2004

[Editor's note: we do not attest to the accuracy or completeness of these notes which are provided by the Croatian and Slovenian Postal authorities and other independent sources.] 

• Date of issue: February 19, 2004
• Value: 2,8 kn
• Author: Ana Žaja & Mario Petrak, designers, Zagreb
• Size: 35,50 x 29,82 mm
• Paper: white 102g, gummed
• Perforation: 14, comb
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
• Printed by: "Zrinski" - Čakovec
• Quantity: 300000

The stamp has been issued in a 20-stamp sheet, and there is also the First Day Cover (FDC) and the souvenir card. Motif: stylized boxing ring with one of the European stars floodlighted Most sports fans in Croatia, including those who seldom keep up with what is going on in this «noble skill», will immediately link the term boxing with the most successful boxer of all times, Mato Parlov and the town of Pula. It is this town, with the greatest boxing tradition in our country that will host the 35th European Senior Championship from February 19 to March 1, 2004.

Pula together with the Croatian Boxing Federation will be the organizer of the greatest boxing competition in Croatia with the record of 335 boxers from 42 countries participating in the championship. Among this number there will be eleven Croatian boxers whom the Croatian national team selector, Pero Tadić, will choose from among Renato and Goran Stojanović, Mirsad Ahmeti, Jetiš Bajrami, Filip Palić, Borna Katalinić, Pero Veočić, Mirzet Bajrektarević, Marijo Šivolija, Vedran Perković, Vedran Đipalo, Ivica Bačurin and Igor Bilić. This will mean the first opportunity offered to the chosen fighters to fight before the Croatian supporters, trying to ensure their appearance at the Olympic Games that are to take place in Athens in August 13 to 29, 2004. Boxers who will go to the capital of Greece will be the ones who have won placements into the semi-finals, the four first-placed in each division, at the championship in Pula's Sports Hall. Simultaneously with the European championship in Pula, there is another European anniversary to be celebrated: the 100th anniversary of the boxing discipline at the Olympics.

This sport has been on the programme of the Olympics ever since the III Olympic Games were held in the American town St.Louis in 1904. Croatian boxers have been very successful in their appearances at the Olympics. At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Mate Parlov, member of the Boxing Club from Pula, won the gold medal in the light-heavyweight division. At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Antun Josipović won the gold in the same division. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Damir Škaro won the bronze medal for the Croatian boxing in the distinguished light-heavyweight division. Croatian boxers Mate Parlov and Marijan Beneš have won titles of world and European champions in amateur boxing, and titles of professional world and European boxing champions have been won by Mate Parlov, Ivan Prebeg, Marijan Beneš, Željko Mavrović and Stipe Drviš. The honour to participate at the Olympic Games, appearing for the Croatian national team, was offered to Željko Mavrović and Stipe Drviš. Željko Mavrović lost the match in the second round of the heavyweight division at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and Stipe Drviš won the placement between the 5th and 8th position in the light-heavyweight division at the 1996 Olympic Games. Croatian boxers won a number of world and European medals fighting with the Croatian coat of arms displayed on their vests. At the European Championship in 2000 that took place in the Finnish town Tampere two boxers won silver medals: Stjepan Božić in the middleweight division and Filip Palić in the lightweight division. Filip Palić also won the bronze medal at the World Championship in Belfast in 2001.

These are only some of the greatest successes of Croatian boxing so far, covering the 84 years of its existence in this country. As a matter of fact, the date May 16, 1920, when Franjo Kulčar, Milan Hoffer, Đuro Monastir and the brothers Galić founded the «Herkules» club, is considered to be the beginning of modern organized amateur boxing. The first written records that could be linked to boxing on our territory were found by historians of our sport in Venice, in the «Documenti storici sull Istria e la Dalmazia». This is where you find recorded that there was a victory celebrated in Split, on September 28, 1571, following the outcome of the conflict with Turkish abductors at Solin, where, among other actions, boxing or fistfight had taken place. At the beginning of the past century, both in Zagreb in Split, in the gymnastics societies «Falcon» we could find boxing as one of the skills practised there. It was promoted by gymnastics trainers, firstly in the «Falcon» gymnastics societies and then at police and military academies.

(HRV) PURPLE HERON

• Date of issue.: March 22,.2004  
• Value: 5,00Kn 
• Author: Zlatko Keser, painter, Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb 
• Size: 29,82 x 35,50 mm  
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: Comb, 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 300000 

The Croatian Post has issued four commemorative postage stamps with the motif of the Purple Heron in cooperation with the Worldwide Fund for Nature – WWF, and the sign of the panda - the logotype WWF, is printed on the stamps with the permission of the registered owner of the protected sign.

Motif: Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) in various positions

The Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea Linn. 1766), also called by various local names referring to its colour as the red, dark, snaky, sooty, measly heron, belongs to waterfowl or wading birds of the Croatian ornithological fauna. It is a migratory bird that arrives in our region at the end of March and leaves it in August, September, sometimes even later. Well-known colonies of these herons can be found in the natural reserves of Kopački Rit, Krapje Djol and Jelas Polje in Croatia, the lakes Balaton and Velence in Hungary, Trebon in the Czech Republic, and they can also be found on several locations in Slovakia, near the Neusiedler Lake in Austria, in Friesland and Utrecht in the Netherlands, in the Po river basin in Italy, in Camargue, France, the Danube Delta in Romania, and further on in south, central and northern Africa, Portugal, Spain, the southern parts of Russia, in Asia Minor and northern Iran.

The Purple Heron is protected by law in most European countries. It is protected by numerous international conventions: the Bonn Convention (1975 and Bern Convention (1976), followed by the Agreement on the protection of African-Eurasian migratory wading birds (AEWA – 1995), the Convention on the protection of wetland habitats from Ramsar (1971), and in Croatia the bird is protected by the Act on the protection of nature from the year 2003 and the Regulation on the protection of various bird species from the year 1995.

The Purple Heron belongs to the group of larger birds. It is 79 cm in length, its spread out wings reach up to 135 cm, and it weighs round 1 kilogram. Its body is slender, with long legs and a long tapering bill and with chestnut feathers. The front and crown of the head, together with the decorative feathers are black, as are the breast and underbody, and parts of the shoulders and breast are also darker. There are black facial stripes stretching from the bill down to the breast, and the feathers of the neck and the line down the face are chestnut brown. The back with the wings and the rump are bluish-grey. The shoulders are covered with red-buff and coloured feathers that are the bird's decoration. The bird has yellow eyes and greenish-yellow legs. Its feet are larger than in the Grey Heron it resembles. The likeness is more distinctive in flight, but they differ in the more expressed warping of the long neck, where the warping angle, the so called «S» of the neck, is noticeably sharper than in the Grey Heron. In mid-air the heron has a more high-pitched cry than the Grey Heron, and at the time of nesting in the colonies of herons, there is a very intense crying going on day and night.

The Purple Heron lives in wetland and swamps of plant communities where there is a predominance of common reed (Phragmites australis), common club-rush (Schoenoplectus lacustris), various kinds of bulrushes (Typha), sedge (Carex) and other sorts that make a phytocoenosis of the common reed and a small crab (Scirpo – Phragmitetum W.Koch 1926). Though the reeds are the most frequent place for the dwelling and nesting of the European population, we can also find them in other habitats with a different vegetational overgrowth. They also nest in low growth bush-like alder trees, in willow copses (like in Krapje Djol in the Nature Park Lonjsko Polje). It is interesting to note that in Lonjsko Polje nests were found on common oak trees and hawthorn bushes, and they nest even on trees up to 25 m in height.

After their ritual mating, like in the Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea Linn. 1758), the couple builds their nest using simple building material consisting of sedge leaf blades, common reed and the like that can be found in the surrounding area. In the nest 4 to 5 bluish-greenish eggs can be found, and the incubation lasts 25 to 30 days. The hatched young birds are fledglings that become ready to leave the nest in 7 to 8 weeks. Herons are caring parents, regularly feed their fledglings and protect them from the blazing sun and enemies. They build their nests in «pure» or mixed colonies with other heron species: the Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Great White Egret (Egretta alba L. 1758), Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides Scopol. 1769), Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax L. 1758), even with the Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia L. 1758).

(SLO) Fossils - Oligocene Fish

• Date of issue: March 24, 2004
• Face value: 107,00 SIT
• Photography: M. Grm
• Design: Matjaž Učakar
• Motif: Oligocene Fish
• Printed by: DELO Tiskarna d. d. , Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 10 stamps
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L. S. PVA GMD 102 g/m2, gummed
• Size: 40.32 x 28.80 mm

Series:FAMOUS CROATS (C)

• Date of issue.: April 22,.2004  
• Value: 10,00Kn 
• Author: Vladimir Buzolić - Stegu, designer, Zagreb 
• Size: 29,82 x 35,50 mm  
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed  Perforation: comb, 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 300000 

The stamps have been issued in 20-stamp sheets, and the Croatian Post has also issued a commemorative First Day Cover (FDC).

Bartol Kašić, Jesuit, ecclesiastical writer, translator, grammarian and lexicographer, was born on the island of Pag on August 15th 1575. Owing to the fact that his father Petar died while Bartol was still a little boy, it was his uncle, the priest of the collegiate church in Pag, who took care of the boy. Bartol Kašić was educated in the town’s Latin school in Pag and Zadar, and at the age of 15 his uncle took him to Italy, to the Illyrian collegium in Loretto, where he spent three years. After that he was sent to Rome by the superiors of the college to continue his education there, owing to the fact that he was the best student in the collegium. When the Academy of the Illyrian language(Croatian) was founded in 1599, Kašić started teaching the Croatian language, and following his superiors’ suggestions he wrote a grammar, printed in 1604 under the title Institutiones linguae illyrice libri duo – ‘Bases of the Illyrian language in two books’. The third book should have probably been a dictionary that Kašić had in the manuscript form as early as 1599, but it was never printed.

As an organizer of Jesuit education, Bartol Kašić spent three years in Dubrovnik, and then went on his missionary journey in the Ottoman Empire, dressed up as a merchant. He went through Bosnia and arrived in Belgrade where he founded a grammar school for the Ragusan colony there. He reported on his journey and the hard living conditions of the Christians under the Turkish rule to the Pope and the cardinals. He returned to Dubrovnik in 1620 and stayed there until the year 1633. Despite the disapproval of the Ragusan authorities, Kašić founded the Jesuit residence there. From 1633 to his death in Rome, Kašić performed numerous duties. He died on December 28th, 1650 and was buried in St. Ignatius’s church.

Except for the grammar of the Croatian language, he also published numerous books in Croatian: Način od meditacioni – ‘Ways of meditation’, Istorija Loretana – ‘History of Loretto’, Život sv.Ignacija‘ - The Life of St.Ignatius’, Perivoj od djevstva – ‘The Park of Virgins’- a hagiographic collection about the lives of virgins and martyrs.

Kašić translated psalms and breviary hymns, wrote a spiritual tragedy in verse – St. Venefrida. He also wrote Život gospodina našeg Isukrsta – ‘The life of Our Lord Jesus Christ’ and Život prečiste Bogorodice – ‘Te Life of Virgin Mary’. His Ritual Rimski – ‘Roman Ritual’ printed in 1640 is of special importance – it is the first and only liturgical manual in the native language within the Catholic church. His translation of the Bible, begun in 1622 and finished after much effort and many breaks, was forbidden because of the opposition of his contemporaries, and was not printed in his lifetime, nor until much later. It was first printed in 1999. Kašić described his life in the Latin Autobiography, the first one in Croatian literature.

Kašić’s grammar of the Croatian language, Institutiones linguae illyrice, is the first Croatian grammar. It was written in Latin as the common language of science and literature, education and culture, in order to enable foreigners to learn the Croatian language that they would have to use as missionaries, merchants, business people when arriving in these regions where Croats used to live then, i.e. in Croatia, Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in the wider south-Slavonic area. He wrote his grammar following the distinguished model – the Latin language. The name Illyrian, according to Kašić’s as well as his superiors’ perception, was the same as Croatian, or Slovinski, meaning Slavonic. The grammar material used, described and treated by Kašić was in fact the Croatian language reality of the 17th century, both in speech and in written books, i.e. the Chakavian and Štokavian dialects. Like in the Grammar, Kašić’s language slowly moved from the Chakavian toward the Štokavian, the same way things were moving in the entire Croatian literature of the 17th century. Kašić was the first to suggest the graphic system – every sound should be always written in the same way, with one letter (or a double letter), and is in this way predecessor to both Vitezović and Gaj.

The 400th anniversary of Kašić’s grammar is the confirmation of the integrity of the Croatian language and its uninterrupted written tradition from Kašić on, even before him, up to the present days. How important this grammar was in its time becomes obvious in all the grammars that rely on it. The grammar has presently been reprinted numerous times, many disputes and studies have been published, and it was also translated into Croatian.

• Date of issue: April 22,.2004
• Value: 3,5 kn
• Author: Vladimir Buzolić - Stegu, designer, Zagreb
• Size: 29,82 x 35,50 mm
• Paper: white 102g, gummed
• Perforation: 14, comb
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
• Printed by: "Zrinski" - Čakovec
• Quantity: 300000

The stamps have been issued in 20-stamp sheets, and the Croatian Post has also issued a commemorative First Day Cover (FDC).

Andrija Aleši (Alessi, Alexi), sculptor and master builder, was born in Durrës, Albania, round the year 1425. He died in Split in 1504 or 1505. Though of Albanian origin, all his life and activities can be clearly followed through his works and documents in Croatian lands. Together with Georgius Dalmaticus (Juraj Dalmatinac)and Niccoló Fiorentino (Nikola Firentinac), A. Aleši is considered to have been one of the leading master builders and sculptors in Dalmatia who has significantly contributed to the brilliant era of the 15th century Croatian art. As early as the year 1435 he was made assistant to the Zadar-based stone mason Marko Petrov from Troia, and his name was soon mentioned among the assistants of Georgius Dalmaticus, engaged in the building of the cathedral in Šibenik (in 1445 as assistant, in 1447 as master builder), and was named habitator Sibenici (inhabitant of Šibenik).

It is also known that he built St. Catherine’s chapel in the Dominican church in Split (1448) (there is only a fragment with the angel’s bust preserved – today to be found in the Archaeological Museum in Split). At some later time he could be found working as chief assistant to G.Dalmaticus at the Loggia dei mercanti in Ancona. In Rab, in the period from 1453 to 1462, he built a chapel in St. John’s church, a sepulchral slab with the relief featuring the image of Bishop Zudenico de Zudenicis (which has disappeared), the chapel for the nobleman Nikola Scaffo and the chapel in the cathedral of Rab for Franjo Zudenico (which was destroyed). On the island of Rab he also built the small pales in St. Bernardine’s church in Kampor (broken), the courtyard portal of the Crnota palace, the portal and window of the Zudenico palace, and other constructions. All these works show the features of the late Gothic style of the fiery Venetian Gothic with the obvious influence of Georgius Dalmaticus.

Aleši had his workshop in Split as early as 1456. It is known that he worked on the construction of the vestry and baptistery of the cathedral (St. Jerome in the cave, relief of Jesus Christ’s baptism, St. John the Baptist’s sculpture) where he carved in his name and the year 1467. In this task he collaborated with Niccoló Fiorentino, and the two of them together signed a contract for the building of the chapel of the Blessed Ivan Ursini (sculptures of St. Jerome, St. John the Baptist the apostles in the right-hand niche, decorative parts of the chapel).In 1472 Aleši was busy working on the spire of the Split Cathedral, and together with Niccoló Fiorentino he worked in Apulia on the facade of St. Mary’s church on the islet San Niccola (Tremiti).

Documents mention his name in Split (1474), and in 1480 he signed his name on the stone polyptych in the small church of St. Jerome’s on the hill of Marjan. By applying comparative analysis, Aleši’s work also includes numerous reliefs and works of art in Split, Zadar, on the island of Pašman, in Dubrovnik, as well as in some collections and museums abroad (Venice, Paris, Liverpool, Rome, and other places). Also attributed to him are works found on some palaces in Split (Papalić palace, the Grisogono palace on the Peristil and others).

Shortly before his death he made a sepulchral slab for himself in the church of the Holy Spirit in Split where he called himself “Andreas Alexius Epirota Dirachinus nobilis genere civis Spalatinus ob merita factus”. Aleši’s early works (Rab and Split) are characterised by the late Gothic features of the times, while in the baptistery of the Trogir cathedral he joined the late Gothic and early Renaissance elements, characteristic of the Dalmatian art, particularly the one coming from the circle round Georgius Dalmaticus.

Aleši’s sculptural works show soft modelling, strong anatomy of figures and an elongated shape of their heads. Aleši has made numerous reliefs with the image of St. Jerome, presenting the saint as a hermit in the cave with the discarded cardinal’s hat, surrounded by beasts and serenely absorbed in his books. This significant ecclesiastic writer of Illyrian [Istrian] origin who, at the end of the 4th century, translated the Bible from Hebraic and Greek into Latin, wrote a text that comes under the name Vulgate on which all European translations are based. Together with two signed reliefs with the image of St. Jerome (St.Jere’s church on Marjan in Split, the baptistery of the Trogir cathedral), attributed to Aleši, there are also numerous other reliefs of St. Jerome (London, Split, Dubrovnik, Venice, Rome, Paris, the island of Pašman). He was able to work on these works of art of smaller dimensions at the end of his life, in the quiet atmosphere of his workshop, outside the framework of his great orders and undertakings. The relief of St. Jerome found in the church of St. John in Zadar (dimensions 34x35 cm) is very similar to the one in St. Jere’s church on Marjan in Split. The bony, lean ascetic figure of the hermit, with a tapering head and a bushy beard, with the cardinal’s hat under his feet, surrounded by beasts (dragon, lion, snake, eagle) may contain some self-portrait lines and Illyrian features that, through using anthropologic measurements, indicate that Illyrians were tall people with marked features and bushy beards. In visual terms the relief shows freedom and assuredness in the composition, drawing and modelling and represents a little masterpiece among Aleši’s later works.

• Date of issue.: June 5, 2004  
• Value: 3,50Kn 
• Author: Danijel Popović, designer, Zagreb 
• Size: 29,82 x 35,50 mm 
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: Comb, 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint with added fragrance  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 300000 

There are several sorts of peppermints growing in Croatia, but the plant used for medicinal purposes is the product of hybridizing various sorts of peppermint.

The Peppermint is a very old medicinal herb originating from the Far East. At the end of the 17th century it started spreading in Europe, and has been grown continuously ever since.

The Peppermint or Brandy Mint grows up to the height of 80 cm with longish ear-like purple to violet flowers in various colour shades. The whole herb is very aromatic and has a pleasant balsamic fragrance. The taste is hot at first and then cooling, like camphor.

Peppermint leaves are used for medicinal purposes. The most important ingredient is the volatile oil with menthol as the most distinctive part. Besides, the herb contains tannin, bitter substances and ferments.

The history of its medicinal value can be found in old Chinese records, in the records from ancient Egypt and medieval Europe. Nowadays it is cultivated in Europe and America.

For medicinal purposes peppermint leaves and distilled volatile oil from the herb are used. The application of the oil has many-fold effects: it soothes pain, does away with cramps, nervous states, and has a particularly therapeutic effect on nerves sensitive to cold weather. Peppermint tea is excellent for medical problems that can be found in frequent, everyday usage.

Peppermint is also frequently used in the form of extracts or compresses made of peppermint leaves.

• Date of issue.: June 5, 2004  
• Value: 2,80Kn 
• Author: Danijel Popović, designer, Zagreb 
• Size: 29,82 x 35,50 mm 
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: Comb, 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint with added fragrance  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 300000 

Sweet Violet is a favourite spring flower that appeals to people’s senses by its fine look and pleasing scent. It grows on clearings, among the bushes, in shady places and along woodland margins. The plant is also cultivated in gardens in the form of some smaller variety.

It is a perennial plant with a thick and short underground stem and rich above-ground shoots. It propagates by both shoots and seeds. Individual flowers develop on a long stalk at the top of which there are five dark blue to purple and violet, and sometimes white or pale red petals. The flower attracts people by its beauty, delicacy and fragrance. It symbolizes the awakening of life by its early spring blossoming.

The violet has a pleasing, well known and characteristic fragrance that appeals to man’s senses.

All parts of the plant are used for medicinal purposes: flowers, leaves, the whole plant and the stem. The essential medicinal ingredients are proteins, volatile oils, saponin, alkaloid violin and compounds of salicylic acid.

As a medicinal herb the sweet violet has been well known and appreciated since the times of Greek civilization. It is applied as a cure against coughing, as a soothing remedy in cases of hysteria, hypochondria and nervous heartbeat.

Furthermore, it is used in the form of tea to prevent cramps, insomnia and headache. External application comes in forms of foot baths, rinses for the mouth or eyelids, and also in compresses for sore parts of the body.

• Date of issue.: June 5,.2004  
• Value: 2,30Kn 
• Author: Danijel Popović, designer, Zagreb 
• Size: 29,82 x 35,50 mm 
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: Comb, 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint with added fragrance  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 300000 

In our country there are several rose sorts growing naturally, their area spreading between the sea coast and up to the high mountains. Among them the most frequent and best known sort is the Dog-rose or Wild Briar, also known as Dog-rose Berry with a range of local names. Worldwide, there are also tens of thousands of decorative forms of various garden roses.

The Croatian dog-rose grows in the shape of degraded bushes or in groups, on sunny woodland margins, hedgerows, along fences, boundary lines and paths, on newly cleared land and degraded habitats.

The Dog-rose is a deciduous shrub, up to several meters in height. The shrub has branches with strong downward-curved prickles. It flowers in spring and has pale pink or almost white flowers that exude a pleasing fragrant smell. The most important part of the rose is its fruit, the hip, which is egg-shaped, with a wonderful light-red colour, filled with numerous seeds – tiny nuts. The meaty pulp is sour-sweet and has a pleasant acidity and stinging taste.

Petals are sometimes gathered for medicinal purposes, but the chief medicinal part of the Dog-rose is the fruit – hips, which are gathered at the time of ripening, while they are firm and light-red in colour. Hip jam is made from mature fruits.

The Dog-rose fruit contains a high percentage of vitamin C and several sorts of acids, coloured volatile oils, sugars, iron, aluminium and other substances. On account of their contents, the hips are a veritable chemical plant. The use of hips rests on the awareness that it is highly healthy and a natural medicinal remedy rich in vitamin C. Its special value is the fact that the content of vitamin C does not get diminished by cooking it. Other active substances in the rose hip also have great importance, particularly for cleansing the digestive and urologic tracts.

• Date of issue.: June 6, 2004  
• Value: 3,50Kn 
• Size: 30000 
• Paper: white, 102 g., gummed 
• Perforation: Comb, 14  
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint  
• Printed by: "Zrinski", Čakovec  
• Quantity: 300000 

• Motif: Small stylized puppet stage

The 19th World UNIMA Congress will be held in Opatija (7th to 11th June 2004) and the accompanying International Puppetry Art Festival will be held in Rijeka (6th to 12th June 2004).

Puppetry is a very popular branch of art in the world, and puppeteers are lively, organized and mobile. UNIMA is the oldest international theatre organization in the world that celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. It was founded in Prague in 1929 as the Union Internationale de la Marionnette or UNIMA, and presently has 59 member countries and 5854 members from all over the world.

UNIMA is a non-governmental organization affiliated to UNESCO, with the goal of bringing together all those who can contribute to the development of puppetry art. UNIMA realizes this goal by organizing congresses, conferences, festivals, exhibitions, courses, workshops and by stimulating professional education and training and intensify historical and theoretical research and puppetry itself as the means of ethical and aesthetical education.

There is a tradition of holding world congresses of UNIMA and presenting to the congress participants recent stage performances of puppet theatres from all over the world. Thus, together with the 19th world congress and the 75th anniversary of the founding of UNIMA there will also be held a representative puppetry festival with 27 performances from 18 countries. Among the chosen ones are also five Croatian performances, and the others come from Vietnam, Mexico, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Japan, Italy, Hungary, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, The Russian Federation, Germany, France, Canada and Norway. Part of the performances will be played in the Town Puppet Theatre in Rijeka. The greatest part of the programme, though, will animate other theatre venues: the Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc, the hall of the Croatian Cultural House in Sušak, the KUC Kalvarija and others. Performances will also take place in other, non-theatrical venues – squares, parks, city streets, and this street art will turn Rijeka, a town with a rich tradition of puppetry (with the first puppet group appearing here in the 30s of the last century), into a lively, huge stage, with jugglers, stilt walkers, clowns, acrobats, street-art artists, puppets and puppeteers of all sorts.

As the town of Rijeka cannot be detached from water, the sea, and water is a characteristic feature of this region, it was decided that the theme of the International Puppetry Festival should be water itself, in all its literal and metaphorical meanings, which does not exclude performances that touch upon other themes.

The International Puppetry Festival in Rijeka will be dedicated to the first president of the Croatian Centre of UNIMA, Dalibor Foretić, the 75th anniversary of UNIMA and the 130th anniversary of the birth of Ivana Brlić-Maľuranić, and on this occasion the Croatian Centre of UNIMA will publish the English translation of the “Stories from Ancient Times”.

• Date of issue: September 22, 2004
• Face value: 221,00 SIT
• Design: Studio Botas
• Motif: The Map of FTT
• Printed by: DELO Tiskarna, d. d. , Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Block: One stamp
• Paper: Chancellor oba free, L. S. PVA GMD 102 g/m2, gummed
• Size: 28.80 x 40.32 mm, Miniature Sheet Size: 60 x 70 mm

Anniversary of the London Memorandum

The London Memorandum, also known as the Memorandum of Understanding or the Second London Memorandum, is an international agreement signed by the representatives of Italy, Yugoslavia, Great Britain and the United States on 5 October 1954 in London. It addressed the issue of border demarcation between Italy and Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) that had been unresolved since the end of World War II. Under the terms of the Peace Treaty of 1947 with Italy, Trieste and the surrounding area became part of the Free Territory of Trieste (FTT) divided into Zone A, which included the city of Trieste and which was under joint British/US military force control, and Zone B (the remainder of the Free Territory), under Yugoslav army control. Following the signature of the London Memorandum, Zone A was placed under Italian administration and Zone B under Yugoslav civil administration. Slovenia achieved, through the London Memorandum, access to the sea. The Memorandum was a result of long lasting negotiations. It consisted of nine articles settling some fundamental issues such as demarcation of the FTT, protection of the minority ethnic groups and the Free Port of Trieste. The Special Statute annexed to the Memorandum granted the minorities of the two zones equal rights and opportunities with the other inhabitants and the protection of their linguistic, cultural and economic rights. It was the first international document providing for the protection of the Slovene minority in Italy. The protection, however, was limited only to Slovenes living in the Region of Friuli-Venezia Guilia. The outstanding issues between Italy and Yugoslavia were finally resolved by the Treaty of Osimo signed in 1975 in Osimo near Ancona and ratified in 1977. As a legal successor to Yugoslavia, Slovenia took over the Treaty obligations in 1992.

(SLO) Flora - Marsh Helleborine

• Date of issue: September 22, 2004
• Face value: 52,00 SIT
• Drawing: Zagorka Simić
• Design: Zagorka Simić
• Motif: Marsh Helleborine
• Printed by: DELO Tiskarna, d. d. , Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 25 stamps
• Paper: Chancellor oba free, L. S. PVA GMD 102 g/m2, gummed
• Size: 40.32 x 28.80 mm

Marsh Helleborine – Epipactis palustris (L.) Crantz

The Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris) stands out starkly among the orchids of the genus Epipactis. Not only because it is the only one of them to thrive in marshes and fens, but also because it is special in its appearance. Its richly-shaped and colourful flowers are hard to miss. The Marsh Helleborine flowers in mid summer. The flowers have five lanceolate whitish-red to greenish petals and an elaborate lower petal, or lip, clearly divided into two white lobes connected with an isthmus. The part closest to the column base (the hypochile) has a yellow stripe running through the median with red radiating veins extending from it to the left and right, while the outermost part has yellow bottom with lightly wavy edge. Apart from the eastern parts of the country, the Marsh Helleborine can be found in virtually all wetlands across Slovenia. It is a plant of lowland accessible fens and pastures with Purple Moor-Grass but can also be found in some relatively dry habitats such as bright forests. It mostly favours carbonate-containing substrates. Although the Marsh Helleborine is still a relatively common plant in Slovenia, it is threatened by habitat loss or degradation due to human interventions such as drainage and fertilising. As a result, it was red-listed in 2002 as a vulnerable species.

(Slo) Flora - Late Spider Orchid

• Date of issue: September 22, 2004
• Face value: 107,00 SIT
• Drawing: Zagorka Simić
• Design: Zagorka Simić
• Motif: Late Spider Orchid
• Printed by: DELO Tiskarna, d. d. , Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Block: one stamp
• Paper: Chancellor oba free, L. S. PVA GMD 102 g/m2, gummed
• Size: 70 x 60 mm

Late Spider Orchid – Ophrys holosericea (Burm. fil.) Greuter

Spider orchids are one of the most unusual wild orchids growing in Slovenia. With only a few species found here and their declining populations, these rare orchids are rather unknown to most people. Among spider orchids of Slovenia, the Late Spider Orchid is perhaps the one with the most unusually shaped flower, which reveals a remarkably intricate pattern of shapes and colours used to attract insect pollinators. More specifically, its flower's lip, or central lower petal (labellum), has been shaped to mimic particular female insects (such as those of long-horned bees (Eucera bees)). By mimicking females, orchids are sexual deceivers that trick males into pollination. The males attempt to copulate with the flowers, which cover them in pollen to be carried to the next faux foxy flower. Traditional habitat of Late Spider Orchids are sunny, unmanured and moderately dry to moist meadows and alpine pastures. It can also be found in the lowlands and hilly areas throughout the country, however due to interventions to their natural habitat – increasingly intensive management of grasslands (excessive fertilising, drainage) on the one hand, and the abandoning of steep mountain pastures (leading to overgrowing of these pastures) on the other hand, the orchid populations are steadily declining. This is why the Late Spider Orchid is red listed (it was included in the Red List of threatened plants in 2002) as a vulnerable species.

(Slo) Europe in Miniature - The Čupa Fishing Boat

• Date of issue: September 22, 2004
• Face value: 52,00 SIT
• Drawing: Zagorka Simić
• Design: Julija Zornik
• Motif: The Čupa Fishing Boat
• Printed by: DELO Tiskarna, d. d. , Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 3-colour offset
• Sheet: 50 stamps
• Paper: Chancellor oba free, L. S. PVA GMD 102 g/m2, gummed
• Size: 25.60 x 34.50 mm

(SLO) Fruits in Slovenia - The Williams Pear

• Date of issue: September 22, 2004
• Face value: 45,00 SIT
• Drawing: Matjaž Učakar
• Design: Matjaž Učakar
• Motif: The Williams Pear
• Printed by: DELO Tiskarna, d. d. , Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 45 stamps + 5 labels (3 se-tenant stamps)
• Paper: Chancellor oba free, L. S. PVA GMD 102 g/m2, gummed
• Size: 23.20 x 30.45 mm

• Data di emissione: October 26, 2004
• Valore: 0,450 €
• Disigno di:  M. C. Perrini
• Tema: Piazza dell'unità d'Italia, a Trieste
• Dent.: 13×13¼. fogli da 50
• Stampa: rotocalco, policromo
• Tir.: 3500000

La vignetta raffigura una prospettiva di Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia, in Trieste; nella piazza, sui lampioni si alternano il tricolore e gonfaloni della città con l’alabarda bianca su fondo rosso e, in primo piano a destra, su un balcone è esposta la bandiera italiana.

• Data di emissione: 30 ottobre 2004
• Valore: euro 2,80
• Tiratura: tre milioni e cinquecentomila esemplari
• Vignetta: raffigura una immagine stilizzata dell’Arsenale di Venezia visto dall’alto, dove il territorio è sostituito con i caratteristici circuiti integrati. Completano il francobollo la leggenda “IX CENTENARIO FONDAZIONE ARSENALE DI VENEZIA”, la scritta “ITALIA” ed il valore “€ 2,80”.
• Bozzettista: Valeria Gasparrini
• Stampa: Officina Carte Valori dell’Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato S.p.A., in rotocalcografia
• Colori: quadricromia
• Carta: fluorescente, non filigranata
• Formato carta: mm 40 x 30
• Formato stampa: mm 36 x 26
• Dentellatura: 13 x 13 �
• Foglio: cinquanta esemplari, valore “€ 140,00”

Bibliography:

• Croatian Post Inc. - Croatian Postage Stamps - English & Hrvatski
• Post of Slovenia - English & Slovensko
• Poste Italiane - Filatelia