Room
Silesia’s Former Treasure House
The display recreates an early twentieth-century interior of the Schaffgotsch Library and Museum.
Content language
An early twentieth-century exhibition interior provided the model for this reconstruction of the former Schaffgotsch Library and Museum. It uses objects that remained in Cieplice after collections were removed in 1945-1952. This is therefore not the complete historical collection, but a surviving portion of its material heritage, arranged to evoke an earlier way of exhibiting.
The presentation resembles a cabinet of curiosities, bringing together varied objects that interested an owner and their guests. In the Schaffgotsch family’s history, collecting keepsakes and specimens was connected with the library. The collections were initially kept in Sobieszów and later moved to Cieplice. This background explains the combination of library and museum in the former institution’s name. The recreated interior illustrates a display method, while the surviving objects document the fate of the collection itself.
For children
What might a museum room have looked like in the early twentieth century? Silesia’s Former Treasure House recreates an interior of the former Schaffgotsch Library and Museum. It displays objects that were not removed from Cieplice in 1945-1952. They belong to a larger collection that no longer survives here in full.
The arrangement resembles a cabinet of curiosities, a place where an owner collected different interesting things. The Schaffgotsch family gathered keepsakes and specimens alongside their library. The collections were first kept in Sobieszów and later moved to Cieplice. The display does two things: it presents surviving objects and recreates an earlier way of showing them. Reconstructing a room does not mean all the old collections have returned.
Question 1 of 2
Which period inspired the recreated interior?
- Location
- Silesia’s Former Treasure House