St Ann’s Altar Postage Stamp With Folding Doors

An extraordinary fold-out miniature sheet is dedicated to St Ann's Altar, one of Vorarlberg’s most valuable artistic treasures.

The St Ann's Altar was created in 1521 by Wolf Huber, a painter, draughtsman and master builder from Feldkirch, who is regarded as a leading figure of the Danube School. Produced in his workshop in Passau, it is considered Huber’s main work and represents the transition from Late Gothic to Renaissance. The detailed landscapes and buildings in the background of the altar’s paintings emphasise the solemnity of the religious motifs, while the figures appear in bright, luminous colours. During a reconstruction in 1822, the altar’s side panels were lost; they were only rediscovered in 1953 and, after many detours, returned to Feldkirch Cathedral. In 2005, the St Ann's Altar was finally reunited with its original side panels. The miniature sheet features the central panel of the altar. The closed wings show scenes from the life of Saint Anne, the mother of Mary. When opened, the inner sides reveal episodes from the life of Jesus as well as the Lamentation of Christ, the altar’s main image, which is reproduced on the stamp itself.

During production, the outer side of the altar was first printed on cardboard. The material was then turned over to print the inner sides of the folding doors on the same cardboard. For the opening mechanism of the folding doors, the fold lines were perforated and cut.

The actual stamp design, representing the inside of the altar, was then printed on gummed stamp paper, and the stamp perforation was produced.

The two layers of the stamp block were subsequently bonded together using a double-sided adhesive film, in which the altar window had been die-cut beforehand.

• Nominal value: € 3,50
• Design: Anja Derkits
• Date of issue: 17.10.2025
• Quantity: 100.000
• Production: Stampfinity (Variuscard Produktions- und Handels GmbH)
• Technology : Offset printing