Muzeum i Rezerwat Archeologiczny w Biskupinie – Pomnik Historii. Doświadczenia i dorobek ostatnich dekad / The Archaeological Museum and reserve in Biskupin – a Monument of History. The experience end attainments of recent decades
by Wojciech Piotrowski, Wiesław Zajączkowski
DOI: 10.33547/SeTII.9
In: A. Jedynak (ed.) 2023. Krzemionki. 100 lat od odkrycia (Silex et Ferrum II), pp. 223–254. Sudół – Pękowice: Muzeum Historyczno-Archeologiczne w Ostrowcu Świętokrzyskim/Wydawnictwo Profil-Archeo.
In 1933 a fortified settlement was discovered on a peninsula of Lake Biskupin, Żnin district, built by people of the Lusatian culture. The next year, an excavation expedition from the Institute of Prehistory, University of Poznań and the Prehistory Section of the Great Poland Museum, headed by Prof. Józef Kostrzewski (1885–1969) commenced work at the site. A large area was uncovered, revealing wooden remains dated to circa 700 – 400 BC. Archaeologists collaborated with representatives of the natural and technical sciences. After World War II, a former assistant of Professor J. Kostrzewski, Dr Zdzisław A. Rajewski (1907–1974) directed the work, which ended in 1974. The excavations constituted a breakthrough in Polish archaeology because of their scale, interdisciplinary character and results achieved. From 1956 to 2000 Biskupin Museum and reserve were a branch of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw, but in 2000 became an independent unit. The Archaeological Museum in Biskupin has 45 full-time employees (including 11 research workers) and takes on 5–10 extra people in summer. The last thirty years have seen some significant changes both in the appearance of the reserve and in the activities of the Museum in the fields of research, conservation, popularization and education. An advanced Laboratory for the Conservation of Archaeological Wood has been set up. Biskupin also has the best monitoring system of an archaeological site in Poland. In the years 1991–2004, the dendrochronologist Dr Tomasz Ważny collected numerous samples of excavated wood. Their analysis showed that the Biskupin fortified settlement could be dated to the second half of the 8th c. BC. Palaeobotanical analyses made it possible to reconstruct the changes in the natural environment and anthropogenic activity in the environs of Biskupin during the last fifteen thousand years or so. Moreover, the Museum organizes scientific conferences and has established ties with many cultural institutions in Poland and abroad. The Museum also conducts a variety of educational activities – for example museum lessons in which some twenty thousand pupils participate every year. One such activity is the Archaeological Festival, organized annually in September since 1995, one of the largest and thematically rich events of its kind in Europe. The designation, in 1994, of the archaeological reserve in Biskupin as a Monument of History by President of the Polish Republic Lech Wałęsa, set new conservation standards for the site. In 1995, the Voivodeship Conservator of Monuments in Bydgoszcz inscribed the whole site of the reserve in the register of historical monuments. In 2005–2006 the reconstructions and museum building were renovated and rebuilt using EU funds. Recently an early medieval village and two Neolithic long-houses have been reconstructed in the reserve. In 2006, the Archaeological Museum in Biskupin received the EU award for protection of European cultural heritage, a EUROPA NOSTRA medal for the development of a sustainable system for the conservation of waterlogged timber, and for the interpretation and presentation of one of the most important archaeological sites and open air museums in Central Europe.