HPT Museum was established in 1953 upon the Resolution by the Postal Management Steering Committee in Zagreb, under the name of "PTT Museum Zagreb", with the task of collecting, processing, keeping, exhibiting, and publishing materials and objects representing the historical development of postal & telecommunications service.   The postal-wireless palace, Jurisiceva 13, Zagreb; original appearance Since its very establishement, the Museum has been located at the building built for the purpose in 1904 in Secession style, as the first postal-wireless palace in Croatia. The two-storey house built in the so-called Hungarian style out of red brick ended in four towers. The building had a main entrance and two entrances for each hall: Letters Hall and Packages Hall. The doors were made out of forged iron, also in Secession style. A third storey was added in 1930, while the corner towers were removed. The building underwent the greatest change in 1958 when lateral entrances were added, while the interior was modernized. HPT building - today   The first Museum Curator was Mr. Vuk Simic Vakanovic, DSc, a renowned philatelist, well acquainted with the postal service history. In the first year of its existence, the Museum established its fundamental collections: Postal, Telecommunications, and Philatelic, as well as the following documentary collections: Cartographic, Archives, Photograph Archives, Papers & Journals Collection and Library. That same year, it organized its first collection at the exhibiting hall that was, until the redecoration undertaken in 1958, located at the Main Post Office building. However, back in 1954, the then General Postal Management with the seat in Belgrade made the decision of establishing a unique PTT Museum for the entire country (i.e. the former Yugoslavia) in Belgrade. The Museum still holds a number of exhibits from Croatian territory: various telecommunications devices, as well as the most valuable of them all: a 19th c. mail-coach from Istria. In spite of extremely unfavourable conditions, PTT Museum in Zagreb continued collecting its holdings. It organized thematic exhibitions from the area of postal & telecommunications history; philatelic exhibitions, as well as exhibitions on the occasion of various anniversaries. The exhibitions took place mostly in post offices accross the country. As of 1956, PTT Museum Head, Ms. Ljerka Sokol, continued the exhibiting activities and organized scientific research work. Monographs and other related publications were being published, along with collections of papers and books on the history of postal & telecommunications service in Croatia. (Lj. Sokol: 120th Anniversary of the Postal Management's Establishment in Zagreb 1848-1968; Velimir Sokol, DSc: 450 Years of Postal Service in Zagreb 1529-1979; Velimir Sokol, DSc: 100 Years of Telephony in Croatia 1881-1981; Collection of Papers: 120 Years of Wireless in Croatia, 1974) In PTT News, Museum Curators were publishing popular articles from the postal & telecommunications service history (The History of Postal Savings in Croatia, The First Croatian Man in Charge of Mail and Wireless - Cezar Akacic, Historic Continuity of Croatian Postal Societies, The Fight for Croatian National Stamps, A Hundred Years of Postal & Wireless Services' Union 1887-1987). Mr. Velimir Sokol, DSc, one among its establishment initiators, is in close co-operation with the Museum, having advisory status as of 1970. During the 80s, the Museum was still closed for public, but visits were nevertheless possible upon prior announcement. Since Croatia's independence, HPT Museum has made part of the Croatian Postal & Telecommunications Service public enterprise. It has been open for public in December, 1997, thus commemorating 110 years of the public telephone network in Croatia.   copyright (c) , HT & MDC design: NOVENA d.o.o., Zagreb