Collection
The basis of the collection constituted the rescued part of the legacy left after Związkowe Muzeum Górnicze /the Union Mining Museum/ in Sosnowiec existing in the years 1948-1972. As a result of own search through the archives, local surveys, purchases and gifts, they were enriched and currently numbers about 32 thousand exhibits. The principal part of collection is made of the technical exhibits representing the individual branches of mining industry: mining, draining, ventilation, transportation, lighting, surveying, communication. They represent the development of technical thought starting from the simple tools and mechanisms to the complicated appliances powered by the steam and electric engines. Rich exhibits (with the unique collection of XVIII and XIX-century technical drawings) and geologic collections (with fascinating record of Carboniferous world preserved in the fossils and moulds) do not however, exhaust the mining subject. Its inseparable part is constituted by culture and tradition. It is illustrated by the collection of uniforms and mining insignia, exhibits related with the cult of the mining patron saint – St. Barbara and the ethnographic collection presenting everyday life of Silesian diggers. The Silesian and mining subject is brought closer by: painting, graphic arts and sculpture (among others extremely interesting sculpture made in coal), and also collections of medals, tankards and musical instruments.
Museum’s seat
The seat of the Museum is the edifice of the former Starost Office (district authorities), erected in the eclectic style in the year 1874. Its final expansion of 1906 is the work of Berlin architect Arnold Hartmann. The building has one of the most interesting, historic interiors in town, among others huge, two-storey vestibule cut with the wooden staircase and the Stained-Glass Room - former meeting room of the Regional Council – with wooden, polychromic vault