The Glow of Silver in the Shadow of Coal – a unique exhibition at the Silesian University of Technology
“The glow of silver in the shadow of coal. Minerals of zinc-lead deposits of Upper Silesia" – this is the title of the exhibition of the Czesław Poborski Museum of Deposit Geology at the Silesian University of Technology, the premiere of which will take place at 11:00 on Saturday, November 29th. Over a hundred unique specimens show not only the beauty of natural form but also reveal the industrial history of Silesia.
The exhibition presents minerals from the rich Silesian zinc-lead deposits. These include classic sphalerite and galena parageneses, as well as rare secondary oxidation zone minerals such as smithsonite, hemimorphite, cerussite, phosgenite, tarnovicite, and pyromorphite. Specimens stored for decades in warehouses will be made publicly available for the first time thanks to the initiative of Ewa Głuszek, head of the Czesław Poborski Museum of Deposit Geology of the Silesian University of Technology.
– Our museum houses rich collections of minerals, which constitute a priceless legacy of pre-war geological museology in Upper Silesia. These are world-class specimens that were once the core of regional geological collections. In the 50s of the 20th century, they came to the Silesian University of Technology and have remained in our care for over 70 years, constantly enriched with new acquisitions. The new exhibition is the result of painstaking searches of warehouses, re-cataloguing of specimens and, above all, verifying and identifying them in accordance with modern mineralogical knowledge – explains Ewa Głuszek, who invited Dr Eligiusz Szełęg, from the Institute of Earth Sciences of the University of Silesia, an outstanding mineralogist and collector to cooperate. Thanks to their work, the specimens have regained their former glory, and an exhibition has been created that not only presents beautiful specimens but also tells the story of research, mining and the geological heritage that has shaped the industrial character of Silesia for centuries.
– This is the largest exhibition of minerals from Silesian zinc-lead deposits in Poland and probably in the world. There are beautiful minerals from the regions of Tarnowskie Góry, Bytom, Piekary Śląskie and Radzionków. Deposits of zinc and lead, and above all the element that accompanies them, i.e. silver, were an impulse for the development of industry in Silesia, mining and metallurgy have been developing here since the Middle Ages – Dr Eligiusz Szełęg encourages you to visit the exhibition.
We invite all interested parties to the opening of the exhibition, where they will have the opportunity to meet its creators. Dr Eligiusz Szełęg will also be a guest on the "Let's Talk About Stones" panel at 12:00 noon and will explain why the geological treasures presented at the exhibition are so unique and how they were created.
The detailed program of the “Exchange” and “Let's Talk About Stones” meetings is available on the website: https://www.polsl.pl/rg6/gielda-mineralow/ and on social media.
The exhibition will be open to visitors throughout the duration of the Mineral Exchange on November 29th -30th and will later become part of the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Deposit Geology. of the Silesian University of Technology.
Admission to all events is free.
