History of l’Adresse Musee de La Poste



Founded in 1946, the Musee de la Poste houses the national collection  of stamps and depicts the history of the postal service from the Middle Ages to the present day with how communications evolved over the centuries.

About the Founder Eugene Vaille



Eugene Vaille was born in 1875 in the Herault are of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France and the eldest of three children, he spent his entire career in the post office.
l’Adresse Musee de La Poste
It was during the 1890s that Eugene Vaille dealt with telegraphs and was a clerk, then in 1903 he became an editor, and then in 1917 Eugene Vaille became the librarian of the post office located on the Rue de Grenelle in Paris, yet later he moved to the postal head office in 1926.

Now he was often known as a historian and being a doctorate in law, Eugene Valle worked towards the creation of a postal museum in France along with other philatelists.  And being a great writer, he was also the author of a history of the postal service which was produced in seven volumes, along with many different articles that he produced over the years, and by 1943 he was appointed the curator of the future postal museum in Paris.

About l’Adresse Musee de La Poste



Even though the idea of designing a Musee de la Poste was first thought of many years before it materialised and Eugene Vaille was appointed the creator in 1943, the museum did not open until after World War II in the year 1946.
It was first located in the former Hotel de Choiseul-Praslin, which was an 18th century mansion house in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris and at that time was called the Maison de la Poste et Philately.

However, by the 1970s the building had become too small to accommodate the rich collections of the postal museum and therefore it was decided that new premises should be sought.

In 1973, this museum in Paris was moved to a building in the Montparnasse area of the city next to the Gare Montparnasse train station and the building was designed by the architect Andre Chatelin, with the decorative elements being designed by Robert Juvin in order for tourists to have a more comprehensive, yet comfortable and inviting experience.

It was also at this time upon its inauguration, that the name of the postal museum was changed to the Musee de la Poste and since 1995 have become a national Division of La Poste that manages the state and La Poste postal and philatelic collections.
Eugene Vaille photo
Poatal service Musee de La Poste
Then eventually in the October of 2009, its official name changed again to L’Adresse Musee de La Poste and this museum now preserves plus exposes the rich history of France through communications and the postal services along with the philatelic and scientific heritage, which has now made this the most complete and comprehensive postal museum in France.

And spread over five floors, there are rooms at the L’Adresse Musee de La Poste that all carry a specific theme, such as the communication systems of the Middle Ages before a postal service, through to Air Mail and the process from start to finish of producing a stamp.

But you can also discover old uniforms, models of mail coaches and mail planes, badges, medals, a complete collection of the French stamps from the very first one back in 1849, old parchments and letters plus much more, that makes this a completely different type of tourist attraction in Paris compared to the many art museums, which is forever expanding.