2012Rab – San Marino - Miniature Sheet

Modern concept of town twinning implies connecting of two or more local communities by means of various activities. The twinning charter between the town of San Marino and the community of Rab was signed on 22 June 1968.

The founder of the Republic of San Marino, the patron of stonecutters and faulty accused people and the lasting connection between the island of Rab and San Marino – all that is St. Marino, a stonecutter from Rab, who lived in the 3rd and 4thcentury. The story about St. Marino is a combination of real history and myth. Marino was a stonecutter born in Lopar on the island of Rab and he remained remembered in history as the saint founder (Il santo fondatore) of the Republic of San Marino in 301. His day is celebrated on September, 3rd, the day of his death, which is also state holiday in San Marino. San Marino is the oldest republic in Europe and the reason can probably be found in the legend that says that St. Marino before his death said to his followers: “Sons, I liberate you from any kind of reign, civil as well as ecclesiastical“.