The National Museum in Szczecin – The Centre of Dialogue Upheavals is a place of meetings and debates regarding controversial subjects related to the newest history of Szczecin, Pomerania, Poland and the world. An underground pavilion, built exclusively for this purpose according to Robert Konieczny’s design, came to existence in the heart of the city. The building houses a permanent exhibition embracing years 1939-1989. The exposition is introduced by a space showing pre-war Szczecin, migrations and the most difficult period of the previous political system – Stalinism. The greatest spaces are occupied by “Polish Months”, which have built Szczecin and West-Pomerania inhabitants’ identity. December ’70, August’80 and August ’88 influenced system transformations in Poland and Europe, placing Szczecin and West-Pomerania in the flow of events of universal history.

Exhibits
The collection of The National Museum in Szczecin – The Centre of Dialogue Upheavals include exceptional objects, partially given by numerous donors. Among them there are: mementoes brought by exiles from Siberia marked with Nazi symbols, remains of possessions saved from the ravage of war by people from various parts of Poland, a diary of one of the Cursed Soldiers, an album commemorating 16-year-old Jadwiga Kowalczyk, killed in December ’70, tools from Adolf Warski Szczecin Shipyard which was the cradle of almost all political “upheavals”. The collected objects are symbolic and exceptional, they are a perfect pretext for tales of people and events they were related to.

Archive Records
Unique materials may be found in The National Museum in Szczecin – The Centre of Dialogue Upheavals: scans of documents of the Potsdam Conference, of the intelligence of Home Army acting in West-Pomerania during World War II, original land granting acts from after 1945, invitations for patriotic celebrations in occupied Vilnius hand-made by General August “Nil” Fieldorf’s daughter, newspapers from the times of “Solidarity” or hand-written August ’80 postulates and illegal publications, numerous after the declaration of Martial Law. Only by us one may find complete documents of August ’88 Striking Committee. Apart from archive photographs, known from history handbooks and encyclopaedias, The National Museum in Szczecin – The Centre of Dialogue Upheavals has a large collection of photographs which are unknown and were found recently by our donors in their basements and attics.

Notations
Histories of numerous interesting individuals may be found by those who are willing to spend some time at interactive kiosks or listening stands and sound showers. Many extraordinary people have recorded their memories for us, including: Tadeusz Chłopicki – a descendant of November Uprising commander, who was fighting for Kołobrzeg in 1945; Danuta Szyksznian-Ossowska – a 17-year-old Home Army soldier in Vilnius region; Jan Tarnowski – one of the participants of the attack on the Soviet consulate in 1956; Teresa Hulboj – an activist of Independent Students’ Union in years 1980-1981; Andrzej Milczanowski – the leader of West-Pomeranian “Solidarity” or Edward Radziewicz – the leader of port strike in 1988.

Videos
Screens and interactive kiosks of The National Museum in Szczecin – The Centre of Dialogue Upheavals show interesting archive videos, recalling, for instance, Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, where decisions regarding post-war Europe borders were taken. We may see Stalinist show trials with Moscow Trial of the Sixteen (leaders of Polish Underground State), videos recalling December ’70 revolt, propaganda records from Edward Gierek’s times and documentaries of the happiest moments, such as signing 1980 August Agreements. The films show crucial individuals which influenced changes of history but also unknown ones, without actions of whom the upheavals would not have taken place.

Works of Art
As one of Polish history museums, The National Museum in Szczecin – The Centre of Dialogue Upheavals has commissioned exclusive artworks to some outstanding Polish artists. Our collections include works by: Kobas Laksa, Robert Kuśmirowski, Tomasz Mróz, Grzegorz Hańderek, Michał Libera, Leszek Jasiński, Wojciech Zasadni or Hubert Czerepok. Telling the history in a way which is different from by traditional carriers (mainly exhibits or archive records) broadens the audience. The exhibition includes also older works by such artists as Xawery Dunikowski, Edward Dwurnik, Henryk Stażewski, Teresa Murak or Piotr Młodożeniec. Art does not only enrich the historical space, but it is also that objects placed in historical context gain new meanings.

Architecture
The building designed by Robert Konieczny and KWK Promes has been awarded the first prize in “Culture” category and World Building of the Year 2016 prize at World Architecture Festival. Earlier, in July the same year, it has also been awarded a prestigious European Prize for Urban Public Space 2016. The National Museum in Szczecin – The Centre of Dialogue Upheavals was also awarded in the competition of Towarzystwo Urbanistów Polskich (Polish Town Planners Association), Silesian branch of Stowarzyszenie Architektów Polskich (Polish Architects' Association) and a prestigious museum Sybilla award. The exhibition has been awarded the third place in nationwide competition “The Best Multimedia Museums”.

przelomy.muzeum.szczecin.pl