Legends of Pridnestrovie

This year the annual joint issue of stamps of the postal administrations of European countries “Europe”  is dedicated to national stories and myths. Collecting postage stamps “Europe” is one of the most popular areas of thematic philately. The set of stamps “Legends of the Bendery Fortress” consists of two stamps depicting the most famous legends:

1.Golden carriage of Hetman Mazepa.                                            

According to  the legend, the hetman’s golden carriage is buried under the walls of the Bendery fortress.

2. Flight of Baron Munchausen on the cannonball.

 According to legend, in order to find out how many cannons were in the fortress, the baron jumped on a cannonball flying out of a cannon. During the flight, he counted all the  cannons and returned back on the oncoming Turkish cannonball.

3. The drawing and cancellation on the FDC depict  the third legend  which is about the ghost of the White Lady. According to the legend, a local girl was forcibly married to the commandant of a Turkish fortress and from him she gave birth to a son. She tried to escape with the child but she was caught and thrown from the wall of the fortress and her son was given to the Janissaries. And now her restless spirit roams the fortress in search of her son. The background image of the envelope is a map of the Bendery Fortress, provided by the Bendery Historical and Local History Museum and corresponds to the time when these legends were born.

The presentation of the postal set of stamps took place in the Bendery Historical and Local History Museum.

The series is printed in both perforated and imperforated versions.

Edition of the perforated set – 4200 pcs. (600 sheets  of each stamp)

Edition of the imperforated set – 700 pcs. (100 sheets  of each stamp)

Artist  A.V. Lavrentieva