Earth Sciences Museum
Faculty of Earth Sciences
University of Silesia in Katowice
ul. Będzińska 60
41-200 Sosnowiec
Tel. (32) 368 96 03
muzeumwnoz@gmail.com
www.muzeum.wnoz.us.edu.pl
Free admission (self-guided visits).
Mondays – Fridays: 8 am – 3 pm
Classes for group visits are payable.
Director: Ewa Budziszewska-Karwowska MA
Staff: Anna Dąbrowska MA, Małgorzata Rahmonov MA
The origins of the Earth Sciences Museum are related to the passion for collecting of the staff at the Faculty of Life Sciences (formerly the Faculty of Earth Sciences), most of whom are geologists. The museum’s collections include mainly geological specimens (3,461 items) – minerals, fossils, rocks, meteorites, as well as geoarchaeological specimens,
including replicas of animals and plants (64). The robustly developing exhibition activities enable the museum to present many of its collections to the public – there are 18 permanent exhibitions. The exhibition space is located mainly in the halls of the building’s ground floor and on the first and second floors. The exhibits are displayed as collections for educational purposes and as palaeo-environmental exhibitions. Rock specimens weighing several tonnes stand outside the building, thus forming the so-called lapidarium. Officially, the Earth Sciences Museum at the University of Silesia in Katowice (formerly known as the ‛Museum of the Earth’ and ‛The Museum of the Faculty of Earth Sciences’) was established by Order of the Rector No. 37/94 dated 28 October 1994, on the initiative of members of the staff. In the early years of its existence it was not legally or financially regulated and no inventory had been drawn up. Things changed radically after 2005, when the museum began providing a wide scope of educational activities for students of all ages. The number of classes in the form of museum and workshop lessons, adapted to the national curriculum, and multimedia lectures on the history of the Earth, geological processes and the evolution of life is increasing from year to year. The museum operates pursuant to its Internal Regulations, issued by Order of the Rector No. 86 and agreed with the Minister of Culture and National Heritage on 21 June 2013.
Ewa Budziszewska-Karwowska MA
