Taj Mahal on United Nations stamps

 

Date of Issue : 16 July 2014

United Nations Postal Administration UNPA will issue a set of six stamps on Taj Mahal on 16 July 2014.Stamps will be released in the denominations of US$ 0.49, US$ 1.15, CHF 1.40, CHF 1.90, € 0.90 and € 1.70 (in sheets of 20 stamps) on the theme “World Heritage – Taj Mahal”.Three prestige booklets will also be issued on the same day.

- Dr Satish Sondhi - Ludhiana

 

The stamps are part of the UNPA World Heritage series that began in 1997. The Taj Mahal was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1983. The UNESCO website provides a description of the structure: “An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra [India] between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, the Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage.”

The stamps, two for each UNPA post office, reproduce photographs of the Taj Mahal. Animals are included in the photographs shown on the two stamps for use from the post office at the International Vienna Center in Vienna, Austria. The €0.90 stamp pictures a man leading a camel in Yamuna River beside the Taj Mahal. An elephant saddled for a ride is grazing near the Taj Mahal on the 01.70 stamp.

The two stamps for use from the post office at U.N. headquarters in New York City are denominated 49¢ and $1.15. A southern view of the white marble tomb and the four minarets surrounding it is featured on the 49¢ stamp.

The sky is filled with orange hues on the 1.40-franc stamp for use from the post office at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

The 1.90fr stamp shows the tomb and its reflecting pool.

The photograph on the $1.15 stamp shows the Taj Mahal and its mosque reflected in the river, all bathed in a rosy glow.