Museum of Old Crafts in Żarki

The Museum of Old Crafts (Muzeum Dawnych Rzemiosł) is housed in the Old Mill (Stary Młyn), a former electric mill in Żarki in the Jura. Visitors learn about the crafts that have been present in the town for centuries: milling, baking, shoemaking, coopering and wheelwrighting. The interiors combine original machines and tools with multimedia presentations and recordings, and a guide leads the tour.

What the Old Mill is

The building was constructed at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s as an electric mill. A private investor named Siedlecki was behind its construction. Around 1952 the mill was nationalised and came under the management of the county national council in Myszków, and in 1971 it was taken over by the municipal cooperative “Samopomoc Chłopska” in Żarki.

In 1992 the Częstochowa voivode transferred the building to the municipality of Żarki. In 2005 the mill stopped working and began to fall into disrepair. Renovation took place in 2013-2015, and the adaptation into a museum was designed by the architect Tomasz Ulman. The museum opened on 2 August 2015 and, according to the museum’s website, it is the first multimedia museum of old crafts in Poland.

What you will see inside

On the ground floor stands the original mill equipment, including the engine, which the museum’s website calls its heart. The upper floor is devoted to crafts: the exhibits are complemented by multimedia presentations, and the subjects include shoemaking, coopering and wheelwrighting.

On the mezzanine you can listen to recorded stories told by residents of Żarki. There is also a place there for Piotr Steinkeller, the former owner of the town, who from the 1830s developed industry in Żarki: a factory of agricultural machinery and tools, which also produced carriages, as well as a distillery, a rectifying plant, a brickworks and an American mill. The museum encourages visitors to touch, test and look inside, so it is a good place to visit with children, also in bad weather.

Żarki and milling

Milling is an old tradition in Żarki. The museum’s website points out that the earliest mentions of mills in the town are found in a document of endowment of the Jasna Góra monastery from 1382, and in 1791 the town had eight mills. Żarki lay on an important trade route from Lesser Poland to Silesia and from 1556 had the privilege of holding fairs.

After the visit you can see other traces of old Żarki: the synagogue in Żarki and the old Jewish cemetery lie less than a kilometre from the museum.

Further on in the Jura is Ostrężnik Castle, about 5.5 km from the museum, and a little further Mirów Castle.

Practical information

• Address: Ofiar Katynia 5, Żarki (provincial road no. 789 towards Lelów).
• Visits are only with a guide and last about an hour. Entries are on the hour, and because of demand advance booking by telephone is required.
• The hours vary depending on the month and the season. Check the current schedule on the museum’s website before your visit.
• Getting there without a car: by train to Myszków, then by minibus to Żarki. Some lines stop by the museum, on others you need to walk a few minutes from Bl. Ludwik Gietyngier Square.
• Parking for cars is by the museum, and for coaches by the volunteer fire brigade building, a few dozen metres further on.