Greece ranked 3rd after Serbia and Turkey in a European Stamp Contest, held by PostEurop, a trade association with 52 members that has been representing European public postal operators since 1993. Every year, member countries compete for the best design in stamps. This year’s theme was national music instruments. 

The Greek stamp from the Hellenic Post depicted a Cretan lyra, a pear-shaped, three-stringed bowed musical instrument, central to the traditional music of Crete (video) and other islands in the Aegean Archipelago. It is considered the most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra, an ancestor of most European bowed instruments. The winner stamp portrays the traditional Serbian bagpipe.

See also: The Xylouris Family Affair Documentary & Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments