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9 September 1997 - Commemorative Postage Stamp: Stamp Day 1997

  • Size: 42.60 x 35.50 mm
  • Value: Kn 2.30
  • Paper: white, 102 g, gummed
  • Comb Perforation: 14
  • Printing: Multicolour Offsetprint, AKD - Hrvatski tiskarski zavod, Zagreb
  • Issued: 500000
  • Motif: 16th century courier from Dubrovnik

The courier service of the city of Dubrovnik belongs to the oldest courier services in the south of Europe. The first preserved document about the Dubrovnik couriers comes from the beginning of the 13th century, while the document preserved from the 14th century proves that they had an important role in the keeping up of political and commercial connections of Dubrovnik with Bosnia and Turkey.

Despite the great importance of the courier service for the Dubrovnik Republic, the service itself was not organized as a state service, neither did it have its guilds. The service was actually a private legal activity of individuals who offered their services in delivering postal consignments in return for a defined remuneration which was subject to special agreements. The agreements regulated the exact destination of the postal consignment, the route that should be taken, the time of the delivering, the amount of the consignment and the financial responsibility in the case of a courier not fulfilling his contractual obligations. The financial remuneration was usually paid in the form of two instalments: advance-money and the rest paid after the return of the courier.

The same courier used to carry letters from one addressee to another and bring the answer back, without regard to the length of the route (e.g from Dubrovnik to Constantinople). The couriers used to carry their consignments on foot, which demanded excellent physical fitness and a good knowledge of traffic routes. According to the preserved documents it is evident that in the course of time the profession of courier became a family or inherited profession. Judging by the number of Dubrovnik couriers, 50 to 60 as early as the 14th century, we can conclude that there was ample correspondence going on between Dubrovnik and the rest of the world, which consequently means that trade in Dubrovnik was highly developed.

The courier service of Dubrovnik played an important role in the history of European post. Much before the Western Europe, Dubrovnik established connections with Turkey, so that France and Austria, after establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey in the 16th century, began sending their correspondence for Levant via Dubrovnik, using the services of the Dubrovnik couriers, being convinced of their dedication and correctness. Other West European countries also used to hire the services of the Dubrovnik couriers to send their post to the Levant. This is how the Dubrovnik couriers became pioneers of the international postal services.

The reputation obtained by their delivery of postal consignments was the reason that the Frenchman Nicole de Nicolai drew the picture of the Dubrovnik courier in the first illustrated travelogue about the Levant in 1551. The courier service of the Dubrovnik Republic functioned in its unchanged form up to the beginning of the 19th century, the time when Dubrovnik lost its independence.

Source: The Croatian Post and Telecommunications

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