Village Views: Balzers

The series with village views of all of the municipalities of the Liechtenstein Oberland continues in this issue by taking us to Balzers. The southernmost municipality of the Principality has around 4,700 inhabitants and covers an area of almost 20 square kilometres. The stamps printed on sheets of 12 show black-and-white photographs of buildings with landscape scenery in the background in different shades of colour. Today's "Mill" (face value: CHF 1.00) in Balzers was built in 1837 as an extension of an already existing mill.

It was the first property to be supplied with self-generated electricity in 1918. The building was placed under protection by the Princely Government in 1992 and renovated in the following two years. The mill has been operating again since 1994 and today focuses on organic production.
Originally a hamlet, "Mäls" (face value: CHF 1.80) belongs to the municipality of Balzers and is today a village district, which has grown together with the village district of Balzers since the early 20th century. The first traces of settlement in the Mälsner area date from the third century AD. The area around the medieval residential tower and St. Peter's Chapel, which are the focus of the second special stamp, is probably the oldest part of the village.