MUSEUM OF THE FACTORY IN LÓDZ - AN OPEN SPACE MUSEUM, OPEN TO THE VISITOR (Muzeum Fabryki w Lodzi otwarte na czlowieka, otwarte terytorialnie)

• Authors: Lisiewicz Anna
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The I. K. Poznanski cotton mills founded during the nineteenth century occupied an area of 27 hectares and, subjected to successive transformations, functioned until the 1990s. The beginning of the twenty first century signified new life for the factory buildings, which were turned into the 'Manufaktura' entertainment-trade centre. On 26 January 2007 the owner - Apsys Group -opened a Museum of the Factory in one of the revitalised interiors. The arrangement was entrusted to Nizio Design International, known for, i.a. creating the Warsaw Rising Museum, while the management was handed over to Grupa Fabricum, a firm dealing with tourism. The outcome is one of the most original private museums among undertakings of this sort in Poland, focusing on the history of the site, the owner and the thousands of people associated with the factory. Former employees belong to the Society of Friends of the Museum, and act as its co-authors and steady guests. The majority of the visitors are composed of the aficionados of 'Manufaktura' and school students. Grupa Fabricum devised a conception of an Open Museum. The titular museum is open to the visitor - his cognitive, creative and entrainment requirements, thus adapting manners of transmission to the recipient's perception potential and constantly modifying the exposition. The museum has also become an intermediary between the generation of the former cotton mill workers and young people. This is also an open space museum telling the story of an empire belonging to one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in nineteenth-century Europe. A guide is capable of conducting a tour of all the sites connected with Poznanski in the whole town of Lódz. The museum also cooperates with institutions housed in those buildings. According to the original conception, the exposition, created for the purpose of independent tours (interactive, outfitted with numerous multi-media facilities), is incessantly improved. Guides wearing costumes from the period have been introduced into the museum space maintained in a great-industry ambiance. Apart from offering museum tours, the guides conduct evaluations, and encourage the visitors to enjoy the opportunity to touch and interact with many of the exhibits. In addition, they set into motion the mechanical looms whose noise becomes one of the museum's greatest attractions. The chance to identify oneself with the exposition comprises a particular asset. A major part of the population of Lódz is composed of the successors of the cotton mill workers. A special book entitled 'Ludzie i ich fabryka' (People and their Factory), devoted to particular employees, is constantly being supplemented. The museum also proposes active tours and educational workshops addressed to children and adolescents. Moreover, it organises numerous highly popular events such as the celebrations of the 'Day of the cotton mill worker' and an anniversary of Poznanski's birth, as well as interactive exhibitions held as part of the Festival of Technology, Science and Art and the Night of the Museums. Temporary displays expand the topics of the permanent exposition. The museum is also open to individual commissions - tours in the company of actors, enhanced with assorted added attractions. All the offers are also available to foreign visitors.

Keywords

EN

MANUFAKTURA; MUSEUM OF THE FACTORY IN LÓDZ; OPEN SPACE MUSEUM

Discipline

• ARTS_&_ARCHITECTURE: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

• Publisher: Krajowy Ośrodek Badań i Dokumentacji Zabytków
• Journal: Muzealnictwo
• Year: 2008
• Issue: 49
• Pages: 227-234
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Lisiewicz Anna

• Anna Lisiewicz, no data

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

10PLAAAA088218