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The history of the post in Croatia
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The history of the present post organization in Croatia dates back to the period of the Roman Empire. In Croatia, postal services were introduced by the Roman Emperor Augustus who organised a traffic service - CURSUS PUBLICUS- the first organization of that kind on Croatian soil.
Postal service was introduced in the first century A.D., charged with the swift dispatch of official correspondence and the transport of officials. Within this highly complex and ramified transport system, traffic passed between stations located at about half a day"s walking distance from each station, known as "stations positae", from which our term "post" was later developed. Maintenance of the Curcus Publicus represented a heavy burden for citizens obliged to supply it with free-of-charge wagons, traveler’s catering and food for animals, as well as maintenance of the roads and construction of rest stations. According to its organization Cursus Publicus maintained all the elements of the postal institution and represented the biggest and most highly organized messenger service of the old age, however, it could not transform to the postal service since it lacked the public service element.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire (479 AD) the Cursus Publicus disappeared too. In the 7th century the Croats inhabited the region between the river Drava and the Adriatic Sea and organized the early Middle Age state. Under the conditions of medieval feudal fragmentation of states at that time there neither existed the interest nor the means for organizing a transmission of news. The postal operation began to gain the momentum with the rise of importance of towns and trade and not only the rulers and the church had the messengers, messengers were also in service of monasteries, universities, schools, nobles, merchants and craftsmen. The transmission of messages and parcels was the obligation of couriers on foot or on a horseback.
Particularly estimated and well known by their exceptional diligence were the fast couriers of the Dubrovnik Republic. They were well known throughout the former Europe; France, Spain and Austria engaged them for delivering of their correspondence to Levant.
Thanks to the abovementioned the individual messengers from Dubrovnik Republic left their trace in building of the international postal traffic between East and West.
At the end of 15th century with the discovery of the New World and the development of science and art the need for the quicker transmission of news became a necessity. The Thurn-Taxis family was granted the patent to carry official and personal postal messages from Vienna throughout the Habsburg Monarchy. They have first reorganized with the aid of subsidy the courier service into a regular postal delivery service, i.e. the postal services had fixed routes and times of departure, the organizer responsible for financing the service was known, the scale of charges for delivery of mail was laid down, and - most important of all - the postal service had become a public amenity available to all and sundry. In the meantime the incursion of Turks called for a defensive system, so Germany, Austria, Hungary and Venice organized timely transmission of any kind of news from the battlefield. The Austrian military command established the first military courier service in Croatia.
King Ferdinand I, ordered postal delivery to be organized in Croatia in 1525 linking Graz-Maribor- Celje- Jastrebarsko, and in 1529 the postal delivery was introduced on the relation Vienna-Zagreb. The mentioned postal service marked the collapse of the old middle age courier service and the introduction of the new organized postal service in Croatia.
From the 17th century regular postal delivery services have been organized with fixed charges for the mail as well as for travelers. The officials that accompanied the carriages which transported both travelers and mail wore uniforms, and the horn became the symbol of the postal service. Apart from the Thurn-Taxis family in the Austrian empire to which Croatia also belonged, the family Paar was granted the right to organize postal delivery service.
During the 18th century the postal delivery service passed from the private hands of the Paar family under the state authority. In 1722, upon the order of the Austrian Emperor Karl VI, some larger post offices were taken over by the state, and smaller offices were handed over to the nobles who then added the postal symbol-the horn-to their coat of arms.
The Croatian Post of the 18th century was administered through three administrative centers: Varaždin, Osijek, Karlovac, and all the three postal centers were under the authority of Vienna (until 1822) and Pešta (until 1848). In 19th century the modern organization of postal services was regulated by law, and the delivery of mail was conducted through major postal centers, employing a host of workers and utilizing modern machinery and contemporary modes of transportation.
 Postal bus for mail and passenger transport
On 11 August 1848 the Vice-Roy Jelačić and his Council issued a decree establishing the General Directorate of Posts in Zagreb, thus creating the first national postal administration in Croatia, with the title THE GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF POST FOR CROATIA AND SLAVONIA. The first state postal office was organized in 1831 in the convent of the Clarissa nuns in Opatička street ( presently the Museum of the City of Zagreb). In 1848 the premises were inhabited by the Directorate of Posts of Croatia and Slavonia. Permanent increase in postal traffic and the introduction of telegrams in 1850 created the necessity for building of the new post. In 1901 the first state building was erected along with the Main Railway Station building. The construction of the postal castle in Jurišićeva street number 13 started in 1902 and was carried out by Greiner and Varoing, constructors that lived in Zagreb, backed up by some Hungarian enterprises.
 The first clerks moved in on 29 August 1904. At that time the building had only two floors (in the first half of the 20th century several adaptations and reconstruction were carried out until 1958 when the building was finished).
In the further development of post there were no crucial changes until 1918 when the new state was founded-Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians (SHS). In April 1919 the Ministry of Post and Telegraph of the Kingdom SHS in Belgrade started to work, and the state territory was devised into nine postal and telegraphic directorates. The headquarters of Croatian Directorate was in Zagreb. In 1929 the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications was dissolved and the PTT traffic was placed under the authority of the Ministry of Construction. However from 1930 till 1935 it was under the authority of the Ministry of Traffic, and in 1935 the Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephone was established for the second time. The new "Regulation on the Organization of Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephone" was introduced, which apart from the new organizational scheme, brought "numerous clausus " for female PTT employees. Pursuant that regulation women with university degrees were forbidden to work for PTT and only 25% of women with lower educational backgrounds, 30 % of women with secondary school qualification, out of the total number of employees, were employed in PTT organization.
After the WW II, the Directorate of Posts in Croatia was part of the Yugoslav PTT Community (JPTT).
The Law enforced by the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia, on 10 October 1990, established the public firm HPT-Croatian Post and Telecommunications, with the basic activity of postal and telecommunication services. The HPT firm was the legal successor of the former 13 PTT firms of the Republic of Croatia, and in that sense inherited all the rights and obligations of the mentioned firms. The headquarters of the Croatian Post and Telecommunications was in Zagreb, on Jurišićeva Street no.13, and it was governed by the Administration Board consisting of nine members.
Croatian Post and Telecommunications consisted of Joint Departments ( Director"s Office, Economy Department, Legal , Personnel and Administrative Department, Internal Control and Audit Department) and the Directorate of Posts and Directorate of Telecommunications separately organized due to the organizational and technical differences between the postal and telecommunication systems.
Not even a year passed when on 25 June 1991, the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Croatia based on the results of the organized referendum on the separation of the Republic of Croatia from Yugoslavia. Thereafter, the armed aggression of the former federal Yugoslav Army and the local Serbian citizens commenced. In extremely difficult war conditions the employees of the Croatian Post and Telecommunications with their hard work and determination contributed to the development of the firm. As soon as the war was over the Administrative Board of the Croatian Post and Telecommunications tried, within the frame of its possibilities, to diminish the serious financial situation which was the imminent outcome of the war, and reconstruct all damaged properties and cover all the damages in the business relations of the Croatian Post and Telecommunications. In spite of the war, Croatian Post and Telecommunications achieved, in its eight years of existence, remarkable results in its business operations.
With respect to the differences in services and technology in functioning of the Directorate of Posts and Directorate of Telecommunications, and in accordance with world trends, on 01 January 1999 the Croatian Post and Telecommunications separated into two firms: the Croatian Post Inc. and the Croatian Telecommunications Inc., and from that date on the Croatian Post acts as an independent shareholders company, and continues the tradition and development of the postal services on the territory of the Republic of Croatia.
All data was provided by the Museum of Croatian Post and Telecommunications.
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