About everything that Silesia is

A museum, in order to remain attractive for visitors, must keep pace with them and continue to develop. Times when such facilities offered fixed collections of exhibits and their short descriptions are luckily gone. It is all about interactivity today. And that is what we focus on. Every person who visits our Museum will undoubtedly remember it. There are no monotonous, cold rooms here. Instead, there is everything that can stimulate curiosity, trigger your emotions and thinking.

The museum owes an interactive path to the project. It was developed with participation of the most demanding visitors of all – kids, who often visit the Museum. It has 17 “stops” – applications displayed on multimedia devices. They take visitors to the reality of the old Upper Silesia life. Every application has animated and visually attractive boards which are engagingly supplemented by a lector. This form of presenting complex historical content bridges the distance, involves young listeners and helps them remember. The youngest learn about a Silesian household, everyday life during the Silesian Uprisings. They can e.g. see how children dressed one hundred years ago or see an insurgent’s uniform. Thus, they absorb information in a way that is most natural for them. Also a multimedia post, where not only educational information about the uprisings is posted, but also information about current activity of the museum, was created thanks to the subsidy.

The project also allowed us to secure huge collections for future generations by means of digitalizing them and making available on a website.

The Museum has been appreciated and honoured during many competitions and contests, by institutions, visitors but also internet users. Among others, we were nominated to the Mobile Trends Awards 2018 in the Education and Tourism category. We also received a nomination to the European Museum of Year Award 2018. Particularly valuable, due to the Museum’s character, is the Wojciech Korfanty Award. These are only some of our awards. However, the most valuable ones are favourable opinions of our visitors.

We have to do everything to help as many people as possible understand our turbulent and rich history. Creating museum facilities, or any kind of cultural activity at all, connected with the tradition, identity, and history of our region is extremely important and should be supported in the most comprehensive way. The Silesian Risings Museum is a crucial place on the map of our voivodeship. We have to remember that we are dealing with a historic period which is – not only for us, Silesians – extremely important, and which made its mark on the history of entire Poland. But the Museum tells the story not only about an armed uprising of people, but also about the traditions, customs and everything what Silesia simply is.

I have been following the Museum’s activity since it was established. I have an emotional bond with this place. The high school I attended in my teenage years is not far from here. I am really impressed with the way the facility attracts visitors. It is not an act of art to host enthusiasts of regional history. It is obvious that they will always come. It is a feat to convince people who are not really into the history of Silesia to come, see and learn about their identity. Therefore, I am really happy that the facility moves with the times. Digitalization, interactivity, creating educational paths – these are absolutely necessary actions which not only save from oblivion, but also make the museum an attractive place for both Silesians and tourists. Moreover, the place is really tempting for the young. I can assure you that at the Silesian Risings Museum everyone – a Silesian or a stranger, a youngster or an elderly person – will find something for themselves, something they will remember and carry in the heart.

I have a dream that every inhabitant of Silesia visits this exceptional place at least once. The visit will not take too much of your time. It will be time well spent. You will see, hear and learn the history and identity of the Silesians. I am convinced that devoting your time to trying to understand where we came from, i.e. “skond my som?”, is extremely important for every person, irrespective of their age.