Russia (bbabo.net), - The exhibition of postage stamps "From Stamps to Letters" has opened in the Tatar Book House. It tells about the development of writing and printing among different peoples of the world. In the exposition you can see about 150 stamps from all over the world: Russia, Germany, Mexico, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Republic of Burundi, Republic of Togo, Austria, Egypt, Monaco. There are also exhibits from the now non-existent states of the USSR and the GDR.

Each stand covers one of the stages in the history of writing. There are petroglyphs here, they are also inscriptions (images carved on stone), rock paintings of the Aztecs, Sumerian cuneiform, Russian birch bark letters and the first printed books. And together it all adds up to a single world chronicle. Of course, philatelists here will receive a separate aesthetic pleasure simply from contemplating the exhibits.

The exhibition turned out to be surprisingly integral, as if all the stamps were from one gigantic set, released on some occasion. But in reality, its authors, teachers and philatelists Vladimir Vasiliev and Maxim Egorov, took two years of painstaking work to assemble and attribute the collection.

- The idea came to Vladimir Vasiliev, he teaches bookbinding. And since Vladimir teaches this skill, he also talks about the origin of the book as such, - says Maxim Egorov. - For a long time the project lay on the shelf, until fate brought us together. I myself am a biologist, I run the ecological club "Batista" and I am fond of philately. I buy old albums with stamps and rebind them. Vladimir Vasiliev taught me this. I thought about how to present this exhibition from the point of view of ecology? The answer was found - until paper was invented, to create one parchment book, it was necessary to slaughter a herd of sheep.

So two enthusiastic teachers began to collect the exposition. There were no particular problems with the purchase of stamps, now there are online auctions for this. It is much more difficult to confirm what exactly is depicted on the stamp, and to understand how true the information is. I had to rummage through encyclopedias and even pick up the binder of the Soviet magazine "Philatelist". Several times their plans were disrupted by the pandemic. And finally, we managed to organize a chamber exhibition, which does not require a large crowd of people.

Maxim Egorov not only acts as a guide, but also conducts master classes for schoolchildren here, awakening their interest in stamps. The exhibition was created with the aim to draw attention to philately.

- She is now in decline in Kazan, - admits Maxim Egorov. - We want to catch up with the wave. Yes, the mark as a form of payment has lost its value, but nevertheless it is alive. And interesting as a historical artifact. In Moscow, St. Petersburg, Penza and Perm, the movement of philatelists is highly developed. This is where we need to bring our community together. And now only on Saturdays from 9 to 12 a small group gathers at the Main Post Office. And, of course, there will be no philately if we do not captivate the new generation with it. Therefore, I created a philatelic circle for schoolchildren. I managed to captivate, even surprised myself. Wonderful guys go from the 187th school. Their eyes are on fire! They also participated in the creation of the exhibition.

According to Maxim Egorov, collecting stamps not only brings aesthetic pleasure, but also allows you to get rid of problems.

- Stamps help to concentrate and calm down. They have to be constantly rewritten. You see, the stamp is wrong, you immediately reach for the tweezers and look in the catalog where it should be. For me, this is a way to escape from reality, - Maxim Egorov laughs. - And she, as you understand, has not been happy in recent years.

bbabo.Net