(MENAFN- The Peninsula) DOHA: Qatar is going to have another feather in its cap as the treasure of rare, old and new postage stamps of Arab countries is set to be shifted from Cairo";s philatelic museum to Arab Postal Stamps Museum in Doha.
On the recommendation of Arab League, the largest collection of postage stamps (all rare, old and new) of Arab countries is being moved to Doha";s philatelic museum in the near future while Cairo will keep one copy of each stamp in its post office museum.
'We were trying to get the collection of rare and old stamps of Arab countries for long. Recently, Qatar Post chairman had a final meeting with Arab League in which it was decided that the treasure of stamps will be shifted to Qatar permanently,” Khalid Rustom, head of Arab Postal Stamps Museum, Katara told The Peninsula in an interview.
He said the Egyptian Post Office Museum had the largest collection as all Arab League member states used to send copies of postage stamps to it. 'They have three copies of each stamp. We will get two copies of each stamp, either old or contemporary ones, while they will maintain a record of one stamp each,” he added.
'Once this huge treasure arrives here we will modify existing museum to display maximum number of postage stamps. And we will also adopt a rotation-mechanism to change the exhibit every six months,” he said, adding that apart from postage stamps, Arab Postal Stamps Museum will also receive collection of postcards and first-day covers.
Asked whether other objects relating to postal services like historical letter boxes, bicycles etc would also be shifted to Doha, he said: 'Our museum as per its name is just about postage stamps. We have other objects in Qatar National Museum.”
He said that Q-Post was set to issue new commemorative stamps on the eve of Qatar National Day. 'Their designs will be finalised by the end of this month. We will also organise two exhibitions in the coming days; first on Qatar National Day and second on the eve of Bahrain National Day,” he added.
Rustom said that Q-Post";s commemorative postage stamps relating to back-to-school had won huge appreciation from residents. They were issued last month in collaboration with the Ministry of education and Higher Education.
'We have asked the Ministry of Education to gather feedback from parents, teachers on those commemorative stamps,” he said.
Q-Post, in collaboration with Qatar Debate, a member of Qatar Foundation, had recently issued fluorescent postage stamps for the first time in the history of Qatar, he added.
Lamenting the changing attitudes of Asian and Arab citizens about the use of postal services, he said: 'Muslims greet one another on Eid with messages on cells while in Europe they still send postcards to celebrate Christmas. But these changing attitudes will change again and people will soon embrace old traditions. We should love and promote the culture of letters.” The official said that Q-Post was planning to issue new postal cards to promote tourism.
'We are finalising the plan with Qatar Tourism Authority. Three categories of postal cards will be issued representing past, present and future of Qatar,” he said.
'By seeing postage stamps of any country, one can learn about the country";s history, culture and everything. With the help of Ministry of Education, Q-Post is promoting students"; visits to Katara philatelic museum,” he said, adding that stamps collection was a commendable hobby.
'If anyone owns a complete record of Qatar";s postage stamps from 1957 till today, the worth of his album will be around QR200,000,” he said. He said Qatar had also taken part in various philatelic exhibitions held across the globe like in Jeddah, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Romania and Thailand etc.
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