EDUCATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS OF THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION IN THE PAN TADEUSZ MUSEUM IN WROCŁAW AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION

Since 2016 the Pan Tadeusz Museum of the Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław has been opened to the public. It is dedicated to the national epic poem – the most acknowledged piece of literature by Adam Mickiewicz, titled Pan Tadeusz, published for the first time in 1834. It also presents the reception of the poem, longevity of ideas started in Romanticism and the legacy of freedom in the history of Poland in the 19th and 20th centuries. The investment was co-financed from the European budget within the project named The Pan Tadeusz Museum – an innovative space – education through culture. The project was based on the idea to create a museum of educational character, with the use of museum exhibits, multimedia presentations, and infrastructure necessary for a modern arrangement of the exhibition. Given these assumptions, the team of educators, mostly with long-term practice as museum professionals, prepared the permanent exhibition. Their practical experience, plus theoretical bases for educational goals they referred to, together with a subject of the exhibition that focuses on an exceptional masterpiece in the history of Polish culture, i.e. the Manuscript of Pan Tadeusz, determined decisions pertaining to selection of exhibits, content of multimedia applications, inscriptions under the exhibits and titles of individual rooms, the range of themes for audio guides as well as materials and facilities for visitors with disabilities. In the article the permanent exhibition “The Manuscript of Pan Tadeusz” is described from the perspective of narration applied and educational assumptions it was based upon. It is then referred to a museological reflection which analyses an educational potential of museum exhibitions, interpretation practices and strategies of narration carried out by museums through exhibitions and educational activities.