At a time when postal communications are having to coexist with and adapt to the new technological media, Spain’s postal service Correos is celebrating the 300th anniversary of its founding. Three centuries that have witnessed such important landmarks as the introduction of the postman (1756), daily postal deliveries (1870) and the invention of the postcode (1981).
Correos was founded through a royal initiative promoted by King Felipe V, and which delegated responsibility to Juan Tomás de Goyeneche who, on 8th July 1716, was appointed Superintendent in Chief and General Administrator of the Postal Services within and outside these Kingdoms (…). From that point on, and for the first time in history, the State took control of the organisation, management and setting of charges and tariffs for all postal procedures. This measure brought to an end the control previously exerted by the Tassis family, who until then had enjoyed the Royal privilege to implement all postal services in Spain and the rest of Europe. If you want to find out more about the Tassis family, go to the Singulars section in this website and click on “Thurn und Taxis, a family line devoted to the postal service”.
Correos is celebrating its tercentenary by issuing three souvenir sheets of stamps devoted to three centuries of the state postal and telegraphs service. The first souvenir sheet, which went on sale on 29th February 2016, is devoted to the first 100 years of the service (1716-1816). The main illustration shows the six most important radial postal routes on the Iberian Peninsula, together with allusions to the postal service in this first phase. The main motif on the stamp is a scene set in the 18th century in which the focus of interest is Madrid’s main post office, the Real Casa de Correos. This building, situated in the city’s central Puerta del Sol district, is one of the oldest in the area. With regard to technical details, the souvenir sheet is litho printed, with a total of 200,000 sheets.
Among the many different celebratory events that have been organised, an exhibition was held last March in the Antoni Comas Library in Mataró. This exhibition, which ran for two weeks, showed documents and objects from different ages that were discovered when the city’s post office was moved from Carrer Lepanto to Camí Ral. Mataró is unique in that it was the first city to go from a postal service transported by horse and carriage to one carried by railway, which represented a great leap forward in terms of improving the service. And last but not least, Mataró was the first city to have a post box.
Happy anniversary, @Correos!
