The guests were welcomed by Anna Bober-Tubaj (director of the Bolesławiec museum). Dr Regina Smolnik, director of Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen in Dresden, told those gathered about the project’s concept. Dr Jens Baumann of Sächsisches Staatsministerium des Innern then spoke, sharing his reflections on fruitful Polish-German cooperation in protecting the shared cultural heritage of the borderlands.
The opening brought together many representatives of partner institutions. They included: Dr Joanna Wojnicz (archaeology officer and project manager) and Emil Mendyk (project promotion specialist) from Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen in Dresden; Peter Knüvener (director of Städtische Museen Zittau); Andrzej Świderski (director of the Euroregional Centre for Culture and Communication in Pieńsk from 2012 to 2021); and Sara Kinsky, manager of Schlesisch-Oberlausitzer Museumsverbund GmbH.
Frank Hirche, president of Stiftung „Erinnerung, Begegnung, Integration“, also attended the event, as did representatives of Fundacja Twierdzy Nysa, who lent copies of 19th-century military equipment used to arrange the exhibition, and Zbigniew Skop, author of the model presented at the exhibition. The model was enhanced with a videomapping projection about episodes from the Napoleonic wars in Bolesławiec.
As part of the opening, a historical re-enactment entitled “Dear Sister…” was prepared by Anja Köhler and Johanna Busch of Schlesisch-Oberlausitzer Museumsverbund gGmbH. It presented the events of the 1813 Napoleonic campaign that took place in Markersdorf. Lidia and Joel Beucher, owners of the palace in Kruszyn, also prepared a musical surprise.
The event also featured the promotion of a comic book published in four language versions, “Episodes from the Napoleonic Wars in Bolesławiec,” written by Andrzej Olejniczak and illustrated by Adam Faltyn. During the opening, visitors could speak with its creators and obtain their autographs.
The exhibition focuses on events from the Napoleonic era that took place in Bolesławiec and its immediate surroundings. Together with a recruit of the Grande Armée, visitors follow the route from enlistment to the army’s departure from Lower Silesia in 1813. Thanks to equipment lent by Fundacja Twierdzy Nysa, visitors are transported to a military camp and learn about the hardships of a rank-and-file soldier’s life, including by using a laser shooting range. An interactive model using videomapping technology offers guests a new way to experience the past, presenting local history in an accessible and attractive manner. At the end of the historical adventure, visitors can have a commemorative photograph taken while wearing a 19th-century cuirass.
The exhibition was arranged using collections belonging to Muzeum Ceramiki and to its partner institutions and associations: Haus Schlesien Königswinter, Stiftung Erinnerung, Begegnung, Integration, Schlesisch Oberlausitzer Museumsverbund gGmbH, and the Bundesheimatgruppe Bunzlau zu Siegburg association.
The exhibition’s subject-matter consultants are Mariusz Olczak (director of the Central Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw) and Dr Andrzej Olejniczak (IPN Wrocław).