About the Museum
The Tarnowskie Góry Museum is a cultural institution under the administration of the Municipality of Tarnowskie Góry.
For over 65 years, our Museum has been located in the historic Sedlaczek House on Tarnowskie Góry’s Old Town Square. Our exhibitions showcase only a fraction of the Museum’s extensive collections. In addition, we also host a varied programme of cultural events, as well as a broad spectrum of educational and publishing projects.
History
The Tarnowskie Góry Museum commenced its operations in 1958, though the idea of establishing a municipal museum emerged much earlier. It is believed to have originated with a collection of antique coins donated to the local magistrate by a Tarnowskie Góry resident in 1886. Although the fate of this numismatic collection is unclear, it is known that by 1900 it comprised 382 items and had attracted the interest of the Wrocław Museum of Arts and Crafts.
The idea of a municipal museum was revived during the interwar period. Among other efforts, coins and documents were retrieved from the tower finial of St Peter and Paul Church in Tarnowskie Góry in 1927 for the prospective institution. During the 1930s, with plans emerging to open parts of the Tarnowskie Góry underground to visitors, a campaign began to assemble a collection for the envisioned museum. Fryderyk Antes, the Mayor at the time, sought state approval to establish the facility. Unfortunately, these endeavours were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War.
One of the earliest exhibitions at the Tarnowskie Góry Museum
The project gained momentum in the 1950s, driven by the commitment of the local community, particularly the Association of Tarnowskie Góry’s History and Monuments Enthusiasts, founded in 1953 (now the Association of Tarnowskie Góry Area Enthusiasts). The Museum’s first exhibitions were unveiled in September 1958 within a renovated townhouse on the Town Square, known as Sedlaczek’s House. In early 1959, the Museum became a branch of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, and by July it was transferred to the administration of the Municipal National Council of Tarnowskie Góry. In 1990, the Tarnowskie Góry Museum was restructured into an independent cultural institution managed by the Municipality of Tarnowskie Góry.
Collections
Steam engine model from the Tarnowskie Góry mining school, 1930s
Although artefacts had been gathered with the intention of establishing a museum in Tarnowskie Góry since the late 19th century, not all of these items ultimately became part of the Museum’s collection. Most of the exhibits collected before the Second World War were transferred to existing regional museums after the war. While some were later returned, the 1958 opening exhibition of the Museum primarily showcased items collected by the Association of Tarnowskie Góry Area Enthusiasts.
During its early years, the Museum acquired significant collections, including items from the Silesian Uprisings and plebiscite period, artefacts of folk culture, and objects documenting Tarnowskie Góry’s mining heritage. One notable acquisition was a collection of Western European paintings purchased in 1965–1966 by Janusz Modrzyński, the Museum Director at the time. This collection, comprising 20 paintings representing modern Flemish, Dutch, and Italian schools, originated from Fr. Michał Lewek, Parish Priest at St. Peter and Paul’s Church in Tarnowskie Góry. Four additional paintings, purchased by the Association of Tarnowskie Góry Area Enthusiasts, were deposited in the Museum, thwarting efforts by the National Museum in Warsaw to acquire the entire collection.
Portrait of Jan III Sobieski in armour, 18th century, oil on canvas
The Museum also holds a sizeable collection commemorating King John III Sobieski’s stopover in Tarnowskie Góry in 1683. This collection includes portraits of the king, prints depicting the Battle of Vienna, medals, badges, clothing, armour, and weaponry. Additional noteworthy collections, prized for their rarity in Polish museums, include artefacts related to freemasonry and historic tin wares. The Masonic items are linked to the former Silberfels lodge in Tarnowskie Góry and freemasons across Europe, while the tin wares come predominantly from Silesian workshops, with a significant number from other regions.
Today, the Museum’s holdings exceed 11,000 artefacts, organised into three departments: History, Ethnography, and Art.
The History Department focuses on mining heritage, municipal organisations, cartography and iconography, old prints and other printed works, as well as militaria. The Ethnography Department boasts an extensive collection of folk costumes, jewellery, furniture and other furnishings, household appliances and tools, ritual objects, children’s toys and works by local non-professional artists, mainly from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Art Department showcases paintings, Sobieski-related items, tin wares, local craft guild artefacts, examples of handicrafts, contemporary paintings, photographic art, as well as works by local non-professional artists.
Our home
Since its establishment in 1958, the Museum has been housed in a historic building at the corner of the Town Square and Gliwicka Street, which dates back to the 16th century, i.e. to the town’s early days. Despite numerous modifications over the centuries, original architectural features such as cellars, a hallway, and ground floor spaces have survived, allowing visitors to admire barrel vaults with lunettes and sails.
Tradition holds that the building hosted many prominent figures, including Austrian Empress Eleonora Gonzaga and Polish kings John III Sobieski, August II the Strong, and August III. Over the centuries, the property was owned by some of Tarnowskie Góry’s most affluent residents, including Mayor Christoph Kraker and later Johann Sedlaczek, a merchant who moved his established winery to the building in 1805. The winery, along with a restaurant, still operates in the cellars and ground floor of the house today. The upper floor, where the Museum’s exhibition spaces are located, boasts decorative treasures such as wooden, polychrome ceilings, a stone portal, and a stucco-adorned vault.
Renaissance ceiling in the main hall of the Tarnowskie Góry Museum
While the building’s historical and artistic charm make it an ideal setting for a museum, its spatial and architectural constraints limit its ability to meet contemporary standards and demands. To address this, the Tarnowskie Góry Museum has been striving for a new home, a vision that has gained traction since the inscription of local historic mining and hydrotechnical heritage sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
