On 8 December this year, at 1 p.m., an exhibition entitled "Christmas in Folk Art and Tradition" was opened in the hall of the Museum of Ceramics. A delegation of German guests came to the opening of the exhibition, including Mr Rietzel, vice Landrat from Goerlitz (deputy district head), Mr Donner, director of the museum in Markersdorf, Mr Kusher from the Department of Culture, and Ms Gubała from the Euroregion in Weiswasser. The opening began with a carol sung by students of II LO, after which the guests gathered for the opening were welcomed by Teresa Wolanin, director of the Museum of Ceramics. In thanking the hosts for the invitation, Director Donner emphasized the importance of the cooperation established between the two museums, which had already been continuing for some time. It is important to both sides, as only the proper exchange of experience and good solutions can produce results. In his speech, Mr Paweł Śliwko of the City Board spoke about the advantages of cooperation between regions with a similar cultural heritage, the Lusatians and the Silesians. Also present at the opening were: Jan Jasiukiewicz – president of Bolesławiec; Ms Zofia Roman – head of the Department of Education and Culture; Dorota Pińczuk – chairwoman of the Culture and Education Committee of the Municipal Council; Stanisław Andrusieczko of the City Board; as well as teachers, employees of cultural institutions and museum supporters.
The second part of the opening was enhanced by a spoken-word and musical programme prepared by Ms Iwona Cempura of II Liceum Ogólnokształcące. Carols sung in Polish and in the guests’ language moved the German visitors present at the opening and created the atmosphere of the holidays, which always inspire hope for human kindness and peace on earth. The presence of school students at the ceremony gave the guests hope that contacts between this generation would be even better and that perhaps there would no longer be so many prejudices between the two nations. The exhibition was visited with great interest. It seemed to consist of two parts: the first featured glass paintings from the collections of the Regional Museum in Jelenia Góra, with Christmas themes depicting the birth of Jesus, Bethlehem, the Holy Family and an old nativity scene. The second part was an arrangement of a room with a Christmas Eve table in the centre and, beside it, a chest containing old toys and objects once exchanged as gifts by the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. The Christmas Eve table, set with Bolesławiec stoneware, was complemented by traditional Lusatian cake, nuts, gingerbread biscuits and the Christmas wafer. Also interesting is a revolving Christmas tree placed on a nativity scene that plays the carol "Silent Night". The exhibition is interesting because it brings adults closer to memories of their own childhood, while showing young people what their parents and grandparents once lived by. The exhibition will be open until 15 January of the following year, 1995.
On 12 December this year, a group of 12 employees and associates of the museum in Markersdorf arrived at the Museum of Ceramics to learn about its collections and, at the same time, see the Christmas exhibition from their collections. At the Christmas exhibition, over coffee, they discussed further cooperation and debated the possibilities of exchanging exhibitions. There was considerable interest in the possibility of using the new building on Kutuzowa Street for exchanges; small materials useful for the historical exhibition had previously been brought there. In the office, a separate group organized a press conference with the participation of their journalist. The group then toured the building on Kutuzowa Street, the "Ceramika Artystyczna" Cooperative and the city around the market square.
It is worth mentioning on this occasion the museum in Markersdoif, whose staff often invite employees of the Museum of Ceramics; unfortunately, it is not possible to accept all the invitations. The Dorfmuseum in Markersdorf is a complex of farm buildings arranged around a quadrilateral, including a residential building, a farm building, a stable and others. All surviving objects connected with farm and agricultural work are collected in these buildings. This museum of a Lusatian village is created by its residents, who lend their surviving memorabilia for exhibitions on various subjects. Recently, employees of the Museum of Ceramics attended the opening of an exhibition of coffee grinders, and earlier they took part in the potato festival and other events. It is a typical museum which, in our country, would correspond to an ethnographic museum or a museum of the village of a given region.