Regional museum in the 14th-century Gothic Chapel of the Holy Spirit in Myślibórz, with exhibitions on the history of the town from the Middle Ages and a contemporary art gallery.
Since 1979 the Myślibórz Lakeland Museum has been housed in the Gothic Chapel of the Holy Spirit from the middle of the 14th century, at Bohaterów Warszawy 74 in Myślibórz. The building, entered in the heritage register, is itself an exhibit, and in four rooms it presents the history of the town from the early Middle Ages to the post-war years, as well as exhibitions of contemporary art.
The chapel is a Gothic building on a rectangular plan measuring 22.4 by 9.7 metres. The lower parts are made of carefully dressed stone blocks, the upper parts of brick. On the south side a pointed-arch portal with a round window has survived, and a decorative brick frieze runs beneath the cornice. The original purpose of the chapel has not been explained: it may have been the margrave's chapel or it may have belonged to a merchants' guild.
After the Reformation it no longer served religious functions. In the 16th century it was used as a sheepfold and a brewery, in the 18th century as a salt warehouse, in the middle of the 19th century as a fire station, at the end of that century people lived in it, and after the Second World War there was a storeroom here. A general renovation in 1979 opened the way to a regional museum.
Room I, “Myślibórz in the Early Middle Ages”, shows objects from excavations at the “Sołdzin” stronghold, the first name of Myślibórz, from the period from the 8th to the 12th century and from the era of the Lusatian culture. Room II, “From the History of Myślibórz”, covers the 14th to the 20th centuries: Renaissance stove tiles, tableware, pewter vessels, chests and early printed books, and the original of a Gothic crucifix from the Jerusalem chapel, made of lime wood.
Room III, “History and Ethnography”, deals mainly with the Second World War and the time when Poles settled the Myślibórz Land after 1945, with a letter from a Soviet soldier describing the capture of Myślibórz and documents from the first years after the war. In Room IV, the “M” Gallery, temporary exhibitions are held, devoted mainly to contemporary art, as well as lectures, meetings and concerts.
The museum organises International Painting Open-Airs, in which artists from Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden take part, and museum lessons for schools. Its unit is the Art Education Centre in the historic Chapel of St Gertrude, which runs classes for children, young people and adults.
In the town centre, a few hundred metres from the museum, stand the town hall, the Collegiate Church of St John the Baptist and the Dominican monastery. A little further on lies the Jewish cemetery.
Be the first! Add a comment.
You need to log in to add a comment.
Log in