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Raftmen on the Dunajec River Issue number
333
Date of issue
03.09.2004
Face value
21.00 Sk

The coexistence of Slovak and Polish peoples in the Pieniny region has deep-seated roots. People here shared not only common fates or a particular Goral culture, but also a natural waterway down the Dunajec River. Local raftsmen utilised the flow of the river for a long time, and from this picturesque countryside they sailed through the mouth of the Dunajec River to the Visla River down to the Baltic Sea. Even today, the Dunajec River and raftsmen in Goral folk costumes are intrinsically intertwined and have become inseparable features of both the Slovak and Polish side of the Pieniny. The fact that the territory of the Pieniny was designated the first international Natural Park in Europe as early as 1932 is testimony that people appreciated the beauty and values of the local nature regardless of their nationality. Today, the Dunajec on its winding course through the largest natural canyon in Central Europe constitutes a common Slovak – Polish border along a distance of approximately 20 km. Apart from its natural attractions, this countryside is also famous for the figures that lived here in the past. In particular the citizens of the old-time Červený Kláštor (Red Monastery), which was occupied first during the 14th – 16th centuries by the Carthusians, and in the 18th century by the Camaldolese, all of whom left an indelible mark on its history. The most famous, the mysterious monk Cyprian, became known not only as the author of the oldest preserved herbarium on our territory, but also as an inventor of a “flying machine” on which he flew from the highest peak on the Polish side – Tri koruny (the Three Crowns). The common Slovak and Polish issue of the stamp combines the three most famous views of the country around the Dunajec, namely raftsmen in Goral folk costumes sailing down the river, the national historic landmark Červený Kláštor which symbolises the Slovak side, and the Tri koruny peak. The author of the artistic design of the stamp is the Polish artist, J. Brodowski.

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