THE WORLD FAIR IN SEVILLE 1992.

This series dedicaed to the Expo'92 in Seville reaches its penultimate stamp collecting edition with this issue presented on two sheets with 12 effects each, reproducing 24 different motives related to the Fair. At the centre of the sheets, there are two frames without postal value: one is a view of Seville ín the l6th century, the other is a general plan of the Fair Compound. The motives on the stamps represent the specific areas which make up the Expo Grounds and their access routes: La Cartuja de las Cuevas, the Fair Pavilions -Spain, the Discovery, Nations, Themes, Monographic, etc.; rest areas and attractions, parking areas and unique buildings.

The first sheet, urban rate, is headed by one dedicated to the World Trade Centre, the nerve centre of the Fair; those accompanying it show aspects of it -Seville prepared to receive exhibitors from all over the World universalising the ancient unique fair tradition of Seville; it ends with a stamp whose motive is a one day entry ticket, showíng one of the recently erected bridges.

The second sheet, inter-urban rate, starts off with a stamp reproducing the oldest and most noble building in the compound, the Cartuja de Santa María de las Cuevas, an old monastery whose library was frequently visited by studious Columbus, before and after the Discovery; the earthly remains of the Admiral were laid to rest in the Santa Ana Chapel; in the Ave Maria Courtyard, there is an admirable silk-cotton tree which Columbus himself is said to have planted in memory of the Discovery, as that was the species of trees they tied their ships to when the reached the New World. The Cartuja is to be the axis of the Expo as it is where the Royal Pavilion is Iocated, along with those dedicated to the Culture and Art of the Discovery.

This issue curiously for stamp collectors, due to its format, ends with the amusing figure of Curro, the official mascot of this unrepeatable event, as in 1992 the Expo'92 will coincide with Madrid as Cultural Capital of Europe and the Barcelona Olympics. They have all been well portrayed on stamps.