TEHRAN -- Archbishop Jean-Paul Aimé Gobel donated a rare collection of stamps, postcards, surcharges, and coins to the Astan-e Qods Razavi Museum’s Stamp and Banknote Section in the holy city of Mashhad.

Archbishop Gobel was appointed the Apostolic Nuncio to Iran in 2007.
The collection contains stamps bearing the images of important art and cultural figures, historical monuments, as well as organizations and cultural centers, director of the Stamps and Banknotes Section of the museum Mohammad-Hossein Yazdinejad said on Monday.
“Some of the stamps bear images of famous paintings such as the Last Supper, the birth of Jesus Christ, or the Eiffel Tower, and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Vatican Museums,” he added.
A collection of newly minted coins bearing the image of Pope Benedict XVI is also among the donated items, Yazdinejad highlighted.
The Vatican City is a city-state that came into existence in 1929 and is clearly distinct from the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church, known as the Holy See.
The Stamp and Banknote Section of the Astan-e Qods Razavi Museum houses a rich collection of rare stamps from about 180 countries and is visited by many Iranian and foreign pilgrims, tourists and philatelists.