“Historical Event of the Year” is a plebiscite organised by the Museum of Polish History in collaboration with the online portal historia.org.pl. The opening gala of the Pilecki Family House Museum won the award in the “Event” category during the competition’s 16th edition.
The Pilecki Family House Museum was awarded the special award during the 43rd edition of the Museum Event of the Year “Sybilla” competition in 2022. The Sybilla Competition for Museum Event of the Year, often called the ‘Museum Oscars,’ is widely recognised as the most prestigious award honouring the outstanding achievements of Polish museums, both nationally and internationally. The Sybilla competition promotes best practices in the museum field and is seen as an invaluable source of up-to-date information on historical research and the future directions Polish museums can take.
The Past/Future Award competition is an initiative designed to recognize, evaluate, and promote outstanding projects that highlight Polish history, particularly those that, despite their clear merits, remain largely unknown. The Pilecki Family House Museum in Ostrów Mazowiecka was awarded the Past/Future award in the “Innovative Forms of Historical Education” category.
The Warsaw Insurgents BohaterON Award aims to highlight people and institutions whose activities especially promote the knowledge of 20th-century Polish history and historical-patriotic education. The Pilecki Family House Museum in Ostrów Mazowiecka received the Silver BohaterON as a result of jury voting and the Gold BohaterON as a result of the public’s online voting. We would like to thank everyone who placed their vote for the Museum!
A museum is more than just a place for people to learn; it relies on the building that houses its exhibitions and hosts educational workshops to bring its projects to life.In order for the house built in 1900 by Konstanty Ostrowski (Maria Pilecka’s father) to be a usable exhibition space after its 100 years in existence, it had to undergo a substantial renovation.
The museum project, designed by architects Konrad Basan, Paweł Dadok, Maria Roj, and Michał Rogowski of BDR ARCHITEKCI, in collaboration with Jakub Pstraś and Ligia Krajewska of Exexe Studio Architektoniczne, and the landscape architects at La.Wa Architektura Krajobrazu, led by Łukasz Kowalski, was nominated for the 2021 SARP Award of the Year in the category of best architectural project completed in Poland by the end of 2020. ZKM-ASIS became the contractor for the project.
The design of the permanent exhibition at the Pilecki Family House Museum, created by IZERT Studio, was nominated in the “Project for Public Institutions” category.
The exhibition was designed as an informational and educational tool to support the museum’s core activities and workshops. It presents the story of the Pilecki family within a broader historical and social context, using modern exhibition techniques, multimedia, and installations.
The exhibition script was designed to cater to guided tours for large groups and historical workshops, aligning with the museum’s mission. As part of the project, the museum’s visual identification and spatial markers were also developed.
The exhibition design took two years to complete, largely during the pandemic. VR models and prototypes were created on a 1:1 scale to develop the architectural design.
The design allowed for the clear and easily accessible presentation of a wide variety of content. To achieve this, different typography, materials, and colors were used to clearly distinguish the content categories. As a result, the exhibition offers multiple perspectives, from general knowledge about the Pilecki family to deeper insights into the social landscape of interwar Ostrów Mazowiecka.