2018-10-23 Tue

The 'Temple of Eternal Fires’ Stamps of Azerbaijan were one of the first stamps of the country under the USSR occupation.

After the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Bolshevik 11th Red Army put an end to Azerbaijan's short independence. The National Republic issued stamps in 1919; then the Azerbaijan SSR issued stamps from 1922-1924.

The stamps depicting Temple of Eternal Fires were issued first in the year 1919 as a part of a set of ten stamps The 10 values had 4 different designs, a solder with a flag, a farmer at sunset, the city of Baku and the Temple of Eternal Fires. After the Republic of Azerbaijan was taken by the Bolsheviks in April 1920, the new Soviet government reissued the set of 10 stamps.

The stamps depict the "Fire Temple of Baku" which is a castle-like religious temple. Based on Persian and Indian inscriptions, the temple was used as a Hindu, Sikh, and Zoroastrian place of worship. The stamps depict the fire temple in the centre with a crescent and a star on its right, all within a rectangular border.

The stamps are inscribed with “Azerbaijan Jammuri” in Persian and “Republique D’Azerbaidjan” in Roman. The top corners depict Denomination Value (Ruble at left and the numerals at right) in Persian and the bottom corners depict the value in Roman.

Image Courtesy: https://colnect.com