What can be extraordinary about a post office building? That’s exactly what we thought and were very surprised by what we discovered.
We are walking down the street Jindřišská as we pass a large neo-renaissance building. Not really unusual for Prague. But we had received a tip that in exactly this street there should be a really worth seeing building – the Main Post Office Prague.
A glance through the open front door showed me that we had arrived at the right place.
Prague Main Post Office
The architect Antonín Brandner built the building in 1871-1874. At first it was a three-storey building, which was only extended by the fourth floor in 1922. As early as 1873 the post office moved here with the Prague Post Office 1.
Over the years the building has been renovated and reconstructed several times and in 1998 it was declared a national cultural monument.
If you enter the building, you are standing in a large hall covered with glass. Originally, this was an inner courtyard where post buses arrived. Impressing! The walls are decorated with beautiful paintings. I discover many motifs related to the postal service, but also purely botanical motifs. In the gallery you can discover historical photographs on the subject of mail and some historical letterboxes.
Today, one side wing of the building is used by the Czech Post, and the Czech Post Prague offers many additional services.
Curiosities
It is claimed that 1780 letterboxes exists in the building.
The General Post Office is connected to the Prague Pipline postal system. This is the only existing municipal pipline postal system in the world. It has a route length of 50 kilometres. The system was opened to the public in 1899. Initially, the people of Prague used the system mainly for sending telegrams. Gradually the network was expanded, and in 1920 there was a connection to Prague Castle. Sending a mail item from the main post office to Prague Castle takes just 8 minutes with the Pipline tube mail system. Over time the network developed to the point where parcels were sent over it, there were private connections and during the Second World War the pneumatic tube system was used to maintain communication between besieged buildings. In 2002 there was a flood in Prague and the pneumatic tube system had to be temporarily closed.
The main post office has opening hours that I have never seen before at any post office. It is open daily from 2 a.m. until midnight.
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