 | |
  Location within Mauritius | |
| Type | Postal Museum |
|---|---|
| Website | www |
The Mauritius Postal Museum is the Postal museum in Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius. [1]
| | |
| Location within Mauritius | |
| Type | Postal Museum |
|---|---|
| Website | www |
The Mauritius Postal Museum is the Postal museum in Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius. [1]
The building of today's museum was built as the General Post Office between 1865 and 1870. It is located at the harbour, beside the customs building in the center of the city. [2]
In January 1865 construction started under the supervision of surveyor general Morrison and by 1868 three-quarters of the building was complete and it took another two years to complete the building project. The construction cost between £10,000 and £11,000 and employed about 80 workers. It was officially opened in December 1870. [2]
The building is a good example of Victorian architecture of public colonial buildings during the reign of Queen Victoria, that are still present in such countries as, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Trinidad and Guyana. [2]
It was a replacement for the previous General Post Office then located in Government Street near Government House, where the post office had been headquartered since 1847. [2]
Since 21 December 1870, this became the main post office of Mauritius and in April 1877, the Central Telegraph Office also moved into the building.
The Postmaster General had his residence in the building. The mail from the 33 rural post offices of the island, that were built in the 1870s and 1890s, arrived here. [2]
In 1958, under the British Governor-general Sir Robert Scott, this became a listed building enacted under Government Notice No. 614. This was preceded by a recommendation from the Ancient Monuments Board. The Mauritian National Monuments Act of 1985 confirmed the building's protected status, as did the "National Monuments of Mauritius" annex to the National Heritage Fund Act (Act No. 40) of 2003. [2]
The postal museum, [3] opened in 2001, displays exhibits on the island's postal and telecommunications history. However, the world-famous Red and Blue "Post Office" Mauritius stamps are not exhibited here, but in the nearby Blue Penny Museum. [4]
Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about 2,000 kilometres off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island, as well as Rodrigues, Agaléga, and St. Brandon. The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, along with nearby Réunion, are part of the Mascarene Islands. The main island of Mauritius, where the population is concentrated, hosts the capital and largest city, Port Louis. The country spans 2,040 square kilometres (790 sq mi) and has an exclusive economic zone covering 2,300,000 square kilometres.
The known and sometimes formally documented history of Mauritius begins with its possible discovery by Austronesians under the Austronesian expansion from pre-Han Taiwan, circa 1500 to 1000 BCE, and then by Arabs,, followed by Portuguese and its appearance on European maps in the early 16th century. Mauritius was successively colonized by the Netherlands, France and Great Britain, and became independent on 12 March 1968.
Port Louis is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's financial and political centre, and most populous city. It is administered by the Municipal City Council of Port Louis. According to the 2018 census conducted by Statistics Mauritius, the population was 147,066.
This is a partial timeline of significant events in postal history, including dates and events relating to postage stamps.
Mauritius is a multi-ethnic, multilingual and a plural society with a population composed mainly of four major ethnic and religious groups. It is often depicted as a "rainbow nation".
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, often referred to as Chacha Ramgoolam or SSR, was a Mauritian physician, politician, and statesman. He served as the island's only chief minister, first prime minister, and fifth governor-general.
India Post is an Indian government-operated postal system in India, and is the trade name of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings had taken initiative under East India Company to start the Postal Service in the country in 1766. It was initially established under the name "Company Mail". It was later modified into a service under the Crown in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie. Dalhousie introduced uniform postage rates and helped to pass the India Post Office Act 1854 which significantly improved upon 1837 Post Office act which had introduced regular post offices in India. It created the position Director General of Post for the whole country.
The Mauritius "Post Office" stamps were issued by the British Colony Mauritius in September 1847, in two denominations: an orange-red one penny (1d) and a deep blue two pence (2d). Their name comes from the wording on the stamps reading "Post Office", which was soon changed in the next issue to "Post Paid". They are among the rarest postage stamps in the world.
The Immigration Depot is a building complex located in Port Louis on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, the first British colony to receive indentured, or contracted, labour workforce from many countries. From 1849 to 1923, half a million Indian indentured labourers passed through the Immigration Depot, to be transported to plantations throughout the British Empire. The large-scale migration of the labourers left an indelible mark on the societies of many former British colonies, with Indians constituting a substantial proportion of their national populations. In Mauritius alone, 68 percent of the current total population is of Indian ancestry. The Immigration Depot has thus become an important reference point in the history and cultural identity of Mauritius.
Le Caudan Waterfront is a commercial development in Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius. It includes shops, banking facilities, casinos, cinemas, restaurants, a marina and a five star hotel.
The Blue Penny Museum a museum dedicated to history and art of Mauritius, is situated at Caudan Waterfront in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. It opened in November 2001.
The Department of Posts, functioning under the brand name Sri Lanka Post, is a government operated postal system in Sri Lanka. The postal headquarters is the General Post Office which is located in Colombo. The department itself comes under the purview of the Ministry of Information and Mass Media. It was formerly known as the Ceylon Post and Telecommunications Department and is one of the oldest Government departments in existence today.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Mauritius:
A postal museum is a museum dedicated to the display of objects relating to the postal service. A subcategory of postal museums are philatelic museums, which focus on philately and postage stamps.
Mauritius, a small island in the southwest Indian Ocean, is important to the world of philately for a number of reasons. Its first two postage stamps issued in 1847, called the "Post Office" stamps, are of legendary rarity and value. They were the first stamps issued in any part of the British Empire outside of Great Britain. The unique cover bearing both “Post Office” stamps has been called "la pièce de résistance de toute la philatélie" or "the greatest item in all philately". The cover was sold at auction, in Zurich, on 3 November 1993, for 5.75 million Swiss francs, the equivalent of about $4 million – the highest price ever paid for a single philatelic item up to that time. In addition, Mauritius is well known for the subsequent locally produced issues known as "primitives," also prized by collectors.
The following is an index of Mauritius-related topics by alphabetical order. For a list by topic, see list of Mauritius-related topics
Elizabeth II was Queen of Mauritius as well as its head of state from 1968 to 1992 when Mauritius was an independent sovereign state and a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations. She was also the monarch of other Commonwealth realms, including the United Kingdom. Her constitutional roles in Mauritius were delegated to a governor-general. Mauritius became a republic in 1992.
Travellers' Lane is a site located in the Jardin des Compagnies, an ancient French colonial garden, in Port Louis, Mauritius.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Port Louis on the island of Mauritius.
The Natural History Museum is a museum in Port Louis, Mauritius.