28.06.2013

To mark this year's biggest and most significant cultural event, Latvijas Pasts is releasing two new stamps presenting the XXV Nationwide Latvian Song and XV Dance Festival. The first-day cancellation event is scheduled for Friday, 28 June, in the creative informative space Riga 2014 in Esplanade, Riga, from 10 AM to 7:30 PM. Latvijas Pasts will present the new stamps to all chief conductors of this year's Festival.

The official presentation of the stamps will take place at 10 AM. The event will see the attendance of the Minister of Transport Anrijs Matīss, Dace Melbārde, the Director of the Latvian National Centre for Culture, Diāna Čivle, the Head of Riga 2014, and Arnis Salnājs, Acting Chairman of Latvijas Pasts. The first official stamps of the Festival will be presented to the 14 chief conductors who will make their debut at the XXV Nationwide Latvian Song and XV Dance Festival.

The new stamps depict the Festival's participants - choir singers and dancers - in ornate national costumes. The stamp block and the first-day cover also incorporate the Festival's logo, which has been inspired by Jānis Lūsēns' song Rieta lūgšana (Sunset Prayer) with lyrics by Inese Zandere, recorded by Latvijas Pasts mixed choir.

The designer of the stamp block and the first-day cover is artist Lilija Dinere. The print run of the stamp block, which consists of two stamps, is 30,000. The face value of the stamps is LVL 0.35 and EUR 0.50,corresponding to the cost of mailing a regular letter within Latvia.

The stamps are Latvijas Pasts' second dedication to the Festival. The first stamps dedicated to the Song and Dance Festival were released fifteen years ago - in 1998.

The Song and Dance Festival this year will take place from June 30 to July 7. The Festival is a unique Latvian cultural event rooted in the Latvian national folklore and professional music traditions, and has gained a symbolic meaning of national unity and identity over the course of history. Over a period of 140 years, the Song and Dance Festival has become a treasure of the Latvian cultural heritage. It is a nationwide tradition, a high-level amateur art movement, which is jointly created under the guidance of music, dance and art professionals by tens of thousands of Latvian people from primary school to old age.

Click here to see the stamp block and first-day cover dedicated to the Festival.

The next new philatelic release is scheduled for July 12.

About SJSC Latvijas Pasts

Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a fully State-owned company with more than 4,200 employees.

To find out more about Latvijas Pasts, please visit www.pasts.lv.

Additional information
Agija Tērauda
SJSC Latvijas Pasts
Public Relations Specialist
Phone: +371 67608506
Mobile phone: + 37128647396
E-mail:agija.terauda@pasts.lv
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