Opening hours: Closed Mondays; Tuesdays, Fridays, 10am-5pm, Saturdays, Sundays 11am-4pm.
The Museum was established through a resolution of the Silesian Parliament in 1929. In 1939 the Germans took most of the collections away to Bytom, where the Museum reopened after World War II. The Public Committee for the Restoration of the Silesian Museum, established in 1981, managed to restore the Museum to its previous location. Gradually regaining its former holdings, the Museum is housed in an eclectic former hotel building dating from the late nineteenth century, designed by I. Grinfeld. The Silesian Museum of Katowice has one division, the Centre of Polish Set Design.
The Museum's holdings are divided into several departments, including Art, Non-Professional Visual Arts, Archaeology, Ethnography and Local History and Culture. The Museum boasts one of Poland's largest collection of Polish painting. Returned from Bytom, it includes works by the leading painters from the late nineteenth century to 1939, notably by A. Orlowski, P. Michalowski, J. Matejko, A. Grottger, the Gierymski brothers, A. Kotssis, J. Malczewski, S. Wyspianski, J. Mehoffer, W. Slewinski, W. Podkowinski, O. Boznanska, F. Ruszczyc, Z. Pronaszko, T. Makowski, T. Niesiolowski, S. I. Witkiewicz, J. Cybis, W. Kossak, J. Chelmonski, W. Weiss and W. Wojtkiewicz. The collection is complemented by a several thousand strong set of paintings, prints and drawings, posters and sculpture by contemporary artists such as A. Marczynski, W. Taranczewski, A. Lenica, J. Stern, Z. Beksinski, J. Nowosielski, J. Duda-Gracz, E. Dwurnik, A. Wroblewski, K. Bereznicki, M. Jarema, X. Dunikowski and W. Hasior. Among the highlights are F. Starowieyski's famous "drawing theatres". In addition to Polish works, the Museum gathers prints and drawings as well as sculpture by Czech and Slovak artists. It boasts one of Poland's largest collections of non-professional art, including more than 600 painted, printed and sculpted items from all over Poland. Having regained its pre-war collection of decorative arts, the Museum has been adding contemporary applied art, a collection in which Czech, Slovak and Polish decorative glass is strongly represented. The Archeological Section, spanning the period from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages, has a unique flask vessel, the only such find in Poland. The ethnographical exhibits document the peasant and burgher cultures of various regions of Silesia and the neighbouring lands, and include Silesian folk costume, ritual costume and masks, Hucul crafts and Cieszyn jewellery. There is also a valuable collection of edged weapons from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.
Permanent exhibition: Gallery of Polish Painting: 1800-1939.
Muzeum Śląskie w Katowicach
al. W. Korfantego 3
40-005 Katowice
Region: woj. śląskie
Phone: (+48 32) 258 56 61-3, 259 98 04
Fax: (+48 32) 259 98 04
WWW: www.muzeumslaskie.pl
Email: dyrekcja@muzeumslaskie.art.pl