Silesian Museum in Katowice (; ) is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

in the city of

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

History

The museum was founded in 1929 by the Silesian Sejm, while the region was recovering from the Silesian Uprisings. In the XX century interbellum, the Silesian Museum in Katowice was one of the biggest museums in Poland. After their

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, the Nazi Germans however brought the collection to

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian language, Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital. It is one ...

and tore the building down in 1940. In 1984 the museum was reinstated in the former . In 2015 a new main location was opened on the site of the . The new museum reuses some of the historical buildings from the mining complex, and the primary

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

space is underground.

Collection

Permanent exhibitions and attractions include attractions, exhibitions and galleries dedicated to: *

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

over the course of history, presented in Polish, English, and German, and notably addressing sensitive issues such as the area's German cultural heritage and relationship with Germany – topics taboo under the Communist regime. * Polish art 1800–1945 * Non-Professional Art * Polish Art after 1945 * On the trail of Tomek Wilmowski * Sacred Art * Silesian industry * Laboratory of theatrical space

Artists on display

Among the works of Polish art are remarkable examples portraits by

Stanisław Wyspiański Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański (; 15 January 1869 – 28 November 1907) was a Polish playwright, painter, poet, and interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created symbolic national dramas accordant with the artisti ...

, paintings by Olga Boznańska, Henryk Rodakowski,

Jan Matejko Jan Alojzy Matejko (; also known as Jan Mateyko; 24 June 1838 – 1 November 1893) was a Polish painter, a leading 19th-century exponent of history painting, known for depicting nodal events from Polish history. His works include large scale ...

Józef Chełmoński Józef Marian Chełmoński (7 November 1849 – 6 April 1914) was a Polish painter of the Realism (art movement), realist school with roots in the historical and social context of the late Romanticism in Poland, Romantic period in partitioned Pol ...

, Aleksander Gierymski,

Jacek Malczewski Jacek Malczewski (; 15 July 1854 – 8 October 1929) was a Polish symbolist painter who was one of the central figures of the patriotic Young Poland movement. His works combined the predominant style of his time with historical motifs of Pol ...

, Leon Wyczółkowski, Józef Pankiewicz, Władysław Podkowiński, and Jan Stanisławski. Other artists on display from the original collection, returned from Bytom, are: * Jan Cybis * Henryk Derczynski * Tadeusz Makowski * Józef Mehoffer * Piotr Michałowski * * Stanisław Witkiewicz * Witold Wojtkiewicz More contemporary artists on display are: , Adam Marczyński, Andrzej Wróblewski, Tadeusz Kantor, Jerzy Nowosielski, Władysław Hasior,

Zdzisław Beksiński Zdzisław Beksiński (; 24 February 192921 February 2005) was a Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor specializing in the field of dystopian surrealism. Beksiński made his paintings and drawings in what he called either a Baroque or a Go ...

, Lech Majewski, Zbigniew Libera, Natalia LL.

Gallery

File:GlowackiJanNepomucen.1840.PotokGorski.jpg, ''Mountain Stream'', Jan Nepomucen Głowacki File:Muzeum Śląskie - Jan Matejko - Ostatni Daszkiewicz 02.jpg, ''Portrait of Hetman Ostafij Daszkiewicz'',

Mat-ciechonski.jpg, ''Portrait of Józef Ciechoński'', Jan Matejko File:J Chełmoński - Powrót z balu (1879).jpg, ''Sleigh Ride'',

File:Stanisław Wyspiański - Widok z okna pracowni na Kopiec Kościuszki (1904).jpg, ''View of Kościuszko Mound'',

File:Skoczylas-Owocobranie.jpg, ''Fruit Picking'', Władysław Skoczylas Aleksander_Gierymski_Zydowka_z_cytrynami.jpg, ''Jewess with Lemons'', Aleksander Gierymski WladyslawPodkowinski.Autoportret.1887.ws.jpg, ''Self-portrait'', Władysław Podkowiński Olga_Boznańska_1906_W_bialym_kapeluszu.jpg, ''Portrait of a Lady in a Hat'', Olga Boznańska Dziewczynka_z_kanarkiem.jpg, ''Girl with Canary'', Leopold Loeffler. Owned by the museum, lost between 1939 and 1945, returned in 2015.

References

Works and publications

* * Wojciech Janota: Katowice między wojnami. Miasto i jego sprawy 1922–1939. Łódź: Księży Młyn, 2010, s. 110, 111. .

External links

*
The Silesian Museum: The Architecture of Identity
{{authority control Museums established in 1929 Buildings and structures in Katowice Culture of Silesia Museums in Silesian Voivodeship History museums in Poland Art museums and galleries in Poland Printing museums in Poland Military and war museums in Poland Registered museums in Poland Adaptive reuse of industrial structures in Poland Tourist attractions in Katowice