Exhibition

Silesian Risings Museum in Świętochłowice is located in the St. Wiktor Polak 1, in the building that was once police headquarters. The building was revitalized according to the project prepared by the Zillmans and will house the modern and permanent multimedia exhibition. The exhibition is deployed on four storeys. On the ground floor there is a room called Świętochłowice A.D. 1919 decorated in a way that loosely refers to the look of the main street from the times of the risings. On the entresol visitors can observe the staff meeting.

The main attraction is the film presentation treating about Silesian Uprisings in a nutshell. The presentation is divided into six short acts. Every act is shown in a separate room. The linking element of the acts is the lector’s voice moving smoothly from one scene to another. The narrator presents main characters and facts. He takes a visitor to the world of the fighting insurgents and quiet offices, where all the important decisions were made. The narrator is fictitious and moves on in time and space.

Depending on the scene the lector might remain „an invisible ghost” commenting on the presented event or they might participate in it. The described convention allows for showing the most important facts in a simple and flexible way. The narrator is equipped with a good knowledge and erudition, which evokes trust. Although the narrator participates in different contexts (in different roles and costumes), the visitors will not have any problems with recognizing them as they will have characteristic props. The visitors might meet the narrator also in additional materials. Such a solution allows an immediate change of the museum scenography. In the blink of an eye the audience will be moved from the famous Wojciech Korfanty’s speech in Reichstag to the Hall of Mirrors in Palace of Versailles where the treaty was signed, or to the house of an insurgent in Świętochłowice, or the printing house which produced brochures.

The main path will be extended with additional segregated materials displayed in different rooms in an extraordinary way often using multimedia:

1. substantial charts with short and important information about the presented period together with appropriate maps and photographs.
2. Interactive presentations with extended contents of the substantial charts. They include reproductions of documents, photographs, memories, and commendations. These materials constitute historical source as they will contain biographies and timeline of events.
3. Theme interactive applications present a piece of information e.g. biographies, insurgents’ weapon, or the course of Saint Anne Mountain Battle.
4. Interactive games improving the knowledge about elections, or showing how to build an armored vehicle, or how to assemble the kit of an insurgent.
5. Non-multimedia attractions include riddles, making copies of military decorations and look inside the drawer with exhibits.

In the scenography of the museum there were used the exhibits from Town Museum in Świętochłowice. On the ground floor there are shop and photographic displays where visitors can find archival post-cards. In the rooms on the other floors there is furniture, everyday objects, and flags that were used to decorate the headquarters.