Cyprus 08/11

Cover from Cyprus, posted in Limassol (?) in November 2008.

The left stamp is part of the set “Neoclassical Buildings of Cyprus”, which was issued on October 2, 2007. It depicts the office building of the Anastasios George Leventis Foundation in Nicosia. This philanthropic foundation was founded in 1979 and supports many cultural and historical organisations as well as the restoration of Cyprus’ cultural heritage, which was destroyed during the Turkish invasion of 1974 (read more at http://www.leventisfoundation.org/). The stamp has a face value of 0.85 euro resp. 0.50 Cyprus pounds. Cyprus changed its currency to euros on January 1, 2008.

The right stamp is the 2008 “refugee found stamp” with a face value of 2 cent. This stamp has to be attached to each Cypriot letter; the postage supports the refugee found, which helps Greek Cypriots, who were driven out of the North during the 1974 invasion. Interestingly, this stamp has only one currency indicated.

I found a nice article on the twin-currency stamps of Cyprus: http://cypruslife.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-euro-stamps-for-cyprus.html