Last week, you received a medal from the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Mieczysław Struk, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Amber Museum's operation. Meanwhile, this year marks 11 years since the founding of the Amber Museum…
Indeed, we celebrated our 10th anniversary in grand style last year. The procedures at the Marshal's Office probably caused this medal to reach us with some delay.
Bursztynowy Herb Polski also made an appearance – what is that?
Marshal Mieczysław Struk presented us with a Polish coat of arms made of amber, which he received during a visit to Kaliningrad, and decided to donate it to the long-established collection of diplomatic gifts and amber items presented to important dignitaries. Recently, Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz presented us with an amber gift that he received during a visit to Russia.
What would you consider to be the milestones in the development of the Amber Museum over the past decade?
In my opinion, this is primarily about building a collection which, against the backdrop of other branches of the Historical Museum of the City of Gdańsk, looks exceptionally impressive. It was largely possible to build it thanks to various donations, but mainly due to very thoughtful purchases. Today, it is a collection showcasing natural science issues related to the genesis of amber, as well as its extraction and processing over the centuries, but also systematically collected works of contemporary art with particular emphasis on designer jewellery. Last year, the Amber Museum organised an exceptional exhibition. Amber and design, where we showcased 35 works by 16 outstanding internationally renowned artists working in amber art, purchased with funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The Amber Museum's collections have consistently impressed since 2006 – I view them with the same interest today as I did 10 years ago. And I'm not the only one: in 2017, it was the most popular branch of MHMG with almost 100,000 visitors – twice as many as 10 years ago. Although more modern museums and collections have been established in the meantime, this one consistently holds its ground because a balance has been maintained between new media and the value of the original.
How do you plan to develop the potential of the Amber Museum?
It has been known for at least several years that the spaces in which the Amber Museum's collections are displayed are far from adequate – not only due to their small size but also due to accessibility issues. Therefore, my particular efforts are focused on Transfer to the Amber Museum in Wielki Młyn. We have been working on this project very intensively for over a year now. Formally, the Great Mill is already an MHMG facility, and we have also managed to secure part of the funding necessary for renovation works related to thermal insulation, so that the costs of using the building in the future are not too high. We still need funds for the direct adaptation and creation of a new permanent exhibition in this new location. We are applying for them from the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Programme: the application was submitted in May, and in the substantive evaluation stage, it received the highest score out of almost 200 applications submitted. We will know by the beginning of November at the latest whether we will manage to secure the missing 9 million for the museum's development. I trust that we will succeed. Everyone is very positive about this project: the amber community, the residents of Gdańsk, and not only local but also national authorities – all of this gives us additional energy to act to obtain these funds. I am convinced that the Amber Museum in the Great Mill will meet the ambitions of Gdańsk – the World Amber Capital.
How does intensified lobbying for funding for the new museum headquarters affect its current operations?
The museum is operating as normal. The relocation will take approximately 3 years from the moment of funding acquisition, so we are focusing on current activities regardless. We are currently carrying out two major projects. The first is the digitalisation of our collections. By the end of the year, all our objects, i.e. 2,500 museum pieces, will be available in digital form on the dziedzictwo.pomorze.pl portal. In parallel, we are preparing an exhibition, „Amber Art Deco”, the opening of which we plan for early next year. The aim of this exhibition is to showcase the use of amber in the applied art of this artistic movement. We will display items from our own collection, as well as those on loan from private collections. During the preparations, we managed to locate several objects that are so interesting that we are keen to acquire them for our collections. So, everything is proceeding according to our normal course of work...
And if we don't manage to get hold of those 9 million?
We will look for other funding sources. In the near future, there will be several more calls for proposals under EU funds. If not with this allocation, then certainly with the next one…
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