COVER N.82 - Czech Republic
Postmark: PRAHA1 - 8.03.22
Posted on the 8th March; received on the 16th March
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Rain has finally come to my country again, after a very dry winter that put our water reservoirs near critical level in a large area of our territory, so I don't know whose rain fell on the beautiful cover I received from the Czech Republic. It could have been Czech rain, it could have been Portuguese rain, but the somewhat wrinkled envelope is keeping the secret to itself, and in all truth it really doesn't matter, because even if a bit crumpled, the stamps it holds are works of art, and a joy to the eye of the beholder. Thank you so much Ivan!

Stamps, left to right:

1 Koruna stamp issued on 15FEB2021, part of a definitive series themed on Butterflies started in 2020 with 3 stamps. The butterfly depicted is the "orange tip" (Anthocharis cardamines), a common species of the Pieridae family, that is present in all of Europe (Portugal included) and Asia, up to the Himalaian region.

B tariff (Standard up to 50 g in domestic Economy service) stamp issued on 26FEB2020, celebrating the centenary of the Czech Constitutional Court. The legend "One Hundred Years of Constitutional Justice is cantered in between the images of the heads of two pillars from the Constitutional Court in Brno. The one on the left bears the inscription "Democracy" and the one on the right claims " The Rule of Law".

19 Koruna stamp, issued on 10OCT2018, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the National Museum in Prague, the largest of the Czech museums. The main image on the stamp is that of the statue of Čechie, an allegory of the Czech Nation,  on top of the fountain right in front on the National Museum, whose façade can be seen in the background.

Both these very beautiful stamps were designed by graphic artist and stamp designer Jan Kavan. Born in 1947, Jan Kavan has designed many a stamp for the former Czechoslovak and current Czech postal service, so the later decided to honour him with the rather elegant special cancellation mark celebrating his 75th birthday that was used to cancel the stamps on my cover.

Ivan also applied a very nice vignette with an image of god Baco (?) but I could not find any information about it, although I suspect it came from the pen of Jan Kavan too...