“Overcoming Distance: Five Centuries of Communications in Portugal” is more than a journey through history. It’s an exhibition – organised into two parts, one dedicated to the post and the other to telecommunications – on the evolution and improvement in techniques that allowed Man to communicate more quickly and efficiently. It is a trek along a step-by-step journey which reveals the importance of communications in transforming our daily life and in the economic and social development of communities.

Man has sought to explore telecommunications and the post as essential tools throughout history. They have provided the possibility to overcome distance and to break through the barrier of isolation. In essence, they’ve been used as a means to unite the world.

From optical telegraph to satellites in telecommunications, or the horse-drawn mail coach to hybrid mail services in the postal sector, the goal of Man’s ever-evolving ingenuity has always been to communicate further and faster so as to achieve the real-time communication of today.

In 2009, to commemorate World Post Day (October 9th), the exhibition Inbound/Outbound – By Mail, with photographs by Anabela Loureiro, was incorporated into the permanent exhibition “Overcoming Distance” and in so doing enriched the section on postal communications.

New guided visiting times for individual visitors. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 4.00 pm we now have guided visits just for you!

Contact numbers and information – Museu das Comunicações