‘(...), this house is an opening to John Paul II today!’.
publish date:
14.05.2024
news
The jubilee exhibition ‘H O M E. Yesterday, Today, Forever’, presenting the John Paul II Family House in the perspective of forty years of its history. 18 May 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the opening of the first exhibition at the John Paul II Family Home and the 10th anniversary of the new exhibition.
The exhibition recalls not only the history of the institution, but above all the people who created it. It is a story about the commitment, passion and dedication of those who wanted to honour the memory of the Polish Pope. The exhibition shows not only the place itself, but also the path leading to the creation of the institution, through which visitors have the opportunity to get closer to the sources of John Paul II's spiritual heritage and to understand the deep connection he had with the city of his childhood and early youth.
The exhibition recalls not only the history of the institution, but above all the people who created it. It is a story about the commitment, passion and dedication of those who wanted to honour the memory of the Polish Pope. The exhibition shows not only the place itself, but also the path leading to the creation of the institution, through which visitors have the opportunity to get closer to the sources of John Paul II's spiritual heritage and to understand the deep connection he had with the city of his childhood and early youth.
Concept of the exhibition
The exhibition begins with a photograph of John Paul II, taken during his visit to Wadowice in 1979. The Holy Father, walking between the Basilica of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and his family home, looks up at the windows of the flat where he was born and spent the first 18 years of his life. The second symbol of this exhibition is a window, from the former Museum, which symbolically separates the moment when the exhibition begins to tell the story of the redevelopment initiative.
People
The main part of the temporary exhibition ‘D O M. Yesterday, today, forever' is located in the Museum's courtyard. Its beginning, however, reaches level -1, where the permanent exhibition ends. This space completes the story that visitors begin by entering the John Paul II Family House. The exhibition features original objects from the first papal museum: a stone plaque stating that John Paul II was born in this house and the inscription ‘Entrance’, which hung above the door leading from the courtyard to the first floor. Continuing along the corridor, we get to know the people involved in the process of creation and functioning of the first Museum: Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, Father Edward Zachar, Sister Magdalena Strzelecka, Dr Marek Rostworowski - the author of the exhibition scenario, and Adam Bujak - its co-author.
The story of the Family Home
The main part of the temporary exhibition is divided into three chapters. They tell the story of 40 years of history through photographs, documents and artefacts that were in the former Museum. Some of them can be found in the original display cases from 1984, including the decree establishing the first Museum from 1984, the foundation act inaugurating the establishment of the new institution, portraits of the Wojtyła family and objects belonging to Karol Wojtyła. The whole is enriched by recordings of witnesses - Adam Bujak, Father Bronisław Fidelus, Artur Oboza and sisters from the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Sister Joanna Chrobak and Sister Bogumiła Baran.
