On January 4, 2019 the postal service of Andorra issued a stamp from the “Legends of Andorra” series.
The theme of the stamp was the Legend of the Solana White Horse. Several centuries ago the Europe was devastated by the plague. The plague was so pervasive that many places died out completely or almost completely. For example, in the small French village La Solana located on the Northern slope of the Pyrenees in the valley of the Ariege river all but one people died.
When the plague subsided, the settlers from the nearest place named Encamp offered the last occupant of Solana to sell them his land. But he refused time after time, saying that he didn’t need any money. Eventually he conceded and agreed to sell his land in exchange for a white horse. People of Encamp spent months going from fair to fair looking for a white horse, and finally their search came to fruition. They found a horse so white that the last man of Solana agreed to swap his land for that horse. The next winter was very snowy. Once such a strong blizzard struck that everything became covered with a thick layer of snow. When the snow disappeared, so did the white horse, never to be found again.
That mysterious event led to a protracted dispute over the fruitful valley. For many years to follow people of Andorra asked the Ariege government to convey the rights for La Solana to them. Only in the 19th century did the French supreme court satisfy their plea.
On the foreground of the stamp created by Sergi Mas we can see the white Solana horse surrounded by a blizzard.
On the day the stamp was issued, a special postal impress was used (designed by Stéphanie Ghinéa). At the center of the impress there was a horse with a wavering mane that looked as if snowflakes were falling out of it.
It seems that the white horse from the legend did disappear without a trace, because the only breed of horses that inhabits the Ariege valley is Ariege Pony, whose main feature is its black color without a single speck of white.
Перейти в каталог