1 | Saxon milepost standing at the intersection of postal routes in Zgorzelec. Zgorzelec, 1725 (model, 1958). |
2 | Posthaltery sign in Słonim – the oldest surviving Polish postal sign. Slonim, 18th century. |
3 | Post box designed for the correspondence of soldiers of the Napoleonic armies. Warsaw, 1807-1812. (contemporary copy) |
4 | Armoured case from the 19th century post office equipment used to store valuable postal matter and postal orders. Kingdom of Poland, 19th century. |
5 | Juliusz Krzysztof Kolberg Author unknown, oil on canvas, before 1831. Juliusz Krzysztof Kolberg (1776-1831) Polish cartographer and surveyor, professor at the Royal University of Warsaw, inventor, translator of literature from German and author of the first postal map in Polish. He was a native of Mecklenburg. He graduated from the Building Academy (Bauakademie) in Berlin after which he started working as a geometer and topographer in the surveying of South Prussia. In 1806 he moved to the Duchy of Warsaw and settled in Warsaw where he became an inspector at the customs chamber in Solec. Subsequently, he held the post of survey inspector at the Government Commission for the Internal Affairs and the Police. In the Kingdom of Poland, on the recommendation of Stanisław Staszic, he became professor of surveying, geodesy and topography at the University of Warsaw and head of the newly established department (1817). At the same time, he worked as a surveyor of the Kingdom of Poland (from 1818). Kolberg made great contributions to the development of Polish cartography. In 1808, thanks to his efforts, a map of the Duchy of Warsaw was created which was the basis for the division of the country into departments and districts. During the time of the Kingdom of Poland, he published numerous maps and atlases, as well as various works on geodesy, cartography and metrology. He was also the constructor of the first Polish planimeter, i.e. a mechanical instrument for determining the area of plane figures (1814). He died on 5th September 1831 in Warsaw. |
6 | Informational postal signs of the Kingdom of Poland from the period of unification of the post of the Kingdom of Poland with the tsarist post (after 1863). Kingdom of Poland, 2nd half of the 19th century. |
7 | Informational postal signs in force in the Polish lands under the Prussian partition and in the Prussian state. Prussia, 2nd half of the 19th century. |
8 | Ludwik Kurella, artist unknown, oil on canvas, 19th century. |
9 – 11 | External signage of a post office: national emblem, postal sign, PKO [Pocztowa Kasa Oszczędności – Postal Savings Bank] point sign and post box. Poland, 1920-1939. |
12 | Ruins of the PAST [Polska Akcyjna Spółka Telefoniczna – Polish Joint Stock Telephone Company] building in Warsaw, Antoni Suchanek, watercolour, 1945. |
13 | Ruins of the Main Post Office building in Warsaw, Antoni Suchanek, watercolour, 1945. |
14 | Mechanical postal weighing scale Type WAP-25 for parcels not heavier than 25 kg. Poland, Lubelskie Fabryki Wag, 1975. |
15 | Post office signs in force in the period of the Polish People’s Republic. Poland, 1950s-1980s. |
16 | Outgoing post box for registered mail used in selected post offices exclusively in Wrocław in 1951. Wrocław, 1951. A curiosity that can only be seen in the Museum of Post and Telecommunications in Wrocław is the post-war yellow post box which was attempted to be introduced and popularised in Lower Silesia in 1951. These were traditional boxes (red with white lettering) repainted yellow with black lettering. They were designed for registered letters to be posted in post offices in Wrocław. A postage-paid registered letter could be dropped into the box, and confirmation of posting was collected at the post office counter within the next few days. The experiment with the use of yellow boxes was intended to reduce queues at post offices, shorten waiting times and speed up the work of postal clerks. Unfortunately, the idea of permanent introduction of public post boxes for registered letters did not catch on and, due to low customer interest in this form of postal delivery, the boxes were abolished later that year. |
17 | Post box placed in selected post offices and intended for posting philatelic mail. Poland, 1960s-70s |
