The Philatelic Bureau of MaltaPost issued a Miniature Sheet to commemorate the new euro coinage with a stamp issue on 1 January, the first stamp issue for 2008.

The new euro coinage stamp depicts the two sides of the one euro coin, and includes the Malta coat-of-arms in colour. The surround on the Miniature Sheet carries a selection of euro coins.

In addition to this miniature sheet, MaltaPost also issued a joint stamp issue with Cyprus on the adoption of the euro.

The Malta stamp depicts the Sleeping Lady from the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. The clothed figure has abnormally fat limbs and hips. She is naked to the waist, and has a fringe with a fringed lower part. The clay figure may have been intended to be an iconographic representation of death or the afterlife. According to Sir Temi Zammit’s notes, this figure was found in the votive pit in the main level of the Hypogeum.

The Cyprus stamp shows the bust of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, who was born of the sea foam off the coast of Paphos. She is one of the 12 Olympian gods; in one version of Greek mythological tradition she was born from the seed of Uranus dispersed in the waters of the sea.

Each stamp has a face value of e1 / 43c.

The miniature sheets are available from the Philatelic Bureau of MaltaPost (telephone 2596 1747, e-mail [email protected], postal address 305 Qormi Road, Marsa), and from all MaltaPost postal retail outlets.