The personalized stamp, “140th Anniversary of the First Donation of the Order of Malta to the Kingdom of Serbia,” was presented on October 24 at the PTT Museum in Belgrade. Speaking on the symbolism of this issue, commemorating the long-standing cooperation between Serbia and the Order of Malta, were Francesco M. Amoruso, Ambassador of the Order of Malta in Serbia; Dr. Sima Avramović, Ambassador of Serbia to the Holy See and the Order of Malta; and Zoran Anđelkovic, Acting Director of the Serbian Post.
Director Zoran Anđelkovic expressed satisfaction that the PTT Museum, as a point of connection between past and future, hosted a ceremony marking 140 years of collaboration. He emphasized that the Serbian Post is a leader in digital transformation and the adoption of new technologies, having recently received the highest recognition from the European Association of Public Postal Operators – PostEurop – the “Rising Star of Innovation 2025” award for its robotic system for automated mail sorting.
Anđelkovic added that Serbian philately is highly regarded worldwide and that this year it received the award for the most beautiful stamp in the “Europe” series, as voted by the public. “The stamp, created in collaboration with the Embassy by our artists, represents continuity and is a symbol of our cooperation, serving as its lasting seal,” Anđelkovic said, thanking all collaborators on the project as well as Ambassadors Amoruso and Avramović for their dedication.
Jovan Palalić and Ambassador Francesco M. Amoruso highlighted the deep symbolism of the anniversary, commemorated through the release of the personalized stamp. Amoruso recalled that the first donation to Serbia dates back to 1885, when the renowned Viennese surgeon Baron Mundi, appointed inspector of hospitals by the Supreme Command of the Serbian Army, delivered a sanitary train intended for transporting severely wounded soldiers, sent as aid to the Kingdom of Serbia by the Grand Prior of the Austrian branch of the Order of Malta, Prince Lihnovski.
“The train consisted of ten carriages and ran along the Niš–Belgrade line, transporting wounded soldiers regardless of the side they fought on, in the spirit of humanity that has always characterized the Order of Malta,” Ambassador Amoruso explained.
Ambassador Sima Avramović added that the Order of Malta decided to donate the entire sanitary train, including the locomotive and nine hospital carriages, to Serbia through its mission in Vienna during the turbulent 19th century. After the conclusion of the Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885, the mobile hospital was intensively used for peacetime purposes and, at the beginning of the 20th century, returned to military service during the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, transporting 100,000 wounded soldiers over two years.
“When traveling for the first time on the train from Belgrade to Subotica, we should remember that the first train journey from Belgrade to Niš took ten hours, and that this first train was donated to us by the Order of Malta,” Avramović emphasized.
The ceremony was also attended by Member of Parliament Jovan Palalić, President of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Serbia–Sovereign Military Order of Malta, who highlighted the excellent relations between the Republic of Serbia and the Order of Malta, based on trust, understanding, and enthusiasm. “Serbia greatly values the dynamic humanitarian activities of the Order of Malta, which we have observed over the past eighteen months since the arrival of Ambassador Amoruso,” Palalić said, noting that next year will mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and the Order of Malta. On that occasion, both Director Zoran Anđelković and Museum Director Marko Jelić expressed their intention to organize an exhibition at the Serbian Postal Museum.
The personalized stamp was produced by the Embassy of the Order of Malta in Serbia, with artistic design by Miroslav Nikolić and Nadežda Skočajić, creators of Serbian Post stamp.
