LUGA – Under the Open Sky

On 2 May 2025, POST Philately issued a very special stamp sheet to mark the LUGA – Luxembourg Urban Garden 2025 exhibition. Created in close collaboration between LUGA a.s.b.l., the "Naturschutzsyndikat SICONA" and POST Luxembourg, the sheet (catalogue reference E50g) is far more than a pretty keepsake — its envelope contains an actual packet of wildflower seeds from a SICONA initiative. Plant it, and the garden literally comes to life.

The Exhibition: An Open-Air Laboratory of Ideas

Organized for the first time in Luxembourg, LUGA 2025 is an open-air exhibition that took place from 7 May to 18 October 2025, featuring urban gardens, landscape and artistic installations, agricultural projects and living spaces designed by local and international landscape architects, artists and experts.

The exhibition — whose motto is "Making the invisible visible" — invites visitors to explore new paths and, in doing so, discover the natural and historical treasures that characterise our cities but often go unnoticed. LUGA wants to be an open-air ideas laboratory, a platform for exchange and experimentation where each visitor contributes to a collective debate on the future of our cities, covering themes as broad as environment, agriculture, horticulture, viticulture, food, biodiversity, urban ecology, cultural heritage, art, well-being, sustainable development, circular economy, social inclusion, technological innovation and sustainable tourism.

The exhibition spanned several prominent locations across Luxembourg City — the Edouard André Municipal Park, the Pétrusse valley, the Alzette valley and the Kirchberg district — as well as the town of Ettelbruck in the Nordstad region, with more than 1,000 events over the six-month period: lectures, creative workshops, guided tours, sporting activities and artistic performances.

A Seed Capsule of Stamps

The sheet was illustrated by the Luxembourg artist Chantal Maquet, who describes her concept as follows: "You have to understand this sheet as a seed capsule, where you can detach the stamp like an isolated seed." The stamps are designed in the artist's typical colour palette — and, fittingly, the sheet's envelopes also contain a packet of wildflower seeds from the SICONA initiative, so the theme of the seed is carried all the way from the drawing board to the garden.

The "Under the Open Sky" sheet beside the wildflower seed packet tucked inside the envelope — stamp and seeds, together.

A closer look at the seed capsule concept: the stamp sheet and the packet of SICONA wildflower seeds it carries.

The Single Stamp [E50g]

The €1.70 LUGA stamp [E50g] in its 40 × 30 mm format — one of the ten "seeds" of the sheet.

The €1.70 stamp [E50g] measures 40 × 30 mm and was printed in a print run of 40,000 stamps (4,000 sheets of ten). Each stamp can be detached from the sheet like a seed from a capsule, echoing Maquet's concept in miniature — with its own urban-garden motif drawn in the artist's typical colour palette.

The First Day Cover

The LUGA 2025 first day cover (FDC): the €1.70 stamp commemorating Luxembourg's first open-air garden exhibition.

A matching first day cover (FDC) was issued for the occasion, carrying the €1.70 stamp and a special LUGA postmark — a prize for collectors of Luxembourg first day covers and flora & fauna themes alike.

Why Collectors Care

The LUGA 2025 sheet is one of the most original Luxembourg issues in years — a philatelic product that is at once a design statement (Chantal Maquet's "seed capsule" concept), a piece of social history (Luxembourg's first-ever open-air garden exhibition) and an environmental keepsake (the wildflower seeds tucked inside the envelope). For collectors of Luxembourg stamps, flora & fauna issues, or innovative and interactive philately, the "Under the Open Sky" sheet — together with the single stamp and first day cover — is a delightful, memorable addition to any collection.

Source: POST Philately (postphilately.lu)

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