170 years since the opening of the first post office in Novi Sad and 270 years since the opening of the first post office in Petrovaradin

The post office in Petrovaradin was opened on December 29, 1753 and played a very important role in the 18th and 19th centuries. Before the Petrovaradin post office, in today's Vojvodina there were only post offices in Velika Bečkerek (Zrenjanin) from 1737, in Zemun, from 1747, Horgoš, from March 1753, and Velika Kikinda, from August 1753. At that time, there were 35 post offices in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. From the beginning, the post office in Petrovaradin worked in the building of the Chamber of Deputies, where it is still located today. Only in the twenties of the last century did she work at Vladimira Nazor Street 1 (across from the church), and during the occupation, in a building at Beogradska Street 9.

The Novi Sad post office was established one hundred years later, in 1853, so the residents of Novi Sad used the Petrovaradin post office until then. This created great difficulties for them, because the bridge was often dismantled for the passage of ships, and dismantled in winter. In the early fifties of the 19th century, citizens and the press protested often and strongly, and finally, after bitter protests and the persistent efforts of the people of Novi Sad, to open a post office in "Srpski Dnevnik" in Novi Sad on September 19, 1853, according to the old calendar (October 1, 1853 new calendar), the following article appeared: "Today the post office is open in our town. As we said, from now on our newspapers will not be missing because of this or that." However, even when the post office in Novi Sad was opened in 1853, it was subordinate to the one in Petrovaradin, so some parcels could only be delivered and received at the main post office in Petrovaradin.

The exhibition on the occasion of 170 years since the opening of the first post office in Novi Sad and 270 years since the opening of the first post office in Petrovaradin will cover several topics related to the history of postal traffic in Novi Sad and Petrovaradin. Among other things, general postal history will be shown - PTT museum Belgrade; buildings where post offices were and/or are now located in Novi Sad and Petrovradin; methods of mail delivery (ambulatory post office, railway); post office network in Vojvodina from the 18th century to the present day (maps), pre-philately of Petrovaradin 1771 - 1850; postal traffic in Petrovaradin and Novi Sad until the 1870s; the theme of Novi Sad in philately from 1953 to the present day; Novi Sad and Petrovaradin on postcards; letterheads and letterheads of Novi Sad companies on letters and stationery.

The president of the Society of Novi Sad Philatelists, Filip Kulić, thanked JP "Pošta" and expressed the hope that they will continue their cooperation. He emphasized that it is an interesting exhibition with a lot of interesting details.

- There is a copy of the oldest known letter sent from the Novi Sad post office in 1853, a few weeks after its opening. You can also see photos of the construction of the current main post office building and how it looked before and after the opening - explained Kulić.

The installation will be exhibited in the main counter of the Post Office Hall No. 21101, Narodne heroja 2, in Novi Sad (Main Post Office) from December 26, 2023 until the end of February 2024.

The exhibition was organized by the Society of Novi Sad Philatelists and JP "Pošta Srbije", Belgrade, Working Unit "Novi Sad", with the selfless help of PTT Museum from Belgrade and collectors: Petar Savić, Ivan Tangl, Husein Čamdžić, Dragoš Petrović and Kiš Šandor.