The Post Museum is located in the Penelope block on Lilla Nigatan 6 in Gamla Stan, Stockholm. The museum shows the history of the post office from its founding in 1636 to the present day. In addition to the historical collection, which consists mainly of posthistoric objects as well as photographs and documents, the Postmuseum has an extensive collection of stamps and other philatelic objects.
In connection with the first general meeting of the Nordic Post Office in Stockholm, an exhibition of old postal items was organized in 1903 at the former main post office in Vasagatan to attract interest in the Swedish Post Museum and to preserve old postal items, and in 1905 it was also decided to establish a post museum.
On 15 December 1906, the Post Museum was opened in the presence of, among others, Prince Gustav Adolf and his grandson, Princess Margareta, and Von Kruzenshtern, the postal director general. The Post Museum was located at the Royal Post Office in Lille Nigatan in Stockholm, which has belonged to the Post Office since 1720 and was rebuilt in the 1820s according to the drawings of architect Fredrik Blom. Both the post office and the city's only post office were housed in the house.
Initially the museum received seven rooms, but when the post office moved to the central post office on Vasagatan, the museum was given new space for its growing collections.
The mission of the postal museum
The mission of the Post Museum is to ensure that knowledge of Swedish postal history and modernity is documented, preserved and transmitted professionally. The Post Museum is a meeting place where the past, present and future of the Swedish Post is centrally located. The history of the post office as it is depicted must be told in connection with our contemporary.
As a museum of cultural history, the main task of the Post Museum is to "remember society" for the history of the Swedish Post. This is done by collecting objects, philatelic objects, images, documents and literature from different times that form the basis for the knowledge of society and its changes.
Scope of collections
The Post Museum's collections include posthistoric items, documents, photographs, postage and, last but not least, stamps. The collections include about 18,000 items related to the Postmuseum and its history. The archive holds more than 300,000 documents and images from the history of the Swedish Post. Documents include maps, drawings, letters, stamps, posters and postcards. Philatelic collections include about 5 million stamps and 90,000 copies, additional documents and samples for printing Swedish stamps. The collections of the Mail Museum are unique in the world, and parts of the collections are published in the Digital Museum.
Library
The Library of the Post Museum was founded in 1944. When the library of the Swedish Postal Agency at the Central Post Office on Vasagatan in Stockholm was closed in 1985, postal literature was transferred to the Postal Museum as a supplement to the philatelic library. The library is one of the most extensive of its kind in the world: about 70,000 volumes and about 160 working journals.
Exhibitions
The Museum of Post has an exhibition of Din Post, which tells about the development of post from its founding in 1636 to the present day. The museum also has an exhibition called Hello! and which deals with communication with an emphasis on the written word and an exhibition called Treasury and which deals with Swedish brands and its history. Little Mail is an exhibition and children's workshop where young children can play in post offices, hand out letters and create different themes. The museum also has temporary exhibitions on various topics related to communication and postal services.
