Main post office in Bissau

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View of the main post office in Bissau (2010)
Main entrance to the post office

The main post office of Bissau , in Portuguese Estação Central dos Correios de Bissau or originally Edifício dos Correios, Telégrafos e Telefones (CTT), is the central post office of the Guinea-Bissau capital of Bissau of the state post Correios da Guiné-Bissau . Opened at the end of the 1950s, the building is located right in the center of the capital at 13 Avenida Amílcar Cabral, opposite the city's cathedral .

history

The new construction of the main post office in Maputo was part of the infrastructure expansion program of the Portuguese minister for the colony from 1950 to 1955, General Manuel Sarmento Rodrigues , who had previously served as colonial governor of Portuguese Guinea for five years . The Ministry's Department for Colonial Urbanization ( Gabinete de Urbanização Colonial , GUC) commissioned the architect Lucínio Cruz to design the new building in 1950. Cruz had already drawn up a draft for the new construction of a town hall for Bissau for the same site.

Cruz designed in several drafts, the last from 1955, a voluminous, two-story building with a monumental, three-door main entrance to today's Avenida Amílcar Cabral (then Avenida da República ). Cruz oriented himself strongly on the style of neoclassicism practiced in Portugal in the sense of the Estado Novo in order to emphasize the official (state) character of the post. The building has a large inner courtyard with an area of ​​over 1000 square meters, which serves as the central distribution level for the entire building. On the side of the building facing Avenida Amílcar Cabral are the post office counters for customer traffic and the post office. The central telephone and telegram station is located in the side wing and the library is on the first floor. Deviating from the original plan, the colonial post office had another side wing attached to the building to accommodate a small school, studios and other facilities. Complemented by the second side wing, the floor plan of the building forms a "U".

There is no information about the actual opening date of the post office, the building is believed to have opened between 1955 and 1960. The Portuguese (colonial) CTT used the building until the independence of Guinea-Bissau . After independence, the newly founded Guinea-Bissau Post Correios da Guiné-Bissau (CGB) moved into the building and continues to use it today. The offices of the state communications operators Guiné Telecom and Guinétel are also located there . The building is said to have changed only insignificantly since then.

It is not known whether the palace is a listed building. The building is registered with the number 30437 in the Portuguese monument database Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico (SIPA), which also includes monuments from former Portuguese colonies.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ana Vaz Milheiro: Correios. In: Patimónio de Influência Portuguesa (HPIP). Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2008, accessed February 7, 2018 (Portuguese).
  2. ^ A b Tiago Lourenço: Edifício dos Correios, Telégrafos e Telefones, CTT, de Bissau. In: Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico (SIPA). 2010, accessed February 7, 2018 (Portuguese, with photos).
  3. ↑ Braime Darama: Salários em atraso geram greve nos correios da Guiné-Bissau. In: DW.com. Deutsche Welle, September 27, 2013, accessed February 7, 2018 (Portuguese).

Coordinates: 11 ° 51 ′ 35.7 "  N , 15 ° 34 ′ 55.1"  W.