In 2018. POLONIKA Institute, as part of the documentation of Polish cultural heritage in Germany, commissioned the documentation of selected monuments from the Dresden and Saxony area. As a result of this task, among other things, documentation cards were made for 17 post poles in Saxony, of which we show selected examples.

Centuries ago, mileposts were part of the postal system and were intended to improve communication by marking out routes and distances as they divided the routes of the postilion's journey into appropriate sections.

During the reign of the Wettin dynasty in Poland, great importance was attached to the functioning of communication between Warsaw and Dresden. In order to improve the transmission of correspondence of state importance, a Polish-Saxon post office was established by order of the King of Poland and the Elector of Saxony, August II the Strong (Frederick Augustus I).

The originator of postposts (German: Kursächsische Postmeilensäule) in Saxony was Adam Friedrich Zürner (1679-1742). Appointed geographer to the prince-elector in 1716, he created the first postal map in princely Saxony a year later. From 1720, he worked on a network of stone mileposts.

During this time, postal milepost columns of several types were erected under his supervision: the distance column, the quarter-mile column, the half-mile column and the mile column. It is worth noting here that a half-mile postal column was equal to one hour and a distance of 4,531 metres. The letters 'AR', the monogram of the Latin Augustus Rex (King Augustus), were engraved on each post. In contrast, the more imposing distance poles are still decorated to this day with the emblems of the Republic and Saxony, topped by the Polish royal crown. One wall of such a pole used to show the distances to the most important cities and towns along the route. As a curiosity, it is worth mentioning that the sign of the post office - the postillion's trumpet, still used today - was also placed on the posts.

During the reign of the Wettins on the Polish throne, two main routes ran between Poland and Saxony:

• northern - from Dresden via Königsbrück, Hoyerswerda, Bad Muskau (Polish: Mużaków), Żary (German: Sorau), Żagań (German: Sagan), Głogów (German: Glogau), Wschowa (German: Fraustadt), Leszno (German: Lissa), Kalisz, Łęczyca and Łowicz to Warsaw ,
• south - from Dresden via Bautzen (Polish: Budziszyn), Görlitz, Bolesławiec (German: Bunzlau), Legnica (German: Liegnitz), Wrocław (German: Breslau), Oleśnica (German: Oels), Syców (German: Wartenberg), Piotrków Trybunalski and Mszczonów to Warsaw .

In 1732, another route was opened between the above-mentioned main courts: via Kargowa, Poznań and Sochaczew. This route, carrying letters of state importance, was covered by a courier in three days.