Medieval Treasures Exhibition Tour
Partners: Down County Museum and State Archaeological Museum, Warsaw
Down County Museum set up a partnership with the State Archaeological Museum (PMA),
Warsaw, in 2006 and began exchanging exhibitions in 2007. A visit of NI museum
professionals to Warsaw in 2009, funded by NIMC, aimed to widen this partnership in order
to promote good international and local cultural relations between NI and Polish museums
and people. Plans were drawn up for the museums represented on the 2009 visit to receive
a special touring exhibition from PMA entitled ‘Medieval Treasures: Archaeological Finds
from Poland’, consisting of 400 items of jewellery dating to the medieval period, found within
historic territories which at various times have been part of the Polish State and are now
preserved in the collections of PMA. The exhibition is divided into sections devoted to
different types of medieval jewellery e.g. rings, pendants, brooches and bracelets, and
focuses on the aesthetic, archaeological, educational and craft value of the material.
Down County Museum partnered Mid-Antrim Museum (the Braid), Derry City Museum
Service (Tower Museum) and Causeway Museum Service (Coleraine Town Hall) to provide
4 venues for a year-long tour of the exhibition, and produced a leaflet to publicise the tour
between June 2013 and June 2014. A grant was generously provided by the Polish Cultural
Institute (London) to assist with the costs of transporting the exhibition from Poland to NI.
Each museum provided funding to support the installation and dismantling costs, plus a
launch and publicity for the tour in the various venues.