PTT - Museum of memories

A museum of memories to relive the PTT period. In Mendrisio, the initiative of the Baumgartner Gallery.

Heirlooms, documents and many once-familiar objects have been rescued from oblivion and destruction to tell the story of the Swiss Post's heyday.

The Baumgartner Gallery in Mendrisio pays tribute to the PTT with a museum displaying material mostly from Lugano's Central Post Office, which was collected over many years by Peter Lüthi, a now-retired civil servant nostalgic for old things.

The exhibition includes hundreds of objects, relics from days gone by, which are now preserved, restored and accessible to visitors. There are apparatus, documents, photographs, uniforms, historical archives, objects grouped by theme from telegraph and telephony, shipping and distribution, to the transport of mail and people, activities that made history of the Swiss Federal Company.

The museum was designed to encourage a didactic approach, and there are seven illustrative panels tracing the history of the postal service in Switzerland and Ticino from the 17th century to the present day. Visitors can marvel at objects that bring back memories of the world of pneumatic post, teletypewriters, stamping machines and the yellow book.

An itinerary designed to introduce new generations to the world of communications before the computer age.