Muzeum Podgórza – podsumowanie realizacji projektu

Abstrakt

THE PODGÓRZE MUSEUM – A SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT’S EXECUTION

The opening of the Podgórze Museum is a response to society’s desire. The institution has long been craved and, more importantly, developed by the local community. Throughout the process leading to the formal establishment of this museum branch, as well as during the formation thereof within the framework of the Museum of Kraków, the project was constantly accompanied by the voice of the community: supporting, offering advice and suggestions, sharing its personal narratives, as well as physical objects carrying their own stories. The paper presents the story of setting up the new institution, as well as a report on the works undertaken to create a modern branch of the Museum of Kraków, a facility open to visitors’ needs. Renovation of the building, construction of the permanent exhibition, and installation of museum ttings were nanced by EU funds as part of the Regional Operational Programme for the Malopolska Region 2014–2020, and partly from the resources of the Museum of Kraków itself. The total cost of setting up the Podgórze Museum in the years 2015–2018 amounted to over 12 million zlotys gross from the EU subsidy, and over one million zlotys from the budget of the Museum of Kraków. The main (permanent) exhibition is the canvas on which all of the stories are projected, the heart of the museum, and the core of the history of Podgórze. It is complemented by temporary exhibitions that are launched regularly and elaborate on particular themes which are introduced in the main exhibition, as well as by educational events, social meetings, and participatory debates. e museum’s narrative focuses on the exhibits and the stories they hold. The objects themselves would not be able to reveal their stories to us without the agency of people, therefore, it is the latter who are the second most important focus of the museum’s activity on the right bank of the Vistula. It is also thanks to the people, the present-day residents of Podgórze, and the inheritors of its bygone generations, that the Museum of Kraków has been able to enrich its holdings by new acquisitions presenting the history of this area. The Podgórze Museum aspires to put into practice the concept of the third place, i.e. the space of meeting, debate, and action. It organizes lectures, meetings and creative workshops, including participatory events. The facility is a place friendly to families with children, persons with reduced mobility, as well as those with visual and aural impairment.