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The Elbphilharmonie is on a postage stamp

January 3, 2017

For €1.45 music lovers can now have Hamburg's spectacular new concert hall for themselves - as a miniature artwork on a postage stamp. 150 million of them have been printed.

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Hamburg Vorstellung Elbphilharmonie Sonderbriefmarke
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Marks

The 145-cent commemorative stamp was presented to the public a good week before the Elbphilharmonie's opening. Claudia Schäfer, from the Deutsche Post, said on Monday in Hamburg, "The motif demonstrates particularly well how the Elbphilharmonie links the city, its port and maritime aspects iconographically."

The stamp shows a photograph of the concert hall at night and is available all over Germany. There's also a commemorative postmark. Christoph Lieben-Seutter, General and Artistic Director of the Elbphilharmonie, said he felt the decision to use a photo as its basis was absolutely right, because it does the most justice to the original.

On Sunday, Sasha Waltz inaugurated the foyers of the concert hall with her choreographic installation "Figure Humaine." To music by Poulenc, Bach and Lachenmann, audiences followed the dancers through the spaces and into the large auditorium of the Elbphilharmonie. Since January 1st, a countdown marking the days until the grand opening has been displayed on the building's western facade. 

After years of construction delays and rising costs, the concert hall, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, opens officially on January 11th. 

isi/cho/ms (dpa)