A 10-day Olympic expo opened on Friday to showcase a world collection of Olympic souvenirs, which offers visitors an alternative taste of the city's Olympic fervor.

Although the idea for the expo comes from stamp shows held during previous Games, this expo at the Beijing Exhibition Center offers Olympics badges, coins and art as well.

Many rare items from the Olympics Museum (OM) in Lausanne, Switzerland are being shown for the first time outside the museum, as well as nearly 1,100 stamp collections from 23 countries and other unique souvenirs produced by postal organizations and mints in more than 50 countries.

A gift from International Olympic Committee (IOC) Honorary President Juan Antonio Samaranch to the OM, a collection of Olympic stamps that goes back to the first in 1896, is also be presented.

The expo was co-organized by the IOC, Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG), China Olympic Committee and China Postal Group.

Samaranch, IOC President Jacques Rogge, IOC Honorary President Juan Antonio Samaranch and BOCOG President Liu Qi attended the expo's opening in the morning.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2008)