PHILATELY: Ringing in the New Year

An official first day cover and special postmark were presented by the Ukrainian Stamp Collectors Club of Austria on the occasion of the first day of issue of the second stamp in the ninth set of the National Customs and Folkloristic Treasures series released by Austria. The trilingual (English, German, Ukrainian) text on the cover notes that, like the Pummerin bell in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna (depicted on the postage stamp above), the bell in the campanile of St. George Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Cathedral in Lviv (as seen on the cover art) greets the New Year. This long-standing tradition will have special significance this year as the bell-tolling will mark the beginning of a new millennium. The cover above features art work by Ivan Turetskyi of Lviv and design by Erhard Steinhagen of Vienna.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 16, 2000, No. 3, Vol. LXVIII

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