On 4 September, 2013 in accordance with the decision of the Commission of the Federal Agency of Communications (Rossvyaz) on state signs of postal payment a souvenir sheet “The 100th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago” is issued. Under the jurisdiction of the Federal Agency of Communications the FSUE PTC “Marka” has prepared this issue.
On September 4, 1913 the Hydrographic Expedition (1910-1915) headed by B.A. Vilkitski has discovered an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, located on the border of the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea. The archipelago is called Nicholas II Land. On January 11, 1926 according to decree of the Presidium of the National Central Executive Committee it was renamed into Severnaya Zemlya.
The archipelago consists of four large islands (October Revolution, Bolshevik, Komsomolets, Pioneer) and several small ones. The total area is about 37 thousand square kilometers. 47% of Severnaya Zemlya surface is ice-covered. The archipelago has 20 major glaciers. The banks of the islands are occasionally steep and rocky; they are cut with deep fiord like bays. The most northern island point of Asia is situated in Severnaya Zemlya - it is the Arctic Cape on Komsomolets Island.
The postage stamps depict ice-breakers “Vaygach”, “Taymyr” and portrait of B.A. Vilkitski; there is a landscape of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago on the margins of the souvenir sheet.
The artistic cover is prepared for the issue, there is a souvenir sheet and FDCs inside of it.
Artist-designer: A. Drobyshev.
Face value: 15 rub. of each stamp.
Size of souvenir sheet: 136х80 mm; size of stamps in the souvenir sheet: 37х26 mm and 26х37 mm.
Circulation: 80 thousand copies
« back