History of the structure

The seat of the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War in Łambinowice-Opole in Opole was built in the 17th century. At that time it was a wattle-and-daub building with a brick basement, leaning against the city walls. It housed the malt house on Młynówka. The building was reconstructed at the beginning of the 19th century. At that time, most probably, the jail and the town guard were moved from the renovated town hall to the building. Another reconstruction of the building took place in the second half of the 19th century. As a result of the construction work undertaken, a one-storey house covered with a saddle roof was built, which served as a town jail and a residence for police officers. During World War II, the Nazi authorities arranged a Gestapo detention centre there. After 1945, the building became the property of the State Treasury. The building housed the headquarters of the Civic Militia Volunteer Reserve, the Union of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy (ZBOWiD), the Municipal Buildings Administration, and the Municipal Greenery Administration. In 1984 it became the property of the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War in Łambinowice-Opole and until today - after numerous reconstructions and extensions - it has housed the Directorate of the Museum, the Scientific and Research Department and the Museum Archives. In the 1990s, a wing was built directly adjacent to Minorytów Street. In 2009-2010 the two parts were joined by an exhibition gallery, where since 2011 the Museum has been presenting a permanent exhibition. Temporary exhibitions are presented in the second exhibition room.

Description of the structure

The Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War is located in the central part of the town, on the western frontage of Minorytów Street, in the close vicinity of the market square and the Franciscan monastery. To the south, the Municipal Public Library adjoins the building, on the north side there is a residential building. The current body of the building (as a result of the recent reconstruction), consists of three adjacent parts, forming an L-shape. There is a rectangular courtyard in front of the building, separated from the street by a small fence. It is a brick, plastered building of varying heights and construction. The oldest part of the building (with preserved fragments of medieval walls), with a basement, two-storey with a high usable attic, covered with a gable roof with dormers. The eastern elevation of the oldest part of the museum is characterized by a symmetrical, five-axis division, with a centrally located door opening and window openings (barred) located on the sides. Above them there are small, blind windows, which are the remains of the openings illuminating the attic in the past. Above, the storeys are separated by a pronounced string course - originally crowning. The last storey, added at present, is divided on its axes by rectangular window openings arranged similarly to the ones below. Three-bay interior layout. On the eastern side of the building, there is an adjacent atrium containing the exhibition part, with a basement, two-storey, with external curtain walls, all covered with a glazed gable roof. A side wing added in the 1990s, also two-storied, covered with a gable roof, is situated facing the street. The southern elevation of this part of the building is asymmetrical; the lower storey is divided into four axes: the first two are marked by window openings with bars, a door opening, and a square window to the right of the entrance; the upper storey has window openings of different sizes in a strip pattern. The northern wing of the building was erected in a two-bay layout. The rooms are segmentally vaulted with WPS ceilings on steel beams (in the oldest part of the building and the northern wing) and reinforced concrete ceilings (in the exhibition part).

Visitor access: the site is accessible to visitors.

Author: Joanna Banik, Katarzyna Latocha, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Opole, 25.06.2018

Bibliography

• Borkowski M., Opole przełomu wieków XIX/XX, Łódź 2015.
• Hamada A., Architektura Opola wpisana w dzieje miasta, Opole 2008.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, ed. T. Chrzanowski, M. Kornecki, Vol. VII (Opolskie Voivodeship), Warsaw 1968.
• Record sheet of monuments of architecture and construction, dom mieszkalny, ob. dyrekcja muzeum w Opolu, compiled by W. Żurakowski, 1995 [in:] resources of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office (WUOZ) in Opole.
• Studium historyczno-urbanistyczne miasta Opola, Katalog zabytków – Opole Śródmieście, PKZ Wrocław 1990 [in:] resources of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Opole.
• Rezler-Wasielewska V., Muzeum w Miejscu Pamięci, Opole 2015