Postal signpost schedule

When the postal services used to be privy to royal or lordly power, CONVENTS, universities or merchant corporations, there was no need to announce the point of departure of messengers. But after this precious service was open to common people, and particularly in large communities, it was essential to indicate its location.
Thus the Postal Signposts appeared, in order to indicate the contact points of the postal service to a crescent public.
This wooden tablet contains indications of the hours of departure and arrival of the mail coach that is thought to have belonged to the Viana do Castelo Posts. Its black background is divided in two by a golden frieze that circumvents the ends. In the upper part it’s painted the Royal Coat of Arms in shades of gold and red flanked by ornaments and plant motifs also in gold. In the lower part we can read a golden text with the indication of the hours of departure and arrival of the Mail Coach.