Museum für Kommunikation Berlin

Located in the heart of Berlin-Mitte, the Museum für Kommunikation Berlin houses its exhibitions in the heritage-listed building of the former Reichspostministerium at Leipziger Straße and the corner of Mauerstraße.

The institution traces its origins to the Reichspostmuseum, founded in 1872 at the initiative of Generalpostmeister Heinrich von Stephan. The adjacent post building was erected in the 1870s and later extended; the museum was housed in this extension and early on conveyed the cultural-historical development of transport and communications. A striking, several-metre-high sculptural group has crowned the façade since the 19th century as a symbol of the worldwide importance of postal and telecommunication services. The building has been protected as a historic monument since 1977.

The Second World War left heavy damage; after 1945 in parts only the enclosing walls remained. Collections had been relocated and some ended up in the western occupation zone, which altered their whereabouts. Subsequently the building in East Berlin was rebuilt as a postal museum. From the 1960s onward permanent exhibitions on the history of post, telegraphy, telephony as well as broadcasting and television were created, and the exhibition spaces were gradually expanded. A comprehensive restoration was planned for Berlin’s 750th anniversary; only after the fall of the Wall could outstanding construction work, including the reconstruction of the atrium, be completed.

In the 1990s the building was restored in keeping with its historic status and revised for a new use concept. A new basement level for particularly valuable objects, including the famous Blaue Mauritius, was created beneath the atrium. Construction work was completed at the end of the 1990s; in March 2000 the museum was opened to the public.

The collection continues the objectives of the Reichspostmuseum and comprises historical materials on postal and communication history as well as representations related to written communication and conveyance across various epochs and cultures. After wartime losses and relocations, extensive reunifications and restructurings took place; parts of the holdings became the Bundespostmuseum in Frankfurt (opened 1958) in the Federal Republic. Following the postal reform of 1995, regional collections and sites were consolidated into the Museumsstiftung Post und Telekommunikation, to which the Berlin institution belongs.

The Berlin collection focuses on the history of the postal service and is divided into areas covering transport and traffic history (including historic postal vehicles and cartographic objects), the history of the post and its successor companies with archive and photo collections, and the history of written correspondence (letters, postcards, writing instruments, postmarks and designs). For space reasons not all holdings are displayed at the main site; further information is available through the museum’s information services. The museum library, with its postal and philatelic literature, found its permanent home in the building in 2000 and comprises an extensive stock.