To determine the exact size and shape of the earth George Wilhelm Struve (1793-1864) determined to create an arc based on triangulation. 258 triangles and 60 subsidiary station points were measured. Today the arc passes through 10 countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine).
     Beginning in 1994 these countries have sought to recover and verify the monuments, and in 2005 UNESCO approved inclusion of the Struve Geodetic Arc in the World Heritage List.
     In 2007 Belarus issued a sheet to commemorate the Struve Arc. It features an old map, with modern country boundaries superimposed, a portrait of Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve based on a lithograph by H. Mitreuter after a portrait by C. A. Jensen, 1844, and 10 or more illustrations of survey instruments, an oval map of the world, two 4 point compass roses, and, on the single stamp, a modern map of Belarus with the inscription "Struve Arc" in Cyrillic at the bottom. In addition the route of the Struve Arc is traced on both the large map and the stamp.