BRONISŁAWA GIŻYCKA / ETHNOGRAPHY. PODHALE, ORAWA, SPISZ

Bronisława Giżycka / Ethnography. Podhale, Orawa, Spisz

Bronisława Giżycka came to Zakopane with her husband and children at the end of the 19th century for temporary stays, and from 1912 settled here permanently. She was a devotee of highlander culture and a collector. She conducted ethnographic fieldwork on the southern and northern sides of the Tatras and was active in the Ethnographic Section of the Towarzystwo Tatrzańskie, which Bronisław Piłsudski established in 1911. Systematic work in Podhale, Orawa and Spisz led her to gather over 320 objects of various kinds: painted glass pictures, individual ceramic pieces such as a jug, a plate, a holy water font and others; metal items such as crosses, door locks, buttons, clasps, spurs, a dog collar, hooks and a small knife; and wooden ones such as spoons, small barrels, cheese moulds and even a cage for a queen bee. She sold some of them and donated others to museum collections. She prepared ethnographic notes on annual and family rituals, folk medicine, beliefs and superstitions. Her achievements are little known and for a long time remained in the shadow of Piłsudski's. Meanwhile, while he spent almost two years abroad broadening his knowledge of ethnography and museology, she diligently carried out the section's statutory aims. Well versed in the region, she drew Piłsudski's attention to the distinctive architecture of the village of Piekielnik in Orawa. Together they travelled to Podwilk and Jabłonka to meet Eugeniusz Sterculę, a local amateur photographer who owned numerous photographs documenting local culture from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Curation and substantive preparation of the exhibition: Dr Magdalena Kwiecińska

The exhibition can be viewed until 16 May 2027 on the square in front of the Main Building of the Muzeum Tatrzańskie, ul. Krupówki 10.