CROATIAN TOWNS 1992 - BELI MANASTIR

In the series of postage stamps entitled "Croatian towns" HPT-Croatian Post and Telecommunications issued a regular postage stamp -Beli Manastir. Motif: The Sokak of Beli Manastir, a typical linear-house series of the Pannonian Croatia. Beli Manastir (pop. 7 500) is the biggest settlement of Baranya and the hub of a rail center with lines and roads running in all directions. This region has been settled as early as in the prehistiric era. Baranya is a Pannonian area of lowland character filled with fluvial deposits of the Drava and Danube Rivers.There is a famous wineyard country - the hills of Banova kosa and Banovo brdo. Wines from Baranya are well known. Oak woodlands are the only remnants of once densely forested terrains. From the once large Pannonian Sea only vast marshland areas remain (Kopački rit, a unique natural reserve of the Republic of Croatia). During the Serbian occupation of Baranya in 1991/’92., there was a recent displacement of all the Croatian, Magyar and other non-Serbian populations - due to a series of criminal actions by the Yugo-army and cetniks forces which forced them to leave their ancestral homes while helping thousands of Serbian families to settle in Baranya. In 1997 Baranya was peacefully reintegrated in the Republic of Croatia. The stamp was printed in sheets of 50 peaces each. HPT pur on sale the envelop of the first day of issue and the commemorative sheet.