Post horn

The use of the post horn by the postal service accompanies European history and has been documented since the 16th century. The messenger who used the post horn was called a postilion, an emblematic figure who delivered letters to castles, farms or localities where mail was expected.

In Portugal, the postilion is represented on horseback, with a trumpet, a bugle or even a horn in his hand. The instrument was also used to signal farewell when the postilion left for the next destination. The figure of the courier with a horn quickly became confused with the activity itself. When you heard the horn, you immediately said, “Here comes the mail”. Perhaps that is why it has passed from ancient to modern times and has become the most visible “mark” of the postal service in many countries.

In the writings of Fernão Lopes – Crónica de D. João I (1450) we find the oldest record of postilion work in Lisbon:

“It was Tuesday afternoon, and many people were in the Cathedral (of Lisbon) to pray the Salve Regina as usual, a young man arrived (on horseback) João Martins Cozinho, resident in Alenquer, who told the people of the city to take great pleasure. Because they could now be certain that the King their lord had fought with the King of Castile and had defeated and beaten him in the field“.

During the monarchy, the official logo of the Portuguese Post was the crown coat of arms. In 1936, with the Republic, it became the armillary sphere, topped by a shield with the corners crossed by a thunderbolt representing telecommunications.

The “messenger on horseback” blowing on the straight-barrelled horn dates back to 1953 and has had several adaptations – 1964, 1993, 2004 and 2015 – until arriving at the image currently used.

Typically, the “trumpet” or “bugle” can be a straight or curved pipe instrument. In Portugal, perhaps due to greater familiarity of use, the postilion has a “military horn” with a straighter English-style pipe. In other countries such as Slovenia, the chosen instrument is the “curled horn”.

Emerging in the territory of modern-day Slovenia with the introduction of a horse and rider postal delivery system in the 17th century, postilions transported correspondence and post parcels. At post stations, they provided for horses and mail coaches. They wore service uniforms and blew post horns to signal the arrival of a mail coach to the station so that the procedures could be completed as fast as possible.

Postilions played a different post horn melody when signalling that the road must be cleared for a mail coach or that a certain number of horses had to be ready at the postal station for changing. Displayed at the Museum of Post and Telecommunications in Polhov Gradec, the brass post horn with a decorative cord with tassels was owned by the Tomšič family, the leaseholder of the local post office, for a great many years.

In the mid-19th century, the postal service activity substantially increased, and the postal administration implemented a radical reform, introducing several novelties, such as stamps, money orders, postcards, picture postcards, etc. The number of post offices surged. In large towns, they employed public officials, while in smaller localities, they were predominantly contract-based and leased out by the State. The leaseholders received an annual salary which depended on the post office revenues, and a lump sum to cover expenses. At the time, a post office was a significant contributor to the development of the place.

The establishment of a post office in Polhov Gradec was the work of several prominent local people, including mayor Janez Tomšič, who leased the local postal services in 1869. He bought an old mare and a carriage to transport mail to Ljubljana and back. The performance and consequently revenues depended on the turnover. However, the items were very small in number, and Tomšič often wrote a letter so that the carriage would not leave for Ljubljana empty. After his death, his wife stepped in for a while and later his daughter. During an unannounced business review in 1892, the senior commissioner from the Postal Directorate in Trieste concluded that the Polhov Gradec post office was extremely small. Its operation failed to meet the required criteria therefore he decreed that the carriage would travel to Ljubljana only four times a week.

Following his mother’s death, Janez’s son France returned to Polhov Gradec and took over the post office. A lump sum that contract postal service providers received from the State for material costs and mail delivery was usually far less than the actual costs. It was calculated on the number of customers, and France Tomšič was constantly trying to recruit new clients. “I was active on several fronts to somewhat consolidate the operation of the post office. When the dairy was set up, I made the crates to transport butter and acquired some customers,” he wrote.

The last mail coach attended by a postilion drove to Ljubljana in the late 1920s. Starting with the arrival of the first bus to Polhov Gradec in the 1930s, postal items were transported by a regular bus line. Currently a part of the Museum of Post and Telecommunications collection at Polhov Gradec Mansion, the post horn was silenced forever.

Museum of Post and Telecommunications: post horn, photo Nada Žgank and Domen Pal	Museum of Post and Telecommunications: post horn, photo Jaka Blasutto
Fundação Portuguesa das Comunicações: post horn, photo Luís Filipe Oliveira	Fundação Portuguesa das Comunicações: post horn, photo FPC Communication team