Maksymilian ‘Max’ Kasprowicz (1906–1986) was one of the most important artists associated with Gdynia, whose work is included in the collection of the Gdynia City Museum – the largest collection in Poland, comprising nearly 600 items. The year 2026 marks the 120th anniversary of the artist’s birth and, at the same time, 40 years since his death. The 100th anniversary of our city is an excellent opportunity to commemorate this extraordinary artist, teacher and active participant in artistic life.

Maksymilian Kasprowicz, pic. author unknown, Archives of Gdynia City Museum

‘Max’ Kasprowicz was born in Swarzędz on 12 October 1906. He studied in Poznań, and in 1935 he settled permanently by the sea – in Gdynia. He began his teaching career after the war at the Art Centre in Sopot and the State Secondary School of Fine Arts in Sopot, and then ran a drawing studio at the State Higher School of Fine Arts (PWSSP) in Sopot. In Gdynia, he reorganised the branch of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers, and in Gdańsk, he served as vice-dean and dean of the Faculty of Painting at the PWSSP. He received numerous awards for his artistic and teaching activities, went on study trips to Egypt and other European countries, and participated in many group and individual exhibitions. He left behind a rich legacy – from paintings and graphics to drawings, sketches, graphic matrices (woodcuts) and assemblages made using his own technique.

The exhibition presents 12 works by Kasprowicz created in the 1970s and 1980s. They are united by technique – the artist described them as collages, but today we call them assemblages, i.e. compositions made of everyday objects: gloves, cans, labels and packaging. To create them, the artist used about 130 gloves and over 500 elements made of materials of various origins. Max was able to give them new life and arrange them into multi-layered, symbolic works.

Feeling responsible for our collection, we have been making every effort for years to protect Maksymilian Kasprowicz’s legacy from the effects of time. Thanks to the work of conservator Tatiana Srokowska, who is becoming increasingly familiar with the artist’s work, many secrets of his technique have been uncovered. She preserves every trace left by the artist – signatures, stickers, labels – symbols of the communist era. The exhibition not only showcases the results of the conservation work, but also features a film revealing the behind-the-scenes aspects of her work.

Ważnym wątkiem ekspozycji jest także 55. rocznica Grudnia ’70. Kasprowicz udokumentował w swoich pracach dramat tamtych dni w Gdyni, a ekspozycji towarzyszą fotografie ze zbiorów Muzeum Miasta Gdyni i Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Gdańsku, prezentowane na tablecie.

Another important theme of the exhibition is the 55th anniversary of December 1970. Kasprowicz documented the terror of those days in Gdynia in his works. Also, the exhibition is accompanied by photographs from the collection of the Gdynia City Museum and the Institute of National Remembrance in Gdańsk, which will be presented on a tablet.

The exhibition is an encounter with an artist who closely observed reality and current trends in art, pioneered artistic recycling in Pomerania, and gave ordinary things extraordinary meaning.

Katarzyna Gec-Leśniak

Production of the exhibition

The exhibition is part of the project entitled ‘Conservation of 12 assemblages by Maksymilian Kasprowicz on the 100th anniversary of Gdynia’. Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund.

Media partners

Gdynia City Museum
22.09.2025-28.09.2025

The Has na nowo (Has Revisited) project is Andrzej Pągowski’s fourth original project promoting outstanding Polish film directors. To date, the following projects have been completed: Kieślowski na nowo (Kieślowski Revisited) in 2016 (46 posters), Wajda na nowo (Wajda Revisited) in 2021 (60 posters) and Morgenstern na nowo (Morgenstern Revisited) in 2023 (20 posters). The posters created as part of these projects have ‘travelled’ extensively around Poland and have been presented at dozens of exhibitions.

Wojciech Jerzy Has (1 April 1925 – 6 October 2000) was an outstanding Polish film director, screenwriter, producer and lecturer. He was the creator of iconic Polish films, including How to Be Loved, The Saragossa Manuscript, The Loop and The Hourglass Sanatorium.

The Polish Senate has declared 2025 the Year of Wojciech Jerzy Has, which is why this year sees the presentation of a project that includes the creation of 25 posters for all of the director’s films, including documentaries and short films, as well as one poster for the unrealised film Osioł (The Donkey) and educational posters with archival materials about the director.

Poster for the film ‘The Saragossa Manuscript’ by Andrzej Pągowski.

The project is being implemented in cooperation with the National Film Culture Centre, the National Culture Centre, the Polish Senate and private partners. TVP Kultura is the media patron of the project. The project received the honorary patronage of the Mayor of Gdynia, Aleksandra Kosiorek.

The Has na nowo project was presented on 5 June at the National Centre for Film Culture. On 3 July at the Festival of Stars in Międzyzdroje, on 27 July at the Two Riversides Festival in Kazimierz Dolny, on 4 August at the Open-Air Gallery in Łazienki Królewskie as an exhibition accompanying the International Poster Biennale in Warsaw, on 22 August in Suwałki during the Wajda na Nowo Festival, in September it will be an accompanying event at the 50th anniversary Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia, and on 17 October in Gorzów Wielkopolski. At the turn of November and December, the project will be presented at the Polish Cultural Institute in Prague, and later at other selected Polish Cultural Institutes.

The exhibition at the Gdynia City Museum will feature posters for all of Wojciech Jerzy Has’s films, created especially by Andrzej Pągowski as part of the Has na nowo (Has Revisited) project.

The exhibition „‘Collision of Freedom. Nazi Persecution of Czech, German and Polish Swing Dancers and Jazz Musicians” offers a comparative look at a transnational phenomenon for the first time.

Jazz music and swing dancing were popular in all three Central European countries in the interwar period. In the big cities in particular, there were numerous people who indulged their love of jazz and swing in bars, cafés and concert halls.

However, the National Socialists despised jazz and swing, which is why they suppressed the music and dance in Germany from 1933, and later also in the territories conquered by the Nazi regime.

The exhibition traces this development starting with the ‘Beginnings of Jazz in Europe’. The second part, ‘Youth, Jazz and Politics’, deals with youth subcultures and the incipient defamation and persecution by the Nazi regime in Germany. In the section ‘Swing in wartime’, biographies and localities are used to illustrate the increasing practice of persecution. Stories of self-assertion and resilience are revealed in the fourth section, ‘Resistance through music’. In the final section ‘Liberation. Future. Hope’, biographies of survivors and their continued work after 1945 are told.

Curator: Michał Miegoń

Exhibition organizers: Gdynia, Gdynia City Museum, Bremen Alliance for German-Czech Cooperation e.V., Univerzita Karlova – Pedagogická fakulta

Partner of a Gdynia edition of the Exhibition: Harlem Beats 

The exhibition was co-financed by funds from Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft | EVZ Foundation as part of the “Local History” program.

Exhibition organiser: Pomeranian Film Foundation in Gdynia
Curator: Piotr Kulesza

Catching the Wave of Time is a narrative exhibition tracing fifty years of the history of the most prestigious film event in Poland: the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. The story begins with the passion for cinema of the Festival’s first Director, Lucjan Bokiniec, and of those associated with the Film Discussion Club – Żak in Gdańsk. An atmosphere of conversation, music, openness, fascination with film and its creators. A grassroots initiative that arose from the need to create a place that would allow for meetings, promotion of the young generation of creators, and confrontation with the audience. After a long journey from Sopot, Gdańsk, to the Musical Theatre in Gdynia, the Festival continues to seek a current perspective on Polish cinema, being a key place for the film industry and the next generation of viewers.

Through the exhibition’s narrative, we go back in time to recall the most important figures, events, award-winning films, the atmosphere of the Festival and its backstage. The titular wave will lead us from the contemporary magic of the red carpet to the fight for self-determination and artistic freedom of the film community in the times of the Polish People’s Republic. Important political events and micro-stories related to the experience of each participant.

We will look at the Festival through the eyes of the organisers, creators and, above all, the audience. They will share their experiences and emotions, which will paint a picture of this incredible event that has been generating interest and controversy for years. The Festival is an opportunity to meet, to talk about film and contemporary life. About one’s feelings and experiences, and also about the extent to which film shapes our perspective on the reality around us. It’s also a confrontation: with audiences, critics, funs of film, and ultimately, politics.

“The main idea was to create an exhibition that could have many views. The exhibition consists of twelve modules, each devoted to one major issue, which together form a broad and comprehensive story about the Festival. We wanted to extend the celebration of the 50^th anniversary with this formula and to be able to share individual modules next year and create different versions of memories of the Polish Film Festival from them” says Agata Kozierańska-Burda, Managing Director of the Pomeranian Film Foundation in Gdynia, the originator of the exhibition.

It features unpublished documents, memorabilia, photographs, and magnificent awards, including the Golden Lions statuette, which has evolved over the years. Graphic elements and original objects are woven into a multimedia spectacle, incorporating film footage that captures the atmosphere of the Festival. The history of the event is varied, and each edition has its own character and significance in terms of its impact on Polish cinema. It is not only the highlights, but also the shadows, hence the exhibition is not arranged chronologically, but thematically presents the most important phenomena, as well as often difficult topics.

Most importantly, the exhibition is a nostalgic journey to the people and places whose dedication has allowed us to enjoy the magic of Polish cinema for half a century and counting. It demonstrates that, despite the passing of time, one thing remains unchanged in Gdynia – the love of film.

Exhibition organiser: Pomeranian Film Foundation in Gdynia
Exhibition partners: Gdynia City Museum, Board of Directors of the Port of Gdynia Authority SA

Concept: Agata Kozierańska-Burda
Curation and exhibition script: Piotr Kulesza
Consultation: Joanna Łapińska, Krystyna Zamysłowska, Mirosław Morzyk, Anna Wróblewska, Andrzej Ochalski
Layout and graphic design: Sławomir Bit
Design collaboration: Michał Bit
Poster design: Ola Jasionowska
Co-ordination: Agata Dzik, Zuzanna Sitek, Izabela Szamałek, Marta Chwastniewska-Jaworska, Joanna Śmiałek, Gabriela Zbirohowska-Kościa, Rafał Frankowski, Antonina Tucka
Promotion: Krystyna Weiher-Sitkiewicz, Michał Miegoń
Audio-visual essays: Maciej Jurgielewicz
Animations: Kamil Danielewicz
Comic panels: Rafał Szłapa
Booklets and facsimiles: Martyna Bit, Mariusz Nawrocki
Archival materials: Katarzyna Raj
Production: StudioJaro/Jarosław Antosik

Media patrons: Radio Gdańsk, Trójmiasto.pl, Dziennik Bałtycki, TVP 3 Gdańsk, Zawsze Pomorze, Presto, Magazyn Pomorski

The exhibition features archival materials, photographs, and objects from the collection of the Pomeranian Film Foundation in Gdynia, as well as from private collections.

The exhibition has received financial support from the City of Gdynia and is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

The 50^thPolish Film Festival will take place from 22^nd to 27^th September 2025 in Gdynia. The Festival is produced by the Pomeranian Film Foundation in Gdynia.

Catching the Wave of Time – Exhibition
22^nd September 2025 – 6^th January 2026
Gdynia City Museum

„ALICJA WYSZOGRODZKA. POLISH DESIGN POLISH DESIGNERS”
Muzeum Miasta Gdyni
27.07.2025-22.02.2026
Vernissage: 26.07.2025, start: 18:00

Curators: Dorota Dombrowska-Wyżga, Cezary Lisowski, Weronika Mojska
Exhibition arrangement design: Dorota Terlecka, Natalia Ringwelska / Biuro Kreacja
Exhibition graphic design and visual identity: Anita Wasik

Strategic partner: Invest Komfort
Technology partner: One Wall Design, Europapier
Partners: CottonBee, Dekoma, Design Museum Gent, Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego, Leo Art & Design, Mapalu, IKEA Polska

The creators of the exhibition would like to thank the National Museum in Warsaw and the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw for lending the objects for the exhibition, as well as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Design Museum Gent, the Museum of Art in Lodz and the Starak Family Foundation for providing digital images of the objects for the exhibition.

Special thanks to the heroine of the 10th edition of the series “Polish Design Polish Designers”, Alicja Wyszogrodzka.

Exhibition preview

Alicja Wyszogrodzka – an acclaimed designer of decorative, functional and apparel fabrics, illustrator and painter, as well as an experimenter, researcher and specialist in fabric printing technology – will be the protagonist of the 10th edition of the Gdynia City Museum’s exhibition series “Polish Design Polish Designers” in July 2025.

On July 26, 2025, we will open the first monographic exhibition presenting the designer’s achievements. The exhibition will touch on the themes of the usability of design, its “operation” in everyday life and popular perception, and its role in building relations in the intergenerational community. It will also touch on the theme of domestic and international design, ask about their boundaries, connections and tensions.

In a pioneering, scheme-breaking and cognitively attractive way, the exhibition will present the entire creative process of Alicja Wyszogrodzka, from ideas and inspirational sketches, through designs, to finished products industrially manufactured and often exported abroad, created at the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw and the Central Design Office of the Light Industry in the second half of the 20th century. The exhibition space, composed of objects that are a record of Alicja Wyszogrodzka’s creative path, will become a field for building relations between the viewer and the object. In this case, a relationship with an utilitarian fabric (material for a curtain, dress, tablecloth, bedclothes or kitchen towel), from the perspective of adult viewers often based on childhood memories and longing for a bygone time, saturated with emotions and sentimental. The exhibition will also be a field for intergenerational exchange of thoughts, inspirations and associations related to the function of design in everyday life and its role in shaping cultural identity.

Alicja Wyszogrodzka’s distinctive works – full of color, optimistic patterns, abstract designs and a sense of humor, symbolizing the joy of life and the desire to have fun – had a strong influence on shaping the aesthetics of Polish mid-century modern.

Alicja Wyszogrodzka is an outstanding designer, an artist aware of users’ expectations and an artist sensitive to the aesthetic needs of her audience. Following her example, we will provide our audience with the fullest possible multi-sensory discovery and experience of close contact with art. To this end, we have planned an innovative, inclusive and multisensory exhibition arrangement, which will emphasize touch, so much desired by visitors

The Museum of the City of Gdynia has been presenting a series of Polish Design Polish Designers (PPPP) exhibitions since 2014. In this way we want to promote Polish design, inspire, encourage creativity and innovation. We focus our attention on Polish design, wanting to showcase many good, domestic designs. Our goal is to create visually attractive exhibitions, engaging all the senses of the audience, which will allow, on the one hand, to popularize knowledge about Polish design, on the other hand, to show that it has a special value, co-creating cultural heritage for future generations. In accordance with the adopted assumption, active domestic designers, representatives of different generations, are invited to participate in the PPPP series, so that the picture of Polish design is as broad and complete as possible. So far, the Museum of the City of Gdynia has held nine exhibitions in this cycle: “Zbigniew Horbowy” (2014), „Rygalik. The essence of things“ (2015), ”Marek Cecuła“ (2016), ”Oskar Zięta“ (2017), ”Karol Śliwka“ (2018), ”Barbara Hoff“ (2019), ”Janusz Kaniewski“ (2020), ”Eryka and Jan Drost“ (2021), ”Jakub Szczęsny” (2023).

In 2025 we will show a figure whose rich work and name we want to perpetuate in the consciousness of the widest possible audience. And our ambition is for Alicja Wyszogrodzka to become known not only to the recipients of design.

Weronika Mojska
Curator

The exhibition „Alicja Wyszogrodzka. Polish Design Polish Designers” was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for the Promotion of Culture – a state purpose fund.

Baltic Mini Textile Gdynia is organised by Gdynia City Museum every third year for professional artists from Poland and abroad.

The Competition is organised as a review of contemporary practice in the field of textile miniatures made in various techniques in order to select the best 50 works and present them at a post-competition exhibition at Gdynia City Museum.

294 works were submitted for the 13th Baltic Mini Textile Gdynia 2025. Submissions came from 178 artists from 36 countries. All entries represented very high artistic level. Taking into consideration opinions of members of Jury, who made preliminary selection of works based on photographs sent by artists, organizers decided to qualify to further elimination 50 textile artists.

“It Never Rains in Gdynia” – is an incantation of visitors, summer vacationers and tourists passed down from generation to generation every summer, by Gdynia women and Gdynia people. “It doesn’t rain in Gdynia” is a promise of a successful vacation, fruitful recreation, fun, adventures and beach pleasures. It’s a dream of an ideal place, its perfect aura and space for everything it can accommodate, along with a crowd of guests.

Our latest exhibition is an innovative historical and sensory exhibition, the concept of which goes beyond the framework of modern museology. It will be a tribute and love letter to Gdynia’s summer resort throughout the first thirty years of the 20th century, as well as one of the first opportunities to create an exhibition that is fully and truly family-friendly and opens the museum space to the needs of the youngest viewers.

We will embark together on a fascinating journey to the times when pantaloons and stylish hats dominated the beaches of Gdynia. We will wonder if the Bay hummed in the same way at that time, we will find out what beach kimonos were used for and how idyllic Orlowo enticed visitors with its charms.
The innovative arrangement of the exhibition, inspired by the nature of the Baltic coast and the resort infrastructure of the early 20th century, is designed to allow for polysensory exploration. You will be able to roam, run, touch, slide, make noise – and in the process discover the fascinating history of the Baltic coast.

Exhibition Curator Gosia Bujak based her concept on the latest trends in museum education, incorporating innovative exhibition solutions while carefully addressing the special needs of visitors. The result of her work is the first multi-sensory exhibition of its kind—accessible and appealing across generations. We hope it will not only enhance visitors’ understanding of the history of Gdynia’s holiday resort but also inspire discussions on the need to stimulate development in the youngest audiences and engage cultural institutions in this important mission.

“It Never Rains in Gdynia” marks a departure from multimedia-heavy museum exhibitions. Instead, it is an exhibition rich in artifacts and replicas designed especially for younger visitors, who benefit from direct, physical interaction with objects. The exhibition engages visitors’ senses in a naturally stimulating and equally effective way. A diverse educational program will accompany the exhibition, tailored not only for children but also for teenagers, adults, and seniors.

IT NEVER RAINS IN GDYNIA
Curator: Małgorzata Bujak
Opening: July 6, 2024
Location: Museum of the City of Gdynia

Partners: Flowair, Poltops, Pinio, Ladeco, Mapalu, Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk
Media Partners: Trójmiasto.pl, Presto Magazine, Prestiż Magazine, Kosmos dla Dziewczynek, Ładne Bebe

Poster Design: Eugenia Tynna and Filip Borkowski

With more than five hundred items from the collection of the Gdynia City Museum ordered, categorised and arranged in the space of 200 m² – is this not actually a storage area? Can an exhibition look like a storage room? How many objects should be displayed and are all of them fit to be shown? Why are such collections so important? How to look after the particular holdings? There are more questions and each answer brings about further questions*.

A historian of art will cry out: horror vacui**, and will find the selection of the works accidental… – but this is only on the surface level, as each item has its own particular place in the display. Owing to this unusual, minimalist, technical, section-based form of the exhibition we may bring to light objects that are unobvious, large, or composed of many elements. The omnipresent motif of the metal netting is not meaningless – it is on such large format netting that paintings are stored in museums. This sort of an exhibition is a complete novelty in our institution – owing to it we open ourselves more broadly to the public and break with the lack of access to our holdings, making the contents of our storage areas available not only to conservators-restorers and registrars.

There are seven paths to choose from and to follow to become acquainted with the collections of the Gdynia City Museum. Regardless of your choice, you will first see one of our largest and heaviest sculptures, which is shown for the first time in its entirety. Connoisseurs of painting will encounter as many as 90 paintings hung on the netting. Various printmaking techniques – such as linocut, copperplate engraving, and woodcut, as well as illustrations and designs – are waiting to be discovered in the drawers. Textiles of multiple sizes, colours and textures will tempt everyone to touch them, but it is first worth to look at our mini textiles – will excessively close contact not harm them? The exhibition also provides space for design, which the Gdynia City Museum collects inter alia owing to the cycle of exhibitions under the title Polish Designs Polish Designers. In turn, for those of us who are moved by stories of transformation, we provide a path called conservation, which makes us aware of the dangers facing museum holdings and the importance of the challenging work of conservators-restorers. Finally, it is worth having a look at the cabinet of curiosities – kunstkamera, displaying not only works of art, but also the boring and the exciting, the typical and the unusual objects of everyday use connected by a single theme – Gdynia.

*QR codes spaced around the exhibition lead to articles on the history the particular items; look for object cards placed by the individual sections to learn about the particulars of specific holdings

**Horror vacui – fear of space or emptiness (its opposite – amor vacui, is tantamount to the love of emptiness); in art it is equivalent to the filling of the entire space of a painting with decorations and representations, without leaving any empty background

Curator

Katarzyna Gec-Leśniak

At the exhibition we will be showing how architecture permeates design, and the remarkable things that can happen at their intersection. We will be taking a closer look at the micro-homes that were particularly popular in the pandemic period. We will be asking if, as a society, we really do need more and more space. Or maybe, for the common good, it is time we starting saying “no” to excessive consumption?

We are juxtaposing the one-of-a-kind Keret House and the replicable modular mini-homes (which can be adapted to individual needs) to raise the topic of minimalism and limitations as vital social values. There is an interesting tension between architecture and design—Jakub Szczęsny’s installations in the public space, intended to be architecture in action, are a kind of performance. All this is to turn attention to the social dimension of design.

Can design affect us, or the society of which we are a part? Designing a space, especially a public space, can we design relationships, change how users think and make them more conscious citizens? We will be seeking answers to all these questions alongside our guests, highlighting design as a tool to integrate society, improve the functionality of our surroundings, and take care of sustainable development.

The exhibition will also feature multimedia components, such as a film about the designers and a Polish/English catalogue.

Anna Śliwa is an art history PhD and literary scholar, and a diploma-carrying curator. She has finished post-diploma cultural management studies at the Warsaw School of Economics. She has run the Art Department of the Gdynia City Museum since 2014. She has curated and co-created numerous exhibitions tied to Pomeranian art, textile miniatures, design and architecture. An exhibition she co-curated, Glass, Metal, Details: Gdynia’s Architecture, took first place at the Historical Event of the Year 2016 competition and distinctions at the Sybilla 2017 competition. In 2018, she was nominated for the Pomeranian Storms for the Oskar Zięta: Polish Designs Polish Designers exhibition, in the ‘Discovery of the Year’ and ‘Event of the Year’ categories. The catalogue for this exhibition took the Honorary Mention at the 58th Polish Book Publishers’ Society Most Beautiful Book of the Year Competition 2017, and was a finalist at the Good Design 2019 competition. She has also written a book about visual perception in the work of Miron Białoszewski. She is a vice-president of the Gdańsk Branch of the Art Historians’ Association.

In 1922, Sejm adopted a new act on the construction of the port in Gdynia. It resulted in the construction of one of the most modern ports in Europe and a city. The wave of enthusiasm after regaining the access to the sea as well as huge port investments were the reason why Polish art connected with the sea was born.

For a hundred years, the artists have been intrigued by the images of Gdynia’s “God’s Cove” – the place where “civilisation has penetrated into primordial nature”. In the interwar period, this space electrified people with the dash of the investment, the scale of the project, unknown technologies and modern architecture. A visit to the Polish coast and the port were a magnet for many Poles. The national dream of marine power feed the artistic inspirations too. After World War II, the issue did not lose its significance. Unconventional or even daring views of the port prove that the subject of the sea and the seaside architecture intrigued many artists. Various pieces were produced: from realist masterpieces by eminent seascapists like Marian Mokwa and Antoni Suchanek, through impressionist interpretations by Włodzimierz Radziszewski, to abstract compositions by Kazimierz Ostrowski. At the same time, their message remains so clear, that a keen eye will easily notice distinctive forms and breakthrough events.

Today, the audience is meeting this fascinating tale of the sea, Gdynia and its port face to face.

Most of the exhibits come from the Gdynia City Museum’s collection. The exhibition is complemented by pieces borrowed from the National Museum in Gdańsk, the National Marine Museum in Gdańsk, the State Art Gallery in Sopot, the Port of Gdynia Authority S.A.  as well as private people.

The exhibition Enchanted Wall. Bożena Truchanowska’s Illustrations is an educational experiment.

For long months, we would study illustrations by the title artist in detail to spot their common elements. We divided them into several categories. They underwent thorough analysis and thanks to collaboration with two illustrators – Joanna Czaplewska and Anna Gawron – we have transferred them into the museum. This way, we have combined the extraordinary world seen through Bożena Truchanowska’s eyes with a contemporary vision of an educational exhibition.

The exhibition consists of ten parts (modules) with original illustrations from children’s books. This is a fantastic occasion to analyse, compare and, above all, get to know the worlds created by the great illustrator in detail. During the work on her illustrations, Truchanowska used an array of tools: from traditional coloured pencils, paintbrushes or nibs, to the less obvious needles, sticks or… her own finger! In the Poland of the 70s and 80s, material shortages would often increase Polish illustrators’ creativity.

The division into ten modules is a deliberate educational strategy. During the exploration of different sections, children will get to know many plant and animal species. They will discover details hidden at the exhibition, imagine the unrealistic parts and watch various stages of an image’s development. They will learn something about perspective too. But, above all, they will find out that everything is possible in the world of illustration.

A visit to the museum may be a great adventure for every child (a small and big one). Especially, if you can take your shoes off at the exhibition, run and jump around, play or, just the opposite – lie, calm down, listen to different sounds and fall asleep!

Let it enchant you!

The exhibition ‘Gdynia – the open work’ is the Gdynia City Museum’s permanent exhibition devoted to the history of the city and its inhabitants.

The history of Gdynia, like every decent story, has many strands. Some are very important, and some less so; some are clear to see, and some concealed. When Gdynia was first founded, the most important threads were easy to grasp: on the one hand, the dream of a modern, dynamic Poland, boldly gazing into the future, and on the other, a romantic patriotism rooted in the history of the nation. The modernisation efforts of a young nation that desired to make up for its late civilisational development therefore coincided with a need to serve the homeland. Without this convergence of desires and needs there would be no Gdynia, a grand Baltic port would never have been built from scratch, nor would a city have grown with “American” speed to soon become an object of universal pride.

All of this was brutally interrupted by the German invasion in September 1939. The Gdynians discovered that they were to be the first victims of a cruel war – murdered, driven out and exploited as forced labourers. The end of the war did not bring the expected revival in their fortunes. For Communism destroyed what was the essence of the Gdynians’ spirit – their enterprise, right to own their homes and their freedom to take their fate into their own hands. The Gdynians clamoured for freedom in dramatic fashion: in Gdynia in 1970, the city’s streets flowed with the blood of workers protesting against the communist authorities; in August 1980, Gdynia became one of the most important centres in Poland of resistance against the injustices of the system.

Nevertheless, in the shadow of great historical and social processes, life went on as normal. Male and female Gdynians completed their education at Gdynia’s schools, married in Gdynia’s churches, buried their dead in Gdynia’s cemeteries, cared for Gdynia’s tenement houses, travelled to their jobs in the docks on Gdynia’s trolleybuses, shopped in Gdynia’s covered market, sailed from Gdynia, and returned.

Without all of this, there would be no history of Gdynia. The life of Gdynia, the lives of Gdynians, are of their own making, and still in the making…

The Gdynia City Museum

1 Zawiszy Czarnego Street, Gdynia

Information &ticket desk / museum shop: 58 662 09 61

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www.muzeumgdynia.pl