Issue date: 02 Nov, 2006
This year’s Christmas issue is made up of two self adhesive stamps. As in previous issues one is devoted to a classic motif La Adoracion de los Pastores (The Adoration of the Shepherds) from the cathedral of Cuenca, and the other, a modern motif depicts a painting called Entrañable Navidad ( Pleasant Christmas), by Belén Elorrieta.
The cathedral of Cuenca was built in 1183 on initiative of queen Leonor of Aquitaine and Plantagenet, wife of Alphonse VIII, and is the earliest example of gothic style in Spain. It has been built throughout different centuries beginning with the Romanic and currently even shows abstract elements. It has a Latin cross shaped plant and three main parts stand out: the head, with Romanic references from between 1183 and 1207 which comprises the major chapel including the transept nave; the main body representing a more refined gothic style, finished in the middle of the XII century , and the ambulatory , of great beauty and sumptuousness dating back to the middle of the XV century which came to enlarge the inner space of the Cathedral. Worth mentioning are also its main chapel and the chapterhouse. This latter was built in the XVI century and in its façade there are four lower niches where are depicted the Cardinal Virtues and in the upper ones the Theological Virtues. The tympanum is decorated with a group of sculptures representing the Adoration of the Sheperds which features in the stamp.
The other stamp is a modern Christmas painting called Entrañable Navidad (Pleasant Christmas), by the Madrid born painter Belen Elorrieta Jové, with many awards and exhibitions. Her painting is rich in chromatics and blends with loose brushstrokes and a naïve composition. Elorrieta has done more than twenty exhibitions in various galleries in Spain.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.