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The New Silesian Museum in Katowice: Dissipated Idea, Blurred Mission

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The New Silesian Museum in Katowice: Dissipated Idea, Blurred Mission Muz., 2020(61): 224-232 Annual, eISSN 2391-4815 received – 08.2020 reviewed – 08.2020 accepted – 08.2020 DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0014.3836 THE NEW SILESIAN MUSEUM IN KATOWICE: DISSIPATED IDEA, BLURRED MISSION Marcin Wądołowski Jesuit University Ignatianum in Cracow Introduction to the presented thesis, the institution has been presen- tly suffering an organizational crisis resulting from the The industrial section of Upper Silesia is currently an area several-year process of loosing its genuine idea stemming of numerous contrasts, a place of dynamically transform- from its new seat and the gradual blurring of the original ing spaces. Museums being institutions rooted in the local concept of its new mission. The inept actions of the yet network of meanings, impacts, and influences, constitute subsequent decision-makers, the violating of the ICOM a social construct vulnerable to instrumental abuse by all Code of Ethics for Museums, and the increasingly stron- the actors of the local political stage. The Silesian Museum ger politically-underpinned activities around the Silesian in Katowice is an example of an institution affected over institution have led to the situation in which the image the last ninety years by many processes that have left their and the good name of the largest and most significant mark on its character. The facet of the Katowice institution museum institution of the Silesia Voivodeship have been has always depended on the historical and cultural context tarnished. of its operation, and in the recent years that context has been essentially revalued. A museum as a carrier of an idea constitutes a peculiar Materials and methods cultural phenomenon that happens to be used in various ways in public-character activities. Each museum boasts its Two methods have been applied in the researching into the own specificity, however all of them refer to one shared sen- process of the gradual blurring of the idea of the Silesian se that allows to perceive a given organization as a ‘muse- museum: desk research, or the analysis of the available um’. The characteristic feature of museums is their rooting data, and participant observation: the question is analysed among a given community that its operations affiliate to. from the perspective of the Silesian community insider and The relation between such a community and its museum an outside academic affiliate of the institution. The fact is a mutual interaction in which the bonding connections that the researcher is well anchored in the cultural climate adjust to current situations. Museum institutions produce of the region and in a daily experiencing of the social re- and transfer definite values created by the kept and cur- alities in which the institution operates, helps understand rently presented assets together with the schemes of their a number of intricate Silesian problems. Someone from display. The above processes are continuously updated, outside the Silesia Voivodeship, unfamiliar with the local thus museums inevitably become members of the historical realities, when assessing the collected data would run the ‘relay’ of subsequent generations. risk of erroneously treating the analysed questions frag- In this paper the analysis of the current situation of the mentarily, since they would not know the interpretative Silesian Museum in Katowice has been provided. According key allowing constructive conclusions. 224 MUZEALNICTWO 61 museums and collections 1. New Silesian Museum, revitalized post-industrial site of the ‘Katowice’ Coal Mine Apart from the official documents shared by the Sile- 30 December 2004, a notarial deed was signed testifying to sian Museum, the researched material was found in diffe- a swap of land plots between the Silesian Museum and the rent media (TV, radio, press) and in the experience of the Katowice Coal Holding, this leading to the Museum being gi- Author who has been tackling the topic of the institution’s ven a 13.8 ha plot located in the centre of Katowice on the operation since 2014, and has cooperated with it contribu- site of the former ‘Katowice’ Coalmine together with over ting to the works on the monograph showing its history. 20 post-industrial facilities on. The complex included, among As distinct from the earlier factual studies, the present pa- others: the ‘Warsaw II’ mineshaft hoist tower, the complex per is critical: based on the collected materials, it is nega- of the ‘Bartosz’ Shaft buildings, the ‘Gwarek’ baths buildings, tive about the direction of changes occurring around the the building of the carpenters’ and electricians’ workshops, Silesian Museum in Katowice the baths of the security services, the uniform warehouse, and the water tower. The new location provided grounds for The new Silesian Museum: new challenges the formulation of the concept of the new Silesian Museum. The ‘Katowice’ Coalmine operated uninterruptedly as The present paper is not focused on thoroughly presenting a coalmine under different names from 1823 until its closing the over 90 years of the history of existence and non-exist- down in 1999. The concept of raising the new edifice of the ence of the Katowice institution. Such considerations have Silesian Museum on its site was the chance to give a ‘second already been tackled in a publication following a confer- life’ to the old mine: for the new spirit to imbue the place. ence and titled A Museum. Presentation Forms and Means Placing a museum institution on the former-mining site provi- IV. History in a Museum 2 published in 2019 by the Leon ded an opportunity to reflect on the multi-generation mining Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz in coopera- tradition of the whole region. A conscious creation of the for- tion with the National Institute for Museums and Public mer mining areas, in consultation with the still living workers Collections, NIMOZ. In order to smoothly reach the present of the plant: witnesses to history, offered an opportunity to moment and focus on the current problems, let us recall preserve at least a part of the cultural heritage that had for that the history of the Katowice institution can be divided almost two centuries given pace to the life of the Silesian into four major stages: community. Leszek Jodliński, former Director of the Silesian 1. The interwar Silesian Museum, shaped and operating Museum, to a great degree responsible for the construction in 1924–39 (destroyed during WW II); of its new building, emphasized that binding the idea of the 2. the post-WWII period of substitutes when the institu- Silesian Museum with an old mine consists in the principle of tion did not exists physically in 1945–84; a creative dialogue: it is not exclusively a former mining de- 3. the restitution and activity in the new political realities serted facility, but more a living space echoing a wider urban in 1984–2004; concept where ‘the old’ meets ‘the new’, at the same time 4. the new Silesian Museum, formed since 2004 in the creating a previously unknown quality.5 new seat on the site of the former ‘Katowice’ coalmine. The post-industrial character of the new seat impacted The departure point for the present analysis is found at the the content of the Museum’s mission phrased as follows: beginning of the last stage of the Museum’s operations. On Obliged by the Region’s heritage, the dynamic of its history, www.muzealnictworocznik.com MUZEALNICTWO 61 225 multicultural character and the leading role of industry, at the January 2014, the Silesian Museum began operating it. The same time acknowledging its intellectual and artistic accom- process of transferring the collections and interior furnishing plishments, the Silesian Museum undertakes the mission of began, with the official opening of the new seat for visitors creating space for the dialogue with the past and accomplish- taking place on 26 June 2015. ments of the contemporaneity in order to more thoroughly become acquainted with Silesia, Poland, and Europe.6 The process of the idea being dissipated In the architectural concept for the future Museum’s edi- and the mission blurred fice selected through an international competition, whose results were announced on 15 June 2007, it was decided The project of raising the new Silesian Museum in Katowice that the majority of the Museum’s space would be loca- from the very beginning was received with much emotion ted underground.7 A conscious choice of the decision-ma- among Silesian society. The climate that the project aroused kers, it was meant to symbolically echo the mining heritage. showed that today’s Silesians can be ranked among ‘hot’ The winning design came from the Austrian Riegler Riewe communities, the concept referring to Claude Lévi-Strauss’s Architekten Studio from Graz. However, the opting for the theory who divided societies into ‘cold’ and ‘hot’. Its as- underground structure was connected with numerous tech- sumptions claim that societies considered as ‘cold’ erase nological challenges, implying higher construction costs to the results of historical factors, defending in this way the start with, and higher operating costs to follow. As seen with balance and continuity. In contrast, societies defined as ‘hot’ the benefit of hindsight, this decision may be considered bravely interpret their own history, pressing for their devel- an error: numerous construction defaults have now turned opment, not put off by the changes.8 into multi-million-worth claims of the Silesian Museum from The process of the gradual increase of bad feelings around the Contractor, having remained the institution’s unresol- the Museum started on the occasion of creating the new ved problem until today. Among the submitted competi- permanent exhibition on the history of Upper Silesia which tion designs there were also proposals planning to raise the in its final shape took on the title ‘The Light of History.
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