Museum in Rybnik

The Museum in Rybnik is housed in the historic building of the former town hall in the town centre. Its collections tell of the history of Rybnik, the crafts of Upper Silesia and coal mining. The institution is now named after Father Emil Drobny, who in 1922 showed the first museum exhibits to the people of Rybnik.

How the museum came about

The tradition of collecting goes back to the interwar period. Father Emil Drobny assembled ethnographic exhibits at that time, mainly from China and Japan, and made them available to the public. In 1936 the Society of Friends of the Past of Rybnik and Its Surroundings took over the care of the collection, and the war dispersed it.

After the war, in 1957, a committee was set up to organise the museum collections of the Rybnik-Wodzisław Land. The first permanent exhibition opened in January 1958 in a flat in a tenement building at Rynek 17. In 1968 the collections were given rooms in the Old Town Hall, and on 8 January 1970 the venue became the independent Museum in Rybnik. The patron was named in 2020.

What to see

The permanent exhibitions are “Rybnik, Our Town”, “Craft Guilds in the Towns of Upper Silesia up to 1939” and “The Mine Working”. The collections are organised by departments: the history and culture of the region, the history of crafts, and the history of medicine and pharmacy. The museum has a library of about 6,000 volumes, mainly on the history and culture of Upper Silesia. The museum also organises temporary exhibitions, guided tours and an audio guide.

Nearby

It is about 600 metres from here to the Basilica of St Anthony, and about 300 metres to the former castle.

Practical information

• Address: Rynek in Rybnik (the building of the former town hall); the exact address and directions are given on the museum's website.
• Current opening hours are listed on the museum's website. Check them before your visit.
• Tickets can be bought through the museum's website.