Lorentz, Stanisław: Guide to museums and collections in Poland (Warsaw, 1974)

BYDGOSZCZ

decorated with carved busts representing the Brzeg princes and the
kings of the Piast dynasty, statues' of the princes of Brzeg ruling
at that time, and the arms of King Sigismund Augustus.
Since 1945, the main task of the museum has been to show
the activities oi the Piasts through thewholeSilesian area;
best represented by historical relics are the times of the
Legnica and Brzeg Piasts. The collection contains numis-
matics, prints, 17th-century sarcophagi and parchment docu-
ments. In addition to Piast collections, the museum has
the following groups of exhibits: mediaeval art (painting
and sculpture), military items, Baroque art (portraits, sculp-
ture), a large collection of specimens of handicraft, old
books, prints connected with the town of Brzeg, and ethno-
graphic exhibits. For the time being, the exhibition rooms
occupy only the ground floor of the west and south wings.
Further interiors of the castle are under reconstruction.
BKZESC KUJAWSKI (Bydgoszcz Voivodship, Wiociawek
County)
MUSEUM, Branch of the Kuyavian Museum in Wioclawek.
Open on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from
4 to 7 p.m., on Tuesdays from 5 to 8 p.m., on Sundays from
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Inaugurated in 1971, it houses temporary exhibitions of the
Kuyavian Museum.
BYDGOSZCZ
THE LEON WYCZCLKOWSKI MUSEUM, 4 Pierwszego Maja
Avenue, tel. 216-08, 275-76, 298-14.
The Historical Department, 9—11 Grodzka Street, tel. 283-02,
283-22. Open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays
from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Closed on Mondays and days following holidays.
The beginnings of the collection date back to 1880 when the Histo-
rical Society, established in Bydgoszcz, set as one of its goals to
collect archaeological and historical relics concerning Bydgoszcz
and the region of the Noted river. The collection, kept at first in
one of the rooms in the grammar school, consisted of the following
four sections: archaeological, history of the city, military items
and numismatics. When Poland regained her independence, the
museum was opened in 1923 as a municipal museum in the building
of a former monastery in the Old Market Square. A new department
of Polish art was started, with painting, sculpture and graphic art,
and with special attention devoted to local artists. In 1937, the
museum acquired a magnificent collection of paintings by Leon
Wyczolkowski and mementoes connected with that artist. This gift,
together with another bequest — a collection of sculptures by Kon-
ctanty Laszczka — was exibited separately, as a branch of the
mnseum, in the building of the former Borderland Institute. Since
1946, the Museum, named after Leon Wyczolkowski, has been lodged
In the historical building of the former Poor Clares' convent from
the 1st half of the 17th century, which was converted into a town
hospital in the 19th century. In 1964, the museum acquired two
historic granaries that have been adapted to lodge the department
of the history of the Bydgoszcz region from the earliest times to
the present day, also presenting the martyrdom and the underground
struggle during World War II. The permanent exhibition of paint-
ings, sculpture and graphic art by artists of the Bydgoszcz region
is also lodged in the granary buildings.
Tbe Museum has the following departments:
Archaeological — containing relics from the region
of Bydgoszcz systematicaliy enriched as a resuit of ex-
cavation work;

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