1000 years - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1996 - 10 Shilling

Throughout Austria, the country's millennial birthday was celebrated with numerous events this year. Post & Telekom Austria celebrated the occasion of the first documentary mention of Austria made in its own way 1000 years ago - with the publication of a ten-part special stamp series. The first brand image is dedicated to the conscious document, the "Ostarrichi Charter", which mentions in writing for the first time the name commonly used for the margraviate on the Danube. It was exhibited by Emperor Otto III. on November 1, 996 and has a royal gift to the Hochstift Freising to the content. The object of the donation is an estate around Neuhofen in the Ybbsfeld "in a region popularly known as Ostarrichi". Located in this area, east of the river Enns on the Danube, the Babenbergs ruled as margraves since 976. Within a few generations, the Babenbergers managed to form a country out of the sparsely populated border colony and to design the Margrave's office as the Principality. Under the later land patron Margrave Leopold III. ("The Holy One") the mark already took the rank of one of the most respected principalities in the empire. In today's Austria, this area corresponds to parts of the federal state of Lower Austria.