1859 - 1923: Postcards from the Old British Post Office

Built in 1859 as the British Post Office, this building served as the center of the British postal network in Istanbul for thirty-five years. It was not only where letters were delivered, but also a threshold for daily interactions among different countries, languages, and people. 

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This exhibition consists of postcards, envelopes, stamps, maps, photographs, and correspondence gathered from various archives during and after the research (2021-2026) for the book Postane: Archaeology of a Building.

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The postcards in the exhibition often speak not of major historical events, but of everyday life: greetings from a holiday, apologies for a delayed letter, Christmas wishes, news of illness, short notes from school... These seemingly ordinary correspondences reveal how Istanbul’s international communication network operated, who the people living within this network were, what they connected with, and the roles the building played in different periods.

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The exhibition treats the postcards not merely as a chronological narrative, but as documents tracing the building’s transformation. The relocation of the British Post Office to different addresses, the transformation of the post office building into the British Boys’ School, and the hospital, courthouse, and other structures within the surrounding consular complex show how all are interconnected through the postcards.

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Thus, a single building is reinterpreted not only through its architectural history but also through the daily lives and relationships of the people who passed through it.