Hellenic Post inaugurates its 2017 publishing program with the issue of stamps dedicated to the 150 years of the National Archaeological Museum, honouring his contribution to civilization and to the preservation of Greek cultural heritage.
The National Archaeological Museum, the oldest museum in the country, is the largest archaeological museum of Greek territory and one of the most important in the world. Was founded in 1866 in a plot donated by Helen Tossitsa, with initial designs of the architects Ludwig Lange and Panayi Kalkos formed into their final form by Ernest Ziller, in order to preserve the antiquities from all over Greece, highlighting their historical, spiritual and artistic value globally. In the showcases of the museum is exposed a panorama of the ancient Greek civilization from the beginnings of prehistory to late antiquity while at her warehouses are recorded more than two hundred thousand antiquities.
The museum itself has a long and turbulent history: in his corridors archaeology meets the history of Greece and the historical forms of archaeologists. An important Greek and international research program, variety of educational programs, organization of speeches and temporary exhibitions constitute a modern and outgoing National Archaeological Museum profile.
Hellenic Post in collaboration with the National Archaeological Museum is opting significant exhibits of the permanent Museum collections to travel the world in the form of a stamp:
Category 0,10 € “The Kiss” Quantities 500.000
Fragment of a red-figured kylix from the excavations of the fill on the Acropolis of Athens dated to the end of the 6th c. BC. An erotic couple is most likely presented in the tondo. There can be seen the head of a beardless, wreathed youth and the nose, lips, and hands of a woman. The female figure is tightly embracing with her left arm the head of the youth. With her right fingertips she gracefully caresses his hair. The young man is about to kiss the woman. Letters of an inscription are also preserved.(National Archaeological Museum, A189)
Category 0,50 € “Odysseus of Antikythera” Quantities 500.000
The statue of Parian marble from the Antikythera shipwreck (first half of the 1st c. BC) depicts Odysseus, who is securely identified by the cloak fastened on the left shoulder and the piloson the head. The mature, bearded man is moving vigorously forward. The adventures of the mythical king of Ithaca served as an eternal symbol of man’s torturous path through life and as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for all art forms everywhere in the world. (National Archaeological Museum, Γ 5745)
Category 0,72 € “Diadoumenos” Quantities 1.000.000
Statue of a young nude male tying a fillet around his head found in the “House of Diadoumenos” on Delos, dated around 100 BC. He has been considered a victorious athlete. The statue was once gilded. It is a Late Hellenistic copy of a bronze statue produced around 420 BC by the sculptor Polykleitos. (National Archaeological Museum, Γ 1826)
Category 0,90 € “Poseidon of Livadostra” Quantities 500.000
Bronze statue of Poseidon found in the sea to the east of Livadostra Bay, Boeotia, dated around 480 BC. The eyes were inlaid in a different material. Poseidon, as master of the seas, was primarily worshipped at seaside locations. To the left, the name of the god is written in Linear B script, as it appears on the clay tablets from the Mycenaean palace of Pylos, dated around 1200 BC. (National Archaeological Museum, X11671)
Category 1,50 € “Athenian Youth” Quantities 2.000.000
A visit to a tomb is depicted on this attic white-ground lekythos from Eretria dated around 440 BC. A deceased youth, wearing a chlamys (short mantle) and petasos (broad-brimmed hat)and holding a spear, stands on the left facing his grave stele. (National Archaeological Museum, A 1935)
Category 2,00 € “The Mycenaean Lady” Quantities 100.000
Wall-painting from the Cult Centre of the acropolis of Mycenae dated to the second half of the 13th c. BC, depicting a female deity. The goddess with her elaborate hairstyle, luxurious attire, painted lips, eyes and ears, richly adorned with jewelry, a pleased smile teasing her lips, is looking at the necklace she holds in her hands, an offering by her worshippers. (National Archaeological Museum, ΠΡ 11670)
DIMENSIONS : 35 X 45 mm in sheets of 25
DESIGN: Myrsini Vardopoulou
PRINTING METHOD: Multicolored (OFFSET)
PRINTERS : «VERIDOS MATSOUKIS S.A. SECURITY PRINTING»
CIRCULATION-SALES: This set circulates on 15 March 2017, and will be available at the Hellenic post offices through 14 March 2018, unless previously sold out. Complete sets will be available at the local Hellenic Post Offices and at the Central Philatelic Office until their withdrawal, unless previously sold out.
Also available:
1. ILLUSTRATED FIRST DAY COVERS (5.000 sets)
They have a design related to the subject of the Series. Available at a charge of 8.10 € per set.
2. SETS OF STAMPS IN PACK (1.000 pieces)
Available at a charge of 9.20 €.
3. REGULAR SET ALBUMS (1.000 pieces)
Available at a charge of 17.90 €.
4. PREPAID MAXIMUM CARDS (2.000 sets)
Available at a charge of 9.60 € per set.
5. SETS OF 6 SOUVENIR SHEETS (7.000 sets, numbered)
Available at a charge of 5.72 € per set.
6. SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE COVER WITH MEDAL (5.000 pieces)
Available at a charge of 8.00€.
7. BOOKLETS OF 10 SELF-ADHESIVE STAMPS OF THE LOWEST INLAND WEIGHT CATEGORY (15.000 pieces)
Available at a charge of 7.20€.
All philatelic products will be available at the Central Philatelic Office (5 Lykourgou str. & Apellou, 100 38 Athens), and at the Post Offices until sold out, except the F.D.C. and the souvenir sheets, which will be withdrawn on 14 March 2018.
Special First Day commemorative postmark
Collectors will be able to have items franked at the Central Philatelic Office with the special First Day commemorative postmark, providing they have affixed to them stamps from the set responding to the first rate domestic mail, today 0,72 €.
