Museum of Marine and Inland Fauna and Flora in Jaworze

The Museum of Marine and Inland Fauna and Flora in Jaworze (Muzeum Fauny i Flory Morskiej i Śródlądowej) displays specimens of marine animals and plants from around the world, aquariums with live fish and a Butterfly House with tropical and native butterflies. It began with a boatswain’s collection given to a primary school, and today it has its own building resembling the bow of a ship.

From a school display to a museum

The museum began with a collection of preserved specimens of marine fauna and flora donated to the local school in the 1960s by a former pupil, Erwin Pasterny (1928-2011), who worked as a boatswain on merchant ships of the Polish fleet. Part of the collection of specimens from the southern seas went to the school, and according to the museum’s website the institution began operating in 1969. The guides to the exhibition were pupils who had prepared for it beforehand.

The Jaworze municipality and the Local Fisheries Group built a new building next to the school, in which the museum opened on 5 September 2014. The building refers to the theme of the collections: its shape resembles the bow of a ship, and the round windows are portholes.

What is inside

The museum covers about 260 m², including an exhibition hall of 150 m² and a lecture hall of 42 m². The hall has two aquariums, visible after dark from the outside as well thanks to the glazed façade, as well as display cases and decorations made of sails. There is also a boat that you can step into and listen from it to stories about marine animals, as well as multimedia presentations. Smooth changes of lighting are meant to guide visitors through the exhibition.

Among the exhibits the museum’s website lists a sea turtle, sharks (including a hammerhead shark), octopuses, molluscs and sea urchins. All the specimens can be viewed up close, and the aquariums hold 10,000 litres in total.

The Butterfly House

In 2019 a Butterfly House was added to the museum, open from spring to autumn. It is a spherical tent 10 m in diameter, in which native and tropical butterflies and other arthropods live: stick insects, cockroaches, beetles and arachnids. Palms, citrus trees and orchids grow there, which are also food plants for caterpillars, so all the stages of butterfly development can be seen.

Who it is for and what is nearby

The museum makes a room available for lessons and organises educational events on nature: lectures, competitions and field trips, including owl and bat watching. The museum’s website also invites families with children to take part.

From Jaworze it is about 5 km to Szyndzielnia, and about 3.6 km to the lower station of the cable car. In Bielsko-Biała, a little over 6 km from the museum, stand the Castle of the Sułkowski Princes and the Reksio monument.

Practical information

• Address: Wapienicka 120, 43-384 Jaworze.
• The museum is closed on some public holidays and the hours may change, so check the current opening hours on muzeum.jaworze.pl.
• The museum’s website mentions a day of free admission for individual visitors. Details and the current price list are on the website.
• Contact details are given on the museum's website.