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World Heritage - The Great Spa Towns of Europe (New York)

Stamp Booklet
GBP £11.29
Stamp Booklet CTO
GBP £11.29
About World Heritage - The Great Spa Towns of Europe (New York)

Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection, and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.

The Great Spa Towns of Europe is a World Heritage Site comprising 11 famous historic spa towns and cities in seven countries. Together, they make one “property” inscribed on the World Heritage List on 24 July 2021 as a transnational series. The Great Spas, in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom represent a unique cultural phenomenon which reached its height in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as a particular urban type and form. As a World Heritage Site, it has been given global recognition as a phenomenon which helped shape Europe.

60¢ – Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
Karlovy Vary is known as the largest open-air salon of Europe, and has hosted royal families, European heads of state, aristocracy, and prominent artists. It is distinguished by a geyser-like spring phenomenon and unique composition of thermal water, innovative methods in balneology (the study of therapeutic bathing and medicinal springs), and a prolific and outstanding architectural spa ensemble. The spa quarter follows the numerous hot springs that emerge in the Teplá (Warm) River valley and displays rich historicist and art nouveau styles of architecture. The surrounding spa landscape is characterized by terraced valley sides, extravagant villas, promenades and pathways, and solitary lookout buildings. Nowhere today is the “drinking cure” more evident than in the numerous beautiful colonnades, where thousands of daily visitors may be seen drinking from traditionally shaped porcelain cups.

$1.40 – Montecatini Terme Italy
Montecatini Terme, with its early distinguished role in the recognition of the medical properties of mineral water, is an important representation in a country rich in thermal springs. Attracting important intellectuals and artists, such as Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Ruggero Leoncavallo, the town is an ambitious revival project that transformed a late-eighteenth-century garden spa into a landscape spa. Monumental spa architecture, centered on four main springs, can be found among an oasis of gardens, formal parkland, and promenades. Greenery continues in a swathe of pine trees and terraced olive groves that, together with the historic funicular railway, ascend steep slopes crowned by Montecatini Alto – also the focal point of the central boulevard. With its eclectic spa architecture reinterpreted in Tuscan style, Montecatini Terme continues to serve as a center for balneological treatment.