New Stamp - Issuing Entity # 264, Romania, France and Russia

Hi again. Today I will lead off with a card , my first , from Kurdistan. Iraqi Kurdistan, officially called the Kurdistan Region by the Iraqi constitution, is located in the north of Iraq and constitutes the country's only autonomous region. Technically not a country, Kurdistan has its own government called the Kurdistan Regional Government and their stamps are issued under the name Kurdistan Region-Iraq. That's good enough for me. On my list of stamp issuing entities it's number 264 and I'm happy to have it in my collection.
The card shows the Citadel in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan.   At 7000 plus years old, the Citadel is one of the oldest continuously occupied human settlements. As of 2014 the Citadel is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

This is a card from David, who recently traveled through this area. Both stamps used are from this current year. On the left is one showing the First School in Erbil. The right stamp shows some of the Nature of Kurdistan.

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Card # 2 for today arrived from Cluj in northwestern Romania. It is the unofficial capital of the Transylvania region. The city is equidistant from Bucharest, Budapest and Belgrade and incidentally has the best air quality in the European Union. Ana's card gives us a look at The Romanian Orthodox Cathedral which was built between 1921 and 1933.

Ana used a 2016 stamp from the set of 6 Brilliant Romanians. This stamp celebrates George Constantinescu, who was a scientist, engineer and inventor.

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Here's a card portraying a memorial to General Charles de Gaulle in the form of a selection of newspaper headlines.

Dominique used a large 1974 stamp with a ARPHILA 75 tab attached. It shows a Painting of Cardinal Richelieu by Philippe de Champaigne.

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Now it's the last card for this time. Bit of a whimsical card for all the hot air balloon enthusiasts out there. It's a Postcrossing card from Russia.

Alice sent this card from Tyumen, a city on the Tura River, 2,500 km east of Moscow. It  was the first Russian settlement in Siberia.
The large stamp that Alice used is from 2016 and celebrates The Battle of Moscow in 1941. It was a Joint Issue with Kazakhstan.

There you have it. The end of another update. I want to thank David, Ana , Dominique and Alice for their cards and thanks to all you reading . Be sure to drop by again.