Postal museum in Istanbul, Turkey
The
Istanbul Postal Museum
, aka
PTT Museum Istanbul
(
Turkish
:
PTT ?stanbul Muzesi
), is a
postal museum
dedicated to the historical development of
mail
and
telecommunication
services in the
Ottoman Empire
and
Turkey
, exhibiting related equipment and instruments as well as a collection of postage stamps. It was established in 2000 by the Turkish Post, and is situated inside the
Grand Post Office
building at
Sirkeci
quarter of
Fatih
district in
Istanbul
,
Turkey
.
Museum building
[
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]
The Main Post Office (
Turkish
:
Buyuk Postane
), which houses the museum, is a historical four-story building designed by architect
Vedat Tek
(1873?1942) in
First Turkish National architectural style
. It was constructed between 1905 and 1909 during the last period of the
Ottoman Empire
as the building of the Ministry of Post and Telegraph (
Ottoman Turkish
:
Posta ve Telgraf Nezareti
). Later, it was turned into a post office.
[1]
[2]
The museum has a separate entrance and occupies four stories in the western part of the building. It informs visitors about the country's history of communication and telecommunication services that officially began on October 23, 1840 with the foundation of the Ottoman Ministry of Post (
Ottoman Turkish
:
Posta Nezareti
).
[3]
Established on May 6, 2000 by the
Turkish Post
, the museum consists of four sections for mail, telegraph, telephone and postage stamps.
[1]
[2]
Photos taken during the construction of the building are also on exhibit.
[4]
Mail
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Examples of various uniforms worn by military couriers and
mail carriers
from the
Constitutional era
in the beginning of the 20th century and from the Republican era after 1923 to present time can be seen fitted on dolls and mannequins. Historical postal service items like
mail satchels
,
mail pouches
,
mail sacks
,
letter boxes
, locator maps,
franking machines
from the Ottoman and Republican era are on display.
[2]
[4]
Telegraph
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An inscription plate of the first telegraph office shows the year 1855. A painting depicting a battle scene from the
Crimean War
(1853?1856) affiliates with the first use of telegraphy in the Ottoman Empire on September 9, 1855. A telegraph was dispatched from
Shumen
(
Bulgaria
, then Ottoman Empire) to the capital Istanbul relayed in
Edirne
.
[1]
The message reads "Allied troops entered Sevastopol." (
Ottoman Turkish
:
Asakir-i muttefika Sivastopol'a girmi?lerdir.
) to report the victory of the Allied troops, along with the Ottomans, ending the
Siege of Sevastopol (1854?1855)
during the Crimean War.
[2]
[4]
On the third floor, the telegraphy room of clerk Hamdi Bey of
Monastır
(today Bitola in
North Macedonia
) is preserved unchanged from those days with all the historical equipment. He was in charge when the Allied troops of
World War I
(1914?1918)
occupied Istanbul
on March 16, 1920 following the
Armistice of Mudros
. He sent messages to
Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk)
in
Ankara
using
Morse telegraph
about the situation in Istanbul until he was stopped by the enemy soldiers, who entered the post office building.
[2]
Later period's
teletypewriters
and an original
telex machine
is on exhibit as well.
[2]
Telephone
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]
The second floor hosts various early telephone instruments and related equipment. There are telephones with hand-cranked
magneto
generator or battery-powered,
rotary dial
and pushbutton dial telephones in both wall and desk versions, also produced in Turkish PTT factories,
telephone switchboards
,
elektromechanical automatic telephone exchanges
[4]
Also an exact replica of
Alexander Graham Bell
's (1842?1922) original telephone from 1882 is exhibited here. It was a gift from
Alcatel-Lucent
company in 1990 on the 150th anniversary of Turkish Post's establishment. An example of
telephone switchboard
can be seen, which enabled to manually connect telephone subscribers. The installation of the first
electromechanical automatic telephone exchange
in Turkey was accomplished on October 23, 1931 making the
switchboard operators
superfluous.
[2]
[4]
Postage stamps
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]
The first Turkish postage stamp was issued by Post Minister
Agah Efendi
(1832?1885) on January 13, 1863. It was printed at the Ottoman Imperial Mint on
thin cigarette paper
. Postage stamp issues of
Universal Postal Union
's member countries are also on display along with the stamps of the Ottoman and Republican era as well as first day covers issued after the 1950s.
[2]
[4]
Location and access
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The museum is situated inside the Main Post Office building in Yeni Postane Cad. 25 in Sirkeci quarter of Fatih district in Istanbul. It is open between 08:30-17:30 on workdays only. Admission is free of charge. Museum's vsit is guided by an employee.
[2]
[5]
Gallery
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-
Istanbul Postal Museum Part of facade
-
Istanbul Postal Museum Central Hall
-
Istanbul Postal Museum Ceiling
-
Istanbul Postal Museum Architecture
-
Istanbul Postal Museum
-
Istanbul Postal Museum Postal globe
-
Istanbul Postal Museum Telephone
-
Istanbul Postal Museum Switchboard
-
Istanbul Postal Museum Telegraph
See also
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References
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Archaeology and history museums
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Castles
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Culture and art museums
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Historic house museums
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Literary museums
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Military museums
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Palaces and pavilions
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Religious museums
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Science and technology museums
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Miscellaneous
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