Chełm Is Its Name… The History of the Town from the 10th to the 20th Century

The exhibition leads chronologically through ten modules, from the first traces of people around Chełm to the fall of the communist system in 1989. The earliest history, from prehistory to the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, is shown in rooms on the lower level, and the 19th and 20th centuries in four rooms on the ground floor.

The exhibition traces Chełm's history as a borderland town: Chełm was the capital of the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia, a separate land under the Jagiellonians, the seat of a district and a governorate during the partitions, and from 1975 of a voivodeship. It was home to Poles, Ukrainians, Jews and other nationalities, and the town was shaped by both Catholic and Orthodox influence.

On display are archival documents, photographs, militaria, town plans, coins, banners, portraits and archaeological finds from excavations in the town, all from the museum's collections. The texts are in Polish and English, and films with animated archival photographs show Chełm at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.