0.51euro, Schönlaterngasse/Vienna

The place with the Master Schmirler's so called "beautiful lantern" (the original of which can be found in the Vienna City Museum) and the well-known "House of the Basilisk". The house on the left hosts the inn "Zum Basilisken", with the basilisk, a medieval dragon-like monster, being displayed on a rather crudely made tin sign. The arch depicted in the middle of the picture is not a gateway, but the shop window of a shop that is empty at present. It is still part of the Heiligenkreuzerhof, whose large gateway and chapel would be in the far left corner, but are invisible in the picture. Two small shop windows can be seen in the neighbouring house to the right. This is the workshop of an artist who is primarily into painting flowers and landscapes and also teaches oil painting.

0.58euro, Hadres/Weinviertel, Lower Austria

While the "Heurigen" wine taverns are typical of Vienna, the "Kellergassen", lanes of wine cellars situated mostly outside the villages proper, are typical of the Weinviertel (wine district) region as well as of other wine growing regions such as Carnuntum in the eastern part of Lower Austria or Breitenbrunn and Heiligenbrunn in Burgenland. However, there are also some Kellergassen that feature outdoor "Heurigen"-style catering, for example the Ahrenberger Heurigen near Traismauer. Of course having the appropriate kind of landscape, which means at least an incline, and the right kind of soil, for instance a loess soil area, are required to be able to build these Kellergassen, which are often several kilometres long. Steep-incline sunken roads provide the ideal surroundings to house the entrances to the wine cellars, which look like the fronts of typical small-scale wine-growers' houses. In the area of Hadres, in the Pulkau valley not far from the Czech border, these types of building are a  prominent feature. The 60 km Pulkau valley Kellergassen cycle path connects these remarkable features of the landscape, giving tourists a chance of getting to know them at a leisurely pace. Apart from a glass of wine, this also includes tasting the local specialties served for a relaxed and down-to-earth typical wine cellar snack. What a Pulkau valley tourism brochure has to say about the Kellergassen is really true: these are places for celebration and laughter, places for enjoying the good life. One is tempted to forget that, actually, Kellergassen are there for making and storing wine.

0.73euro Am Steinernen Meer/Salzburg

The mountains forming the border between the Austrian Pinzgau and the German province of Bavaria are referred to as the Steinerne Meer (Sea of Stones). This nature preserve covers a highland area of 160 km2, a karst plateau bounded to the south by higher peaks, such as the Schönfeldspitze with an altitude of 2653m. To the north of the mountain range, within the Berchtesgardner Land area, lies the Königssee, an Alpine lake steeped in legends. To the south of the mountains is the Pinzgau region, largely identical with the administrative district of Zell am See. Access to the Steinerne Meer area is governed by mountain passes from almost all sides: from the North via the Steinpass, from the West via the Grießenpass, the Pass Strub, the Pass Thurn, the Gerlospass, and from the South via the Felber Tauern (tunnel) and the Großglockner Hochalpenstraße. It is probably this secluded geographical position that lies at the origin of the quite distinct type of farm house buildings that developed here. Apart from the paired-building type (separate living and working quarters), the single farm house, with a house chapel and a few smaller outbuildings, as depicted on the stamp can be found quite frequently. The ground floor or the kitchen are built from stone or brick, while the first floor is almost always a wooden structure with an all-round balcony. Above the entrance, you can frequently find in-fresco medallions, roofs will often feature small wooden belfries with a weather vane on top to indicate from where the wind is blowing. Fires destroyed a lot of the old buildings. When they were rebuilt, it was in considerably simpler style, owing to lack of money, especially after the wars. The Salzburg open air museum at Großgmain near Salzburg shows carefully restored examples of typical farm buildings.

0.87euro Inneralpbach/Tyrol

If, assuming that the natural access to the Alpbach valley would be from the northern Inn valley along the Alpbach river, you then learn that a 14 km road along this route leading from Reith near Brixlegg to Inneralpbach was built only as late as the 1920ies, you might be more than a little surprised. Apparently the area was settled from the valley running in parallel, the Zillertal, an assumption that is corroborated by the fact that the oldest house of the valley happens to be located at Inneralpbach, i.e. at the end of the valley, at an altitude of 1050 m. Even though mentioned in documents as early as 1240, the area was initially used just as an alpine pasture. The fact that the area was so secluded from its surroundings has naturally had consequences, such as the preservation of traditional customs, a distinct cultural development down to the architectural style of the houses. While, with the advent of tourism, people everywhere else tended to build cheaper, modern-style buildings, pro-active local community building regulations prevented this development at Alpbach. Today, Alpbach is the only place where you can still find this type of dark-brown houses made completely of wood like the one the artist has depicted on the new stamp. At Inneralpbach, a mountain farming museum housed in a farm house dating from 1638 also addresses these topics. Within the framework of the Alpbach European Forum, every August renowned scientists, artists, politicians and major business players from all over the world meet at Alpbach to discuss highly topical issues.

2.03euro Heiligenkreuz, Lower Austria

To the east of the Cistercian abbey of Heiligenkreuz, which draws it name, the "Holy Cross", from the claim of owning a particle of the Holy Cross from Palestine, you can cross the lower part of a hillside on an avenue lined by chestnut and linden trees planted presumably at the time the abbey was built between 1731 and 1750. To the right, the stations of the Cross from 1 to 11 are hosted in small chapels. At the end of the tree-lined avenue there is a larger chapel to the left (its back wall being visible on the left-hand side of the stamp) showing Jesus on the cross, i.e. station 12. In front of the stone angels visible in the middle, the path turns left, with two flights of stairs leading back down to the street level, where you can find stations 13 and 14 of the Cross, Jesus being taken from the cross and Jesus being put into his grave. On the lower level, the middle wall between the two flights of stairs holds a fountain with a statue of Christ created by Giovanni Guiliani, a sculptor whose work can be seen a lot around Heiligenkreuz and whose students also made the about 30 figures of saints and angels set up between the stations of the Cross. The last section, with the stairs, was redesigned in the 19th century. The artist who designed the stamp was, quite understandably, fascinated by the vista from the avenue, with the mighty, old trees yet leafless at spring time, towards the wonderful mountains of the Vienna Woods and towards Baden, city of hot springs, and therefore captured it on the stamp.