July 2008

Expo Zaragoza 2008

This souvenir sheet is issued on occasion of the International Exhibition, Expo Zaragoza 2008, which will take place from the 14 June to the 14 September with Water and sustainable development as the main theme. In its design, in the bottom left hand corner, besides the logo of the Expo, features the statement The biggest water festival on earth.

The souvenir sheet is made up of three stamps and depicts an aerial view of the scale model of the Expo compound. One of the stamps depicts de Pabellón-Puente (Bridge-Pavilion) with a slender, organic, pleated shape which is one of the main entrances to the Exhibition. On the left hand side stands one of the six Themed Plazas on Aquatic inspirations. This space is located between the Bridge Pavilion and the Third Millennium Bridge. It is the only Themed Plaza where a large-scale show will take place instead of an exhibition. It is a shell shaped building with a bioclimatic design specially made to host the show “El Hombre Vertiente“. The other five Themed Plazas are built along the banks of the Ebro River and are called: Extreme water, recreating a breaking wave, aiming at making visitors conscientious of the perils of water; the Thirst Plaza gives a new perspective to thirst by portraying it as progress and the driving force behind the development of extraordinary techniques, culture and knowledge. The Oikos, water and energy plaza is an exposition facility in the open air (mostly) designed to show the visitor that it is possible to transform and store energy using the technology we have available in a manner that shows respect for the environment, is cheap, available to everyone, and which maintains our level of well-being. The Cities of Water Plaza is an exposition installation, with no walls, and its contents are visible from outside. Its main process refers to water as an “urban resource”, underlining the great value of this natural element in the process of improving quality of life in cities. The importance of a change of attitude among citizens to revalue the relationship of water in the city is highlighted. The last of the plazas, Shared water is structured in five different parts and encourages new thinking on shared water management. On the background of the souvenir sheet are depicted pavilions and infrastructures of the Expo.