Struve Geodetic Arc on stamp
08.10.2010
Draft of the stamp Struve Geodetic Arc
Enlarge by clicking on the photo.
Photo: Itella Oyj
Struve triangulation chain, known as the Struve Geodetic Arc, will be published on stamp on 6 May 2011. The stamp depicts the station points in Finland in a landscape filled with lakes and forests.
In the beginning of the 19th century Struve Geodetic Arc was a tour de force of astronomy and triangulation. The series of measurements carried out to determine the shape and size of the Earth was a huge achievement at the time before satellite positioning.
Struve Geodetic Arc stretches from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005 as a joint World Heritage of the ten countries involved. Six station points located in Finland are included in the World Heritage List. The other countries concerned are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.
The stamp is designed by Susanna Rumpu and Ari Lakaniemi. Itella Oyj introduced the Finnish stamps for 2011 on Tuesday 5 October 2010.
More information
- Chief Engineer Pekka Tätilä, phone 040 551 2226, pekka.tatila[ät]maanmittauslaitos.fi
about Struve Geodetic Arc
- Station points selected for protection in Finland (Nls.fi)
- History in Mapscroll (the NLS history website Mapscroll.fi)
- All station points in Struve Geodetic Arc (UNESCO.org)
about stamps
Finland