FRANCE

AUSTRALIA

A nice cover from Australia, depicting 3 stamps with fishes from the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef. It is near the coast of Queensland, Australia. It is made up of nearly 2900 coral reefs and over 600 islands. It is 327,800 km2 big and 2600 km long. It has been listed an important World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1981. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure made by living things. It can be seen from outer space. The Reefs are threatened. The biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef today is coral bleaching caused by high sea water temperatures as a result of global warming.

GEORGIA

Another new country in my collection, Georgia. This cover was posted in Batumi, in Ajaria, also spelled Adjara, Adzhariya, or Adžarija, autonomous republic in Georgia, in the southwestern corner of that country, adjacent to the Black Sea and the Turkish frontier. Batumi is the capital and largest city.

ROMANIA

A nice UNESCO cover from Romania, depicting a miniature sheet issued in 2009 celebrating the Danube Delta, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991. The Danube Delta (Romanian: Delta Dunării) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania (Tulcea County), with a small part in Ukraine (Odessa Oblast). Its approximate surface area is 4,152 km2, of which 3,446 km2 is in Romania. The Danube Delta, where the Danube river enters the Black Sea, is the largest European wetland. It is home to over 300 bird and 45 freshwater fish species. Important species include sturgeons, European mink, European wildcat, Eurasian otter, and the threatened monk seal.

SPAIN

This UNESCO cover from Spain depict a 0,24€ stamp celebrating Ibiza, on Balearic Islands. Ibiza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of Spain. It is 150 kilometres from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. The coast of Ibiza is home to posidonia oceanica, a seagrass only found in the Mediterranean that supports a diverse coastal and marine ecosystem. The island also contains numerous Phoenician ruins, and the fortified and walled older portions of the city date to the 16th century. Ibiza is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.

AUSTRIA

This UNESCO cover from Austria depicts a miniature sheet issued in 2009, celebrating the Danube Roman Limes. The Danubian Limes, a network of fortifications along the Danube river, protected the borders of the Roman Empire.The Austrian section is 357.5 km long and includes sites at 46 locations. The site is shared with Germany and Slovakia. In 2021, the western segment of the Danube Limes were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the set of "Frontiers of the Roman Empire" World Heritage Sites.

ROMANIA

An amazing UNESCO cover from Romania, depicting a miniature sheet issued in 2009 celebrating the Historic Centre of Sighisoara. The historic centre of the city of Sighișoara dates from the 12th century. It was founded by the Transylvanian Saxons, a community of German merchants and craftsmen. They have since lived in the region for over 850 years, though the community is decreasing in numbers due to emigration in modern times. Sighișoara is a well-preserved example of a small fortified medieval town shaped by the interactions of cultures from Central Europe and the Byzantine-Orthodox Southeastern Europe. The site is inscribed at UNESCO world heritage list since 1999.

BELARUS

A cover from Belarus, depicting a single stamp issued in 2020 celebrating the "Mir Castle" in Grodno Province.
The Mir Castle Complex is recognized by UNESCO for its cultural significance since 2000, as an excepcional exemple of a central European castle, reflecting in its design and layout successive cultural influences (Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance) that blend harmoniously to create an impressive monumento to the history of this region.

AUSTRIA

This cover from Austria depict 2 stamps of each type celebrating the Gloriette of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. A gloriette is a building in a garden erected on a site that is elevated with respect to the surroundings. The structural execution and shape can vary greatly, often in the form of a pavilion or tempietto, more or less open on the sides. The largest and probably best-known gloriette is this one in the Schönbrunn Palace garden in Vienna. Schönbrunn Palace park in Vienna, which has been open to the public since 1779, is home to the Desert House, the Orangery, the Privy Garden, and the Palm House built in 1882. It is featured on the commemorative stamp and used to be the world’s largest glass structure. Schönbrunn Palace was the residence of the Habsburg emperors from the 18th century to 1918. It was built in the Rococo style as a single, unified project. It was designed by the architects Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Nicolaus Pacassi and is the site of the world's oldest continuously operating Zoo. The Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn are inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996.

UNITED KINGDOM

This cover depicts a stamp celebrating The Forth Bridge. The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, 14 kilometres west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered as a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in 2016), and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015. It was designed by English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker. It is sometimes referred to as the Forth Rail Bridge (to distinguish it from the adjacent Forth Road Bridge), although this has never been its official name. Construction of the bridge began in 1882 and it was opened on 4 March 1890 by the Duke of Rothesay, the future Edward VII.

CANADA

This cover from Canada depicts 2 stamps celebrating 2 national parks. The stamp on the right features the Jasper National Park, a part of the UNESCO site Canadian Rocky Mountains Parks. The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site is located in the Canadian Rockies. It consists of seven contiguous parks including four national parks: Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho. The area is known for its natural environment and biological diversity. It includes the Burgess Shale site, a World Heritage Site in its own right from 1980 to 1984, when it was included in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks WHS designation.

GREECE

In this cover the 0,70€ stamp (on the right) celebrates de Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns. Mycenae and Tiryns were two of the most important cities of Mycenean Greece, which flourished between the 15th and 12th centuries BCE. The cities were palace economies with monumental architecture, such as the Lion's Gate and Treasury of Atreus. The Linear B tablets are the first testimonies of the Greek language. Both cities are linked to the Homeric epics Iliad and Odyssey, which have influenced the European literature and arts ever since. Tiryns was recognized as a World Heritage Site in 1999.