World’s first Thermo - sensitive stamps…

 

 

Hi !

Here are world’s first heat sensitive stamps issued by Belgium Post. These are unique stamps with special features. The color of the tree depicted on stamp changes with increase in the temperature.

The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (IRM) is celebrating its hundredth anniversary this summer. On this occasion, the Institute has partnered with bpost to present the first Belgian and even world novelty: four thermosensitive stamps depicting the four seasons of the year.

The IRM is celebrating its 100th anniversary on July 31. To mark the event, the Institute cooperated with bpost to issue special stamps printed with a temperature responsive ink.

“This technological innovation is the first Belgian and certainly the world first”, exclaims the spokesman for bpost, Fred Lens. The series consists of five stamps: a stamp depicting the building of the IRM and four heat-sensitive stamps, each representing a tree whose leaf forms the map of Belgium. The foliage is green but when the temperature exceeds 25°, for example if one puts a finger on the stamp, the green layer disappears showing the tree in one of the four seasons (sun, rain, snow, clouds).

New stamps on Music

Belgium post issued a stamp dedicated to traditional music festivals held in open air all around Belgium in summer time. The most famous ones:

Rock Werchter: it’s a Belgian annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, since 1976. It is one of the five biggest annual rock music festivals in Europe (the other four being Exit, Sziget Festival, the Glastonbury Festival and Roskilde Festival). The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2012 festivals received the Arthur award for best festival in the world at the International Live Music Conference (ILMC). It can host 85,000 guests daily, of which 67,000 combine all four days, to add up to a total maximum of 139,000 different attendees.

Pukkelpop: it’s an annual music festival which takes place near the city of Hasselt, Belgium in mid-to-late August. It is held within a large enclosure of fields and woodland in the village of Kiewit, approximately 7 km north of Hasselt. It is the second largest music festival in the country after Rock Werchter, with an attendance rate of 180,000 over the course of the event in 2009.

Dour Festival: it is an annual music festival in the municipality of Dour, Belgium. Since its creation in 1989, the festival has grown to an attendance of about 144,000 in 2008 (over 4 days). The festival format now consists of 4 days, 6 stages and 200 bands and DJ’s. The festival’s acts come from a wide range of genres, such as: electro, rock, drum and bass, pop, R&B, reggae, house, punk, hardcore, metal, hip-hop, indie, techno and more. The festival attracts a very international and mixed crowd. In January 2010, Dour Festival won the prize for the best medium-sized festival at the European Festival Awards.