Participants of the meeting familiarised themselves with the history of the creation of the Sybir Memorial Museum and discussed the behind-the-scenes creation of the permanent exhibition, with particular emphasis on the themes of its various parts and the tailoring of the message to different audiences. It was an opportunity to share knowledge about building the narrative of the exhibition in an accessible yet in-depth way, allowing to broadly show historical facts, with the use of innovative media.
The visit was also an opportunity to see the museum’s permanent exhibition. During the guided tour, the participants widely discussed the nature of the various parts of the exhibition, both those that present specific historical facts or exhibits, and those that introduce visitors to the atmosphere of the old days, allowing them to take in the character and specifics of people’s lives under specific historical conditions.
The 13-person delegation from Wrocław also looked at exhibition texts, which at the Sybir Memorial Museum, uniquely, were not prepared by authors from the outside, but by a team of Museum employees appointed for this purpose.
“The first stage of our work was to learn about the subject matter in question. We also consulted very extensively with the best specialists on particular issues. The next was to determine what we wanted to convey to the viewer in a given room, both through the textual and scenographic layers. The third stage was testing, in which we observed the reception of the exhibition among people of different ages, with different educational backgrounds, including history enthusiasts, but also those who openly say that history is beyond the circle of their interests,” reported Marcin Zwolski PhD, Head of the Scientific Department of the Sybir Memorial Museum.
The day ended with a meeting between our guests and the Director of the Sybir Memorial Museum, Prof. Wojciech Śleszyński, who sincerely thanked the participants for accepting the invitation and their time. In turn, the Director of The Depot History Centre, Andrzej Jerie PhD thanked for hospitality and summarized the study visit:
“We look with great admiration at the work you have done here. (…) It takes courage to build and present a narrative in such a way, and that ultimately it is the viewer who comes first. The awards that the museum receives are, in my opinion, the result of hard work and determination,” he said.
On Friday, the final day of the visit, 12 employees of the Sybir Memorial Museum took part in an “Oral History” workshop, led by Wojciech Kucharski PhD. Afterwards, employees of the Depot History Center were able to look at the work of the museum’s various departments. This exchange of experience was also a valuable step in strengthening cooperation between the two units.
