“How to make a museum”. A meeting about HERITO at the Museum of Metallurgy in Chorzów

10 September 2025, 18.00

The next stop on our journey through Silesia will be Chorzów. We will talk to Dr Adam Hajduga, director of the Staszic Shaft in Tarnowskie Góry, and Tomasz Owoc, director of the Museum of Metallurgy in Chorzów, about how to create inspiring spaces that become places for stories about the city, industry and people. The meeting will be moderated by Bartosz Sadulski.

The first museum dedicated to the heritage of metallurgy in Poland was established relatively recently: in 2019, the city of Chorzów established the Museum of Metallurgy in Chorzów, which was inaugurated two years later in the hall of the former power plant of the ‘Królewska’ Ironworks – nine years after its acquisition by the city. Since 2023, the Museum has been part of the Industrial Monuments Route in Silesia and is one of the most interesting post-industrial spaces not only in Silesia, but also in Poland.

Bartosz Sadulski, editor-in-chief of “Herito”, will talk about how the story of this place and the history of iron and steel metallurgy was created, as well as the challenges that such institutions faced and continue to face. Bartosz Sadulski will talk to director Tomasz Owoc and Dr Adam Hajduga, promoter of industrial cultural heritage and co-creator of the Museum's permanent exhibition.

Location: Museum of Metallurgy in Chorzów, ul. Metalowców 4a 

Dr Adam Hajduga – sociologist and promoter of industrial cultural heritage, director of the Staszic Shaft in Tarnowskie Góry, vice-president of the international association European Route of Industrial Heritage – ERIH, which is a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. Originator and co-creator of the Industrial Monuments Route in Silesia and its Industriada festival (since 2010). Previously, he was, among other things, deputy director of the Museum of Metallurgy in Chorzów. He teaches at universities in Poland and abroad and participates in many international projects related to the management and promotion of tourist products.

Tomasz Owoc – historian and museum curator, director of the Museum of Metallurgy in Chorzów, previously head of the Chorzów Branch of the History of the City and Region, as well as head of the KL Plaszow department at the Historical Museum of Krakow (co-author of the scenario for the commemoration at KL Plaszow). He is involved in museum education, historical research and event management. He is a graduate of postgraduate studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, specialising in museology. His research work focuses, among other things, on the history of industry in Upper Silesia.

Bartosz Sadulski – writer and editor, author of three volumes of poetry and the novel “Rzeszot”, for which he received the Kościelski Award and was nominated for the Nike Literary Award and the Conrad Award. His latest book is entitled “Szesnaście na Bourbon”. He is the editor-in-chief of the quarterly „Herito”. He has published essays in “Tygodnik Powszechny” and “Dwutygodnik”, among others. He was a scholarship holder of the Młoda Polska programme in the literature category in 2019. He lives in Nowa Huta.