COVER N.156 -  SLOVAKIA

Postmark: FDC 1.1.2000 / Bratislava 5 16.08.22
Posted on 16th August; received on the 22th August 2022
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A First Day Cover from Slovakia, updated with more recent stamps for expedition. Nice! Thank you so much, Venco!

The first set of stamps issued by Slovakia on the very first day of the new century - 01JAN2000 -  was a se-tenant pair, with face values of 10 and 12 Slovak Koruna, dedicated to the "Splendours of our Homeland".

The 10 Sk stamp on my cover depicts the Dunajec River Gorge in the Pieniny Mountains, which constitutes a natural border between Poland and Slovakia, and is famous for the wooden raft descents that take place daily. This fact is highlighted in the stamp that features a view of the gourge with a wooden raft navigating the waters and the legend Prielom Dunajaca (Dunajec River Gorge). 

The stamp is cancelled with a postmark that features a view of the city of Červený Kláštor, wherein the administration of the Pieniny National Park, where the Dunajec river gorge is located, has its headquarters.

To post this interesting FDC to me, Venco used two more recent stamps:

1 Euro stamp, issued on 30MAR2020 honouring the  200th Anniversary of the birth of Andrej Sládkovič, (1820-1872) who, according to wikipedia, was a poet, critic, publicist, translator and Lutheran priest.

T1 100g (Domestic up to 100g) stamp, part of a two stamp set with the same denomination issued on 09OCT2008, dedicated to wooden churches as part of the "Beauties of our Homeland” series.  Of note is the fact that these stamps were issued as part of a minisheet, which contained two perforated rows, each with the two stamps and a label between them also featuring the image on a wooden church.

As usual with Slovak stamps the designs are wonderful and I especially like the wooden church drawing. 

The regular Postmark on the two "operative" stamps tells us that the cover was mailled from the country's capital, Bratislava.