Postal Heritage Laboratory

Explore everyday life, cultural heritage and postal history with us.

Directions

Enlightenment

Lectures, master classes, festivals and public talks on visual culture and history.

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Research

We work with postcards as a data source: contexts, texts, images, routes.

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Scientific Volunteering

Collaborative research: digitization and annotation of materials, support for digital projects.

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Creative Practice

Workshops, artistic practices, and projects at the intersection of research and art.

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Public diplomacy

Intercultural initiatives, international connections, and projects on memory and communication.

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Our projects

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Space by Mail

2026 — Present

The history of space exploration told through postcards — as part of everyday culture and the human experience of the twentieth century. “Space by Mail” is a virtual exhibition dedicated to the history of space exploration told through postcards. The project shows how space entered people’s everyday lives — not only through scientific discoveries and […]

“Heart to Heart Brings a Message”: Spring Letters Marathon

2026 — 2026

The creative competition “Spring Letters” is a project about correspondence as a space of imagination, where words and images merge into a single artistic form. The inspiration for participants was a postcard by Elizaveta Böhm — an artist whose works became an important part of the visual culture of postal communication. Participants are invited to […]

Letters of Victory

2026 — 2026

In many families, time-yellowed sheets with letters and postcards — frontline correspondence of relatives — are carefully preserved. In those years, letters were the main means of communication between people. What worried the soldiers in those difficult years, when each day could be their last? What did they ask their loved ones, what did they […]

Map of Postal Landmarks

2025 — Present

The Map of Postal Landmarks is a volunteer project aimed at identifying, describing, and promoting sites connected with the history of postal services and the culture of correspondence. The project brings together researchers, collectors, local historians, students, and everyone interested in postal history. Together, we are creating an open map of monuments, museums, historic post […]

Hackathon “Postal: Memory, Language, Technology”

2025 — 2025

The historical and educational hackathon “Postal: Memory, Language, Technology” was held from October 29 to November 1, 2025, in Nizhny Novgorod. The project’s starting point was unique postcards from the 19th and 20th centuries—living witnesses of the era. Participants were able to explore history through the language of letters and cultural codes, and propose modern […]

05.05.2026 10:00 → 06.05.2026 16:30
Islamabad, Pakistan
12.02.2026 • 09:30–10:30
Нижний Новгород, Россия
06.02.2026
Нижний Новгород, Россия

Materials

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09.05.2026

Nauka.rf: “Letters of Victory” Campaign Launched in Russia

On the eve of Victory Day, the online marathon “Letters of Victory”, organized by the Postal Heritage Laboratory “Postal”, has started in Russia. Until June 22, participants in the campaign will send stories about their heroes along with scans of letters and photographs of their authors. All materials will be published on the pages of […]

13.02.2026

Komsomolskaya Pravda: The Mysterious Request of Architect Yakovlev, the Fire of 1913, and a Forgotten Enamel Basin: The History of Nizhny Novgorod in Vintage Postcards

The Pochtovoe project continues to share meaningful cultural materials and examples of professional journalism dedicated to postal history and visual culture. The newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda — Nizhny Novgorod published an article highlighting the importance of historical postcards as sources of knowledge and memory about our city’s past. The text presents fascinating historical facts and comments […]

02.07.2025

Volunteers of History — 2025: National Award

The Pochtovoe project became a prize winner in the “Museum or Exhibition” category of the national “Volunteers of History” Award (2025) — a prestigious initiative supporting best practices in history education, the preservation of historical memory, and the promotion of historical knowledge. This award highlights our project’s contribution to historical education and to working with […]

23.03.2025

Philately.ru: The Pochtovoe Project

Philately.ru features a report on a lecture delivered by Timur Khusyanov, head of the Pochtovoe project, for students of the Nizhny Novgorod Automotive Technical College. The article covers cultural and historical aspects of postal communication — from the origins of mail and university post to philatelic tourism and unusual postal practices. Read the original article […]