Collections

The historical collections of the museum are primarily artefacts related to the past of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and its region. They include weapons and armaments, coins, medals, seals, military and civil medals and decorations, archives, and a rich collection of photographs and postcards. Guild documents and memorabilia are related to the history of the city, including the „send” of the Ostrowiec shoemakers’ guild or 19th-century guild seals of tailors and potters. Particularly valuable documents include Lew Sapieha’s will from 1663, letters from the chancellery of Jan Sobieski, and letters with signatures of Stanisław August Poniatowski, Jacek Małachowski, Władysław Sikorski, and Konstancja Sanguszkowa. The collections of the History Department also include coins, including Roman coins from Chmielów, Piast dynasty coins from Karczmiska, and modern Polish and foreign coins. Among them is the so-called Kunów treasure, containing gold and silver coins from the 15th to 18th centuries. The museum has a large collection of weapons and armaments, including interesting examples of Oriental weapons from the 17th and 18th centuries, a unique banner with an embroidered eagle associated with the January Uprising, a Johann Springer hunting rifle from the second half of the 19th century, and one of two preserved examples of the „Bechowiec” automatic pistol from 1944. The collection also includes relics related to the Ostrowiec Works—letters, documents, photographs, and plans—as well as interesting examples of steel products and employee memorabilia. The museum also looks after a rich collection of regional underground newspapers from the time of the Nazi occupation. The Jewish past of Ostrowiec is also documented by the collected Judaica—a fragment of the Torah, kiddush glass cups, candlesticks, and vessels.

The artistic collections include Ćmielów faience and porcelain, Denków folk pottery, painting, graphics, photography, and artistic crafts from the 19th and 20th centuries. The Ostrowiec Museum has one of the largest collections of products from the Ćmielów factory from almost all periods of its activity—from the first half of the 19th century to the present. A special mention should be made of the Rococo-Sèvres dinner set and dessert set from the beginning of the 20th century, utility porcelain based on designs by Bogdan Wendorf, Bogumił Marcinek, Józef Wysocki, Wincenty Potacki, and Roman Szlachetka. Local pottery is represented by pieces of 19th-century pottery from the guild in Denków and a large collection of so-called Denków folk pottery from the 2nd half of the 19th century. The classic disciplines of art—painting, graphics, drawing—are represented by works by artists originating from the area (Antoni Piotrowski), artists temporarily associated with Ostrowiec (Maksymilian Brożek, Jan Fazanowicz), as well as local artists (Teofil Kłosiński, Maryla Żakowska, artists from “Group 10”). The collection also includes works thematically related to the region, including graphics based on drawings by E. Dalbergh. Artistic objects also include glass, silver, and silver-plated objects by Polish and foreign companies from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries—plates, sugar bowls, cake stands and fruit bowls, and candlesticks. The collection has recently been supplemented with works by local amateur photographers and archives of factory photographers (including Narcyz Pawłowicz and Jan Grześkiewicz). A representative selection of the artistic collections is displayed at the permanent exhibition on the ground floor of the Palace.

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