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Postal stamps to promote tourism to Ukraine

There have been four postal stamps recently released in Ukraine, which are not of an ordinary kind. Their theme is Rest & Tourism and each one bears a picture of a historical or cultural landmark. The stamps of this theme are released annually under the aegis of the international organization Post Europe. The member states have the right to join the campaign held by this organization, and aimed at developing friendly relations among nations, and at developing postal business and philately. Within the framework of this campaign, the member states release stamps devoted to the general theme and then the best stamp is determined through an international contest.

It was the first time Ukraine joined such a contest. The four stamps count, in fact, as one, and they

have been released in two formats — as a block of stamps and as a souvenir booklet. A special envelope has also been released to go with the new stamps. Also, a special postage stamp will be used to stamp the envelopes with.

The four-stamp composition is united by a wreath of flowers into which pictures representing the well-known places of Ukraine are artfully fitted — The Swallow’s Nest Castle in Crimea; a Carpathian mountainscape; The Khotyn Fortress in Podillya, and The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery. Special measures were taken to prevent forgeries — the paint that reacts to the ultraviolet radiation; microtext with the names of the artists — Mariya Heyko, designer, and Yury Buslenko, photographer; incidentally, Yury Buslenko’s photographs often grace the pages of Mizhnarodny Turyzm and Welcome to Ukraine magazines.

The new Ukrainian postal stamps with the logo Europa will surely become the collectors’ items all around the world. Hopefully, it will encourage tourism to Ukraine.

The pictures in the stamps (from left to right) show:
Swallow’s Nest Castle in Crimea; Khotyn Fortress;
a river in the Carpathians; Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery.