Permanent exhibition

Permanent

Tickets
Address pl. Wolnica 1, Kraków
Tags
Entry 0–18 PLN
Event website www.etnomuzeum.eu…
Venue's website www.etnomuzeum.eu

Inanimate objects are always fine and nothing, unfortunately, can be faulted. I have never been able to spot a chair that lurches from foot to foot or a bed that stands on its hind legs. The tables, too, even when tired, do not dare to kneel down. I suspect that objects do this for educational reasons, in order to constantly reproach us for our unsteadiness, Zbigniew Herbert wrote. As in Herbert's poem, only objects remain unchanged in the permanent exhibition at the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow. Created several decades ago, the exhibition presents various aspects of the past world of the countryside. Since then, it has been subject to constant reinterpretation. Looking at the objects presented in the exhibition, successive generations of museum professionals and visitors have tried again and again to find an answer to the question: How does a person organise their reality?

The artefacts, which come from various ethnographic regions of Poland, are grouped into micro-stories about the successive stages of man's life, his relationship to nature, work, home, creativity, religion, ritual and to the other person. The permanent exhibition can thus be approached holistically or fragmentarily—taking in specific objects. The museum offers four perspectives: Inside, The Rhythm of Life, Human Objects and Unattainable Earth, without, however, placing a full stop. It opens up space for new interpretations and allowing things to act—to delight, inspire, remember and reproach.

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