The story of the Universal Postal Union
On 9 October 1874, the Universal Postal Union was established in Bern, laying the foundation for modern communication. To this day, it allows the global exchange of letters and parcels and is a cornerstone of global postal traffic.
An international organisation for millions of people
Fragile freight for bee keepers
Postal accounts for women and discounts for ruling princes
Collaboration
This text was born of a collaboration between the Swiss National Museum and the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland research centre (Dodis). Madeleine Herren is Chair of the Dodis Commission and co-editor of the source edition Die Schweiz und die Konstruktion des Multilateralismus (‘Switzerland and the construction of multilateralism’) volume 1, published in 2023.