On October 31, 2014 Australia Post has issued, as in every year, a series of stamps and also
a set of maxicards to celebrate Christmas. The set contains five stamps, divided into two distinct categories, in fact two themes. Four of the stamps, festive and colourful, represent the familiar trappings and sentiments of Christmas celebration and recall techniques of paper cut design as well as snow crystals. The other two have a religious theme, being based on stained-glass windows in
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral,
Melbourne. The windows depicted on the stamps are in the Ladye Chapel situated in the chevet of the cathedral and show scenes from the Life of the Virgin, including the Nativity of Christ and the Flight into Egypt. Nearly all the windows, fitted to the chapel in 1892, were manufactured by the English company Hardman and Co. They were restored between 1992 and 1997, the teams of stonemasons and stained-glass craftsmen using "lime mortars and materials long-forgotten by the building trade - like medieval times."
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