Kulturarv

The Central Post Office at Tietgensgade

The junction of Bernstorffsgade/Tietgensgade marks the border between middle-class Copenhagen and working-class Vesterbro. Three monumental buildings were built here in the space of just a few years: Vestre Elektricity Works, Copenhagen Central Station and the Central Post Office. Architect Heinrich Wenck took care of the station and post office in continuation of each other, as the train had become the postal services' preferred means of transport, and the Postal Service was the Danish State Railways' (DSB's) biggest customer. The Central Post Office contained both the main administration and the largest post office in the country. The style is French 17th century baroque, and the imposing palace conceals as many floors below street level as above. The Postal Service proudly put its new domicile on the country's first stamp with a special motif in 1912 - the year it was inaugurated.

Post by night

• Story written by: Birgitte Wistoft
• Time / Periode 1912

Every night, the basements under the Central Post Office were a hive of activity as the bureau carriages" stood on the railway tracks waiting to be packed with post for the entire country. In gently rocking train carriages, with no admittance for normal passengers, the postal workers sorted letters and parcels so that postmen all over Denmark could take out the morning post. The bureau carriages manned by the railway post service were often able to fulfil the ambition: Post takes only one day. But then the country shrank. Better roads, faster trains, ferries and bridges cut down the night hours spent sorting in the carriages. The Great Belt Bridge was the final straw. The last bureau carriage rolled to a stop in 1997, and DSB had to wave goodbye at the platform to its largest customer. Today, the Postal Service has its own fleet of vehicles for delivery – and the post sometimes takes more than one day to arrive. "

Read more about The Central Post Office at Tietgensgade at 1001fortællinger.dk