Museum in Bobrka

17 th  April Thursday 2014

Bobrka is a small, picturesque village located 10 km from my summer house, here is located a very interesting museum. I have been to Bobrka many times and I like it.
The Ignacy Łukasiewicz Museum of Petroleum Industry in Bóbrka is a special place, located as it is at the oil-mining plant which, established in 1854, was one of the first in the world. The plant was set up by Ignacy Łukasiewicz, Tytus Trzecieski and Karol Klobasse-Zrencki right in the village of Bóbrka, between Krosno and Dukla. And it is still in operation!

Bobrka

The aim of the Bobrka Museum is to document the development of petroleum industry in Poland and to present the heritage of Polish oil-miners to the public. The idea to establish the museum was put forward in the late 19th century, still within Ignacy Łukasiewicz’s lifetime. The museum was opened in 1972, on Ignacy Łukasiewicz’s 150th birth anniversary.
Ignacy Łukasiewicz  invented the paraffin lamp, the sheet-metal frame of which was devised for him by a Lvov smith Adam Bratkowski. Łukasiewicz’s newly-constructed lamp was used for the first time on the memorable date of 31st July 1853, during a night-time emergency operation at the Lyczaków general hospital in Lvov.

The Ignacy Łukasiewicz Museum of Petroleum Industry in Bóbrka houses a collection of Łukasiewicz memorabilia, as well as photographs and documents relating to crude oil itself, and the techniques of petroleum mining, engineering, refining and exploitation. The archives hold e.g. 1920’s books of statutes for the miners, issues of specialist periodicals that have been published since the late 19th century, as well as remarks and records of people connected with the history of the industry. Commemorative medals, postcards and envelopes with occasional stamps, and postage stamps relating to petroleum industry are part of the collection.

Franek Well

Ignacy Lukasiewicz's house in the museum

Lukasiewicz's house

Ignacy Łukasiewicz Museum of Petroleum Industry in Bóbrka shows not only the history of this industry in Poland, but also its less-known side: the universe of Polish petroleum miners, pervaded not only with oil, but also with rich, often very striking folklore.

 It is definitely is worth a visit!