Postcrossing Blog

Mural by Brockenfingaz (Haifa), Kj263 (Ddorf) & Max Fiedler (Ddorf). Kuratiert von Haseläuft.

Have you ever heard of sister cities, also known as twin towns? It’s a concept in which “two cities or towns in geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links”. Collaborations between the cities can take many shapes (for instance, exchange programs or commercial ties), but the goal is simply to unite the towns on a meaningful level.

Right after the Second World War for example, a lot of cities in the UK and Germany came together in this way, helping promote peace and reconciliation. Sounds like a good idea, right? We firmly believe that projects focused on cross-cultural bonds and dialogue make the world a better place, by helping people open their minds to different realities and points of view. This is what Postcrossing is all about as well, so in a way, connecting cities is a lot like connecting people… just on a different scale! 😊

This year, Düsseldorf is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its connections with three sister cities: Haifa (IL), Chemnitz (DE) and Reading (GB). Despite their differences, these three cities have been finding ways of collaborating and expanding their horizons together for the past 30 years. For instance, they’ve organised internships and student exchanges, sports events, donations to each other in times of need and even brought artists together to build this huge mural in Düsseldorf!

To celebrate this milestone, the city of Düsseldorf is partnering with Postcrossing to create an international postcard exhibition that will allow the world to join in on the celebrations. Nothing says “connections across borders” like postcards, so we believe this is the perfect medium to expand their jubilee to the entire world.

And this is where YOU come in! Düsseldorf kindly invites all postcrossers to take part on the postcard exhibition by sending in postcards with well-wishes and thoughts on sister cities. To participate, choose a postcard from your area and send it to:

(The address has been removed as exhibition is already taking place, so postcards are no longer needed.)

We encourage everyone to congratulate Düsseldorf, Haifa, Chemnitz and Reading on their triple jubilee and also to write about sister cities on your postcards! Is your city or town twinned with another one? What do you think of the concept? And do you have any good ideas for cooperations between sister cities?

And as a bonus, the nice people from Düsseldorf’s town hall have reserved 100 specially designed postcards to send out to 100 randomly chosen participants of the exhibition! For a chance to win one, just include your email address on the postcard you send. Don’t worry — your email addresses will be covered for the duration of the exhibition.

All postcards will be displayed on Café Europa (Marktplatz 6 a) from June 30th onwards, so you have until then to send in yours. And if you’re around, mark your calendar and send us photos! We’d love to see your beautiful postcards in all their shiny glory! 😍

PS – If you were the mayor of your town and could twin it with another one, which one would that be? And what would you suggest for your first cooperation? Let us know in the comments!

Remember back in July, when the Singapore Philatelic Museum asked everyone’s collaboration with Harry Potter postcards for their newest thematic exhibition? Mishelle Lim from the museum recently wrote back to let us know the responses to this call for postcards were stunning, and that they’ve received almost 100 beautiful postcards — including hand-made ones and some bearing Harry Potter stamps. Woohoo! Ten points to Gryffindor Postcrossing!

The museum is now busy replying to the submissions, but have sent back some photos of the exhibition which opened last month. Have a look:

Merlin’s beard… that looks amazing! We’re always in awe of SPM’s exhibitions — you can tell they work hard on all the details to really take the experience to the next level.

If you’re in the area or planning to visit Singapore in the next few months, “Collecting Magic: From Stamps to Wands” will be open until June 2017.

Good news, everyone! We’re super excited about this upcoming exhibition curated by the Singapore Philatelic Museum, which features one of our favourite series ever… HARRY POTTER!!

Since the first book came out in 1997, J.K. Rowling's young wizard and his friends have been hugely popular all around the world, influencing a generation of readers. Postal operators have also joined in celebrating the series, which are naturally featured in plenty of stamps as well as postcards and fan art… which is where YOU come in. The SPM is looking for your collections and postcards, to feature on their next exhibition! 😀

If you’re a collector of Harry Potter postcards or postal stationery and would like to showcase your collection in the exhibition, please contact Mishelle (the curator) at SPM179807@gmail.com by August 10th.

But you don’t need to be a collector to participate! As is tradition, the museum is also calling all postcrossers to send in their themed postcards to them. So grab a Harry Potter card and share something with the visitors! For instance, what do you like about the series? Who’s your favourite character, or what’s your favourite scene or quote? Do tell! Here’s the address:

The exhibition is already on display, so this activity is closed.

If your card arrives before August 21st and includes your address, you’ll receive a postcard back! :) Sadly, the reply won’t be a Harry Potter card, due to licensing fees, but the postcards of the museum never disappoint.

The Harry Potter exhibition at the Singapore Philatelic Museum is scheduled to open in November, and stay on until July 2017. Now if only we had a magic spell to teleport us there…

With love from Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang is the name of the most recent exhibition at the Singapore Philatelic Museum. The characters of the comic strip are often portrayed writing letters, so with the new Peanuts movie launch, it seems like a fitting and fun exhibition! They have Snoopy-themed stamps, comic strips and other collectibles on display from all over the world, but they’re still missing one thing… your postcards! :)

Keeping on with the tradition, the museum invites all postcrossers to send in their Peanuts’ themed postcards to:

The exhibition is already on display, so this activity is closed.

Include your favourite quote from a Peanuts character or your thoughts on the comic strip, if you’d like! :)

The exhibition closes at the end of April, and the museum promises to send an exclusive museum Peanuts postcard to anyone who includes their address on the postcard.

Summer is coming*, and it is the time for festivals, music and celebrating… so today we bring you an invitation to participate on an important festival — either in person, or through postcards!

A while ago, we were contacted by George (aka Nazareanu) from Romania, who is involved in the organization of the Armenian Street Festival. The Festival takes place every year in Bucharest (Romania) and aims to promote and celebrate the Armenian heritage and also to create a deeper bond between ethnic communities and nations all over the globe.

Every year, thousands of people come to the Armenian Street Festival to enjoy the bazaar, concerts, theater performances, calligraphy workshops, Armenian food and crafts, photography exhibitions… even the little ones have their own program! :)

This year, there will be a new addition to the festival: a Postcrossing exhibition! The idea is simple: to allow postcrossers to take part in the Armenian Street Festival, through postcards. Submissions will be shown in the Armenian Cultural Center during the festival and throughout the month of August.

Sounds like fun? Then grab a nice postcard that represents your country and send it to:

In order to make it interesting for visitors of the exhibition, we encourage you to write about Armenia on your postcards. For instance: something you know about Armenia or its people, something about the Armenian Heritage in your country/city, or perhaps an inspirational message for Armenians and/or Romanians. These might seem like difficult topics, but do give it a go — you might end up learning something new!

To make the deal sweeter, all participants who include their email address on the postcard will be entered on a lottery to receive one of 100 special postcards, written and signed by exhibitors and entertainers from the Festival, and also by celebrities and distinguished people from the Armenian community in Romania (actors, writers, inventors, historians, musicians, etc.). The email addresses will be covered for the duration of the exhibition.

For those in Romania, or anyone wishing to attend the Festival in person, it takes place in August 7–9th, and a Postcrossing meetup will be held on that weekend. For more information, visit their webpage, www.stradaarmeneasca.ro.

* Well, in the Northern hemisphere! :)