Museum of Old Tortures

The Museum of Old Tortures examines historical criminal law: punishments, interrogations and executions from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. The exhibition was created during the conversion of the museum cellars in 2005-2007. The replica instruments were made using historical accounts, while illustrations explain how they were used.

Prints by Robert Jurga, based on historical imagery, were produced specifically for the exhibition. Scenes with mannequins and recordings of sentences being read, rattling chains, groans and crying form a staged presentation. This modern arrangement needs to be distinguished from historic objects: a replica illustrates a past practice but is not an instrument used in a particular trial.

The local context is provided by the 17th-century trials of women accused of witchcraft in Zielona Góra. Several dozen women were burned at the stake as a result. The exhibition concerns the history of judicial violence, not evidence that witchcraft existed.