Mangaluru : St. Aloysius College former Principal Fr Leo D’Souza, is a philatelist beyond compare. His collection of over 1700 stamps and other postal treasures artefacts of Germany before and after the collapse of the Wall, is being exhibited in the city.

An exhibition of the 1700 stamps the father received through the letters addressed to Fr Leo from Germany, between 1963 and 2017, were exhibited at St Aloysius College auditorium on Wednesday. The expo featured German stamps received on letters addressed to a single Indian citizen over 54 years.

He has received several thousands of official and personal handwritten mails from his friends in Germany, Abu Dhabi, Africa, Vatican city, Australia and other European countries.

These letters were stored in a huge bag in his room, until the students working in the Laboratory of Applied Biology, St Aloysius College, decided to sort them according to various themes, after knowing their significance.

Research Scholar Sachin Patavardhan said that the stamps were categorised on the basis of their period – West Germany before and after unification 1963-2005, till the unification, during Hitler’s era and post Hitler’s era. There were also definites and stamps without a date.

Research Scholars and Lab technicians at the Laboratory, Shashikiran Nivas, Shivananda, Pallavi, Sachin Patavardhan, Sulakshana and Chitra Pinto among others have strived for the exhibition

Karnataka Circle Chief Post Master General Dr Charles Lobo inaugurated the exhibition and called upon the students to develop interest towards philately.

Dr Frank Heuer, Monika Heuer and Robert Heuer from Neuenkirchen, Germany were present on the occasion.