Belgium January 2000

Welcome 2000

The first stamp of the new millennium is dedicated to the transition from 1999 to 2000. The postage stamp shows cracking fireworks with, as a festoon cleaving through the air, a festive representation of the year in numbers. The year runs through each horizontal row of se-tenant stamps.
Value: 17f.
First day: 3 January 2000.
Size: 48 x 27.66mm.
Design: Myriam Voz / Thierry Martin.

Promotion of Philately

This series consists of three stamps from which the highest value is printed as a miniature sheet. The surtax of those stamps goes to the support of the preparations for the stamp exhibition Belgica 2001.
Queen Astrid (17f) was born in Stockholm on 17 November 1905. On 4 November 1926 she married Leopold and became the fourth queen of Belgium. She soon won the Belgian people's symphathy. Her great spontaneity and unpretentiousness contributed to her great popularity. The couple had three children. Queen Astrid was tragically killed in a road accident in 1935.
Queen Fabiola (32f), the fifth queen of the Belgians, was a descendant of an aristocratic Spanish family. She was born in Madrid on 11 June 1928. She studied to be a nurse and applied herself to social work. Since she married King Baudouin on 15 December 1960 she has seldom been seen without a charming smile on her face (as we have been told by the Belgian Post).
Queen Paola (50f) was born on 11 September 1937 in Forte dei Marmi. She spent all of her youth in Rome and met Albert for the first time in 1958. The couple got married in Brussels on 2 July 1959. Paola gave birth to three children from which Philippe probably will be the forthcoming King of Belgium.
Size: 38.15 x 48.75mm (stamps) and 125 x 90mm (miniature sheet).
First day: 24 January 2000.
Designer and engraver: Guillaume Broux.
Layout: Myriam Voz / Thierry Martin.

Brussels European City of Culture

On the threshold of the 21st century, Brussels will enjoy the privilege of bearing the title of "City of Culture of Europe". An elaborate programme and a series of events which enable the public to rediscover the city.
François Schuiten designed the three stamps forming a panoramic view of Brussels, composed of three stamps and two labels.
Values: 17f (all three stamps).
First day: 24 January 2000.
Size: 27.66 x 40.20mm.
Design: François Schuiten.

More information

Stamps of Belgium
Postage Stamps 2000
Queen Astrid
Art in Belgium