National Technical Museum opens an exhibition of the newly acquired Postal Museum

Prague – A new exhibition titled "Technology at the Post Office or The Postal Museum as part of the National Technical Museum" will open on Thursday at Vávra's Mill in Prague. People will be able to visit it every Tuesday to Sunday between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM. The National Technical Museum (NTM) acquired the building at the beginning of the year from Czech Post. However, the complete transfer will take about another year, primarily due to the large number of stamp collections totaling approximately 19 million pieces that need to be verified. This was stated by NTM General Director Karel Ksandr at a press conference today, where he, along with other representatives, introduced the new exhibition to journalists.

The Postal Museum will offer visitors an exhibition dedicated to technology, postal services, and communication. "More than 90 percent of the collection items can be seen by visitors for the very first time. The exhibition was prepared from the most interesting items transferred from the Postal Museum's collections to the NTM in 1955," said exhibition author Jan Hosťák. The Postal Museum's collection contains over 200,000 artifacts.

In one of the rooms, for example, there are devices for wireless information transmission, while others are dedicated to postal transport or postal architecture. Among other things, visitors will be able to view the personal phone of Archduke Franz Ferdinand d'Este from the Konopiště Castle, some of the oldest preserved spark telegraph transmitters, or models of transportation means demonstrating the development of postal delivery.

The museum also features unique Biedermeier interiors with wall paintings by Josef Navrátil. "The Biedermeier apartment is one of the few preserved Biedermeier interiors in Central Europe," noted Ksandr.

The transfer of the Postal Museum to the NTM was initiated by the government; according to Ksandr, Czech Post considered selling it last year. The Postal Museum has become the sixth museum under the NTM – alongside the Museum of Architecture and Construction, the Museum of Transport, the Museum of Electrical Engineering and Media, the Industrial Museum, and the Railway Museum.

The Postal Museum was established in Prague in 1918. According to Ksandr, there were already considerations to transfer it under the then Technical Museum of the Kingdom of Czechia at that time. However, this ultimately did not happen, as the newly formed Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs decided that the museum would remain independent.

"After the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the Postal Museum began to become independent and started to build its own collection from 1920," said Postal Museum Director Maria Szadkowska.

In addition to the exhibition in Prague, the Postal Museum also has an exhibition in Vyšší Brod, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year.