In the South – Eastern part of the Central Europe, with the arch of Carpathians in the middle, limited by the Danube and the Black Sea, there lived for more than two thousand years a people with a rich but tumultuous history – the Romanian people and a country constantly formed on Dacia’s old land surface, carrying for a century and a half the name of Romania.
Romfilatelia endeavors that in every postage stamp issue – as in the present one – there is a drop of this inexhaustible and yet not totally discovered spring of Romanian spirituality and culture. The 8 postage stamps of the philatelic issue have the same face value of Lei 3.00 and illustrate authentic unique treasures for which Romania is known world wide.
The Danube Delta, unique in the world and declared a reservation of the biosphere, is considered one of the largest wet areas in the world, a habitat of the water birds, where the pelican - symbol of the Delta – lives in the biggest colony in Europe. Magic land of the waters, the Danube Delta is appreciated as one of the most fascinating natural areas in the entire world.
The most important mountain natural reservation in our country, reservation of the biosphere, The Retezat National Park is added to Romania’s diversity of priceless natural richness. Places yet untouched by man, high peaks, lakes, flowers, glaciers, caves, animals in the wilderness, wide forests – all gather in an unique monument of nature.
George Enescu (1881-1955), complex musician, has managed to give all of his thoughts and feelings to the universal music, so that everything has always merged with the echo of his soul. Bucharest, Vienna, Paris, New York, London, Berlin, Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Strasbourg – are among the big musical cities in the world where Enescu’s music has resounded. Scores, suites, symphonies, quartets, rhapsodies, lieds and opera – all of these are creations of the great composer, conductor, violinist, pianist and professor, George Enescu - the everlasting violin of Romania.
Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723) was a remarkable personality of the European culture of the beginning of 18th century. Ruler of Moldavia, historian, philosopher, geographer, musicologist, orientalist, theologist, cartographer and prose writer, polyglot, through his works imposed himself as a world erudite. Dimitrie Cantemir, personality with encyclopedic preoccupations, the first Romanian member of the Academy in Berlin (1714), wrote “Descriptio Moldaviae”- the first work of politics, geography, ethnography and folklore, written upon the request of the Academy in Berlin. “Principe Serenism” of Russia and counselor of the Tsar Peter I, Dimitrie Cantemir, by his vast work, is considered an illustrious savant of the Renaissance.
On one of the stamps, Cramposia, a type of old Romanian vine is illustrated. It is well known that in Romania, viticulture is over two thousand years old. It is believed that, at the beginning of the 1st century B.C. the viticulture had taken such proportions, that once with the creation of the first Dacian centralized and independent state, king Burebista had carried out some actions in order to limit the grapevine cultures. The very old Cramposia wine is found in the well known vineyard Dragasani. The wine is white, dry, balanced, full of freshness and can compete with any other wine in the world.
Land of culture and civilization, Maramures has chiseled its history in wood through the popular art in Maramures. Maramures is the place where the traditions, the costumes and the popular art are best kept in Romania. The Wood churches – true masterpieces of popular art – which are met in almost every village, and the Maramures gate, this wooden “triumph arch” is met at every house. The tradition of ceramics lingered from the time of the Dacians and has not changed too much from the point of view of the technique, ornamentation and form.
The Three Saint Hierarchs Church in Iasi, unique building in the Romanian architecture, foundation of the ruler Vasile Lupu, was initially a part of an ensemble of monasteries (out of which only the Gothic room was kept, today a museum of medieval art). The Three Saint Hierarchs Church has aroused everyone’s admiration even from its inauguration, in 1639. The motifs which ornament the facade are of Armenian – Georgian influence. The windows are decorated with borders with cornices and baldachins. The Church shelters the graves of Vasile Lupu, Dimitrie Cantemir, as well as the remains of the ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza.
The Black Church in Brasov was built around the year 1380 and known under the name of the Saint Mary Church. The building has been partially destroyed during the great fire in 1689, thus receiving its present name. The Black Church is the greatest worship building in Gothic style in the South - Eastern Europe, measuring 89 meters in length and 38 meters in width. The Black Church is famous not only for its dimensions, but also for the fact that it has the largest bell in Romania, made of bronze which and weighing 6 tones. Also, the Black Church holds a big organ with at least 400 tubes, one of the biggest organs in South – Eastern Europe. The collection of Oriental carpets of the Black Church is the richest of this type in Romania.
Philatelic document – issued into a limited run printing of 300 copies, equipped with the postage stamp set, cancelled with the “first day” post mark.
