A new chapter in the museum’s narrative is opening on Krakow’s Wawel Hill, a place deeply rooted in the history of Polish statehood. From 11 April, visitors to Wawel Royal Castle can explore the permanent exhibition entitled ‘Wawel Town’, prepared by curator Dr Magdalena Młodawska in collaboration with Jolanta Lasek from the Archaeology Department. Situated on the terrace and in the spaces of the Small Tower, the exhibition transports viewers to a world which, although physically absent, is still alive in the memory of objects.
A story brought out of oblivion
The exhibition is devoted to a little-known but extremely fascinating part of Wawel history, the community that once lived in the bailey. The Wawel castle town, barbarously destroyed by the Austrian administration in the 19th century, was a vibrant organism: home to the clergy, royal servants, schoolchildren, burghers and the poorest. Although it has disappeared from the urban space, its heritage is preserved in archaeological artefacts and memories recorded in everyday things. This exhibition is a story about people. Their daily chores, small joys, worries and dreams. Objects such as children’s shoes, cake moulds, wooden toys, clay pipes or humble inkwells speak with the subtle but moving voice of the past. Many of them are being presented to the public for the first time. Removed from their storerooms, they come to life anew in the museum space.
Three levels of life – the exhibition structure
The exhibition is spread over three floors of the Mala Baszta. Its minimalist set design emphasises the prominence and uniqueness of the exhibits, allowing them to be the main narrators of the story. Instead of a chronology, visitors are guided through the rituals of daily life – from work, to study, to leisure and prayer. A three-dimensional model of the town makes it possible to reconstruct its topography and to find, for example, the cathedral school, residential buildings or the office of the town mayor. Literary objects, cooking utensils, devotional items or elements of clothing tell the story of a world that has passed away, but has left a distinct trace.
Childhood between the walls
A special place in the exhibition is devoted to children, their toys, games and clothing. Miniature dolls, clay horses, astragals or game boards recreate a world of childhood imagination and activity, the echoes of which still seem to echo between the towers. Small shoes made of soft leather are not only touching, but also a reminder of the social inequalities that were also part of this microcosm.
Wawel City: objects as witnesses
“The past illustrated in the Miasteczko Wawelskie exhibition includes objects, archaeological finds, stripped of their own voice, receiving a voice from historians. The artefacts presented here come from the Wawel Hill area. They were discovered during excavation works. They have the status of authentic witnesses of the past, although the exhibited small objects, damaged by time, often seem devoid of artistic value. Materiality, however, has the power to stimulate the senses, imagination and reflection, reminding us of past centuries and people, of the mystery of their fate,” emphasises Dr Magdalena Młodawska, curator, head of the Lapidarium and Reserves Department. Each exhibit carries an emotional charge, being a testimony to the lives of people not described in textbooks, but no less important for the history of Wawel and Krakow. The exhibition shows the social diversity of the inhabitants: from the scholars, through the servants, to the poorest. One can take a peek into a 16th-century pharmacy, a royal kitchen or a room with a simple table and a stoup dish. Each of these fragments creates a mosaic of everyday life.
Traces of smoke – history written in pipes
A special highlight of the exhibition is the impressive collection of over 900 pipes, one of the largest of its kind in Poland. These delicate clay objects not only document the moments of relaxation of the former inhabitants, but also preserve the physical traces of their presence, such as deposits, imprints and burnt edges. Their eloquence is almost intimate, like the last pipe smoke that still hovers over the former town.
Wawel Town – an exhibition with a heart
“This is, I think, one of the most unobvious exhibitions at Wawel Castle and the most pro-social exhibition we have created. I think many of our visitors will be surprised by this dimension of the exhibition, which refers neither to high art nor to the splendour of the Polish monarchy,“ Professor Andrzej Betlej, director of the Wawel Royal Castle, points out.
Source: Wawel Royal Castle
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