The centrepiece of the "200 years of the Rozewie lighthouse" series from the Polish Post (Poczta Polska) is not a classic paper souvenir at all. In 2023 the postal operator released a philatelic folder that hides a polycarbonate block containing a real electronic circuit with an antenna, an NFC microchip and a yellow microLED light source. Bring the reverse of the block to less than 1 cm from any HF/NFC RFID reader — a payment terminal, a phone with NFC, a desktop or industrial reader — and the microLED lights up, echoing the beam of the old lighthouse in a way no Polish stamp has done before.
The folder crowned a series that began on 10 September 2022, when the Polish Post released the souvenir block and the First Day Cover for the bicentenary of Rozewie — the oldest active lighthouse on the Polish Baltic coast.
The 2023 Folder and the Illuminated NFC Block
The folder contains two blocks: a traditional one and the special polycarbonate block. Inside the polycarbonate is embedded the electronic circuit with an antenna, an NFC microchip and a yellow microLED light source. The light is activated by bringing the reverse of the block (to less than 1 cm) close to any HF/NFC RFID reader — desktop and industrial readers, payment terminals, or phones with NFC functionality.
The folder itself counts 3 pages: before folding it measures 630 × 297 mm, and after folding 210 × 297 mm (A4). On the Polish Post shop it retailed for 61,50 PLN.
Inside the 2023 folder: the polycarbonate block with its NFC antenna and microLED that lights up when held against a reader.
The 2022 Souvenir Block
The block of the issue (catalogue no. 248) showing the lighthouse over a naval chart background.
The block (catalogue number 248, Fischer no. 365) shows the lighthouse against a background taken from fragment of navigation chart no. 151 of the Hydrographic Office of the Polish Navy, together with a view of the Rozewie area. It carries a single stamp with a face value of 15,30 PLN, printed in offset on fluorescent paper with a microprint visible under a magnifying glass. The designer was Andrzej Gosik, a painter and illustrator behind more than a hundred Polish stamp projects.
The First Day Cover
The First Day Cover (cat. no. 2200) shows the class I Fresnel optical apparatus used 1866–1910.
The FDC (catalogue number 2200) shows the lighthouse with its class I Fresnel apparatus and the beam of the optical device that was in use at Rozewie between 1866 and 1910. The graphic of the contemporary postmark features a schematic of the removed lens — the optical apparatus that had operated the tower until 1978 and can still be seen inside the Rozewie lighthouse today.
The Rozewie Lighthouse: Poland's Most Famous Lighthouse
The Rozewie Lighthouse, also named the Stefan Żeromski Lighthouse, was commissioned on 15 November 1822 above the Baltic cliffs of Rozewie (part of Władysławowo) in Pomerania. On its stone tower sat 15 Argand lamps fuelled by rapeseed oil, which shone with a steady light. After 44 years the light source was upgraded to a class I Fresnel apparatus, and in 1910 the lighthouse was switched to electric light — a characteristic single flash every 3 seconds that it keeps to this day.
The tower was raised twice over its history — by 5 metres in 1910 and by 8 metres in 1978. Modern Rozewie uses a rotating apparatus fitted with a set of 12 long-range LED lamps. Beneath the lighthouse sits a second, smaller tower: put into service in 1875 and switched off in 1910, it shone together with the main tower on the Rozewie headland for 35 years.
Design Collaboration
The designs of the issue were created in close cooperation with Apoloniusz Łysejko, Vice-President of the Board of the Society of Friends of the National Maritime Museum, and with the Hydrographic Office of the Polish Navy. The stamp was officially presented during the bicentennial celebrations of the Rozewie lighthouse, organised by the Society of Friends of the National Maritime Museum. The ceremonies also included the symbolic "launching" of a book on Leon Wzorek, the first keeper of the Rozewie lighthouse.
Rozewie is no newcomer to Polish philately: lighthouses of the Polish coast appeared on stamps in 2006, 2007, 2013 and 2015, and as early as 1988 the Polish Post issued a commemorative postal card featuring lighthouse keeper Leon Wzorek.
Technical Specifications
| Issuer | Poczta Polska (Polish Post) |
| Issue Date | 10 September 2022 (block & FDC) · 1 February 2023 (folder) |
| Occasion | 200 years of the Rozewie lighthouse |
| Denomination | 15,30 PLN |
| Designer | Andrzej Gosik |
| Stamp Format | 39,5 × 51 mm |
| Block Format | 79 × 101 mm |
| FDC Format | 207 × 149 mm |
| Print Run | 100,000 block & FDC · 8,000 polycarbonate blocks |
| Paper / Technique | Fluorescent paper with microprint · Offset |
| Folder | 630 × 297 mm unfolded → 210 × 297 mm folded; 3 pages; 61,50 PLN |