International Network of Domestic Museums and the presence of private museums from Lower Silesia and Opole region in it

Abstract

The initiative to establish the INHM was taken in 2008 by the Polish-Czech Scientific Society, which, alongside the Museum of Folk Culture of the Sudeten Foothills, became its main coordinator. The General Directorate of State Archives, the University of Silesia in Opava, as well as the Slovak Homeland Association were invited to cooperate. Initially, the network included museums from Poland, primarily from Lower Silesia, and later from Lesser Poland and Masovia. It quickly became international. At first, it was the Czech Republic, then Slovakia, as well as Ukraine and Belarus. Today, it brings together holders of 262 collections. The goal of INHM is the registration, documentation, scientific study, and popularization of private collections as a specific form of cultural heritage, primarily from rural areas, and the use of these activities to promote the economic, social, and cultural development of the regions. We can distinguish three basic forms of its activity. These are: forum (the first took place in 2008 in Kudowa-Zdrój, and there have been 18 editions; since 2015, the
city of Česká Skalice has joined the organizers, and since 2019, the Museum of the Nowy Sącz region), field workshops (since 2010), as well as publishing activities. It is also worth mentioning its presence in social media. The article also included a descriptiones of three example museums from Lower Silesia and Opole region. The diversity and consistency of the activities carried out within the Network place it among the institutions significant for the development of house museums in Poland and neighboring countries.