You might be wondering where the Little Mail Carriers went after their magical cruise in the Bermudas last year! The little guys jumped over the water to Mexico city, where exciting adventures awaited them… but then the pandemic hit and everyone big and small had to shelter and keep safe. When things reopened though, they donned their tiny homemade masks, and went out to explore a very special place in the capital city of Mexico: the Palacio Postal, or Postal Palace. Here’s what they wrote back:
The Post Master’s office had an original safe, with the name of the office: Correos de México.
Hola everyone! 👋 Postcrosser Rose (aka Rousita) is our host for what was supposed to be a short stop in Mexico city earlier last year, but ended up being a long adventure! When she invited us over, she mentioned a “palace for all postal services”, and we were immediately intrigued and eager to check it out… wouldn’t you be?
The main facade of the building.
The history of this place goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, when there was an important increase of demand of all postal services in the country. The President of Mexico was Porfirio Diaz, who was inclined towards European style architecture, so in 1900 his government decided to build a large building, close to the main plaza of the city, called Zócalo.
The elegant staircase, made in Italy.
He appointed Adamo Boari, an Italian engineer, as the head designer and the first stone was set in 1902.
As part of the crew was also Gonzalo Garita, Mexican engineer, who oversaw the design of the metal
structure that sustains the building. It was inaugurated on February 17, 1907, just three years before the
Revolution war started in Mexico.
The building was designed to be functional, but at the same time, very beautiful. The architectural style
is Spanish Gothic Revival (Plateresco), with a lot of other styles mixed in, in a wonderfully eclectic mixture. One of the most beautiful sites is the main staircase, made of steel. It was crafted in Florence, Italy by Fonderia Pignone and assembled all in site. All public activities take place on the first floor and the postmaster’s office is on the second floor.
From the postmaster’s desk, he could see through the window when the train arrived from
Veracruz and brought all the mail to be distributed daily.The library was really beautiful, and we even got the chance to play on the scales!
We were surprised about the height and elegance of halls and offices, the library and the postmaster’s office. It’s really impressive that this building has continued to work as a post office, after a
century. Probably one of the most beautiful post offices in the world, and it has even been featured in several postcards and stamps over the years!
Now that Mexico Post has resumed operations, it’s time for us to jump to our next destination. Stay tuned for more adventures coming soon!
Thank you Rose for giving the little guys a tour of this majestic post office, and to her partner, Dr. Martin Checa-Artasu, for taking such nice photos and letting us use them in the post! 😍
If your post office is especially neat, or you’d like to host the Little Mail Carriers and show them around your town, let us know in the comments below. We’re always looking for new hosts and interesting things to see — bonus points if they’re postal-themed!
Jany, (aka jany_gurb) is one of the top postcrossers in Mexico. She is passionate about traveling, walking in new cities and discovering foreign cultures.
Here is what she had to say to our interview questions:
How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?
Since I was a little girl I loved postcards, my dad used to buy some of them when he was in another cities, and with the time his postcards became mine.
I was looking in the internet a place where you can exchange postcards in Mexico, and in one page there was “Postcrossing”, I read about it and I was surprise that one web like this exist; imagine you can swap a postcard with someone in another country – to me it was amazing.
So from that day (that was 3 years ago) I became a huge fan of this page!
Do you have any other interesting hobbies?
I like photography, jogging, watching football on TV, reading, listening to music and my passion is travelling. I love walking in a new city and talk with people and know their culture.
Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!
Here is my mailbox:
These are my mailmen:
Here is where I mail and buy my postcards:
And this is where I keep them:
Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.
About my favorites: all of them are favorites to me, I think each postcard I received is special because everyone has something specific to tell.
But with the very first one from Finland (left) I saw that it was a trusting postcard web project!!! And my favorite postcard #2 is this Neuschwanstein castle’s postcard (right), since it was my first postcard with this amazing castle.
Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?
Yes when I received postcards from countries like Israel, Qatar and United Arab Emirates they really surprise me. Those countries are so far of mine that I couldn’t believe that i got postcards from them!!
Have you met any other members in real life?
Yes i went to Italy a few months ago and I met DavideGE. He waited for me at the train station and he show me his beautiful city Genoa, also we exchange some postcards. He is an amazing guy I had a great time!!
