Some recent Czech issues (2012)

The lovely Italian engraved stamp showing the Santissima Trinita Montastery near Cava de' Tirreni reminded me that there were two recent Czech issues of similar old-school engraved stamps... In the Beauties of Our Country series, on 7 March 2012, there were two stamps showing the landscape of Kuks in East Bohemia and the statue of Wisdom by Matyáš Braun located in the famous Kuks sculpture avenue.

The other engraved stamp presents the Baťa Canal in East Moravia, also known as the Otrokovice-Rohatec Canal, which is a historical 52 km waterway built in 1935-38 to connect the town of Otrokovice with Rohatec. The waterway partly follows the Morava river, the rest is a complex of man-made canals with a number of gates, locks (14), and other water structures. There are 23 bridges across the canal, with pedestrian underpasses (platforms with iron-bound low railing used to support tow ropes when towing boats below the bridge). The main material transported on the waterway was lignite from the Ratiškovice mines owned by the Baťa company (text from the Czech Post website). There are plans that the canal should be extended even to Kromeriz where I live. The stamp was issued also in a booklet with two different tabs/coupons.