Paleophilatelie.eu is a focal point between Paleontology and Philately
  • Home
  • Catalogue
  • Gallery
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Links
  • Milestones
  • Country
  • Year
  • Descriptions
  • Legend
  • Glossary
search tips advanced search
search engine by freefind

Belgium

<< previous country
back to index
next country >>

Contents:
  • Country overview
  • Philately at Belgium
  • Official stamps of Belgium related to Paleontology
  • Another stamps of Belgium to consider
  • Commemorative postmarks of Belgium related to Paleontology
  • Special covers of Belgium related to Paleontology
  • References

Belgium
, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts several of the EU's official seats and as well as the headquarters of many major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres  and has a population of about 11 million people.  Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups: the Dutch-speaking, mostly Flemish community, which constitutes about 59% of the population, and the French-speaking, mostly Walloon population, which comprises 41% of all Belgians. Additionally, there is a small group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area, and bordering Germany.  Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. Its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of government. [R1]



Official stamps of Belgium related to Paleontology: dinosaurs, fossils, paleontologist .
28.05.1966  "National Science Heritage"  [1] 20.10.2001  "The 20th Century"  [2] 07.09.2015 "Dinosaurs"
Iguanodon dinosaur on stamps of National Science Heritage of Belgium 1966 paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin on stamps of Belgium 2001 Dinosaurs on stamps of Belgium 2015
27.08.2018 "Face to face with prehistoric animals"
prehistoric animals on stamps of Belgium 2018
Notes:
  [1] Fossil of Iguanodon dinosaurs is depicted on green stamp with face value of  1f
. [2] Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, paleontologist who took part in the discovery of Peking Man, depicted on the third stamp in the second row from top.



Another stamps to consider
30.03.1996  "The 150th Anniversary of the Institute of Science"  [A1] 11.06.2018 "The Africa Museum" [A2]
Iguanodon on reverse side of  The 150th Anniversary of the Institute of Science booklet of  stamps of Belgium 1996 The Africa Museum on stamps of Belgium 2018
Notes:

  [A1] On occasion of  "the 150th Anniversary of the Institute of Science", post of Belgium issued a booklet with sic insect stamps. The building of the musuem and stylized Iguanodon depicted on the reverse side.
Thirty relatively complete iguanodon skeletons were discovered 322m underground in a coal mine in Bernissart, Belgium at the end of the 19th century. Since the bones were still in their original position, it was possible to present the skeletons in ‘lifelike’ poses.
One of the Iguanodons was depicted on stamp of Belgium 1966.

 [A2]   The Africa Museum is recognized worldwide for its rich, varied and scientifically valuable collections. The majority of its visitors are unaware of the size of this heritage as the permanent exhibition only has about 1% on display. The museum is known for its ethnographic objects, but its natural science collections, archives and photos are equally remarkable.
The vast majority of the objects come from the DR Congo and were collected during the colonial period. However, the museum's collections contain specimens from around the world, dating back 650 million years (for some of the fossils) to the present day.
The fossil collection has more than 18,000 specimens from Central Africa, collected through fieldwork or acquired through donations.
The collection is very diverse in terms of types of specimen (from the remains of large reptiles to microscopic skeletons of unicellular organisms) and in terms of age (approximately 650 million years to a few thousand years old).
Examples of large specimen series include: stromatolites from the Neoproterozoic (Lower Congo, Katanga, Kasaï) ; plant fossils from the Carboniferous-Permian (Katanga) ; fish fossils from the Jurassic-Cretaceous of the Congo Basin ; a diverse fauna from the Cretaceous-Cenozoic of the Atlantic coastal region (Lower Congo, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon).
More info on webiste of the museum:  [1]  [2]





Commemorative postmarks and meter franking of Belgium related to Paleontology: dinosaurs
1954  "Sinclair"  07.09.2015 "Dinosaurs" [FDC]
Dinosaur on meter franking of Belgium 1954
Dinosaur on postmark of Belgium 2015
Dinosaur on postmark of Belgium 2015
Legend:
[FDC]  - Post Marks used on FDC of  official stamp
[PM]    - Permanent postmark: available for a long period of time
[Sp]      - Special postmark: issued for special event and was available for short period of time
[N]       - new design of early introduced postmarks


Notes
:



Special covers of Belgium related to Paleontology: dinosaurs
197x  " Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences"  [COV1]
Dinosaur on meter franking of Belgium 1954
Notes:
 [COV1]   Iguanodon is a symbol of  Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences ,  fossil of this dinosaurs depicted on covers of the institute in 1970th. as well as on stamp in 1966 and a booklet cover in 1996.




<< previous country
back to index
next country >>

References:
  [R1]  More information about Belgium is on Wikipedia  WikiTravel   Flag Country
                   Links to Belgium's post authority and stamps  catalog websites are here

PaleoPhilatelie.eu logo

Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional

hit counter code


Latest update 15.11.2018

Any feedback, comments or even complaints are welcome: admin@paleophilatelie.eu (you can email me on ENglish, DEutsch, or RUssian)