original layout and fortifications and many buildings of particular interest, blending Italian and Central European architectural traditions.".

BULGARIA

This cover from Bulgaria depicts 4 stamps (2 of each type), celebrating the Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo. The Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo are a group of monolithic churches, chapels and monasteries hewn out of solid rock and completely different from other monastery complexes in Bulgaria, located near the village of Ivanovo, 20 km south of Rousse, on the high rocky banks of the Rusenski Lom, 32 m above the river. The complex is noted for its beautiful and well-preserved medieval frescoes. The churches are inside Rusenski Lom Nature Park. The Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.

ISRAEL

This cover came from Israel. Both stamps on the top features a picture of the Old City of Acre. Acre is a historic walled port-city with continuous settlement from the Phoenician period. The present city is charactristic of a fortified town dating from the Ottoman 18th and 19th centuries, with typical urban componentes such as the citadel, mosques, khans and baths. The remains of the Crusader town, dating from 1104 to 1291, lie almost intact, both above and below today's street level, providing an exceptional picture of the layout and structures of the capital of the medieval Crusader kingdom of Jerusalém. The site is inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site since 2001.

P. R. CHINA

BRAZIL

This cover from Brazil depicts 2 stamps, including the stamp on the top celebrating the Church of Bom Jesus do Bonfim (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.

P. R. CHINA

PORTUGAL

A beautiful cover from my country, Portugal, depicting a miniature sheet issued in 1997 with a view 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.